Disclaimer: What would make you think that I own anything? Like Final Fantasy...or Halo...come to think of it...maybe I do own it? EVER THINK OF THAT? Oh, and why are you reading my disclaimer? the storys down there!
Chapter One: Taken.Victor sat at his desk in the back of the room, slouching back with his head resting in his right hand, waiting for the end of class. He sighed, watching the seconds drag on immeasurably slow, and pushed back his brown hair. He was an average kid, athletic but not a big guy. People who didn't know him (there was a lot) called him by his last name, Winters. What most people noticed first about Victor was his eyes, they were indigo, which no one was able to explain why. The teacher yelled at Victor to pay attention, but Victor wasn't too interested in the class anyways, he was busy drawing a tag he'd been working on. Victor and his friend Alex, who was asleep in the seat next to him, were responsible for most of the graffiti in their town. Alex had stretched out all over his desk, his long arms reaching out in front of him, and his short blond hair was covered by his jacket. Alex was taller than Victor by four inches, standing at 6'2. Winters laughed, his friend was one of the funniest people at the school, and much more popular than him. Without looking up he heard the door open, and soon all the talking in the room died down.
Victor glanced upwards, and was somewhat scared. Standing in the doorway was what looked a hell of a lot like a person. Only...it was too disfigured to be. It was gray, it's arms unnaturally long, and it hovered almost a foot off the floor. It's face was hidden behind a black mask, with slits for eyes.
"What do you want?" Victor heard the teacher ask, his voice strained.
It didn't reply, instead, with a sweep of its arm, knocked the first three desks, and the students in them, back ten feet.
Alex was already up, surprisingly, his hands clenched and up, ready to fight. John, another kid in the class nodded to Alex and Victor, and the three of them advanced on the thing. Alex ducked as the creature slashed, and punched it in it's stomach.
"I think it'd be best if you left." John said to the rest of the class, anticipation and anxiety lacing his vioce. "Now."
No one hesitated, as Victor and Alex held the thing back against the wall. It was strong, Victor would give it that.
"Man, you really are a scrawny kid you know that?" Alex joked as Victor stuggled with it's arm. Alex had his under control, his muscles flexing as he held it back.
As soon as everyone was out of the room, the thing stopped moving, and slipped it's arms out from under their grip. With one swift movement, it wrapped around John, Victor, and Alex and the last thing Victor recalled before blacking out was another person being dragged by the creature as well.
"So they're coming now.""It appears so."
The two figures knelt on the rooftop, watching the boys being dragged into the portal in the wall of the classroom.
The shadows jumped, and vanished.
The Elite brought it's energy sword down remarkably fast, and only Valentino's reflexes saved him from being sliced in half. He rolled to the right, and heard the sword crackle as it met the titanium floor.
'This thing isn't your average Covenant. It's way too fast.' the Spartan thought.
Valentino leveled his assault rifle, emptying half the clip into the alien, and half into the wall as it jumped over him and went to punch him in the back of his head. He spun and caught the Elite's arms, and the two grappeled, their strength equal. Fires broke down along the hallway as the ship took direct hits from the Covenant armada. Suddenly a bright flash appeared over their heads, and a gray being dropped down next to them. They let go of eachother and trained their weapons on the newcomer. With a lightening fast sweep of its arm, it knocked the rifle out of the Spartan's hands, and pinned the Elite to the wall. Valentino heard his energy shields immediatley power down, and the burst of the alien's shield as well. He was pinned by some weird...thing, and it appeared that it wasn't a friend of his mandibled enemy. The two of them struggled to break the creatures hold, but it held them back easily. The gray humanoid wrapped its long appendages around the two, drawing them closer together, and Valentino passed out.
"Will they really be necessary?" the cloaked phantom asked, his hollow voice almost drowned out by the sirens in the ship."You'd rather rely on the others?" the other countered. His partner remained silent.
They threw their cloaks around themselves, and disappeared.
Victor felt his head spin as he tried to sit up. John was already kneeling, coughing up blood. Alex was still facedown on the floor, but other than that he was breathing. 'At least...' Victor thought."What just happened?" Victor said as he stood.
"Well we just got our asses handed to us." John said with a half laugh, sighing as he dusted off his shirt.
"Haha yeah, true."
Alex moaned and muttered something that sounded like "jerkoffs" as he got up.
Victor looked around the rather large, well lit room. It's white walls seemed impossibly far, and only till he turned around did he realize the little man behind him.
"Hello."
"Uhm..hey.." Victor said.
"My name is Erya. Well we don't have much time now, so let's get to it." the short man said rather quickly.
"Get down to what?" Alex questioned as he stretched his arms.
"To choosing your weapons of course." he answered, turning slightly and raising his eyebrow at them.
"You ARE John, Victor, and Alex..no?" he inquired.
"Yeah. We are." John replied. Shooting a face at Winters and Alex to play along.
