Remembering Noel (A FFXIII Fan Fiction)

Chapter 18

Serah knocked on the door of the tiny house in front of her. The door was, as everything on Bhunivelze was, new, but everything was small. The door was small, the house was small, even the door handle was small.

A tall, dark-haired woman answered the door.

"You must be Fang. I'm-" Serah started but the woman interrupted.

"Serah. Yes of course I know who you are!" Fang answered warmly. Serah tried not to look dissapointed. Another person she didn't remember. Another person who would expect too much from her. She smiled and nodded, being pulled into the house.

"Did you learn about Izzabel?" Fang sounded very excited. Serah nodded and offered a faint smile, all she could muster at the moment.

"Vanille's in here." Fang directed her to the door to her right, and Serah knocked softly.

"Yes?" A light voice with a slight pulsian lilt called softly

"Uh, hi, it's Serah." She responded almost as softly.

"Oh my goodness, come in, please." Vanille opened the door and the pink haired girl that had become at least slightly familiar these last few weeks. She beckoned her into the room and Serah looked around her. There was an ornate oak desk at one side of the room, but that's where the room stopped looking normal.

The bed sheets were green and looked like the grass from the Archylyte Steppe. The lamp by her bedside looked like one of the tall trees seen in any of the narrow strips of land between cliffs in Gran Pulse. But the most stunning part of the room were the walls.

The walls were painted very beautifully like the whole of Oerba, but everything was much more lively than she was told it had been. There was a market and workers at the beach and windmill. There were children playing in the square with their parents watching fondly over them while gossiping. All the people actually looked like people, like they were people Vanille and Fang had known.

Serah was drawn to a certain person, sitting on a wall alone with Vanille and Fang. It took Serah too long to realize that it was Izzabel. She looked much more healthy than she had in Serah's dreams. It was probably because she was missing Vanille. She was all she had talked about when they had been in the crystal sleep together. She must have really loved her.

Serah glanced up at Vanille, and wasn't surprised to see her looking hopeful. She'd just gotten a bit distracted. Probably a side effect of losing your memory.

"She's in Aggra's Pasture. Or she should be soon." Serah cut to the chase.

"How do you know that?" Vanille said after a moment of silence.

"We were in crystal stasis together. I met her in my dreams." Serah said gently.

"How....how did she look?" Serah could tell that Vanille was trying not to cry. Her voice wobbled, but she managed to keep her face straight. It was a tough, but unnecessary action. She'd already remembered Vanille, she knew how tough she was, but she also knew how vulnerable she could be.

"Vanille, cmere." she reached her arms out and Vanille ran unabashedly into them, crying. "She...didn't look too good. She was missing you. She was always talking about you." Serah whispered, she had to tell her, even if she was sad. "If you go look for her, maybe then you'll find her, make her happy again. Maybe you can get married. I know you were both so excited." Serah rubbed her back rhythmically.

"How do you feel about leaving right now? Right now." Serah said comfortingly. Vanille looked right up at her, her green eyes shining with tears.

"But... Fang... I don't know if she'll want to...Hope might still need us." She sobbed.

"Let me take care of it. You won't have to do anything." Serah smiled encouragingly.

"Okay." Vanille's sobs calmed down. Serah let her sit down on the bed and went out to the living room where she was surprised to see Fang standing up, doing nothing.

"Fang?" Serah said and could barely finish her word before she was cut off.

"Yeah?" She looked excited and intent.

"Aggra's Pasture. Take Vanille there. Right now. Is that too much to ask?" She said cautiously.

"Of course not, I'd do anything for Vanille." She stood. "We'll start packing right now."

"Alright. I'll leave you to it, and tell Vanille that I was glad to help." Serah said as Fang distractedly went to Vanille's room to tell her to start packing.

"Got it." she said and left. Serah hadn't been told to leave but she figured that that was the courteous thing to do. She found her way out into the city again and began to walk back to Hope's house. They lived only a few miles away from Hope, so it only took her about an hour to walk back.

"Hey, I'm home," Serah called out when she got there. Well, she considered Hope's place home now, she'd already lived here a few weeks, and that's when a place begins to feel like home. Unless you hate the people there. Which Serah didn't. She decided to test the theory of this being her home and closed her eyes.

She didn't think anything of Hope not answering her and headed upstairs to her room. When she arrived at the top of the stairs, she was about to turn right without opening her eyes but she heard something.

When she opened her eyes, she gasped, but then smiled. Standing pushed up against the wall by Hope, was none other than Maqui, and they had obviously been kissing. Hope's hair was no longer stylishly messy, but rather messy in a true sense. A blush spread over Maqui's face and he stuttered, while Hope just looked slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry my fault, this is your house." Serah interjected between Maqui's stutters. "I'll just be in my room. Sleeping. For a few hours." she said slowly, winking at Hope. Hope frowned at her but when she turned she knew that they continued kissing because there was no awkward conversation or footsteps.

She had known about Hope's raging crush on Maqui for years. She was happy Hope had finally made his move.

She settled down in her bed and sighed contentedly. This would finally be the night. The night she would remember Noel.