Memories of Happier days (Fate/Closed)

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

How was Vanille supposed to get back to Gran Pulse? Walking around the beach of Bodhum, Vanille sighed looking at the various vipers- or...Cocoon people walking around, not a care in the world...for now. Her eyes locked on a figure, a vestige...a Gran Pulse vestige. That reminded her back to her goal, to get back to Gran Pulse no matter what. She had overheard something about a purge going on soon for the city of Bodhum, something about fearing that the Fal'Cie in the vestige might've contaminated some of the citizens...so they would be purged to Gran Pulse...that sparked an idea. If Vanille could get herself onto that purge train...she would have a one way ticket back to pulse...but...what about Fang?

Vanille felt horrible about leaving Fang behind, but if there was some way, some little sliver of hope that she could get back to Oerba...then she could figure out how to get Fang back shortly...or Fang was smart, she would figure something out eventually. Well that settled her mind. Off to be purged...with the rest of the Bodhum vipers. She dragged her heals in the sand as she slowly walked off the beach towards the center of Bohdum, her attention was faded to the things around her as she stared as the sand became stone and the stone a white paved sidewalk. Her mind was back in the days of a green flowery Pulse...a great place, with being so distracted her, she didn't notice the PSICOM fleet make its way towards her until someone screamed out "L'CIE!"

Vanille gasped and looked around for Fang or something but noticed that the breeze was blowing her skirt and sash a bit, showing off her brand. So it was her they were targeting. Great. A shriek escaped her lips as she turned around and bolted, her arms swaying and her balance unsteady as she ran for the vestige, a place to hide where PSICOM wouldn't dare go to.

Hopefully she could run fast enough, but PSICOM's stupid animal things were quite fast. Another wail escaped through her worried self as she ran across the sand towards the water, but once the vestige came into view...soldiers were lined up blocking it targeting the Pulse L'Cie. Vanille took a few steps back but it would be no use. "I'm sorry...Fang." She muttered as she waited for the pain of bullets to pierce her skin.

[Fate Lingod]

Another day, another world. He had to say that this world had much more to offer than that Gaia place. It did remind him of home slightly. Given everything that happened over the past days, Fate's mind was in a haze. It had been days since he had seen Sonuske and he couldn't help, but wonder if his friend was okay. Then there was Ultimecia... She was suppose to be dead. He felt obligated to make him it back to his home world and warn his people. Maybe Squall Leonhart would know what to do. Seifer was here? You think Squall could be here too? Sorry, stop payin' attention when ya said Seifer... Forget it.

Fate Lingod was relaxing at one of the local resturants, waiting for his food. As the waitress brought him his food Fate smiled. It had been forever since he had a meal... Okay, maybe a few hours, but he couldn't work on an empty stomach, right? He took a bite out of his sandwich, but someone had caught his attention. It was that girl, Vanille. Fate never forgot a beautiful woman. Fate's first reaction was to call out for her, but he knew that would be rude. So he did something that he never thought he do; drop his food and got up, walking toward the young woman.

Suddenly, there was screams. L'Cie? Fate remembered hearing that word shortly before the battle with Ultimecia. Vanille was now on the run with those weird soldiers after her. A girl with baggage... Let's just sit back down and eat. ..... We're totally gonna go after her. Well, could we at least get the food to go? Fate ran back to his table putting the money down and grabbed his two sheaths with his blades and strapped in to his back.

"Hopefully, i'm doing the right thing now..." Fate continued to run, not far behind the soldiers. Sonuske had told him to keep a low profile and he was doing a great job of it so far. But he feared that was soon going to change. He came to a halt when he saw the soldiers pointing their guns at Vanille. "Hey, where I'm from we don't pick on beautiful women," Fate yelled, "We usually ask them out or if you're the shy type.... Walk toward them and when they look your direction, you quickly run the other way." Fate snapped his fingers as his eyes turned crimson, sending two large crimson bolts at the soldiers. It was only powerful enough to knock them unconcious, seeing as Fate didn't want to kill them. They were just doing their job, right? He slowly walked over to Vanille, waving lightly. "Ms. Vanille... Uh, now's not the time for this, but you have amazing eyes..." He smiled, hoping she would remember who he was.

