The sky was a dusky mix of orange, pink, and dark blue as the sun began to set. It was that time of day when the stars just started to become visible, highlighting the extreme colors of the sky as the sun retreated. Watching the scene from the roof of a boarded up house in the Candy Court cul-de-sac, two sisters quietly lay next to each other, staring upwards.

"When I said we should celebrate your Guardian Corp Program Graduation," Serah began in a slightly unsettled voice, "I didn't exactly have running away… or breaking and entering in mind."

"We're not running away. Or breaking and entering," Lightning tartly replied. "This is our home. And we didn't even enter it."

"Trespassing. Whatever. You couldn't at least wait until you officially became part of the GC before you start breaking laws?"

Lightning turned her head away from the sky to give her younger sister a hard stare.

"Sorry," Serah responded defensively. "Just a little dirty cop humor. Won't happen again. Sheesh…"

Lightning turned to face the sky again.

"But at least—"

Lightning sighed.

"—can we call Cid and let him know where we are? He might get worried."

"Cid's not our dad," Lightning stated.

"I never said he was," Serah quickly shot back. "I'm just saying, he did take us in when dad got sentenced for treason. He stood up for you and Snow, AND he made sure you got into that GC program. The least we can do is follow some simple house rules."

She received another burning glare from Lightning.

"Or not," Serah sighed as Lightning once again turned to face upwards.

Lightning ground her teeth and took in a deep breath as she kept her steely gaze trained on the sky. She knew Serah was trying to work with this crappy hand they had been dealt. She wanted to be able to work with it too, but if that meant having to check-in constantly with Cid Raines, then she wasn't having it. The man had only been interim Primarch for two weeks before the position was totally eliminated and power was divided amongst the remaining Sanctum leaders. The demotion, however, didn't stop him from acting as if he was the supreme ruler of her life.

When their father was arrested for plotting against Cocoon with the fal'Cie, Light and Serah were left with no caretakers and had instantly been deemed as 'property' of Cocoon. That's when Cid swooped in. He made a case about Lightning being one of the saviors of Cocoon who rushed in to stop the fal'Cie primarch, even though her father had been seen aiding Vanille by attacking a group of PSICOM soldiers right after she had murdered one. Cid called her a hero and proclaimed that she deserved more than to just be thrown into 'the system', especially with all the chaos that had been going on throughout Cocoon at the time. He then found her a spot in the Bodhum program for Guardian Corps candidates and invited her and Serah to stay with him at a new place he had started renting in the seaside town.

Lightning was thankful for the man's help, but at the same time, she was also peeved by it. She hadn't noticed it at first because she was so preoccupied with every other huge thing that was happening in her life, but after a couple of weeks had passed, she started to realize… he was always prying.

He was constantly asking her questions. Where was she going? How was she feeling? Who was she talking to? Did she want to go to the next Cavalry meeting with him? And nothing seemed to bother him more than her new camaraderie with Commander Jihl Nabaat, who she had met shortly after all of the events in Eden. The two barely talked, but once in awhile Nabaat would video call to ask Lightning research questions about her experience as a l'Cie. All of these calls, of course, were both heavily supervised and criticized by Cid.

Serah would constantly tell Lightning to be more appreciative because Cid was just trying to help, but something about Cid just gave Lightning this eerie feeling. And if he had really wanted to help, he wouldn't be policing her as if he was Super Cop. If he had really wanted to help, he would've acquitted her father while he was still interim primarch. He would've found a way to get her and Serah back into their own house instead of into one with him. He would've considered Lightning's feelings about privacy before having her face pasted on every billboard and her 'story' printed in every magazine. He would stop giving her the run-around whenever she asked questions regarding news that intelligence had gathered from Gran Pulse. And if he had wanted to help, he definitely wouldn't be planning to move her and Serah to Eden with him once the school year finished.

Well, Lightning wouldn't let that last thing happen anyway. She had a plan set in place. She had already been given the name of a Guardian Corps lieutenant nearby, Amodar if she recalled correctly, who she heard didn't mind working with young officers. She could probably convince Commander Nabaat to clear her for work before turning eighteen, and the quicker she could start patrols, the quicker she could start making an income. She already had her eye on a small space, just big enough to house her and Serah, not too far from Lebreau's house that she could just about afford on an early GC salary. If she took a second job, she would also be able to afford food and school supplies for Serah. She would try using her new reputation as "Savior of Cocoon" to get her a deal, but she wasn't prepared for the media storm that would begin to stir if everyone knew she was striking out on her own.

