A/N: Uhhh hey everyone! I'm a little new here. This is my first time writing a story...since...I think 8th grade. I'm in college now so thats maaaaaaany years ago. So I know I'm rusty. So if you decide to read this, which I hope you do if this part hasn't scared you away, please please please review it. Provide some form of criticism. I need to get better! *cough* I wanna be the very best! *cough*

Update: Managed to fix some of the grammar mistakes, but all credit for that goes to Lady Midday

Awake

Chapter One: Dreaming into Reality

"Wake up, Fang!" a voice called out to her.

The woman being spoken to merely smiled at the voice, her eyes closed. She was lying down on the warm grassy floor of someplace she had a hard time recognizing.

Man, I'm tired...

"Wake up!" Again that familiar voice called out to her. It was unmistakable to the Pulsian woman. The voice was beautifully accented, and had a power over Fang that would always brighten her mood despite the predicament. The voice of her companion could warm her heart, and just as easily break it.

Vanille, Fang said to herself, hiding a pleasant grin after hearing the voice of her companion. Even though what Vanille had said to her was commanding, the few simple words replayed in Fang's mind like a musical masterpiece. A perfect voice, for a perfect girl, she thought.

"Come on, Fang. Wake up already!"

Now her companion was serious. Yet, Fang could sense the slight hint of a giggle from Vanille's voice when she spoke.

Fang squeezed the blades of grass tickling her palms, taking in the warmth of the ground beneath her. Guess I should wake up now, huh? Fang chuckled quietly, pondering for a moment whether she should actually wake up. The warmth of the sun on her tanned skin, the tickle of each blade of grass beneath her hands, and the subtle breeze blowing strands of her wild black hair seemed so calming for her, that Fang began to think that she needed another nap!

She felt tired. Really tired. It felt like she hadn't slept in ages. How could Vanille have so much energy now? Fang said to herself. Things should have been quite the contrary, however. Sleeping for 500 years in crystal should make anyone never want to sleep again.

But didn't I complete my Focus? Fang thought again. She knew she had to have done it. Replaying the thoughts of fighting Orphan, Vanille and her transforming into Ragnarok, and saving Cocoon reassured her. But once her mind delved into deeper detail of these past events, everything started to get hazier and hazier, her mind caught up in a mist of confusion.

"Fang? Hellooooooo?" Vanille called out to the older woman, gently nudging her to wake up.

The woman in question was still caught up in her thoughts however, her mind shielding herself from the outside distractions. She kept delving deeper into her mind, trying to hash up all the memories she could find. Remembering her childhood was easy, as all good memories were with Vanille, but as she got closer and closer to the day when Vanille and her woke up in the Pulse Vestige everything began to get hazy again. Almost as if what happened was one terrible dream...

Or nightmare...She added. Fed up with the confusion for now, she decided to turn back to the matter at hand.

Dismissing the bouts of confusion from her, her mind immediately returned to the warmth under her sari-wrapped body. The blades of grass tickling her tanned arms and legs. A gentle breeze brushed black strands of hair lazily over her face, stifling a giggle from her companion.

Everything is peaceful...for now anyway.

Fang groaned. Desperately wanting all of her problems to just go away. Cocoon, fal'Cie, l'Cie, she didn't care. All she wanted was Vanille, and she knew, well, she hoped, that Vanille wanted her too.

"Hmph. Fine," Vanille huffed. "If you just want to sleep all day, Fang, and miss the view of Cocoon crystallized, than thats fine by me." A hint of silliness flavored her words, joking about her frustration at failing to wake Fang up.

Ha! I knew we had completed our Focus! Fang screamed out in her head. I knew it hadn't been a dream. So Vanille and I really had done it, huh? The two of us saved the wo- Fang abruptly ended her thought once she played back 'Cocoon crystallized'. If Vanille and I really did complete our Focus...than shouldn't we be crystal too? A worse thought entered her mind. Ugh...that means the two of us are awake again...are we still L'Cie?

Fang shot upright and her emerald eyes bolted upon, far too quickly to take in the view Vanille desperately wanted her to see. But as soon as her eyes opened, they were shut once again, Fang recoiling from the suns bright light in sleepy eyes. Finally, after a few moments, Fang spoke.

"Vanille...did you say that Cocoon was 'crystallized'? Fear building in her stomach as she awaited the answer she dreaded would come.

"Of course, Fang. What else do you think I was talking about?" Fang was lost in silence again.