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Her eyes were shut and her arms scrunched almost to her face as if to protect herself from fired bullets, but nothing seemed to go off on her, yet. She then heard a voice, somewhat familiar, but definately not hostile, but coming in her defense. She opened one of her eyes and peeked through her hand and once she figured out who was speaking, she dropped her hands away from her face, keeping them into loose fists under her chin as she was still afraid of the PSICOM army standing there...guns ready to fire, then again, they would never set fire on an innoence person...would they?

As Fate knocked out the entire army, which was impressive beyond all believe Vanille just kinda stared with wide eyes before shifting them slowly to Fate and lowering her hands to her sides. Of course he complimented her eyes again, but she didn't want the compliments now...no monster deserved them. "Fate? Why did you-" She looked over at the PSICOM army, all knocked out along the beach. If she didn't move soon, more troops would make their way towards them, and target Fate as well seeing as he took out the whole army in a few shots. "You didn't have to...do that." She almost whimpered as her eyes fell to the ground.

She changed her expression to slightly angry, but only with herself, no one else. "Fate. I'm a Pulse L'Cie. Go ahead, run, just like the rest of them. As far as I'm concerned I truely AM evil and a menece to this world." Vanille said turning the other way and facing the vestige, it was the only piece of home close enough to get to...to be safe in, but that wouldn't last forever, the vestige would be destroyed during the purge. Vanille sighed before turning back to Fate, holding her arms out as a target. "Im evil to this world...You don't want to be friends with me...I'll only get you into...trouble." She said looking around at the fallen unconscious soldiers.

[Fate Lingod]

Okay, that wasn’t exactly the response the boy wanted. He was hoping for a slight blush and something along the lines of “oh, Fate! You saved me!” Fate sighed slightly as he walked over to the fallen soldiers. He kicked each one of them just to make sure they were still alive. Fortunately or unfortunately, they still were. Why did Fate help her? Simple. That’s what friends do. Though they only met the other day, Fate did consider Ms. Vanille a friend, a very attractive friend. He would keep that last part to himself for now. Fate’s attention was drawn back to the young lady as she spoke, claiming he didn’t have to do anything. Fate rubbed the back of his head, laughing sheepishly. She’s so ungrateful! I saw we shock her and just get outta here ‘fore those other soldiers come. And that’s why I don’t listen to you.

”I know I didn’t have to do that…” Fate replied, ”But I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to help you.” Words from a wise man; you don’t need a reason to help someone. He did wonder why she didn’t want his help. Maybe she just didn’t want to endanger him. But Fate could not just stand back and let a friend get shot at. He didn’t have very many friends and he planned to keep the few that he had. As her expression changed to anger, Fate stepped back away from her a bit. ”Whoa! Chill. I didn’t mean to offend you Ms. Vanille…” But as she went on to explain why Fate shouldn’t have helped her the boy’s face drew blank. He kept hearing this word L’Cie. L’Cie was bad, right? So Pulse L’Cie must be extremely bad.

”Not sure what a L’Cie is. I’m not from this world also,” Fate paused, ”So would that make me a L’Cie too?” It made sense in Fate’s mind that a L’Cie was someone from a different world. That’s what people were screaming when Ultimecia attacked and Vanille just said she wasn’t of this world. ”You’re not evil. If you were evil you would have fought back against those soldiers instead of just standing there,” He said, ”If you were evil you wouldn’t have healed me the other day in that battle against Ultimecia.” He slowly walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling. He could hear the sounds of more PSICOM troops coming their way. ”How about we get out of here and you explain this ‘L’Cie’ thing to me?” He shrugged slightly waiting for her answer.

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille huffed out a sigh as her face fell into a sad frown. She folded her arms and tried to smile at Fate. "Well...Thanks for saving me..." She said looking back at the knocked out soldiers, Vanille was of course happy that she didn't get shot at, and that Fate helped her out, but sometimes...she felt it was the wrong thing to do. From all the crap she had heard these Cocoon people talk about Pulse, it made Vanille and Fang look like bad guys who only want to destroy Cocoon itself, which was true right before the War of Transgression, but this was 500 years from then.

