HOPE USED REGEN AND VANILLE CAST DEATH
Aug. 7th, 2011 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lowkeyToday was a good day. I proofed a story for danchekker, commented with mako_lies and nal_rene, and edited my EPIC TIME TRAVEL FIC.
And then a I broke a cutie and and wrote an epic boss battle between Hope and and an ax-crazy Vanille. THE END
danchekker, commented with mako_lies and nal_rene, and edited my EPIC TIME TRAVEL FIC.And then a I broke a cutie and and wrote an epic boss battle between Hope and and an ax-crazy Vanille. THE END
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 02:22 am (UTC)DAMN IT
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 02:25 am (UTC)He’s not very surprised to find her standing alone, truth be told. All the others are back in the house, watching Vanille fiddle with her robot, and he’s pretty sure he’s the only one who noticed Fang slink out. Shoulders hunched against the wind--or against reality--she stares out at the sea, and the railroad crumbling into dust.
“Fang?” he says and the line of her shoulders tightens.
She doesn’t turn to face him, just keeps staring. “Yeah?”
Her voice is even, perfectly controlled, but it’s lacking her normal personality, a hollowness there that makes him reach a hand up to grasp his necklace. It occurs to him then that he has no idea what to say--sorry won’t cut it, sorry won’t make it okay, and losing Serah can’t be anything compared to this, can it? “Fang,” he says, and reaches out to grasp her shoulder. “We’ll get them back for this.”
“You wanna know something about Cie’th?” she asks him, there’s no emotion to her voice, but he can feel the way her muscles tighten beneath his hand.
After a moment’s pause, he says, “Sure.”
For a long time, she just keeps looking outwards, no real movement except for the stirrings of her controlled breaths, and he tightens his grip on her till it’s almost painful. If he didn’t know she could handle it, he wouldn’t, but she can, so he does. “A Cie’th’s size is controlled by how big and strong a person was before they turned,” she straightens to perfect posture, and she stares up at the sky, and he looks down at her, and winces at the pain there, “Those little Cie’th? They’re the children, Snow.”
Truth be told, he’d guessed as much. But he waits, because she obviously needs--needs something, and maybe if he stands here, with her, he’ll be able to figure it out and give it to her.
“When I came of age at sixteen, I took over the orphanage, lookin’ after all the kids who’d lost their parents to the war,” she tells him, her voice still even, disaffected, but he can feel the almost imperceptible shudder than runs through her like a current.
Snow expels a breath. “Fang--”
“Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right,” she snaps, “Because it’s not. I made a promise, that day. To keep them safe. To keep Vanille safe. And I didn’t, I did the opposite.”
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 02:29 am (UTC)DANG
That was awesome.
DANG.
You write a much better Fang than I; I could totally see this whole scene happening in the game. Like, her saying those lines and everything.
And also: I like that we independently wrote what is basically the same scene.
What is this from/was this for?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 02:33 am (UTC)XD Great minds think alike, XD
Anyway, I'll post the rest of the scene so you kinda understand what's happening, but it's kinda a prelude to this fic. It's part of a shorter three-part fic I'm in the process of writing.
Her hand comes up, and she clutches at her brand, nails digging into the flesh there, until he can see the skin breaking, and then she releases a ragged breath, and tries to pull herself away from him. He doesn’t let her go; she snarls a string of words he can’t understand, but is probably Oerban for ‘fuck off, fucker’. Any other time, it would make him smile.
“This is my fault. See--I was stupid, so fucking stupid. The Cocoonians had killed a friend of mine and I--I wanted retribution. And I thought that if I was a L’Cie, I could. I could beat them, make them pay for what I did. So I went to Anima and asked to be made a L’Cie, but I didn’t realize--Vanille had followed. In trying to protect my Village, I had dragged down my best friend--my partner--and then no one was there to look after the orphans when we went to Cocoon. And I’m Ragnorak. I destroyed--and caused all of this mess and now Oerba--”
Fang falters, digging into her mark even more painfully, and Snow tugs her into his arms, and rests his head on hers; she falls silent, tense. “Fang, it’s not your fault.”
“Fuck you,” she murmurs, making no move to shove him away, looking at the ruined tracks again, “You’re all talk.”
He waits--just holds her there, feels her breathe (even coming apart at all her seams, she’s still rigid and proud in his arms, and he can’t help but wonder whether or not it’s a good thing)--and she finally expells a breath that sounds like the aftershock of a sob. Snow tightens his hold on her; maybe if he squeezes tight enough, she’ll realize that she’s not alone.
Finally, finally, she pulls her hand from her mark, and he can just barely see that she’s bleeding. “You should just kill me,” she murmurs.
“Fang--”
“Listen,” she snaps, and it occurs to him that this isn’t something that just came to her, that’s she’s been thinking it for awhile. “If you’re serious about protecting Cocoon, saving it or whatever? It’s gonna have to happen. Ragnorak. I’m Ragnorak. To protect Cocoon, I have to fall. And I--I can’t turn, Snow. Not into a Cie’th and there’s... Something different. I haven’t been able to figure it out before now, but I think I understand it. Why my mark’s all messed up?”
