She ran down a dark forest path, feeling the panic streaming through her veins, her heart pumping like crazy. She was looking for her, she instinctively knew, just knew that Vanille was in danger. She had to find her, before it was too late!

"Vanille?" Fang heard herself screaming into the silent night she was running through. "Vanille! Where are you?" she called again for her love, louder and more desperate this time. She didn't stop running to take a much needed break. She couldn't. Every second counted know, she felt it as her heart pumped even faster while her chest tightened around it more and more by the second.

"VANILLE?" she screamed with all the power she could muster.

"Fang! Help- Help me!" she heard Vanille scream from her left. Fang immediately turned and ran to where the girl's voice had come from. It wasn't far away.

Within seconds, she reached a clearing within the otherwise quite thick wooded forest. And there she was, her love. And a soldier wearing a PSICOM uniform was holding her up with his hand at her collar. In his other hand he held a rifle.

"Vanille! Let her go!" Fang screamed while drawing her spear from her back and closing more distance between herself and the soldier holding her girlfriend. She was only a few metres away now, pointing her spear at the man, taking a battle stance.

The soldier twitched surprised when he heard Fang's voice and saw her approaching his position. He let Vanille drop to the ground, not bothering if she hurt herself while landing on the grass or not, and pointed his gun at her. "Get up, l'Cie scum!" he ordered and Vanille obeyed without a word.

"I said: Let. Her. Go." Fang hissed at him aggressively. "I won't ask again," she threatened and moved her spear a bit in her hands for emphasis.

"Oh? I don't see you in a good position to give me orders, scum. We both know that you won't attack me. Because if you do, your little girlfriend here will be dead before you even reach me," the man coldly replied and Fang swore he was grinning under that helmet as he tightened his grip on the gun still pointing at Vanille who had a look of sheer fear on her face while she held up her hands.

But in her heart, Fang knew he was right with what he said. She couldn't really force him to do anything as long as he still had his rifle pointed at Vanille. And she couldn't attack him either. "What do you want?" she spat out in utter disgust.

He only laughed at this. "What do I want? Seriously?" he turned his head a bit more into Fang's direction. "Shouldn't you know that, l'Cie?"

No. Unfortunately, Fang really didn't know. And it scared her to death. Her chest contracted more around her fast beating heart as she tried to keep her composure, not wanting to show her fear for the girl, not wanting to show any weakness. "Why don't you tell me what it is again?" she spoke out slowly. Whatever it was, she didn't actually plan to give it to him, she just wanted to gain more time to come up with an idea on how to safely free Vanille.

There was a short silence before the man answered. To Fang, it felt like an eternity. "I want to see you suffer for what you did, Oerba Yun Fang," he said coldly. He turned his head to look at the frightened girl in front of him again. "And I guess I've stumbled upon a way to accomplish that."

No, no, no, no, no! It practically screamed in Fang's head as she realised what he meant. He wanted to take the one person from her that she loved more than anything else. She couldn't let that happen!

She felt fear overtake her more and more as she spoke out the next words, her gaze directed at Vanille alone, her voice a bit shaky. "If you want to see me suffering, why don't you take me then?" Although she practically screamed this at him, she felt her strength and her usual toughness leave her at the mere thought of losing Vanille.

The soldier didn't even bother to look at her now as he calmly explained himself. "But Fang. We both know that there's no better way to hurt you than to take your precious girlfriend here from you ... for good." Vanille burst out in tears at the man's coldness as he sentenced her to death. She didn't want to die, to leave Fang alone and hurting in this world. It wasn't right, it wasn't her time! But what could she do? "Fang ... I," she sobbed, "I'm so, so sorry!" she managed to choke out between tears.

"No, no, no! There must be a way! Listen, I do everything! You can take me with you, torture me in any way you like, but leave her alone ... please," Fang desperately begged the man. She only noticed now that tears had begun streaming down her cheeks. She lowered her spear and looked up at the man. She was broken. Oerba Yun Fang was broken, begging for her girlfriend's life, completely at the mercy of a stranger.

But he didn't seem to care. "I will make you pay for what you did," he hissed through his teeth. His voice had taken on a tone that made Fang shudder, she felt like her blood would freeze in her veins at any minute now. "No ... please," she tried again and fell to her knees.

"I've made up my mind," the soldier stoically said and pulled the trigger. A single shot fell.

The bullet entered Vanille's chest and the girl fell on the ground with a loud thud. It all felt so unreal to Fang, and at the same time it was very real, right in front of her own eyes. She couldn't move, her spear dropped to the ground. She sat there in utter shock as the stranger took his weapon and left her there without a word.

But it only took her one moment to fully gather what had just happened. And then she burst into tears, completely unrestrained, as she crawled over to Vanille. "Vanille? Please ... answer me, damn it!" she choked out, hoping that the girl had survived the shot. She saw the blood running down her body, on her chest, everywhere. She took the girl's warm hand in her own. "Please ... wake up! I-" she sobbed, "I love you."

And Vanille suddenly opened her eyes a bit and stared up at her love. "Fang..." she said faintly. "Vanille! Please ... hold on, okay? We'll save you, promise," Fang spoke, her voice thick with sadness and worry, but a small spark of hope evident in her eyes as she looked down at the girl. She needed to save her.

