Final Hearts X (Ch 1/??)
Author: stargazer135 (LJ) or Stargazer13 (FFN)
Pairings: Riku/Sora, Leon/Cloud, Rin/OC, Aerith/Yuffie
Rating: Work-safe for now.
Notes: This story will eventually have cameos from other games. I've never tried something like this before, so please bear with me.

Blitzball was a grand occasion, so it was no surprise that everyone showed up at the stadium. And of course, autographs were an absolute. No matter how a player of the Zanarkand Abes tried, they fell victim to it. The star, Riku Miyahara, was the one who got it the worst.

"Excuse me! I need through!" The silver haired blitzer yelled, exasperated. "I'm going to be late!"

"I love you Riku!"

"Let me have your babies!"

"I'm your stalker!"

Riku ignored the crowd and shoved through. His teammates all turned to see him stumble into the locker room. Aishia snickered. "Riku, you're missing a shoe."

Riku glanced down and groaned. Yet another idiotic item on E-Bay….

After changing into his uniform, the team exited the locker room to ecstatic cheers from the crowd. Xenadin called from the rear, "Let's do this people!"

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The Abes were dominating the game, 6-0. Riku shot after the ball, which had left the Sphere Pool. Flipping to kick the ball back into the game, he spotted a colossal being in the distance, spheres of white light flying toward the Stadium. Aqua eyes widened and shrieks erupted into the air.

Pandemonium ensued. The sphere pool emptied and Riku fell into the hollow shell with a sickening thump.

Clambering out of the stadium, he ran to the main road. He was jostled by the running masses. He spotted a familiar glimpse of a black jacket with a red design on the back. "Leon?" Riku wondered aloud.

Riku ran toward the man in the distance. "Leon! Leon, what are you doing here?"

The man turned. "I was waiting for you."

Aqua eyes blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? Hey!" He yelled seeing Leon walk away. "You're going the wrong way!"

The brunette man stopped abruptly and pointed to a spot in the sky. Riku followed the trail from his finger to a huge ball of water. He jumped in surprise.

"We called it Sin."

Riku glanced sideways. "'Sin'?"

A group of pods fell down onto the road, quickly morphing into insect-like creatures. They swarmed Riku, who futilely tried to fight them off with his hands.

Leon chuckled. He held out a sword. "A gift…from Sephiroth."

"My….father?"

He grabbed it and deftly swung it.

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They had been slicing their way through the Sinscales for nearly half an hour, to no avail.

A giant tentacle-like monster struck the road. Riku gasped and Leon readied his katana, "Watch."

Leon jumped into the air and stabbed the ground. Explosions shook the highway.

Riku nodded and flipped through the air and struck the beast.

The monster crumpled and faded. Riku bent over and gasped for air. "When is it going to end?"

Leon grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up. "Now." Riku whimpered and blacked out.

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He woke up, stranded on a broken pillar. "Hello?" He looked around frantically. "Is anyone there?" He stood. "Leon?" Riku lost his balance a fell into the water. "Fuck."

He spotted a walkway in the distance and swam quickly to it. "Too quiet…"

He continued along until the path crumbled and fell. "Damn it." He looked into the water and saw a doorway. "Why not?" He dived into the water and swam toward the door. A giant creature, a fish of type, had spotted him and gave chase.

Why me? Riku thought, and sped through the door.

As soon as he crawled out of the water, he wanted back in. "So cold."

He searched for things to make a fire. Climbing the stairs, he found a dried bouquet.

He ran back downstairs to search for flints. After retrieving those, he built a small fire in the center of the room. Lying near the fire, he dosed off.

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Riku woke up to a dying flame. Brushing silver locks out of his face, he cursed.

An explosion racked the room. "What the hell?" Riku shouted. A group of people stepped through the smoke. Someone grabbed him from behind. "Fryd ec drec?"

A man answered in the same strange language. "Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!"

