Final Fantasy XIII 1. seperated

**(1,483 words) I came up with this while watching my brother and his friend playing soul caliber 5. Originally it was more similar but I made some changes, most of which happened only today. I quite like this story, not one of favs but still like it more than others. I've come up with an alright description for it, so hopefully that's going to get someones attention since not many off my stories do (excluding Dance again the wind). I'm writing it on my school laptop, which has fanfiction banned, so unless I have access to a USB there is not going to be many updates, but this does mean that when I do update it'll probably be more than one chapter at once. Sorry if this has been a long note, i have an urge to talk all of a sudden. But anyway. read on and enjoy (hopefully)**

**Disclaimer: Why do we need these again, this site is called Fan isn't it?**

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><p>Prolouge: Seperation<p>

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><p>"Serah! Quick get over here before they see you!" Urgency showed in the older sister's voice as she called her small sister over to her hiding spot. Her white dress was torn, she was covered in dirt and tears were falling from her eyes.<p>

"Claire! Where's mummy?" She cried, more drops fell from her face.

Claire wiped the tears and dirt away from her sister's eyes; she was such a mess right now; not like she was any better. She could feel where tears had fallen only hours before and more mud and dirt covered her clothes than Serah's.

"Shush, be quiet or they'll hear us." She pulled her sobbing sister closer and held her mother's blade closer to her chest. They were hiding under a half fallen roof, the walls of the building lay destroyed on the ground or loosely holding up what remained of the roof above them. Claire feared about it giving way, this was the only place they could hide where the others could not reach them; it was the only place small enough that only a child could get too. If they were to go to another place it would be more than likely they would be found.

"Claire! Where is she!" Her sister whined, fear evident in her face. Their mother was the only kind person they'd met since they had been born, they didn't know their father, and no one trusted their mother, so in turn no one would trust them.

Claire put her hand across Serah's mouth and signalled for her to be silent. People were moving closer to them and she didn't want to be found. It was those people's fault that they were in the mess in the first place. It was because of them they had been separated from their mother.

Rose Farron had spent her entire life in this place, being used in an experiment along with many other women. The results of this experiment were strange powers that only these women could use. The men that supervised the experiment, both guards and scientists alike, decided to take advantage of them so they could have more to experiment on. The children of the women had the same power, but were never as strong; it had 'dulled' as they had put it. Claire and Serah's power was especially strong for only being a halfblooded viel, the name given to the ones with this power.

The government of Cocoon had been watching this project over the years, but finally they had deemed the specimens as 'dangerous to society'. So they had shut it down, but by shut it down, it meant eliminating the results of the experiments. So they were on the run from Cocoon's military who at this very moment were shooting down the people they had grown up with. They could hear their screams as they huddled in the cover of the fallen roof, All the while knowing that their mother was out there. Claire looked out of small hole, the rushing men outside were too occupied to notice the azure orbs poking out of the wreckage. She could see blood dripping down wounds from the dead people scattered on the ground, with the remaining Veil screaming as they dodged the bullet that pelted them. She could see one with a force field like barrier around her, the powers these woman and their daughters had was beyond belief and very varied in what they could do.

Serah clung closer and closer to her sister, fear was emanating from her; all she could do was shiver and try to shut out what her ears were clearly hearing. They couldn't hide here forever, Claire had lucked out in getting herself under here, but their luck would eventually run out; they both knew it.

Claire kept an eye out in case anyone did get suspicious of someone hiding here; she always had to keep that in mind. She wasn't going to die today, she wouldn't let Serah die today either. Their mother may already be gone, they couldn't change that; but they were still alive, and as long as they are she would never give up.

"C...Claire I'm scared." Her sister mumbled quietly digging her head into her side.

Claire looked back down at her, leaving the small hole for a second, "I know, me too." She had to strong; she'd be strong for the both of them. She wasn't going to let her fear show.

The luck that they'd be relying on was running out, she wasn't surprised that she could hear the sound of army boots running in their direction. Her sister held onto her tighter.

"Claire, I don't want to die!"

"You won't!" That was when she noticed Serah's eyes, she had eery grey irises and glowing orange pupils reminiscent of flames. 'Crap' she thought in her head that was a sign of her powers about to be released. But if Serah would be to release her powers now there could be worse moment. Her powers weren't ones that could protect, they could only destroy. And they didn't need that now.

"Serah calm down!" Claire grabbed the smaller girl's arms, yelling louder than she should have.

"Over here!" A man's voice yelled not so far away. The stomping of army boots continued, even closer this time. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as arms ripped their cover up over their heads revealing the two girls holding each other close. The men that surrounded them lowered their guns, aimed at the children's heads. Serah groaned and shut her eyes, pain shooting around her body. Claire feared what would happen now, if Serah's powers came loose. She hugged her sister close but was forced back by arms grabbing her harshly. As she got pulled away all she saw was her sister screaming before an explosion ensured and fire engulfed the whole area.

She tried to reach her but someone was pulling her away, she fought against their reach but it was to no avail.

"Let me go! I have to save her!" She growled at someone who she recognised now was nothing more than a random boy. How he had even came to this place was beyond her, the gene that Veil had didn't combine with males right and was fatal to them. But he sure wasn't a part of the military either, he was far too young.

"It's too late for her now; you can't go back with it in this state!" He yelled back, his grip tightening.

Claire knew he was right, all she could see was flames; no-one was in sight. But how could she give up on the life of the only person she had left? She couldn't give up, she would never give up.

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><p>Lightning's eyes opened up to the darkness of the night sky, it was so dark tonight; barely a star in sight. She pulled herself up into a sitting position. She was on top of an old shed that was next to the house that she shared with other orphaned people. It wasn't an orphanage, all the kids had now grown up, most had left; some had stayed. They'd never had anyone to look after them, they'd done it themselves. Only she and five others had stayed here, five idiots to be specific. She spotted them down the beach racing each other like they usually did when given nothing to do. She didn't have much of a view of the younger ones, didn't know them well enough. She could stand Lebreau the best; she wasn't some annoying kid of stupid tank of a guy like Gadot or Snow. It had nothing to do with her being another girl, she was simply less annoying. She'd always been tempted to give Gadot a good punch in the face, but he'd never been worth enough of her time for her to do it. Snow however, not like he was either, but he'd gotten a lot worse.<p>

He was the first one she'd met, after all he was the stupid blonde oaf who had dragged him away from her sister; she still hadn't gotten an answer for why he was there in the first place. All she could say was that she hated him.

Lightning sighed and rested her head back on the metal roof below her. She raised her arms and looked at the rusting blade that had once belonged to her now deceased mother.

"I'll find you, I never wanted to give up and Now's the time for me to start."

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><p><strong>And that's the first chappie, hope you enjoyed and if you did why not drop by and give me a likke review as well? <strong>

**Well you can still do that even if you didn't, I need some negative feedback besides my sister commenting on my spelling mistakes or Arianna (the little voice in my head) is going to go on overdrive and start saying, "They're lying their just trying to be nice and polite, they hated it mua ha ha" I have to live with her doing it all day, it's annoying trust me. Paranoia sucks.**

**Thanks for reading**


	2. leaving

**(2,144 words, well okay I'm pretty sure this is longer) I should actually be writing my chapter for my story 'Secrets' but my sister took the home lappy and i was left to write on my school one, so I wrote this instead. I quiet like this chapter. Bitch Lightning is better than non bitch Lightning in my opinion.**

**Disclaimer: Oh yes I own this, that's why it's on ( oh the fail of discaimers)**

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><p>2) Leaving<p>

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><p>Lightning entered her bedroom late at night, long after all the others had returned to the house. She pulled back the covers and slipped in. It was cold at first but gradually heated up from her body own temperature.<p>

She had never been a good sleeper; constantly throughout the night did she find herself waking up at the slightest sound. When the soft meow of a cat did the job, she was sick of it. She groaned and rolled onto her back, staring at the dusty mattress of the empty bed above her. She had no one else in her room; this bed had been without someone in it for years. It wasn't surprising when you considered such a huge house had only six inhabitants. The boys shared the largest room; they were the type of people that liked being in a group, and had grown too used to sleeping in a room with someone else. So that was the explanation why they lived in an over filled room instead of simply in one of the many spares. Only she and Lubreau had their own, she herself liked being by herself and the raven head did happen to be a girl after all.

The pink haired woman brushed away stray strands of hair from her face, listening to the quiet sounds of snoring and breathing coming from the rooms across the hall. She had had doubts that she would get to sleep at all this night, she was right. She wanted so badly for day to come; sleeping was no more than a tortures wait for the coming day. Tomorrow was the day she intended to leave this place, she had nothing against Bodhum; the citizens had accepted her not long after Snow had brought her here, even knowing what she was. But she had something she needed to do; she needed to know what had happened to Serah. She waited eleven years, far to long for her to stand. She'd only stayed here for that long so she could gain control over her powers. If she wanted to hide the fact that she was a veil she would need to know how not to randomly cause a damn fire. It had been harder than she had originally expected, but seeing as she had had no one to help her with it she couldn't be overly surprised about the large amount of time she had spent over the years simply gaining that control that she longed for.

As annoying and painful (quite literally) it had been, it had all been worth it, all she could wish for was that it had happened faster. Lightning inhaled deeply, still looking up at the old mattress. She slowly lifted up her hand and stared at it, even she was surprised at what those slender fingers could create. She scrunched them up then unrolled them, looking at all the little nicks and marks that covered them. A flickering flame appeared in her open palm, she could feel its heat, but no pain as each tendril of fire lapped at her skin. Her eyes, she could tell, had changed to what they did when her powers were in use. All veils eyes changed in some way when they released their inhuman power. The colour could help you tell what kind of power was in them, a calm or soft colour would mean it could be something that could protect; but her's as nothing like that. Her power could create a flame at its weakest, and cause a fiery inferno at its strongest. She had caused so much trouble in her attempts for control, she almost wanted the ones she had hurt to blame her; but never had they; instead they were understanding of her.

Lightning made the flame smaller and smaller until it was no longer, instantly she felt the loss of its warmth, wishing that she had some of it back. Her eyes stayed the same for a while; they shone so bright above them was as bright as it was in daylight. Soon they dimmed as they returned to their natural icy blue. She exhaled sharply Moving hair from her sweaty face; she hated feeling like she was a human torch light.

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><p>She felt surprisingly refreshed when morning came, she had fully expected to be tired from the severe lack of sleep she'd had. She was glad about it; she didn't want to start this while being tired. She brushed down the mess of pink that was her hair, looking in the tiny mirror that was one of the few in the house to see if her hands had actually done anything. Seeing that it had partially worked she made her way to the pantry to scour for something to eat. Upon opening its door did she find it was practically empty. She forced back the scowl she felt like giving to the small room filled with shelves. Lebreau had yet to go buy more food; she had left it for quite a while. But putting her annoyance to the side she searched the shelves to see if there was anything edible among what little there was. In the end, all she found was apples, yes, apples.<p>

She never had a like for the fruit but seeing as it was her only option she picked up a bunch, holding one in her mouth to eat now and shoving the rest in her pocket. She made her way back to her room and cleaned herself up a bit. Switching her crumpled clothes for some of her few others. After putting them on she picked up her brush, which had its handle broken off a long time ago, and began to take out the knots. At the end she tied three braids at the back; it was a traditional hairstyle for the people off Bodhum. What hairstyle people had would signify where they had come from, big places like Palumpolum or Eden had more complicated styles on comparison to a little town like Bodhum. She had heard that people on Pulse instead of a specific hairstyle, tied beads and put dyes in their hair. Most were too proud to change the style if they ever came to Cocoon, so in turn they were either ridiculed or worse.

At the end of this Lightning put the apples she'd stuffed into her pocket into an old bag, she had already put everything else she would need in it the night previous. She took a look around the room and sighed, in a way she hated it, but in the end it was a place filled with nostalgia. She had lived more than half her life in here, mostly by herself from lack of people wanting to be near her. But all in all, this entire place was a waiting room she'd been stuck in for years. And now finally after so long she was leaving.

One last thing she did; was put her mother's old blade into its sheaf, for a second she stared intensely at the extravagant weapon, she had to wonder where her mother had got this, it looked to be what in all rights considered a dangerous and just plain expensive weapon. It doubled as both a sword and a gun, but she couldn't afford bullets, so she could only use half of its uses. She couldn't care either way; it was a fine sword still whether she could use the gun part. She lifted the silver gunblade up to her hip and put it into its holster as she had intended, before taking a last look of her surrounding and leaving the house.

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><p>Outside the sun was yet to rise, but she saw it as better this way. People would still be in their beds, so she wouldn't have to answer anybody worrying over where she was going. She didn't want to answer that question, despite her being a constant bitch to absolutely everyone; she had somehow managed to have people that in a way liked her. Though the majority of such people were kind old couples and mothers who happened to have shitloads of kids each. Besides that there was Snow, who she hated above everyone else. If he ever expected for her to forgive him for taking her away from her sister was he sorely mistaken, he was an arrogant asshole in her opinion. But she shook the image of the blonde oaf out of her head to get on with concentrating on what she was doing. But her thoughts were cut away from her by a call from afore mentioned oaf,<p>

"Oi, Light, so what are you doing?" Yelled out a deep male voice tinted with curiosity.

She turned back with her best 'leave me alone look' that she could muster. He paused his walk over to her; he lowered his raised arm and looked at her with an expression of worry. He'd noticed what she had on her; no doubt the idiot had put the pieces together.

"You're leaving aren't you?" He stated almost sadly but without a hint of doubt sounding out. He continued walking towards her until he was right in front of the angry woman.

"Oh why do you care? Leave me alone I don't want to see your stupid face!" She screeched angrily.

His face turned to shocked before switching back to sorrow. 'What did he have to be sad about?'

"Why do I care? What do you think!" He yelled back, matching her angry tone.

She resisted the urge to jump at the sound of his voice, Snow didn't get angry much; damn does it sound scary.

"I think you shouldn't be wasting your time worrying about me." She stated coldly. "You have better things to do don't you?" She eyed him and watched as his expression deepened.

"Don't be like this Light." He pleaded.

"Oh I'm always like this, why does it even matter?" She kept her voice loud, hoping it would cut through that thick head of his.

"You're not always like this; I know that for a fact." He said sure of himself.

Lightning flinched as a memory from a time that seemed like nothing more than a dream floated into her head. Damn him for mentioning it at all, she'd rather forget it.

"Leave me alone, for the rest of my life how 'bout it?" She crossed her arms and pivoted; intent on leaving him there.

"Light!" He yelled out in desperation, running forward quickly and pulling her close to him. She stumbled into his grasp, head hitting is chest then pulled back as far as she could immediately. Her face heating up, a feeling of embarrassment rushed her from how uncomfortable she felt from her personal space being invaded.

"Snow! What are you doing!" She yelled as she struggled to get her arm out of his firm grasp.

"Stopping you what do you think? I can understand what you're going through; I know why you're doing this! But you can't do something like this by yourself." He said as confidently as he could.

"What do you understand?" The woman whispered dejectedly as she lowered her head down, staring at her feet. "Why don't you trust me being by myself?" Her voice became stronger, "Why do you have to follow me around everywhere like you're some lost puppy!" She raised her head back up eyes flaming with anger, barely caring to notice the change in them, only realising it from the brightness that lit up the area around them.

"I'm sick of it, I can look after myself by myself!" She ripped her arm out of his hold and stormed off as fast as she could, not looking back at his pained expression.

"And what will happen if anyone finds out you're a veil? They **will** kill you, you know that right?" He did his best not to let his hurt show.

Lightning looked back at him for a second; eyes unfocused.

"Then I'll kill them before they get the chance." She exclaimed fiercely before making her leave, leaving alone the despised blonde standing there on the beach's shore; holding tightly onto the crystal necklace that always hung around his neck.

Unknown to them, in both their heads came back the memory of one stormy night from years long passed, a memory that only existed between them both.

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><p><strong>Oh that was fun, that was the first fight I've wrote between those two, please tell me how I did, I really want to know what you think. <strong>

**Reviews shall be much appreciated and shall help my sanity,**

**Thanks for reading**


	3. To see

**(2,242) I'm sorry i keep updating with tiny chapters, I'll try to make them bigger I promise. I wrote this all in one day because i did no work whatsoever on the last school day. That was last wednesday, the reason there has been no update is because my dad's USB pulled a disappearing act on me and I'm writing this on my friend's laptop. The next wait may be longer so I'm apologising in advance.**

**bye for now and enjoy the next chapter**

**Disclaimer: If i owned ffxiii Snow would have gotten punched in the face a hell of a lot more.**

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><p><span>3) to see<span>

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><p>Lightning Jumped to the side as two kids scampered past, hurrying excitedly to their destination.<p>

It had been a week since she had left, without saying it was obvious she hadn't gotten anywhere yet. She had passed a number of small towns, asking about for someone that could fit her sister's description. Of course she couldn't use an accurate description of the girl, after all eleven years had passed since she had seen her last. But lucky for her pink wasn't a hair colour considered common, not by a long shot. Over all she didn't know what she was doing or where she was going, but she was far too proud to admit that to herself. A town back some asshole mentioned she could be dead if she was seen as lost. Cocoon had plenty of people that it wouldn't have been below them to harm a little girl; she knew that well; but the men that were after the two that day wouldn't have survived, so she was free of harm by them. She just hoped that no one had gotten a similar idea. Needless to say, that particular man had gotten a well-deserved punch in the face.

Today the whole town was in a rush, she wasn't sure why, but it made her curiosity peak. She tried to listen in on the hushed conversations of the town people but thanks to how damn intimidating she came out as people would move away from her instantly if they had her attention. So that part severally failed. She was clueless as to what they could be so happy and excited about, this town was made up of slums and a few larger houses where the small amount of people that actually had a decent amount of money lived. This town didn't have a single rich person; the apparent big houses were the average sizes of Bodhum's houses. But Bodhum did happen to have some money, and rich people coming over for holidays. There was an army of gigantic holiday houses near the beach; she saw it as running the whole place.

But she couldn't let her mind wonder over to the place she had just left, she had to focus on now, and now included a bunch of overly excited poor people. She moved about looking around for something that could be the answer to her sudden confusion over what was happing. She dodged between children running through adult's legs and people pushing past the others. It was getting on her nerves how rude people were being, just when she was about to yell at some boy that had almost knocked her over a girl run into her and did the job herself.

Her face hit the dirt ground with a thud, the rushing people jumped over her head instead of being nice enough to go around the fallen person. She growled at the last kid to have done it before a slender hand took hold of her own and assisted her up. She wiped off the dirt that covered one side and looked into the face of her had just helped her, but predicted was also the one that had gotten her like that. She was a petite young girl, she guessed she could be considered pretty, short brown hair straight but curled at the tips with blue eyes that shown out of her head. She was different from others here; they had such a plain appearance. But of course that was when she noticed the different hairstyle. Small towns in the same area would have the same hairstyle, all here had their hair in a bun tied on the side; but this girl had her hair tied in a braid resting on her head swirling into a circle, reminiscent of a volcano.

"Sorry," A melodic voice began, "But I'm not used to such a rush in such small areas. I can see you don't either," She bowed, before continuing.

"It took me awhile to figure out what was even happening here." She laughed shakily; Lightning could tell she was already being affected by her intimidating aura like everyone else did.

"What is going on?" The rose haired woman asked, putting a hand on her hip, she felt very impatient, the rushing people wasn't helping a thing.

"You don't know?" The brown haired girl looked plainly shocked.

"Not a clue." She shook her head further pointing out her lack of knowledge.

"Well, the duchess's health has slipped, so her husband and son are traveling to visit her in Palumpolum. But thing is they have to pass through here. This town was more trustworthy than others I think the reason is."

"Right," Lightning let the thought pass through her head, "So they're excited to get a glimpse of some royals?" Sounds stupid.

"Yeah pretty much, I mean wouldn't it be amazing!" The young girl clasped her hands together cheerfully.

"Not really." The older one rolled her eyes, "My best bet is that you would barely see them at all, why should you be excited?"

The young girl went grumpy after her reply.

"Jeez, you're a really downer aren't you?"

Anymore the girl could have said was cut short by the crowd becoming much more loud; She herself turned her expression into one of joy but Lightning just looked more confused 'what now?'

"Oh my goddess, they're here!" She squealed jumping up and down, "Come on you have to see!"

She dragged Lightning along with her as the crowd ran forward towards the road,

"I thought I said I didn't care!" She yelled but she couldn't get her voice louder than the crowd so it went unnoticed and the girl kept up with pulling her along. The end result of all the pushing and shoving of others ended up with them being near the front of the crowd. In all that she was surprised the girl hadn't lost grip on her hand. All that was In front of them was little children, so they could clearly see the road in front of them.

There were two fancy horse drawn carriages with four knights besides each. One carriage was deep red with velvet curtains covering the windows; she could make out the figure of a man and two seating opposite him. The other smaller white one had clear curtains that obscured vision beyond but was unlike the other possible to see through them. There was a boy sitting on one side, his knees drawn up onto his seat, hiding his head behind them. The other seats were taken up by a tall man and smaller woman. She could see a crystal necklace around the man's neck, it reminded her to an annoying degree the one Snow always had on him. The woman from this position had deep red hair, but it could have just been the light and shadows playing tricks. They as well as the helmetless knights outside had a part of their hair tied into two loops placed next to each other on top of their head. They used golden clips to keep it in place. The one woman who sat in the white carriage had loops of her hair much larger and tied at the back. Unlike the man who had their entire hair tied into the loops she had long strands let loose and trailing down her back.

She got a weird feeling off these people, she knew very little about the subject of royals. But she did know for sure that Eden's knights were not ones to be messed with.

A question formed in her head slowly as she watched the carriages move out of sight with the villagers' gazes still glued to them. She turned back the brown haired girl who she was glad had let go of her hand.

"Hey, why is the Duchess sick?" The young girl had mentioned that was why these men were passing through in the first place.

"What!" The girl asked quizzically, her face the embodiment of confusion.

"Because of the catastrophe of Eden, don't you know? It's common knowledge after all."

"No." Lightning said straight out. She had never even had a little mention of it.

"You're kidding me." The girl announced, she was downright amazed that the woman in front of her didn't know.

"What is it!" She sent a jolt through the one in front of her; well it was her fault for making her feel like she was dumber than Snow.

"An attack on the royal family. The duchess obviously was injured, she barely survived it herself. The duke used himself to shield his young son, but his brother and his wife weren't so lucky. The King and Queen were both killed in the incident, the prince was never found. It sent waves of fear through everyone; it almost went to total and utter havoc. Luckily the council was still there, or it would have. Currently the King's younger brother is filling for his deceased older sibling. His wife has been living in a hospital in Palumpolum for all these years. But she never got better, she's pretty much worse now, everyone is sure she is going to die." The girl ended it and looked to the side.

"I've always felt sorry for her son; he's still so young and gone through so much. He was three when the incident occurred."

Lightning watched the pretty girl's melancholy expression. And another question formed in her mind.

"When did it happen?"

Slowly her gaze was returned to the blondish-pink haired girl. She could still barely believe someone older than her was so clueless over the subject.

"Eleven years ago." Light felt a chill run through her at that, but the girl didn't stop,

"The council claimed it was the work of Veils."

Lightning didn't want the girl to see her shocked expression, so she pushed aside others in the crowd and left her behind confused at her sudden actions. She didn't care if she was hurting anyone as the trudged through the crowd of poor people. She heard some talking about her appearance, whether it be her peculiar hair or her different clothing. Some of course just spoke of how rude she was being; despite they may have just done the same themselves.

She got away from the yelling crowd away to an empty side street which was devoid of life at current. It was dirty and the houses that lined it were all barely intact. She could hardly see how people could life in these conditions. But if she considered it the place she grew up in wasn't far better in itself, and her and her family had been forced to life with multiple other mothers and their daughters.

She lowered herself to the ground and forced herself not to cry, she had realised something serious today. The reason why the Veil experiments were shut down was because they had been framed for that attack. But they couldn't have done it, not a single Veil lived anywhere near there and surely they would have had no reason to have done it in the first place. People really did look down on her kind; they really thought they were monsters. But regardless of the powers they contained, they were still human, why couldn't others just accept that? Had they been convinced by conniving superiors?

But the reason why she hadn't known about this was clear to her; the people of Bodhum had been trying to shield her from a harsh truth.

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><p>"Solace?" A voice cut the woman out of her trance; she looked up with dazed eyes to the man beside her.<p>

"Cid? What's up?" She questioned him curiously, his expression was way past serious. His gaze was switching to the crowd outside the window to back to her repeatedly, "Cid! Is something wrong!" She hissed at him.

His looked over to the sleeping teenager sitting on the other side of the carriage anxiously, before returning his attention back to her.

"Two of them were out there," He nodded towards the window without a proper explanation she knew what he meant.

"Are you sure? It could have been a mistake…" She tried to persuade him into thinking otherwise.

"No mistake, there were two Veil's in the crowd."

She looked dejectedly to the floor, "Really huh?" She mumbled.

A feeling of despair took root in her, "Do you think it's her?" She hoped to god he'd say yes.

"Can't say, for all we know it could have been." He took his gaze away from her.

"She could be here considering three of the four remaining are all in this area. But remember; don't get your hopes up."

Solace hid her face of despair from him by facing the floor.

"I know."

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><p><strong>Reviews shall be ever so nice (said in a southen american accent)<strong>


	4. stalking

**My sincere apologies my darling fans, I realise it's been quite awhile since my last update, so my OCD reccomends I give at least some detail into why; that being it was school holidays and I write this on my school lappy and that was on the floor gathering dust for two weeks. Then when it was fine my home laptop broke and my possible update times became seriously limited for I had to use my parents comp aqnd my mum isn't happy with me using it because she thinks me and my sister are breaking the comp by doing it when actually it's because my dad , I bet you that because he broke our old one.**

**Now for something completely irrelevant because I said to my sister and Beta I would, it's about the massive sugar rushes we had on the weekend. It started when we were listening to Bad apple repeatively and eating pancakes with chocolate topping, rainbow chocolate chips and strawberry icing. It actually tasted good, and while we were high on sugar we went out a brought iced coffee. So during the time she was playing XIII we were all going bloody nuts. She slept over at our house that night and either for breakfast the next morning or dinner that night I don't remember we had pancakes (again). The next day when we returned to her house to play more XIII We shared a can of rockstar and then we heard the song greensleeves playing and we were all like Icecream! So we chased the icecream truck down the street. I wonder what the icecream man was thinking when he saw three teenage girls chasing after him.**

**Now I'll shut up, and hope this being the biggest chapter I've ever written (9,000 words exactly) Makes up for the fact of my no updating.**

**Disclaimer: No I don't own this, I'm just in a plot to steal the legal rights to say I own it, no nothing wrong, nothing wrong with what I'm saying, no not at all.**

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><p><strong>4) Stalking<strong>

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><p>Lightning didn't know how long she'd been away from everyone, with her arms wrapped around her and legs held close; sitting on the dirt ground. She no longer cried. Now she was silent, her mind moving a mile a minute; and spoken words weren't needed. She was angry, frustrated and dejected.<p>

To think the Veil's had been framed for murder of royals. That's just plain nuts!

