Fanfiction: Making Space (Final Fantasy XIII)
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I've had part of this fic lying around in a notebook for over a decade; I'm glad I managed to finish it at last!
I really loved Sazh and Vanille's dynamic in Final Fantasy XIII, and I always wanted a little more follow-up on it after Vanille and Fang are reunited. Here's a short missing scene.
Come to think of it, this is the fourth different Final Fantasy game I've posted fanfiction for this year: VII, VIII, XIII, XVI. I'm half-tempted to see how many others I can manage.
Title: Making Space
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1,300
Summary: Sazh is glad Vanille's found Fang again. It's just... well, he kind of misses spending time with her.
They take a break on Pulse. Feels weird that everywhere in this huge place is just on Pulse to Sazh, but he doesn’t know what else to call it. He can see the trees and grass and flowers around them, but he can’t pin down places the way he can on Cocoon: here’s the Sunleth Waterscape, the Vile Peaks are back that way, this route will take us to Palumpolum. Down here, it’s all just Pulse.
Vanille would know more about it, he guesses. He could ask her what this place is called.
He glances over. Vanille’s with Fang; no surprises there. The two of them have found shade under a tree a short distance away, leaning against each other’s shoulders, having some kind of animated conversation Sazh can’t make out from here.
He should probably just leave them to it. It’s not like his question really matters, anyway.
Sazh finds a tree of his own, settles down with his back against the trunk. Watches Vanille and Fang for a moment longer, lets his eyes drift to Snow teaching Hope attack stances. Lightning’s prowling the area, keeping a lookout, which doesn’t seem like it’s going to get her any more rested, but Sazh knows from experience that she won’t appreciate it if he tells her to take it easy on herself.
Vanille is gesturing up at Cocoon as she talks. Sazh wonders if she’s told Fang about the time they spent travelling together up there, Vile Peaks to Sunleth to Nautilus. No direction, nothing to do but run and hope they’d at least survive long enough to turn Cie’th. Pretty rough journey, but it would have been rougher alone.
Maybe she’s telling Fang about the time Sazh nearly shot her in the head.
He glances away when Fang catches his eye.
Lightning has stopped patrolling, he realises, as his gaze lights on her. She’s just standing there, looking at him. Makes him kind of selfconscious; how long has she been watching?
She seems to pause when he looks at her, then starts walking in his direction. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? He wouldn’t say no to some company, but Lightning’s not really the company type. Seems more likely she’s coming his way to tell him they need to get moving.
“You’ve been quiet,” Lightning says. “Is something wrong?”
Huh. That’s not what he was expecting to hear from her.
He hadn’t realised he was being quieter than usual. But here he is, he guesses, sitting alone.
“What, besides the slowly-turning-into-monsters thing?” Sazh asks. “I guess I just miss Dajh.”
“Is that all?”
“Is that not enough?”
“I mean your relationship with the group has changed,” Lightning says. “There’s something else. Missing Dajh isn’t a new development. You couldn’t shut up before.”
He laughs a little. “Thanks.”
Lightning puts her hands on her hips, looking over in Fang and Vanille’s direction. “Is it that they caused the Euride accident?”
The memory of what he almost did makes him flinch. He hopes she doesn’t notice. Just the fact that she figured out there was something wrong shows that she’s more observant than he’s been giving her credit for. “Not really. I was pretty upset, but... you can’t go back and un-attack a fal’Cie, can you? I know they didn’t mean Dajh any harm.” He shrugs, and his voice feels heavy when he speaks again. “Just worked out that way.”
“So what is it? If there’s any chance it’s going to impact your fighting ability, I’m going to need to know about it.”
Of course that’s why she asked. Sazh sighs. “Man, you are not the person to speak to on matters of the heart.”
Lightning looks sharply at him. “I understand love.”
It takes Sazh a moment to process what she’s talking about. “Yeah, of course. Your sister. I’m sorry.”
How often have people accused her of not caring about anyone? It must happen a lot. Sazh suspects he might have done it a couple of times himself. Must be frustrating to hear when she cares enough about Serah to challenge the gods.
Lightning shows no sign of hearing him; it’s as if she’s already mentally cut everything about her problems out of their conversation. “So?”
Well, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get out of this without sharing his soul with one of the least sympathetic people he’s ever met. At least she’s not Jihl Nabaat. He sighs again, braces himself. “It’s Vanille. I miss her, I guess.”
Lightning looks very hard at him, as if trying to determine whether he’s mentally fit to continue their journey. “Vanille is over there.”
“I know that.”
Lightning frowns. “You miss... talking to her?”
“I don’t know.” He hesitates. “I thought we were getting along pretty well. You know, before Nabaat... anyway. Now she’s got Fang back, and don’t get me wrong, I’m happy she’s happy, but...” Lightning looks completely blank. This is really, really uncomfortable. He should be talking about this with Snow instead; the kid’s got some maturing to do, but at least Sazh feels he’d have understood. “...I don’t know. I kind of feel like she doesn’t... need me any more.”