She felt the incredibly smooth skin of Vanille's hands on her own, gently pulling Fang's arms away from protecting her eyes. Fang still had her eyes shut tight, still not used to the sun's rays.

"Fang..." Vanille paused, Fang noting the concerned tone her voice had. "Are you alright? You look pale." Fang nodded her head.

"Don't worry about me Vanille. I'm fine...just a little tired right now."

Fang felt Vanille lean in closer, until forehead touched forehead. "Maybe you have a fever..." her companion said. Leaving Fang's forehead for a moment, causing the older woman to frown, missing the contact. Vanille wasn't missed for long however, as her forehead was soon replaced with an impossibly soft kiss.

Fang leaned into the gentle touch of Vanille's lips. She rubbed her eyes before finally opening them to the radiant landscape around them. Relaxing once more, Fang readjusted her position, leaving Vanille's contact, leaving one leg outstretched while the other is bent at the knee, an arm lazily rubbing it. Her free hand immediately went back to the warmth of the grass again. Finally, she scanned her surroundings, and was utterly stunned at what she saw.

Flowers. Everywhere.

Fang drank in her surroundings. She and Vanille were lying on a patch of grass flanked by wildflowers of every color imaginable, hell, there were colors she never even knew existed before!

At first she would've thought that the view around her would be hard to see, as by now it was getting pretty close to dusk, but one by one each flower began to glow in a brilliant bioluminescence. Each flower radiating colors from vibrant greens to icy blues. The breeze picked up again, simultaneously shifting each flower as they bent in the wind.

Amazed at what she had seen around her, she continued to explore with her eyes. Shifting her head to the left, she gazed upon shimmering pools of crystal clear water. Fish of every color of the rainbow darted to and fro and the quiet pitter-patter of water droplets cascading down upon the pools from waterfalls above made the whole scene extremely calm.

It's like I'm dreaming, Fang thought, having to rub her eyes once more just to reassure herself that the beauty before her, and this time she wasn't speaking of Vanille, was real.

Everything was serene. So relaxing. Fang felt that just being in the presence of such a spectacle of nature would wash away her troubles.

"Vanille...do you know where we are?" Chuckling a little, Fang continued.

"I'm hopelessly lost right now." Vanille giggled at her companion's words, sliding in next to Fang and relaxing her head on the older woman's shoulder.

"Ever since we were kids, Fang. You'd always forget where to go, you'd pick a random direction and continue onward like it meant nothing!" Vanille smiled at Fang, who's cheeks were turning red.

"Remember that time back in Oerba? Where the Shaman had the two of us collect mushrooms to restock the supply of medicine?" Fang rushed to shut the girl up, embarrassed that she was bringing up something as humiliating as this. But she just lowered her head and let Vanille continue, praying to the Maker that she wouldn't remind her of the little 'incident' Fang and Vanille had when the two were but young children where Fang had steered Vanille off the return path to Oerba and onto a path towards the mountains. After a three-hour trek the two had finally stopped at the edge, where Pulse in all its glory was laid out before them. They felt on top of the world, only the colossal Taejin's Tower exceeding their height. Until, of course, they had noticed that the spot where they had stopped to look down on Pulse, was home to one of Pulse's deadliest creatures.

Fang ran her hands over her back, remembering the cuts the behemoth had grazed her with when Vanille and her were on that mountain.

But sensing Fang's sensitivity towards the memory, and to Fang's pleasure, Vanille did not continue. She stood up once more, gazing up at the night sky as the stars lit the vast sea of darkness. Fang smiled and joined her, taking Vanille's hand in her own as the two stared out into the void.

The moment was calm and peaceful. It was Vanille who broke the silence.

"Do you think we'll ever wake up, Fang?" Vanille spoke, a hint of concern escaping her lips.

What? She thought. What's Vanille talking about? We've already awoken! We wouldn't be here if we were still sleeping! Contemplating the meaning to Vanille's words opened up the flood gates of Fang's confusion once again. Is this all a dream? Or is what I did before I went into crystal the dream and this is the reality? More determined to get such thoughts away, she planned to change the subject, but was stopped short when Vanille turned around.

Tears. With the moon's light on her Vanille's tears looked like icicles as they clung to her skin. The sight tore Fang's heart out and ripped it pieces. When the two were children, Fang swore to protect Vanille, so she'd never cry again. Fang tried her best to do whatever she could to prevent Vanille from crying, but eventually, there were times where it was hard for Fang to keep herself from crying, and it broke her heart to see Vanille try and comfort her while tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Her auburn bangs attempted to mask Vanille's red and teary eyes but were brushed out of the way when Fang embraced Vanille.

