Memories of Happier days (Fate/Closed)

[Fate Lingod]

"See! That's what they want you to think. But in reality, they're evil. They're totally going to lower us into a false state of sercurity and then when we completely trust them... They'll eat us." He smiled, petting one another of the 'evil' sheep. Fate seriously needed to stay away from the television. It was rotting his mind. It was a good thing he was here on Gran Pulse... They didn't have televisions, right? "No snoring... Good. But all jokes aside, I slept like a baby chocobo."

"Someone else, ay? Well, that one lucky guy. Considering her won someone over like you he must be pretty amazing. Yeah, and really, really good looking." What? There was nothing wrong with boosting your ego every once in a while. Besides, it was true. Seriously, the sheep would have to stop following him though. Fate thought that his fan club would consist of cute girls not cute little animals. "As much as I like it, I can't have you saving me all the time. That would ruin my tough guy rep... Which doesn't exist anymore thanks to this wonderful hat i'm wearing."

Fate grabbed the small sheep of of his head and placed it down beside its other buddies. No more free rides, they would have to walk on their own. Fate laughed when Vanille said that they that they might think that he was their mom. "That sucks for them. I can barely take care of myself yet alone these kids," Fate said jokingly, "Guess I should have mentioned to you that I had kids before we started this who relationship, right?" Kids... That was a scary thought. Not that Fate didn't like them he just didn't want them at such an early age.

He kneeled down and gestured for the sheep to run along. "Sorry buddies, but there's only room for one baby on this trip and that's me. So run along and play. Go come up with evil plans to take over the world." Nothing but silence. But then there was a 'baaa' from one of the sheep and Fate smiled. "Love you guys too. Now get going." He stood to his feet and notice that sheep were leaving... Maybe because this was their home. Whatever. He turned to Vanille and rubbed his head for a moment. "So what's the objective to day captain?"

[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 pressed her hand to her chin and looked deep in thought, though it was just an act. “The evil fuzzballs who eat people…sounds like a great story, you should write a book. Lord knows you’ve got quite the imagination for it.” She smiled before dropping her hand back to her side. While shifting her weight around, almost getting anxious to get going Vanille stared around, trying to recall any monumental features that she may know of. Nothing yet, though ahead, it seemed that there was a small path through the mines once again, but it probably led elsewhere (totally making this up). Perhaps it led so a place she actually did know, the Sulyya Springs perhaps? Then from there she knew exactly the way to go.

All jokes aside eh? Vanille giggled briefly trying to keep her tone from getting too loud this early. “hmm a baby chocobo….I should’ve known, but I’m glad you slept well.” She wasn’t going to mention her nightmare or anything, why draw alarm to herself? No reason to, it was a just a dream, a crazy idea pushed into her mind, even though it scared her enough already. “I think he’s pretty lucky, I mean, I know I am. You might know him actually, he’s probably closer than you think. And I have to agree, very very good looking.” She said turning around, folding her arms behind her back locking her hands together and taking a few strides over to the edge of a cliffy area. She looked down and up and all around. It was so beautiful out here. “Okay, if you insist, but I’ll be around if you do need saving sometime.”

Vanille listened as Fate talked about the sheep and kids and told them to run along. Well that was fun, cute company for awhile and some time to relax before heading off. “Only room for one baby? What does that make me then? The voice of reason or something like that?” Vanille asked turning back around and folding her arms some, all this standing around was making her anxious now. “They sure do like you. Loveable little creatures…even if they secretly are evil.” Watching the sheep leave made her kind of sad, it was a happy moment that had to end and go back to the idea of getting to Oerba before Vanille turned all cei’th. Great. “The objective for today is travel as far as possible…maybe even get to Oerba be nightfall…hopefully that’s the case. I guess you could say I’m homesick…well…Oerba Sick.” She said frowning a bit looking off in the direction they needed to go before taking a step to start off.

[Fate Lingod]

"A great story. Hopefully, we won't experience it first hand." But actually writing a book sounded like a good idea. Why not put this crazy mind of his to good use? 'Cause it'd scare the children, no one would buy the books, no likes you... I can keep comin' with the list if ya like. ...Because of you, I envy normal people at time. Okay, so maybe he should wait to write this book until he was much older. Then he would have more adventures to pull from.

