Note from author: It's been a really long time since I've written anything. Uni work has been rather time-consuming. Hopefully over the summer I will be able to write something. I also haven't really felt like I've wanted to write about anything I've watched recently either :/ So my ideas are currently running dry. Anyway, here is the final chapter!

Fang gasped in pain, clutching at the brand on her arm. It shone brighter now and had begun to consume her. Black mist swirled into the air and red static crackled around them in the temple, making them jump suddenly as it danced about the forming clouds. A certain energy was pouring into the holy space - pouring into Fang. It was a terrible kind of energy, and the two girls felt it defiling the sacred walls of the temples, and the sacred walls of their bodies. But the energy was targeted at Fang, not at the other, and it poured into the shining brand on her arm weighing down her body.

'Hold on!' Vanille reached out and held the tanned girl as she slipped to her knees, her body trembling with pain - the beaded bracelets on her wrist chattering nervously with each and every tremor of her body. How the pink haired girl wished now that it was her brand glowing instead. Her mind flashed back to the sandy beach of Oerba, the perfect setting sun and the blue sea. How she longed to be back there; not here as the world was about to end. But Vanille knew now that it was no good taking refuge in distant memories, her fears were real.

'Fang, it's going to be okay'. She whispered into her friend's soft, glossy hair, still unsure of what was going on inside her friend's mind as she clutched to Vanille. Little did the pink haired girl know but it was the last time that she would ever look into the real eyes of Fang for a long time. She had no idea how fast her friend was being lost to Ragnarok.

But Vanille knew why now she had been chosen. She may be naive, but she was certainly not stupid. She kicked herself now for realising that it took the transformation of a friend into a monster to break through her childish views that everything would be okay. At first she thought it was simply fate playing a cruel trick. However, tides turn - especially near the crystal blue beaches of Oerba. Fate had not been cruel to her but had been teaching her a valuable lesson instead. All this time Fang had gone on about how she wanted to protect Vanille, but who was there to protect Fang? She knew now that even the tall, tanned fighter still had her weaknesses. But maybe together they could both overcome each other's weaknesses. Besides, what was a world with people in it when there was no Fang? And maybe - just maybe- she could have a world with people still in it, and her best friend too.

'Get away!' Her attention snapped back to the tanned girl in her arms. 'Get away.' She looked up at Vanille with horrid, red eyes. The fiery glare blazing off of them made her stumble back a few steps before tripping on a loose tile. Too late. It's too late now. Vanille fell backwards to the ground, watching as Fang rose up off of her knees. There was pain in the warrior's eyes and her brow knitted together. Harsh lines spread across her tawny forehead.

She watched now, eyes glued to her friend, as Fang completed her focus. The figure standing in front of her was suddenly consumed by the black mist. It enveloped her in a shroud before suddenly seeping back into the temple. A hideous beast exploded up into the sky in a burst of flames, bursting through the temple roof. Bricks and dust exploded through the air. Vanille was knocked back down onto the floor undermining her previous effort to get up after falling backwards. She covered her face as bits of shrapnel and rocks flew about. After they had settled the girl prised her arms away from her pale face and peered up into the giant gaping hole in the temple ceiling. Fear wracked her body as she watched the beast soar through the blood, red sky. The clouds had turned completely black and even the red sky seemed to reach up into a black void instead of what would normally be the midnight sky. There were no stars tonight - all the light in the sky had been leeched out by the black void. The monster continued its ascent towards Cocoon. Once a tall, athletic brown haired beauty, Fang's skin was now charred and cracked with oozing lava. The orange liquid seeped out the breaks in her skin and crackled as it came into contact with the air - creating a stream of sparks behind her. Fire caressed blackened palms and razor-sharp talons. Her perfectly arched feet have now been taken over by black paws, also adorned with the same talons as her hands. Here she was; Ragnarok.