"Well then let's go."
The small man was bald, about five feet tall, and wore strange orange robes. His glasses hung on a chain around his neck, and his high pitched voice made him all the more odd.Erya led them to a series of long tables, each lined with a staggering ammount of weapons: swords, axes, knives, throwing stars, guns, even a few warhammers that looked as if they would crush the table under them.
"Now, feel free to choose. But once you've made your decision, it cannot be undone." Erya said cryptically.
The three of them didn't question him, but set about browsing the weapons of death.
"How about this?" John said as he drew a long sword. The end of the blade was curved, almost like a scimitar. The blade itself was five feet long, and John swung it with startling speed.
"I like." He said with a grin.
The others laughed, but Erya took the blade from him.
"Ah yes, Soul Brand." Erya closed his eyes and the sword began to glow until it was so bright Victor had to shield his eyes. Then it stopped, and Erya handed it back to John with no comment whatsoever.
John simply strapped the sword to his waist, and waited for the others.
Alex stopped over a halberd. He picked it up and tested it's weight. It was almost as tall as he was, and he gave the other two a wide grin. Victor rolled his eyes and John shook his head, smiling. Erya repeated the process of transferring the weapon he named Eleven Strike, and stepped away.
"Well Winters?" John said in a fake-annoyed voice. "We're waiting."
Victor shrugged it off and continued picking up different weapons, until he came to one he liked. It was a knife, with a seven inch long blade, and Victor spun it with ease. He balanced it on the tip of his finger by the blade, and pushed it up, watching it spin and catching it with a reverse grip.John and Alex stared at him like he'd just turned into a girl.
Victor laughed at their expressions. "Ready."
Along with their weapons, Victor picked up a handgun that Erya said "wouldn't fail him", whatever that meant. Alex had taken a few throwing knives, and John an extra short blade. The three had tried asking Erya were they were going and why they would need the weapons, but he had remained stubbornly silent. Instead, Erya lead them to more tables, these with different types of armor.
"Please make your decision, as you can only choose one item.", and with that he stepped back and let them choose.
The three decided not to take the full metal suits, as it would only slow them down and probably make them look like complete idiots. Alex found a light metal undershirt made of something Erya called slyph, and put it on under his t-shirt. The slyph shirt could stop pretty much any blade, Erya told him. John settled with a necklace with a key hanging from it that John said he found interesting. Victor found a thin, cobalt ring, which Erya had told him was the Dive Ring.
"This has more power than you realize." he said to Victor.
Victor nodded, still completely confused. He had no idea why they were here, why they were choosing weapons, and why on earth would this guy give them to him for free. John saw Victor's questioning looks, and shot him a glance that probably meant "We'll figure it out later."
"It's time to go. But be carefull, some may appear to be friends, and others enemies. Things may are not be as they seem. Fare well." Erya said as the room started to spin and Victor felt himself getting dizzy.
"Oh fignuts" was all Alex managed to say before his head hit the ground.
Victor stood up faster this time, but was still behind John in getting up. Alex, just like the last time, woke up facedown.
"Dmmmmnit." he muttered into the ground. The other two laughed, and helped their friend up.
The group found themselves on a beach, staring into a vast ocean on a bright summer day. The clear blue water and white sand looked inviting, and the three sat down in the shade of a tree and relaxed.The birds overhead looked normal enough, and if someone didn't tel them differently, they might as well have been in Hawaii.
"Did you guys have that same dream? It was really..."
"Yeah." Victor and Alex said together, cutting him off.
"Except I don't think it was that unreal." Victor said as he drew his knife from the holder behind his back.
"Great. Now we just have to find out what the hell we're doing here." Alex sighed.
"I will tell you."
The voice startled the three boys, and Victor and John turned and stood, blades in hand. They found a tall, pale man with bright, grey eyes, wearing a deep blood red cloak that covered his neck all the way to the ground. His face was gaunt and his pale lips were drawn into a tight line.
"Ok seriously, what's with the whole 'I think I'll sneak up behind them instead of introduce myself' thing?" Alex asked half seriously.
"My apologies." The cloaked man bowed. "My name is Lucifer and..."
"Wait wait wait." John said interrupting him. "As in the Lucifer? The Morningnstar?"
"Why yes, who else is there?" the fallen angel asked rather annoyed.
"Anyways, you're here because Spira needs you."
"...Spira? Is that like a country or something?" Alex asked. He wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
"No. Spira is a world. Just like yours. And all you need to do now is find the nearest town and visit it's temple. You'll know what to do from there." Lucifer didn't wait for them to answer, but rather raised his right hand into the air. A dark swirling vortex appeared, and he jumped twelve feet in the air, headfirst into a portal he created.
"What the hell is going on!?!?" Alex complained, but John kicked him in the leg.
"And what was that for?!?!" Alex shot daggers at John while holding his knee.
