Direction
Mortima
She arose with the Sun shining bright over her new Temple, how the light disgusted her. She wished she could extinguish it like she can life itself. She hated the Sunlight ever since Sin killed her other two children in broad daylight, "My sweet Lucinia and brave Lucian. Curse Yu Yevon for creating the shell of destruction. I might have been able to pass away naturally knowing my three children were by my side, the twins and little LuAnn. I wonder what became of LuAnn?" She sifted through her centuries of memories before the cities collapse. 'She never came to see me as an Apprentice or full Summoner, I would surely have kept her alive should she have fought and destroyed Sin and Yu Yevon. I hope she kept the bloodline going if she wasn't a Summoner.' Mortima felt Lukka's emotions begin to stir and she let out a heavy sigh "Good afternoon, parasite." Sudden anger caused her to grasp her chest when she almost lost control of her host's shell. "Ah!" She gasped and her hand raised on it's own and the Nirvana appeared in it. She struggled but was able to gain back her control. "Nice try, girl. But you are not stronger than I!" She jerked her wrist and the staff shifted to her scythe to show emphasis of her strength and dominion over the girls body.
She was looking for a fresh pair of clothes when she saw a small shine from the girls jacket, that she had slung on the floor, in her periferal vision. She got closer and seen that there was a tiny camera stuck to it's leather back. She sifted through her memories again, this time trying to figure out how it got there when she caught a flash of the Al Bhed man huggin her and patting her on the back, "That sneaky Al Bhed scum!" and slung the jacket across the room. "It seems we were being spied on, girl. Want to watch me hunt down and eliminate your dear family friend, Shinra?" Lukka's emotions boiled again and she felt her arm twitch, she laughed loudly and tauntingly in response. "Seems I need to feast to gain more strength. I give you credit, child. You are tougher than you seemed at first when I met you on the Farplane." She felt Lukka's cockiness like an echo within herself. She laughed again and walked back over to the jacket she had tossed across the room.
She picked it up again and looked directly at the tiny camera and spoke into it. "Shinra, isn't it? I will be coming for you. I can't wait to taste your soul as I have consumed it. I'll make sure your companions watch, then I will kill them as well. Starting with that woman I almost claimed the head of, then the boy with his precious doll so his lover can watch in horror. I so long to see his expression of terror and dispair before I kill and consume him and all the other Aeons within him, oh how tasty it will be." She laughed threateningly before shredding the jacket and crushing the camera on the floor. Now, to feast before I hunt them down.
While she walked out onto her wasteland she called to the Pyreflies drifting around it and fed on every last one of them before heading toward the coast. When she arrived she seen a boat anchoring. She watched the passengers onboard as they seen her and one by one nudged eachother to look her way. "I think I can fit in another course." Then shifted into her Aeon form, turning the black belted dress into her hooded cloak. She hovered toward the boat as the passengers scrambled to pull the anchor up to flee. She laughed and heard the monsterous sound fill the air with it's twisted ethereal sound. She lifter her scythe into the air with one of her taloned hands and called her black smoke to her flinging it at them, slicing at them and the sails, she heard their screams and cries of agony then jetted to them slashing her scythe through the smoke feeling it tear through their bodies and watching the glow of Pyreflies fill the smokey air. She lifted herself out of the cloud and pointed her free taloned hand at it and jerk it back, bringing the swarm of Pyreflies soaring to her and down her throat. The rush they gave her made her feel amazing.
When she consumed every last Pyrefly she laughed and panted. "Yum." She said but her voice was hoarse. 'How did you come from avenging your children to consuming other's children?' Lukka's thoughts were ragged with sorrow. Mortima was not expecting that question or even hearing her thoughts, she felt sorrow within herself and for what she did. Reluctantly, she shifted back into her human form. "You stay out of my memories!" She shouted aloud. 'Kind of hard when you constantly dream about your children.' "H-how are you having thoughts?" She asked mistified 'When you change my body to that hideously unattractive beast you are actually more vulnerable, weaker. I took full advantage of that and asked the question I knew I would get the outcome I did. I was tought that having better control of your emotions makes you stronger, from a former Summoner, Jecht's mother, High Summoner Yuna. And if I got this right, I am a Summoner now myself. I became one when you joined with my body. I am certain there is a way to take control of my body again and I will find what way that is, you bitch!' "Silence you parasitic creature!" Mortima shouted 'I may not have thoughts when you don't transform but I'm sure you can't stay in a human form without becoming weaker, so I will wait until you change again. You see, for me it's win win. You change, I have thoughts. You don't change, you starve and I regain control of my body.' She felt the girls cockiness erupt and focused one controlling her emotions. 'Go ahead, I'll still win.' and Lukka's voice faded away to one pure emotion of victory. The girl was right, it is a win win for her. That means she must move faster.
