Author's Note: Final Fantasy X and X-2 are owned and created by Square Enix. I take no credit in creating the characters or world in either games. I have, however, created characters of my own in this story and do take credit for them.
In a land called Spira, an entity known only as "Sin" plagued the world with destruction and death. The only individuals able to combat this beast of unspeakable power effectively were those known as "summoners". As their name implies, these people had the ability to call upon powerful beings called "Aeons", entities created from the dreams people who had willingly sealed themselves in a permanent state of slumber. With Aeons as their allies, the summoners would embark on individual pilgrimages to obtain the "Final Aeon", the one way the summoners could kill Sin. The Final Aeon came with a high price, however. In order to use it, the summoner must sacrifice one of their companions taken on their pilgrimage. The "guardian" would become the vessel which harnessed the power of the Final Aeon, and to summon it, the summoner had to sacrifice themselves as well. Each time the Final Aeon was summoned, it destroyed Sin and brought forth a ten year period known as "the Calm", a time where Sin would not exist. But after the ten years, Sin would return and the cycle would begin again.
A thousand years after Sin first appeared, a young summoner named Yuna, following the footsteps of her father, the great summoner Lord Braska, began her own pilgrimage in an attempt to destroy Sin. Accompanied and supported by her guardians, she traveled across Spira, gaining the aid of the Aeons scattered amongst the land. While originally a devout follower of the teachings of Yevon, a summoner from the time Sin first appeared, Yuna and her friends uncovered more of the hidden facts surrounding Sin and the Aeons. Eventually, they encounter Lady Yunalesca, an undead summoner chosen by Yu Yevon himself to pass down the ability to summon the Final Aeon. Yuna began to question the nature of the Final Aeon, and eventually discovered that after the Final Aeon destroyed Sin, it would be possessed by Yu Yevon, who would transform it into a new Sin, a process which took ten years. Refusing to follow that path that countless others had, Yuna and her party instead battle Yunalesca and killed her, forever destroying the ability to obtain the Final Aeon. The group then assaulted Sin itself, penetrating it to its core and fought Yu Yevon. In the ensuing battle, the Aeons that Yuna had befriended on her pilgrimage sacrificed themselves to herald Yu Yevon's defeat. With Yu Yevon defeated, Sin could never be resurrected, which brought forth a time known as the "Eternal Calm".
Two years passed after the defeat of Sin. The summoner Yuna had shed her teachings of Yu Yevon and walked a path of her own. She joined up with her friend and former guardian, Rikku, as part of a group of "sphere hunters" known as the Gullwings. Yuna's motivation for doing so was to find out more about a sphere which contained images of a man who looked like Tidus, Yuna's love, who had faded from existence after the defeat of Sin. Yuna, Rikku, and another sphere hunter named Paine, embarked on their own adventure Their travels eventually lead them to encounter Shuyin, a young man who lived a thousand years ago, who spirit is now driven by his rage over the deaths of himself and his lover, Lenne. Shuyin planned to take control of a machine known as Vegnagun, planning to destroy Spira with its power. The Gullwings, with help from leaders and fellow sphere hunters, found Vegnagun, dismantled it, and defeated Shuyin. After his defeat, Lenne appeared and calmed down the raging spirit, allowing the two to fade away in peace. As a gift to Yuna, the Fayth, who had been controlled by Shuyin in his rage, resurrected Tidus. The Gullwings disbanded, and Yuna, Rikku, and Paine went their separate ways. They would reunite a few months later to climb a mysterious tower. Though the person who brought the group together was unknown initially, Paine revealed that she was the one who reunited them for another adventure. After reaching the top of the tower, the three promised to keep in contact with each other, making sure their unbreakable bond would be just that. The three again went their separate ways, Yuna, back to her life with Tidus on Besaid, Rikku, to searching for sunken technology, and Paine, back to her world-spanning travels.
And now...