Why was Cocoon so afraid of Pulse anyway? And vise versa.

Vanille giggled a bit as Fate asked if he was a L'Cie, being from another world that is. "No you aren't a L'Cie, it's not because you're from someplace else, that just makes you a...tourist." her nerves and emotions started calming down some as she realized, well Fate was right. Just because she was a Pulse L'Cie didn't make her evil, just different and completely misunderstood. "Thanks Fate...that makes me feel better actually." She shrugged her shoulders a bit starting to hear the oncoming soldiers in the distance, better move now or prepare to fight.

"That sounds like a good idea." Vanille nodded as she looked around, no way she could go back to the city of Bohdum or anything. Everyone knew she was a L'Cie now, so where to go from here? She still wanted to get to the vestige before it was destroyed in the purge. "I wish we could get to that Vestige...maybe some other time though." She said now half skipping off in another direction towards an empty beach area, no buildings, no people, and definately no soldiers...

[Fate Lingod]

She giggled? That was good, right? The female species giggled when they thought something was funny. Funny lead to happiness. She giggled 'cause she felt sorry for ya. Ignoring Hope's comment, Fate shot a smile in Vanille's direction. "Just a tourist... Okay, that works for me." But she did say that she wasn't from of this world... What did she mean by that? She's not from this world, duh! His smile grew it more wide when she said that what he said made her feel better.

"So you're not from... here and I doubt that you're a tourist like me," Fate said, "I get it now! L'Cie must be children of this Fal'cie thingy. And the Fal'Cie is like the god of this world." Again, it made much sense in the boy's mind. Fal'Cie was a god and the L'Cie must have been demigods or something along those lines. People feared the L'Cie because they weren't your average humans. Yeah, it made perfect sense. Too bad he was wrong, completely wrong. Now she was talking about a Vestige? Now what in the world was that?

Fate just gave a blank expression. She would have to educate him on almost everything that had to do with this world. He understood that L'Cie were suppose to be bad and that the Fal'Cie were like the gods of this world. Fate followed behind the young girl as she lead them off in a direction where there was no buildings, no people, and no soldiers. "Vestige... I assume that it must be from your world?" If that was the case, Fate was pretty sure the area around that vestige would be surrounded with soldiers. But if she truly wanted to go, Fate would have helped her or try to help her. "...You--You just want to go home..." He said, continuing to follow Vanille, "Tell me: would going to that vestige get you home?"

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille continued to smile. “What I mean is…this L’Cie thing has happened only on Cocoon and Gran Pulse as far as I know…it’s a Fal’Cie thing.” She shrugged a bit and listened to Fate’s idea of a L’Cie, she would definitely describe the L’Cie thing later so it would make sense. She’d end up talking about Pulse and Cocoon hating each other and the war of transgression or something like that. Hopefully she didn’t babble later. “That’s a good idea…but I will tell you about L’Cie and Fal’Cie once we’re out of PSICOM range here…” and she continued to walk, glancing back at the boy and the vestige every so often.

When Fate asked about the vestige Vanille simply nodded. “It’s a Pulse vestige…inside holds a Pulse Fal’Cie.” She stated turning around and looking at Fate, glancing at the Vestige in the background that was on Bodhum’s beach coast. If Vanille and Fang hadn’t been willing to attack a sanctum Fal’Cie at the Euride Gorge, then this whole Purge thing wouldn’t be happening. Guilt once again hit Vanille like a punch to the face.

“No. I don’t think going to that vestige would get me home. From what I’ve discovered about Cocoon is that they allow no way to get to Pulse…until now.” She said putting one hand under her chin as she stared into the sky with major thought. “There is a Purge about to be held…for everyone in this city…Bodhum or whatever it’s called. The sanctum fears that the people here have been tainted by the Pulse Fal’Cie inside the vestige. That would be my ticket home. Back to Gran Pulse.” The name of her world made her smile as she remembered her flowery home of Oerba.

