~Fang's POV~

Cid Highwind. He's a special one. Kinda reminds me of myself, though I don't swear nearly half as much as that man. The pilot snarls something through his clenched teeth and lights a cigarette, kicking at the metal floor.

"Dang crew's too slow," I hear him mutter. Raising an eyebrow at Vincent, I watch Vanille gaping at the view from the large window in the front of this huge thing.

"Is he always like this?"

"Mostly."

"Must be annoying." Nothing. Really? How can I get him to talk? "I have a pet dragon." Too true. No response. "Snow has three eyes." Nope. "I have a big butt! Wanna see?!" The last one I yelled, but he merely raised one dark eyebrow at me. I groan. "Why don't you ever talk?"

"Why would I waste words toward such trivial matters?"

"So I'm just wasting your time then?" I narrow eyes at him and cross my arms. I can almost see his mouth open and then shut again.

"That is not what I said."

"But it's what you implied."

"No, I simply..."

"Watch out Valentine! She's gonna poke ya with her stick!" Cid chuckles. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Not if I can gore you with it first, old man." He narrows his eyes.

"Fang," Vanille scolds. "Don't threaten our new friends!"

"Yeah Fang," Cid sneers. I lower my lance and sweep his feet out from underneath him.

"I never did like anyone with the name Cid," I scoff, walking proudly toward Vanille. Before I turned, I could clearly see the amusement twinkling in those crimson eyes. Good.

I join my friend's side and look down at the ground. We're traveling over to an island that has a village that caught my attention. Mideel. The jungle sounds like something I'd want to explore for maybe a couple days. I warned Vanille, and she said she'd be fine. Light wants me to keep my phone ready just in case Avalanche is out to get us, and Hope told me to try and get some more info on this place, maybe some good stories out of the oddballs I'm with. Hate to break it to you, kid, but Vinnie ain't saying anything while I'm around.

"Get off my ship before I do it manually," Cid commands when we reach the edge of the island.

"I don't think you'd want to try that, Shorty," I say cockily before leaping out of the ship.

"Fang! Are you crazy!" Vanille shrieks after me. Psh, we're only a couple hundred feet up! I spin around and flick two fingers off my temple playfully before turning to land on my feet easily, catching my spear moments later. I hear a thud to my right and see Vampy taking the fall quite easily as well, though who wouldn't with shoes that pointy. Vanille peers down at us nervously, reaching one foot toward the first ladder step. Suddenly, someone pushes her from behind and she screams, plummeting toward us. My eyes widen, and I nearly throw my lance to skewer Cid through the head. She's easily caught by Vincent and set to her feet, panting and shaking with fear.

"Thought you'd be used to it after all those crazy falls with Light," I half tease as she clings to me.

"I had a magic device to catch me then," she squeaks.

"Hey!" I break free, yelling at Vampy, who's walking toward the thick jungle. He stops and looks at me wearily. "Tell your friend that if he ever does anything that will hurt her again, I will shove my lance so far up his.."

"I understand," he interrupts, eyes widened slightly. "Though I don't believe he meant to hurt her."

"He shoved her out of an airship!"

"He is also an unwise and impulsive man that doesn't think before acting. You will have to forgive him, but I will tell him with a less... Violent choice of words."

"You'd better," I scowl, stomping away into the greenery. The trees look very different than the ones I'm used to, and the tall flowers of Gran Pulse no longer sprout hundreds of feet into the air around me. There is no Titus to give me trials. No adamantoises to have a go at. This is a new world I may be trapped in forever. Who knows? Maybe we are still immortal here. Why didn't others from Cocoon and Pulse come here?

"It's so different here," Vanille says in awe at the scenes as we trek almost silently through. I'm a wanderer at heart, and have been memorizing the path back as we go. Just in case. It's hard to trust someone just like that when you've gone through what we did. I'm sure that's what it's like on the other side too.

"Sure is, Missy. Wonder what the others are doing."

"Oh Light's probably just being Light, Snow might be lost in thought or joking, and Sazh... It's always so hard to tell! But he hasn't let Dajh out of his sight so we we've been here. Then there's Hope.... He's probably studying something, cuz that's what smart people do, right?" Vincent chuckles to himself and I resist the urge to glare at him.