"Shuttup. There's something coming over that dune." Sure enough, five wolves shout out over the sand and raced towards the three.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit." Victor said as he shot and missed with his pistol. Twenty shots and one dead wolf later, and Victor still wasn't out of ammo.
'Not that I'm complaining...' he said to himself.
One wolf had tackled John and pinned him to the ground, knocking Soul Brand away. John fended it's jaws off with one hand and with his free hand, drew his shortsword "Blur". He rammed the blade through the mouth, and the wolf vanished into flying balls of light.
'This just keeps getting weirder and weirder...' John thought, and ran to help Victor.
Alex had severed one wolf in half, although he had gotten his legs pretty slashed up. A second wolf jumped at him, but he dodged it. The wolf came again, but with adrenaline coursing through his veins, Alex felt time slow down, and he brought the halberd under the wolf and cut it's stomach open. It burst into light midair. Alex had several gashes on his arms, and his jeans were shredded and covered in blood and sand. He sucked up the pain, and went to help his friend.
The wolf that Victor was fighting seemed to be the alpha male, and was almost twice the size of the other four. Victor wasn't doing to good, but in his defense, he had gotten a few good slashes at the wolf. He'd been dodging it's charges, but was getting tired, and he wondered just how long he could keep it up. The wolf quickly rebounded and charged again, and Winters couldn't move in time. He shut his eyes as tight as he could as he heard the snarling come closer to his face.
Alex watched in amazement as the wolf passed through Victor, who then dropped to the ground. Then Alex recovered his senses. He decapitated the confused wolf, and joined John next to Victor.
"How the hell did you do that??" John asked, pushing Victor over. "You almost gave me a heartattack man!"
"I think it was the Dive Ring. Watch." Victor passed his knife through his arm and drew it back out, without hurting himself. "I can pass through things. I just have to concentrate." And as if to reinforce his point, he reached through John and pulled his back out. This freaked John out a bit, and he spent the next few minutes checking if he had a hole through him or something.
"Damn...nice choice there." Alex laughed.
"Yeah, he wasn't joking when he said "it's more powerful then you realize." Victor joked, making his best high-pitched, fast talking, Erya impression.
"Looks like that wolf got you pretty good Alex." John said, pointing to his jeans and arms.
"Wolves." Alex corrected. "And these are just the new fashion." he said, motioning to his shredded jeans.
The three laughed and headed over the dunes, away from the beach and the hot sun.
Tidus and Wakka walked through the Besaid, enjoying the sunshine and talking about blitzball."I'm tellin ya, the Psychs don't stand a chance this year!" The man with the orange hair said.
"Well Rikku bet me about a hundred gil that they beat the Goers, so don't tell her that." Tidus said with a laugh. The two stopped when they saw the three pretty beat up teenagers coming into the village.
"Hey! You guys need some help?" Tidus called. Victor and the other two exchanged glances and shrugged. They walked over to the other two, who were wearing some pretty weird clothes. The big guy had on a pair of yellow...trouser things, and his hair was one giant orange wave. The other was a bit shorter, and was blond, and his shorts were cut at different lengths.
"I'm Victor, and this is John and Alex." Victor said and introduced the other two.
"You can call me Tidus, and this here is Wakka." Wakka took one look at their cut up clothes and swore.
"Fiends huh? They're not so tough here, but they can gang up on you, ya?"
"Fiends? Oh, the wolves." Alex said.
"Are you guys from around here?" Tidus asked, noticing their strange clothes. He led them back to his own house where Yuna could heal them.
"No, not exactly..." John replied.
"Oh, Luca then?" Wakka guessed.
The three shook their heads.
"We're from the US. Do you mind tellin us where we are?"
"Youess?? Never heard of it. As for this place, you can call it Besaid, the hometown of the Besaid Aurochs!" Wakka declared proudly. He frowned when they didn't recognize the name.
"What? You guys neva heard of the Aurochs?"
"Is that like...a soccer team?" Victor guesseBd hopefully.
"Blitzball!" Tidus said with amazement. "Don't tell me..." They shook their heads again. "Man, you guys are worse off then when I came here..." His voice trailed off. "Oh man. You guys are from Zanarkand aren't you?"
"No, we're from Earth. The planet?" John said, hoping that they would at least know the planet they were on.
"Earth? This is Spira." Wakka said, eyeing the three boys suspiciously.
They arrived at Tidus' house, and Yuna came outside. She swung her arms around Tidus, and he spun her around.
"Yuna, this is Alex, Victor and John."
"Oh hello." Yuna said, looking the trio over with her blue and green eyes. Her short shorts caused Alex to stare for more than a few seconds. "You look pretty bad, hold still." Yuna closed her eyes and put her hands on Alex's arms, causing him to go red.
"Hey now, pretty sure that's Tidus' girl." Victor joked, causing Alex to go redder. Tidus and Wakka just laughed.
