Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero -Promise-

"Stranger", Chapter Two

"Stranger", Chapter Two

They needed time. Time to understand where they where were, and what sort of situation that had been thrust into. Just after she awoke, Fang was somewhere between dreams and reality. Vanille herself could felt a little hazy, and wasn't good for much of anything. But eventually they managed to shake off the fog that clung to them.

Looking around them, they saw they were in the temple. It was the Chamber of the l'Cie, where crystalized l'Cie are enshrined. It was then they realized what had happened. They had completed their Focus, and gone to their final rest. But now a new Focus had come down to them, and they had been woken up once more. It was easy to figure out that much. But...

"Hey, just what happened before we turned into crystal?" Fang said.

"You don't remember!?"

"Yeah... my head's all messed up. I feel like I'm forgetting something important." Fang's voice was shaking. She was looking at the l'Cie mark on her arm, it was scorched a livid white. It was only later that Vanille realized Fang had been trying to smile.

"I'm... broken." Fang was nearly in tears. This was a Fang that Vanille had never seen before. Vanille reached out her arms, enfolding her into them. "Me too." she whispered, but her voice was like a stranger's. When her shaking finally subsided, they stood, and Vanille smiled.

"Why don't we go home?"

One Focus had already been completed, surely they would be welcomed back with open arms? Their new Focus could be completed later... even if they didn't know what that Focus was.

"And if everyone we knew back home are already old fogeys?" Fang said, and smiled. It was a true smile, this time.

"Do you think so? But maybe not that much time has passed, and they'll all say 'Oh, are you two back already?"

"I wonder how many years have passed."

"It could only be days you know."

"Then they'd be working us too hard. I mean, at least give us a half a years rest." Joking together, they made their way outside, expecting to see their home once more.

"This can't be!"

It was night. But it was so bright they could see the buildings that made up the city surrounding them. There were lights in every nook and cranny, and an ocean reflecting it all back to them. It was a strange ocean, with no horizon. Looking up, they saw an even stranger sky. At first they thought it was a sky with many stars, but then they realized it was not stars at all, but the lights of a far away city. Could something like this truly be called a sky?

"Where..."

"We're not in Gran Pulse." Fang said.

Vanille closed her eyes for a moment. I'll just look, one more time, she thought. Maybe it will be different. When she opened them again, nothing had changed.

They looked at the ocean and sky, but didn't speak. There was nothing to say. In silence they returned to the temple. They were hungry. Cocoon--and they knew it was Cocoon--was no place for them to be wandering around, hungry and unarmed. In the place where the l'Cie were enshrined offerings were always brought. There was food that would not rot no matter how long it was left unattended, as well as weapons and accouterments that the l'Cie left here had used. Vanille had heard that offerings were made daily so that the crystalized l'Cie could sleep soundly, but it was probably done in case they awoke once more. "

"What the hell is this?"

The food that had been left in offering had deteriorated so badly that it was nothing anyone would be able to eat. They searched the rest of the temple for signs of anything edible, but it was a wasted effort. Food offerings had only been left in the Chamber of the l'Cie.