"Shh. Don't cry, Vanille." The younger woman buried her head in Fang's chest, tears trickling down her flushed cheeks.

"It's going to be alright, ya hear?" Fang patted Vanille's head with one hand while her other was wrapped around the shorter woman's waist, keeping her in the tight embrace so Fang could take Vanille's burden off her shoulders.

"No more crying, Vanille. Everything is going to be fine. I'll make sure of it." Fang emphasized the last part of the sentence, but remained gentle to Vanille, comforting her as best as she could.

Vanille pulled her head away from a moment to look at Fang, who was smiling assuringly to her. The older Pulsian leaned in and dotted her face with kisses. She placed a kiss on one eye, then the other. She kissed her left cheek, lingered there, tasting salt.

"I've got you, Vanille. It's going to be alright," Fang said comfortingly, which made a small smile cross Vanille's face, the waterworks stopping.

Fang touched her lips to her right cheek, then her forehead, and hugged Vanille tightly. Fang ran her fingers slowly through Vanille's bangs, tucking stray strands behind her ear. Vanille sniffled a little, but returned the embrace with as much affection the younger girl could muster.

"Thank you, Fang." the younger woman spoke.

Vanille rested her head on Fang's chest while Fang laid hers on top of Vanille's. Breathing in her scent, Fang remembered that Vanille would always smell like exotic spices. This time, Fang was greeted to a new scent, it confused the Pulsian woman, Vanille's new scent unknown to her. The only thing she could relate the scent to was crude oil and sawdust. Which confused Fang even more.

Okay...things are really starting to get weird. Why is everything being so strange? Why did Vanille break down into tears after asking me a question? Why does Vanille smell differently then how I remember? Fang replayed the question in her mind again and again. Confusion swelling back into her.

Enough is enough. Its time I get some answers. I need to know whats going on. Now.

Fang hadn't had her mouth half-way open to ask the question when she was already stopped by Vanille.

"Fang?" Vanille whispered quietly into her ear.

"Hm?" Fang responded, looking down at Vanille and smiling, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Look up!" Vanille grinned brightly, flashing very white teeth. Fang's curiosity got the better of her and she agreed.

"What the hell..." Fang's mouth gaped open. Utterly taken back at the site of Cocoon, suspended in the night sky by a tower of crystal.

The same tower of crystal that Vanille and I created when we transformed into Ragnarok, Fang thought. She blinked a multitude of times, hoping that the visage before her was not real.

Cocoon. The 'vipers nest' as those on Pulse would call it. Cocoon was the source of all their problems. The war five-hundred years in the past, their Focus, and bringing Vanille into this mess. It was the object of her hatred. Her anger towards fal'Cie living in Cocoon stripping away her home just to make the humans lives in the vipers nest just a little bit easier.

I must be going insane.

When Fang and Vanille decided to complete their Focus, and save Cocoon, what was left after becoming Ragnarok was but a shell of its former life. A husk. An empty, lonely husk. Looking at it from below on Pulse, one always thought of Cocoon as a place of mystery. Where mothers would tell young children they'd be sent there if they misbehaved. Truth is, people on Pulse were angry at Cocoon. But they were also scared. Jealous maybe. It was true the other way around also. Well, she knew that the humans living on Cocoon were hell bent on eradicating anything from Pulse. Thats how Vanille and Fang first got into this mess.

Fear. The one emotion that could control the hearts and minds of thousands.

Cocoon is different now. While it use to be the home to billions of human lives and millions of Fal'Cie controlling everything, now it was all gone. A small, glow emanated from Cocoon's core. Around Cocoon, great spikes of crystal thrust out to escape. A small sphere of webbed crystal was present as well. While impossibly far for anyone to see from this distance, Fang knew what was there. It was where Fang and Vanille lay suspended in crystal, facing each other after their job as Ragnarok was complete.

Was it still there? Fang wondered. If this was a dream, that her doubts would be confirmed. If Vanille and her had awoken again...Well Fang didn't know what would happen.

Suddenly, Fang felt the ground beneath her fade away, and she sent spiraling down into darkness.

She was falling. How fast? Fang couldn't tell. Wind seared past her, blowing her up as she fell.

Where was she? Didn't matter. What's going on? Didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was where Vanille was.