"There, all done."
Alex stared at his arms in amazement.
"What in the world?! How'd you do that??"
"Oh, just some white magic." she said nonchalantly.
"Uhh..Yuna?" Tidus said, causing Yuna to look up at him, "These guys...well they don't really know anything about this place. They're from somewhere..else."
Yuna looked at him strangely, and then a few seconds later she nodded her head.
"Well you guys are welcome to stay here, we've got an extra room." Yuna offered.
The boys were about to accept when a man wearing a heavy red jacket and sunglasses and carrying a gigantic sword walked up to them.
"Sir Auron! What are you doing here?" Wakka, Tidus and Yuna asked at the same time.
Auron brought down his glasses, revealing his slashed eye and looked at them gravely.
"We have a problem."
"Yevon has returned?" said quietly.
"Yes, that's why theres been more fiend attacks lately." Auron paused. "And why some Summoners have received aeons."
"Aeons? But..." Tidus began before Auron cut him off.
"New aeons."
"But no one has visited the temple here..." Wakka said.
"These Summoners claim that the aeons appear to them in dreams, and they wake up able to summon them. We'll need Rikku to get Kimhari, and the two of them can search for those "Summoners" and see if their claims are true."
The Spirians continued their conversation, leaving Victor, Alex, and John to piece together their own idea of their situation in the living room.
"Ok, so pretty much theres those "fiend" things everywhere, so we're gonna have to learn to fight." John said .
"And it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit of magic like Yuna's...or if theres any offensive magic too." John continued. The three weren't that shocked in their new enviroment, they even kind of enjoyed it. No more monotonous class, no more homework, nothing to do.
"Right, well we still need to go to the temple here..." Victor said absently. Well, maybe one thing to do..
"Are you crazy? You're gonna listen to the Devil's advice?" Alex said, looking at his friend like he was insane.
"Well...between that gray thing that brought us here, Erya giving us weapons for no reason, wolves attacking us, and Yuna healing you, I'm pretty sure I've lost my marbles." Victor joked.
"...like you had em to begin with." John said with a grin.
"Ok, well we'll ask Wakka to take us to the temple, and we'll go from there." Victor decided.
Just then the front door opened and a short, blonde haired girl walked in. Victor stared at her, looking over her long legs which her short green skirt didn't really cover, and her smooth abs. She wore white arm sleeves, and Victor couldn't look away. Alex rolled his eyes and elbowed Victor in the ribs, causing the girl to laugh.
"Sorry, my friend gets a bit nervous around girls." Alex said standing up.
"Oh its okay. I'm Rikku."
"I'm Alex, and this anti-social little guy here is Victor. Oh and thats John."
"Thaaaaanks." John said sarcasticly.
Victor stood up as well, trying not to look embarassed.
"Are you looking for Yuna? She's in the kitchen with Auron, Tidus and Wakka."
"Auron? He's back?" Rikku asked them.
"Uh..I didn't know he left..." Alex said dumbly.
John elbowed Alex in the ribs and turned to Rikku.
"Yeah, they were shocked too, but apparently he's got some news."
The four of them headed for the kitchen, and as soon as Rikku saw Yuna, they ran towards eachother and hugged.
"Yunnie!" Rikku shrieked, causing Alex to cover his ears.
"Rikku! I haven't seen you in so long! How ya been?"
The two continued to catch up, as Auron pulled the three boys over.
"I know why you're here. Tonight, meet me by the temple." Auron stood up and said goodbye. Yuna asked him to stay, but he said he had some work to do. He left, and Wakka started to talk to them about blitzball.
Two hours and a lot of talking later, and the guys decided to leave the two cousins to talk. Tidus and Wakka led the three outside to practice some blitzball, which they were eager to learn after hearing about the game from Wakka. They went down to wear the Aurochs were practicing, and joined in.After about an hour, they played a practice game. Wakka, Alex, Victor, and Keepa versus John, Tidus, and two other Aurochs. So far only John seemed to be able to perform some of the trick shots Tidus had shown them. He was faster than the other two, but Alex was the strongest. e knocked John down and stole the ball, passing it to Wakka. Wakka threw the ball high in the air, and Victor jumped higher than he ever had before, flipping midair and slamming his foot into the blitzball, which made it into the goal.
"Hey that's my shot!" Tidus yelled, laughing and swimming over to Victor.
"I...don't...know...how...I...did...that." Victor panted, drained from playing so hard.
"You must've jumped, like, tweleve feet straight up!" Alex said, grinning wide and shaking his friend vigorously. The game ended there, and the guys went back up to Besaid. On their way, they were attacked by some more wolves, but a few surprisingly lethal hits from Wakka's World Champion, and Tidus' Caladbolg, and they were gone.
"Wow...I feel like a pansy now..." Alex said as he watched the two demolish the wolves.