And apparently Eden's council were the ones to convince them of such a preposterous idea. All her life in Bodhum, she'd been told they were made up of some of the smartest people in Cocoon. Sure, she'd always had her doubts about that, but still, nothing was making sense right now. She knew for sure her kind was hated and marginalised, even hunted like rats in some parts. The fact that the people of this country could so strongly believe in such ideas both sickened and hurt her deeply.

She breathed in a cold breath. Night was slowly falling; people were returning to their houses and running about. Children gave her looks of wonder, adults of curiosity. Of course, they had no idea why she was there; it wasn't like they had been blamed for something like what her kind was. 'The catastrophe of Eden'. She ran the name over her tongue, even that made her feel like this was something well known. She felt so stupid. It was so clear that Bodhum had been sheltering her from it. Was that one of the reasons why Snow didn't want her to leave? So that she wouldn't have to go and find out the truth of what happened to her?

"Damn it!" She cursed under her breath, why was she even thinking about the oaf in the first place? She didn't give a shit what his reasons for it were, they were clear enough! Why concern herself about it?

Lightning forced herself up. This area was a cold place on Cocoon; she'd need a roof over her head if she was not to freeze. She wandered about, trying to see a house large enough that it might have some spare space. She found she had gone into the richer area of town as she did so, surely they must have room for her to spend one night. She'd already searched this town over, it was so small. Earlier she had used a group of kids to help her; she'd figured it'd get the work done faster as well as burn of some of their energy. Might as well make it easier on their parents, with kids like that they'd need it. She had gotten no results besides the negative, and no one in this town, it seemed, had even heard of one person with bloody pink hair.

She found a suitable house and knocked on its door. A large man opened it, and if she was anyone else she would have called him intimidating. He looked her up and down with dark eyes before asking in a deep gruff voice, "You lookin' for a place to stay?"

She blinked at him. He said it in such a sure tone it felt like he had read her mind.

"Y…yeah."

He let out a loud sigh. "Got told by meh friend some out of town chick with pink 'air 'ad stayed at 'is place last night. Don't know any with dat description so I just guessed you'd be 'er." He beat his fingers and nodded his head to the left with another sigh.

"Maria should 'ave some spare room.'Er eldest just moved out, so try 'er. Up six 'ouses, on the left."

Lightning gave the tall man a small smile and mouthed the words, 'thank you' before going in the direction he'd pointed. It had been some trouble understanding him with his accent, he didn't even pronounce the letter 'H' at all. At least by now she'd heard enough people that talked like it, so she was getting used to it.

She came up to the house that supposedly belonged to the woman known as Maria. She liked the house before she knocked loudly on the door. She heard rushing feet on stairs before a plump petite woman with, like most in the town, impossibly dark brown eyes and hair bust out the door, standing exhausted in the doorway.

"You the girl dat stayed with Edge? You need an 'ouse for a night, I take it." A light voice got out though rushed breathes.

"Yes, that'd be nice if you don't mind. You don't have to if you don't want to, I can always go somewhere else." She said, not trying to seem like she was rude.

But the woman would have none of that, she waved her arms out in front of her, stating between each rushed breath,

"No no no, don't you go saying dat dear!" She breathed in deeply and let it out before she continued, "Maria's got the best place you could 'ope to stay. " She smiled and without another word pulled a startled Lightning in with her, shutting the door behind them.

Maria was smiling brightly while leading her over to a chair where she could rest her legs. Lightning could hear scampering feet in the back rooms, showing they were not the only ones in the house. The older woman left for a moment and she could hear her talking to the others before she came back with the same ever bright expression firmly planted on her face.

"Just tellin' me children about you, don't 'ave to worry or nothing. Just don't want 'em getting startled by a stranger in the 'ouse." The strawberry-blonde haired girl nodded saying she understood.

Maria's chocolate eyes began observing her closely; she didn't like the look but didn't expect that the woman would stop by simply being told to do so, so she put up with it.

"From Bodhum, are you?" She asked suddenly.

The other was barely expecting the question and almost jumped. "Y…yeah, how did you…?"

"I 'ave been there you know. Everybody 'ad that 'air. Saw this real pretty young lass with raven 'air, and plaits just like those; I remember 'er well. Shame, she wouldn't be such a young lass anymore though." The woman sighed. "Oh 'ow time flies."

She shook her head, forcing the memory out, and instead deciding on what may be a better topic at the moment.

"I see you got nothing on you. No one travels that light. Do you need anything?" She asked politely.

"Ah, no." Lightning shook her head in refusal at the offer. "I'll be fine."

Maria gave her a look that said she wouldn't take that.

"Look 'ere, missy. You ain't got any food or supplies with you. There ain't no way, no 'ow I'm letting you leave 'ere like that. What if you get 'ungry and ain't got nothing? And you sure as 'eck ain't gonna get so lucky to 'ave an 'ouse over your 'ead each night. I gotta give you something or I'm gonna feel 'orrible."

The no 'H' was getting annoying.

"No look, I can get my own stuff, I still have some money on me." She continued, trying to get the woman to stop her pleading.

"Why waste money when there's an old woman right 'ere, ready to give you anything you need? Just let me so that money could go towards something more useful, please?" Her look was stern but clearly begging.

Lightning however was still being stubborn about it. It was far too rude of her to let a woman - that she had only known existed for the last five minutes - be so generous, enough to give her free stuff like this.

"No. Look, you're already giving me a roof over my head and that's enough for me, alright?"

"I may be poor but my family isn't as big as it used to be. I've got spare sheets and the like. I make my own vegetables and fruits and 'arvest has been generous this year, so I 'ave plenty to give you."

"But I-"

"No buts!" She was interrupted by the yell. "Look if you didn't want someone to do this you should 'ave 'ad your own supplies! Didn't you 'ave anything at all?"

"I had a bag." She said slowly.

"And what 'appened to that?" The older woman sighed outwardly.

"It…" was literally ripped to pieces and eaten by a behemoth. "I lost it…?" She hoped the brunette would take the answer and wouldn't ask questions.

"At least you 'ad something but you don't anymore, so let me give you supplies to replace the ones you lost." She was sternly pleading for the younger girl to actually listen to her.

"I don't..."

"You do need it." She stopped her.

"Fine!"

Maria let out a big smile and nodded before saying,

"Thanks you, it's always nice to 'elp someone in need. I'll jus' go and get a suitable bag to 'old the supplies. Should 'ave something round 'ere."

The older woman dashed out of the room. Her footsteps could be heard speeding up the stairs. Lightning sighed, looks like she'd just met someone more stubborn than herself. Why couldn't the old woman just understand that if she didn't want help, she didn't want help?

A minute passed and she could no longer hear her, instead the only sounds were children playing in the rooms beyond. She wondered how much Maria had, it sounded like a lot. Could they all be hers? Or was she looking after others as well? It was common in the smaller towns that woman would raise both their own and other children. It was nothing weird; it was simply something that happened in towns such as this that suffered more from diseases. To rich people, most diseases were nothing bad; they had warm beds and medicine capable of keeping them in good health. Sadly, this was an uncommon case for most of Cocoon. The country was covered with towns full of poverty, and only the three great cities were exempt from it all. Nautilus, the city of dreams, full of entertainment for anyone rich enough to afford it; Palumpolum, a city with the best medicines and cleanliness on the entirety of Cocoon; most rich folk chose to live there. And last but not least, Eden, the capital, the centre of business and home of the royal family. One thing to remember about that place was that you should never mess with one of their knights if you valued your life; they were notorious for being bloodthirsty psychopaths. Though it was their job to protect the royals, they took their job goddess damn seriously.

Lightning lay back into the chair. That Maria woman was taking her time and she had not a thing to pass the time. Of course she didn't, she was only here at this house so she didn't have to suffer in the cold. Cocoon was always cold here, summer or winter. In fact, about the only warm places on Cocoon were Bodhum and Palumpolum, she was lucky to live there once even if it wasn't for that long. Though some people would probably take eleven years as a lot, she put it in comparison to the rest of her life. Apparently Pulse was warm, and apparently its weather was so unpredictable it was completely nuts. One day it'd be pouring down rain the next it'd be burning hot. Heck, she'd been told by a tourist years ago he'd wandered over into Pulse one time and he could remember it raining so much he could barely see ahead of him, with wind like ice piecing into him to add to it. He'd sheltered in a cave for an hour, and when he came back out not a cloud existed in the sky and it was so hot he was about to melt. Surely something was wrong there.

She eyed the table wondering if she could rest her head on it, all the crying she'd done today had left her feeling so tired, and she had to wait for Maria to return before she could have a place set up for her. Deciding there was nothing wrong with it she lay her head down on the cold wood, closing dreary eyes as she did so. Against her eyes was blackness, dreams refused to materialise in her mind. It was all so blank, but she didn't mind it; even so she could feel her sleepiness leaving regardless of its slow pace. Lightning was not bothered by the nights she couldn't dream, if she did it was always that same damn one anyway. It was a memory from years ago, long before now but long after she'd lost everyone precious to her. The heat of the flames and freezing droplets of rain was so vivid to her it was like she could still feel the sensations. It was something she wanted to forget, but it was something she wanted to hold on to, it was the night she decided to try and take control of her powers, the night she decided to stop being so weak. The only part that could bother her about it was that oaf, because he was there; but if he wasn't, this memory wouldn't even exist. She forced it out when it attempted to drag itself in, for now, she wanted to forget, if only for a little while.

"A 'em" Maria cleared her throat.

Lightning's eyes opened wide in shock, and she tensed, but calmed down right away seeing it was only the ageing face of the kind woman standing beside her.

"I'm quite sorry m'dear, you looked mighty comfortable, but there ain't no way a guest of mine is going to sleep like that."

The rosette shook her head, further waking herself up. She'd almost completely fallen asleep just then. It hadn't been comfortable at all, she was surprised it happened.

"No, it's alright. If I sleep like that I'm going to have killer aches in the morning anyway, it was best to wake me up," she stated, and rose from the chair. She noticed Maria was holding a small backpack in her arms. From the looks of things she had already put certain things in there already, most likely blankets and such.

"This used to belong to my son but he doesn't need it no more, so it's fine for you to use." Maria explained before walking over to the minuscule kitchen and filling the remainder of it with food she'd eventually need. It consisted mostly of fruits and vegetables; meat was only something rich people had and if this woman did have some, surely she would keep it for the use of her and the children living in this house.

Lightning said nothing as Maria finished, the woman flashing a smile as she set the bag down on the counter. The younger one wondered what she meant by her son not needing it anymore; hopefully she only meant that he'd moved out.

"I noticed that weapon of yours; don't get ones like that in this part of the world." The older woman began, attempting to start a conversation. Lightning looked down at the gunblade she'd placed at her side; Maria was far from the first to ask about the weapon.

"What about it?" She inquired.

"I've only 'eard about ones like those in Eden, but you couldn't be from there could you? I mean your 'air style and colour is very different from those type of people, in fact the colour is different from most of Cocoon's people."

Lightning ran a hand through the pink locks, spinning her fingers over the three braids at the back. What caused this woman to be so interested in her hair, exactly?

"Of course it's a different style, I'm from Bodhum. But seriously, you've never seen someone with pink hair before?"

Maria shook her head right after the words had left her mouth, a reply soon accompanied the movement.

"No, Most folks only have brown, there's black too but it's rare. Cocoonians usually always got 'bout the same, I've heard there is blonde in Eden, those knights all had it but one. Now, Pulsians are a totally different story. Now it wouldn't surprise me if you could find one with rainbow 'air, because they got the whole colour of the rainbow. You see someone with that 'air I betcha they got Pulse blood in there somewhere."

Lightning blinked at the last part; she'd seen plenty of people with unusual hair colours. Did that really mean they had Pulsian ancestors? Did it mean she did? How much could she trust this woman's knowledge anyway?

She wasn't sure what her mother was, all she knew was that woman had hair far brighter than hers. It wasn't above Cocoonians to treat Pulsians badly, it wouldn't have surprised her if the women from that experiment were originally from Pulse, anything so not to waste their own, no doubt that would be the train of thought those men had.

So if Maria was right that she had some in her, was she right about only people from Eden having blonde hair? Snow had blonde hair and he'd lived his whole life in Bodhum, and the town knew his parents well before they had died; his whole family in fact. Did it just mean some far off distant relatives of his had originally come from Eden? If so why the hell did they move to a town like Bodhum? It was bright and sunny but the living conditions in Eden are second to Palumpolum only, and that town is full of doctors and such.

"I'll just go set up a bed for you darl." Maria ran past her into another room and out of sight. She remembered to thank her for this before she did go to bed, in case she woke up first and didn't get the chance.

…

Rays of sun light drifted in from the windows, casting a pale glow on the room and ridding it of its darkness. Lightning slowly roused into the world of the awake, blinking tired eyes against the sudden brightness to let her eyes adjust. She had slept on an old rickety bed with torn blankets, she hadn't expected any better from a town like this. How could she when she'd already had a good enough glimpse of the outside?

She pulled herself up out of the bed and stretched, it had been none too comfortable but certainly a lot better than sleeping on the cold ground. She picked up her gunblade and rested it in its holster before picking up the bag Maria had given her the previous night. She adjusted it on her back before setting off and leaving the house in the early morning light, unaware of the set of eyes latched onto her as she disappeared from sight.

…

"Are you so sure about her?" A high pitched voice questioned seriously to her companion, shadows of an unsureness lingered in the corners of her eyes.

"Am I ever wrong? Hell girl I wouldn't have been following her for the past five freaking days if I wasn't sure!" A deeper voice still that of a woman answered back.

The two women pushed against a building obscured in the shadows of the rising sun. One small, one tall; both with an aura that they weren't to be messed with. They would have been wearing average Cocoonian clothes if it wasn't for the furs that they wore as belts and accessories. Blood red and yellow dies ran down the lengths of their short hair with beads tying multiple strands into messy braids. From one look it was clear they were Pulsians, and dangerous at that, from the sight of their weapons.

"What if she catches us?" the smaller one continued, still unsure.

""If she does, she does, I'm just doing that woman's dirty work and that's that." The taller one leant against the building more; her accent was thicker than her accomplice. "It may be unavoidable that she will figure it all out, it would be better that way wouldn't it?" She looked down to the smaller one for an answer, who nodded in response.

"I guess, so you're going to keep this up?"

"For as long as I can. Hell she might lead us to others, damn now would that make the bitch happy as hell."

The smaller one gave another nod before taking off after her friend who had begun running along the streets.

This was going to be a hard mission; that pink haired woman looks mighty nasty.

…

Sun lit up the white room, she was in a hospital in Palumpolum; the best on the whole of Cocoon. A woman with hair the colour of a perfect rose stood leaning out a window, soft pale skin caught in the sunlight.

This was Solace, Eden's one and only female knight, and the youngest at that. They had arrived here early in the morning; the young boy she had been guarding had fallen asleep long before. He was visiting his mother at the moment. For the time being she had chosen to stay away from her room, she didn't want to catch the boy crying. He had always had a problem with anyone seeing his tears; he knew he had to be strong, but he never was. He was still so young, but had gone through so much already. It could never compare to her of course, but it wasn't like many could with a person such as her.

She and the other knights had been given rooms for the night, it wasn't as lavish as what had been given to the royals but did well enough for them. This place was extravagant; any room would have been enough. She, being the only woman was alone, as no one fully trusted men being so close to someone of her age; she had reached the age of adulthood no more than two months ago.

She sighed quietly. She had stayed up so late, not taking her eyes of the sleeping boy the entire trip. She was only four years older, so knight or not, she felt worn out too. Her conversation with Cid had brought back memories of what she wished not to remember. His abilities annoyed her to no end; that he could know where she was no matter where she was got to her the most. But yesterday, what he said had put her in a far worse mood than that power ever could. There had been two Veils in that crowd. When there are only four left in the entire world, the chances seemed too impossible to be true.

But it had to be true, he couldn't be wrong about something like that, he certainly wouldn't have lied about it. She needed to force this out. She couldn't worry about that kind of stuff anymore; she had a different life now. What happened in the past happened in the past, and was no longer any concern of hers.

Solace's hands clenched the window sill tighter. If she wanted this out maybe she could find something to distract herself with. But what the hell could she use to distract herself? She hadn't befriended any of the other knights and she knew they looked down on her for both her age and gender. She knew there was Cid but he wasn't here at the moment, he was out doing whatever Cid does when he had nothing to do. It wasn't her shift to make sure both the royals were all safe just yet and she didn't even know where the Duke was to begin with. There was that chance that his son was no longer visiting his mother and she could try to find him. If he was no longer with her there was a massive chance he'd be hiding somewhere crying right now. If so, she wanted to offer her help. It was the least she could do.

Gathering up her resolve, she dashed out of the room to find him.

…

As this was a very expensive place to treat the sick, it wasn't the biggest of places. It couldn't have compared to the castle at all, that was the biggest building in the world. Still it wasn't a small place, Palumpolum was known for large structures. The walls and all her surroundings were made of the whitest marble, her closely it reminded her of the castle, without the stain glass windows of course.

It was such an eerie place to be, and having to know it housed dying human beings only magnified the effect. She walked down the corridors knowing full well where she was heading. Each step was confident as she fully let out a knightly aura. She usually didn't do this but this was not Eden and as such the passers-by didn't know her like they did back in her city, she didn't want to be regarded as less than she was from simply being a woman. She still had on her armour, minus a helmet but she had only worn it when she had been out of the carriage last night. It was clear anyway she was a woman, what harm did neglecting to wear it at a time like this do? She only wore it the few times it was truly needed.

She passed by the room she was intending to go to and found she could hear nought inside besides slow breathing, more than likely belonging to someone sleeping. That was answer enough. Who she was searching for had already left, though a part of her was happy for something else; the breathing she could hear was steady and untroubled, surely it meant his mother was fine for now at least. She hoped when she did happen to find him he wasn't crying, but she could only wish.

…

Solace walked down many more corridors while searching for the boy, cursing and silently wishing that this place weren't so large. It was now past midday, she'd been searching since an hour after she'd woken up. That was a long time ago.

It was the quiet sound of tears that alerted her of someone else's presence. She was near the middle of the hospital at the moment, besides a courtyard full of flowers which, she predicted, may have been to lighten up this eerie abode. He was leaning against a wall on the side, hidden behind a large lavender bush. She entered and sat down next to his crying form, without a word to make her known first.

He was so caught up he didn't notice the rose red hair to his side; he didn't hear her slow breathing. He was completely unaware of the sad face looking down in his direction. It was until she rested her slender gloved hand on his shoulder did he notice anyone was even in the vicinity.

"Hope?" She asked in a quiet voice. He looked up, shocked, and jumped back. She could now see his tear stained face.

"Solace! How long were you there!" He yelled, yet to calm down from her sudden appearance.

"Just a second, don't worry." She sighed; he must have noticed what she was feeling. He felt guilty for bringing her down as well; they'd been friends for as long as he could remember.

"Is she alright? Your mother, I mean." She asked in a strained voice, being as careful as she could with what she said.

Hope didn't respond for some time. Slowly he moved back to sit next to her with his back against the wall, but no words were said. Clearly he was struggling not to let his tears fall; the droplets cornered his green eyes. His breathing wasn't the steadiest, she felt wrong to be feeling so sorry for him, but it was hard not to.

If he was ever planning to talk about it, it didn't seem to be now. Solace let her eyes wander around the garden, taking in the colourful sight. There was a tiny stone fountain in the middle, with water flowing out and vines curling up the cracks. Around the fountain were white lilies and further from that were bushes of camellias. Each different type of flower created a row in a well-rounded circle. The middle row was roses of all colours, and in front of behind those were three rows, first of red roses, then yellow roses and finally white roses. Near the entrance in front of them was a row of lavenders, she could spot a bee or two being tempted towards them. On all four sides of the square courtyard was a path straight through to the fountain from the white marble walls. The courtyard itself was made of a light grey stone. In the midst of being distracted because of her travelling eyes, she nearly forgot she was not the only one present.

"She could barely stay awake the whole time I was there, her voice was so croaky." Hope spoke up after a long silence.

Solace's eyes snapped over to his direction, she'd almost missed what he said despite the quietness of the area.

"It must have hurt seeing her like that. I always felt dreadful when my mother got sick." Solace patted him on the head, on the two small loops held together with a white gold clip.

"Your mother?" Questioning green eyes searched her face. "I've never heard you mention her before."

The rose haired girl let out one long sigh and rested her head against the cold marble behind her. "It's not a nice story, Hope. I wouldn't like to remember it much besides telling someone about it." She rolled her shoulders in circles taking tension out of them; the armour was a killer to wear for a prolonged amount of time. This position itself was less than comfortable to add to her soreness.

"Could you please tell me about her? I mean it's not like I'm ordering you to but…just please, I'm curious." His eyes were as earnest as they could be and she knew he wasn't kidding.

She thought over if she should, it wasn't something nice to say to anyone, age didn't matter. But they'd been friends since she'd come to Eden. She'd been brought in by a Knight in training and had been raised to be one herself since then. No one was even remotely near her age besides servant's children and she had been considered too high class to go near them, much less play with them. Hope would have ended up much the same, but it had been decided for them to be playmates of sorts when they were younger, that solved it. Elders had it in mind that if they didn't have childish fun when they were younger they would want it when they were older and wouldn't concentrate on what was important. They from personal experience knew this was an easy thing to happen, and from their life position that could be almost dangerous.

She decided that she should, it wasn't nice that's for sure, but she knew much about him shouldn't he know more about her?

"Fine I'll tell you, but don't expect any great detail," she stated, and waited for his response.

He nodded and replied, "It's alright; at least it's something."

She waited a second before she continued. She had to think of a place to start, as there was a lot to say.

"Well the place I grew up in was less than nice, though it would've been worse for my mother considering she knew life beyond it." She sighed, thinking how to continue what she was explaining at current.

"The others in our situation were sorta like family to us, but the ones that weren't treated us badly." Dark shadows edged her eyes; she was getting to a gloomier part.

"There was one man in particular, he treating mum like she was nothing, not even human. I saw him doing it sometimes, but never the worst part."

"What was the worst part?" The boy cut in. She looked down and swallowed a lump in her throat, surprised at herself for even saying this.

"He was my father you know, but it wasn't like my parents had any feelings for each other, mum didn't even want to be anywhere near him." She paused and turned her eyes away from his direction. "You can probably understand where I'm going with this…" she laughed, but no happy feelings were expressed in it; it was a painful sound, filled with an aura of despair.

"He knew who I was, but never cared. Whenever I've seen him since her death, he didn't even realise who I was. He doesn't care that she died, she's a part of a past he left in the past."

Hope stayed deadly silent. He knew her mother was dead, and that Solace had lived a bad life previous to coming to Eden, but he didn't know those details about her father. She was in another place, where only the pain could reach her. Unless he interrupted he knew she'd keep going, but he didn't know what to say.

"I can barely remember the day she died, everything was red, and I was so scared. I kept thinking, why was this happening? What had we done wrong for people to hate us? For the goddess to want to end us?" Her breathing was becoming increasingly unsteady.

"I only found her after it had ended, everyone one I knew was either dead or gone. I found her crushed under the planks from what had once been a roof, she'd been protecting her friends and it had caved in on them. I remember the part where I'd screamed. I was scared, I was angry, I didn't know what I should've been feeling at all." Her stare was so blank, directed straight ahead. Hope could swear he could feel a wind pick up, a breeze that chilled him to the bone. The ground below him went from cold to warm, and it didn't stop from heating up. He knew about this mood of hers, but all he'd been told about it was NEVER let the girl stay like that for too long. He didn't ask why but when a fully trained knight of Eden put extreme emphasis on the word never dear Etro you better take their word for it; he needed to snap her out of this. But only Cid could ever do it, and he wasn't here.

"Solace!" He yelled, feeling like, even being so close, she wouldn't hear it. She didn't look at him; she didn't make any kind of response at all. Her eyes remained as blank as ever, glints as red as flames flickering through, and that was when he almost panicked. He didn't know what was happening but he knew it needed to end.

"Solace!" He repeated and grabbed her hand, it was so hot. She snapped up almost hitting the wall, half lidded eyes opened wide as they could go. For that second her breathing stopped but came back in long harsh breaths. He could feel her start to shiver, as her hand didn't have the previous heat it'd had only seconds before. Her gaze slowly lowered down to him like it was the first time she'd noticed him.

"Hope…" She mumbled, mind slowly returning to reality. "I…um-"

"What was that!" He stopped her before she made more muttered attempts of talking. Clearly she didn't know where to start.

"I…" She looked to the side, avoiding the question. When her gaze returned his confused waiting face, it was too much. She bit her lip, hard enough that her lip turned white under the pressure; she held her hands close to her chest. This was the most common way she showed panic.

Her head shook hastily. "I can't tell you!"

"Why!" He yelled back almost right after, with a hurt look.

A pang of pain was felt in her chest. She didn't want to sound so mean to her friend, but he wouldn't be able to understand.

"Hope…I'm sorry." She stood up abruptly and was going to leave but was quickly stopped by a man's voice calling out behind them.

"Your highness!" She knew she didn't need to stay but she didn't recognise the voice well and was as so curious to who it belonged to. A tall lithe man walked in a steady pace stopping besides the two. His hair a bright blonde; deep blue eyes shown out of his head. Besides the clothes which obviously marked him as one from Palumpolum he looked very much one from Eden. Though that was explained from his traditional Eden hairstyle, proof of him being originally from that city.

"What is it?" Hope stood up quickly and asked the man, who Solace recognised as a guard, well this hospital did have some important citizens being treated here.

