Um… hello. Yeah, it's sort of bad that I have published yet another story when none of my other ones (except maybe one or two, I really don't want to look) are finished… but I wanted to. So I'm going to do it anyway…. Sorry to anyone who reads this and really wants me to update my other fics. Life has been crazy and has finally slowed down so that I can fit in all of the writing I want to get down, including this. I have tried with the others, I just failed.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X-2 and all its contents belong to Square Enix and not to me. There. I said it.

Rikku shrunk back a bit as the anxiety crept upon her, knotting her stomach in the most uncomfortable way. She resisted the urge to reach for her cousin's hand. Yuna's face was flat and emotionless; not in the least bit afraid. The High Summoner's eyes were fixed upon the back of the silver-haired warrior that stood before the sealed cave.

Paine watched with bated breath as each sphere – her spheres – her memories – began to glow and the wall in front of her began to tremble. Then suddenly the "door" split down the middle and the trio felt soft wisps of air push through the miniscule crack. It opened very slowly – giving Paine time to wonder if she really wanted it to – revealing nothing. Just darkness, so intense it pressed painfully against her eyes. For a moment she said nothing, still holding in that small breath of air, determined to see something. She had already been here once before, staring into the eerie den, wondering what could possibly be inside. Now, two years later, she still had no real clue. But she knew that whatever was inside the forsaken cavern was not something one could see with just the eyes.

With that thought she expelled the heavy sigh, hoping that some of her anxiety would leave her body with it, and glanced over her shoulder at her two friends. It was Yuna that reached for Rikku's hand and gently squeezed. The young Al Bhed took one daring step forward, and gave Paine a wavering nod of approval.

"Time to fast my past. Come on." The first step would be the hardest, but Paine exerted all the effort needed to make that step. The second was only slightly easier. As she crossed the threshold it was as though the world outside the cave vanished. There was no light. If she turned around there would not be an exit, just a wall. She was trapped. And Yuna and Rikku were trapped with her.

It took longer than it should have, but as they moved forward their eyes began to adjust and they could see more than just a foot or so in front of them. "Yunie…" Rikku breathed, still following Paine as she carefully moved – each step calculated and thought out. "Pyreflies…."

"What?"

"Look up." Rikku pointed towards the roof, indicating the dancing balls of light that flickered in and out of existence. They were so far above them and their light was so dim it was not strange that they had gone unnoticed. Once again Yuna looked to Paine, who was so lost in her own thoughts that she had not heard anything said.

"Paine—" Yuna began.

"We're almost there…" she whispered back, stopping for only a breath before continuing on. She ran her gloved fingers over the stone wall to her left, remembering the soldier she had seen pushed up against this very same wall and shot point-blank by his comrade. She had been unable to see their faces, and for a moment she had panicked, wondering if one of those men was a member of her own team.

"Almost where?" The words may as well not have been spoken, because they received no recognition from Paine.

The warrior stopped again, looking around the wide open space, her hand still held against the wall. "I tripped," she sighed. "When we first entered: I tripped. I can't even remember why. But it was lucky I did, I suppose. Otherwise I might have ended up just like them. I always wondered why I was the only one unaffected. All the other recorders were – gunned down… almost immediately. But no one saw me."

"You were scared…" Yuna commented.

"Terrified. I can't remember ever being so scared, not even during a Sin attack," she nodded. "It's strange: I always considered myself to be so brave. I always wanted to fight and I hated being stuck behind that stupid camera. But I couldn't put it down, and I had never felt like more of a coward."

"You're definitely not a coward, Paine," said Rikku, shaking her head. "I don't know what I would have done."

Paine could not hold in her bitter scoff at Rikku's words. Together she and her cousin had defeated Sin. They had gone against everything they knew in order to bring peace to Spira. After the incident Paine had wanted to slaughter the Crusaders and then all of Yevon. They had done this to her. But she never did – no, it was Yuna and Rikku and their friends who put a stop to Yevon's greed. She had run away.