"Nah, you'll get em soon, ya?" Wakka laughed.
Later that night Victor awoke, ready to go to the temple. He found John already up.
'Damn he's fast, always ready to go...' Victor recalled their blitzball game and their first wolf fight. No one he had ever seen moved so fast. John had changed since they had arrived. He was a little less quiet, and in the fight he was totally focused. He moved like he'd been fighting fiends for a long time. As Victor looked at him, he found John staring out the window, surveying the street below.
Victor cleared his head and moved over to wake up Alex, who was snoring so loudly it was probably why John was up.
"Hey time to go." Victor said as he slammed his pillow into Alex's head repeatedly.
"Hey stop that!" Alex said covering himself from Victor's onslaught of pillow-beatings.
The three grabbed their weapons and made for the balcony. From the third floor, the ground looked pretty far away, but John jumped anyways. The two only saw a blur as he moved, leaping up and hitting the ground rolling.
"Show off." Alex muttered, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. Alex jumped after him, and time slowed down again. He wondered if he could control it, but pushed that out of his mind as the ground approached rather quickly. He landed, much less gracefully, on his rear end.
"Oh my ass...that's gonna hurt in the morning" he winced.
Victor focused, and phased through the balcony, passing through the wood and leaving one hand there to hang from.
"Damn that still looks freaky." John said as he looked at Victor, who was hanging by one had from the balcony, and then he dropped onto the front porch.
"Ok let's go."
Valentino woke up, his head swimming and his thoughts still foggy. His training kicked in, and he quickly surveyed his surroundings.Next to him lay the Elite he'd been fighting, apparently still passed out.
'Good,' he thought, as he wasn't in the mood to deal with it. They were in a vast white room, empty as far as he could tell.He checked his armor, it was totally dead, and was weighing him down. He stripped it off, piece by piece. He was wearing a black muscle shirt and pants, his black hair stopping just at his eyes. He looked for a weapon. Finding none, he sat back, waiting for his alien friend to explain what the hell had just happened.
Zhivaree feined sleep as he watched the Demon remove his armor. He was amazed when he found it was nothing more than a weak human inside. He searched for his energy blades, but they were gone. He stirred, and the human looked up at him.
"What have you done?" the Elite growled, facing the Spartan.
"Me? Nothing at all. What have you done?" Valentino countered in an icy voice. It was slightly awkward, he had never actually spoken to a Covenant before.
"Enough of your lies, I will tear..."
"Ahem." Erya interrupted the two warriors bickering.
"Hah, so this is your plan, and this human is helping you." The Elite figured. Two humans..it was always their tactic to outnumber their opponents until their blood drowned their warriors.
"Human? I am no human. I am an unsent." Erya explained, angrily.
"Whoa, a what?" Valentino asked, keeping his eyes on the two of them.
"You will need to put aside your differences if you wish to survive." Just as Erya stopped talking, two shapes moved from across the great white room.
"Choose your weapons now!" Erya yelled at them. He was scared, no fiends have ever entered his domain. No fiends were able to. Zhivaree found two blades that looked oddly similar to his energy swords, and picked them up. Valentino settled with a long straight sword. The two reptile monsters stopped in front of the warriors, then slashed with their claws. But they were too slow for the Spartan, who jumped six feet up and brought his sword down into the creatures head. Zhivaree cloaked, his active camoflague still working, even though his shields were destroyed. He crossed his two silver swords across his chest and lashed an X into the reptiles neck.
"You fight well...for a human." Zhivaree said.
"Not bad yourself.
"I am called Zhivaree." the alien said, lowering his energy blade-looking swords into the two holster-like sheaths at his sides.
"I'm Valentino."
And for the first time in history, an Elite and a Spartan shook hands.
The Elite called Zhivaree recalled the primative greeting of the humans from his reconassaince operations, and extended his right hand to the other warrior. He grabbed it and shook.
'This Valentino is strong. The Prophets were right to fear these Demons.'
"It's time to go." Erya said, a smile playing across his face.
The two ex-enemies let go of eachothers hands and faced Erya.
"Not until you tell us why were here and where we're going." Valentino said threateningly.
"To Spira. To save the world." Erya said as the two fell to the floor and blacked out.
The night was quiet, a slight wind blowing through the small village. No one was awake at this hour, save three boys creeping in the shadows. Victor had his knife drawn and out in front of him, and his other hand grasping the gun strapped to his lower back, not eager to use either, but prepared to nonetheless. John was barely making a sound as he led the trio down the street towards the temple, staying low in the shadows at all times. Victor was having trouble keeping track of him, his movements so fluid and silent. Alex waspractically sleepwalking, and not bothering to stay quiet, and he practically ran over Victor when he came to a stop in front of the temple. The temple of Besaid was in a sad state, it's once proud entrance falling apart. Wakka had said that the temples weren't really respected anymore, not after everyone found out about Yevon's false teachings."Watch where you're going you maroon!" Victor said, pushing his larger friend off him.