Snow spins her around, making her face him, and he says, “Fang. Think about it, for a second, will you? Killing you won’t save Cocoon. They’ll make the next sorry sap into Ragnorak.”
“I’m not dying, Snow. Every second of our lives, we’re dying one little second at a time. But I’m not like that, anymore. I’m not dying. I’m going to live until someone kills me or until I become Ragnorak and do what the Fal’Cie want me to do. I don’t want that, Snow. Imortality or becoming a fucking puppet. Maybe that makes me selfish, but I don’t fucking give a damn.”
His eyes shut for a moment--tries to get his bearings, tries to respond from a place that isn’t colored by his own gaping loss--and then he mumurs, “Fang, we’ll sort this out,” he pauses, “I promise. It’ll be okay.”
Her lips pull back, and she chokes on the snarl. “Fuck, Snow. You can’t save everyone. You’re going to have to make a choice.”
“We’ll figure it out when we get there, then.”
Fang turns her head, looking away; Snow sighs, reaches up and scratches the back of his head. “Fang...” he exhales a breath that’s not nearly as even as he’d like it to be. “We’re not going to abandon you to fight alone. You’re not going to be left alone while we’re all Cie’th.”
She looks back up at him, face relaxing for a moment, and then she turns away again. “You can’t promise me that.”
“So what can I do, Fang? Let me help--that’s what family’s for, right?”
For a long time, she doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, and then she presses her face into his chest. But she doesn’t shake with tears, doesn’t do anything but rest there, and he reaches out and gently strokes her hair, because there’s really not anything else he can do for her, not really. Not right now. Not like this.
It’s so quiet he nearly misses it. “Don’t leave,” she murmurs.
And that’s for sure something he can do.
“C’mon,” he says, “Heroes don’t leave anyone behind, you know that.”
She sighs and then pulls away from him, face a mask of strength, but there’s a look in her eyes that, frankly, terrifies him (terrifies him enough to wonder if they’re going to wake up one morning and find that Fang’s gone, for good) and she says, “Let’s go back. They’ll be gettin’ worried.”
Fang’s gone before he can stop her. All he can do now is cross his fingers and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 07:52 pm (UTC)Also: in a completely selfish note, I like that my characterization of grown-up, timetraveling!Hope is very similar to your Snow, because, let's face it -- Hope is going to grown up to be a cooler Snow.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 07:56 pm (UTC)Hope's depth, from what I can understand, is his quieter side, the side with the feelings and the way he takes in the world. His empathy, in other words.
Snow's depth is a little different, in that he keeps going and believing and believing, but when his doubts are picked on and prodded at, he becomes a mess of a man, struggling to find the belief that fueled him.
Both of which are really compelling.
Anyway, I'm apparently in a thinky mood today, XD
Sorry if I type your eyeballs off.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 07:59 pm (UTC)I'm in a "deep thoughts about dumb subjects" sorta mood, not really a "let's write some fic" mood. So I think we're prodding each other along.
But: you've totally hit on the difference between Hope and Snow. Hope's the type to enjoy a quiet afternoon reading, and Snow is like WE NEED TO BUILD A NEW BIRD HOUSE.
Also: I think Snow might be a better fit for Isaac than anyone else. He's so heroically absurd.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:05 pm (UTC)I'm writing a deep Agrias fic, and writing about XIII with you. Good times are good.
I DON'T CARE WE ALREADY HAVE THIRTY BIRDHOUSES. I WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER ONE. NOW.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:07 pm (UTC)But of course Vanille would be a better fit. Maybe Fang can teach Serah archery or something.
And Lightning smiles and rolls her eyes at Hope, and everything is beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:10 pm (UTC):)
God, though. Am I the only one who sees the similarities between Fang and Snow? Like, they both act and have these huge, gaping doubts. And they have someone they'd do anything for, and ideas they won't compromise on? And a need to protect people (*sentinel*).
It always strikes me about writing them. Except Snow's like... the good half of that, and Fang's the warped half?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:14 pm (UTC)BUT I wouldn't say Fang is the warped half. I'd say instead: Fang protects by punching; Snow protects by taking the punch.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:20 pm (UTC)Snow wants to protect everyone, and keep them safe by making sure no hit lands, and everyone feels safe, more importantly.
Fang, in contrast, wants to beat down the threat, at whatever cost, no matter what. No matter how it makes the people around her feel.
God, between the two of them, I almost feel bad for anyone who threatens their family.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:24 pm (UTC)And seriously: the two of them would be a terrifying force to behold. So long as Snow doesn't stand around going "STEELGUARD!"
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:28 pm (UTC)I mean, it pings on their respective strengths, getting bashed, and bashing.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:15 pm (UTC)Er--am I the only one who sees a certain amount of similarity between Rygdea and Laguna? Like, how they look and stuff?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:22 pm (UTC)I can see it.
But the difference is: Rygdea seems alot more angry. Laguna is all about being chill, and accidently getting lost, and shit like that.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 08:23 pm (UTC)Where Rygdea is tough as nails, Laguna is adorkable.