"Claire…"

Lightning was jolted from her thoughts by her sister's voice.

"You know I understand, right?"

Lightning's eyebrows creased in slight confusion, not exactly sure what Serah was talking about.

"I get it. I really do. Dad. Turning into crystal. That feeling like you don't have control over anything in your life anymore… And I get homesick sometimes too, but you're where my home is now. And it sucks feeling like I'm being iced out all the time. I thought that if there would be anyone to talk about this kind of stuff with, well… I thought we'd be able to talk to each other."

Lightning's stomach curled a bit in shame. She hadn't really thought about it that way. Serah was just as involved in this as anyone else and deserved an explanation, but Lightning was determined to give her back as much of a normal life as she could. It was the least she could do for being the one who took it away from her in the first place. And the first step to getting Serah back to feeling like a normal teen would be treating her like one, which also included talking to her like one. Her eyes searched the sky, trying to think of something to say when she recognized a particular line of stars. "Look up there," she stated, pointing her finger out.

Serah silently sighed to herself. Lightning was still dodging the conversation… Nevertheless, Serah lifted a curious eyebrow before scooting closer to Light as she peered up.

"See those stars that go out like this then down like that?" Lightning asked, tracing her finger along the outline in the sky. "Some people call that the Drunken Knight because they say it looks like a man who can't properly lift his sword. And when they're not around kids they like to call it the Rough Night instead because it still looks like a man who can't properly lift his sword."

Serah softly snorted and smiled, causing the hint of a smile to appear on Lightning's face as well.

"A constellation of a man with E.D.… Nice. Where'd you hear that one from?"

The smile that was trying to work its way across Lightning's lips halted and slowly began to disappear again. "Fang… Sometimes when we were bored or just frustrated, we would stop to stare at the stars. She had a lot more stories about them than I did."

"Oh…" The smile on Serah's face faltered as well. She knew she had hit a sore spot by accidentally bringing up the Gran Pulsian, and she instantly wished that she had never asked Light the question in the first place. But maybe this was a good thing. Maybe this could get her older sister to open up a bit more. "I, uh, I know I didn't really get a chance to get to know her that well… but she did seem like a nice person. Not like the person they make her out to be on TV."

"You mean Ragnarok?" Lightning asked sardonically. "The monster that was controlled by our fal'Cie primarch and destroyed part of our planet before the Saviors of Cocoon rushed in and killed the fal'Cie? Thus stopping Ragnarok in the middle of the act?"

"I know all of that isn't true," Serah replied, not liking the tone that Lightning's voice had taken. It wasn't a good sign for the continuation of their conversation.

"Enough of it is," Lightning retorted. "Do you know how much wreckage she caused? How many lives she ruined? And once the rescue efforts stop using the interplanetary ships for delivering supplies to disaster zones, the Sanctum's going to send them to Pulse with soldiers. Even more lives will be at stake when that war begins."

"Well…" Serah said in a small voice, trying to think of a wise choice of words to say next, "Do you, uh… think she's still alive?"

Lightning remained silent for a moment, before releasing a soft breath. "Cid said they sent out a bunch of energy probes shortly after she mauled through one of the Whitewood territories in the Proto-ecology Belt. The readings didn't show any signs that she would still… I mean…" Lightning's brows ruffled again as the girl struggled to give an answer. "She fell off the planet, tearing down the last portal to Pulse with her." Even though she didn't have the best lighting, if Light squinted hard enough, she could still vaguely see parts of the markings on the planet below. A slight ache pained her chest as she continued on, "It would take a miracle for anyone to survive that kind of fall."

Fang calmly stood with her chin raised, staring into the sky. It was almost funny. She had gone so long without being able to look up and see so many stars, but now that she was home, her eyes were constantly drawn to the one luminous thing in the sky that she had spent so many years of her life resenting.

Cocoon.

"Ragnarok!"

Fang sighed and lowered her chin as an older man rushed towards her from the crowd that had been walking ahead. She recognized his face but she couldn't put a name to it, so she guessed that he must've been a resident of either the Eden or Nautilus reservations. They were the only ones who called her Ragnarok instead of Fang, anyway.

"Ragnarok…" The man heavily breathed as he stumbled forward. "Your spear. Did you lose it?"