“Because of Fang?”
Sazh nods. Does he sound pathetic? He has a sneaking suspicion he might sound pathetic.
Lightning folds her arms. Says nothing for long enough that Sazh starts to wonder if the conversation’s over, just like that.
“She doesn’t have to need you,” she says, eventually. “I don’t need you; doesn’t mean we can’t talk. If you can’t be her father, be her friend.”
Sazh blinks, runs a hand over his hair (Dajh’s chocobo chick wakes with an indignant chirp), takes a moment to consider that. He glances over to where Vanille and Fang are sitting, Vanille laughing at something Fang has just said.
It makes sense to him, what Lightning is saying. Yeah, the two of them are fine on their own. But he could go over to talk to them right now, and Vanille would probably welcome him. She doesn’t have to need him. She just has to like him.
“You know,” he says, “I think you actually just gave some good interpersonal advice.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Lightning says.
“Might’ve implied we were friends, too.”
“Don’t get used to that either,” Lightning says, but she’s beginning to smile.
Sazh climbs to his feet, wincing at the stiffness in his legs; they’ve been walking a long way, and sitting down has given all his muscle aches time to catch up with him. He raises a hand in thanks to Lightning, heads in the direction of the girls.
Vanille glances up and breaks into a smile as he approaches. She gives him an enthusiastic wave with both hands. “Hey, Sazh!”
Hard not to smile in the face of that.
“Hey, kiddo,” Sazh says as he reaches them. “Just wanted to check up on how you guys are doing.”
Fang puts her head on one side, watching him with a couerl’s smile. “Vanille tells me you aimed a gun at her.”
Vanille brings a hand sharply to her mouth, her eyes suddenly wide. “Fang!”
“Actually,” Sazh says, “I might just head back over there.”
“Relax,” Fang says. “If you’d pulled the trigger, we’d have a problem. Just don’t do it again, and nobody’s gonna have to eat any spears.”
Sazh nods. “Sounds good. Pretty sure I’m allergic.”
Vanille pats the patch of grass next to her. “You should sit down, y’know?”
There’s a sudden small pang in his chest. Did he seriously convince himself that she wouldn’t want to talk to him any more? He’s meant to be the adult here, but it turns out he’s got as much to learn as the rest of them.
“I guess I should,” Sazh says.
I've had part of this fic lying around in a notebook for over a decade; I'm glad I managed to finish it at last!
I really loved Sazh and Vanille's dynamic in Final Fantasy XIII, and I always wanted a little more follow-up on it after Vanille and Fang are reunited. Here's a short missing scene.
Come to think of it, this is the fourth different Final Fantasy game I've posted fanfiction for this year: VII, VIII, XIII, XVI. I'm half-tempted to see how many others I can manage.
Title: Making Space
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1,300
Summary: Sazh is glad Vanille's found Fang again. It's just... well, he kind of misses spending time with her.
They take a break on Pulse. Feels weird that everywhere in this huge place is just on Pulse to Sazh, but he doesn’t know what else to call it. He can see the trees and grass and flowers around them, but he can’t pin down places the way he can on Cocoon: here’s the Sunleth Waterscape, the Vile Peaks are back that way, this route will take us to Palumpolum. Down here, it’s all just Pulse.
Vanille would know more about it, he guesses. He could ask her what this place is called.
He glances over. Vanille’s with Fang; no surprises there. The two of them have found shade under a tree a short distance away, leaning against each other’s shoulders, having some kind of animated conversation Sazh can’t make out from here.
He should probably just leave them to it. It’s not like his question really matters, anyway.
Sazh finds a tree of his own, settles down with his back against the trunk. Watches Vanille and Fang for a moment longer, lets his eyes drift to Snow teaching Hope attack stances. Lightning’s prowling the area, keeping a lookout, which doesn’t seem like it’s going to get her any more rested, but Sazh knows from experience that she won’t appreciate it if he tells her to take it easy on herself.
Vanille is gesturing up at Cocoon as she talks. Sazh wonders if she’s told Fang about the time they spent travelling together up there, Vile Peaks to Sunleth to Nautilus. No direction, nothing to do but run and hope they’d at least survive long enough to turn Cie’th. Pretty rough journey, but it would have been rougher alone.
Maybe she’s telling Fang about the time Sazh nearly shot her in the head.
He glances away when Fang catches his eye.
Lightning has stopped patrolling, he realises, as his gaze lights on her. She’s just standing there, looking at him. Makes him kind of selfconscious; how long has she been watching?
She seems to pause when he looks at her, then starts walking in his direction. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? He wouldn’t say no to some company, but Lightning’s not really the company type. Seems more likely she’s coming his way to tell him they need to get moving.