"Maroon? Maroon is a color you idiot. Moron is a stupid person." Alex yawned.
"Yeah well...that's what you are."
"Will you two shut up!" John hissed. Victor looked all around, but was still unable to spot John.
"I'm on the roof, moron." John said, waving his hand so they could see him.
"see, told you its moron."
"Whatever."
John jumped down from the roof of the temple and landed next to both of them. He put a hand to his lips and pointed down the street. Victor turned and saw someone walking towards them. The figure approached, a familiar aura overcame them.
"So you came." the man said.
"Auron?" Alex guessed.
"That unsent asshole? No, you're in luck." Lucifer stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, his silver eyes shining with a slightly red glow.
"Hey man, you got allergies or something? Your eyes are kinda red." Alex informed him.
"I'm a freakin' demon!" Lucifer seethed, two ten foot black wings sweeping out and wrapping around him, causing Victor and Alex to take a step back.
"We know. But why are you here?" John said, holding his ground and showing a calm face to the devil. But on the inside, John was scared out of his mind. Even if the three had some fighting skill, he was pretty confident he wouldn't be kicking the demon's ass any time soon.
'That and even if we did, like he said, he's a freakin' demon.' he thought.
"Right. Well..." Lucifer paused, his silence a little awkward "I've lost my powers and I need your help." he said simply.
The three of them looked at him like he was joking, then burst out laughing.
"Hey thats not funny!" Lucifer yelled.
"Hahaha Lucy lost her powers!" Alex gasped as he rolled on the ground hysterically, his statement causing John and Victor to laugh even harder...if that was possible.
"Oh..my..god..I thought you were gonna kill us!" Victor panted, still catching his breath. Lucifer glared at them, wishing he could still drag their souls to hell and torture them for all eternity. Or at least for an afternoon. A really loooooong afternoon.
"Maybe that's what Erya meant by 'Things are not as they seem'!" The other two laughed more at John's Erya impression.
"Stop laughing. Get up." A voice behind them said. Instantly the boys stopped laughing, and spun around.
"Auron?" Alex guessed again. Auron ignored him, and instead addressed Lucifer.
"I know your story, so listen to theirs." Auron began to explain why the three were on Spira, and why the devil had lost his powers.
"So that god Yevon has returned, and the old aeons are fighting for him?" Alex said. The three had returned to Yuna's after their meeting with the two otherworldly beings. It was almost dawn.
"Yeah, and apparently theres a prophecy that Saviors will come, from different world, and save Spira."
"Are we sure that it's not Tidus?" John asked.
"No, he had his own prophecy, and besides, this one said Five people." Victor reasoned.
"Well there's only three of us here." John countered, and the other two realized the fact.
"Then we have to find the other two." Alex said, his voice determined.
"Don't forget the part about Lucifer." Victor said, "He's supposed to help us. And besides, he must be pissed that Yevon took his powers away from him when he came back." John nodded, glancing outside as the sun began to rise.
"Ok. So the five of us are supposed to stop Yevon from returning, but Yevon has got the old aeons and two seraphim (supreme angels) to help him." Alex said, trying to remember what Auron had explained.
"Don't forget the traitor from our world." John added gravely.That part had worried them the most. Auron had said that a ttrusted one of the otherworlder's would fight them with a power equal to their own.
"We'll worry about him later. Right now we need to train." Victor assured them, trying to change the subject. After explaining it all to them, Auron had pretty much ordered them to go to the beach an hour after sunrise to learn how to fight. He also made Lucifer teach them magic, even though the demon was still pretty pissed.
"Hey you guys awake yet?" Tidus opened the door and looked at the three. They were sitting on the floor and from the looks of it, didn't sleep at all last night.
"Well Auron's downstairs, he said you can eat when you get back from training." Tidus grinned. He knew what Auron meant by "training". It basically consisted of him fighting (a.k.a. getting his ass beat) for about an hour, followed by ten full minutes of push-ups then twenty minutes of sit-ups.
"Alright." Victor answered, standing up and reaching for his knife."
"Oh and you won't be needing your weapons, Auron's got some training ones you can use, they're the same as yours, just made out of wood." Tidus said as he went downstairs.
"Well, lets get to it." John said with a weak smile; he was dead-tired but eager to train.
Victor jumped high over his opponent, and landed behind him. He tried to kick their legs out from under them, but they jumped. Auron brought his huge wooden katana slamming down into Victor's small wooden replica of his knife. The knife snapped, and the full force of Auron's strike slammed into Victor's arm, bruising it to the bone.
"You're weak." Auron said. "You're not strong enough to fight." Victor clutched his arm, knowing what he had to do.
"One hundred push-ups" Auron had told them, "Everytime I hit you. A ten minute rest if you hit me."
