Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero -Promise-

"Search", Chapter Five

"Search", Chapter Five

The search for Vanille continued, but Rygdea came up empty handed. Before Fang realized, the next two days had passed, and the festival was about to begin.

She still had problems with her memory. She had tried to recall things about her childhood, or the names of people she knew... but her mind remained as blank as ever.

As promised, Raines let her go to the surface. Fang was given a small wireless device so that they would be able to contact her at a moments notice. They also gave her a 'transfer' device that would allow her to gain access to her weapon quickly.

Thanks, Fang thought. Even though neither of them really gained anything from their 'deal', she still felt she owed something to Rygdea.

The temple was the first place she visited. Rygdea hadn't said anything about the temple. That probably meant neither he, nor anyone else knew you could get into it. As they had searched everywhere else without finding Vanille, it was likely that she had hidden there.

Only a few days had passed since they had left the temple, but the inside of the temple felt comforting and familiar. In all of this strange world it was her last connection to home.

Looking around Fang saw that the priest's clothes they had slept on were thrown haphazardly on the floor. Vanille had already been here, but now there was no sign of her. They may have just missed each other.

She spotted Vanille's weapon. It worried Fang that Vanille was walking around unarmed. She must have left it so as not to attract attention to herself. Unfortunately, unlike when they first woke up, the city was dangerous now, with soldiers everywhere.

Fang circled around once more, just in case, before going back outside. Just in case Vanille returned here, she gathered up the clothes on the floor and folded them properly as a sign that Fang had returned.

If only fal'Cie Anima would tell her something. Whether or not Vanille had returned here, or where she had gone. That old man had said the fal'Cie had been 'angry' with him. It was possible that Cocoon fal'Cie had a way to communicate with people. Such a thing would never happen with Gran Pulse fal'Cie.

"Though I bet it would be pretty annoying if they did talk." She thought aloud. They would probably just make orders and ignored what anyone else had to say. That's how fal'Cie were.

"In the end, you can only count on yourself." She mused.

Fang walked along the beach where they had fished, and into the forest they had planned to hunt. When she returned to the city, it was already evening. Fang poked around the field where they had stolen vegetables, but Vanille was not there either.

"And there still isn't anyone looking after this place." Fang looked at the fenceless, netless field and laughed. Though, and this was probably only because she had been here too long, even this field seemed beautiful to her now. She crouched down and put her hands in the dirt. Vanille had might have come here and done the same. She knew she had.

"But I can't wait here for her..." Fang clapped her hands together to get rid of the dirt, and stood up. Then she noticed something had fallen on the ground. It was the wireless device. She had forgotten about it completely.

When she picked it up, she noticed a light blinking on and off. It seemed someone had tried to contact her.

"Now how did this work again..." She fiddled around with it like she had the airbike, trying to get it to work, when suddenly it connected. It seemed she was good with this sort of thing.

"Where have you been!?" Rygdea yelled when she held it to her ear. "Why did you keep ignoring me?"

"Sorry, I forgot I had this thing."