“You’ve been quiet,” Lightning says. “Is something wrong?”
Huh. That’s not what he was expecting to hear from her.
He hadn’t realised he was being quieter than usual. But here he is, he guesses, sitting alone.
“What, besides the slowly-turning-into-monsters thing?” Sazh asks. “I guess I just miss Dajh.”
“Is that all?”
“Is that not enough?”
“I mean your relationship with the group has changed,” Lightning says. “There’s something else. Missing Dajh isn’t a new development. You couldn’t shut up before.”
He laughs a little. “Thanks.”
Lightning puts her hands on her hips, looking over in Fang and Vanille’s direction. “Is it that they caused the Euride accident?”
The memory of what he almost did makes him flinch. He hopes she doesn’t notice. Just the fact that she figured out there was something wrong shows that she’s more observant than he’s been giving her credit for. “Not really. I was pretty upset, but... you can’t go back and un-attack a fal’Cie, can you? I know they didn’t mean Dajh any harm.” He shrugs, and his voice feels heavy when he speaks again. “Just worked out that way.”
“So what is it? If there’s any chance it’s going to impact your fighting ability, I’m going to need to know about it.”
Of course that’s why she asked. Sazh sighs. “Man, you are not the person to speak to on matters of the heart.”
Lightning looks sharply at him. “I understand love.”
It takes Sazh a moment to process what she’s talking about. “Yeah, of course. Your sister. I’m sorry.”
How often have people accused her of not caring about anyone? It must happen a lot. Sazh suspects he might have done it a couple of times himself. Must be frustrating to hear when she cares enough about Serah to challenge the gods.
Lightning shows no sign of hearing him; it’s as if she’s already mentally cut everything about her problems out of their conversation. “So?”
Well, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get out of this without sharing his soul with one of the least sympathetic people he’s ever met. At least she’s not Jihl Nabaat. He sighs again, braces himself. “It’s Vanille. I miss her, I guess.”
Lightning looks very hard at him, as if trying to determine whether he’s mentally fit to continue their journey. “Vanille is over there.”
“I know that.”
Lightning frowns. “You miss... talking to her?”
“I don’t know.” He hesitates. “I thought we were getting along pretty well. You know, before Nabaat... anyway. Now she’s got Fang back, and don’t get me wrong, I’m happy she’s happy, but...” Lightning looks completely blank. This is really, really uncomfortable. He should be talking about this with Snow instead; the kid’s got some maturing to do, but at least Sazh feels he’d have understood. “...I don’t know. I kind of feel like she doesn’t... need me any more.”
“Because of Fang?”
Sazh nods. Does he sound pathetic? He has a sneaking suspicion he might sound pathetic.
Lightning folds her arms. Says nothing for long enough that Sazh starts to wonder if the conversation’s over, just like that.
“She doesn’t have to need you,” she says, eventually. “I don’t need you; doesn’t mean we can’t talk. If you can’t be her father, be her friend.”
Sazh blinks, runs a hand over his hair (Dajh’s chocobo chick wakes with an indignant chirp), takes a moment to consider that. He glances over to where Vanille and Fang are sitting, Vanille laughing at something Fang has just said.
It makes sense to him, what Lightning is saying. Yeah, the two of them are fine on their own. But he could go over to talk to them right now, and Vanille would probably welcome him. She doesn’t have to need him. She just has to like him.
“You know,” he says, “I think you actually just gave some good interpersonal advice.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Lightning says.
“Might’ve implied we were friends, too.”
“Don’t get used to that either,” Lightning says, but she’s beginning to smile.
Sazh climbs to his feet, wincing at the stiffness in his legs; they’ve been walking a long way, and sitting down has given all his muscle aches time to catch up with him. He raises a hand in thanks to Lightning, heads in the direction of the girls.
Vanille glances up and breaks into a smile as he approaches. She gives him an enthusiastic wave with both hands. “Hey, Sazh!”
Hard not to smile in the face of that.
“Hey, kiddo,” Sazh says as he reaches them. “Just wanted to check up on how you guys are doing.”
Fang puts her head on one side, watching him with a couerl’s smile. “Vanille tells me you aimed a gun at her.”
Vanille brings a hand sharply to her mouth, her eyes suddenly wide. “Fang!”
“Actually,” Sazh says, “I might just head back over there.”
“Relax,” Fang says. “If you’d pulled the trigger, we’d have a problem. Just don’t do it again, and nobody’s gonna have to eat any spears.”
Sazh nods. “Sounds good. Pretty sure I’m allergic.”
Vanille pats the patch of grass next to her. “You should sit down, y’know?”
There’s a sudden small pang in his chest. Did he seriously convince himself that she wouldn’t want to talk to him any more? He’s meant to be the adult here, but it turns out he’s got as much to learn as the rest of them.
“I guess I should,” Sazh says.