"Hard to believe he used to be such a whiney little brat when we first got stuck in this mess."

"Fang!" She gasps. "Hope is not a brat!"

"He used to be."

"No! Well, alright. He was just sad and confused, that's all!"

"Always looking for the good, huh?"

"Oh Fang," she sighs. "You should know me better by now." I laugh and slash at a branch that's in my way. Then I look back at our silent companion.

"Hey Vampy! Gettin hot in that thing?" He shrugs.

"Are you in that... Scarf?" I stop, staring at him with horror.

"This is not a scarf!"

"Are you sure?" He smirks.

"Vanille! Do I look like I'm wearing a scarf!?"

"A little," she giggles.

"You two are evil," I huff, continuing my frustrated stomping.

"Fang!" Vanille giggles loudly, chasing me. A large monster appears from nowhere, roaring with its huge jaws open wide. It could swallow all three of us whole with one bite. Even Mr. Tall, Dark, And Mysterious is too short to be one of its teeth.

"Move." I hear a voice behind me say, gunshots erupting moments after I comply. Vanille is frozen in fear and shock at the creature's mass. One large swipe of its claw brings her to the ground. But it doesn't stop at KO like the Pulse monsters. It goes in to kill. I grit my teeth and yell something, slashing at it with speed only a Fal'cei can provide. It goes in to attack me and I hold up my spear to block the attack. Vendetta... The second he's done clawing at me, I attack again. Vincent shoots at it as if there's nothing to attacking this beast. The second it releases its last cry, I rush toward Vanille, kneeling by her side.

"Cmon Vanille." I shake her gently. Is she... "Vanille!" I feel her neck for a pulse, her blood pooling on my lap. "No no no."

"Fang," Vincent says gently, kneeling beside me. No pulse... Please no. Rage boils up inside me as I whip my head around to glare at him.

"You did this!" Crimson eyes go died as he shakes his head.

"No, it..."

"You led us here on purpose!" I stand, the deadly points on the lance ready. "You guys never meant to help us, only eliminate!"

"Fang, we..."

"You got her killed!" I shriek, launching myself at him. He parries the blow with his claw and jumps over a leg sweep. Like an expert fighter, he doesn't fall for my fake attacks that could lead to lethal real ones and sweeps his arm around to make me fly back a couple feet and land on my behind. He kneels beside Vanille and I clench my jaw, standing and rushing toward him again.

"Don't touch her!" I bury the points of my weapon in his back, but he just grunts and continues whatever he was doing. Flurries of green light appear around me, and I stop jamming the weapon into him to watch. Vanille suddenly sits up, looking around.

"Vanille!" I yell, dislodging my weapon and throwing it to the side to hug her. She laughs and hugs me back before pulling away and frowning.

"Vincent?" I turn to see the red cloaked man looking paler then ever, stumbling back into a tree. He blinks and looks up at us, another blink turning his eyes golden. His lips move, but the words are too quiet to hear.

"What?"

"Run!" He yells this time, groaning when two large.. Wings sprout from his back, his bandana spreading into a banner of horns and his hands extending into claws. We blink, unable to move as we watch his transformation. When he doesn't seem to be changing anymore, the creature smirks.

"I need... Your souls, mortals." It's cackle wakes me from my trance.

"Vincent?" Vanille squeaks. I grab her arm and begin to run.

"That's not Vincent!"

"Wha-"

"Just keep going!" The whoosh of wings behind us makes me run even faster, my spear thumping against my back with every quick step I take.

"What is that thing?!" Vanille cries.

"I... Am Chaos!" It laughs darkly again as it catches up, claws digging into my arm and tearing the flesh. I hiss in pain and roll, pulling Vanille down as I talked over. Then I release her hand and pull out my staff.

"Vanille, go back to the front of the jungle!"

"How?" She asks in a slightly panicked voice. Poor girl.

"Keep running east and don't stop until you reach the shore!" Then to Chaos I snarl, "Alright Vince. Giving you one last chance to turn back to Vampy mode before I kick your butt." No response but a monstrous roar.