She turned her back on her friends, nodding towards what she knew was a dead end. "The three of them hid over here." She led them towards the small niche. Rikku stepped lightly, trailing behind. Pyreflies always made her a bit nervous…. There were quite a few now – hundreds – and they were hovering lower than before. She heard the soft, almost musical sound they made. There was something about these pyreflies that gave her a particularly bad feeling. Almost sad. No, it was more than simple sadness. It was anguish.

"Something's coming!" she squeaked, whipping around as she followed a trail of particularly quick pyreflies. They descended to their level, collecting in an area just a few yards away. They shimmered with their eerie beauty, but… nothing happened.

Nothing that Rikku could see.

Paine's arm was on her shoulder as she pushed by her, seized by something, eyes wide. She stopped in the midst of the ghostly orbs, putting up her hand. "Guys!" she gasped, watching with horror as her hand passed through the apparition of her friends. Nooj, Baralai and Gippal. Baralai's eyes were just inches from her own. She stood in front of him, but he could not see her. Then he and the other two turned away – Gippal's eyes passing right over her without a second glance – and started away.

The illusion flickered almost like a sphere, and then vanished.

"You okay?" Yuna's boots crunched in the dirt as she came nearer. She had that usual worried tone in her voice.

No. No, Paine was not okay. She was fixated on her hand, turning it over, scrutinizing it like she had never seen it before. Like it was not there, the same as the three men were not there. But then she clenched that same fist in anger. It was one thing to have a memory, as vivid as it was, but it was another thing to really see it. They could have all died, but she had summoned all of her would-be bravery to stop them. She had not come here to watch it all again, but for answers. Starting with, "What was that…?"

"Are they – unsent?" Rikku asked no one in particular. It was more a question for herself. She had not seen the apparition, but she saw the uncharacteristic fear flash across Paine's face. This was the past she had probed her friend for so long to discover. She almost wished she never had. "No," she thought aloud. No, Gippal was alive, she would have known if he was dead! "That can't be right!"

"Pyreflies," said Yuna. Paine's eyes were downcast, situated somewhere near her feet. Yuna knew what it was like to search for answers that could not be found, but she had promised herself that she would help her friend. "I've seen this before," she continued. "There are places where pyreflies cling to people's memories and make them eternal."

The warrior nodded, but no light dawned on her face. She heard, but did not understand – did not really believe that that was the truth. "So…" she sighed, forcing the words out in the hopes that her own voice could convince her, "those were the guys' memories from back then… preserved by the pyreflies – memories." Just memories. Their memories and her own. Their terror and their fear. And they would play out like a broken sphere inside this cave. They were more than just memories. "Or two year old nightmares!"

It was as if the pyreflies reacted to the pain in her voice. That pain was what they had been waiting for. They came together to form a figure that all of them could see. Tall and handsome with light blond hair and blue eyes that burned like scalding fire through the dark. He laughed, staring down at them – at her – with a look of sick satisfaction. She had come back to see him. He may have missed her before, but she would not escape again. Her sorrow attracted his. He could sense their fear, but that girl's – hers was going to be the easiest and the most fun to exploit. Perhaps he could use her, the same way he had used her pathetic friends.

"Older than that," he said to her, making his presence known. All three looked up.

"Shuyin," Yuna gasped. He looked to her, but his blank face did not flash with the same recognition as when they first met. At this moment he saw her for who she was, but how long would that last?

"You!?" He laughed again. It was going to be almost too easy to break that girl. Her… and perhaps the smallest one as well. There was a lot of pain in her past too, he could sense it.

But hovering just above the surface of the familiar one's emotions was a passion to know the truth. She would not rest until she had her answer, so he guessed he would have to give it to her. Then he could let the fun begin.

"I wanted to rest forever," he explained. "But the pyreflies make me relive that moment… again and again and again!"

The pyreflies that made him erupted in a violent dance, and he was gone with a roar of unsuppressed anger. Rikku looked to Yuna, who looked back at her – afraid, confused. Then she felt the raw emotion creeping up her, and saw two ghostly arms reach forward to wrap themselves around her in an almost loving embrace. Instinct made her struggle to get free, but the rush of adrenaline only made things worse. Her vision was clouding, and Yuna and Paine both seemed to just melt away. At first it was only that, but then – then it was inside of her.