"Huh?" Fang blankly stared at the man for a moment before quickly shaking her head. "Oh. Uh… no, no. Didn't lose it. I've got it right here." She bent down to pick up the roughly carved spear that had been lying in the grass next to her feet. Fang couldn't think of a good word to describe how she felt when she had first woken up on Gran Pulse, but the closest thing to it would probably be 'inconsolable'. She rarely talked. Barely ate. Was constantly nauseous. She couldn't sleep, but when she did, she'd have the worst nightmares. A couple of days later, Dane and Sazh found a dead adamantoise lying around the massif. Hoping that it would help her feel a little bit better (and overall boost morale for the large group of people who now looked at her as if she were some sort of god), the two harvested enough supplies from the fallen beast to carve her a nice-sized spear.

The weapon was nothing too fancy—just a simple taming pole—and she actually didn't need it for fighting. Unlike Sazh, who had lost his brand and his powers, Fang and Vanille had returned to Gran Pulse with white, burned out marks on their bodies where their brands used to be along with full use of all their old l'Cie abilities. But even though she didn't need the spear, being able to practice with it did help with keeping Fang's mind off of all the guilt she had been feeling lately. It especially helped her cope when Dane bid them farewell a few days later, taking a fraction of the group to explore other parts of the planet while Fang and Vanille stayed on course towards Oerba. "I guess I just haven't fashioned something to hold it with yet," Fang finally finished telling the man.

"Oh." The man's eyes ran along the spear to study it. "We can make one for you as soon as—"

"No!" Fang quickly cut off, startling the man. "I mean, no thanks. I can do it myself."

"Okay," the man said slowly with a somewhat confused expression on his face. "Well, I came to tell you that they need you up front. We made it. We made it to Oerba!"

Fang's eyes widened and she immediately jumped in step behind the man who had already turned around to lead the way back to the front of their group. Fang couldn't remember the last time she had been so excited. She took rapid, eager breaths as she weaved through the bodies that slowly moved ahead of her until she caught sight of Vanille's two bright pigtails and Sazh's bushy afro.

"Vanille!" she gasped, as she slowed to a stop a few steps behind the two. Neither turned around to face her, but it didn't matter. Within two long strides, she was already standing between them on the ledge that overlooked their hometown. "So we've finally made it…"

Fang froze when her eyes dropped to take in the view below the ledge.

"…home?"

Fang wanted to call it home, but she just wasn't sure. The Oerba that she had remembered was bright. Colorful. Flowery vines would cling to every structure and the streets were always filled with smiling faces. What she was looking on now was something totally different… It was a wasteland.

It could have been an illusion from the setting sun, but all of the color appeared to be totally gone from the small town. Everything looked sepia. Large cracks ran across the concrete of the broken streets, some of them even big enough to house small trees. And everything was covered in dust. Everything. Even small whirlwinds of dust seemed to be kicking around and swirling along the ground and through the doors of some of the rusted, empty homes.

"I…" Fang slowly tried to piece together a sentence as she continued to stare down at the place that no longer seemed like home, but more like some sad, foreign land. "I guess I just remember it being more—"

"Lively?" Vanille finished, her voice sounding a bit flat as she asked the question. "A place needs life to be that."

Fang turned away from the view of the town to give Vanille a questioning look, but Vanille didn't entertain her by looking her way. Fang could see the girl's face slightly quivering despite the indifferent tone her voice had taken, and her heart immediately melted. "Van…"

"What were we really expecting?" Vanille continued, not allowing Fang to say another word, "They've been telling us for years that they evacuated everyone from Gran Pulse during the Rescue Initiative and that everyone they left behind was killed. Is it really so surprising to come back and find out that everything actually is dead?"

"Vanille—"

"I'll start prepping the first groups to head in and make sure the place is clear of monsters." Vanille didn't wait for another response before quickly hurrying away from the ledge and disappearing into the crowd of people behind them. Fang stared after her for a moment before sadly shaking her head and looking back over the ledge.

"She's been acting funny ever since Eden," Sazh finally spoke. He folded his arms across his chest and looked over his shoulder once in the direction that Vanille had disappeared in before turning back to look out over Oerba. "Is it because of the Ragnarok thing or did something else happen up there?"

"I wish I could remember…" Fang admitted glumly, running a hand through her hair. "It's like I get small bits and pieces back of everything, ya know. And it's crazy, cause the one thing that I kinda remember about our focus was when I was 'it'. It's nothing too coherent, like I don't remember images or anything… but I remember feelings. I remember feeling sadness, then rage… Then I remember just wanting to go home—to go back to Gran Pulse. I remembered smelling trees and running water and getting excited, but then getting disappointed again. Then getting angry. And then… then there was this strange feeling that I was getting tired, but it was almost kinda comforting—like in that getting rocked to sleep kind of way. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the dirt with Dahj hovering over me."