It has been a year since Shuyin's defeat. The various factions that had been established after Sin's most recent defeat had been dissolved to lead Spira into a new age. The leaders of the dissolved factions banded together for this cause, but since they have, their followers have had difficulties mixing in with each other. The temples that once stood as homes to the Aeons have now been sealed off to the public. Occasionally, fiends would make their way into the structures and it fall on whoever stepped up at the time to exterminate the unwelcome visitors. These sorts of opportunities would draw people to the temples that would seek hidden treasures lost within.
This story begins at Kilika Temple, the former home of the Aeon Ifrit, which has become occupied by fiends. Following the rumors of rare treasure within a hidden chamber, Rikku became a hired hand in an effort to find the rumored treasure. Unsure of what she'll find, the young Al Bhed ventures into the temple...
The corridors of Kilika's temple were dimly lit by small sconces, the hissing and growling of a variety of fiends could be heard echoing through the stone halls, accompanied by the crackle of the fire within the lit sconces and the roar of massive fires from deeper within the temple. Occasionally, the cry of a fiend bing slain could be heard. This once peaceful temple had been turned into a battleground. There were those, however, that would take advantage of it.
A pair of green eyes with corkscrew pupils gazed down the maze of hallways from around a corner. Seeing a fiend come in to view from down the corridor, the Al Bhed girl ducked out of sight, pressing her back up against the wall, her hands tightly gripping twin daggers. In the monts that had passed since she and the Gullwings had last been together, very little had changed about her attire. She wore a slightly larger leather belt which was adorned with multiple pouches as well as numerous trinkets. Still sporting blonde hair tied into a ponytail with additional braids and donning her yellow bikini, brown skirt, scarf, gloves, sleeves, and the blue headband, she had acquired a new pair of boots. Similar to her previous ones in color scheme, blue and white, the boots now had laces and a blue bow at the top of the boot, meeting with the bottom of her calf.
Letting out a deep breath, Rikku rounded the corner and vanished into the shadows. The large fiend, a scaley quadruped, was looking in a direction different from the one Rikku was approaching from, unaware that it was being stalked. A flash of steel announced the arrival of Rikku, who snuck up behind the fiend without it sensing her at all. She crouched down, her daggers held tight, and pounced. The fiend felt Rikku's feet on its back, which was followed by two very sharp blades piercing the back of its neck. The fiend reared up and yelped in a vain effort to shake the assailant from its back. Rikku gritted her teeth, keeping the blades sunk in the fiend's neck. Moments later, the fiend collapsed, turning into a small cluster of glowing pyreflies and dispersed seconds later.
"Rikku.... yna oui ugyo?" said a voice in her ear. Rikku tossed the dagger in her right hand to her left hand and put her index finger up to her ear. "Oac, Broher. Yc muhk yc E kad dra tnub uh dras. E fuh'd ryja bnupmasc." responded Rikku. The Al Bhed looked around then began to silently pad down the hallway. "That's about twenty so far... That should be enough." she said to herself. A grin crept across her lips. "Time to look around for a bit..." Rikku pressed up against a wall and peered around a corner. "Buddy," she said. "How close am I to the target?" A voice different from the one before responded, "Still a ways away. You should take that turn that you're up against." Rikku peeked around the corner. "That will get you closer." continued Buddy. Rikku nodded. "Okay. Thanks!" she replied. The radio went silent as Rikku crept down the hallway, sticking into the shadows as much as she could, wary of any fiends that might come across her path. Buddy's voice was heard again on the radio. "Have you encountered any other... treasure hunters yet?"
Rikku shook her head. "Not yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say that LeBlanc is in here somewhere. She seems to know about a lot of this stuff before we do." replied Rikku as she rounded another corner, her eyes studying the wall. "Do you know any big names working the temple right now? Any that got hired?" asked the Al Bhed. "Well," began Buddy. "I managed to get a small list of some of the people that got hired. Pretty much just the random handful of soldiers of fortune. A groups here and there, but mainly people on their own." Rikku walked into a small room with a large brazier in the center, a roaring flame on top of the brass bowl. "Thanks Buddy. I'll let you guys know if I'm having any trouble." Rikku replied, looking around the room once more. Brother's voice was then heard over the radio. "Rikku, pa lynavim." Rikku nodded with a slight smile and responded, "E femm." The radio went silent as the Al Bhed vanished into the shadows again, leaving no trace of her passing.