"You father wishes to see you." He informed him politely.

"Fine, where is he?" He asked failing to hide his wonder on it. Well he was just a kid after all, it wasn't like he could make his voice void of emotion all the time like his elders could.

"I can take you to him if it's alright." The man replied.

The silver haired teenager nodded to him, "That is fine."

The blonde guard gave Solace a small nod before leaving, acting like this was the first time he'd noticed the knight was there.

Hope didn't miss the way she tensed up under the lanky man's gaze. As soon as they as both turned away and began walking off in another direction, she began running her fingers through her red hair, blonde roots becoming more pronounced each time.

…

The Pulsian duo had continued their stalking into far past midday. The small one was starting to feel the effects of walking for hours on end, the tall one still in fine condition. They kept up a distance but made sure it wasn't too much away. They were out of earshot but not out of sight, they still had to take precautions. The older one was especially intentional on not getting caught.

Around midday their target had stopped for a rest. They gave her credit, sure it had only been walking but she must be very fit to do it for so long. They sat under a tree, hiding in its shadows but keeping her in sight. They took food from their bags and ate it quietly, careful not to bring the slightest amount of attention to themselves.

"Pray tell me what the point of this is?" The small one was yet to put down her argument, whether or not she was aware how useless it was with this woman being the one she's up against.

"Told you already didn't I? The bitch was curious about her, so I want to know what it is." She rubbed the nape of her neck absent-mindedly. "Promise I'll only keep it up for a day or two, I just want to see what this girly's like." Her accented voice laughed.

Her friend didn't make a straight out response; instead letting out a quiet sigh, indeed her argument was useless. She'd keep it up for a year if nothing came up to stop her.

"Could you please stop calling her a bitch? If she finds out about it you'll get in strife again," Her friend reminded her, hoping she'd consider.

"What does it matter if I get her angry with me? Don't have anything she can take away from me but you and she's not allowed to do that." Her friend smirked confidently, making her friend sigh yet again.

"Is this really going to get us anywhere? There is only one reason she can be interested in anyone, shouldn't you have already figured out what it is about her?"

"Sure I have figured that part out already. But that's not all I'm curious about, 'kay? And anyway, she's not ONLY interested in people like me; she was interested in you weren't she? If she hadn't, we wouldn't have met."

Her companion didn't make a reply, instead she decided that she should just give up, her friend was far too stubborn.

…

Lightning was resting her head against the broad trunk of a tree. She hadn't allowed herself to rest for most the day. The soles of her feet felt like they were burning and each joint ached horribly. She wasn't puffed out at all but there was still a limit to what her body could take none the less.

She allowed herself to slide her back against the tree and land on the ground; it was a less than comfortable feeling as she hit the grass but the burning sensation stopped the moment she wasn't putting the weight on her muscles. She let the wind pass over her, revelling in how cool it felt against her skin.

She may have gone too far in one go but there weren't more towns for miles and the isolation would put the search on a standstill for the time being. And she was too stubborn to let that happen. She was surprised at herself for relenting and letting herself rest, even if it was a short amount of time.

Lightning opened up the bag she'd been given the night before and searched through its contents for something suitable to eat. She'd skipped breakfast and she could swear her stomach was on the verge of committing suicide it hurt so much. It was filled with nought but fruits and vegetables and those included the ones she didn't like, but when it came to it if she had nothing left she'd eat such ones anyway, just like she had before she had begun living in Bodhum. Sure it hadn't been the best of places but it had a large amount of good foods, one of the reasons it made a nice place for a holiday.

Lightning picked out a pear, that unlike certain foods in there didn't look like they were about to shrivel up and die. She bit out a chunk, chewing it softly while observing the area. Some trees were closer together while some were further apart making a path, like the one she had been walking for the past couple hours. The leaves were the same pea green as the grass; the bark was different from tree to tree, going from a light brown to being near indistinguishable from black. Patches on the ground were free of the green grass and were now a light coloured dirt. She guessed she could call the area pretty, the forest spread out further than her eyes could see with sunlight dancing all around cutting away dark shadows. She wasn't used to seeing this, Bodhum was a tropical area and where she'd lived before had no life but the pitiful people living there. It was to her a new experience, never had she been able to feel wind that felt so cold or be around such natural smells without the overbearing scent of salt.

She finished up the fruit and chucked the core on the ground, she didn't have any water on her. She could go searching for some later, at the moment she needed her rest. Lying down on the bumpy ground, she closed her eyes and drifted off. She planned for only a quick sleep.

…

Solace had nothing to while her time away with now; the prince had been taken away to talk to his father from what the guard had said. So she needed something new to do, to get her mind off some important matters she'd rather not think about. Her habit of avoidance was seen as rather immature by many, but hell, they weren't her! How were they supposed to understand her reasons? They couldn't, that was that.

She made her way back to her room; maybe sleeping would help if she didn't end up with a nightmare. Because for her nightmares were only ever about the past she longed to forget. Without having to go through a multiple amount of empty rooms she got back much faster than it took her to arrive at the courtyard. When she reached the room she swung the door inwardly, and was greeted with a surprise. Cid was sitting on the bed, he didn't seem to have noticed her right away; his gaze was focused on the scene outside the window. Well she had been quiet upon entering.

"Cid?" She asked the silent man.

He looked over to her, with the same still expression she was so used to see him showing. Knights and royals were not allowed to show emotion, only her and Hope failed when it came to that.

"I saw that outburst of yours. You should've been more careful, especially so from having a royal by your side."

She gulped. He sounded angry; getting him to show his emotions was hard to do. Saying she was frightened was quite an understatement.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking too deeply, I promise I won't do it again." She was near to begging. She didn't like getting anyone angry. She'd been given a phobia of angry people because of how her childhood had been; now she was terrified by them.

"You can promise a million times over but you will always break it. You have no control over your powers; they're too strong for such a small body like yours." His voice was a mix of slight concern and obvious irritation.

"But Cid!" She cut in, knowing where this conversation was going. It hurt her how he completely ignored the pained look in her eyes.

"No buts Solace. Don't leave my sight again; we don't want any more possible outbursts." He stood up from her bed and moved towards the door. Before he did she yelled at him, an anger woken from inside her.

"I'm not a child, stop treating me like one! For the sake of the goddess why are you doing this NOW? You never used to!" She clenched her fists tightly and scowled at him with fiery eyes.

He turned back and looked at her, with an unreadable expression. He took one glimpse at her eyes, how they glowed. For that second his façade fell and his expression was grim, with hints of hurt. For reasons neither had to say, they understood it without having to say it; all too well. He stepped forward and poked her in the forehead.

"I'm just remembering where my priorities are, nothing more nothing less. Stop wishing for dreams, because that's all they are. Dreams." He pivoted and shut the door behind him.

Solace tried to calm down, but she had too much on her mind. Augh! How dare Cid act like that to her? What was she to him? Some child in need of protection? How dare him!

It didn't used to be like this, he just changed all of a sudden. It was so annoying, it was so hard to talk to him now; he didn't make sense anymore.

Nothing made sense anymore.

Solace sighed dejectedly and planted herself on the white bed, hands rubbing her upper arms like she was cold. Right now all she felt like doing was crying, it was getting too much. She wanted to run away, but she knew it wouldn't work. She changed her name, changed herself, but she couldn't escape. Not when the memories of her past still haunted her, the people in her past still lingered with her. Cid had brought her away from that place that day, when everything she had was lost. He stayed and watched as she buried her own mother and any friends she could find. He had once helped her get past all the horrors, he'd saved her in more way than one; but then one day he changed. She never had been given a reason, and she wanted it so god damn badly. She could barely control her powers anymore, back when he didn't act so cold she was fine, but that time was gone.

She sighed loud and lay down, arms outstretched. She blinked back the tears threatening to fall. Apart from everything else one thing bothered her to the extreme, even more so than the cold way Cid acted during the last three years.

"What happened to you?" She spoke aloud, to no one but herself. The thing was, the question was certainly not for the man stuck on her mind. Not even close.

…

Lightning had woken up after half an hour or so. As she'd begun walking again, the pain in her legs had disappeared, but now it was her back that hurt. Luckily it was more easily ignored, and anyway, if this was to continue she'd have to get used to aches as it was unavoidable. She'd found a fresh-water river not so far from where she was, a set of rocks separated a part where it dipped causing the water to tip over the edge like a mini waterfall. She knew it was best to get water from running water rather than still because it would be mostly water rather than being filled with dirt and possible bacteria. The river was slow flowing so getting it from the tiny waterfall would be best. She stepped over to the edge, adjusting her belt so her gunblade was as far away as she could make it. Her hands reached out under the freezing liquid and cupped an amount in her hands. She tilted her head down slightly and drank what she'd managed to get, before repeating it twice over. When she'd had her fill she produced a small bottle from her pocket. It was lucky she had it on her when she'd lost her bag before. Dunking it under she kept it there until water began spilling out the top, signalling it was full.

The woman stood up screwing on the lid, the wind was irksomely cold here thanks to the river and she'd preferably keep her distance if she could. Stepping away from the running water she left the shadowed area into the light of a less crowded area. She'd been walking here before, it made a good path.

For some time she stayed at a steady pace, every now and then taking a look around whenever she thought she had heard something, it could be a fiend; she needed to be careful. Her hand stayed close to her blade, if needed it would serve as the only weapon she had; she was in a refusal to use her powers, she just couldn't chance it. Sure this area was pretty much void of human life but you always had travellers, if they saw a woman magically set a monster on fire it would cause some serious havoc for her. She couldn't let even one person know about what she was. Ever.

For most it was silent excusing her feet against the dirt and long grass, plus the sound of her breathing, but yes silent. So when the sound of a large stick cracking rang against the area it was something to gain her attention. Oh joy, the cliché way to let someone know they're not alone, and certainly someone had just done it. Intense eyes focused on the area behind her, it had echoed far but her hearing was good enough to track the source, and that was the direction it originated from. She concentrated, hard enough that the singing birds could be ignored, and she heard a rushed breath. From the sound of it, the mistake had come from a person, no monster breathed very much like one of them.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" An angered voice cried out with question.

She was given no proper answer, but as she concentrated again she could hear finely a voice, and another deeper one in a hasty sounding conversation.

…

"Oh no, she knows we're here! What are we going to do!" The small Pulsian girl asked her far calmer accomplice.

"Well what the hell do you think we're going to do? If she knows, she knows, didn't I say that before?" She replied sounding like she was about to laugh, but with a very serious tone to her voice.

"Oh dear Etro, and what is she going to think when she realises we've been stalking her for the past five days?" The younger still panicked.

"Hey, I would have done it for a month. Five day's ain't anything."

"But…!"

"Hey no buts, nothing you say is going to stop me. Now I'm going to have one 'lovely' conversation with this young lady, alright?" She pointed in the woman's direction; they could still hear her continued calls throughout conversion with each other.

With a call loud enough to scare the birds out of the trees she stepped forward out into the light.

"Well hello, sunshine!"

…

"Well hello, sunshine!" A thickly accented voice called out to her. Lightning glared, agitated at the woman who revealed herself. She was tan, with cheeky green eyes and a mess of raven hair tied into knotty plaits with fiery dyes running through and beads of the same colour. She just stood there, smiling at her. She wore a white blue edged dress, a fancy garment that'd you expect from a citizen of Eden, but no doubt this was a stolen piece of clothing, as this woman was more than obviously from Pulse. Everything about her screamed it, even more than the painted spear held loosely at her side.

The mystery woman gave her a smug cocky smirk before speaking like she were a close friend, despite the fact of them being perfect strangers, "So how you doing babydoll?"

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><p><strong>hope you enjoyed, reviews shall be much appreciated and shall make Arianna (the name I gave the paranoid voice in my head) shut the hell up because what she says is very painful.<strong>

**And because I have to I reccomend you read Seeker of the skies stories, she's got some good stuff but no one reads her stories.**

**And also because this will also help make Arianna shut up, I reccomend you my precious fans to read my fav story: Wings of regret. It's wonderful but no one reads it and I'm all depressed and it makes Arianna tell me I'm useless to see it with less than one hundred hits.**


	5. forcing

**(2,646 words) I woke up this morning and my mind was telling me I was Aerith, took my time to convince myself I wasn't, end result I got out of bed at 12. Not the first time it's happened, except the last time it did it was 3 in the morning and my friend was whacking the couch with my keyblade. **

**Sorry if I haven't updated in a long time, couldn't think what to write in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything XIII related besides a copy of the Xbox version of the game me and my big sister bought last year, and nothing more. Though ****I do want to steal the legal rights to Serah.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5) Forcing<strong>

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><p>"So how you doing baby doll?" An accented voice asked cheekily.<p>

Lightning eyed the woman with distrust, what on earth had she been doing here? Following her maybe? But why?

"Who are you?" She yelled at the stranger, whose smug grin only widened at the words.

"Myself, who else?" She chuckled and started walking over to her, with a hand on her hip in a clearly self-confident stance.

The stranger's accomplice followed her out of the trees cover. This girl was considerable smaller but she doubted the age difference to be much. Her pinkish-red hair was tied into two bunches on both sides of her head, the bunches were lined with dyes of gold and crimson while the loose strands of her hair that made up a fringe and those undone at the back were tied into small braids with fiery beads running along their lengths. Her clothes consisted of a plaid skirt ending far short of her knees and a rose red blouse with lace sleeves; her shoes were ankle length auburn boots with tears near the toes. They were clearly lavish clothes from Eden, but as she had suspected with the tall girl, they as well were stolen. The part of the garments that hinted pulse was the fur half skirt that ended by her knees held up with a black behemoth leather belt. Unlike her companion, she didn't hold that confidence and instead her presence was screaming a silent unsureness.

But what attracted her attention to this girl weren't the Pulsian accessories but instead the crystal necklace held around her neck with a brown string. It was a pale turquoise, just like the ones Snow and that Knight she's seen in that carriage had. This one though was not in the same shape, those two had had remarkably similar designs, those being a sun and a crescent moon tipped on its side below it. This girl however, still had the crescent moon but instead of the sun an eye opened wide in its place. What was with that necklace? Why had she been repeatedly seeing them lately, was there some kind of a meaning behind them? In her distraction she failed to notice the tall one sneak up beside her until she grabbed onto her he chin and turned her head to face her.

"What you looking at Vanille for? The necklace got you interested or something has it?"

She froze.

Bullseye.

"Geez you're easy to read aren't you?" She laughed and walked around to her back, inspecting her closely; Lightning made sure not to let her out of her sight and followed her scrutinisingly with her eyes. She had no reason to put any trust with this stranger. She wasn't going to go straight ahead and believe in those scary bedtime stories about Pulse being a hell on earth, but she had her feelings that nonetheless this woman could be very easily dangerous.

"I'm just wondering what someone like you is doing out by themselves. I mean that bitch is very interested in you, she doesn't like her toys to be in danger." She sniggered as she walked all around her and faced her front once more.

"What on earth are you talking about? Who's interested in me?" Lightning questioned, irritated.

The Pulsian stranger rolled her eyes at being asked, "What does a name matter, she's a bitch and she's interested in you pinky." She shrugged her shoulders and turned, more than likely to walk off, but Lightning didn't have it in mind to stop it at that.

"Who's interested in me? Answer me!" She yelled back she was ignored; then something snapped.

"Answer me you stupid moron!" She pulled her gunblade out of its holster and swung it with force at the woman. But faster than her eyes could follow she twisted around, brought up her lance and blocked the attack. All she gave her opponent was a second to react to the suddenness of the block before she turned the tables again by grabbing onto the other side of the spear and twisting it around ripping it clear from Lightning's grasp and flinging the blade to the ground.

With her weapon hand she pointed at the blade from where it stuck out of the ground,

"You see that? Did you think you were strong? Did you think you could dare take on me? For the goddess' sake I've taken on an Eden knight and won! Don't you go about thinking you stand a chance!"

Lightning was startled by her sudden anger, what on earth was wrong with her, if she didn't want anything like that happening then she shouldn't have tried to piss her off in the first place.

Grumpily she picked her blade out of the ground and wiped the dirt from its length, scowling at the woman in the corner of her eye, whose smug grin had returned.

"What reason do you have to be angry about? I can't be bothered to tell you something and you try to chop my bloody head off. Geez I got more reason than you right now." She laughed, but it was her turn to be ignored.

"Obviously someone just has a short temper, it'd probably be better if you didn't go about reacting to it as much." Her companion came in and held onto her arm, acting like she was scared her friend would flip out again.

Lightning looked up to her for only a second, like she'd forgot the girl had been there. She pivoted on the ball of her feet wanting to leave the couple behind but it seemed they didn't have that thought in mind.

"Leave now and I promise Fang's going to continue stalking you." The small one informed her with a slight laugh to her cheery high pitched voice.

She tilted her head to glare at them, the tall one, Fang, was giving her that same smirk. Honestly it just made her want to try and hit her again.

"I don't care, do whatever you want. I don't want to bother myself with anyone."

"So you wouldn't want anyone's help even though you're doing the impossible thing of trying to find one single person who could be bloody anywhere, hell they could be dead you know?" Fang yelled out to her as she turned her back. The last part had gone a mite too far and it resulted in another scowl.

"Take that back you bitch!" she held up her gunblade in the direction of the raven hair's face.

"Hey!" She put her arms up in the air in mock surrender. "Don't go about that again; haven't you learnt your lesson? I think you shouldn't attempt beating me when I already told you I've beat an Eden Knight now eh?" She put a large amount of emphasis on the last part.

Lightning's expression didn't lighten.

"Tsk, do you really expect me to believe that?"

Her small companion let out a sigh and bowed her head like she was exhausted.

"She's technically not kidding, though they were actually a squire at the time." She told her sighing as her friend's brash smile spread across her face.

Lightning put her blade down and put it back in its holder, she really couldn't be bothered with the couple right now. She turned again and tried to leave, but as she had already guessed it would happen, the younger one called out to her.

"Wait, we can help you, you know!"

"Well I don't want it!" She replied yelling back.

"But you remember how Fang mentioned about a certain someone having an interest in you?"

Why was she trying so hard to get her to stay?

"What about them?" She clenched her fists; the stare she gave caused the redhead to jump around uncomfortably on her feet almost as if she was walking on hot coals.

"Well…" She mumbled, having trouble with her words. "The people she has an interest in, she always makes sure that they aren't ever alone, so they can stay safe." She forced out and paused for a breath. "So it means that if you ditch us she'll just put another onto you, and trust me I think you'd rather us!"

"Heh, in what reality?" She scoffed.

"Why can't you believe me!"

"Most people don't go about trusting strangers now do they? Why are you acting so surprised?" She turned around for what she hoped would be the last time. In the next moment when neither called out to her she guessed she'd finally won out and they had given up on her. Whatever the hell they were going on about she couldn't care less for.

Behind her the Pulsian couple were hastily talking amongst themselves on whether or not they really should let her go. Lightning heard nothing but tiny whispers, and had no idea what they were conversing over as she walked out of earshot.

The talk ended as fast as it had started and Fang tilted her head over to the strawberry-blonde woman walking off, signifying for her friend to run over there for one last chance of convincing her to stay with them.

She inclined her neck and saw the redhead dashing over to her, she'd noticed her quite late and in a second she'd rounded to her front, puffing and holding tightly onto her crystal necklace.

"I don't care if you care about it right now, but, you have to listen to me for at least a second." She huffed, holding tighter her necklace, "That woman, her guardians are supposed to wear these necklaces, now obviously from your reaction to seeing mine you have seen one before. We're not allowed to stay away from those we're supposed to protect, or she'll do something horrible to us. Maybe you hate yours but you really wouldn't want them to go through what she'll do to them if you stay by yourself! Stick with us! Please!" She begged with her big pea green eyes.

Lightning's eyes widened in shock as it occurred to her the truth of the necklaces she'd seen.

Then that means…

"Oh for the love of Etro." She face-palmed.

…

A fire burned dimly in the corner of the red stone room. Beyond the stone floor was darkness, and beyond that, was nothing. In the middle the bricks rose up in rows creating a miniature pyramid, atop it sat a golden throne.

A woman dressed flowing cobalt silk fashioned similarly to a sari sat crossed legged with a hand placed under her chin and had a conceited smile gracing her scarlet lips. Her arms were decorated in many yellow gold bangles and her hands were covered in jewel-encrusted rings. Her shoes were made of simple russet sandals, with string thin straps dancing all the way up to her thighs. Her hair was a beautiful tiffany blue, made into a million different braids and held up with an extravagant crown of pure silver shaped like a behemoth skull.

The arrogant beauty was not alone in the room, one man sat in silence in the corner while a man in an elaborate white outfit noticeably made in Eden kneeled reverently in front of her throne.

"How protective you are of my little daughter, child; it makes me happy to see you so, but…" She giggled mockingly, "It almost seems in the wrong way."

As his face remained down she couldn't visibly see his shaken face, but she knew well that it was there.

"How so milady?" He asked with a hint of alarm.

She let out another unnerving giggle and uncrossed her legs, now instead she rested both her elbows on her knees and her palms rested against her cheeks. It was a happy and childish pose, but in her mind she was secretly insulting him.

"How? My my now wasn't there a time you let that little fondness you have of her out? Now is it only mama that knows how her mind works? You've hurt that child bad son. And…" She put her finger to her lip in sarcastically in thought, "Well I think that deserves some punishment."

He shivered at the word 'punishment', for this woman it could mean any kind of cruel and tormenting torture.

"Now why did you do that to her I wonder?" She snorted. She already knew the answer to that, what on earth caused her to ask?

"I'm sorry milady, but the others do not know about this. I can't let myself become close because of how our lives are. It's forbidden."

"Pfffft!" She interrupted him rudely. "Whatever, you are dismissed; once I find something to do to you I'll summon you." She laughed. "Now leave!" She switched to a yell.

He shivered and stood up, his face was blank as he clicked his fingers and disappeared into whipping black shadows.

The silent man in the corner watched as the black-haired man disappeared, waiting for what was to come for him. The goddess was in a forgiving mood, he hoped it would last for him.

He snapped his eyes up to her as she began to laugh her head off from what he could see was for no apparent reason.

"Oh that boy, he's so funny isn't he?" She said out loud but he knew it to be rhetorical.

"Oh and fun fact for you." She hung herself over the left side of her throne to look properly at him,

"My puppy got bored and found your girl. The little one took a guess and decided that since she was alone she must hate her guardian, so she's kinda sorta maybe forced her to stick with them so I don't force her to go back. Fun girls aren't they?" She smiled angelically.

"Wha..really?" He asked shocked,

"Yep." She answered childishly. "So that means you have to stay here until I can figure out what to do to you." She beamed in a strangely demonic way.

…

Lightning sat by a fire she'd made earlier on. In the end she'd failed to get those girls leave her alone, and had gone with them instead. She'd been completely against it, but that redhead was making such good arguments for it and she guessed that no matter how many times she said no the tall one would never give up, she seemed to be the stubborn type.

At the moment she was alone, the others were out searching for food as neither would have what little she had. She had a perfect moment to escape from them here, but she didn't doubt for a second that they would go ahead and find her again. She'd been alone from some time when the small girl came back; she knelt by the fire to warm her cold hands. She was smiling, but didn't say anything.

"What was your name again?" Lightning asked, it'd already skipped her mind.

"Vanille, it's easier to remember if you keep 'vanilla' in mind. Sometimes I wonder if my mum was hungry when she named me" She giggled happily.

Lightning looked up into her joyful green eyes, she didn't seem to be that bad of a person to talk to; it was something to pass the time.

"Your mum, is she nice?" She asked quietly.

"I wouldn't know, she died when I was three and I never knew my father." She told her solemnly. "What about you?"

"My mother was killed when I was 10, my dad I barely knew; he hated me."

The conversation quickly turned to silence, Vanille's face turned downward, with a grim expression held on her face.

"Guess we both had it rough huh?" She forced a laugh and looked back up, an expression of enforced confidence present.

"Hey, you'll find your sister, I believe in it." Her smile returned, after a second of being shocked, Lightning felt herself smile back.

"Thanks."

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><p><strong>And done, I'll do my best to get the next update out faster. Though I am taking a break from writing to plan out a handful of my stories cause I really should do that.<strong>

**I recommend you to read seeker of the skies stories and my precious 'Wings of regret' Oh and if you're interested I've got a new story that I'm putting up when my beta gets the DOCX back to me, it's going to be called 'innocent eyes'. I'd be happy if you would like to check it out.**

**Reviews shall be much appreciated, especially since I haven't been getting them lately.**

**Jya ne!**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	6. sneak

**(6,482 words) This chapter is much longer than I expected, but that's good for you right? It took me four days to write, this is supposed to be my fan fiction break day, but as usual I finished too late so I've had to do it today. My beta hasn't gone through this because of computer troubles, so could you alert me to any mistakes.**

**Now a fun fact, to all the people that do read authors notes. On Saturday and Sunday, me, my big sister (Seeker of the skies) and my friend (0erbayunfang) went down to the council oval and pretended it was Pulse. We saw some people when we were walking there and ran away screaming 'BEHEMOTHS'. A group of boys were laughing at us because we were holding massive sticks, so they called us blonde. Me and my sister are brunette...and Fang's hair is almost black. anyway, on the first day obviously Fang was Fang, and me and my sister were OC's (Seramini and Lane) And Lane was claiming that Fang was her mother, so now apparently my beta is my mother...also she was stuck speaking like Fang even after we stopped playing.**

**On Sunday, she was still Fang, my sister my Vanille, and I was Solace. Yes we pretended to be in the world of Truth and Lies. It was awesome. Now because I was Cocoonian and they were Pulsian, there became this rift between us and we were badmouthing each other for two hours. Even sweet little Vanille was being a bitch to me, and to think my sister successfully stayed in character all throughout it. That's hard when you're playing someone kind like Vanille. At one point we got into a massive argument, so I was using stuff that you will find out later on in this story. but I had to adjust things because my friend was clueless and kept making comments that contradict how it actually goes, but it was still brilliant. We got so sucked into this argument of ours (A completely fake argument of ours), that Fang forgot where she was, and not only that, forgot we were acting. Apparently that happened because when the argument happened, I became a different person entirely, and they were sucked in to the moment.**

**I made them act! I did what Tsuruga-san did! How epic!**

**Bye.**

**Disclaimer: I own plot, not characters, kay puppies?**

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><p><span>6) Sneak<span>

* * *

><p>Lightning trailed behind the Pulsian couple as they walked at a faster pace while deep in a conversation through the busy town. It'd taken two days to reach the end of the forest, and when they had they found this town a kilometre down the dirt road. The sun was setting along the horizon line that could be seen just over the roofs of the market place.<p>

The pink–haired girl would have loved to use this opportunity that those two were distracted to make a run for it, but knew well enough that such an attempt would promptly turn to failure. These two were stubborn. The redhead was putting more attention to her clearly, as every now and then she would turn around to check and even ran back to her and pull her forward if she fell too far behind. The raven haired one, as she had seen was obviously more stubborn than her companion, but was far less concerned over whatever Lightning was doing. She never did more than a look back, which were few and far between. That smirk was annoying Lightning greatly; it was an accomplished smirk, undeserving to be there at all. What got to her even more was how that expression reminded her of the one that oaf Snow always wore; it was an expression that made one deserve to be punched in the face. Too bad Fang was too far away for her to hit.