Fang stopped to let out a deep breath. She pulled her hand from her hair to rest on one hip while her opposite hand planted itself on the other. "Sazh," she began again as her eyes once again rolled over Oerba, "Maybe… just maybe this is part of me getting what I deserve."

Sazh turned to eye her skeptically.

"After what I did up there… do I really have the right to be upset about this?" Fang's brows wrinkled as she sadly contemplated the thought. "I mean, I destroyed part of a world. Your world. And for me to stand next to you and just… I deserve—"

"Hey."

Sazh's hand tightly gripped Fang's shoulder, forcing her to lift her eyes to meet his.

"We're not going to play the who deserves what game right now, okay?" he said, giving Fang's shoulder another squeeze. "Because you can't convince me that you deserved to become that thing in the first place. That, and I can't afford you having a meltdown at the same time as Vanille. Gods, I've got a toddler son who's more emotionally stable than the two of you put together. And he cries when Marney the Blue Dinosaur sings her goodbye song!"

Fang lightly smiled and felt Sazh's hand give her shoulder another squeeze before sliding off.

"So are you good?" Sazh asked.

"I'm good," Fang replied with a nod, although she could still feel that heavy burden of guilt pushing down against her shoulders.

"Good. Since that worked, guess I better find Vanille and give her a pep talk too. Test my luck while I'm still hot."

"Heh, yeah." Fang slowly backed away from the ledge with Sazh and they both started walking back towards the group. "And Sazh," Fang quickly blurted as Sazh began to turn away to begin his search for Vanille. "I know you're worried about the whole being a dad thing, but… I think you're gonna do a good job."

Sazh remained still, letting the comment sink in before softly grinning. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, someone shot out from the crowd to grab Fang by the elbow.

"Ragnarok, we have an issue."

"An issue?" Fang lifted an eyebrow. "What kind of issue?"

The Gran Pulsian looked towards Sazh, the only Cocoonian in the group, distrustfully before looking back to Fang. "An important one."

"Well, shit…" Fang grumbled, throwing her hands up in the air. "That clears everything up. Ya know, whenever you all tell me about these issues, you are fully capable of fixing them without having me show up to say 'I dunno how to fix this' first."

The Gran Pulsian didn't reply, but instead just stared at Fang with a stale, unimpressed expression.

"Fine," Fang grumped. "Lead Ragnarok to the issue."

Sazh silently watched as the Gran Pulsian led Fang through the crowd. When he could no longer see them, he softly shook his head. "Still just a kid…" he said beneath his breath before turning to continue his search for Vanille.

Meanwhile, Fang allowed herself to be led through the group until she was walking in open grassland. A few meters ahead of her, a handful of the group's elders stood in a straight line, staring at her.

"What's the issue agai—wait." Fang squinted her eyes as she looked past the elders towards a lone tree that stood in the grass. "Who's that guy? Is he with our group? I don't think I remember anyone with that sorta get-up. Or hair color."

The closer they got to the tree, the better Fang was able to see the tall, muscular man who was leaning with his arms crossed against it. The first thing that caught Fang's attention was the man's long, purple hair that was being held out of his face by a black headband. He had a stone cold look in his eyes as he silently watched Fang and the other Gran Pulsian approach him. He looked to be wearing a full-bodied suit of very tight black armor, and attached to his back was some huge sort of blade. Fang was now one hundred percent sure that he was not part of their group, which had to mean… was he a local? Fang could feel her spirits lifting at the thought of showing Vanille that there had been survivors. Not everyone had been taken captive or killed.

"Hey!" Without thinking, she quickened her pace into a light jog towards the tree. "You! Are you from around—AUGH!"

The man had moved the moment that Fang had gotten close enough to take note of his purple eye color. Instantly, Fang found her cheek being roughly pushed into the ground with a knee callously digging into her back.

"Your leader or your prize general. That is what I asked for," a cold voice growled from over her. "And instead, you deliver me a group of ancients and this… this girl?"

"Th-that is them! That is her! She is the best fighter we've got!"