In another part of the temple, in a hallway filled with pyreflies, three men stood at the end. One stood a little under six feet tall, another a few inches taller than six feet, and the last a monster of a man at nearly seven feet tall. The three were wearing suits of combat armor. The two shorter men were light combat armor, which was entirely black and consisted of a helmet, chest guard, combat boots, gauntlets, and plating on the legs. The plating had a slight sheen to it, and although it appeared heavy duty, it seemed rather lightweight. The parts of their bodies that weren't covered by the armor were covered by a black fabric of some sort. The helmet was smooth, sleek, and encompassed the wearer's entire head. A tinted glass covered the face while the rest of the helmet was made of the same materiel that the rest of the armor was made of. Small vertical slits were on the back of the helmet to allow airflow. The largest man's armor was much different from the armor his companions wore. Though it appeared to be made of the same material that the other armor is made from, the plating on this armor was much thicker and heaver, and the sheen present on the lighter version was absent. The bulky plating of the armor covered any part of the body it could, with the flexible parts substituted with the black fabric. This suit lacked a helmet, revealing the wearer to be a bald man who looked to be around thirty years old with skin the color of chocolate and dark brown eyes. He held a cigar end in his teeth and occasionally let out puffs of smoke.
The three of them carried different weaponry as well. The shortest carried a pistol in his hand, one that had runic engravings all over it. He had holsters slung across his shoulders. One was empty, the other contained a pistol identical to the one he was holding. Strapped on the bands of the holsters were clips of ammunition for his weapons. The other man wearing light combat armor carried a sniper rifle nearly five feet long. Mounted on the top of the gun was a scope of some sort, and further down the length of the gun was a stand which at this point was folded in. It had a singular barrel and was clip fed. Much like his counterpart, this man had bandolier slung across his chest, adorned with nothing but clips for his weapon. The largest of the three carried multiple weapons. At the moment, he held only one: a light machine gun with a box magazine. On his back, attached by magnetic bars on his armor, were a pair of identical, heavy-looking clip fed shotguns with pistol grips. Strapped to his lower back was another weapon. This one was a sawn-off shotgun. The barrels were made out of a heavy looking metal and the barrels were mounted on top of each other rather than side to side. It had a pistol grip, and from the hinge on the weapon, it was break action. He had two bandoliers slung on his chest. Both contained ammunition for his weapons. Strapped to his left leg was another holster of sorts, but this one holstered a number of metal canisters.
The pyreflies floated away as the three men observed. The heavily-armed man let out a puff of smoke as the smallest looked around, lowering his weapon. He observed the hallways, then spoke. "Split up." he said. The three went down separate hallways, all at different paces. The largest man was walking, the man carrying the sniper rifle was running, and the pistol wielding man was power walking down the hall. "Good thing we drew 'em out into the hallway." the pistol wielding man said into a radio in his helmet. "Didn't think there would be so many in the hallways." he continued. The largest man shrugged as he walked down the hallway. "Made it easier to find what we're supposed to be 'exterminating'." he replied. A shot was heard, and following that, the voice of the man carrying the sniper rifle announced over their radios, "106." The large man smiled. "106? That all?" he said. "You better catch up, Ironsight." The large man continued down the hallway, smiling. The man with the sniper rifle, amidst a cluster of pyreflies paused. "'That's all?' What are you at?" he asked. "110." replied the large man. Ironsight gritted his teeth. "Damn!" he shouted as he continued running down the hallway. The pistol wielding man pressed his back up against a wall near a corner and peeked around. The large man's voice was heard on the radio. "What are we doing in here again, Ace? If we're here because of the monsters..." asked the large man. The pistol wielding man replied, "Why wouldn't we be here?" he said, smiling. "This temple's been off limits to the general public, and that has to be for a reason. Maybe the world's leaders don't want us to unearth anything about the past." Ace continued, turning the corner and moving down the hallway.