Seriously, Fate could sleep through almost anything and almost anywhere. Of course it would have been nice for Fate to ask her how she slept which he usually would, but he knew that she had a nightmare. No, need to bring up something horrible. "Very close..." Fate looked around the area as if he was searching for someone, himself. "Well, I hope he isn't stalking me. I'll have to get my kids to eat him."

"That would make you the, uh.... Guardian Angel!" Fate shrugged, "Yeah, yeah, it's cheesy but it's perfect." But these sheep did seem to like him. It was funny, animals always took a great liking to Fate for some reason. If only he had the same luck with most people. Maybe Fate would come back for one of these sheeps and make one his pet. Then again, he didn't want to take them out of their natural habitant. Fate watch as the sheep bounced away to go about their business. They grow up so fast man. It seemed like two minutes ago lil' Joey was on yo' head. But now was the time to travel again. "And off we go! The Adventures of Vanille and Fate: Day 2! What does Gran Pulse have to offer them today!"

[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 had to agree, she didn’t want to experience getting eaten by a sheep. That would be…sad. “Yeah, besides if you get eaten, then you can’t write your story.” She smiled glancing over at the sheep who seemed to be just doing their own thing, wandering around and bumping into one another. “It’d be a good story though…as of now it’s in the…research and development stages.” She knew that book would probably never exist, but Fate did have a good imagination, and he probably could write a great book, just…not about evil fluff balls who eat people, that might not sell well with the public.

“You know….he’s practically right where you’re standing….” She said turning away and looking off at Cocoon in the sky. Again with the man eating sheep? Oh well, that was sure to stick around awhile. “Well that little army of sheep over there I’m sure could take him out easily…though don’t you remember what I said a moment ago about you getting eaten? Not a good choice.” She grinned staring off towards the entrance to the mines once again, well a small segment of the mines that led towards the Sulyya springs, now that would be a better atmosphere. Very peaceful and what not, it would be relaxing, cool, and a good place to walk through.

Day 2. What did it have to offer? Water, dangerous animals and a lot of walking. That’s what it had to offer. But they would reach even closer to Oerba and that was great. “Well then we should get going. Wanna get as far as we can today…just…this next place we go, please watch out for the Orobons…they’re vicious and quite annoying.” She warned as she made her way into the small mining area, ahead it wasn’t far, you could hear water running. Yes, the Sulyya Springs were just a few yards ahead! From here, Vanille didn’t have to second guess which way to go, she knew the way from here, and Oerba…wasn’t that far off. In Fact, if they got to the end of Taejins tower, she’d probably sprint all the way to Oerba, to catch a glimpse of all the flowers and people and what not. She missed home so much, and being this close made her stomach turn with excitement. So she wanted to hurry up. “Come on!” She said with a giggle and she ran ahead towards the sounds of water.

[Fate Lingod]

"But I will go down in history as the guy who was ate buy cute and cuddly sheep," Fate smiled, "Hey, then tons of people would remember me." What was it to be remembered anyway? A few weeks ago, Fate thought becoming the top SeeD was his purpose. He wanted to leave his mark on the world, to always be remembered for doing something great. But he soon realized that was stupid. It didn't matter if anyone remembered him or not just as long as he enjoyed life.

"He's standing right here! Wait! He wouldn't happen to be me, huh?" He asked, playing dumb. Honestly, I guess you could consider Fate two people. There was that annoying voice inside his head that never shut up. Think they have pizza in Oerba? Fate's childish side, very childish. Fate followed Vanille as it seemed they would have to go through another mining area. Great! He was sure some fire-breathing dragon would jump out at any moment.