“I need to get on that Purge train…it’s the only chance I have at getting home.” Vanille sighed looking back at Fate. “Ready to hear about those L’Cie?” She said adjusting her bear sash before sitting on the sand and staring out at the water. “It’s a lot of information…so I’ll try not to babble.” She giggled a bit.

[Fate Lingod]

Oh, did Fate love the sound of her voice. It was so cute and relaxing. Dude, ya totally got the hotts for her. What? No, I was helping because she’s a friend. A friend that ya got the hotts for now. Okay, so maybe Fate was totally crushing on Vanille, but what did you expect. He was still a boy after all and she was completely gorgeous. But that wasn’t the reason why Fate liked her. She seemed so much stronger than him. The way she was dealing with all this stuff thrown her way, Fate was pretty sure he would have broke down by now if he was in her shoes. But again, the boy was off with his assumption. Maybe he should have just stopped trying to guess and wait for her to explain it. ”Cocoon… Gran Pulse… Right…”

Fate had a sheer look of confusion upon his face. Guess going to a new world could do that to you. He wondered if Sonuske was having such a tough time adjusting as he was? More than likely not. Knowing him, he had to be asleep somewhere. ”That doesn’t seem that hard… Alright. Then it’s settled,” Fate said, ”Me; being the awesome person I am, is going to help you get on this purge train.” He smiled as he plopped down next to her in the sand. What if L’Cie eat people… She’s totally gonna eat us! I doubt it. Besides, we’d give her high blood pressure. Haha. Funny. Glad ya taking this serious jerk!

He looked out at the water as he dug his hands into the cold sand. Now he was feeling a bit home sick. The snow and the cold weather that Fate took for granted he now longed for. Still, Fate kept a smile on his face. ”Yeah, I’m ready,” Fate responded, ”Babble as much as you want. I’m all ears.” Talking was a good way to get to know someone. He closed his eyes as he placed his arms behind his head, falling back into the sand. ”Ouch...” Fate leaned up a little to remove his sheath from his back and put it to the side. ”Okay Ms. Vanille. Babble away.”

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille sat in the sand and stared out at the water still. Her eyes occasionally glanced at Fate and down the beach just in case someone happened to this way. She pulled her knees close and hugged them as she was trying to figure out where to begin with all this. When Fate said he would help her get aboard the purge train Vanille’s eyes widened and she almost gasped as she looked at Fate, he seemed pretty serious about it. “You’re…serious? You’re going to help me get aboard the purge train?” She asked almost speechless, almost. That was so nice of him. But if they were going to get to the Purge…they’d have to get through PSICOM. First thing was first, where was this train located? Here In bodhum…or Eden? The capital? Most likely somewhere around here since it was only Bodhum getting purged.

“Thank you so much Fate…I…Owe you a lot.” Vanille said looking back down at her shoes now that were buried in the sand as she took in a deep breath and almost laughed a bit. “Okay…Time to babble.” Where to start? Maybe with Cocoon and Pulse hating each other? Or just start explaining L’Cie? That was probably the best place to start and go from there. She’d talk about her past before becoming a crystal and what happened then too, since she, unlike Fang, remembered everything. Vanille closed her eyes as she began to speak again.

“I am a Pulse L’Cie…A L’Cie is chosen by the Fal’Cie…the beings that keep both this world and Pulse alive and running. Without the Fal’Cie…there is nothing. Humans are just disposable tools to the Fal’Cie.” Vanille started keeping her eyes closed as she spoke of the Fal’Cie. “When someone is branded a L’Cie…they are given a Focus or mission to complete. Upon gaining a brand and focus, the L’Cie will also gain magic abilities…as you saw me do back when fighting that Ultimecia woman.”

Vanille opened her eyes and looked at Fate to make sure he was still listening. “The Cocoon people are scared of anything Pulse to begin with, so a stronger being with a Focus most likely against Cocoon’s destruction just makes them even more scared…So they try to dispose of anything from or near Pulse.” With that Vanille looked back down the beach, catching a glimpse of the vestige in the distance, and a PSICOM fleet ship.

“If a L’Cie completes their focus…they gain eternal life and turn to crystal, if they should fail, they become a hideous monster…a Cie’th” That worried her some, her brand was still active and continuing towards the life of a monster, unless she fulfilled her focus which she wanted to completely ignore now and not put others in harms way.