"You actually think there's some dirty secret hidden in the temples that those guys don't want us to know about?" replied the large man, seeing a fiend at the end of the hall, one with lupine characteristics. He walked down, aiming his weapon. "We've gone on with less." he muttered. After speaking, he fired his machine gun sending a volley of bullets at the fiend. The fiend was torn to shreds by the attack and dispersed into a cloud of pyreflies. Ace smiled. "In any case, whatever we find is gonna have to be of some value." he said with glee. Ironsight spoke, saying, "But we're definitely not the only ones here with that frame of mind." Ace nodded. "I know. So let's get to hunting." said Ace. The large man shook his head. "Do we even know what the hell we're looking for other than some 'secret chamber'?" he asked. "Are we blowing up some walls this time around?" the large man asked, grinning. "No." Ace replied. "This place looks like it's not very structurally sound. You blow something up, the whole temple might collapse."
The large man, sighed. "Fine. I'll just bash through the weak walls."
Rikku heard gunshots from multiple hallways. She has suspected that LeBlanc and her cohorts would be here, but the gunshots she heard were unfamiliar, not recognizing them from any gun she knew about. Rikku dashed down a hall, proceeding deeper into the temple. "Rikku, just found out something you might like to here." began Buddy. "I did find out that the Canoneers are around." Rikku sighed. "Those guys? I thought they got picked up in Bevelle." she replied. Buddy coughed. "That was the rumor, but apparently they escaped through the sewers and are back out there." Buddy replied, the chirping and clicking of a console in the background could be heard as he talked. "Disasteriffic." huffed Rikku. "Nothing better than some rogue guns from the Machine League going around and causing trouble." "Yeah." agreed Buddy. "They're not getting paid for a job at the temple, so they're not there right now. But I hear that they're in the jungle outside of Kilika somewhere. Be careful, Rikku. These guys may not be invited, but that doesn't mean they won't crash the party. They won't play nice either, especially if they think there's something in here worth taking."
"I'll be fine." said Rikku. She walked into a large room with moss growing on the walls. As she walked through, her mind wandered, thinking of her times spent with Yuna and Paine. She missed those times, wishing that the two were with her for a mission like this. Snapping back to reality, Rikku rushed ahead.
As the young Al Bhed girl continued down the hallway, entering the room from a different hallway was the heavily armed and armored man, a smoldering cigar still clenched in his teeth. He sighed, lowering his gun and pulling the cigar out of his mouth. He hadn't heard anything from his companions in a while. "Did you two fall in or something?" he said into his radio, biting down on his cigar again. "Yeah. Apparently the only toilets here are for Ifrit." replied Ace. The man smiled. "I'm not getting anything over where I'm at. How are you guys doing?" he asked. Ironsight was the first to reply. "Nothing where I'm at." said the sniper. "Ditto." Ace chimed in. "We'll probably find something deeper in the temple. I'm gonna head in further." said the cigar-smoking man, walking down the hallway that Rikku had just gone down.
In another hall, Ace peered down another hallway, and standing further down it was a group of women, led by a man. The women were all dressed in dark pink uniforms, wearing a heart-shaped mask and carrying metal fans. The man leading them was tall and slender, carrying dual revolvers. Ace dashed back down the hall he had just come from and darted into a recess that sheltered a statue. As he went out of sight, the man and his female cohorts came to the intersection Ace had been hiding at. "Right." he spoke. "Fan out. We need to find that compartment and secure it for our Mistress. Keep in groups. You see encounter anything, call the rest of us in." The slender man waved his hand and the women dashed through the halls, not noticing a concealed Ace. The slender man walked back down the hallway he had come from, and as soon as the hallway was clear, Ace stepped out from his hiding place, gripping his pistol.
