The Oerba War Chapter 5: Granbach

Fang yawned and rubbed her eyes as she continued to prepare the two chocobos that would accompany Vanille and herself on their trip to the village of Granbach. The young woman's

mind was still occupied with the thoughts of the strange dream she had last night. Just the thought of how large and inhuman her arm had looked was more than enough to send a shiver

down her spine. Fang sighed looking up at the sky, it still held the overcast from the day before and a light sprinkle of rain had begun to flow from the grey sky, holding her right hand

out, the droplets gently caressed the palm of her hand as Fang was still deep in thought. Although her train of thought had shifted from that of her physique in the dream to the dark

but innocent voice of the young girl who at first started speaking in a foreign tongue but made the change to the Oerba's native language. "Come on Fang no need to dwell on a silly

dream" Said woman spoke to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her gaze to the looming moon like colony of Cocoon, it's smooth metallic surface completely

flawless with not a hint of the laws of gravity pulling away at the large metallic sphere. Farron the name of the man from the Cocoon military-the Guardian Corps to be exact-rang out in

the tan woman's mind, the word bouncing off the sides of her head like a rubber ball. Fang began a slow pace spanning from the end of the chocobo stable to the end of the ranch house

where Danbora was now living 'hmm maybe I should see what he's up too' Fang thought only to wave it off as he was probably still sleeping. 'He never was an early bird, I'd rather leave him

alone than stick my neck out for that knife of his again' Fang chuckled to herself for an unknown reason as she turned back to head towards the chocobo stable. The amazon picked up her

Bladed Lance from where it rested against the wooden wall of the stable which housed the yellow feathered birds. Fang began twirling the lance in her right hand as she awaited the

arrival of Vanille. She knew how foolish it was to set their departure for so early in the morning, it was almost certain she was still sound asleep in her warm bed while Fang was out in

the biting cold breeze of the early morning overcast. Although the weather was not that cold at all save for the occasional breeze that was hard enough to send a hat off of one's head,

Fang welcomed it. A nice change from the scorching heat that was Oerba's natural climate, this cold on the other hand was exotic to the region as even in the winter time it barely ever

got unbearablycold only chilly enough for a light blanket of snow to touch the surface of the ground. Beginning to debate whether or not to go and see if Vanille was up or not Fang

sighed as she lightly tapped the metal weapon on the side of the stable, prompting a few kwehs from the inside of the small structure. Fang chuckled and offered her apologies to the

tall birds in which they accepted with a few warks. Hearing the door to the ranch house closing, Fang turned around to see Danbora stretching his arms and yawning. Smirking Fang

approached the older man. "What are you doing up this early?" The younger girl asked as she came to a stop beside him resting her hands on her hips.

"Don't know." He answered still yawning. "What are you doing here so early?" He asked after finishing his yawn.

"I'm waiting for Vanille." Fang replied simply with a shrug. "If she ever wakes up that is." The young woman added as an afterthought.

"Yeah no kidding." Danbora chuckled at the red-haired girl's inability to wake in the morning.

"I swear if she doesn't get here soon, I'm gonna go over there and flip her out of her bed again." Fang sighed shaking her head.

"I think you'll have to end up doing that." Danbora agreed just as Vanille's shadow made it's way into the field seperating the ranch from the village of Oerba.

"Huh the kid always shows up just in time to prove people wrong." Fang stated with a look of disbelief on her face as she witnessed Vanille's distant form making it's way over to the ranch.

"Haha your just a kid too Fang." Danbora chuckled as he clapped Fang on the shoulder before heading off towards the chocobo stables.

"Yeah yeah." Fang rolled her eyes as she went and fetched the two chocobos that would accompany the girls on their trip to Granbach.

"Heya Fang." Vanille called out to her friend once she was in earshot of the older woman.

"Hey Vanille." Fang greeted pulling back on the gyshal reins to make the chocobos come to a stop. "So you finally decided to grace us with your presence and get up for the day?" The young

woman joked. "Haha your soooo funny Fang." Vanille said sarcastically as she jumped up onto one of the big fluffy yellow feathered birds.

"I know." Fang smiled doing the same before the two headed out towards there destination.

Hours later the two arrived in the village of Granbach. The contrast between it and their homeland was quite substantial for this village had quite a few houses and had a far greater

population. The main paths were constantly filled to the brim with citizens and visitors shopping and running errands. Fang and Vanille had placed their chocobos in a stable just outside the

village entrance, and the two were now roaming the streets at Vanille's request. The two were now in a small booth that sold an assortment of stuffed animals and Vanille was practically

begging Fang to buy her one. "Fine Vanille, you know I cant say no to you." Fang smiled as Vanille jumped with joy before running over to a fluffy chocobo and placing it on the counter.

Fang laughed as she had known that her friend would go for that one. After paying for the item, the two exited and headed towards the back of the village where the mines were located.

The duo approached the small lift that would take them deep down into the darkness of the narrow shaft which led to the mines themselves. The ride down was relatively short as the lift

touched the rocky ground within a few minutes. "Oooh it's cold." Vanille complained, rubbing her arms fervently in an attempt to warm herself up by using the friction created from her

motions. "Oh quit complaining Vanille. You should have worn more clothes." Fang replied as the two started their way down the horizontal tunnel.

"Oh don't give me that Fang, you don't wear much clothing yourself." Vanille shot back as she had to run a bit to catch up with the raven haired woman.

"Yeah but I still wear more than you." Fang shot back with a grin and a wink. Vanille didn't reply as the two continued on their path in silence. Moments later Fang stopped her companion.

"What?" Vanille asked turning to face her close friend.

"Werre here. Why else would I be stopping you Vanille?" Fang asked as she knelt down and began to examine the wall of the cavern.

"Oh I don't know. Your always stopping me and pretending that some scary monster is gonna jump out at us. Seriously it's not funny." Vanille said as she walked in circles around the middle

of the tunnel. "It is funny Vanille. We just don't share the same sense of humour." Fang stated before clapping her hands together. "There you are." She exclaimed pointing to a pair of

drawings on the wall. "Ummm what am I looking at?" The red-head asked as her face scrunched up in an attempt to see if that would help her view the wall from another perspective.

"My god Vanille it's right there." Fang said pointing to the name on the wall. "Farron. See?"

"Oh yeah." Vanille said excitedly a smile breaking out across her face. "So what are the pictures supposed to mean?" The young girl asked pointing her finger at said images.

They were colourful and vibrant, a depiction of what was not a man but a young woman with a large and jagged sword fighting some sort of concealed entity with what looked like a large

spider head over head watching the battle. The word 'Farron' was inscribed above the young strawberry blond girl.

"Okay so what does this matter to you?" Vanille asked again this time turning to face Fang.

"Nothing really. It just confirms that I've seen the name somewhere before and am not going crazy chasing something that doesn't exist." Fang shrugged standing from her kneeling postion.

"What were you doing down here anyway?" Vanille asked as the two started their way back to the lift.

"A couple years back me and Danbora were visited Granbach to get some supplies fro the ranch, and I don't know we just kinda went down here." Fang explained as the lift came into view

only it had two figures occupying it. "Shit." Fang cursed under her breath as the two shadows stepped from the small elevator revealing their identities.

"Hey kiddo." Farron greeted with a smirk across his face.