But Fate snapped back to reality when she mentioned something about Orobons. What was that!? Vicious and annoying! Well, if Fate wasn't nervous before he sure was now. "Oro--Whatchamacallit... By Vicious and annoying you mean small and cute, right?" But for some odd reason he felt like it was going to be the complete opposite. Now Fate was really missing his sheep friends. We got cool blades and can shoot lightnin' from out hands. Nothin' to worry 'bout buddeh. Unless they're bigger than our blades and can absorb electricity... Yeah, then we're screwed. Hey, it was a nice run. But then Vanille ran toward the sound of the waters. It was too early to be running! Still, Fate run forward after Vanille, "I totally can't swim and i'm competely terrified of big bodies of water," He said. Yeah, maybe he should have mentioned that when they first met.

[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.

Well Fate was right about one thing. Getting eaten by cute and cuddly sheep would definitely make people remember him, maybe not in the best light, but at least he’d be remembered one way or another. Though she doubted that would ever happen, the sheep here weren’t that…vicious were they? No surely not, besides, Vanille wouldn’t let Fate get eaten, even if it did mean she had to fight off a herd of small bouncy sheep creatures. What a failure of a moment that would be, Vanille and Fate fighting off the fluff balls, battling for their lives…Fail. But again, that probably wouldn’t ever happen, though weirder things have been known to occur.

“Oh you sure do catch on quickly dont’cha?” She said with a giggle in the middle of her sentence before cocking her head to the side somewhat, like a puppy as she meandered around towards the springs. The beautiful Sulyya Springs which was once a great area to relax in, it wasn’t so animal covered but there were a few lurking around. Now that was different, without any sort of mankind running around here it seemed that the animals were everywhere you looked. “Um. Small and cute probably isn’t a great description. They’re more of a medium sized animal with a squawky screech that makes your ears ring.” She admitted sheepishly as she slowed down her pace a bit after her random bolt of running energy faded some.

Who in their right mind would run for a fight? Well, sometimes that was Vanille, might as well get the difficulties over with. Especially when Fate mentioned he didn’t like big bodies of water. Could that have anything to do with his ability to control lighting and electricity? Probably so. Water and Electricity don’t mix well. That was probably it, but Vanille just softened her smile as she stopped walking, only a few yards from the entrance to the springs and she looked at Fate. “Don’t worry, You’ll be perfectly fine…I promise. Just watch your step and don’t wander off…” She said hopefully as encouragement that she herself would be there to help Fate along through the springs…

[Fate Lingod]

"It really depends on who or what i'm trying to catch and hold on to." Which was the truth. People that he did have he tried to hold on to. So far he wasn't doing a bad job of holding on to them. But as Vanille described these Orobons, Fate shrugged. He guess he would see one soon enough. Truth be told, if he wasn't with Vanille he would go searching for one just to see how they look and would respond to him. He would have tried to play with one of those giant dinosaurs. "They sound like... Chocobos."

Well, when chocobos squawking wasn't that bad to Fate so he figured that these Orobons couldn't be that annoying. Fate and Orobons might actually get along since most consider him annoying. Maybe ya related. You're mother! ... But we have the same mother... He looked around, surveying the area. The springs were pretty amazing, but Fate was still cautious because of the bodies of water.

It wasn't that it could cause him physical harm. It was more of a mental problem. When Fate was soaked in water it becomes completely hard for him to conjure up his electricity. Surrounding the boy it water was how the scientist kept Fate from escaping back when he was an experiment. Even now that he could rely on his swordmanship, it was still something he couldn't get over. "Ah, don't worry about me. I'm just being a big baby," He rubbed his head, "And water never really hurt anyone before, right?" It did drown that one kid...

[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.

While continuing into the springs Vanille slowly pulled her binding rod out of its holding place back on her bear sash. She flipped it open and held it cautiously as they had entered the springs. The dirt on the ground changed to stone and the rusty metal debris changed to waterfalls and moss. The atmosphere was much more relaxing and the air was misty and fresh, but the animals were very plentiful. It worried her a bit, it wouldn’t be easy to avoid some fights, but it probably wouldn’t be anything too dangerous. These creatures were sensitive to some elements and magic, it might actually be quite easy. Especially if their weakness was lightning.