Fang's eyes darted around the ground. She didn't know who this crazy son of a bitch was or where he came from, but there was one thing she was certain of now. He was a threat. Her eyes landed on her spear, which she had inadvertently dropped during the man's surprise attack. It had rolled out of arm's reach, meaning she would probably have to fully rely on her l'Cie powers. All she had to do was twist her hand around just enough to touch him—

"CAIUS!"

Fang's head shot up in surprise to see a young man with brown hair and flowy clothes who looked around Vanille's age standing not too far away from them. His eyes were bewildered as they jumped from Fang to the man who was positioned on top of her.

"Caius, what are you doing?!"

"Noel," the voice above Fang growled. "Where is Yeul? You're supposed to be watching her!"

"I came to—"

Deciding this was her moment, Fang forcefully jerked her shoulder back, just enough to get the man off balance, before twisting around to slap her hand against the man's thigh. The moment her hand touched his armor, she could feel one of her saboteur spells leaking out from her hands.

"What is this?" the man croaked, his voice sounding more intrigued than anything else. "What do you think you're doing?"

Despite all the power that was seeping out of Fang's hand and into the man's armor, he still was able to shoot a hand out to tightly clamp around Fang's neck.

"Caius, no!"

Fang's throat burned and her vision started growing blurry. The man's grip around Fang's neck never slackened. Barely being able to process what was going on, Fang closed her free hand into a fist. Her saboteur powers didn't seem to be working, but maybe a good old-fashioned ruin would do the trick.

When she felt as if her head would almost burst, she quickly slung her ruin spell hand around directly into the man and let it go.

"AUGHHHHHH!" Fang gasped as the grip around her neck disappeared and fiery, hot air rushed through her lungs. On pure survival mode now, she scrambled towards her spear and jumped up just as the purple-headed man came flying back towards her with his giant sword raised.

"Shit!" Fang coughed, lifting her slim spear in just enough time to block a powerful, incoming swing from the giant blade. Fang's bones rattled from the impact, but she didn't let that slow her down from quickly moving back and swinging her spear to block the next incoming swipe. They continued for a few more swings this way, but Fang knew she couldn't go on like this much longer. The man's swings were too powerful and she was too fatigued. And just as she had predicted, it was only a swing or two later before the impact from blocking another one of the mysterious man's blows had broken Fang's new spear in two and knocked her to the ground.

The man's cold, purple eyes landed on Fang and they almost lit up with a giddy gleam. Fang could've lifted her hand and continued the fight using just her powers… but her mind had drifted to the conversation she had had earlier on the ledge. Sazh told her not to think about it, but what if she really was starting to get what she deserved?

"Caius, cut it out!"

Fang heard the soft hiss of metal scraping against something and lifted her eyes to see the young man who had previously been on the sidelines now standing between her and the purple-headed man. He was crouched in a fighting position and held a blade in each hand.

"Ragnarok, get up!"

Fang hadn't even noticed, but a crowd of reservation Gran Pulsians had gathered behind the elders to watch the fight.

"What did they just call you?" the purple-headed man asked in a low voice, narrowing his eyes at Fang.

Fang didn't answer him. She just continued to take in long, steady breaths while angrily glaring up at him.

"That." The purple-headed man lifted his huge blade so that the tip was pointing towards Fang's branded shoulder. "How did you get that?"

"It is she," a higher voice responded.

Fang slightly jumped. From seemingly out of nowhere, a small girl with long, blue hair was now standing under the tree that the purple-headed man had been leaning against earlier.

"She is the one who has been touched by Etro," the young girl continued. "The defier of fate who I saw fall from the sky… The broken l'Cie who I saw returning to Oerba."

"What..." Fang stared at the girl with a look mixed with fear and confusion. "…have the lot of you been smoking?"

"We've been waiting for you." Fang turned her head towards the purple-headed man again. His blade had been reattached to his back and he was now leaning forward with a hand outstretched towards Fang. "I am Caius Ballad."

"Well, Caius Ballad, ya tried to kill me," Fang grumbled as she reluctantly took Caius's hand to pull herself up.

"I was just trying to keep the area safe in preparation for you return," Caius coolly answered. "I was unaware of who you were."

"Who I am? How would you know me? Or that I was coming?"

"Yeul is a seeress," Caius bluntly responded. "And she foresaw you, Gran Pulse's greatest hero, returning to us."

"I'm no hero," Fang quickly interjected. "Far from it."

"Are you not?" Caius asked, raising his eyebrows. "Did you not free all of these people from their Cocoonian prisons and return them to the land of their ancestors? Did you not fight to save those you love?"

Fang's eyes dropped to the ground.