_Ugh._ She was put into a bad mood when she was made to think of that man. She hated him so much; she might have been able to stand him if it wasn't for all those times he went on about being a 'hero'. Hero? He hadn't done anything in his life! What **was** he going on about!?

Her stomach dropped further as she remembered what Vanille had told her two days prior. That those necklaces symbolised the 'protectors' of people that some woman (who honestly she still didn't know who the hell she was), was interested in; and bloody Snow of all people had had one of those aforementioned necklaces. Just brilliant, right?

If it stopped her ever having to see him again, she'd stick with these two Pulsian girls; even if they were obnoxious and persistent as all goddess-damned hell.

She let out a sigh and increased her pace as she fell behind. To distract herself from all her confusions and unwanted thoughts, she decided to take in the environment around her. It was better than nothing: after all, it was something to do.

The sun was slowly setting; the clouds above her were coloured purple and surrounded with gold and faded blue. It would have been a pretty sight, out on the beach where the small afternoon waves of the low tide lapped at the sandy shore, but tall buildings blocked the view that could have been. The area they were walking through was presumably a market place or town square. She didn't find it to matter to an extreme, but the area was still extremely busy and full of life even as darkness fell. A cold wind lashed her arms as she passed by a store selling shells predictable brought up from the beach. A group of kids rushed by her and almost knocked her over from the sudden force. That was where she begun getting real sick of this busy place. She hated being near large groups; she wasn't claustrophobic over the small space she was left: it was simply that she detested the crowds.

She moved to hit the person that had grabbed hold of her arm but stopped mid-swing when she found it was only Vanille again to make sure she didn't fall behind.

The redhead ignored the fact that she was almost hit completely, and smiled at Lightning cheerily.

"Fang found a place, come on."

She nodded in response and let the small girl lead her. Fang had dragged them all the way through the busy town saying she was going to find them a place to stay tonight. Now Lightning had doubted she'd be successful in that at all, whether the stories are true or not, people weren't 100% on trusting Pulsians around here. But then again, for that exact same reason that may be what would get her accommodation. She could easily just scare the shit out of someone into getting a place to stay simply by standing by someone and doing nothing. People were that gullible to believe in childish tales of a hell on earth and its equally violent occupants.

Vanille led Lightning to a small inn, where Fang sat cross armed next to the door with a lop-sided grin. Vanille smiled as she walked over to her friend, she whispered something in her ear, but Lightning was still too far away to hear.

When the pink-haired girl walked up the steps to stand by their side, Vanille pulled away and Fang's grin broadened. The cocky woman pushed away from the wall and jokingly put her arm around Lightning, she found herself having to use all the strength she had to resist hitting her.

"Dang-a-lang these people will believe anything you tell them eh? I've got that room for free because he's so bloody scared of me." She burst out laughing, and was pushed away for laughing into someone's ear.

Yeah, people will believe anything they are told. They're more trustworthy and gullible than they'd ever notice they were.

* * *

><p>Fang had grabbed on Lightning's arm tightly as she rushed her up the staircase, Vanille followed behind at a slower pace as she was more trustworthy. The raven hair had a stubborn grip on the girl's arm, and no matter how hard she tugged and pulled the attempts were made useless.<p>

Fang made it up the first flight of stairs and turned a corner shapely, and thanks to her speed she had no time to react to the woman holding up a pile of recently washed laundry and ran right into the poor stranger. She collided with a smash just as Vanille got around the corner to see clothes blocking her sight as they flew about in the air. When they returned to the ground the redhead saw Lightning standing in an unsteady crouch and Fang sprawled out on the floor, still with her hand wrapped around the Cocoonian's arm. A woman with greyish hazel hair was rubbing her back as she stood up and retrieved the lost clothes to put back in her washing basket.

"Watch where you're going next time Lassie." The older woman said without looking. Of course, when she did and saw the beads and dyes that laced her hair, and the beast fur edging her clothes, she made a jump of fright.

"Ah, you're..!" She dropped her basket and took a step back, feeling like she needed the distance for safety.

"Blah blah blah, so I noticed, I'm Pulsian big woop." Fang responded groaning as she made it to her feet, the crash hurt a surprising amount; she predicted the basket had of hit her, because the elderly woman was fine.

The woman clearly flinched at the confirmation. "Why...ah…what do you want!?" The woman made another step back, her fallen clothes long forgotten.

Fang rolled her eyes and let out one big annoyed sigh, she gave Vanille a look hinting her exasperation before looking back to the woman who was backing away slowly but surely.

"I don't think there would be a point in the slightest to do anything to you, I just want a place to sleep; I'm not going to hurt you." Fang informed her, leaning against the wall like she was exhausted.

The woman noticed but didn't seem at all convinced. "And your proof is?" She took a great step back.

Fang sent another look to Vanille which screamed, not read, screamed 'how on earth can she be so stupid' The redhead shrugged so Fang turned to face the woman again and decided to do the only thing she could that had any chance of convincing the dull old geezer.

She grabbed hold of Lightning by the hair and pulled her into the woman's proper view, she fought against the grip but the Pulsian's superior strength won out yet again.

"Hey she's one of you guys and I've done nothing to her!" She pointed at the three braids tied at the back of the pink hair's head.

"Except annoy the crap out of me." Lightning complained and tried again to rip herself from Fang's grip.

"Hey it comes with the package nothing you can do about that." She chuckled.

Emotions of shock, relief and confusion all swarmed over the nameless woman's face.

"Oh you're one of them!" She woman clasped her hands together in a happy surprise, acting like she had forgotten that the two other woman here she had been slowly been backing away from in fear. In fact she even picked all the clothes back up off the ground and into their basket, where hopefully they'd stayed this time.

"One of them?" Lightning stood up straight and asked; when she lucked out and got out of Fang's grip.

"You're from Bodhum right? I keep seeing them around here." She smiled as she made to turn, but Lightning's inquisitive voice stopped her in her tracks.

"You keep seeing them? Why?"

The elderly woman returned to look in their direction, this time her face pictured only confusion. "How can you not know when you lived there?" She questioned severely, it didn't add up to her.

"Actually I haven't lived there for a couple weeks now, so I wouldn't know if anything has happened." Lightning admitted.

The response was a nod, "Sorry then." The reply was solemn, this piqued her curiosity.

"Sorry, why sorry?"

"You really don't know do you?" She sighed and continued, "There was a horrible fire that broke out in the village square. The entire town was destroyed, so most of its inhabitants have moved here because it's the only town for miles that isn't slums."

When Lightning went deadly mute on her, she decided not to continue, and with a sympathetic expression planted her on her features, she disappeared around a corner.

"Geez, now that's a downer." Fang chuckled and walked down the hallway, acting indifferent to the information she had just heard. She didn't even notice she wasn't being followed until she looked back to see Lightning frozen as a stature and Vanille standing by her trying to comfort her. The expression she gave them was almost confused.

"Oi, come on!" She called; Vanille inclined her head to look over to her, before turning it back to Lightning, who may as well have not heard it at all. She gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder and told her with a forced smile that they had to go. She wasn't 100% what had made her go like that, but she understood well enough that it had to have something to do with the place she'd spent most her life being burned to the ground.

Except it wasn't that, she had never cared for that town, all she had was bad memories from it. She cared more for the beach and the cliff overlapping the sea. And they weren't a manmade thing that could be destroyed in a second; no there were not that type of thing. What bothered her most was what the woman had said afterwards, that most of the inhabitants were living here now. Than it was quite possible, that Snow was as well.

* * *

><p>Solace had snuck out; she was tired of how she was being treated, so she'd pulled a trick on Cid and managed to leave his sights for the first time in days. They were leaving Palumpolum in the upcoming days and she, as she knew she wouldn't normally be able to, decided she would pull a disappearing act and go into town.<p>

It was hot, but for most the time she'd been wearing normal clothes under her armour, they were clearly Eden made, but this was Palumpolum, its clothes were equally as good and thereby were considered every bit normal. She had worn them for just this occasion. It had actually been more difficult trying to find a spot to hide her armour in the room she'd been provided than the actual act of sneaking out. She found that thanks to her small stature the the hallways were easy to traverse without being seen, and Guards were mostly stationed at doors, with windows it happened only to be those large enough that a thief or other such criminal could easily sneak into. So around the hospital there were a million windows for her to sneak through without being seen because, as they were considered too small to sneak in, she would be able to go out without being spotted.

She had found a perfect one on the first floor, it was high from the ground because of its small size, but it was just big enough to get her petite form in and out of. And she knew she would be able to climb back in later because the wall beneath it was rocky and jutting out in places thanks to its age.

When she jumped out of the window, landing like a cat on the ground below, she had to actually force herself not the skip along the path leading to town because of her giddiness. She hadn't gotten away like this in over two years. She needed a break. Being treated like a five year old got tiring some days.

* * *

><p>The path to town was short and soon Solace found herself surrounded by hoards of busy city-people. She fitted right in; all that was out of the norm was her rose red hair. She wore a white blouse, with short maroon sleeves and collar. The blouse ended halfway down her stomach but her skirt covered any of the skin that would have shown. It was cream coloured and ended halfway down her thighs. Her russet belt held up a half skirt coloured the same as her sleeves which ended at the back of her knees, and had four diamond shapes cut out the back. Her shoes were a set of basic sandals she had nabbed earlier on. The red hair that fell down her front partially covered a golden locket, it was given to her by her mother when she was five; she never dare let it go. Her hair was out and for once it got to fall to her waist as she needn't wear the hair nets that she was made to wear for the sake of the helmet she never wore.<p>

She walked down a stone path between a set of tall buildings, a smile placed upon her face as it opened to a busy street. It was filled with the most people she'd seen today; it had to be the town square. A group of children to her right laughed as they watched two mimes have a 'mime' fight. She stopped and watched for a minute, her smile becoming broader. She wished she could have had a childhood like those kids were having now, always happy and smiling. She wasn't jealous, just, wishing that maybe somehow the past could be undone.

She moved along when the 'fight' ended, she dodged a hurrying group of teenagers to end up next to a set of stalls lined up against the wall of the mayor's office. She had no money but it was always fun to window shop. Palumpolum had its poor as well, they could never compare to people living in the slums, but that didn't mean they had money to spend willy-nilly. So most people would set up stalls on certain days so they could earn extra cash, it didn't work as well as they would like because on such days the town square would be busy with extravagant attractions like a play, or like she had seen a ways back a petting zoo. Solace strode past these stalls at a leisurely pace, with her hands loosely held behind her back.

The first stall sold clothes and materials for those wanting to make some of their own. Not many took the latter option, the rich had no skill for such a task; they never had needed to. But it was good for the poorer people of the city. She felt herself smile at the stall owner's consideration of others. The second stall sold shells and scarves, and a whole assortment of items. As she walked along these stalls she couldn't help but wish she could buy something from them, the people needed the money after all, and she was very interested in what they had to sell.

When the line of stands ended she moved away to take a look of the play happening at the opposite end, she had noticed it upon first coming here but as she'd never been to the city before she wanted to take a look around first. Seats were lined about a miniscule stage where actors were performing a play she was unable to recognise. She wouldn't be surprised if it be improv, that was certainly the vibe she was given form it. The play was, luckily for her a free attraction so she took a seat and watched it for the remaining time it had to go.

"Having fun are you?" A deep voice appeared from behind her, she jumped as she recognised it; she turned in her seat to see the familiar face of one of her fellow knights, taking up the seat behind her.

"Ah, Radek, what are you doing here!?" She panicked, getting up with hopes she could outrun him. The man still had his armour on.

"Cid told me you'd snuck out." He replied simply and calmly as his hand snapped up to grab hold of hers.

"Of course he did." She sighed as a feeling of failure became a heavy weight in her chest. He always knew where she was. Always.

Without further conversation Radek pulled her along the seats until they ended and the petite girl could stand by his side. She followed him in silence as he led her from the town square, a million and one looks were given to them. It wasn't every day you saw an Eden knight, but not one had any idea the girl being dragged along was one herself.

* * *

><p>Without all the walls and buildings blocking the way, the cool mid-day wind was free to caress their skin; Leaves blew in the soft breeze making a beautiful natural scene to their left. One ruined by the towering structure before them.<p>

It was only after they had gotten out of town and back on the path to the hospital, did Radek speak again, snapping Solace from a trance she had fallen into during the silence.

"Real escape artist you are; didn't have the slightest idea you'd gone into town until Cid told me you had. I've not a single idea how he could have known, but lo and behold he was telling the truth because there you were." He laughed shakily from feelings of shock as he ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the already tousled locks.

Solace made a growling sound, which only made him laugh again, but he listened to what she had to say, "I'm starting to think he's magic."

He guffawed at her idea, "I'll side with you on that."

He waited for the redhead to say more, but she had fallen to silence. With his curiosity sparked, he twisted to see her with a melancholy expression aimed at the ground beneath her feet.

"Solace?" He asked with a concerned tone. She did not look up, but if anything her expression became more downed.

"Radek? Do you see me as a child?" She inquired dejectedly.

His expression showed puzzlement, what was with this all of a sudden?

"Look here, you're an accomplished knight of Eden at the young as hell age of eighteen, sure I'd be able to outrun you in an endurance race, but if it was a sprint I'd be doomed and I know for a fact you could break my face and all my other bones to go along with it. Why would I see you as a child?" He questioned her deeply feeling rather bemused.

She bit her lip. "Never mind."

He nodded, knowing that her feelings wouldn't change, accepting as well that he could do nothing to help; he didn't see her as a child, but still as a woman. And woman are confusing, she was in no way an exception.

"Come on, just a bit to go." He said in an attempt at a comforting voice as they continued on their way.

* * *

><p>Cid wiped at shaky hand across his forehead. His head felt like it was going to explode any second now, and his forehead was on fire. He felt so weak he could barely stand, his legs had shook so bad he'd been using the wall as support, and currently his shoulder was resting against it for his arm could no longer do the job of supporting him.<p>

He was in the middle of a long hallway, when the feverish sickness had suddenly hit him out of the blue. He had been waiting a good ten minutes to try and muster up the strength to keep going, but that strength never came.

'_This is what she meant by punishment this time eh?'_ He thought to himself as he let out an angry sigh, Lindzel had horrible punishments for her subordinates. He hoped that that blonde man that had been there last time had gotten out of such punishments, but he doubted it. This was like one big fun game to that woman, he could barely stand, and she must be laughing her psychotic little head off at the moment.

"Cid!" He heard a voice call out to him, but he was so near to fainting it sounded distorted and he had no way to know who it was. The footsteps that would have otherwise sounded light were like boulders smashing on the ground below. He saw Solace's form through his hazy sight created from his pounding head and the sweat running down his forehead. He was hallucinating right? Radek couldn't have found her so quickly, not in the city of Palumpolum.

"Cid are you alright!?" She whispered deeply worried and concerned by his state. He'd shown no such sickness before she'd left; he was fine an hour ago.

He couldn't respond, everything was hurting too much, the muscles in his arms and legs ached horribly, and the uncomfortable angle his head was hanging left stabbing feelings in his neck.

"Cid!" The redhead grabbed onto his hand and lifted his head up so he'd be forced to look into her eyes. His lids were half lidded, and his vision no less blurry. "What on Cocoon happened to you!? You look like you're about to faint!" Her words turned to screams in his ears.

"Solace…" He mumbled, before he did just that, with the world going black behind closed lids.

* * *

><p>Cid awoke in the evening light; golden streaks of light embraced the room around him. His vision remained blurry, but the pounding in his head had become considerably more stand-able. His shoulders ached and his forehead was still on fire, but all in all he was feeling far better than he was before.<p>

He was lying on the covers of an untidy bed, which he doubted was his own fault, so the owner was not a hard guess. That girl didn't care much for tidiness.

He found her standing by the window, resting her arms on the sill and her hands holding up her chin. She was leaning out, letting the afternoon wind pass by her.

"Solace…?" He whispered, finding his throat had gone dry. He noted to himself not to piss off a spiteful goddess, her punishments were relentless.

The petite girl inclined her head to look back at him, she was smiling a small smile, but he had doubts over its sincerity. The relationship between them was non-stop becoming worse and worse, she had no reason to feel happy.

She stepped away from the sill and sat down on the bed besides him, the mattress depressed where she sat. "You fainted." She announced the obvious as she laid down parallel to him.

"I could've figured that out myself." He scrunched up the blanket beneath his hand as a wave of pain hit him. Solace's worried face fell to look at him when she heard him let out a tiny groan.

"Cid, are you alright?" She asked quietly, predicting that with his sickness the sound would escalate when it reached his ears.

"I'm fine." He forced out just as another surge of pain hit him. She knew well it was a lie so she wouldn't worry.

"You wouldn't have fainted if you were fine; when I found you were using the wall as support." She pouted and sat back up again, her hands holding her up as she kicked his leg softly. "Don't lie, something's up."

"You used to faint all the time." He wiped sweat off his forehead; he barely noticed the pain in his leg as all the pain from before had come back full force. He felt like a great pressure was crushing his skull, and he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

"Well that's because I had no control of my powers and kept making things explode! It was tiring" She yelled, and he winced as the sound to him was more like an Admantoise screaming. "I'm worried-"

"There's no need to worry Solace, this use to happen all the time when I was a kid." A part of him was glad that that at least was truth. Most people took it as him being sickly as a child, in truth it was because he had been an undependable subordinate.

"So I was told." He heard the girl make another childish pout, "But that doesn't mean you're fine. You're sick and that's that."

She went mute for what to him felt like an eternity, the room appeared to radiate heat and became twisted in the golden light it was painted in. The pain was coming and going, and as it left for the third time since he'd awoken, he could only hope it'd be the last. The fever was adamant on torturing him, he doubted it'd leave as long as this went on; his forehead was flaming.

After the eternity of complete silence, she lifted herself form the bed with the intention of leaving him alone in the room. He wasn't sure what happened in his head to make him do it, but before she was out of reach he grasped onto her wrist as tightly as his sore, shaky arm would let him.

Solace twisted around, pink tinted her cheeks from shock, for more reasons than just simply she believed him too weak at the current time.

"Cid?"

But he didn't say anything, his face showed no emotion except expressing the pain he felt.

She smiled sadly, she whispered something to herself, but his ears could not pick it up. What she said next was loud and clear.

"Cid, do you see me as a child?" She questioned holding back a sob.

His face displayed confusion for that second; where had that come from all of a sudden?

"It's complicated." He partly answered. Not what she wanted, that he was well aware of.

"I thought so." She monotonously replied before ripping her hand from his grip and slamming the door behind her.

He wondered if telling her that he only acted the way he did was because a revenge loving goddess was forcing him to keep her out of trouble. And if he failed, he didn't doubt she'd kill him, considering she had made him sick each time he upset her. He wondered then, what happened to that other man, she was intending to punish.

* * *

><p>A black haired woman jumped off a window sill when she saw her friend pop out of his temporary room for the first time today, and yesterday for that matter. They'd been given all the rooms on the second floor by a kind old woman who no longer had any kids to look after. The girl's other friends had gone out to check out the market place they hadn't gotten much of a chance to see yesterday. She was surprised this friend hadn't gone as well, but she guessed that he must simply be tired; any other reason wasn't obvious to her.<p>

She raised her arms in a stretch, flicking the three black braids off her shoulder and letting them sway by her back.

"Have a nice sleep? I think 30 hours is enough don't you?" Lebreau chuckled as Snow sat down on the run down chair that didn't appear it would take his weight for long. Amazingly, the blonde still looked tired.

"Oh haha," He yawned tiredly, covering his mouth with his hand.

"You made it too easy." She giggled and took the seat next to him, before searching the pile in front of her for food. She unearthed half a loaf of bread and began munching away noisily.

Snow stole a slice she'd left on the wooden table and sat up again, she guessed he must have realised that chair was going to break any second now. He walked over to the window clumsily. Sleeping for that amount of time could make your brain turn into muck just as easily as staying awake for that amount of time. His mind was having seriously trouble taking in the fact that he was awake now.

He stopped and took a look at the world outside. It was bustling with people, and getting more crowded by the second as adults and children alike poured out of their homes and from inns. He even saw some woman tackle hug another for a reason he was too great a distance away to have any clue about.

That was when he saw something that caught his eye. Was he hallucinating? Well only one way to find out.

He shoved the remainder of the bread he'd been eating into his mouth and ran to the door.

"Whoa what's this all of a sudden!?" Lubreau jumped in her chair from shock and laughed shakily, in all honesty just a second ago he looked like he was right about to fall asleep again.

"Sorry, gotta check something out!" He yelled before shutting the door behind him.

A bewildered Lubreau stared at the door mouth agape, what just happened? She stood up and went to the window hoping to spot what he'd seen, but was greeted with nothing but an alien crowd.

"The hell? He could've at least tried to tell me what's going on!" She let out an overdramatic groan before going back to her lunch. She gave up on the idea of figuring out, she wasn't going to and that was that.

* * *

><p>Lightning waited against a wall as Fang attempted to buy food off a stall owner, who was shaking too much to even put together a sentence much less give her something.<p>

It was a humorous fail, and Fang was getting ticked off form the man so much her voice had raised to a yell, attracting more looks, which were quick to turn fearful before the people around them ran off as fast as their feet would take them.

Yes, funny, but this was getting annoying. She'd spent ten full minutes doing this, with Vanille slowly backing away from her so the redhead wouldn't end up deaf. The Pulsian was going to get nowhere with this, so she decided to solve it herself. She strode forward and pushed Fang away before commanding the shopkeeper,

"Just give her the bloody bread before she deafens this whole town." She made sure the man saw her braids so he would know she was Cocoonian and wouldn't be mistaken for one of their kind. She had been told that odd colour in hair pointed to having Pulsian blood in them somewhere, she wondered how many people knew that.

The man shakily nodded finally and held out his hand for the money, Lightning turned back and ripped it from Fang's hand before giving it to the shopkeeper and taking the loaf. She threw it to Fang and stepped away from the stall.

"There, done, happy now?" She muttered just loud enough for the raven hair to hear, anger lacing each word.

"Yes, why thank you very much." She put on a superior tone, sniggering.

Lightning rolled her eyes at the act; sure she was fine on helping her, but the fact of them being from enemy countries still existed. The little one was fine, but this one wasn't. She had gone all night making jokes about Cocoon, even went as far to call her a viper when she told her to shut up because it was annoying.

She said something else afterwards, but it fell on deaf ears, as the strawberry-blonde woman had picked up on a little something, and she became unresponsive to all else.

"Oi, pinky what's got you all like that?" Fang chuckled as she childishly began to poke her forearm without a chance of stopping, but even that was barely felt. And abruptly and without warning Lightning took off in the opposite direction, disappearing into the crowd in less than a second.

"The bloody hell was that!?" Fang yelled into Vanille's ears, who winced.

"I would have no idea…" She sighed and rubbed her ears which felt like they had just gone and exploded.

"I've gotta go after the bitch now!" She screamed and waved her arms about in front of her in infuriation.

"So I guessed." Vanille mumbled too quiet to hear.

"Oi stay here." Fang pivoted to look at her in the face and pointed to the ground like you would a pet.

"But if I stay here and we get separated I'll be lost." She announced what should have already been clear.

Fang paused in thought, before making up a better solution, "Alright come with me, but hurry she was going pretty fast." She sprinted right after she finished the sentence.

"Weren't you the one calling Cocoonians slow last time I checked?" Vanille spoke up as she hurried to get equal footing with her.

"Well good for us then." Fang replied, they said no more so they could concentrate on finding where Lightning had so expectantly run off to.

* * *

><p>Lightning bent over with her hands on her knees catching her breath, she'd ran for longer than her body was welcome to let her. A dull pain echoed in her chest, and her breathing was a mite laboured. She had run far enough that she could now hide in the circle of trees just outside the village outskirts.<p>

She had caught her breath by the time the peaceful silence could be interrupted; and to make it worse, the one who ruined it was the very same that had made her make the mad dash, upon noticing them.

"Light!" A voice called out, one she had wished she'd never have to hear again.

She twisted on her feet to deliver an angered scowl, "What!"

Snow stopped advancing towards her and looked at her almost uncertainly; she didn't miss him holding onto the necklace like he always did. It was a habit he had when he was trying to do something he wasn't 100% on.

"Jeez is there really a point to yelling?" He forced out a shaky laugh, he didn't even seem to know what he was doing, but being unsure about something could never stop the cocky blonde for rushing into a situation. It was a fact that irritated her to no end.

"If there was no point then why would I be doing it!? Go away you moron I don't want to see you!" She yelled as loud as she could get her voice to go, in hopes it'd break through that thick head of his.

What was with that expression of his, what he feeling? Hurt, what reason could he have to feel hurt? A wavering memory from what felt in every way another life flickered behind her eyes then. She did know it actually, but her mind refused to let the knowledge pass through her stubborn head.

She hated him he knew that, he shouldn't be feeling that emotion.

"Go away Snow." She broke the gathering silence and turned so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"but Ligh-"

"Just go away." She repeated. Frankly she wasn't even in the mood to yell, he wasn't worth her time.

"But Light I-" He tried to say but her emotionless tone cut him off again.

"I don't want to see you, just go away. Leave me alone."

Behind her he was using everything in him to try and say more, to convince her otherwise, he couldn't let her disappear again.

Because, not like he'd ever be able to convince her of it, but a bloody psychotic goddess decided to burn down his town because he didn't know where she was, even when she had told him she wasn't going to do anything.