"I suspect your friends are at my old Temple by now, or will be shortly, I'll head them off and if they are not there yet then I will get the information I desire from the people about what became of my little LuAnn. Prepare to watch a lot more people die. Ha ha ha!" She began gliding over the ocean's surface toward the Moonflow.
Shinra
Shinra was truly frightened, Mortima found the CommSphere and left a message for him that had him shaken. Payido woke up then and smiled when she looked into his eyes and said "Thank you, Shinra." He looked at her, definately showing fear based on her change of expression. "Fryd'c fnuhk?" She asked sitting up fully. "Mortima found the CommSphere I planted on her, here watch this..." He said, rewinding the feed and showing it to her from the beginning.
When the feed ended with Mortima stomping on the camera Payido looked more fearful than Shinra but she had a glimmer of excitement too. "Not the best expression to have, I understand the fear but not the excitement." He asked skeptically and retracting his arm from behind her and hopping off the bed. She grabbed his arm and said "The excitement is because Lukka had some control over her arm. Didn't you see her staff appear and the fear in Mortima's face? What about hear what she said, 'Seems I need to feast to gain more strength. I give you credit, child. You are tougher than you seemed when I first met you...'? Mortima is weaker when she needs to feast and apparently Lukka's protection of her friends overshadows everything else, you heard Lukka's thoughts on the CommSphere, '...I will kill you myself from inside...' That means Lukka is still strong and will most definately destroy her when she gets the chance." How could he be so selfish and think of himself?
After several long moments of Shinra standing there in his underwear thinking and feeling ashamed of himself he finally spoke "You're right, Beauty. I should not have been so selfish, especially when the true victim is being selfless. Um-" He cut off and Payido pulled him back down to the bed, hugging him tightly She prompted him "What is it?" He decided, he had to tell her his plan. It was his turn to be selfless "Let's not tell anyone else about this video. I will delete it and any trace of it from the database that recorded it." She looked at him with pure confusion so he continued "I just have to go back an hour when it was recorded. I don't want anyone else to see it because I want Jecht to be caught off guard, it will cancel out his need for courage and trigger his protectiveness to stop time when Mortima strikes for my life. Isn't that what happened before?" "Yeah, but Shinra." She began to cry so he wiped her tears away and reasoned "I know, it's stupid but I'm certain the kid will stop her and pull me to safety again. You must not tell anyone about this plan and when I go for her don't let him stop me. Well, unless he's stopping time. Okay?" She hiccuped and said "Okay." Then kissed him hard on the mouth, he was stunned for a moment before kissing her back.
He felt her fiddling with her shirt and he pulled away in time before her arms and shirt were over her head, he was breathless at her hourglass shaped figure. She grabbed his face and pulled him back for another kiss she started to pull her pants off but he pulled away and said "Payido, is this really the time for-?" "Crid ib" She cut him off in Al Bhed, he didn't argue more and allowed her to remove her pants before she laid down and he laid on top of her continuing the kiss that lead into their bliss.