“That’s what a L’Cie is…there is a lot more to it like…Eidolons and brand progression but that’s the gist of everything…So you see, I have to get back to Pulse…to figure out how to get rid of this brand…and to not risk my life here on this viper filled place people actually call home.” She dug her foot into the sand a bit more before looking at Fate once again. “Does this all make sense?”

[Fate Lingod]

"Yeah, i'm dead serious," Fate said, "Can't just let you get purge by yourself, now can I?" If Sonuske was here he would say that Fate was jumping the gun. More like standin' in front of the barrel and waitin' to die. But this was something Fate wanted to do and was going to do. Now she was thanking him. That was nice and all, but there was no need for that. He opened his eyes again, but they had returned to their original color; purple. "You don't owe me anything except... A sandwich. Just a plain sandwich. Meat, cheese, and bread."

As she spoke Fate listened carefully. From what she was saying their worlds wasn't much different. They had Guardian Forces also except they didn't call it that. Everything seemed about the same except for the L'Cie. They had a focus and once they completed it they turned into a crystal. "It actually makes perfect sense. You're from Gran Pulse... Is that why you sound so different? Your accent I mean..." He paused, "And that Fang lady is from Gran Pulse too, right?" It wasn't hard to put two and two together. They both had those accents and they were extremely worried about each other on the battle field that day.

Fate sat up and folded his arms across his chest. Being turned into a crystal forever really didn't seem like enternal life to Fate. What was the point of enternal life if you couldn't do anything with it? "So your focus must have something to do with hurting these people..." The people of Cocoon didn't seem that bad. They were just scared of what they didn't understand, just being human. "We get you back to Gran Pulse, you get rid of this brand thing, and then we get me that sandwich. Simple," He smiled, "I guess the hard part would be getting on the purge train."

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille stared at Fate almost looking at him as if he were crazy or something. “Wait a minute…are you going to get purged too? Or just get me on that train?” She asked, her voice squeaking a bit as she was just…unable to think of why he would help her out so much. It was awfully sweet of him. She sighed and laughed a bit as he spoke of a sandwich. “I’ll get you one of those…it’s the least I can do I suppose.” Her giggly self was back and she was happy now, that was a good thing. No more sadness and being down about not having Fang around. She was going back to Gran Pulse! That was a very happy thought.

“Wow it does? Hm. Well that’s good then. I don’t have to say much more about L’Cie or Fal’Cie then.” She smiled before nodding some at Fate’s question about the accents and stuff. “It’s a Pulse thing I suppose…all these Cocoon people sound the same, but we are different, Fang and I…she’s my best friend…Her and I had a focus…” Her mind wandered off back into some memories…memories of happier days when her and Fang were on Pulse, before they were chosen as L’Cie.

“Fang and I were chosen…to become Ragnarok…and destroy Cocoon…that was our focus over 500 years ago…but…we were put into an early crystal sleep…” She more or less whispered the story of her past. “We woke here on Cocoon…Fang, she doesn’t remember anything and her brand is scorched over…mine…” Vanille then sighed standing up now and brushing herself off from the grains of sand caught in the fur of her bear sash. “Mine is still active…and progressing…”

Now her mood had gone down again. Great. But she continued to smile. Even in the worst situations…she would always smile and try not to falter, no one needed to see the fear she held inside, not even Fang. “How about we get you that sandwich before we leave Cocoon? It’d be a lot easier finding one here than on Pulse.” She tried to giggle a bit but it just didn’t sound so…Vanille-ish. She clasped her hands together and walked to the edge of the water, it almost reminded her of a meeting she met with a girl named Serah. But hopefully Fate didn’t get turned into a L’Cie unlike Serah, if he did…Vanille would feel even more horrible than she already did. “I just can’t wait to see Gran Pulse again….Oerba, that’s my village…I wonder…if it’s still the same as it used to be…”

[Fate Lingod]

Fate shrugged when she asked him if he was going to get purged too. It had bad idea written all over it, but Fate couldn’t let her do it alone. What if something happened? He wasn’t sure how he would get back from Pulse if he were to get on the train. But he wanted to make sure she got home. What to do? ”I don’t know… Being ‘purged’ is on my ‘To Do’ list,” Fate shrugged, ”And I always wanted to go to Gran Pulse. I hear they have the best sandwiches.” Really it was up to her. Fate wouldn’t mind going to Gran Pulse. He was sure he could easily find his way back. That was Fate for you. Always up for a crazy idea that he always somehow got out of.