He got his thoughts together again and opened his mouth to speak, but this time another voice, a stranger's voice interrupted him.

"Oh lookie here!" Fang giggled up on top a hill, using a broken branch with leaves still attached as a fan. She looked down first to spot Lightning glaring at her, and then to the blonde man behind her, with a look no different from recognition.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun fact: It's awesome when you're sister enters 'Lightning-sama' on google and gets the right person<strong>

**Arianna will murder me if my sister is the one that get's my reviews for this story to double didgets. So please review before she does if you have a heart. The amount of reviews this gets saddens me, it's not as bad as a 1000 hit oneshot with only 5 people kind enough to review, but it still depresses me if no one out of eighty people has the heart to give me a review.**

**Bye for now.**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	7. note

I deleted the old note, all it said was stuff about putting the story on hiatus and whatnot. Something screwed up don't question but I need to have this so this will be the 7th so that the new chapter is the 8th. So ignore this, skip it and go to the next chapter. It's just here because then people will know the story has been updated.


	8. Chapter 7

**(6,527 words) Wow it has been so long since I updated this story. Yeah finally taking it off Hiatus, still don't know what I'm doing too much but I have a better idea than before. Solace made me want to write this, I love her so much.**

**If anyone has any ideas about what I can do with this story in the future your ideas are welcome.**

**Enjoy.**

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><p>7)<p>

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><p>Fang walked slowly down the hill, taking in the sight in front of her. Lightning was clearly in a horrid mood; her presence was bound to make it worse. The tall blonde man beside her gave her the weirdest look; she couldn't quite figure out the reason, though it could easily be that she was obviously a Pulsian in Eden clothes, or the humongous branch she had resting on her shoulder. Either one.<p>

She smiled, inspecting them with a smug expression. Lightning glared and nothing more, the other seemed to be getting confused. She wasn't bothered to clear anything up, it was her duty to piss of Lightning and that's what she was aiming to do, though how easy was it going to be with half the job already done for her?

"Just wondering why you'd left us like that. Really rude that was, you know," she chuckled, not taking herself seriously and the whole situation as a joke. This man was someone Lightning hated, that was clear as day: she'd obviously been hoping that after she left Bodhum she'd never see him again and now those hopes were dashed. The amulet around his neck told Fang who he was. Vanille's fault, but that was not a story she was going to tell Lightning any time soon. After all it was her duty to annoy the crap out of her.

"Go away Fang, I'm not in a good mood," Lightning growled when Fang's presence grew increasingly irritating as she circled her and Snow.

"Can see that." Fang nodded, her smile only managing to widen. "Guess that must be why I'm here."

Snow continued to give her a confused look, which made her grin and cover her face; it was such a funny expression, she thought. She'd continue to keep puzzling him, he must really be stuck wondering why Lightning knew her, a Pulsian, of all people.

"Just leave! I mean it you moron!" Lightning raised her voice angrily, successfully making Fang laugh.

"Can't I have my fun?" She stopped pacing and took a step back in case the girl took a swipe at her, she'd block it easily but she'd rather to just avoid it happening. "So what's going on, who's this guy?" She nodded her head in Snow's direction, pretending she hadn't any idea who he was. It was plain as day to her, but that really wasn't Lightning's business.

"I was trying to be by myself," she muttered, the silence of the area made it easy for the other two to hear.

"Well that sure failed!" Fang laughed, quick to take another step when Lightning sent her a fierce look.

"Leave, Fang," she snapped.

She smiled as a response, knowing it would further infuriate her, if that was possible. She looked like she was already at the most a person could be angry. Those eyes were getting scary.

"Nah, I'd prefer to stay, you know, more fun that way. Well Vanille's probably more fun to be around but I seem to have lost her when we went after you. Stupid crowd." She grinned an annoyingly smug grin, which would make even a level headed person want to slap her.

"What the hell is going on?" Snow muttered to himself but it was too tempting not to respond.

Fang turned to him and hit him with the branch she remained to carry, "ME that's what. Who're you, what'd you do to get baby doll all riled up eh?"

"I didn't do anything!" He attempted to say but Lightning immediately yelled, "You followed me that's something. There's a reason I didn't want to be in the same town as you! Stupid Snow, nothing will ever get through that head of yours."

"Snow?" Fang overheard that last part Lightning had muttered under her breath. "So that's your name!" She turned to him. "So what's your full name?" she asked, strangely interested.

"Snow Villiers." He answered, wondering if she was a crazy woman since that was what her expression screamed. From the look on her face, he was sure Lightning was thinking the same.

"Nice." Fang chuckled and outstretched her hand for him to shake. "Oerba Yun Fang. I'm gonna call you Frosty!"

"Eh?"

At that point Lightning was at wits end and decided she really didn't want to have to be near either, so while Fang was distracted with the oaf she tried to walk off. Unfortunately Fang was paying more attention to her than anyone realised and was watching her in the corner of her eye. The moment she took the first step the Pulsian latched onto her arm. She made no comment and continued to talk with Snow, putting out questions faster than he could answer. Slowly but surely she had him more perplexed than he would've ever been in his entire life. Lightning saw that as a feat, since he was a total idiot and confusing him was damn easy.

"Oi, Fang!" A high pitch voice rang out. Standing by a nearby tree Vanille supported an arm on its trunk as she regained her breath, clearly having exhausted herself.

"Vanille!" Her companion yelled before running over to her. First thing Vanille did was not eye the blonde man looking on, nor think about how that for the second time in two days Fang had dragged Lightning along with her for refusing to let go of her arm. No, her eyes went straight to the humongous branch she was carrying around.

"Do I," huff, "want to ask?" She looked about ready to faint. Fang, in her excitement, didn't notice.

"About what?" She asked, clueless, "That random blonde guy?" She pointed behind her to Snow, who even he had figured out what she had been referring to.

"No," huff, "I meant the," huff, "branch." She lowered herself to the ground when her sore legs became too much to bear.

"Jeez, Vanille, the run wasn't that much was it?" Fang first commented on her state before finally answering the questions she'd been asked.

"Probably no point in questioning 'cause honestly I have no idea what's up with the branch either. It's just," She made dramatic movements with her arms causing Lightning to almost trip as her arm was pulled accidentally, because Fang had already forgotten she was holding it. "I saw it and I was like, 'I must have it!' You get that, right?"

"Yes, you're bored, I get it." Vanille smiled. Fang may have been sleep deprived as well, back in Pulse she would sleep in 'till midday. Even though it'd been years, her body was still adjusting to the amount of sleep she now received. "But that doesn't mean you need to keep holding onto poor Lightning's arm either." She sighed.

"Oh crap!" Fang shouted, "I completely forgot." She immediately let her arm go. Lightning rubbed her arm, a large red mark now present.

"I have an idea; do you want to hear it?" Fang made a sound similar to a squeal, earning an odd look from all present.

"It worries me what type of idea you'd make when in this mood, but okay let me hear it."

Fang kneeled down to be level with Vanille; she pointed behind her to Snow who had been left out of the conversation and no longer able to continue his with Lightning, well, his attempt of one.

"I want to take Frosty with us!" She exclaimed with a cheery tone.

And all three others, all for a reason slightly different, had only one thing to say.

"What!?"

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><p>Cid woke up early in the morning, before the sun was to rise. The extra sleep had left him feeling refreshed, better than he had for a long time. The persistent fever had finally left him, but he remained to feel a weak pounding in his head. After a minute of staring up at the roof, allowing himself time to wake up fully, he noticed a depression in the bed beside him. He inclined his head an inch, to see Solace crawled up in a foetal position. For a moment he was shocked, but it subsided, this was her room after all, and she didn't mind sharing the bed with him. When she'd first come to Eden she was plagued with nightmares, so she used to sneak into his room at night and they'd share his bed. The bed was large, there was more than a hands length between them. It felt rude but even so he whispered quietly, "Solace?"<p>

She didn't respond, so he repeated himself. This time she made a quiet groaning noise, signifying that at least she was not in a deep sleep. He said her name once more and finally she began to rouse. Her eyes twitched and she moved her head a mite, digging one side into the sheets. Gradually she opened her bright blue eyes, to gaze at him with a dazed look, not awake enough to realise that she was staring at him. She lifted herself up, adjusting her messed-up clothes as she did so; Cid was a little glad he hadn't looked down, he surely would've seen something when she was wearing a skirt so short. He recognised the clothes slightly, remembering only just that she had been wearing them when she had found him in the hallway. He could tell she was wearing less than she had been in his memory, despite his recollection being so blurry. He predicted she had been wearing them under her armour, knowing that was her habit, it made it easier for whenever she snuck out.

The girl dug the sleep from her eyes, murmuring gibberish. She blinked twice, adjusting to the bright morning sunlight coming in from the open windows. "Cid?" She whispered in a tired voice without looking down.

"Yes Solace?" He replied to her, knowing that in her sleepy little world she wasn't fully aware if he was still there.

"Today's the last day isn't it? We'll have to return tomorrow right?"

"Yes." He said simply. She pouted childishly at his unneeded formalness that was irritating her like always.

"Eden's boring you know, I never liked it."

"You've told me that plenty of times Solace. I thought you'd dropped it."

She curled into a ball, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I was too distracted by other things to even remember what I thought." she mumbled dejectedly.

Cid would have gotten up if the weakly throbbing pain hadn't been slowly coming back, especially at the back of his neck. He wasn't sure it his presence would be helping. He didn't agree to the idea of her being too far out of his sight, since she wasn't trustworthy, but distance remained to be a good idea none the less.

"Are you still stuck feeling that everyone thinks you're a child? What started that nonsense? You know no one has those thoughts."

"You do." she cut in, before hopping off the bed and heading for the door.

"Solace!" He yelled as he painfully lifting himself up into a sitting position. "Don't leave; I don't trust you when you're in this type of mood! Don't underestimate what could happen!"

She twisted around just as her hand had touched the doorknob, "Of course you don't Cid," she snapped. "Because you see me as a child! I'm not, and you of all people know should know I'm not, so stop it! You didn't used to we both know that!" She held back a sob as her anger got the best of her; it was something she severely hated, that when she got angry she'd start to cry, and people would mistake it as sadness.

"I won't stay in your sight as long as I don't want to! You are not the boss of me!" She left in a huff, slamming the door behind her.

"Solace!" He called, knowing she was long gone. She wasn't the strongest but speed was certainly her forte. Cid collapsed on the bed, his sore body too weak to keep him up any longer. It was horrible, as long as she was upset, he'd continue to be in pain; his punishment was feeling her mental pain as physical pain. The goddess knew how to make people suffer. It was even worse, because in a good mood she wouldn't be able to help herself, she'd have to help him if she saw him in pain. But then that'd lead to another argument, and he'd be in worse condition than before; and he couldn't tell her what the cause was.

By now his pain was just as great as it was when she'd found him yesterday, maybe worse, because he felt the overwhelming urge to vomit. He hoped she'd calm down, because then he'd be able to leave this room and get to his. He knew he wouldn't be able to explain it if someone found him in here.

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><p>Solace ran full speed through the corridor, her tears running speedily down her flushed cheeks, as she hadn't bothered to hold them back any longer. She was so angry at him, she couldn't help it, she wanted to hit him; she wanted him to feel what she was feeling.<p>

She stopped midway down a corridor, her legs ready to fail on her from exhaustion. She hadn't any idea how long she had been running, she hadn't any idea where on Cocoon she was heading, she just wanted away from that room, away from Cid. Maybe she was overreacting, she didn't know. She was young but not a child, she was allowed moments like these. Or maybe it was a woman thing, she didn't know, she spent too much time around men; she didn't understand her own gender.

She and Cid used to be really close, and she'd loved that. Sure she was supposed to be the prince's playmate because she was the only one remotely close to his age, but she preferred to be with Cid. But near her sixteenth birthday it'd ended. He turned cold, and would always speak so formal to her, like she was a stranger he'd just met. He held her at arm's length constantly, but despite it he wouldn't leave her side, her moments alone were rare to last an hour most days. He treated her like she was a bomb about to explode any second. At first it had simply irritated her, but now she hated it. She hated him. She wanted him to stop it; she wanted him to be her close friend again. But that wasn't going to happen. Never again. The funny thing was that since he had begun to act this way she had lost control of her powers again, after so long a time of learning to keep them under control; it was like her memories of those times had been swept away or locked up in a safe and completely inaccessible. She couldn't remember what she needed to do to keep them inside. And acting this way was supposed to help her, apparently.

Cid was stupid.

Solace began to move again, at a reasonable pace now as she was still partly exhausted. She found her way to the courtyard she had been at with the prince a couple days back, something in her was glad and yet disappointed that was he was here now too. She spotted the silver haired boy standing by the fountain; silence was the only thing to greet her ears. She had wanted to be alone, but it was alright if it was him. Hope was a nice boy, and she appreciated their relationship, even if it only existed because she was sick of Cid but still needed someone there. He was a replacement, this was something she'd never tell him, because she did care for the boy, and he'd been through enough.

"Hoope" she drawled, as she skipped over to him, ignoring the pain in her legs entirely.

Hope turned around to see her smiling face, he smiled back, well, a weak attempt at one. The boy was sad.

"Is she alright?" Solace asked, knowing he know who she was referring to.

"I can't ever remember a time where she was. Don't be silly," he muttered and turned back around. She frowned and stood by his side, staring at the clear water thoughtfully.

"At least she's alive, isn't that something to be happy about?"

"But she is barely. She could die tomorrow but then we'd be gone, and she wouldn't have had anyone there for her."

Solace's frowned deepened; she really wished he wouldn't be such a downer. There was always hope she'd make it, why couldn't the boy see that? He had such an unfitting name.

"You shouldn't think that way or you'll jinx things, and that'd be terrible."

"I don't think it'd matter, it'd only make the inevitable come faster." he spat angrily.

Solace ruffled his hair, not knowing what else to say. He was more stubborn than her some days.

"Can't you just be glad you have one? Mine died when I was seven and it wasn't sickness, it was cold-blooded murder! Even if she dies you still had one for twice as long as I did, and even if you didn't get to live with her at least knowing she was alive should be a comfort!" Solace flipped at him, his face portraying one emotion, shock. A wind started up like it had last time he'd been near her in a bad mood, only this time it had been strong enough to hurt.

Immediately her face showed how sorry she was for yelling at him like that. She hung her head low. "Sorry, I was in a bad mood; I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I should go." The wind slowed down and soon stopped altogether as she calmed down. She looked far more hurt than he, who was too perplexed by the mysterious wind to take in her words.

"You don't have to go, I-" he tried to say but she cut him off.

"I want to; it's nothing to do with you. You haven't done anything don't worry. But I don't want to be around any longer." she muttered dejectedly, beginning to fiddle with her blouse's collar. By this point, Hope realised there was more to her words than simply wanting to leave the courtyard.

"You don't…" He struggled to get the words out, he knew his thoughts but his mind was in disbelief over it, and refused to let him turn those thoughts into spoken words.

Solace figured what he meant, and finished the sentence for him. "I don't want to go back to Eden tomorrow, but it's not like I want to stay here either. I want to leave; Eden, the Knights, this life. Everything."

Hope frowned, a sad look present in his eyes. "No, please don't! I don't have anyone else!" The boy cried; Solace's expression was strange as she took a step back.

She smiled, with her eyes unreadable. "Thanks Hope," she whispered, before pulling him into a tight hug, "But I'm tired." She released him then without a further word ran out of the courtyard.

"Solace!" He called after her retreating figure, but she ignored it.

She made her way to her room with barely a trouble, she had been slowly memorising the place she guessed, she had gotten back rather quickly on comparison to the other times. Not like it would matter now, since she would never come back here.

She opened her door a crack and took a look inside; glad Cid wasn't still resting on her bed. She remained to be deeply worried over his sudden sickness, but knew no matter how hard she tried he'd tell her nothing. Because that was how Cid was with her in the last couple years, the distance he had set up between them was irritating, and she never wanted to feel that coldness ever again.

Solace crossed the room and kneeled by the bed side, digging her arms under the bed, searching for something she had hidden under there. Most of it was the rest of her outfit which she had taken off last night because of the heat, she'd been lazy and hadn't bothered to put it in one of the drawers by her bedside, even when that might have been easier. When she felt something warm she grabbed onto it and pulled it out from under, pulling out what else she had shoved under there as well. It was a cloak made of a soft blue fabric she had only seen a handful of times, since it was so uncommon around Eden. She knew it was a cheap fabric that Eden's citizens would consider an insult to wear, it being commoner's clothes, but it could endure far longer than normal Eden clothes. She'd brought it the one time she had been out of Eden after she had first been brought there. She'd been with Cid, so he was the one who bought it, he'd been forced to, though he may have gotten it for her anyway once he'd noticed how she had been eyeing it; he had been much nicer back then. It was a weird cloak, its hood styled like the head of an animal, a bird she assumed it was; it really was mighty strange. Solace put on what else she had dragged out and held the Cloak under her arm.

When she had woken up today these thoughts had not been going through her head at all, but her conversation with Cid earlier had begun them. He was annoyed that she had still slept on the bed even when he was there, he didn't say it, but his expression screamed it. It had nothing to do with her gender, but that she had decided by herself that it was fine to do so. She used to be able to do it, but not now apparently. She was so sick of him.

She silently wished every waking moment for him to go back to the way he was, the disappointment she felt each time they talked felt like a knife to the heart. She couldn't take it much longer, the pain was unbearable.

The moment she spent with Hope then reminded her that she didn't belong, even more so than the times she spent with Cid, and they would talk about that subject. She couldn't pretend she was a normal human, she knew she wasn't; in fact there were only three others like her known to still be living. It had happened multiple times when she'd almost used her powers in the boy's presence, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. Solace didn't want to hurt anyone, and with the loss of control, who was to say what would happen down the track? Someone she cared for really would get hurt, she had no doubts.

So though she had absolutely no intentions to when she first awoke, she now wanted nothing but; she wanted to leave these people behind, to run away to a place they could never find her.

Solace stopped herself before she became too caught up in her thoughts, otherwise she'd begin to have second thoughts. She needed to get this over and done with, no regrets; because this was what needed to happen, it always was. Solace opened her door a mite and took a peak outside; happy to see no one was there. Since it was all clear, she walked straight out and walked at a fast pace down the hallway. When she reached a corner she peaked around it to make sure it was clear, and since it was she went down that way. She followed this pattern as she made her way down to the bottom floor where she could exit from a window. She always checked to see if it was clear, if not she'd wait for it to be and if it was would rush down it in case someone was to run across her. It was clear that she was running ahead with an intention. Someone would question her immediately if they saw her, and that would be a question she couldn't answer.

When she reached the bottom floor and an appropriate window, she sighed a sigh of relief; almost out of the woods. Solace lifted one leg up onto the sill, and was about to lift the other when an arm latched onto her left. She flinched and fell backwards, scared out of her mind that Cid had caught her. But to her surprise, it was not Cid, but one of the hospital guards. She recognised him as the man that had interrupted her second last conversation with the prince. He had worked at places in Eden, including the castle, so she remembered him from that as well. He was tall, not muscular but not feminine either. His eyes were an identical blue to hers, but appeared cold coming from him. He had platinum blond hair and a circular face that had something child-like in it the same way hers was.

Just because it wasn't Cid didn't stop her from feeling uncomfortable in this man's presence; she'd always hated him.

"I've been wondering what you've been doing around here," he said emotionlessly.

Solace glared, and ripped her arm from his grip. "What does that matter? I can do what I want when I'm not on duty. Do you have the delusions that you can boss me around, too?"

"Jumping from windows doesn't sound very normal to me if we're being honest. But you seem to have misunderstood me." He sniggered; she raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I meant what are** you** doing here?" He put more emphasis on his words.

"Eh?" Solace tilted her head, confused by his words. "I'm a knight. Shouldn't that have occurred to you already? I've seen you at the palace, I'm sure you would've seen me back when I was still training-"

"Of course, I remember. But you're still not there yet." The man chuckled now, increasingly becoming amused by her cluelessness.

"Well maybe I'd get there if you'd stop speaking like that and tell me what you mean." She pouted. "What's your problem with me?"

"Oh, the whole world has a problem with you; well, your kind. If there's any others left."

She shivered when it dawned on her what he meant; she raised her voice in an anger which had sprouted up quicker than she could notice it was there. "How do you know about that!?"

"I've worked at many places, girl. And one of them just so happened to be that project Eden's government had been running around twenty years back. That 'Veil Project' or whatever." He pointed to her hair. "I can see you're trying to hide it using those dyes but if you keep the roots visible then it's pointless. I know most people aren't going to bother to really look and are going to think it's blonde, but to those who do, they're going to see that it's clearly pink. And I've only seen three people ever to have such a colour. I don't think that massive resemblance helps either." He laughed, "Rose was her name right? Your mother? I can remember her damn well." This time his laugh was hiding dark thoughts, but Solace saw that, she read it in his eyes.

She grimaced, knowing what he meant. "You're disgusting," she spat.

"I remember you pretty clearly too, not as much as that skank-" Solace deepened her glare when he said that, "But pretty well I'd say; always clinging to that other girl as if, if you let go you would die. Stupid brat."

She kept her silence, but he could see the hatred in her eyes. He figured she must want to rip him apart by now.

He began to stroll down the hallway at a slow pace, keeping the talk going.

"Always bothered me how one of those disgusting Veils was living in Eden. The damn citizens are more scared of those freaks than they are of Pulsians. What was that name again?" He mumbled the last part, "Ah! That's right!" He turned around, laughing for a pointless reason, as he had the entire time. "Serah, wasn't it? Or was that the other girl? Really can't remember that much. Ah, whatever." He chuckled quietly. "Shame I can't have some fun with you like I did with your mother, but even I have my limits I guess."

He turned back around and got on his way, leaving her there to death-stare his slowly disappearing form.

She growled before climbing up onto the window sill. "I do not want to hear that name; it's in the past and in the past it will stay." With that she jumped out of the building, landing cat-like on the ground. She wrapped the cloak around her and hid her betraying rose-red hair. She stormed down the road doing her best to try and get that last conversation out of her head. She hated him so much! He had hurt her mother time and time again, and she had never deserved it at all. Having his children really had made it worse; Solace was amazed the woman never once went into depression.

She was a lot stronger than she was herself; maybe that was something to envy.

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><p>The blonde guard found his way around a handful of hallways before he came across who he was looking for: two of the knights that had been staying here as well as the girl were having some kind of conversation. He had no intention of eavesdropping or caring about it. What he had to tell them was more important than that.<p>

He knew that the one standing against the wall was the one that had been sticking oddly close to her during their stay, so he was a good one to tell this to. If only he didn't look so sickly; it was good then that the other knight was by his side.

"Excuse me," he began formally, a 360 degree change from the last time he'd spoke only moments before.

The two knights turned and looked his way. The sickly one was starting to pique his curiosity, but he didn't want to know a knights business, so he ridded himself of his interest. Those knights were weird people.

"Yes?" The far healthier one answered.

"Don't take me as rude for interrupting but," keeping to his formal tone, "I saw that woman who was with you just jump out from one of the ground floor windows. I was wondering why on earth she was doing that, but I assumed it may just be best to inform someone of it first, rather than trying to handle it myself."

The one who had replied appeared shocked and a tiny bit confused. The sick one appeared horrified.

A second after the words had left the guard's mouth he responded by muttering under his breath, "Freaking Solace, not again!" He went to move but one of his legs failed on him and he almost fell to the floor. He used the wall as a support to get back up into a normal position. The other knight helped him back up, saying, "Don't worry Cid. I think you should rest, even get someone to help you if it's that bad. You're in a hospital for crying out loud, take advantage of it." He didn't do anything but frown.

The healthy knight strode to stand in front of the guard, who would have been curious as to why if it wasn't for him right away asking, "Show me where you saw her jump from. I'll see if I can go after her, then, seeing as I'll have a better idea of where she is." he commanded in a loud voice.

"Yes sir," the guard nodded and turned around to lead him.

Cid wondered if he was starting to hallucinate as well, because he could've sworn that that guard had just been grinning like a madman. He shook the thought from his head; he needed to get out of this hallway and wait for this to pass. He wouldn't get help, this wasn't anything any nurse or doctor could help; but he'd take the advice to sleep, it'd help none but at least it'd be easier to ignore.

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><p>Lightning rested her back against at tree, a distance away from Fang and Vanille who were deep in a conversation; or maybe argument, but it was too hard to tell from this distance. The strong wind that was starting to build up had rendered them unable to be heard, though that was what they wanted or they wouldn't have walked off like they had.<p>

Snow was sitting on a log a few feet away from her. He'd attempted a handful of times now to talk to her, all of which she had shot down. He was trying to say what he had tried to say before Fang had barged in and disrupted them, and as he had then he was failing horribly.

The two Pulsians seemed to be on opposing sides about Fang's idea, or at least that was what it appeared as; what had clearly once been something intended to be a brief little chat (out of earshot) had quickly changed into a full-blown argument. They didn't look angry at all, as Light had a feeling those two were too close to truly get angered by one another, but from the first look you could see they had both raised their voices.

"Hey, do you thi-" Snow began to say and was cut off with,

"Shut up Snow, or I'll rip off that branch over there," she pointed one hand at it, "and bash your head in with it."

She resisted a smile when she was successful in shutting him up; hopefully that threat would keep him silenced, it was much better than just 'shut up'. She also hoped that Vanille was disagreeing with Fang, and that it was not something completely different their dispute had centred itself on.

"Look it should be fine as it is!" Vanille struggled to make her friend see her point of view, but the raven-haired woman was stubborn at the worst of times. "She's had someone to watch her, isn't that what she wants?"

"If it was good enough that bloody town wouldn't have been burned down, think about that Vanille!" Fang yelled, self-assured. "I bet she was trying to make them run into each other, and after what happened it's not like he'd have much else. She destroyed everything because then it'd be much less likely that he'd take no for an answer."

"What if she burnt it down before we found her? Then it should actually be fine that it's us who are with her. She probably just reacted early is all."

"Stop being stubborn!"

"You're the one being stubborn here, Fang!" Vanille disagreed. "It's fine; he can leave and live a normal life. That's best, because you of all people know this path is horrible."

Fang scowled, "Does he even want a normal life when he knows as much as he does? You're the one that's met him before right? What do you think he wants?"