"You are Gran Pulse's greatest warrior," Caius continued. "And you will be greatly needed in the future. Another war with Cocoon is coming. Yeul has seen it. As we speak, the Cocoonians are hunched over their battle charts, trying to figure out the best way to strike."

Fang's eyes quickly lifted back up as a chorus of murmurs erupted from the group behind her.

"Another war?" Fang could feel her throat tightening. "But… but why? We're no threat to them. We don't even have enough people to fight a war with them!"

"Hmph." Caius grunted and turned his head to momentarily face the field of tall grass that stretched out as far as the eye could see. "Men! Women! Show yourselves!"

Fang's jaw nearly dropped as hundreds—hell, maybe even thousands of bodies rose from what must have been crouching positions in the tall grass. She turned her head to look around, but the grassy meadow was filled with bodies. And every last pair of eyes seemed to be on her.

Her heart started beating excitedly and countless thoughts zipped past the forefront of her mind. How had all these people been able to hide that quietly for that long without anyone from her group noticing them? Never mind that. Look at how many of them there are! If this many people were hiding out in this area alone, think of how many survivors there were throughout the whole planet!

"But…" Fang was still trying to slow down all of her thoughts in order to piece together a coherent sentence, "I-I don't want to fight anymore. I've caused enough tragedy as it is."

"Tragedy will happen with or without your consent," Caius pushed. "But you have the power to control this war, to make sure there is no more suffering than there needs to be. With you, there is hope for our survival."

"Fang!"

Fang twisted around to catch Vanille and Sazh, holding Dahj tightly in his arms, breaking to the front of the tight crowd of reservation Gran Pulsians. When Vanille caught sight of all of the new Gran Pulsians in the field, her eyes almost widened to the size of saucers. Sazh's face, however, grew alarmed and his grip around his son tightened.

"The battle with Cocoon is inevitable," Caius loudly stated, commanding Fang's attention back to him, "As it always has been. But with you at our side, we surely cannot fail as we have in past. So let me be the first to say," Caius placed a tightly clenched fist to his chest and lowered to one knee, "that it will be an honor to defend this land alongside you, Ragnarok. That is, if you heed your people's call."

And as if the word was a spark and all of the Gran Pulsians were kindling, the name spread like wildfire across the field.

"Ragnarok. Ragnarok. Ragnarok! Ragnarok!"

All around her, every other Gran Pulsian lifted a fist to his or her chest and dropped down to one knee while chanting the name until the only people left standing were Yeul, Fang, Vanille, and Sazh.

Fang nervously turned around to stare wide-eyed at Vanille and Sazh again. Fear was evident in her eyes and her face was nearly begging them for some kind of help. Vanille stared back with an equally confused and uncomprehending expression on her face. Sazh's expression was more guarded and distrustful, but not any bit more helpful.

"Ragnarok! Ragnarok! Ragnarok!"

Fang took a hard swallow and timidly looked back over the vast crowd of people chanting at her. People who had been hiding out in their own lands. People who she had recently thought were dead. People who weren't looking at her as some sort of monster, but instead as a sign of hope. There was no denying how much pain and suffering she had caused on Cocoon, and she couldn't see how she could ever redeem herself from that... but maybe, just maybe, dedicating her life to protecting the people on Gran Pulse could be a start.

Fang took one final, steadying breath before clenching a fist and lifting it up to hold against her own breast.

Deafeningly loud cheers erupted from all around her.

"You will make a fine leader, Ragnarok." Caius was now standing beside Fang with a hand placed on her shoulder.

"Actually, my name is Fa—" Fang tried to get out before her hand was grabbed and she was being pulled into the crowd of still chanting Gran Pulsians ahead of her.

"Ragnarok…" The edge of Caius's lips slightly twisted into a sinister smile as he watched Fang disappear among the smiling Gran Pulsians. "...the defier of fate."

-End-

A/N: Hey, y'all. Welp, that does it for this. Sorry it's not really a happy ending, but I want to thank all y'all who stuck through with the newbie til the end cause when I started, I didn't even expect it to be this long. Just like I didn't expect to get so much feedback. All the encouragement, critiques, hints, random comments, and maybe like the one or two threats to pelt me with cats... alllllll appreciated. Y'all are awesome. I've kind of got an idea for a (shorter) sequel for this, so if I go through with that, I'll try to have the first chapter written/posted sometime not in forever. So yep. Once again thanks! And hope y'all enjoyed it