Ragnarok? That sounded completely dangerous. Then it hit him. She said over five hundred years ago! She was that old! Hehe. Ya do love those older women… Much older. Fate could see that this was all getting to Vanille. Okay, so now he had to do something to cheer her up, but what exactly. He could always try being funny. ”Well, if it makes you five any better you don’t look like you’re over 500,” He smiled ”Not at all. You look more like you’re 47. Maybe late 50’s.” He laughed slightly. He prayed that she would realize that was a joke and not kill him. He grabbed his blades and stood up, brushing himself off also. Eating did sound good considering he didn't get to finish him meal.

"And where are we suppose to get this sandwich?" Fate asked, "Pulse L'Cie and a tainted tourist... Let's go ask one of those soldiers if they know any good resturants." The last part was meant as a joke of course. He simply stared at her a moment when she giggled. It sounded different now. Again, he could tell that she wasn't in the best mood. Smile on the outside while you're crying on the inside. Fate knew it all too well because he dealt with it. "If you want to cry or something--No, that didn't come out right... You don't have to necessarily cry, but--" He rubbed the back of his head, a bit nevously, "It's not good to keep things bottled up. Sometimes you got to let it out... If that make sense." He turned to look in the opposite direction, embarrassed by what he just said. He had a tendency to ruin things. "Forget what I just said... Just thinking out loud." He placed his hands behind his head and looked up toward the sky. "Hopefully, it's still the same as you remember it."

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille smiled. At least she wouldn’t be alone on that train and back on Pulse. It would be wonderful company to have for awhile. “Well if you do come…I’d like the company…it gets rather lonely sometimes…no one to talk to but the chocobos it seems like.” She giggled a bit as she lightly swayed her arms around almost spinning in a circle. Yep Vanille’s mood was back to where it should be, now she was herself. Her usual giggly happy Vanille-ish self! “Well I don’t know where you heard that little rumor but maybe it is true…I honestly wouldn’t know anymore. I haven’t been there in so long…” with that statement she sighed and stood still now, resting her arms at her sides and looking at Fate, truly happy once again.

Her attention was caught off guard when he said she didn’t look over 500, more in the 40’s to late 50’s. She narrowed her eyes some, her smile still there as she pushed Fate in the arm lightly before stomping her foot and throwing down her now balled up fists. “Hey!” She whined playfully. “I do not look like I’m in my 50’s! Not even close!” She now folded her arms and just had a smirky grin on her face. “Although I’m thankful I look nothing close to 500 either…I was frozen in a crystal sleep so technically speaking…im 19…chronologically…im 519…” She almost seemed proud when she said that, but she was just trying to have a little fun with all this, make the most of this L’Cie thing…instead of dreading the worst.

There was a slight problem. People around Bodhum now knew there was a Pulse L’Cie running around so PSICOM was bound to be everywhere. Maybe…getting that sandwich would have to wait till Pulse…Vanille didn’t know where or how she would get it, but if that’s what Fate wanted in return for all his help, she’d find him a sandwich no matter what. “Maybe…we should wait on that till we get to Gran Pulse…just to be safe…” She shrugged a bit before looking away from Fate as he spoke of bottled up emotions and crying. That had Vanille written all over it. She was the queen of bottled up emotions and fake smiles, it was just to keep everyone else going…make them feel happy…while she was screaming on the inside. Vanille shifted her feet around, slowly walking in aimless directions, her arms folded behind her back as she didn’t face Fate. He was right. “I know…you’re right. It’s not good to keep things all bottled up…I do that a lot.” She sighed a bit before continuing on. Where was the rain when you needed it to cover your tears? “It’s just…If I falter…then so will everyone else…I have to keep smiling…for everyone else…no matter how much it hurts.” Come on rain!