Vanille looked down unhappily before shifting her gaze to look at him. She'd met him once, thanks to the Goddess. It was a little after she'd first met Fang, she didn't tell the girl his name or anything, but obviously the description she had given her was better than her memory recalled. "I know that he wanted to make sure she's safe, since she has a bad personality and he took her as the type that would make trouble for herself far too easily. But I don't know if that's the same now. He was a kid, too. He couldn't have known that much about the path we were about to be forced to take."

Fang hummed, considering her words, she paced in a circle, resuming using the branch as a fan. "Well Sunshine does strike me as that type, so wouldn't that make what he wanted then, still true?" She presumed.

Vanille's expression was glum. "But Fang?"

"Too late I've made my decision." She grinned cockily, making her friend's frown deepen.

"We can't change things, they are how they are so we might as well make sure things go as they should right? Something like that?"

"But Fang!?" Vanille called as the raven haired woman confidently strode over to Snow and Lightning. Her smile ticked Lightning off, and made her fear for the worst. Snow was a little unsettled by it, as by now he was pretty sure Lightning was dead serious about ending him.

"Welll," Fang drawled, her smile widening, "Vanille can't argue with people for the life of her as I think she just managed to make me agree with myself more so. I'm still going to force Frosty to go with us."

"Do so and you'll die," Lightning threatened her, stepping away from the tree, so Fang took a step away from her.

"No. neither of you have a choice. He's coming with us." She grinned, whirling the branch around a little.

"Why?" Lightning deepened her glare.

"Because I live to annoy you, Sunshine. Now come on." She grabbed Lightning's arm roughly and tugged her along, out of the tree cover and heading back to town.

They left Snow to be confused out of his mind, until Vanille gradually made her way over to him. Both were plenty weirded out by Fang's decision. For them it really had come out of nowhere, especially since he had no idea who she was.

"I'm sorry," The redhead began. "She does that sometimes; well not force someone to stick with us." She chuckled at the absurdity of the situation, "But decide things by herself for things that are about other people...and not give them a choice."

Snow sighed, and ran a hand through his messy hair. "Strange girl I take it," He laughed. Still a bit shocked after all that. "She doesn't seem bad I'm not that against the idea. But Light might really try to kill me this time, she reaaally didn't want to see me again."

They both laughed, but it was not a comfortable one. "I'm sorry that she's like that with you. It's a shame the Veils aren't allowed to know about us. She just thinks you're some random annoying idiot that doesn't understand the meaning of 'leave me alone'. Fang knows what I am, but that was an accident. So she must have figured out who you were in an instant, otherwise this wouldn't have happened at all."

Snow nodded. "Well no getting out of this now I guess. Probably would have stuck with her anyway. That girl kinda saved me actually, now Light's going to think I'm being forced to stay."

"I guess that's true, bet you Fang didn't even realise she may have just saved you from having your head bashed in. She's so weird when she'd excited."

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed.<strong>

**If you spotted any mistakes that's because it was written by a sick person, and edited by a sick person, and then edited again by a sick person. Sickness makes people go funny, like that PM I was writing. Every single word in the sentence was horribly incorrect and I didn't even notice until I read it. Lucky I checked it first.**

**Reviews shall be much appreciated, I'll even give you this cute little puppy I found.**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	9. Sparring

**(3,511 words) Sorry, I wrote this a month ago but my beta took a bit giving it back to me, plus I forgot she had it. Also my dad says it's fan fiction's fault that his computer is screwing up so the amount of times I can get on now will also be limited. Or I can go and say that I'm not going on it anymore and delete it from the history each time I go on.**

**He's making the computer break but I can argue since he's a jerk at the worst of times. He's made a computer crash twice.**

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><p>8) Sparring<p>

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><p>The sun beat down on a small town. Solace rested against a tree on its outskirts, munching on an apple she'd bought earlier. She'd stolen the wallets of some rich men back in Palumpolum, so she would be fine money wise for a while. Since this town was so dreadfully poor everything was sold dirt cheap; she had even gotten the apple for only one Gil.<p>

She was already a long distance from where she'd started off, so it was unlikely that anyone would find her, easily at least. Her cloak was off, but it didn't bother her that her face was completely visible because no one around here knew her. Soon the red dyes in her hair would fade out, and only those who knew her well would have any idea who she was. There was only one person alive who'd be able to recognise her for her natural hair colour, but it was doubtful that they'd ever meet again. Frankly Solace didn't even want to, just like her name was, her sister was in the past and there she was to stay.

After deciding her break had gone on for long enough, she got up and continued on her way. She had no destination in mind. Anywhere far away from one of the big cities was good, especially anywhere far away from Cid. She was sure that if she stayed calm she could keep her powers under control, and maybe if she could find a place where no one would see her she might even be able to practice a little. It was something she desperately needed to do she had decided, relearn how to keep them in check. It'd been difficult the first time round, but hopefully it'd be easier this time with the experience she had.

The sun was hot and the ground dry, but she was perfectly fine. The air was fresh and she had so much freedom, unlike what she had back in Eden. Solace could only hope that Cid did nothing to ruin this, like finding her and dragging her back, or getting someone else to do it. She believed if he was to do anything at all he'd do the later. She couldn't figure out why but he had been incredibly sickly the past couple days, sure he'd been like that when he was young, but she had been so sure his sickness would never come back. Everyone had.

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><p>Leaves crumpled under their feet as they walked along the forest path. Fang strode confidently ahead of the others a few feet ahead. For god knows why, the branch from before was still firmly clasped in her hand. She spun it around to amuse herself, a distraction from the dreadful heat bearing down upon them.<p>

It'd been about a week since they'd left town, Fang hadn't even given Snow a chance to say goodbye to the guys he had been with. Vanille had gone off at her for that, saying it was mean, but Fang didn't seem too concerned about it. The poor guy had basically been dragged around by her for the past week; he looked incredibly drained, though more mentally than physically. Usually he'd be able to put up with an extrovert seeing as he was one himself, but Fang was going out of her way to exhaust him. The rare occasions where Fang wasn't dragging him somewhere or asking him fifty questions a minute which he never had time to answer, he'd try and speak with Lightning. Only the woman would shut him up before two words had left his lips.

Right now Lightning walked along behind them, dragging her feet. She was clearly sulking, bothered by Snow's presence, but too stubborn enough to admit it. She had claimed on more than one occasion that she just didn't want to go near him, she wanted to distance herself from him she would say, but they all saw through her words. The terrible heat that'd been harassing them the past week had only helped keep her in a sour mood. Eventually the distance between her and the rest of the group would become so large that Vanille would have to run back and keep in pace with her to make sure she didn't try and run off. Fang was adamant on keeping her with them, Vanille didn't know why exactly, same as the others. She couldn't help but wonder if it was just boredom on her friend's part.

They were all glad when the sun began to sink into the horizon, lowering the temperature dramatically. They made a makeshift camp near a stream under the cover of trees. Snow sat a ways off so he wouldn't have to deal with an unexplainably hyped up Fang or another one of Lightning's attempts to kill him. He desperately wanted to speak with her but in the mood she was in, he doubted he'd manage. There was one moment where to his surprise she'd asked him: 'What's the amulet for?' referring to the green one around his neck. She'd asked that question before, but it'd been years ago and he was sure she'd never ask again since she got the same answer each time she asked. He guessed that seeing Vanille who had a similar amulet must have sparked her childhood curiosity. But as he had back then, he gave her the answer of: 'it's complicated'. It didn't help any with her mood of course. So for now his only option other than doing absolutely nothing, was talking with Vanille. The only sane person here.

Lightning sat on a rock by the stream and stretched; glad they were done for the day. She wasn't weak or anything along those lines, but she had never travelled in a manner like this. Sure she'd been travelling for some time already, but when she'd been by herself she hadn't been on her feet almost constantly like they were with Fang. The damn woman wouldn't let them rest; it was up and go from sunrise to sunset. At least Snow was in a worse state than her. It made her feel better knowing that she wasn't the one taking the worst toll. Of course he'd never had to traverse any great distance in his life, if you dismissed being forced to trek to that seaside town she had met him in after Bodhum was destroyed, but even that distance wasn't much. There was a good chance that they had gone well over three times that distance in this week alone.

Fang made a fire close to the centre of their camp and Vanille had left her side to chat with Snow. Feeling a shiver Lightning decided to go sit by the flames, but as she stood up Fang threw a stick the length of her thigh her way. She caught it without any trouble, sending a glare in the direction of a certain raven haired Pulsian woman. Fang grinned cheekily and circled the fire. Lightning now saw that she was holding a similar sized stick, broken off from that god damn branch she'd been carrying around for a week now.

"What?" Lightning growled, making Fang's face light up in mischievous joy.

"Oh nothing much." She chuckled as she neared her, spinning the stick in her hand with hardly a thought.

"What's with the stick?" She questioned, eyes narrowing as anger took her. And she'd only just gotten the chance to calm down.

"Well I was thinking that we could do some sparring. You certainly need some practice and I don't think using real weapons is smart. You know," She put her finger to her lips, "Seeing as how weak you are."

"Oh shut up!" Lightning snapped; realising Fang was trying to get her wiled up on purpose.

"So, you up for it?" Fang raised an eyebrow, her grin covering the entire width of her face. By this time they'd gathered two curious and slightly worried onlookers.

"Fine, you won't beat me as easy as you did last time." Lightning exclaimed, referring to their first encounter.

Fang smirked. "We'll see about that then, won't we?" she lurched forward without hesitation for the first strike. An obvious swing from the right, Lightning blocked it with ease and forced her back. Both staggered slightly but regained their footing a second later.

Fang dodged a swing Lightning sent her way aimed at her head. She darted to the side and swung fast; the blow almost hit but her opponent blocked it before contact could be made. There was a second where they were stuck with weapons locked, both putting all their strength into their arms. Fang came out the winner when she managed to bat Lightning backwards. She fell only to catch herself at the last second. She flung herself forward and went for a stab, which Fang deflected with an upward swipe. The Pulsian woman grinned cheekily, Lightning eyed her warily.

"Man you need improvement." She laughed before landing a strike on Lightning's makeshift weapon, flinging it right out of her hand. Shocked, Lightning was distracted for a moment, a moment Fang used to her advantage. She kicked her in the chest and knocked her to the ground. Lightning landed with a thump, winded.

"Told ya." Fang laughed; Lightning scowled at her and forced herself to sit up. The movement sent her into a coughing fit.

"I…hate you…" She managed to get in between the coughs.

"Well maybe the feeling's mutual." Fang rolled her eyes and sat back down by the fire, throwing both the sticks into the flames.

"Fang you didn't have to do that!" Vanille yelled, doing her best to not let her annoyance show. "That was mean." She assisted Lightning in standing up. Both sent a look to the raven haired woman who clearly didn't care less for what they were saying.

"Just making sure she wouldn't continue fighting." Fang stated simply, warming her hands in front of the fire. Vanille continued to frown at her but it went ignored.

Snow headed over to Lightning's direction, a little concerned over the last hit Fang had given her. "Hey Light are you-"

"Shut up Snow!" She snapped, not giving him a chance to finish his question, like always.

He sighed outwardly and took a great step back before she could try and hurt him at the excuse of him being too close. He reluctantly returned to the place he'd been sitting at before. "Oh of course."

Vanille's frown deepened. If not for her, this group would be going to absolute hell. She was pretty damn sure that Lightning wanted to kill the two other members, and Fang's behaviour was not helping one bit. This was going to be troublesome.

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><p>Cid stood with his back to a wall in the middle of a long hallway. They'd been back for a week now, with no word of Solace's whereabouts whatsoever. He'd informed the council about her disappearance the moment he got back, despite the horrendous headache and horrible fever he'd been suffering from. Since then all symptoms but the fever had faded. He knew that Solace must be happy wherever she was which in turn made his illness more tolerable. But the goddess was angered by his lack of knowledge of her whereabouts, and despite Solace's happiness over having left; he could not get away from her punishment. So even at the distance they were apart, he would continue to fill pain depending on her emotions: most likely until she could be found. He could only hope the goddess would end this when that was so. Unfortunately in his condition he could not go in search of her himself, and he was doubtful that his fellow knights could convince her to return. They were all close friends to her for the most part. And if they were made to bring her back with force, she'd be likely to win, as unfortunately for them, she was a knight too and what she lacked in power she made up for in speed.<p>

The council had ordered for her return, and were deeply angered by the unsuccessfulness of the search so far. They had not expected her to be brought back fast, but they had at least expected she'd be sighted by this point. They had never been this deeply angered before for as long as Cid could remember. They'd talked with him for a long time when he first reported her disappearance, as beside him they were the only ones that knew she was a veil. They had given her freedom to live in their grand city under one condition, that she must never leave the castle unless she was escorted by a knight. This was a condition Cid never once mentioned to her, though he suspected she was somewhat aware of it since she knew full well the council held no trust for a veil such as herself. But she had gone and broken it regardless. This enraged the council.

The order had been given to him, but he could not complete it in his condition so had his fellow knights undertake it instead. He knew inside that they could not succeed in bringing back Solace, their feelings towards her would make them go easy on her and she would use that escape; that was if they found her at all. She'd known them since she was a child and she knew very well the ways their minds worked, and that in turn this would make hiding a very easy task.

If anything, he had only made the other knights search for her so it would keep the council calm, or at least a semblance of that. They could never be completely calm in a situation like this, to them the moment Solace was alone she would be considered a danger. They treated her like she was a rabid animal that would attack the second she was free of her chains. If her powers weren't so violent it may have not been so bad, but she was cursed with her fiery power. This she could not change.

Cid knew of only one person, who could help him now. They didn't have a good chance of finding Solace, but if they did, their chances of bringing her back were far greater than those of the knights he'd already sent. For once upon a time he'd been made to serve the goddess as Cid was. He had failed in his task years ago, his punishment was the death of his wife if Cid recalled correctly. He'd been stuck living here in Eden under the goddess's command and if he was called upon to help either another servant or a Veil he had no choice but to do as he was asked. If he went against this the goddess had promised to punish him again.

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><p>Cid followed the same path he'd always used to get to him, though his memory of it wasn't as good as he'd have liked it to be. He'd only gotten this man's help before a handful of times; they'd always been to gain some assistance with dealing with Solace's lack of control. The Veil which this man had once protected had been a kind hearted girl, but just like Solace had lacked the ability to control her powers. It was a very different power to Solace's, it being the manipulation of water, but Cid could tell that this man could be a great help to him. Considering he'd been extremely successful in getting the girl he was protecting to gain complete control over her powers.<p>

He lived near Eden's centre, only a little way from the castle; this had allowed him to take Solace to his house many times without any problems. Cid was sure that the girl knew this path far better than he did himself. The house was large even by Eden's standards, but old and rundown. It had seen better days, but still the man did not bother to find a new one, he always claimed he liked the old place, reminded him of the house he'd owned back in his old city. Though Cid couldn't deny this, the man's reasoning's also stemmed from the fact that the Veil he had protected for seven years chose this place. He couldn't bear to leave it, sides the crystal necklace he refused to remove from around his neck; it was all he had left of her.

Cid knew he was there before he'd even laid eyes on the place, from the loud shouts of a certain woman he was unfortunate enough to know. For whatever reason, she continued to hassle the man who lived here without end, and all that knew about it hadn't the slightest idea why.

He knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered. Five minutes passed and a young boy opened the door, his facial expression surprised.

"Daddy's upstairs, the funny woman's talking to him again." He informed him before scampering off somewhere else in the house to continue playing.

"As if I couldn't tell that." Cid muttered, rather annoyed. In his feverish state he found everything sounded louder than what it actually was, in short, that woman's pointless screams were torture. Cid crossed the room and made his way up the staircase, towards the woman's never ending yells. He knocked on the closed door to the room they emanated from.

For a moment there was no answer, until the door was opened by the very man he had gone all the way here to see. Cid disregarded him for a minute and sent a look towards the woman in the centre of the room. Her lips were drawn to a line, her eyes showing nothing but anger. This was how she always looked; Cid was yet to see her otherwise and began to doubt he ever would. The only difference this time round was the bags under her eyes and tangled hair showing she mustn't have slept for quite some time.

Cid bit his lip before he said anything, one word wrong and she'd take it as an insult and yell at him next, his head was already splitting apart. He had to be careful.

"You wouldn't mind if we talk alone for a moment. You perhaps should leave the house as well. You'll be in trouble if you stay away from the castle for very long. You know what the council is like regarding you." He added in the part about the council knowing that if she was tempted to scream at him, it would make the temptation dissipate. All that knew their true nature feared them.

She scowled at him and made sure to push him as she exited the room. "We'll continue this later!" She called to the man on Cid's right.

"What was all that?" Cid questioned when he was sure she was gone.

"Same as always. I'll never know." He replied, sitting down on a chair in the corner of the room. He said nothing more.

Cid took a moment to think up how to tell him what he needed to tell him. It would be far easier to get him to readily complete the order if it wasn't for the man's son; he was incredibly protective of him.

"Sazh." He said his name to get his attention.

Sazh looked up to meet Cid's gaze. "What is it this time?" He asked, with a sigh. It'd been awhile since he'd been asked to do anything. Life had finally been getting back to normal.

"Solace has gone missing."

"Yeah I heard about that, actually the subject got screamed to me for a whole ten minutes to be perfectly honest." He grimaced remembering it, "My heads about ready to split in two. I heard they've been sending knights to go search for her but it's been unsuccessful so far. Why haven't you gone? You'd think out of everyone you would, being her guardian and all."

"The Goddess is being unrelenting with her last punishment. I'm unable to find her myself, but I doubt the other knights even have the ability to bring her back. They'll go easy on her." Cid informed him.

"Where are you going with this?" Sazh sighed, fearing he'd say exactly what he was thinking.

"I need you to find her in my stead." It wasn't a plea or a request, it was a command.

"What about Dajh!?"

"The castle servants can look after him." Cid answered calmly.

"Why do you think I can do this when even a knight can't?"

"The bond you two have is different to that of hers with our fellow knights. It is that bond that renders them unable to do this task."

"Damn it's cruel to just spring this on me all of a sudden." Sazh muttered, more to himself than to Cid.

"I'll get everything ready for you. You will leave tomorrow." With that he pivoted and left, leaving Sazh no point in the matter.

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><p><strong>No one's reviewed this story for so long, please be nice and review? And if it's my sister (AKA my beta) that reviews first I think I'll slap someone. It's putting me into a bad mood, sorry.<strong>

**Yay, now they're all in the story. I have a problem in fanfics of forgetting about Sazh, it's his age. He doesn't fit in a lot of situations in my stories.**

**Jya ne,**

**~Serah Villiers**


	10. Half-blooded wolf

**(6,523 words) This chapter does't feel long to me, it feels very short, so it's length is messing with me. I don't think I've updated in a while, gomen ne, I've had assignments for school and was finishing plotting out another story of mine so I could get it to fifty chapters exactly. It was successful. I may not get the chance to update for a little bit since I still have an assignment and a half to complete and I do believe I'm getting more soon.**

**Please review, I haven't gotten a single review since I took this off hiatus, I'm still getting plenty of hits so I know it still has readers. Be nice. Not even betaSis had reviewed.**

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><p>9) Half-blooded wolf<p>

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><p>Sazh stepped out the doorway into the cool morn, a gust of wind whooshed by to greet him. Earlier that day a maid from the castle had picked up Dajh and the possessions he'd chosen to bring with him. He and the little boy knew her well enough, seeing as she'd looked after him other times as well, those being when Sazh had been called up to help Solace. The man trusted she would keep him safe while he was away.<p>

He wrapped his cloak around his shoulders; he would use it to hide his clothes that would surely show he was a citizen of Eden. The cloak, well-worn and dirtied would give no hint, and in fact tell people he was no more than a common traveller, as he wanted people to believe. There were people out there that would be more than willing to rob him and steal his possessions if they knew he were a rich man, he wanted to do everything he could to avoid that. He could only hope that wherever she was, Solace was doing the same as him.

A small dagger rested at his hip, for protection if needed. He hoped it wouldn't come into use, as he'd lived peacefully for many years now, he was no longer sure of his body's capabilities. Being over ten years since he'd been in a proper battle, the lack of practice and his age were sure to be a hindrance.

Cid had given him what little information he had to help him in his task of finding Solace. All Sazh knew that it was best to avoid the places that the soldiers would think to look of her, and if he found one while out of Eden it was likely a good idea to find another place to search as it was likely Solace was not there. She would predict every place they would go, but not every place he would go. The girl would not think in her wildest dreams that Cid would send him to look for her, what with his age and his son. But she didn't take into consideration the situation she'd caused for leaving. Not only was she a knight of Eden, she was a Veil, a creature trusted by no one.

Sighing, Sazh begun to walk to the south gate, where he would start this journey. He could only wish this would not take long, so he wouldn't be away from Dajh for too long.

He shook his head, "I'm getting too old for this."

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><p>Beams of light entered Lightning's eyes as Fang shook her awake. She frowned and tried to bat the girl away; she missed but only just as the Pulsian jumped backwards in an ungraceful movement.<p>

"Now that was unneeded." She chuckled as she stood up. Slowly, the other pulled herself up into a sitting position, wiping sleep from her eyes. She said nothing in response, but continued to frown.

They'd been stuck travelling through a wood for days on end, Vanille speculated they would reach a town by tomorrow if not tonight. She claimed they were close to the border of Pulse and had been this way many a time before. Fang wasn't bothered when they reached a place that would give her companions a break, she herself was perfectly fine, as good as she was when they'd set out. Her companions however, were not doing as well.

Vanille was well adjusted to travelling around, but the small girl was not without her limits. Her feet didn't hurt and she did not feel all too sore like the others did but she felt dreary for the majority of time. Snow-who's presence Lightning was steadily getting used to despite not liking it- appeared better than he had before. But not as perfect as Fang, he'd merely gotten used to the constant travel at a fast past. Reluctantly, Lightning had to admit she was doing the worst out of all of them. If not for the fact that Fang had challenged her to spar each and every night since the first time without fail, which left her with cuts and bruises dotted all about her body, she would be on par with Vanille even when the girl had been travelling around possibly for years more than her. The sparring had left her an exhausted heap during the night time, and sleep was not enough to regain what she had lost. She woke up each day feeling more tired than the last. Now she did not lag behind simply because she wanted to distance herself from the crazy Pulsian woman and the blonde oaf, but because if she kept at a faster rate she wouldn't be able to manage.

She'd be less annoyed by what she was suffering if she had an answer for why this was happening at all. The sparring she figured was Fang wanted her to be stronger, as she disliked her weakness. Lightning understood that, and frankly she didn't think she needed the extra training, it was not Pulsian warriors she needed protection against, it was random thieves and thugs that might threaten her as she travelled. Fang had just decided why not? Her real problem rested with what was the point of these two Pulsian women dragging her and Snow around as they pleased. She knew that if either dared run off Fang would go after them, so they had not chance to leave, Lightning would've felt sorry for Snow getting himself dragged into this too did she not despise him.

There was something about these two that was off. There was something seriously wrong about them. For one, the clothes they wore were of Eden make; even someone such as her knew the famous fashion of Cocoon's capital when she saw it. The fact they'd added their own Pulsian twists to it changed nothing, all it showed was that they were not afraid to show what they were, if the beads and fiery dyes in their hair didn't show that already. Vanille also had that peculiar green necklace, similar to the one Snow wore around his neck. It was made of the same material, a gemstone she could not name or an oddly coloured crystal, but the patterns differed. Vanille had claimed that it was a sign of someone who was supposed to be looking after, guarding, someone who a certain someone had an interest in. She wished for Vanille or Fang to be more direct about what they meant, even just how this 'certain someone' had taken an interest in her would be good enough. She had a feeling Snow knew all about what it meant, and that only she was out of the loop. Him and Vanille were the same, and judging from what the girl had told her, it was likely that she and Fang were the same, as in the 'certain someone' had taken an interest in them.

Fang was an odd one, but beyond that Lightning did not know what would cause someone to take an interest in her. The one thing that could make someone take an interest in she herself was that she was a veil, but the only way to know what she was was if they were a soldier from the execution, most of which probably died from the injuries they'd sustained that day. Or a god, that was also an option, though a crazy and highly unlikely one.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Lightning returned herself to reality after drifting out of it for god knows how long. They'd begun walking through the woods awhile back, though their surroundings had altered a slight bit, now everything was more open and every ten metres or so a small clearing was visible. Hopefully this was a sign that a town was nearby. Fang was in front as always, she'd finally let go of that ridiculous branch. She'd used all its sticks to spar. Vanille was trailing a little way behind Snow; they were talking avidly, as they were before Lightning had drifted off. The poor girl was trying to act like glue to hold the group together. Lightning refused to talk with both Snow and Fang as she hated both, so Vanille was doing her best to make sure she didn't snap and try to kill them. Snow found Fang made for bad conversation, something she was doing on purpose because she was bored. So because he had no one to speak to since Lightning was at utter refusal to speak with him, she was his only option. She spoke with both the Cocoonians in the group and each had learnt a fair bit about her since they'd started out.

She told them of her home town Oerba, and how friendly everyone was, no one hurt anyone and no owned anything for it was shared between all of them. Everyone did their part and everything worked perfectly. People were honest and selfless there; she'd loved it ever so much. It made Lightning wonder, and she doubted none that Snow was thinking similar thoughts, that if it was so nice, why on earth had she come to Cocoon in the first place?

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><p>As the sun started its descent and the sky turned a bright orange dotted with purple clouds, they came upon a small village, as Vanille had speculated they would. Signs of relief were shown from both her and Snow, though Vanille's was less noticeable as it was only a pleased smile. Fang appeared the same as she always did, though her pace slowed slightly. The others without noticing followed in turn, which allowed Lightning to catch up for she'd been walking at a slower pace from the start.<p>

They had taken a quick break earlier in the day, and when they all stood up to continue, a pain had started up near the top of her leg, at the joint. She figured it was from how she was sitting, but having no idea how to undo it she'd been made to suffer with it. She'd have to go off into her own little world just to be able to ignore the pain. It'd slowed her down quite a bit, and she hadn't been walking as fast as the others from the start. She was surprised that Vanille hadn't gone back to stop her from trailing too much as she had the times before when she'd fallen that far back, she wondered if that meant the girl trusted her more.