Vanille thought it rather ironic that the hunter from Oerba was now herself a beast. It seemed like years passed as Fang ascended towards the oblivious orb in the sky, and in that time she had what seemed like aeons to think about what was happening. Vanille had failed - not just her task but she had failed Fang. And soon the peaceful people of Cocoon would be waking in their beds and shaking to the terror of Ragnarok. Tears slipped slowly down her cheek. Crying won't help me now. Vanille felt her heart become engulfed in pain. Her best friend had been replaced by a monster. Fang no longer existed. 'Oh Fang. Please, forgive me…' All she wanted was to be with her friend, even if that meant that they were both monsters or dead. And then, something strange happened in her. An image burst forth into her mind, but it was not that of Ragnarok destroying Cocoon. It was strange but the image was of her, and not Fang, as the monster. This time her friend was fighting her - destroying the beast. For once and for all? Did this too mean that there would be peace one day? A sudden calm swept over her and the tears stropped rolling down her cheek. Instead of crying she got up and pressed her hands and fingers together over her heart in the typical gesture for peace amongst her peoples. As she did this, Vanille felt her heartbeat slow and her body grow cold and hard. She could no longer move, instead she watched Fang before the crystal finally encased her entire body.

'Incomplete', gasped Etro.

'A failure', cried Barthandelus.

'Ruined', wept Anima. The Fal'Cie mourned the hideous disfigured beast that had left a mere scratch on Cocoon. Still, this mere wound left the humans scrawling around like insects in the dirt. They wailed too just like the Fal'Cie, except their cause was entirely different.

'You have failed, Anima!' Barthandelus shouted, 'we will never see our maker now'.

'Do not despair, for it is not quite the end', the two Fal'Cie repeated Etro's words. But to them it still seemed like the end. 'Anima, your l'cie may have failed now, but that does not mean they cannot succeed again.'

'I do not understand, Etro. How can it be?' Anima puzzled and wondered how the two failed l'cie would prove useful. 'They should be turned into cie'th, their contract remains unfulfilled'.

'Unfulfilled is exactly it. Change their contract. Let the humans live, and give the l'cie another chance. Today is not the day we shall meet our maker. Realise this and end your attack upon the humans'.

'Etro, you are too…compassionate.' Barthandelus began. But he too saw some hope in this plan.

Ragnarok had failed, and Fang's identity had been shattered to pieces. The woman from the town of Oerba had been lost to a useless monster, all for nothing. But the fal'Cie took pity, and Fang found her conscience reforming and drifting back into her body just in time to see that she was standing next to Vanille - well, what used to be Vanille. The small crystal figure was frozen in a pained expression. Fang knew why; she hadn't managed to protect. She reached out and touched her crystallised cheek. She could feel her heart becoming swallowed up by guilt, and as she did so the fal'Cie looming in the sky closed in and approached her. Looking down the human saw Vanille's small hands forming a gesture of peace resting over her heart.

'Oerba Yun Fang. You have failed your task', boomed Barthandelus. 'Cocoon remains intact.'

'But fear not, for we have the solution.' The mighty fal'Cie started to glow. Fang realised now that she would share the same fate as Vanille. This would be the cue for any other being to panic. But to share this fate was all that she could ask for now. They had been through too much together, it was too late to be separated. It was Vanille or nothing. At least they could be together in a way. No more hurt, no more war. But at the same time no more walks up the mountains, hunting in the wilderness or just lying in the sand together beneath the warm sun, watching Vanille's pale skin glow in the light. Never again would she see her smile. Fang turned her face up towards the apocalyptic sky, searching for a heaven. She prayed into the dark abyss of the charred, crimson sky that on the other side would be Vanille, waiting for her. Fang turned back to the crystal form of her friend now, trying to search her face for an answer. Would they see each other again?

'Maybe we'll have more success in the future'. As Etro spoke these words Fang felt her exhausted body start become rigid. It started in her legs and travelled quickly up her torso. At the same time, as each cell gave way to a new, solid structure, it pushed out all the pain and grief with it. With the last of her strength, Fang cupped her hands over Vanille's before the rest of her body gave itself up to crystal.

Vanille, I never got to keep the promise I made to you, and I never got to say goodbye. I don't know if you would have forgiven me for this, and I'm sorry we couldn't be together in the end. But we're resting side by side now, and I just hope that one day we'll see each other again.