Vanille sniffled a bit but held her emotions back. She gripped her fists tight and let her arms go to her sides again. “Maybe someday…when things are better again…I’ll let out all these…useless tears, but until then, I can only dream of Oerba…and the rest of Pulse.” She said turning around to Fate, her fake smile still plastered to her face when she truly wanted to break down and sob, but her mind wouldn’t let her…she couldn’t break now, not yet.

[Fate Lingod]

”Chocobos are great listeners except that one chocobo I ran into,” He smiled, ”Tell a chocobo you love her and she gets her feathers in a ruff and runs off.” It was good to see that her happy mood had returned. Being sad and depressed would get you nowhere, nowhere fast. He looked at her and shrugged slightly. It must have been nice to have a home to return to, to have a home at all. ”Well, I guess that’s something to look forward to,” Fate said, ”We must get to Gran Pulse for the sandwiches!”

As she pushed him on the arm Fate fell back a little, rubbing his arm as if she hurt him. He laughed slightly and waved his hands as if he was giving up. ”Alright, alright. You’re 19 and beautiful,” He said, smiling, ”But if you push me like that again I might have to defend myself. I would hate to have to hug you to death.” He opened his arms with a playful evil look upon his face. But as she explained why she couldn’t cry or be sad it just made Fate feel awful. In a way, he could understand where she was coming from. She was suppose to be the happy, cheery person.

”Still, we’re the only people here now…” He slowly inched toward her, ”So if you want to let it out now you can…” He looked at her, clearly able to see through her fake smile. He lowered his head for a moment before dropping his blades into the sand. He looked up at her for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. He just felt like she needed it. After a moment Fate pulled back away from her, rubbing his head nervously. ”Guess we’re going to have hurry and get you to Gran Pulse so you can let go of all those… tears.”

[Oerba Dia Vanille]

Hopeful Dreamer
Wishes can come true. But not if you just wait for miracles. Miracles are things we make for ourselves. Here, and now.

Vanille just smiled some. “Chocobos are great…it would just be nice to have someone to talk back…not squawk back…” She said shrugging her shoulders a bit. There was a part of her, that was indeed happy with all this, but another part that was still slightly depressed and drowned in guilt. Her emotions were just so mixed up right now and it was hard to maintain them all under all the circumstances. Hopefully, the happy would take over and conquer all, and yes, soon, very soon, she would explode from all these bottled up emotions, and when that day came, boy would there be a lot of tears to shed and Vanille wanted Fang there that day. Fang was Vanille’s best friend, no doubt about that…in fact, Vanille considered Fang more like her sister, the only family she had left.

There was a plus out of all this. No matter how down Vanille was feeling right now, Fate could make her smile and laugh very easily. “We’ll get to Gran Pulse and check out their sandwiches…off to the purge train I guess!” She smiled before the age thing came back, but it only made her smile more, and even, a slight touch of pink rose to her cheeks, not enough to notice now, but surely that would excel later. “Thank you. That comment I’ll take to heart…and I don’t think I could ever be hugged to death, not that anyone’s ever tried to kill me that way...” She smiled as she looked towards the direction of the city of Bodhum, that’s where the Purge train would be, and hopefully PSICOM wasn’t all informed about the pulse L’Cie running around that city.

“No one wants to see that…crying. It just upsets some people.” She said nodding a bit with a shrug before she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, only to have them open once she was pulled into a hug. A much needed hug to be exact. If Vanille had been expecting it she would’ve hugged back quicker, but for now she just hugged back lightly and quickly. This was probably the perfect moment to break down, and had that hug lasted a split second longer, she probably would have, but for now she simply let a small smile, a real smile, and even a deeper shade of pink, creep to her face once Fate had backed off a bit and talked about getting her to Pulse quickly.

“Thank you Fate…You’ve listened to me complain about stuff and blabber about Fal’Cie and L’Cie…you’re such a great friend. And Thank you again…for helping me to the purge train.” Next time she hugged Fate, she would probably just...let it all go...and finally break. That's what she was hoping for now.