"Careful, guys." said Ace. "We were right about LeBlanc being here. She brought more people than expected." continued Ace as he walked back to his corner. "I just ran into that skinny henchman, and he had a lot of LeBlanc's.... uh.... members with him." Ace said as he peered around the corner again, the slender man out of sight. "Figures. She's 'in league' with that Nooj guy." responded Ironsight. Ace nodded. "Yeah. That one kinda surprised me." said Ace. The heavily-armed man spoke over the radio. "Hey, Ace," he said. "Which one is the skinny guy?" Ace pressed up against the wall, looking down either side of the hall he was in. "Uh... Logos, I think. Why does it matter?" responded Ace.
Farther in the temple, standing over the beaten bodies of a large man with a giant shield and at least half a dozen of female soldiers dressed in the same way as the ones deployed by the skinny man, was the heavily-armed man, who at the time held his cigar in one hand and held his rifle in the other, though was grabbing it by the stock. "Just knocked out Ormi." he replied. "You didn't kill him, did you?" asked Ace. "Nah. Just sent him off for a nap." replied the heavily armed man, who turned and walked down another hall. The heavily-armed man bit on his cigar again, saying, "One less thing to worry about." as his heavy footsteps announced his advance deeper into the hallways of the temple.
From behind a statue in the room where Ormi lay unconscious, Rikku slipped out. She was somewhat worried after seeing a single man take down Ormi and some of LeBlanc's cronies. As soon as she was sure that he was out of earshot, Rikku spoke on her radio. "Hey, Buddy. You ever hear of a guy wearing some heavy-duty armor and carrying enough guns to take on the Crusaders?" she asked, staying in the shadows. For a moment there was silence, but then Buddy responded. "Uh... I've heard rumors about some guys that wear this black combat armor. From what I hear, it's a trio of mercenaries, but the three of them are apparently highly skilled." Buddy answered. Rikku furrowed her brow. "That's kinda vague." she said. "Can't give me something solid?" said the Al Bhed girl as she looked down the hall that the heavily-armed man had gone down. "Well, the groups on the list don't fit the bill. I know who most of them are on there. Could be those guys snuck in without being hired." he said. "Why are you asking about this anyway? Did you see one?" asked Buddy. Rikku leaned against a wall, responding, "I just saw this monster of a man knock out Ormi and some of LeBlanc's goons with nothing more than his rifle butt." There was another silence on the radio. "All right. I'll see if I can't find out anything about these guys." he said.
Rikku looked down the hallway again. The large man was not there. Without another word, she dashed down the hall again. Rikku zig-zagged down a small network of halls before coming into a large domed room with a few hallway entrances. The walls were covered in runic carvings. Rikku looked around the well lit room, not seeing the heavily-armed man. As she turned her back, she heard a pair of heavy footsteps and turned around immediately. Standing across from her was the heavily-armed man, the cigar held in his teeth. Rikku held her daggers up, ready to fight. The man had his machine gun slung over his shoulder, looking back at Rikku. Neither said a word as the two looked at each other. Rikku was ready to strike at any moment, ready to explode at the first sight of movement. The heavily-armed man took his cigar out of his mouth. "Dibs." he said.
The Al Bhed girl flinched. "Uh.... What?" she retorted. The man pointed his cigar over a t a wall behind her. "I got here first. Dibs." the man repeated. Rikku wore a baffled expression on her face as she stood up straight, lowering her weapons. The man spoke into his radio. "Hey, Ace, I found what we're looking for. Think you guys can get to where I'm at?" he said. "En route." Ace replied. "En route." echoed Ironsight. Rikku paused. "Uh... You're not gonna fight me?" she asked. The man shook his head. "No. You're not going to fight me." he replied. The heavily-armed man took a puff of his cigar and let out a small billow of smoke. "I'm guessing that you saw what I did to Ormi and his groupies?" the man asked. Rikku nodded. "The only reason that I did that is because LeBlanc pisses me off. That and that walking turd Ormi got in the way of what I was doing." explained the man. Rikku, still bewildered, asked, "Then why am I not going to fight you?" The heavyily-armed man shrugged. "You wouldn't wanna end up like them, would you?" he said as he looked at the wall he had pointed at.