I don't hesitate to leap into the air at a height alarmingly abnormal for anyone that doesn't have Fal'cei running through them. Even after you fulfill your focus, the power you had as a l'cei doesn't fail to exist. When I'm leveled with Chaos, I slash at him exactly three times before disassembling the ends of my weapon and attacking multiple times before I land. Blood drips from the creature, but his sneer is still wide and menacing. He descends quickly and claws and me, drawing Vincent's gun and shooting. I roll out of the way and seek cover behind the thick foliage before clenching my jaw. This is gonna go on forever. Not on my watch, it won't.

"Highwind," I mutter, relaxing my muscles before I run out to meet my enemy. I jump up into the sky again, descending quickly with my lance forward, and thrust it into the demon, carefully not to impale it, as it is Vincent in some way. It let's out a beastly cry of surprise before a dark flash surrounds it and it's Vincent, laying on the ground and bleeding badly. I groan and lift the big guy as well as I can, thumping through the jungle. It takes nearly an hour to get to Vanille, and she almost tackles me with a hug, but I have Vincent.

After setting Vampy down, Vanille gets to work healing his wounds. She struggles to unbuckle his cape, so I roll my eyes with an exasperated moan and do it for her, peeling off that stupid leather shirt too. God, this guy has a nice body. What the heck?! No Fang! Bad! We're just fixing his boo boos. Still, I can't help but take in the perfectly sharp angle of his jaw, his well hidden but nicely muscled torso, how his pale skin seems to glow warmly in the afternoon light...

"Hello? Earth to Fang!"

"Huh?"

"Aw! You like him!"

"Do not," I cross my arms and lift my chin.

"Do too! Anyway, we've gotta get him fixed up. I'll heal him, but we still need to wash off the blood."

"I think he'll be humiliated enough," I chuckle.

"What did you do to him anyway?" She frowns at the deep wound I made in his back.

"Er... Highwind?"

"What?!"

"He wasn't giving up!"

"Because you were trying to kill him!"

"Oh whatever."

She giggles to herself and casts Curaja multiple times on him. Then she tucks him in with his cape as if he's a toddler with his blankie and smiles at him.

"Now we wait," I mumble. It takes almost three hours for the man to wake up. He jolts into a sitting position, cringing and groaning when it strains on his injuries. "Take it easy, Vampy." He starts and turns to see Vanille dozing against my side and me sitting on the beach with my toes digging into the sand as I've removed my sandals. Then his eyes grow bigger, remembering what he did earlier.

"Fang, I..."

"Don't apologize. Just go wash those wounds off. That water'll sting loads, but it's gotta be done."

"Thank you," he nods, standing. His eyebrows draw together when he sees his cloak fall to the ground limply. Then he notices that he's missing his shirt. "... Where's my shirt?"

"Oh! I washed the blood out of it!" Vanille says cheerfully, trying to make up for his discomfort. She's awake?

"I see."

"Give the poor man his clothes, Missy," I laugh. Vincent's mouth twitches into a slight smirk.

"Why? Does this make you uncomfortable?" He motions to his bare chest. I roll my eyes, trying to force away the pink blush bubbling up.

"Course not. Just wouldn't want you you to get a sunburn."

"I tan," he replies smartly. "I just choose not to."

"You?" I raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "And why not?"

"Brown doesn't go all that well with red and black."

"Vincent Valentine," I groan. "What are we going to do with you? Brooding one minute, teasing the next. And I thought I'd seen it all."

"It's not like you mind," he raises an eyebrow.

"And?"

"What if..." He takes a step closer, making me shift awkwardly. Honestly, why did he choose today to smell so good?

"A got the shirt!" Vanille calls, running toward us. Thank you!

"Thank you," Vincent nods, going back to his stoic nature. But his smirk was so... No. Fang, no. Don't even think about it. You hardly know these people, they could be out to get you! This could be an imaginary world full of Fal'cei! Come to think of it, I haven't seen other people other than Avalanche.

"So what were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing important," Vincent's eyes give away his internal smirk. Yeah, you keep on smirking, buddy. I'm gonna make your life