Vadina
"Dad, please. Go back to Besaid. Let us do this, ya?" Vadina begged his father at the entrance to Mushroom Rock Raod, but Wakka was being adament and standing strong with his decision to come along. "Wakka. You can hit me later for this, but let them go alone. Do you want him and Lukka to come home orphans like you and your brother Chappu?" Tidus said. Yuna looked like she was ready to hit him in that moment until he mentioned the kids being orphans. "That's what I'm afraid of to, Sir Wakka." Shinra chimed in. "Yeah but. I don't want to lose my kids knowing I could have saved them, unlike Lulu." He replied, looking like he was ready to cry, Vadina felt guilty so he ran to his dad and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry, ya? We will be fine, I'll bring Lukka back as her whole self, promise. Besides you don't need anymore grey hairs, old man." He said punching his father on the arm to show his confidence and joking. "You little-!" Wakka began grabbing for him but Tidus grabbed him and held him in place but he was smiling. Everyone started laughing, except for Payido she looked distracted. She obviously had something on her mind.
Shinra's Commphone rang, He pulled it out and answered it with "What's up, Pacce?" and put him on speaker phone. "Hey boss, we got word here that Mortima was heading away from Kilika, floating on smoke across the water, she completely ignored Luca and went past the Mi'ihen Highroad. I tried to watch the feed from the bug you planted on her but it wouldn't connect, I seen as far as her stirring in bed like she was about to wake up then, nothing. You think she found the bug?" "It's possible that she did, it was kind of in plain view, I'm surprised she didn't find it sooner. How long ago was she heading past the Mi'ihen Highroad?" Shinra asked, lacking true interest it seemed, but maybe Vadina was seeing things. "It was about an hour and a half ago, no one knows where she was going so maybe check Djose Temple for her or any signs of her then the Moonflow. Hmm, maybe she is paying a visit to her old destroyed Temple?" Pacce replied. "Possibly, but better be safe and check Djose Temple. Thanks for the update, Pacce." He replied and ended the call.
"So, Djose Temple, we go?" Jecht asked. "You got it, Kid." Shinra said with admiration. "Awright! Let's go!" Wakka announced. Vadina shook his head and said "Jecht, Shinra, Payido. you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." "O-okay. See you in a second." Jecht said a little unsure and planted a kiss on Vadina's cheek, that helped his confidence in doing what he planned. "Bye, son." Tidus said hugging Jecht "Please. Be safe, sweetie." Yuna said kissing her son on the forehead. "Bye Mom and Dad. Love you guys." "Love you too." They replied in unison. When they were out of earshot Vadina said. "Dad, I'm sorry. Aunt Yuna and Uncle Tidus. Grab his arms." They all looked at him confused then he gestured with his head toward his father's arms. Tidus picked up on the gesture in an instant and Yuna followed suit, "Hey, wait! Lemme go!" "I love you guys." Vadina said as he turned around and ran, focusing his thoughts of cool tempertures and how he was being cold to his dad and conjured Ice to fill in the arch he was heading for. It started to freeze over rapidly yet slow enough for him to make it through. When he was sure he was safely on the other side he turned around and saw Yuna on all fours and Tidus running after Wakka, "I'm sorry, ya?" and the ice finished filling the arch just before his father reached it.
He turned around after a few moments, crying, and walked onward. Jecht walked out of the alcove with the lift in it and asked him "Are you okay?" Vadina started sobbing and replied "I hate that I stopped him but it's for his safety. Mortima would recognize him as our father and use that to extinguish Lukka's presence completely. Since Mortima passed the Highroad an hour and a half ago I'm sure she's not gonna attack him or your parents." "I understand." Jecht said hugging him tightly for several minutes. He felt a tender hand touch his shoulder and he looked up to see Payido also crying. "It's going to be okay. Let's go. Okay?" "Y-yeah. Let's go." he said trying to stop crying and wiping away his tears. He looked into his boyfriend's eyes and smiled "th-thanks you two." and grabbed his hand. As they walked Vadina heard his father yelling his name "Vadina!" But he stayed strong and walked on.
Jecht
Jecht grabbed Vadina's hand tightly. What he saw upset even him so he could imagine how his lover was feeling and also what Wakka was feeling. He squeezed his hand tighter and felt him squeeze back as they walked silently toward Djose Temple. His parents and Uncle were heading back to Besaid to fill everyone in on what was happening and to protect them if Mortima decided to attack again. His second cousin Rikku would go find her brother, appropriately name 'Brother' and ask for his help incase they failed to destroy Mortima, she took Paine with her. Lady Dona and Sir Barthello were going to stay at the Youth League Head Quarters and assume leadership of the group. Their goal there was also to be prepared in the case of their failure.