"No ... Fang...," Vanille almost whispered weakly. She slowly felt herself fading away from this world, everything seemed to get more and more unreal and ... further away. "I love you ... forever." She took all her remaining power and fixated her eyes on Fang's one last time before she closed them and drifted into a long, dreamless sleep.

Fang didn't want to see what just happened. She squeezed the girl's hand she still held in her own and moved her free hand to her heart to check if it was still beating. And it was, but only for a few more heartbeats before it stopped forever. At this, Fang buried her face in her hand and cried out loudly into the night. "Vanille! Vanille, please, wake up ... you can't leave me here like this ... please."

After what seemed like hours, she calmed down and lay beside the girl's body. The last thing she remembered was sleep overcoming her, pulling her into a dark void of nightmares.

Fang jolted up within barely second. Her naked body was completely soaked with sweat, and, as she quickly noticed, she sat upright in her own bed. She looked down to her right and saw Vanille lying there beside her - unharmed. She'd never felt so relieved in her whole life as she realised that everything had just been a very dark nightmare. Vanille was still alive, and she believed she'd never been happier than right now as she lay down beside her again and hugged her tightly, not caring if she woke her up or not. She needed this now.

"Faaang?" the girl mumbled sleepily while Fang still held her in a tight, almost a bit crushing hug. Fang released her at this and stared deeply into the sleepy, half opened emerald eyes in front of her. Remembering what she'd dreamt, seeing the cruel images reappear in her head, along with this heartbreaking feeling of losing Vanille, Fang smiled a bit sadly at her love before lowering her gaze onto the bed. "Sorry for waking you, love. It's just ... I needed this now."

Vanille felt the last remains of sleep fading from her person as she looked at Fang's face with concern. "What's wrong, Fang?" she asked carefully and put a hand on the older woman's that she rested between them on the bed. "I..." Fang started, trying to rid her mind of the gruesome images that still wouldn't leave her alone. "I saw you dying, Vanille. Because of me," she started slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. She raised her head and met Vanille's gaze again. The pain in Fang's eyes was evident as she stared into these beautiful eyes that she'd just minutes before seen closing forever.

Vanille immediately scooted closer to Fang and drew her into a loving hug herself. She knew Fang needed this now, more than ever. Seeing that Fang usually was the one who always protected and comforted Vanille, the girl felt glad that she could give something back. Situations like this happened rarely, and when they did, Vanille did her best to show Fang that she could also protect and comfort her and was there for her when she needed her. Just like now.

Fang wrapped her arms tightly around Vanille's naked back in front of her. "It hurt so much, Vanille" She closed her eyes when she felt tears forming in them. "To lose you, to see you dying there." She couldn't stop a sob from escaping her lips while speaking.

"I can still feel it, the pain," she almost whispered while resting her head on Vanille's shoulder. Her tears were running freely now, she couldn't have stopped them from leaving her eyes even if she'd wanted to.

"It's ok, Fang. I'm right here, and I won't go," Vanille whispered into Fang's ear, trying her best to comfort her. She stroked gently over her back while she felt Fang's tears landing on her shoulder. This did indeed not happen often, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen Fang crying. Vanille could only imagine what kind of horror scenario Fang must've dreamt about, and it made her shudder to only think about it.

Fang, of course, did not fail to notice the girl's shuddering. "Vanille? Everything ... okay?" she asked silently.

"I just tried to imagine what it must've felt like, what you dreamt," Vanille explained herself calmly and tightened her hug. She placed a soft kiss on Fang's shoulder before she felt the woman gently pull away from her to look at her. Fang's eyes were still glazed with tears as she gazed deeply into the girl's eyes which had filled with tears as well.

"Vanille...," Fang started, taking the girl's hand in her own before continuing. But she didn't know how to put into words what her heart screamed. Are there even words to fully explain to someone you never want them to leave because they're the one thing in the whole world you love more than yourself, more than anything else? That if they died, you would feel yourself dying along with them? You could say just that, but would these words really accomplish to make the other fully understand and feel the emotions that were behind them? Fang wasn't sure.

But Vanille understood her love without words. She knew what Fang had wanted to put into words. "It's alright, Fang. I know," she simply said and smiled a bit before she leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. And right now, this moment meant the world for them, as they closed their eyes and tried to express everything they felt in this kiss.

It felt like an eternity before they pulled away again, their eyes immediately searching the other's gaze. "I'm yours," Vanille whispered and it seemed that was all that was needed to make Fang smile at this moment. And it wasn't a sad smile anymore, it was loving.

"And I am yours," Fang replied before she gently pulled the girl into another hug. "Stay in bed with me. I need you now," she whispered into Vanille's ear. Knowing that the sun was already rising outside and that they had to work today, she added "We'll call in sick later, okay?"

Vanille nodded and began planting soft kisses on Fang's shoulder and then her neck, up to her jaw. When she got there, she pulled her into another tender kiss.

She felt Fang's arm landing on her waist before she was gently laid on her back. Their eyes met as Fang lowered herself onto her, and Vanille saw nothing but love in them.

She wrapped her legs tightly around Fang's waist and placed her hands on her back as the woman settled between her thighs. Their faces were only inches apart, their love-filled gazes not for one second leaving the other's as three words escaped both women in unison: "I love you."

AN: So first of all, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. This is the first fic I've uploaded here and I've also just recently started writing in English (I'm not a native speaker) ... so it'd be great if you review and tell me how you liked it and point out mistakes and such :)