Where is she? Fang twisted her body this way and that, but to no avail. Darkness enveloped her. Cold, unrelenting darkness.

"Vanille!" No response. Fang lashed out, trying to suppress her anger. She tried to reach out for something. Anything.

Like the light at the end of the tunnel, Fang was out of the darkness. The empty void of black around her shimmered and grew hazy. Dissipating soon as the flashing light grew louder.

Suddenly, she was flying. Descending towards the rocky surface of Pulse at alarmingly fast speeds. It's a nightmare, Fang. Just a really. Weird. Nightmare.

Fang flipped in air, so now her back was facing the impending ground. Hair flew in her face as Cocoon, now unfrozen floated above her, mocking her, Fang clawed at the air, as if one attack might swat Cocoon out of the sky.

"Fang!" A voice called out to her. Vanille. Fang spun around, exhaling a sigh of relief as Vanille rocketed towards Pulse with her, only a few feet in the air away.

"Take my hand!" Fang cried out to Vanille. Hand outstretched but words lost in the wind. Vanille got the message though and tightly grasped onto Fang's hand for dear life. Her arms wrapped around Fang's waist only encouraged the older woman to keep Vanille in her protective embrace longer. Fang turned their bodies around, so when they collide with the Pulse Fang would take the brunt of the blow.

"Fang, stop!" Vanille's words were full of tears. It seemed in that in this hazy mass of confusion Vanille was still able to piece together that Fang was trying to save her, yet again. But from this height and speed, Fang wondered: Would we be able to survive even if I took the crash for her?

Vanille wrenched her way out of Fang's grasp and looked back at her, a smile masking her true worries and concerns for their fate.

"Vanille!" A powerful gust of wind blowing the two Pulsians away from each other and spiraling out of control. Fang outstretched an arm again in a vain attempt to bring Vanille back. She shot her hand back when she realized it wasn't exactly a hand anymore.

The oversized appendage was more reminiscent of of a decaying tree trunk. Fang's 'arm' was a mucky ice blue. Chunks of who-knows-what jutting out from the side. Fingers were now swollen blue pieces of bark.

"What the hell is goi-Aaah!" Fang's normal hand covered her ear, shielding her from a powerful ringing noise. Fang looked herself over, her legs becoming more skinny and gangly looking. Soon enough her normal hand had swelled and copied the other. Two flailing tree trunk arms thrashing wildly in the wind as Fang continued on an almost never ending fall.

What's going on? Fang mentally screamed out to herself. The answer was already before her.

Fang was becoming a Cie'th.

Frightened to her core she frantically looked for Vanille, whose physical conditions by some miracle were still normal. She was crying however, tears streaming down her face before being swept upwards by the wind as she spiraled down.

Suddenly they weren't in the air anymore, but back on the grassy flower-filled clearing that Fang had first arrived on. Vanille was standing away from Fang, standing on a rocky outcropping where she could stare at Pulse.

"I have to go Fang." Vanille's words showed no emotion this time. Nothing.

Fang groaned, trying to get up but found herself too heavy to stand. She pounded the ground with her tree trunk fists. The fists of a Cie'th.

Trying to form words were impossible. Any attempt had came out as a low guttural moan.

Wait!

Fang pounded the earth again. Grunting and groaning, desperately fighting to get the words out for Vanille to hear.

Don't leave me!

Tears began to pour down Fang's cheeks, her crying didn't last long however. The rest of her body began to adjust to her Cie'th transformation. Swelling in size, head hunched low as a dirty blue stone grew around her. Encasing her in the prison of being a Cie'th. Of being away from Vanille.

You can't leave me...

Fang howled like a wounded animal in a trap. Pounding at the ground, crawling across the grass for what seemed like an eternity to reach Vanille- who was still facing away from Fang.

Not again...

"I'm sorry, Fang. I need to go." Vanille had turned towards what Fang used to be. Her hand caressing Fang's now bluish skin. Blue rock began to cover over Fang's mouth, only muffled howls and cries escaping.

I didn't have the chance to tell you...

Vanille turned her back to Fang once again. Her voice stern now. "Do me one favor before I go, Fang."

She breathed in heavily.

"Wake up, Fang. You've got to wake up."

Tears began to stream down Fang's deformed body. The Cie'th transformation was almost complete.

I couldn't tell you...that I...

"Wake up, Fang." Vanille said. One last achingly long time.

The metamorphosis was complete. A pair of thin, pale, bluish hands slid over Fang's eyes.

Fang had returned to the darkness. Again.