Knowing Spira will have a backup plan helped his anxiety tremendously. As did knowing Shinra, Payido and Vadina had his back no matter what, he had their's too. Shinra stopped abruptly, he would have ran into him had Vadina not tugged on his arm. He was so wound up in his thoughts that he didn't see him stop. He looked up and started to ask what was wrong when Shinra put a hand up to him "Shhh. Do you hear that?" Jecht listened hard but heard nothing for a few moments. "I don't hear anything, Shin-" and he cut off when he heard a shrieking sound, he readied himself for battle as did everyone else. It wasn't just one shriek, it was two of them. The sound resonated all around them.
They started feeling the Earth shaking and hearing the rumbles from up the road in front of them. Jecht's eyes darted forward and he seen in the distance what looked like Shoopuf' running. "A stampede?" Vadina asked bewildered. "Yeah, and they're heading toward the Temple!" Payido shouted then started running toward it. "Payido, wait!" Jecht shouted but she was too far away. Shinra started running too, Vadina pulled his attention to him and said "Let's go! They may need our help!" and kissed him then took off. Jecht stood there for a moment then started running toward the stampede as well.
It seemed like five minutes before he was there but he was barely winded from the sprint. When he got to the fork in the road he looked down the path on the left before running toward the temple. He looked down the left path again and seen people running toward him and some on the ground, what was going on? "Jecht! C'mon!" He heard Vadina shouting then he took off toward the Temple.
When he arrived at the Temple he saw that one of the Shoopufs ran into the Temple, crushing half of the building. It was knocked out and the other two were still panicked. One of them tried to climb up the cliff to the left while the other was trampling the travel agency. Jecht ran toward the travel agency to figure out a way to calm it down, Shinra was on top of it holding onto the rail of the gazibo where the passengers sat. Payido was over next to the one that ran into the Djose Temple checking on it, he saw her hands glowing trying to heal it. Vadina was trying to calm down the one that was attempting to climb.
When he ran up to the right side of the Shoopuf, he seen a greusome scar on it's leg. This must be the one his grandfather struck thirty years ago, 'seems it still works at the Moonflow. How old do the grow to be anyway?' He thought but cleared his mind and concentrated on Valefore and calling calmness to fill himself then walked up into it's sight, it seen him and it's eyes widened. "Shhh. It's okay, relax. You're fine." The shoopuf calmed down and Jecht walked up to it and pet it's snout. with a great huff, it relaxed. Shinra jumped down next to him and said "Good job, kid. Now lets try that on the other-" He began to turn and one of the women shouted "You! You did this child, you beast!" Shinra turned to Jecht and said calmly "I'll handle this, you focus on the other frantic shoopuf." "You sure?" Jecht asked then he heard Vadina shouting in pain, his eyes shot toward him and seen that the shoopuf he was attempting to calm down whipped him away with it's snout. All pretense of helping Shinra with the old lady gone as he began to run toward Vadina.
"Stay away from that poor shoopuf! It's you're fault they are acting like this!" The lady shrieked, Jecht stopped running then and turned around to face the crowd. "He is not at fault here! You have been given the wrong information about him! He came to help and you seen that it was him that calmed that one down!" Shinra yelled and gestured toward the scarred shoopuf. "She told us that you lot would say that and also that you would bring chaos and destruction to us. Look at the shoopuf, the Temple and the Travel Agency! She was telling the truth! Why should we let you be allowed here?" The man speaking was bloody and limping. "Silence! His lover is over there injured. Let him help him then we will leave the other shoopuf for you to calm down since you want to be jerks that would believe anything you hear except if it came from the people that calmed one of the beasts down!" Payido shouted at them. Her fury scared Jecht and he was even afraid to speak. "Jecht! Go help Vadina then we leave!" She turned to him and he nodded hastily and ran toward Vadina and the shoopuf that gave up it's attempt at climbing the cliff. It was readying itself to sit down, but Vadina was laying there unconcious. "Wait! Vadina!" The shoopuf sat down where he laid and Jecht collapsed and began sobbing. "No!"