“Chocobos are nicer…” Vanille shrugged as she stopped at the edge of the rock platform they were on, a few feet ahead was another large area of rock, and beyond that, another one, but the last one led out of the springs, which wasn’t a large area really. She was actually really concerned when Fate said nevermind, it was something to worry about really. If it worried him before then well there was no difference now. “Okay…if you insist.” She said unsure taking a few small inching steps closer to the edge before leaping to the next bunch of rock, one of her heals slid down the side but she pulled herself up. Hopefully Fate would have an easier time, the rocks were a little far apart, but if Vanille could make it, why not Fate?

Vanille backed away from the edge and set her binding rod down in case she needed to help Fate up or something. “Alright…your turn…be careful and watch your step” She said cautiously stepping to the side so Fate had room to get over there. She wanted this to go over quickly, not wanting to deal with the animals that seemed to have their attention on the so called ‘trespassers’ of their territory. Hopefully they didn’t run over and attack right now, falling into the water, which held a Pulse Fal’Cie, wouldn’t exactly be fun right now.

[Fate Lingod]

"Are chocobos nice or are they just putting on an act like those evil sheep?" Okay, it was time to leave that joke alone Fate. It would have sucked to wear Vanille out with it. Yeah, put it in the closet... Of course Fate was still uneasy about the water, but he tried his best not to show it. But Vanille may have been able to tell because the boy had fallen into completely silence. He kept his eyes on the waters as if it was going to jump out and grab him.

As Vanille jumped across to the other side, Fate tilted his head as if she was asking him to do the impossible. He could easily make that.... But what if he tripped or slipped into the water? He would hate for Vanille to see him freak out. "...I can do this..." He took a deep breath and a step forward, staring down at the water. How 'bout a lil' motivation? Ya wastin' time to get to Oerba. So hop to it. Great! Now he was receiving motivation from Hope. It didn't get any better than that.

Hope was right though, the longer the boy stayed here the more time he was wasting. He shook his head and took a step back before launching forward, making it to the other side. He fell to his knees once he landed on the other side and started to laugh. "Sorry Vanille... I-- Uh, swimming just isn't my thing," He said, "...We totally go fish some time." Yes, he was attempting to make a joke. It was how he made himself happy, unafraid. It was pretty pathetic.

[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.

Oh the sheep. They were bound to run into some more of those things on their way to Oerba…at least most likely. “Heh, I’m pretty sure the chocobos are really nice…and the sheep are just evil.” She was sure to hear more about Chocobos and sheep before the day was over with, but that didn’t really bother her, at least it was conversation, no matter how silly it was. It was much better than being alone on this trip by herself, though she probably couldn’t have made it to Gran Pulse without Fate’s help. Back to reality and out of the wandering thoughts of Vanille, she stood on the other side cautiously waiting for Fate to make some sort of move. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Perhaps she should have looked around for an easier way to cross? It was too late now, she just stood by waiting, just in case she needed to reach out and help Fate up or something.

The moments seemed to pass by very…slowly. It was almost all in slow motion right now, or it really was taking a long time. Oh well. Fate would be fine, Vanille assured herself of that. As he took a step forward, Vanille felt inclined to take a step forward. She was indeed worried that he might fall or something, so she had to be close to help if needed. “You can do it…!” She encouraged with a smile hoping it would boost his confidence…

It seemed to work, or something motivated him when he jumped, and clearly making it to the other side. Vanille backed a step away to give him room as he landed but fell to his knees. That must’ve…been tough on him. Almost like Vanille being faced with this L’Cie thing, it was all so scary because it was something that could personally harm you or worse. Vanille let a few moments pass by before she kneeled down and cocked her head to the side looking at Fate. “See…that wasn’t so bad now was it?” Surely she didn’t really think that, just…trying to lift the mood. “I told you so…I said you could do it.” She smiled extending an arm to Fate to help him up.

[Fate Lingod]

Fate just continued to stare at the ground. It was feeling pretty useless right now. He was seventeen and still couldn't face some deals in his past. Water... What was the big issue? He wasn't as venerable as he was when he was young. He finally looked back up when Vanille spoke again. "Nah, wasn't bad at all ma'am. I just didn't want to get my hair soaked," Fate smiled, "Not to mention all my make up would start to run if I were to get wet."