Fang yelled back to the others that she intended to go find somewhere for them to rest for the night and ran ahead. Vanille pouted because she'd left them alone to do it; they'd have nothing to do but wait now. When Lightning saw that her two remaining companions weren't going to follow the Pulsian woman, she sat down with her back to a tree. She could hear Snow and Vanille talking, but paid it no mind and instead tried to figure out how to rid herself of the pain in her leg. After bending her leg in different ways she released some pain from her leg but was otherwise unsuccessful. Seeing no point in trying further, she looked up, observing what she could see of the town.

It was set up in three neat little rows, the two on the outside looked to be full of small houses, where its inhabitants lived. The middle one looked to be a main street, full of stalls and what she hoped were hotels. She disliked the idea of having to borrow a room in someone's house even more than being stuck in a room with Snow. It felt wrong knowing it belonged to someone else; it made it feel like you were intruding even when you weren't. At least Snow could be made less annoying; all you'd have to do is tie a gag around his mouth so he didn't talk.

It was a pitifully small place, on the far outskirts were small gardens where food was being grown and beyond that the woods. People rushed about frantically, completing last minute chores before night came. She spotted the people of the town with their hair up in two tiny buns, it was always customary for a town or area to wear their hair up in a certain way, like how three piece of her hair were tied up into three small plaits at the back of her head. She hadn't seen the hair style before her, and wondered if the next few towns would have it, as being so pitifully small it was doubtful that this was a style unique to them and them only like Bodhum's was.

However, something as simple this was not what held her attention, as she watched the villagers she was quick to notice that not all were of such plain appearance. Dotted amongst the actual villages, were young women who were dressed in clothing she could only describe as tribal. Their hair was strung with beads of either mossy shades of green or ocean blue, with dyes of similar colours run through. Three of the older woman she could see had tattoos running all down their arms and the one guy she saw, whose hair was painted with green dyes, was covered head to toe with the black markings. To not notice the similarity these people had with Fang and Vanille, she'd have to be an idiot. It was common knowledge that only a Pulsian wore beads or dyes.

Lightning's eyes darted up to Vanille full of questions, to find the girl was watching her with a knowing expression.

"Took you long enough didn't you?" She giggled.

"Where are we?" She questioned, quite rightfully confused.

"Katcinn. We're still in Cocoon, don't worry. But we are near the border. There are places, small villages mostly, that don't care whether you're from Cocoon or Pulse. People think logically in these places, they judge a person for who they are not where they came from. Katcinn is such a place. We came here once when we were kids, but only once. I'm surprised how clearly I still remember it."

Lightning stood up and walked closer to town, to get a better look. _I'd never thought I'd see so many Pulsians in the one place _she thought to herself. Then another thought hit her,

"Hey Vanille?"

"Yes." She tiptoed closer, to stand next to her, leaving Snow behind.

"Where is Fang taking us exactly?"

"Somewhere safe. It's out there trust me. You're not strong enough to fight off those who'd want to harm you, and until you are I don't think she'll allow you to so easily do as you please."

Lightning frowned, if that was so, it'd take so much longer to achieve what she wanted. She hadn't even improved one tiny bit since Fang had begun sparring with her.

"But why do that for a stranger? What on earth is going through that idiot's head?" She decided to question.

"Hmm." Vanille hummed, "I guess it's because, if you die, there are certain people who shall be upset, I guess she just wants to avoid that."

Lightning sighed, "I'm never going to get a completely straight answer from anyone am I?"

* * *

><p>Fang found an inn for them to stay in no time. Lightning had guessed that since so many Pulsians were around she wouldn't be forbidden to enter like she would in other towns. It was a fairly small place, but the room they were given was enough. It featured two beds on the far wall, and one lined up horizontally against the closest. Seeing as there weren't enough beds for all Snow had originally said he'd take the floor but Fang was against this and volunteered for it herself. She said she was the most used to sleeping on the ground, so it'd be best if it was her. Though he was about to, Snow went against arguing over the issue at the last second, if he said anything she'd add more reasons, thus making it a futile effort.<p>

There was no bathroom attached as there was only one bathroom in the entire inn they'd been told. So if they needed it they have to travel down the staircase and to the other side of the building, it was a hassle, but one to be expected in a small disconnected town such as this.

Most of them fell asleep right away when that time came, but Lightning found she couldn't sleep, the dream world evaded her grasp time and time again, each attempt at reaching it ended in failure. Eventually, she tired of attempting and remained awake, staring up at the ceiling. Seconds passed by slowly, minutes were like excruciating hours that refused to end. In the dark she made out patterns, made out of lighter patches on the wood. She traced them until she was thrown into a maddening trance. Still, this did not make time speed up, or rid her of the heaviness of her eyelids. After an unknown amount of time, she snapped out of the trance, and decided to sleep. She was most annoyed however, when even this attempt was a failure. She was tired, very tired, but she could not get herself to sleep.

She realised that she either wasn't going to sleep tonight, or she'd have to find another thing to pass the time so she could become more tired. She had already come to the conclusion that whatever would help her sleep was not in the this room, so quietly as she could she pulled the blankets off her and crept out, shutting the door as lightly as could be. At a slow pace she descended the stairs and made her way outside. As she stood in the doorway, she was greeted by the unusual sight of a tall Pulsian woman, taller than Fang by the looks of things, staring peacefully at the night sky from the middle of the street.

She was one of the older ones she'd seen, one of the ones with the tattoos all down her right arm. Her baby blue shirt was tied to her with ribbons of a darker shade. Her skirt was made of a black material, with one half covered by a skirt of fur. Her arms and neck were covered with a plentiful number of beads of every colour. Her face was oval with jade eyes that shone brighter than a jewel. Lightning wondered if all Pulsians had green eyes. Her hair was black, but each time the light touched it, either from a lantern or the moon, it shone a stunning blue. There were no dyes in her hair, but many beads of blue were strung through it. They were not orbs like the ones Fang and Vanille wore, but smaller tube like shapes with detailed patterns decorating them.

She was transfixed by the starry sky, standing there humming an unfamiliar song to herself. Her onlooker didn't want to disrupt her and whatever she was doing, but she didn't want to stand in the doorway all night either. So as carefully as possible, she snuck past, unfortunately, the night was quieter than expected, and the sound of tiptoeing wasn't difficult to hear at all. The woman turned around, and gasped.

Confused, Lightning twisted her head to look in the woman's direction. By the time she'd looked the woman was already right behind her. From their proximity she could see that by her messy fringe the woman had a braid dyed red and yellow, like the dyes Fang and Vanille had. She would've questioned but the woman spoke before she could manage.

"Your presence! It feels just like the half-blooded wolf!" She laughed, her accented voice was rich and comforting, but something felt wrong with her sentence.

"The half-blooded wolf?" Lightning repeated, wondering what on earth this stranger was going on about.

"Hmm, yes, the half-blooded wolf. I guess it'd make sense for a Cocoonian not to have heard of her, you people never know what's going on around you after all."

Before Lightning even had the opportunity to take offence at that the woman continued with a question, "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, but are you a-" Her voice suddenly turned into gibberish as a hand covered her mouth.

Lightning was surprised to see an annoyed Fang standing behind the woman, rendering her incapable of proper speech. She whispered something in the woman's ear, too quiet for the other to hear right. Without being able to understand why, the startled woman's eyes narrowed, even as Fang released her. She took a few steps back before speaking.

"Oh, I guess its scent just rubbed off on you." She spat before running off.

Fang observed her as she disappeared from sight before turning her gaze to Lightning, who just so happened to be walking off.

"Hey what're you doing?" Fang called out to her.

"I couldn't sleep, so I'm taking a walk. No weird woman's going to stop that." She said back.

"Hey Lightning!" Fang called out again, irritated, when the other showed no sign of stopping.

* * *

><p>Lightning stopped just by the town's outskirts, near a garden of flowers and a field of corn. She walked over to a log which must've rolled down the hill from the forest, and sat on it. It was silent for but a moment,<p>

"Lightning! Stop will ya! You should go to sleep, it's not like I'm going to let you sleep in to make up for the sleep you've missed." Fang yelled out as she caught up. She'd been following at a slower pace.

"I couldn't sleep." Lightning replied.

"And this is going to help?" The Pulsian laughed.

"It's about as likely as anything else I tried."

"Well those others were probably better than this trust me." Fang sighed, and stopped by the tiny garden of purple and yellow flowers.

"Do you know who the half-blooded wolf is?" The pink haired woman asked, for what was for the other, out of the blue.

Fang stared back at her perplexed. "Now where is that coming from?" She laughed shakily.

"It's what that woman said, the 'half-blooded wolf', she said I probably wouldn't know about it, since I'm Cocoonian and we don't ever know what goes on about us." The last part she spat. "If there's anything I don't know it's because that stupid town kept me in the dark." She referred to Bodhum, as she was slowly learning there was much the people of that village had not mentioned to her even once.

"Keeping people in the dark is the Cocoonian way, that's why she said that. You shouldn't take offence since you're just a poor victim of it."

Lightning glared up at her, "And that never happens in Pulse?"

"It's incredibly rare; most villages don't see the reason to keep things from the other inhabitants, because hiding it will only make it worse when they find out. Cocoon doesn't think the same way. "

"Who's the half-blooded wolf? Do you know then?" Lightning questioned, her glare remaining.

"Stop with these questions Light, they're bugging me."

"Who's the half-blooded wolf Fang? Answer me." She repeated with a harsh undertone to her words.

Fang bit her lip, trying to think of a way out. "Look, it's really not important who she is, please can you just-"

"What's important doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm asking." She interrupted her before she finished.

"Please Light just-"

"You know that woman reacted badly to you, do you know her?"

The annoyance on the others face was plenty apparent. "She lived in Oerba for a while, but she married a man in another village and left to live with him. She's not a bad person, but she never liked me. I never gave her a reason, but she couldn't stand me" Fang admitted. "Frankly I'm surprised she even recognised me, she left before I did, and I was a child then."

"She spoke of the half-blooded wolf badly too, she spoke of it like they were disgusting."

"And your point?" Fang sighed, running a hand through her messy beaded locks.

"She said my presence was the same as them, and then she was going to ask me a question, but you stopped her. She reacted to you as badly as she spoke of the wolf."

"Seriously, the point of this is…?" Fang raised an eyebrow, her patience running out.

"Are you the half-blooded wolf?"

To this Fang did not reply, but did come visibly uneasy. It was an obvious yes.

"What a creative name it is." Lightning joked.

Fang scowled. "Most people would call me a dog when I was younger, as an insult. That was the only one that stuck."

"In what way are you half-blooded?" The other raised an eyebrow, somewhat curious.

"It's not important."

"Okay, if you won't answer me that, than answer me this. What was that woman going to ask me? You must know right?" Lightning grinned smugly, and Fang's scowl deepened.

"I don't know."

"I think you do, and I have a feeling I know what it was too. I have a feeling she was correct."

"What do you think she was going to ask then?" Fang inquired, not truly curious, merely faking it.

"Are you a Veil?" She was repeating the question, but at the same time, she was directing it at her.

Fang laughed at her, "You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm not. I've put a lot of thought into it. I don't think I'm wrong."

"The hell is going through your head, explain, seriously."

"Well that's easy enough. You keep mentioning this woman who had an interest in me. Now I quickly gave up attempting to figure out who they were, so I tried to figure out something about me that could make someone have an interest in me." Lightning explained.

"You implying you're a veil?" Fang chuckled, a smile gracing her lips.

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"Never."

A small paused passed between them where nothing was said.

"As I thought. After this I figured that there's a connection between those weird crystal necklaces that both Snow and Vanille have. I guessed that if they're not the same they're similar. But if that's true, then it should work both ways."

"Well aren't you the smarty pants, well unfortunately for you, this is not the time for you to know the truth." With a smug grin, Fang ended the conversation and walked off.

Lightning would've probed further, but she had known Fang for long enough now to know she wasn't going to get the answer, not now at least. But still, she would not give up.

* * *

><p>Sazh came to a stop by the outskirts of a small farming village. He'd passed a few places like this town in the last couple days. The towns were placed close together, within clearings of a grand forest. It was known as the forest of Eden and was by far the most beautiful location on all of Cocoon, if not the world. The towns had been set up here for both the forest's riches and beauty and for its close proximity to the forest's namesake, the capital city Eden. He'd heard mention of a girl in a peculiar blue cloak twice since leaving, and if he remembered correctly Solace did have a possession fitting that description. He would have been more sceptical of the possibility of this woman being his target, had the second mention of her not also mentioned her cascading rose red hair with roots of a lighter shade. He'd heard that her hair was dyed, and knew that since dyes were only available in Eden and Nautilus, the dye would soon run out. He hadn't known what colour her natural hair colour was, but even though it had appeared blonde he knew it had not been so. He was glad he was already picking up traces after only a week having past.<p>

He was glad also, for the speed he was able to travel at. He'd picked up a Chocobo not long after leaving the city, she was a fast one too, and one that could keep going for a long time, something that would help him drastically if she was still on foot. The chocobo had once been a present to Dajh when he was younger, but after growing too big Sazh had given her to a farm close to Eden. The man that lived there had used her to pull carts too heavy for him and his helpers. This had made her very strong. He'd paid the man some money that he wouldn't be able to make whilst she was gone to make up for taking her. He hoped this wouldn't take too long for that man's sake. If it did, he'd be forced to borrow a Chocobo from a Chocobo farm, but without the money to actually buy one he could only borrow and thus would have to pay money to keep it.

Sazh's cloak remained firmly wrapped around him so that no one could suspect he was an Eden citizen, as he'd promised himself he would do. He'd secured a second dagger, one less used and larger than the one he already had. It was well made, and would do him better than the older one. Still as old as it was it had served him well in the past and he refused to get rid of it.

He found himself an inn, where the owners would allow his Chocobo inside. She was not with him, but in a small pen out the back with other animals that belonged to travellers like him.

He'd heard no mention of any knight, but was already on Solace's track. He grinned to himself, sure he was sad that he couldn't be with Dajh, but Cid was right to send him, for he could complete this task far quicker than any knight. He wished that this could be over soon; god knows how the council we end up reacting if Solace was unable to be found.

* * *

><p>Cid strode down a grand hall decorated with larger than life marble statues. The room beyond was the throne room, but to its sides were meeting rooms where the council would meet. On the left was where they would meet to settle less important matters as they called them, such matters were commonly requests from citizens. On the right was where more important matters were settled. These matters Cid personally believed where the less important, as they were only ever little requests by knights or nobles, or on occasions supervising the royal family.<p>

He had been ordered by the council to meet with them today; he'd been asked before but had neglected to attend because he was practically bedridden. But they were at wit's end with him, and it was now or never. Luckily, he was feeling better than he had all week. His only problem was what this meeting would contain, it was something about Solace no doubt; it always was.

As he neared the door he noticed a young seemingly genderless person sitting by a tiny square table on an extravagantly backed chair, reading a book in silence. She-as he'd chosen to view it as a woman-sat here day in and day out. She never left, never talked; if she even ate or drunk, he could not say. She wore a plain white dress- the main reason he'd chosen to view her as a woman-trimmed with gold with metal shoulder pads, which were as well, trimmed with gold. Her form was slender, but not feminine, as no feminie shapes were seen. Her face was almost as round as a circle, but this did not make her ugly. Her skin shone with an inhuman light, her lips a pale pink. Her black hair was straight and perfect, covering her forehead to make her face appear closer to an oval. The back was shorter than the front, ending at the nape of her neck at the back, and her collar bone at the front. Her eyes unnerved him; her pupils were large, black, and soulless. If her expressionless face did not show her lack of feeling alone, it was those dark black pits she called eyes.

He'd asked once who she was, to a council member who had been conversing with the king himself a moment earlier. The council member did not answer, but the king did. He said they were an orphan taken under the council's wing. He did not say more, as it was obvious even he did not know more than that.

Cid passed her and entered the door on the right. Every seat was full, as each council member was present. They always were when they were speaking about Solace; she was just that much of a concern to them. It bothered them enough that she was a woman and of common blood; it bothered them even more that she was a Veil. Cid stopped in the centre of the room; the tables were set up so they formed a semi-circle around him.

"And why is it I have been called here today?" He asked to start things off. He could not see most of the council's face, for they were covered with masks except the one in the middle. All he knew was that one, a man, had shining hair the colour of the sun; and another, a tall woman with tan skin had hair the colour of snow. The man in the middle was not as young as his fellow members, he looked ancient. He was bald with a peculiar headdress and an elaborate garment of blue and white, edged with gold. He had deep lines on his stern face. His name was Galenth Dysley, and he was the true ruler of Cocoon, to him, the royal family were nothing. They were figure heads, as they always had been unknown to the public.

"To speak of that creature that Lindzei herself ordered you to guard." Dysley Spat.

Cid scowled, Solace could be annoying certainly, but she was not someone to be described as a 'creature'

"And what about her? I am doing everything I can to find her. She will be found, do not make yourself worry more than you have to."

The council tensed in preparation for what was coming.

Dysley smashed his fist into the table, "Worry more than I have to!?" He screamed, overcome with anger. "She is a Veil! She could destroy the world if we are not careful, if anything I should worry more than I am! Do not speak to me like that you moronic knight. You know nothing. Do not let her fool you, she is a monster, Veils are a Pulsian creation remember, a creation that even Pulse regards as dangerous. She must be sent back here as soon as possible. And when she returns I will decide what I am to do with her!"

Cid bit down on his tongue. If Dysley had his way, he would kill her brutally. This could not be allowed to happen. "Please Sir, do not bring harm to her. She is an ignorant child, do not blame her for her actions. And if you must punish her, do not kill her. There is a reason the goddess has chosen to protect her and the remainder of her kind."

Dysley scowled at him, "Do not speak to me as if you are a higher being, guardian or not, as head of the council, as ruler of Cocoon, I am more than you could ever be."

He went silent then, so Cid waited for him to continue. After what may have been five minutes, during which time the council talked amongst each other in hushed voices-as they only ever spoke in such a fashion, only Dysley spoke directly-the man continued.

"If I cannot kill that insolent girl, than I will kill the others, and if not that, I will capture them and make them work for me. If they use their powers even once I'll chop off their heads." Dysley seemed adamant about his decision.

"Even Jihl? But she had never caused harm to you or anyone in the castle. She isn't even from the experiment; she isn't one of your creations. She admires you, she holds you up on a pedestal. Why bring harm to her?"

Dysley sighed. "I am aware, but the woman is ever so annoying. It's painful to listen to her, its better with her gone. Besides, neither of the goddesses have an interest in her, if they did she would have a guardian like Solace does. I can rid myself of her if I so want."

Cid knew he could not change the council's mind over the subject, but he didn't want harm brought down on the veils, the council had no idea why they should not be harmed any more than they had.

"But there are only two other surviving Veils and I heard one escaped to Pulse. I mean no offence but how are you supposed to locate them?"

Dysley and the rest of the council scoffed. "Both you and that other guardian carry those amulets, am I supposed to be made to believe that that isn't the same for the other guardians? I do not need to locate the surviving Veils; I need to locate their guardians. And what better person to do this but you?" He smiled conceitedly.

Cid swallowed a lump in his throat. He could not complete this task, the goddess would be strictly against it; she would punish him severely for sure. But he had no choice; the council's word was final.

"When do I set out?"

"In a weeks' time. Make sure you are ready by then."

Cid nodded, and left without a further word.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed, reviews shall be much appreciated.<strong>

**Jya ne,**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


	11. Found

**(7,658 words) I'm not sure why but my mind keeps trying to tell me that I wrote this a million years ago. It was definitely a week ago I know, but not as long as my mind is trying to convince me. My beta-sis had a lot of things to edit (two other chaps of mine, and two of hers), so it took her a bit to go through. I found a few incredibly retarded mistakes whilst going through it, so she may not have done the best of jobs. If you find any such mistakes, I apologise in advance.**

**It's the Christmas holidays now, so I should get more writing in, meaning I should hopefully be able to update somewhat faster than usual. Since it being the Christmas holidays there will be plenty of distractions, like the day itself and friends coming over and all that kind of stuff. I'll also be in Melbourne for a few days, so I don't know if I'll have a laptop during those days, we'll see.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>10) Found<p>

* * *

><p><em>Far away in the distance, a wispy voice called out, pleading desperately, hoping for someone to hear their cries. Lightning opened her eyes, and was greeted by a miraculous sight. She was atop a mountain, with a waterfall flowing from over a larger mountain besides it, causing the water to gather in a pond atop the peak she was on. The pond was surrounded by pink, purple and yellow flowers, their petals being swept up in a gentle wind. It occurred to her that she was dreaming, since she was unable to feel a thing and a peculiar haze hanged around her. But for a dream, everything was startling clear.<em>

_She lifted herself up and brushed away the stray petals that had clung to her damp skin. She felt as if she'd jumped in the pond earlier, but had no recollection of doing so. After taking in the sight, she recalled the voice she had heard, the one that had woken her to this world. It'd been soft and gentle, a weak sound carried to her by the wind. It was pleading, sad and yet happy all at the same time. It sent a wave of calmness through her, despite the negative undertones it had been filled with. She looked around, surveying her environment to see if she could find them. Upon her initial observation, she came up with no results, and concluded that whoever had spoken was not in sight. However, after looking around once more, she spotted a woman leaning over the pond's edge, holding in her hands a lotus flower. She was perfectly calm and still, the world around her might as well not even by there at all._

_Lightning eyed her for a moment, wondering what she was doing there, and why she had called out. She decided in the end to ask her for the answer, it did not seem like this woman was a threat to her. After one step, the woman lifted her head, eyes wide with surprise, but not a second later, her look of astonishment was replaced by a warm smile. She dropped the lotus flower back into the water, where it floated off to the middle of the pond, led by the wind. She stood up and turned, smile present. Her hands were placed behind her back, and her expression was perfectly serene. She was dressed in what Light was sure were Pulsian attire. She was wrapped with a sari matching the many flowers that surrounded her, only it was trimmed with a light baby blue. Her shirt underneath covered only her chest and was made of a thick black material, wrapped and tied at her back. Her skirt was long and trailed on the ground; it was patterned like her sari, but coloured with deeper shades. Her feet were covered in russet coloured sandals; the tops of which she could not see for her skirt covered them. Her arms were decorated with bangles of pale shades of brown, with an odd yellow or pink one here and there. Her hair was hazel; it was perfect with a slight wave, ending by her ankles. On her head was a golden headdress shaped like a behemoth skull. It held up twin braids that wrapped around her head. Her eyes were a soft pink, her lips a deep shade of the same colour. Her skin was fair, without a single flaw._

_She smiled, and said in a soothing voice that though quiet and weak, echoed around the mountain top, "It's good to see you my daughter, though my sister Lindzei had adopted you."_

_Lightning's eyes narrowed, to be frank, the words seemed crazy. She knew she'd heard the name Lindzei somewhere, but for the moment, she was unable to remember where._

"_Daughter?"_

"_Why of course. Every one of you were my daughters, it is a shame what had to befall you." She replied, her head bowed, hand to her chest. She looked weak, and yet oddly strong._

_She didn't understand any more from that, and felt even more concerned about what on earth this woman was going on about to be true. "What befell us?" _

"_Oh yes, you recall don't you? When they attacked you? Many of my daughters had their lives cut short that day." She seemed truly saddened, like these were her real daughters she was referring to. Only that didn't make any sense, but Lightning had to remind herself, this was a dream, things tended to make no sense in dreams._

"_Daughters, do you mean the Veil?" When she tried to think of being attacked, the only thing to come to mind was the day the Veil experiment ended, when the guards attacked them all, killing the vast majority._

"_Yes, it was cruel. And now because of that, so much weight has had to fall on her shoulders." The woman kneeled down, and watched the flowers sway in the flowing wind. "It was never meant to happen that way, but things have changed. There's not enough time now."_

"_What weight, on whose shoulders?" She asked, it seemed like there was another piece of information she did know of, perhaps this woman could tell her. She thought this for a moment before remembering again that this was a dream, nothing here would matter in the waking world._

"_Don't blame them for acting how they are; they want to live out their life, free to do what they want. They don't want to be chained down again. They haven't been able to take it, they've erased their own emotions just to ignore the pain of losing everything. It was bad enough for me to do such an unforgiveable thing to them, but for my sister to control her like she does, it erases everything that poor girl is. So I beg of you, don't hate them. They mean well, they just are unable to show you that."_

"_What? What do I have to do with anything? Why are you saying this to me? Who are you?" Lightning cried out, desperate for an answer._

_The woman smiled. "That can wait for now, my daughter. Everything shall be revealed in due time, when you are ready, the time will come." As the words left her lips, whiteness begun to develop the pond and surrounding field of flowers._

_Alarmed, Lightning tried to run forward, but the haze shoved her back violently, sending her to the ground. Not knowing what else to do, she called out, barely below screaming, "Wait! This isn't real is it? It's a dream right?"_

_Before all disappeared, she spotted the woman through the nothingness, sending her one last warmth filled smile. "Why, of course you're dreaming, but when did that ever mean that this is not real?"_

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><p>Lightning awoke with a start, draped in sweat. Her breathing was heavy as she slowly calmed down. The dream hadn't scared in her least, there was nothing scary about it, but she couldn't help but feel unnerved over it all. It had the same haze any dream had, but at the same time, it didn't. She actually had needed to remind herself that none of that was really happening; usually there shouldn't be need of that in a dream. She was concerned, what the stranger had been going on about seemed to be very serious, maybe it did have some connection to the outside world. But who was the girl who had had weight thrust upon her? And why did she speak of the Veil as her daughters? And who on earth was Lindzei? The name was familiar to her, but try as she may the reason for why she knew it escaped her each time she dived into her mind to search for it.<p>

She looked up to see everyone else was fast asleep. It was still dark out, but she couldn't see enough of the outside through the window to know how dark it was exactly, so the time it was difficult to guess. It was either close to dawn, or still late at night. She'd only gotten to sleep recently if that was so, she had gone outside earlier thanks to being unable to sleep, and Fang was the one who'd dragged her back inside. She wondered if their odd conversation had spurred on the dream.

She'd fully admitted to being a Veil to Fang, though of course she hadn't doubted that both Fang and Vanille had believed that was what she was. It made the suspicious way they'd been acting near her reasonable, at least to a degree. She continued to wonder what was up with that 'half-blooded wolf' moniker that she'd heard earlier in the night. Sure the wolf part was merely a play on Fang's name, but the half-blooded part made her think. The most reasonable thing to think of was that she was half Pulsian, and half Cocoonian. Beyond that, she didn't know anything that made sense. But even that was unlikely. Fang was born and raised in Pulse as much as she knew. She was quite sure that was the truth, and no Cocoonian would mindlessly wander into that country without a reason.