So far only John had managed to hit Auron, but only a glancing blow, and then he had been slammed in the side. His ten minute rest consisted of him crying to himself in the sand. Alex was doing just about as good as Victor, meaning, he was doing horribly. His wooden halberd was too slow, but he was able to block a lot of Auron's strikes with the long handle. Suddenly, Auron dropped back into a stance, his blade held with two hands and drawn back on his right side. He thrust it forward, and Alex wasn't able to block it, and Auron's training weapon hit his sternum with a sickening crack.
"Pathetic. Now we run." Auron said, collecting the weapons from the three exhausted and sweaty teenagers.
The trail of the run was the island. All of it. Ten times. By the time they returned to the beach, Alex had vomitted twice, and Victor was ready to black out for the third time in two days. John was bending over, breathing hard.
"Not bad. Go back to Yuna's, eat, and come back here. Lucifer will be waiting for you. Same time tomorrow." Auron picked up the weapons, and walked into the village ahead of them. "I...can't...feel...anything." Alex said, his blond hair plastered to his head with sweat. Victor wiped away the sweat on his face with his already soaked shirt, and helped John pick up their friend. John and Victor had a runner's build: slim and tall. Alex on the other hand, had more muscle, and the run had been hell for him. The three stumbled to Yuna's, their legs refusing to carry them further than the porch. Tidus came out with a couple of sandwiches and water.
"Haha, yeah I remember my first day training with Auron. Nearly killed me." Tidus laughed.
The three weren't in the mood, and ate the sandwiches in two bites.
"Whoa, hold on. I'll go get some more." Tidus watched in amazement as the three devoured the food.
"We have to do that...for the next month!?" Alex said, realizing his painful future.
"Hey, we asked for it." John replied, clutching his still aching legs. He didn't look forward to it either, but they did show some improvement on their first day.
Lucifer smiled as the three boys dragged themselves down the beach. It was midday, and the sun was beating down on him. He didn't seem to mind and he kept his cloak around him.'Well at least Auron gave them hell.' he thought evilly. He wondered how the three were even able to survive the legendary guardians intense training. As the three stopped in front of him, he pushed these thoughts out of his mind."Right, magic." Lucifer started. "There are different variants, mainly: ice, water, thunder, fire, healing, and non-elemental. I will let you choose what to learn."The three considered, and Alex decided on fire, Victor on healing, and John on non-elemental. Before they even started, Lucifer made them sit down on the white sand. They sat with their legs crossed and their hands on their knees, breathing deeply. They meditated for what seemed like an hour, when Lucifer finally told Alex to stand up and face the ocean. Alex lifted his right hand foward, extending his fingers as far as he could. He closed his eyes."Concentrate. Clear your head and focus." Lucifer instructed him. Alex kept his eyes closed and stopped thinking.
"When I tell you to, I want you to gather up all of your being, and focus it through your hand. It won't be easy. When I tell you to, go ahead." Alex barely nodded, his face calm and his mind clear. "Now, Fire!" Lucifer yelled.
"Fire!" Alex yelled at the same time, his eyes open and blazing red. A jet of flames flew forward, evaporating an oncoming wave.
"Not bad...for a first timer." Lucifer said, clearly impressed by Alex's ability. Alex was told to go sit down on the dunes behind them and meditate. John was next, and Lucifer had him clear his mind, and stand with his index and middle finger pointing out into the ocean, and cast Flare.He concentrated, but after several attempts was still unable to cast the spell.
"Flare is a more advanced spell for someone at your level, you need to clear your head more. Try again later." John went to go join Alex on the dunes and meditate.
"So, the white magic. I have to say, not my specialty." Lucifer said. "You're gonna need something to heal...".
Allf of a sudden Lucifer raised both his hands and threw his crimson cloak behind him, revealing a gold chest plate. The sky darkened, blocking out the summer sun suddenly. "APOCALYPSE!" he yelled.A lightning bolt slammed down into Lucifer's open hand, and when the flash disappeared, a twelve foot sword was left in it's place. Lucifer brought his hands down, and the dark red glare left his eyes.
"This is my sword." he said bringing Apocalypse in front of his face. He stepped in front of Victor and grabbed his arm. He made a deep cut across his forearm, and Victor winced in pain. The wound turned black, and Victor guessed it was probably because of that cursed blade. Lucifer sheathed his sword at his side, and stepped away.
"Now, clear your head and heal." Lucifer said, not explaining anything else to him.
Victor remembered how Yuna had healed them, and put his right hand over the wound, focusing hard. He felt a warm heat generate from his hand, and when he opened his eyes, the wound was bloody, but healed. It left a long scar that still throbbed a little. Lucifer called the other two boys over, and drew his sword again.