He took Vanille's hand as help to get up. Once he made it back to his feet he brushed his knees off. "There aren't any big bodies of water in Oerba, right?" He stepped back to the edge and looked over at the water and started to laugh, trying to make himself feel better about being scared. It was just water! "Tch! I dpn't even see what i'm scared of! It's not like there's a big monster swimming around it it."

No monsters... Just a large Pulse Fal'Cie. Well, there was enough waiting around. He had wasted too much time here. He would have gladly lead the way, but he had no clue where they were at. "I was thinking... I could totally start a taxi company on Pulse. I'd be rich!"

[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.

As Vanille continued to kneel down and try to be closer to eye level with Fate she started to wonder if there was a way around the springs, just in case they would take a trip back towards the Steppe. A new route was probably in order, especially since this whole Water thing probably had Fate a little uneasy, and if Fate was uneasy, Vanille was as well. She didn’t like putting others at risk, even over something so simple like water. “Well there’s no more big jumps, actually, we’re very far into the springs.” She chimed cheerfully with a smile. “And maybe you should get some waterproof makeup…that always works right? Or so I’ve heard…” It was a joke obviously, she always knew when Fate was joking…well most of the time at least. Especially when some of the things were very farfetched, like makeup…but she loved to join in and joke around too, who knew how long she had to keep it up?

Big bodies of water in Oerba…well… ”Um. Well there is this one…its like…an ocean.” She said as she was now standing straight up and thinking back to what she remembered of Oerba. “But its nothing we have to really go by, its just there. No jumps or anything.” She grinned hoping that was assuring enough. No worries about water in Oerba really. “Nope no monsters….” Why mention a swimming Fal’Cie? Wouldn’t that make matters worse? Probably, especially if Fate now had some sort of thing against the Fal’Cie, well this one was a Pulse Fal’Cie, as was the one that branded her, but they all liked together some how. Fighting a Fal’Cie was not something Vanille really wanted to experience…especially when she knew she would lose that battle.

“A taxi company probably wouldn’t get you far…I might be your only customer.” Vanille shrugged now leading the way once again over the rock and gravel of the springs. “I’m surprised we haven’t seen any other people around…it’s starting to worry me.” She said gripping her binding rod still just in case some of those feral creatures ran over and attacked or something, but they seemed to be occupied with eating and roaming and what not. Without any disturbances this was becoming a great trip. The only thing that had actually happened…where animals encountered them was the sheep. Which Fate probable still believed to be evil, but that was it. Nothing more. No beasts or pulsework soldiers, it was as if it was all cleared out for them to walk all the way to Oerba…care free.

[Fate Lingod]

"Waterproof make-up... You're a genius Vanille!" Fate said, "I should get me some of that so I'd still look pretty if I were to drown." He smiled and shrugged. But Fate's smile quickly faded away when she mentioned ocean. He was sure that they had the same definition of what an ocean was. If Sonny was here this would be the part when he told ya somethin' like 'ya should look 'fore ya leap.' Honestly, who looks before they leap? Intelligent people! People who enjoy being safe!

Okay, Fate just shrugged the thoughts of the ocean off. He didn't need to worry about it now. But it was something that he would have to overcome. Fate also notice that they wasn't any peoplre around. He just thought that maybe they didn't go too far from Oerba. There was many dangerous animals out here so he was sure they wouldn't find any people roaming around here. "They might just be staying close to Oerba," Fate said, "A lot of dangerous animals out here so i'm sure they're just trying to stay safe." Yeah, that made sense. Still, it's been five hundred years. Plenty of things could have happened then. Well, going to Oerba was the only way to find out.

He kicked the gravel at his feet as he walked along with Vanille. He placed his hands behind his head as and stared upward, thinking to himself for a moment. Bringing up the Pulse and Cocoon hatred for each other could change Vanille's mood. "So how different is Oerba than Cocoon? I mean, besides it being more nature like."

[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.