The man holding Riku looked thoughtful. "Oac! Ed ec cu!" He held a knife to the frightened teen's throat. "Fa gemm ed?"

A voice rang out. "Fyed!" He stepped into the room. "Fryd ev ed ec risyh?"

The man holding Riku captive pointed the knife at the young man. "Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr."

"E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk ed fedr ic!" The young man sauntered up to the struggling blitzer. "Cunno." With that, he punched Riku.

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Riku just gained consciousness. "Wha--?"

"Ced, lybdeja!"

"I don't understand!"

"Caynlr res!"

A man with a blonde mohawk grunted and made crude gestures, as if trying to communicate. He paused. "Tu oui hud cbayg?"

"I said I don't understand!"

"Ehcumahla!" A gun was pointed at him.

"Fyed!" the boy from before shrieked. He leaned to whisper in Riku's ear. "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."

Riku's eyes widened in shock. "You understand me?" He winced when he got smacked with one of the mens' gun. "Okay! I'll work!"

The boy played with his braid. "There are some ancient ruins beneath us. It's not active now, but there should still be some power left." He smiled. "We're going to go activate it, and then salvage the big prize!"

Riku and the boy dived into the water, and swam down into the ruins. A control panel loomed in front of them. Riku smacked it and the doors opened up. As they traversed through them they activated the power switches. A fiend was attracted by the power.

The boy motioned for Riku to stay back. He pulled the pin out of a grenade then launched it at the octopus. The fiend caught it in its beak and swallowed it. A moment later, it exploded.

Riku pointed to a hole in some fencing and the duo swam out and back up to the surface.

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An hour later, he was complaining. "I helped, can I have some food?"

As if on cue, the boy walked out holding a tray of food. Riku grinned appreciatively and began to eat. He gagged. The boy threw a canteen at him. "That's what you get for eating too fast…."

Riku looked up. "What's your name?"

"Luca."

"Wow…you do understand me…Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Luca chuckled. "I didn't get a chance to. Everyone though oui were a fiend."

"Uh…" Riku blinked. "'we'?"

"Oh!" Luca blushed. "Oui means you."

"Who are you guys, anyway?"

"We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell?" He furrowed his brows, "Wait. You're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?"

Riku grimaced. "I don't even know what 'Al Bhed' is…"

The Al Bhed looked skeptical. "Where are you from?"

Riku grinned proudly. "Zanarkand. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

A blonde eyebrow quirked. "Did you hit your head or something?" He scoffed.

"You guys hit me…remember?"

A sheepish smile, "Oh….right…Do you remember anything else?

Riku told her everything. About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack.

"You were near Sin…Don't worry, you'll feel better in no time." Luca smiled. "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

Riku looked thoughtful; he rested a finger on his chin. "Do you mean I'm sick?"

A nod. "Because of the toxin…yeah…"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So no-one plays blitzball there."

Riku sat down and rested his head on his hands. Zanarkand was destroyed? A thousand years ago? No way…

Luca pouted. He really hated to give bad news. "You know…you should go to Luca."

Riku looked really confused. "I though you were Luca."

"Huh? Oh! No, Luca is a city. Someone there may know who you are, or you might see someone you recognize. Just leave it to me."

Riku hesitated. Luca turned to him. "You'd rather stay here?"

"No."

"Okay, I'll go tell everyone else. Wait here." Luca sidled off and quickly returned. "Oh, and don't mention to anyone that you're from Zanarkand. Yevon says it's some type of holy place. You might upset someone."

Zanarkand…some kind of holy place? Yeah right. No way. Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought I could go home in a day or two. But one-thousand years into the future? "No way!"

The ship was rattling heavily. The aqua-eyed teenager ran to the edge of the deck. Some Al Bhed rushed out. "Sin ec lusa! Ihtan ic!"

Riku blacked out and slid off of the ship. The last thing he saw was Luca trying to reach him.

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I hope you liked this. Please review if you bothered to read this.