Rikku relented. If the rest of the Gullwings were here, this would be a different story, but the Al Bhed girl nodded, sheathing her daggers. "Paddan milg haqd desa." she mumbled. The man looked back at her. "Sorry about that." he said. "How about this: you can take our kills." Rikku tilted her head and looked back at the man. "What?" she asked. Over the radio, Ironsight yelled, "WHAT!?!" The man sighed. He spoke into his radio. "Hey, we still killed them, she's just taking credit for them. Not like we're getting paid for this anyway." the man reasoned. Ironsight didn't respond. "I'm almost there, Sarge." Ace said. The heavily-armed man nodded. Rikku looked over. "So, how many have you guys killed?" she asked. As Sarge was about to answer, footsteps could be heard. Sarge puffed his cigar and gripped his machine gun with one hand, reaching down to his leg where the canisters were. "Friends of yours?" said Rikku, looking down the hallway where the footsteps could be heard. Sarge shook his head, gripping one of the canisters in his hand. Taking this as a cue, Rikku drew her daggers. Coming into view was Ormi, flanked by Logos and multiple female goons. "That's him!" yelled Ormi pointing a finger at Sarge, standing a good distance away from he and Rikku. "That's the guy that got the drop on me!" Sarge shrugged. "That your excuse? Do I look like the kind of guy that needs to get the drop on anyone?" the heavily-armed man retorted.
"Speaking of 'drop'..." said Sarge. He tossed the canister at Ormi, who caught it without thinking about it. Ormi and Logos's eyes widened as Sarge held a small black detonator. Ormi dropped the canister as he, Logos, and their cronies turned, trying to flee. Sarge pressed down on the detonator. The canister exploded, collapsing the hallway that the LeBlanc Syndicate had come through. Rikku lowered her daggers and looked back at Sarge, who tossed his cigar butt to the side. The grinding of stone could be heard as the walls around them began to shift. Stone started falling from the ceiling, nearly hitting Rikku, who nimbly dodged. Ace entered the room. "Damn!" he exclaimed. Rikku dodged falling rocks, trying the make it to the other side of the room, not noticing where Sarge had gone. A large rock struck her in the shoulder and the Al Bhed girl fell to the floor. She looked up and saw another group of falling rocks bearing down on her.
Sarge groaned as he looked up at the ceiling. As the room began to collapse, he fell through a weak spot in the floor, which turned out to be a hidden stairwell. The heavily armed man stood up, many of his weapons missing. He had dropped his machine gun and the two weapons on his back had fallen off as he fell down the hidden staircase. However, his sawn-off shotgun was still present and strapped to his lower back. Sarge rolled his neck a bit and walked down the remaining staircase, which lead to a room which emanated a bluish glow. Upon entering the room, Sarge reached into a pouch on one of his bandoliers and drew out a cigar. As he was about to reach in again, he saw a pedestal in the center of the room with a small recess in it. Nestled in the recess was a red sphere, shimmering brightly. Littered around the room were runes which glowed blue, some of which trailed to the sphere. Sarge walked up to the pedestal and placed his hand on the sphere. He took hold and felt an intense warmth emanating from it. Sarge gripped the sphere and yanked it from the recess with little effort. The runes in the room lifted from the walls and were drawn into the sphere. The glowing rune no longer remained. Instead, the room was filled with a red light, centered on the sphere. Sarge nodded in approval. "Nifty." he said.
Behind Sarge, something began moving. With piercing red eyes, razor sharp teeth and claws, and long jagged horns, a beast in the shadows had its gaze fixed on Sarge. Sarge smiled. "Now to find a way out of here.... But I gotta get this cigar going first." he said. Sarge turned, holding the sphere in one hand and pointing his cigar at the beast. Sarge's smile widened into a grin. "How about it beastie? Got a light?"