So, maybe mentioning the ocean was a bad thing. Though waiting around to tell him wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing either. But like she said before, it wouldn’t greatly affect Fate. It’s not like they had to walk over it or anything. “Don’t worry Fate, we don’t have to go near the ocean. It’s not a necessity to even walk by it. Oerba may be small but there is a way to avoid the waters.” She said with a warm smile, hoping that would help some, little did she know that Oerba was in ruins, and there was a lot of parts that were buried in crystal dust…so it would be hard to avoid at least being near the ocean. But by the time they would get there, Vanille probably wouldn’t be worried too much about water, she would probably be freaking out over the destruction of Oerba and her soon-to-be lost hope.

People never stayed close to Oerba before. Usually the people on Gran Pulse were so…courageous and tough. Never the ones to hide away from a fight, especially when before it was the people who roamed around much more than the animals…something had to be wrong. Vanille only came up with two options. One, there were no people on Pulse anymore. Two, There was a much smaller population run down by the population of dangerous animals…hopefully it was the second of the two, though part of Vanille’s mind told her it was the first one. Why? She didn’t have the answers to that one. “Perhaps you’re right. I mean…” She didn’t want to give away her uneasiness on the subject, so she smiled and brought up a joke or at least an attempt at one. “Maybe those sheep ran everyone off? They’re everywhere I tell you! I guess they are evil…in a way.” Wow, getting out of a tough topic by…a sheep joke.

Almost out of the springs, just a tunnel out to the outdoors once again and onto the outskirts of Taejin’s Tower. Oerba was just on the other side of the tower, but you had to go through it to get to Oerba…that would be…fun. “Oh. Um. Well Cocoon is more futuristic and see things differently than us…well maybe I’m a bit bias about this. I’m on Pulse’s side, but I’ll try to explain.” She shrugged some, really there was no definite line between their differences. “I suppose we’re a lot alike, we were both once afraid of the world we didn’t know…Cocoon is still afraid of Pulse if you didn’t notice that. But otherwise we’re both practically the same, aside from wildlife and at least the difficulty of surviving.”

That was really it. Nothing more to it, but on the plus side, they were making great progress for the day. “it’s really sad how much we’re alike…and how much we’re afraid of the unknown…if only people knew how similar the worlds really are, maybe all this fighting would cease.” Vanille shrugged knowing that idea would never surface and Pulse and Cocoon would probably be unable to come to a solution between the two. The sun started to shine as the Springs came to an end and a small empty grassy area was the new scenery. It lead down to the tower but a break was probably in order. So once outside Vanille sat on the ground and huffed out a huge sigh, “Break time.”

[Fate Lingod]

"No worries. I'll just take a few of those sheep with me and use them as floaties." Like she said, they wouldn't have to walk by it. They was no need for the boy to overreact over nothing. In his case, not act at all and just freeze up; petrified. And of course Fate was right. He was always right. 'Cept when he is always wrong. He smiled slightly. This sheep thing was becoming their little inside joke. Along else would gladly think the two were crazy. "Or they're hiding everyone in their thick fur!" He paused, "... But I think your idea is more.... realistic."

He continued to walk, but came to a complete halt once they were outside the springs... Was that a tower? Okay, the mine was nothing compared to this tower. I betcha there's vampires in there that shine when they enter sunlight. ... What kind of vampire is that!? Ask Robert Pattinson. ...Why do I even feed into your crap... But Fate had one of his brilliant, but stupid ideas after hearing Vanille talk about how Cocoon and Pulse were similiar. He finally took his eyes off of the tower and placed them back on Vanille with a grin upon his face.

"So.... What if we tell everyone in Oerba that i'm from Cocoon?" He said, "I'm sure if they see how cool I am they'll see that all Cocoon people aren't bad." Unless they just killed Fate on sight. Honestly, it wasn't that bright of an idea. Fate was just talking to be talking. As she said it was break time Fate shrugged slightly. He wasn't tired, but figured Vanille knew what was best for them so he plopped down on the ground. "The tower... Is it like some sort of sanctuary?" He asked, pointing to the tower, "It's haunted, isn't it?"