"Now we fight. Alex. John. Magic only. Feel free to try to dodge. Victor, you can heal them. Or if you want, try casting some spell you come up with. This won't be long. I promise." Lucifer advanced with lightning speed, but Alex launched a Fira spell at him. Lucifer blocked it with his long sword, and slashed at him. Alex's fatigued muscles pumped adrenaline, and time slowed. Alex bent backwards Matrix style, and avoided the attack. Lucifer stopped, and from ten feet away, swung at John, who was trying to concentrate on his spell. Victor tackled John, saving him from getting killed, but getting sliced in the process. He healed the wound, and stood up, only to find himself face-to-face with the dark angel. Lucifer punched him in the stomach, and Victor bent over. Lucifer grabbed his head, and kneed him in the face. Victor passed out. Again.
By the time Victor woke up, it was already sunset. John was sleeping in the bed next to him, and his bloody and slashed shirt gave away the end of the fight with Lucifer. Alex didn't look too bad, but then again, he was the only one able to attack the Morningstar. Victor sneered as he remembered the unfair fight with Lucifer. He would practice night and day until he could stop the devil. He put on his shirt, and stood up. He let the others sleep, and went downstairs. He found Rikku sitting alone on a couch in the living room, reading a book."Hey." Victor said, his voice nervous. 'Why the hell can't I even talk to this girl?' he thought. 'It's probably because she's cute, and I'm just a nobody here.'
"Hiya." She said and smiled at him, patting the seat next to her. "Yuna and Tidus went for a walk."
Victor nodded, his voice caught in his throat.
"What is that?" he said finally, pointing at the book.
"Oh just a book someone wrote about our journey with Yuna. It's pretty accurate." Rikku said, brushing her golden hair out of her green eyes.
"Oh. Well what I really meant was what language is that?" Victor said, moving closer to her so he could look at the letters in the book.
"Oh it's in Al Bhed. I can teach you if you want." Rikku said looking him straight in the eyes.
Rikku stared at the boy. He had kind, purple eyes and a handsome face. His brown hair was messy, and his weary expression showed just how much Auron had put him through. All in all, he was kinda handsome. She guessed he was probably a little older than she was. Rikku caught herself staring, and looked back at the book in her lap.
"Uhm, maybe later." Victor said, after finding his voice. With Rikku teaching him, he probably wouldn't be able to concentrate at all.
Rikku closed the book, and put it on the floor.
"Well maybe sometime when you aren't so tired. Why don't you tell me about yourself? Where you come from?" she asked.
"Oh ok." Victor said, surprised at her request. He explained his hometown, his highschool and his family. He kept talking, and Rikku was a good listener. She seemed fascinated by everything that he told her, especially the part about his family. He got around to talking about his mom and dad, and his older brother. He was a little homesick.
"Basically I've lived in my brother's shadow all my life. " Victor confessed after ten minutes. "Well nothing compared to Yuna I guess, I mean, her father was a High Summoner after all..."
"Mmhmm, and she lived up to it! I'm sure you will too." Rikku said earnestly, smiling at the teenager.
"Yeah. I hope so. But if my brother was here, he'd probably have found out why he'd be here by now..."
"So you're friends, Alex and John? What are they like?" Rikku asked, noticing the subject was a little sore for him.
"Well Alex is my best friend. He's pretty funny, and everyone seems to like him more. Probably because he's bigger and has better people skills." Victor sighed, but continued. "As for John, he's pretty quiet, but he's a good guy. Everyone misunderstands him. They take him for a pushover, but in reality he isn't." Victor sighed as he remembered high school. "I don't really have a lot of good friends, some people say I'm a little anti-social. They're probably right."
Rikku put her hand on his arm and looked at him.
"No you're not."
"How would you know?" Victor said, more rudely than he inteded.
"I've been talking to you for almost half an hour now, and you're saying your anti-social? she said in a slightly reprimanding tone.
"No, it's just that.." Victor let his voice died down, and Rikku pulled her hand back.
"I'm sorry, it's just been a really long day."
"It's alright, you just need to be more confident. I mean, you seem to get along with everyone just fine." Rikku said quietly.
The front door opened and Rikku and Victor looked up to find Yuna with her legs wrapped around Tidus' waist, kissing him deeply. Tidus struggled to close the door with one hand, while still holding Yuna against him. Rikku and Victor looked at eachother and tried their best to stop from laughing.
"Get a room Yunnie!" Rikku giggled at her cousin. Yuna's eyes went wide as she turned her head and noticed the two sitting on the couch. Tidus let her down, but still had a big grin on his face.
"Oh. We're uh...going to go to bed now. Goodnight!" Yuna said as she buttoned up her shirt and ran up the stairs to her room with Tidus following her.
"Like they're gonna get any sleep tonight." Rikku said with a laugh.
SighThat's the first chapter, any questions just ask. I've got the second and third chapter written out, but I'd like to know if anyone would want to read it.
Well R&R.
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