Vegnagun. That was what she had been looking for. She was desperate to have it. It was the only way! Bevelle – those monsters – keeping this thing hidden away. Who had made it? Well… it did not matter who it was. They were all going to burn for what they had started. She was going to end this war. She had to save her!

The machina came to life as she played it like an instrument. But no, this had all happened before! She had tried and she had failed before! This was not real, was it? Still, she kept playing. Real or not she had to try. Then a voice calling out stopped her and she turned.

Yuna?

"Rikku!" Yuna gasped, but it was no use.

"Something's wrong!" Paine called out. "Stay back!"

Something stepped in between Paine and Yuna. Shuyin. He had Rikku. He was showing her his own despair in the hopes of learning hers. They were very similar. Both were desperate to save a woman they held so dear. He watched her memories. She was strong. She would be hard to break, he could already see that. But who was this girl, the one he had seen here before, and what made her so wonderfully angry?

Paine drew her sword on him, gritting her teeth.

So determined not to let herself fall…. What a joke.

Yuna looked away from her struggling cousin for just a moment, in time to hear Paine yell and see her clutch at her heart like it was about to be torn from her chest. She almost fell to her knees, still gripping her sword as though it was a lifeline.

"Go away!" Rikku lunged forward, daggers drawn. She swung at Yuna without really seeing her. The summoner was so many things – soldiers, Seymour, Yunalesca, Jecht – everything except her cousin. Yuna was suddenly everything she hated and feared, and even things the pyreflies told her to hate.

"What's going on…?" Yuna gasped. Then she too was blindsided by the rush of sorrow, as those strong arms embraced her and a voice, so much like the man she loved and adored, whispered,

"You will see."

She saw the same thing they all saw. The soldiers advancing on her – her and… Tidus? But she was not going to let them kill him, not again. She would not watch him die again. "Stay back!"

"This is our story, Lenne…" Tidus whispered softly to her. Lenne?

Not Tidus. Shuyin.

"Don't make me say this again! I am not Lenne!"

He only laughed, because he had them all. Even her.

But she realized too soon what he was about to make her do. Her vision cleared, and somehow she saw through his sadness. She saw Rikku, and her pistols pointing right at her cousin's temple. Rikku's daggers were turned on Paine. She was trembling, but Paine did not waver.

"Stop!" Yuna let out a scream of panic and threw away her weapons, pushing Rikku back and away from Paine. The Al Bhed struggled, but Yuna did not relent. "Rikku?" Rikku screamed, throwing the woman back and holding her daggers out, ready to pounce. She swung, but Yuna dodged and caught hold of her cousin by the wrists. "Rikku! Rikku, it's me!" Yuna yelled. "Look at me!"

The daggers fell from Rikku's hands, and in an instant she had ceased with fighting.

"Y-Yuna…!"

She had also managed to break through. Shuyin did not understand how, but they had. They had rejected not only his hate but their own. They had the strongest hearts he had ever encountered here.

But he still had Paine. She was the one he really wanted. Someone he could use like he had used her friends. He saw where she was vulnerable.

"What happened to you, Paine?" he asked. "You're the strongest, you know that. You know you can beat any enemy you come up against… they can't. Not like you." She gripped her sword tighter, trying – trying to reject him. But the harder she tried to the more she hated him. His sorrow burrowed deep inside her, girdling her heart. Choking it. Breaking it. "What happened?"

"Snap out of it!" The words were so distant. They did not even register.

Paine raised her sword, unable to see or hear anything else but Shuyin as he stood just in front of her, so pompous, smirking with delight.

Then the voice became her voice, echoing in her mind as it filled every space and there was no longer anywhere to run from it: How did I become so weak?

And the sword was gone. Shuyin was gone. The cave was gone. Paine stood in a tent, the bright sun seeping through the minuscule space between the threads of the canvas. A desk, very elaborate and adorned with lavish decorations along with stacks of paperwork, was situated only a foot in front of her. Behind it sat a squat man, dressed in pale orange robes with a round, pleasant face. She knew him as a kind man, except that he always looked at her with such cold eyes.

Still, Paine did not care about his eyes or how kind he was or was not. She was angry with him, and raised her hand, poised to strike.

So this is where the story begins, right, Paine?