The Simple Life

Prologue

Author's Note: I'm sort of just writing this story and seeing where it goes. Since I'm not sure where it's headed, I'm not sure if it will be AU. I'll try to avoid OOC as much as possible, but I'm pretty much writing my interpretation of the characters so bear with me if you can. I'd also like to note that I'm not great at writing the Australian accent, so I might not bother with that or it might be subtle. Oerba will probably be pretty AU, since we don't know much about it from the series.

***This story contains some minor spoilers!

Disclaimer: If I owned FFXIII, I assure you that there would be no question as to whether or not Fang x Vanille is canon. Enough said, I think.

The six heroes had set up camp in a secluded clearing tucked away in the depths of the untamed emerald forests of Gran Pulse with nothing but padded sleeping mats as comfort and thin fabrics to keep them warm in the brisk night air. All but one of them gave the appearance of sleeping soundly amidst the chirps and buzzes from the forest that filled their ears. The smell of smoke filled her nostrils, but it was a comfort, a reminder of safety.

Fang kept watch from her perch on a rotten log. Her skin crawled from the cold, but there was no comfort.

A crack behind her caused her ears to prink, but she was not overly concerned by the presence of another, for she had heard the young boy tossing and turning for quite some time.

"Couldn't sleep?" Fang glanced over her shoulder at the young teenager, her look intense as her green eyes seemed to glow by the light of the stars.

Hope shook his head, shivering slightly as he sat on the log beside her. "There's too much noise."

Fang nodded as though to agree with him, though in truth she thought that forest was much quieter than she remembered, and was content to leave their conversation at that. Talking was not the best way to escape the notice of the beasts of the dangerous Gran Pulsian landscape.

"I miss home," Hope admitted quietly, speaking more to himself than to her.

Fang made a noise of agreement, not sure what he wanted from her.

"Do you miss yours?" He glanced expectantly at her.

Fang smiled in amusement as she stared into the distance, for she felt that the noise she had made had implied that just fine, but maybe he was a little bit thick.

"'Course, I do, but we're headed there now, aren't we?"

Hope nodded. "What was it like?"

"What was what like, kiddo?" Fang mumbled, still staring into the darkness of the forest, her ears strained to hear the breathing of the others—mostly one in particular.

"What was it like living here back then? You lived in a village, right? What was it like living a simpler life?" Hope just wanted to make conversation.

Fang laughed sardonically, smiling faintly at him. "You think living on Gran Pulse was simpler than living on Cocoon?"

Hope looked embarrassed, stuttering, "I j-just meant—well, they always say those are the simpler times. You know, without technology and stuff."

Fang scoffed as she looked out into the woods. "You've got it backwards, kiddo. Life on Gran Pulse was anything but simpler."

Still, her life on Gran Pulse had not been too bad. Her people had not been completely without technology, though the dazzling lights and television screens of Cocoon had been absent from her lands. She had never minded the lack of those things, though air conditioning and, more importantly, heat might have been nice.

"I'd rather not talk about the past, if you don't mind," Fang exclaimed suddenly.

Hope, still embarrassed that he had offended her, nodded as his features hardened with delicate understanding. He did not want to talk about his past either, because he was unsure that he could ever bring himself to truly accept that he would never again see his mother.

"I'm going back to sleep." Hope stood abruptly and brushed the dirt from his bottom.

Fang nodded absently and did not watch him return to lie down with the others. Instead she smiled ironically and stared through the trees, her eyes returning to the past, the simpler days, as Hope had named them.