Fang was beginning to become quite the little mystery.

Throwing it out of her mind, Lightning shut her eyes and returned to sleep, hoping to catch some extra shut eye before they had to leave.

* * *

><p>A short while after dawn, Lightning was roused from her sleep by Fang roughly shaking her to the world of the waking. Grumpy at being waken in such a manner, she swiped at the woman, who dodged it completely, completely expecting it. She grinned and picked herself up; as the movement had made her hit the ground because of the force she had done it.<p>

"That's not going to work sweetie pie." She added on the nickname to annoy her, Lightning hoped it wouldn't become a habit.

The pink haired woman pushed herself up into a sleeping position, brushing away locks of her hair that'd fallen onto her face in the night. Vanille was wide awake, up and ready to go. Snow however must have been awoken only moments before her, for he was still on the bed next to her, wiping sleep from his eyes, mouth opened wide in the middle of a yawn. Sending a glare at the Pulsian woman standing by her bed, she jumped off and strode by her.

"You not tired at all are you? Didn't miss out on too much sleep did you?" Fang jokingly enquired, as she crossed the room and stood by her side. She was making fun of the fact that Lightning the night before had gone and taken a walk in the middle of the night, for the sincere reason that she couldn't get to sleep. She had found it stupid, she'd admitted that immediately, it seemed the woman wasn't in the mood to drop it, since it had wasted her possible sleeping time as well. Perhaps she wasn't fairing as well with the lack of sleep and constant travelling as everyone had thought she was.

Lightning rolled her eyes and left the room, "No, I'm fine thank you." She muttered angrily. Yes, she was tired as all god damn hell, and it wasn't helping her mood. But she wasn't going to give Fang the satisfaction of getting her to admit to it. She'd think it anyway, no matter what the answer was.

"Well isn't that nice?" Fang scoffed, before grabbing Snow by the collar of his shirt and, as much as possible, dragged him along with her out of the room. This left Vanille to hastily gather their few possessions, less they be left in the room.

Fang had already paid for the room the previous night, so they were free to leave whenever they wanted to. And what she wanted was to leave immediately. So they left the tiny inn and travelled to the edge of the miniscule village, and long past it, before anyone else was even wandering about.

* * *

><p>As the sun rose in the sky, the heat steadily rose with it, until it became unbearable, and they were forced to walk under the shadows of nearby trees just to withstand it. Fang however, didn't seem even one bit bothered by the blistering heat. She walked along as if everything was perfectly fine, twirling her lance in one hand, whistling a tune, which would end, only for it to start up again a minute later. It might have been annoying, but it allowed the time to pass easily thanks to it stopping the silence from building up. Vanille mayhaps would have been fine as well, but for the sake of conversation she stayed close to Snow, who was walking under the tree's shade same as Lightning.<p>

Things continued in this pattern up until midday, where Fang decided they would rest. They stopped by a small flowing stream, where they drank and ate some of the fruit that Vanille had acquired back in Katcinn, the small town they had stayed in for the night. The break did not last long, and soon they were back on their feet, walking to wherever Fang was taking them. Frankly, Lightning didn't even think she had a place in mind, she was walking where ever on Coccoon or Pulse she wanted to take them. Their final destination didn't matter. Sometimes she felt like Fang didn't think about anything, or care about it either. Everyone here probably had something to do, she wasn't sure about Snow, but she certainly had something in mind she needed to complete. This was a total waste of her time, not like Fang would listen to her, much less agree with her.

Vanille claimed that she was taking them somewhere safe, but Fang didn't strike her as the type that would care about that type of thing, so she thought that it was in every way possible that Vanille was just being positive. It was a possibility that she didn't know what Fang was thinking either.

A few hours after midday, not long before the sun was readying to dive into the horizon, there was a sudden quiet in the surrounding area. Lightning caught on to this fast, and so did Fang she noticed, when she looked ahead. They should be able to hear birds singing to each other, as they had been only minutes beforehand. Something was up. Snow and Vanille caught on that something wasn't quite right when they noticed their two other companions looking around apprehensively. Fang's grip tightened around her weapon, Lightning copied the movement, deciding it was the safest thing to do. If the animals in the area had been scared off, it was possible that there was something here that could cause them harm. It was better to be ready for it.

Fang stopped suddenly, and held up a hand, signalling for the others to do the same. They halted, and waited to see what was wrong. She didn't speak, but kept the hand up, to say they weren't to make a single move. She was tense, her concentration not focussed on any one place, but a range that encircled them.

For a moment, nothing, and then, something hurtled out of the trees, heading right for Fang.

She swiped at whatever it was with her lance, it was struck and thrown back. It was a man, dressed in brown rags meant to hide his face and any give away to his identity. He jumped back up and took a swipe at Fang, with a jagged dagger; she blocked it and knocked him back to the ground before wracking him with it once more to the head, knocking him out cold. She breathed out a sigh of relief, but the moment was cut short as another five men, dressed in similar rags, their faces hidden, pounced on them from the trees. They encircled them, waiting for the woman to give them an opening. Lightning raised her blade at the closest man, he was tall, but thin, he looked like he could be swept away with the wind. Snow readied his fists, and though Vanille's grip tightened on her peculiar weapon, she chose not to fight, and instead took a closer step to the middle of her companions. She remained wary despite this move.

They could see now what they were, they were bandits, hoping to steal anything they could off them.

Only this time, there was no way they'd be given the chance. Two of them went for Fang at once, deeming her the most problematic. She held out her lance horizontally, and they ran straight into it, dazed but not out for the count, they wobbled back a step before going in for more. She spun her weapon in one hand, she knew their focus would be on it, and not the leg that was about to kick the closest in the face. He was struck hard, and the force was enough to make him collide into his accomplice, slamming them both to the ground. At the same time, one of the bandits made the mistake to go after Snow, he welded a sword, and perhaps he thought that it would allow him to keep enough distance that he needn't attain any damage. But this ideal was wrong, for after the first step, before he could swing, he was dealt a blow to the face and was knocked to the ground, holding his broken nose, blood pouring out from it.

The first of the two who'd gone after Fang got up and attempted again to harm her. The other had been knocked unconscious upon having his skull hit by both another human and the ground soon after. She ducked as his knife stabbed the air above her, before coming back up to head butt him, he was dazed, and in the same moment she hit him with the blunt end of her lance, hurtling him to the ground with enough force to make things turn to black on him. The remaining two continued their circling, deducing that both Fang and Snow would be dangerous opponents.

The bigger of the two, who was standing between Fang and Snow, ran straight for Vanille, who held up her weapon, ready to use it, only for Fang to come weapon in hand and strike the man on the neck, forcing his breath right out of him. On the ground he lay, couching and gagging, until he regained his breath. This man, unlike the others, took the smart path out, and when he was in a good enough condition to move, he made a run for it. While he was doing this, the last man, the thin wispy man who'd been hanging near Lightning finally made his move. She was ready for it, and was just about to swing her blade, but before she could even register what was happening, Fang had gotten in between it. With her lance she blocked the blade, and with her leg she blocked the man, kicking him away, sending him flying until he crashed into a tree.

For a moment, nothing else happened, so Fang allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. After this the man Snow had attacked, who'd thus had his nose broken, got up and took off in the same direction the other man who'd ran off had went in. It didn't appear that the bandits were going to try anything again, so she went around, nudging back to consciousness the ones she'd knocked out, forcing them to get up and follow the ones who'd already left. As she did this, Lightning called out from behind her, complaining,

"Hey, you didn't have to do that; I could've done it myself." She was ticked off, and had every reason to be.

"I know Honey, but that never meant you had to." Fang replied with a shrug of her shoulders as she got the last bandit to leave.

Lightning frowned and stormed over to her. "What do you mean by that? What do you think I'm such a weakling that I couldn't take them on myself?"

Fang swiped at her with her hand to stop her from getting too close, she took a step back so the hand didn't meet its target. "Hey, I already agreed that you could do it, when did I call you too weak? Sure you're weak, but not that weak."

"Then why did you attack him instead? You could've been hit instead you know!?" She growled, frustrated.

The other woman grinned, perhaps sincerely to annoy her more, "Trust me sweet pea, you couldn't hit me if you wanted to, otherwise you might actually win when we spar. You can barely land a hit even then, and that's me going easy on you. If I thought that I might get hurt, I would have let you swing that blade and do whatever you wanted."

"For the Goddess' sake stop with the freaking nicknames already." Lightning muttered, more to herself than anything.

Fang smiled, a wicked smile, like whatever she was trying to do, it was succeeding. She was toying with her; maybe she'd even attacked the man to set this into motion. Lightning narrowed her eyes, to her left she heard Vanille's severely worried voice hissing Fang's name. Lightning thought that the girl had come to the same conclusion, and wanted her to stop it before it went too far, but was too nice to come out and say it.

"You know I think I like the nicknames, I think I'll keep them up. But seriously, don't fight; it's better if you don't. You are weak, accept that. And I'm sure you know the rest of the reason, we had a fabulous conversation about that last night didn't we?" Fang grinned cheekily, baiting her.

Lightning scowled, and without really thinking about it, she swung her blade. The Pulsian dodged it with ease, with more ease than what she'd seen her use in their sparring sessions. Fang wasn't even looking at her; she had her face down with her eyes half closed. It was like she wasn't putting even the slightest concentration into it, this was another thing she was sure, that was meant to annoy her. And it was working.

This time when Vanille called Fang's name, she didn't hiss it, she screamed it. She seemed panicked, concern overpowering everything else she felt. As to why this was, Lightning hadn't the slightest idea, all she knew was that whether it caused any damage or not, she wanted to land a hit on Fang, to serve her right for what she said.

Fang paid no attention to the redhead, and instead on the blade which was coming directly for her again. She dodged it like it was nothing. She was perfectly calm, despite the dangerous sharp object being swung at her. Lightning swung again and again, and time and time again she missed. Fang would duck, jump and side step each swing, without breaking a sweat, and without showing any sign of fear. She was completely confident in her belief that she would not be hit. Soon the weapon begun to feel heavy in her hands, and she was becoming short of breath, but being as stubborn as she was, she wasn't going to give up. The whole time Fang teased her, making good use of every sickingly sweet nickname she could come up with. In the intervals between this, she mouthed something to herself, but moving around so much Lightning couldn't even hope to read her lips and know what she was saying. Right before she felt so exhausted she was about to drop, she managed to figure out what Fang was mouthing, 'just a little more'. She narrowed her eyes, wondering deeply what the heck that was all about.

After a long time of her poor attempts to hit Fang, she started to feel like she was about to faint, her footing was unsteady, sweat was dripping onto her eyelashes, blurring her sight, and her weapon felt like it weighed over a tonne. But even so, she stubbornly kept it up, her ears rang from the sound of her heavy breathing and Vanille's screams telling them to stop. But she paid neither sound any attention, all she could think was that she wanted to hurt her, screw just landing a hit, the woman had tried her patience, she wanted her in pain.

In the last moment before she was sure she would drop from the exhaustion she felt, she heard someone shout something at her. At first, she thought it was Vanille, as she hadn't shut up the entire time, but after a second, it registered with her, that it hadn't been Vanille, it'd been Snow.

As the sound echoed around the area, she tightened her grip on her weapon, and spotted sparks of red and yellow in the corner of her sight, and before she had time to realise what was happening, flames enveloped her blade, and sliced the ground along with it. Fang eyes went wide, and to the other's shock, it was not the woman's bright jade eyes that greeted her. Before the flames could lick her, the Pulsian woman jumped back, landing on her feet three feet away. She shut her eyes and held her head, as if in pain. The flames spread, and in the corner of the sight Light saw something red and purple flash in front of Vanille, but it existed for only a second, and after it passed, it was gone, and the girl was now at a safe distance.

She didn't have enough time to question, as darkness begun to gather in her mind. She'd driven herself past what she could take; she'd faint any second now. Her legs gave up and her knees buckled, before her body could fall onto the flames however, Snow grabbed onto her and pulled her back, holding her in his arms so she couldn't be harmed. She didn't have enough power in her to struggle out of his grasp, and in mere moments, all turned black, and she fell unconscious. The last thing she saw as her eyes closed was Vanille hurrying to Fang's side; who was now on the ground as well, catching her breath, still holding her head.

"Fang, why did you do that?" She hissed, she seemed angry, but was acting nice about it. She was frustrated though that her friend had gone and done that in spite of her protests against it, that was clear to see.

"I wanted to test her. Nothing more. I was wondering if they were the same." She breathed, too exhausted to speak any louder. She'd only been pretending that she was fine, though she had never gotten to the point where fainting was an option like Light, she had certainly pushed herself beyond the point she could take.

"What do you mean, 'the same', who?" Vanille enquired, exasperated yet worried too.

"We both know that you know what I mean." Fang chuckled. "You noticed it from the get go didn't you? You just didn't want to believe it." She grinned, which made her friend frown and step away, sitting on the ground close by her.

"Don't act like it's funny, it's horrible. I don't want to tell her the truth, it'll hurt so much."

"All the better to continue on our way then? She'll find out much later if she ever finds out at all."

Fang remarked, as she stood up and walked over to Snow. He'd placed Lightning on the ground as the flame had already burnt down to embers and disappeared.

"She's a difficult one to deal with I take it?" She laughed, it'd only been rhetorical, she was simply stating it, not expecting any answers. Whether he realised this or not, Snow did not reply, he instead watched the fainted form of the girl in front of him, concerned by what had happened.

"You know you didn't have to use your powers." Vanille stated, from where she sat.

"And this from the one who did the very same thing?" Fang scoffed, taking a seat on the ground opposite Snow.

"That was in protection, I didn't mean to do it. You did it on purpose, and you did it to annoy her. Now look at the state she's in, and the state you're for that matter!" Vanille complained. It had been an idiotic mood on her part.

Fang rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to Lightning, who looked like she might as well be deep in a peaceful sleep. For a while, no one spoke, and silence reigned supreme. But this was cut short when Snow piped up and asked, confused,

"When did you use it? I didn't see anything."

"From the get go, it was how she didn't hit me." She answered, without much of a thought.

"I saw nothing. What is your power anyway?" He questioned, deeply curious about the whole thing.

"You wouldn't have seen anything; it's not visible to people other than me." She answered vaguely. He knew he wouldn't get anything else out of her, so he stopped with the questions, and together they waited for Lightning to regain consciousness.

* * *

><p>Solace yawned and stretched her arms. She was sitting on the roof of a small building snacking on an apple. She'd stolen it from a stand of apples a few streets back. No one had noticed her do it, though she supposed being skilful at a number of things went hand in hand with being a fully trained knight. Her skills had given her the opportunity to be fast, and her cloak had given her the opportunity to hide anything within it perfectly. She had a small amount of money on her, but it was so much more easier to take the cheap things rather than buy them, she could keep the money for better uses that way.<p>

She wasn't entirely sure where she was, all she knew was that she was far away from both Eden and Palumpolum. A gigantic forest surrounded Eden, so that was a dead giveaway, and towns got larger and more rich the closer you got to Palumpolum, so that also worked as a sign for her. She was in a small village, she'd gotten the use of someone's house last night to rest in, as she was opting to stay places for free rather than to spend. She intended to leave soon, find another town or something, though she wasn't bothered if she got stuck in the woods for the night. She knew how to make fires naturally-as she was in refusal to try and use her powers to try and make one-and she had plenty of protection, she wasn't without a weapon, even if it wasn't as good as the sword she would have if she was back in Eden, but it would do. It was good she did not have _that_ weapon; it would be most suspicious after all. It would also serve as a hint to anyone looking for her, as it seemed ever so stupid to think that she was going to get out of this scot free. The council would probably want her dead for this, she wasn't allowed to leave Eden; she wasn't even allowed to leave Cid's company.

She half expected she would eventually be dragged back, and whatever fate awaited her in the capital she would have to face. But whatever her fate was, she had decided to enjoy this as much as she could. She'd never felt so free in her life after all, every day was calming, perfect. Even if it was simple and repetitive, she was happy.

Solace finished the apple and dropped it at her side; she walked over to the edge of the roof and jumped off, scaring a passer-by as she touched the ground. It was about time she got going. As she walked to the edge of the village she had to dodge a number of children running past, and another man who was carrying around large chunks of wood. Near the edge she ran into a handful of Chocobo's outside an inn, probably belonging to some travellers passing through like her. She patted one on the head, a bright young hen who chirped in response. She giggled as the bird nudged her with its head, before leaving them behind and walking long past the village's boundaries.

* * *

><p>Lightning roused late in the afternoon, she opened her eyes slowly to see both Vanille and Snow sitting close by. Snow was sitting with his back to a tree, and Vanille sat atop a large rock, dangling her legs. They were talking to each other; something seemed to be bothering them greatly. She supposed it was what had occurred earlier, she'd already seen how upset Vanille was over it, it made sense Snow would be too.<p>

As she stayed awake, the world slowly came back to her, and she begun to make out the words the two were saying besides her.

"Has she done this before?" Snow asked, seemingly exhausted. It was a possibility that the two had to deal with Fang after Light had lost consciousness; she saw that as the most reasonable thing. It would take a lot to get Snow like he was now.

"She did once, only she was the one who paid in the end. We've been forced to keep a low profile since then. It was a few months back, it was a lot worse I believe. There were spectators; both us and her could've lost our lives. Though I think it would have been us more likely, no one could see her face, I don't think anyone even knew she was a girl. They would have just thought that she was young." Vanille frowned. "I don't think she was a bad person, but Fang immediately took to hating her. She was Eden raised, and acted like they'd never done anything bad to her. It'd infuriated her I think."

Snow nodded and didn't pry and further, instead he looked at something in the distance, which Lightning realised was Fang, sitting atop of small hill ripping apart flowers, her lance placed at her side.

"Her eyes changed colour." Lightning said, startling the others who hadn't noticed she'd regained consciousness; they were lost in their own conversation.

"Light! You're alright!" Snow cheered, turning around to face her.

Lightning pushed herself up into a sitting position. She lazily pushed Snow out of her personal space and got up onto her feet. She saw that they weren't at the same place they'd been in when she'd fainted. They had gone off the path then, it seemed correct to think that they had been wary that those bandits would return, and since they couldn't quite leave, they'd done second best and simply left the path.

She noticed Vanille averting her eyes, perhaps for her comment.

"Vanille." She called softly, in an attempt to get her to look at her.

The redhead inched her head ever so slightly up, "Yes?" She spoke quietly. It was unlikely she wanted to talk at the moment.

"What happened?"

"You and Fang got into a fight…and you kind of set the ground on fire. Then you fainted." She answered, still in the quiet tone.

"No not that!" Lightning snapped, making the girl jump back. "Her eyes changed colour. What's the answer to that? They were all weird and aquamarine."

"They're clear at the centre." Vanille mentioned, something that was needless to mention, for it had no use.

"So I saw." The other woman sighed, running her hand across her face as she sighed outwardly, "But what happened, why did it happen?"

Vanille looked away and fiddled with a small rock next to her thigh. "I think you already know the answer to that."

Lightning frowned. "But I didn't see anything. If I'm correct, then you just admitted that she's a veil. Their eyes change colour when their powers are in use, but I didn't see anything."

Vanille shrugged, "I didn't either. I don't even know what her power is, she's never mentioned it. She uses it a lot though, because as long as you can't see her eyes, the other person would have no idea anything is wrong."

It didn't appear that asking the red head more questions would get her anywhere fast, so she sat down exasperated and scowled. It looked like Snow was about to ask her a question, so she sent a glare his way and it shut him up.

She'd gotten confirmation that Fang was the same as her, a Veil. But now she was even more confused, her power wasn't something that could be seen by others, but it wasn't obvious either. She knew it wasn't a force field, because the results of it would have been clear to see in their fight earlier. But she wasn't aware of any other abilities that were invisible.

One step forward always became two steps back it seemed, whenever it came to Fang.

* * *

><p>Cid strode through the castle corridors, a week had passed since he was issued the order to capture the remaining Veils; he done very little in the space between. Namely for he was suffering odd pains and a constant sickness that refused to leave. He knew this was because the Goddess was upset with him for the situation with Solace, and now she would be even more so angered by him. So few Veils still existed in the world, what little remained both of the Goddess' would not want to lose.<p>

He had little choice in the matter however, and in spite of the Goddess' wishes and his own sickness, he would be made to leave the castle, and begin searching. He had secured all that he needed, needless to say. He was prepared, it'd be stupid or him otherwise to step foot out of the castle.

He was close to the castle doors, when he passed a small courtyard; he noticed by its edge a woman, sitting on the ground with her legs drawn up close. And as insane as it sounded, she was changing the colour of her nails, like it was something to normal to do to pass the time when bored.

He stopped by the woman, and felt the need to comment. "You are aware how insane you look at the moment for doing that Jihl?"

The woman, Jihl, looked up at him scowling, her long hair half covered her face because of her position. "Nonsense, if I really wanted to look insane I'd do this." She returned her nails to their original colour, and now instead grew them long, past the length that you could ever hope to see on a human. After her demonstration, she returned them to normal, and questioned Cid.

"Are you off to look for her yourself? If you are they're really causing quite a fuss over that silly girl."

"No, I am not off to search for Solace. But I am leaving the castle, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. On that part, you are correct. I have a different task I need to complete however."

Jihl observed his expression, to see any truth in his words. She found nothing wrong, so she chose to believe he had not lied, and continued to do what she'd been doing before he had interrupted her.

"Jihl, a piece of advice if you don't mind. The council is in a cruel mood, so I recommend not using your powers in the coming weeks." He offered it not merely as simple advice, but as an order. This she did not miss.

"And what problems do my powers bring? The most they can do is change my appearance, and even then there are many limits! I'm not some literal bomb like Solace! I'm not her."

"I'm aware of that Jihl, I never disagreed with you." He informed her calmly, but this did not soothe her temper.

She stood up, her face right in his. "I'm not some stupid half-Pulsian scum from that Experiment!"

Cid winced at the insult she sent. "I'm aware. But though you are a full blooded Cocoonian born and raised in Eden, who's powers couldn't harm a fly, the council sees you and Solace as the same. Dangerous creatures that should not exist."

Jihl struck him across the face. "How dare you say that!? I have never put anyone in harm's way, that stupid girl could never hope of saying that!"

She went to slap him again, only this time he was prepared and caught her hand before it hit. "I never disagreed with you Jihl. I never said that you were the same; I accept that you and Solace are very different. But the council doesn't consider this. So I'll tell you again, and trust me, you should heed this advice, and just be glad that I am being kind enough to give it to you, despite all the cruelness you've offered me throughout my years at the palace. Do not use your powers for any reason in the coming weeks." Cid's tone was cold and unwavering. He let go of her hand and walked off, acting indifferent to all that had occurred.

Jihl watched him as he left, concerned over how serious he had meant his words to be taken.

* * *

><p>The Chocobo sniffed a small bush, covered in wildflowers near its feet. Her owner tugged at her reins and pulled her forward, away from the flowers which had gathered all her attention. She obeyed and put up no fight. She was an obedient little girl, though her owner had been warned that this was only so for the people that she liked. Luckily, she'd taken a liking to her current owner, and showed no problems at all.<p>

Sazh was moving through a small woodland area, he'd left a minuscule town behind him not yet half an hour ago. He had slept in late that morning, because he was becoming quickly drained from the early waking times and late getting to sleep times he had been forced to follow since he had left Eden. He knew he was faring better than most people his age, as he was not sore all over and about to drop, but merely somewhat weary.

He'd left the forest of Eden behind him days ago, and was now passing by small villages, he made sure to stay far, far away from the three cities of Eden, Palumpolum and Nautilus. He cared more to stay away from Eden and Palumpolum, for one where the very place she was eluding, and one was where she had disappeared from. Though Nautilus did not tie in to any of the others, he was sure that his target, Solace, would be avoiding any large or major towns. Nautilus fit that bill, and therefore it was incredibly unlikely for her to be there, and if she was, it was incredibly stupid of her.

The only word of knights that Sazh had heard of was that they were staying in close proximity to Palumpolum, which was where Solace had run off from, believing that she couldn't have gotten too far. This was a most idiotic belief, as she'd had enough time to get far away from the city before any real amount of men could be sent after her. He had also been filled with tales of a young woman fitting Solace's appearance, and as a matter of fact, it was at this very moment that he was chasing the trail of one such story.

He'd been informed by a stall owner a short while after waking, that a young woman, all by her lonesome had wandered off into the woods, in the direction of a nearby village. She'd been dressed in white clothes, and wore a peculiar looking blue cloak. What little civilian clothes the girl owned were mostly of that colour, and he had long since known her to be in possession of a cloak matching the description of the one that had been mentioned.

He had not been counting the days, but he was sure that if a week even had passed since he'd left Eden, he been seeking her for only been longer by a day or so. He was already so close to finding her. He was sure it would not be much longer now.

* * *

><p>A few hours passed and noon fell and became sunset. The sky turned a brilliant orange and the clouds a soothing lilac. His Chocobo was tiring, so he intended to give her a rest soon, and also for himself, who was currently aching all over. He could hear a river running close by, so he had decided he would find it and rest on its banks, so he'd have a water source.<p>

A couple of minutes passed, and he finally found a clearing where the river he had heard flowing was visible. He was about to stop and get off the Chocobo, when he noticed a figure by the river banks, filling themselves up on the liquid it contained. He froze up and stared at them, unable to form a proper thought.

As if sensing their presence, the figure, a young woman, turned to face him, their traveller's cloak billowing in the wind. Even with the distance between them, and the growing darkness, her features were clear. She was young, with piecing blue eyes, and dazzling rose red hair stuffed into her cloak's hood.

Only one word was placed on Sazh's lips. "Solace…." He breathed.

She stared at him wide eyed; shock, anger, sadness, confusion and an oddly placed happiness all fought for Supremacy on her face. It was the shock however, that won in her voice. "Sazh….?"

* * *

><p><strong>I probably could've put off what happened in the last scene for later on, but I decided that it was better late than never, since knowing me, if I put it off, I really would put it off.<strong>

**Hope you liked that, reviews shall be much appreciated, I really enjoy knowing what people think of the story.**

**Jya ne,**

**~Serah Villiers Valentine**


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