A/N: Against my better judgement, I am starting to post this fic on here. Two of my stories are on hiatus because this story is before the other two. This story takes place literally minutes after my fic "A Sorceress And Her Knights" ended. Make sure you read my new story in the FF8 section called "Pride of a Lion," otherwise parts of this story won't make sense. It starts off the same, but from a different character's POV and branches off into its own story only to merge with this one later on (in many chapters later). With these first few chapters, you may wonder why it's in the FFX category, but you will understand soon enough. Make sure to read and review to tell me how you like it so far!
Disclaimer: All characters in this chapter are property of Squaresoft (now Square Enix). This will be the only time I put that in this story. Oh, I forgot...Kaelen is my own creation so I do have my own character here! P
Chapter 1: A New Journey
After the monsters that had surrounded me were defeated, Zell helped me into the ballroom and I chose a chair nearby to sit in. "What were those things?" I asked as I raked my fingers through my hair. I forgot that my hair was in a ponytail, so my fingers were caught halfway.
Edea quickly made her way over to me and asked, "Are you alright Eternity?" I nodded and turned my eyes down to the floor before me. "This is not good," I turned my eyes back to Edea as Edea stood and paced a few times while she seemed to be thinking about something. Cid came over to us and Edea asked, "May I borrow your phone please?"
"Sure," Cid answered and reached into his vest pocket to pull out his cell phone. He handed the phone to Edea and she smiled gratefully.
Edea opened the phone and began to dial a number, she then put it to her ear. "Yes, may I speak to Braska please? This is his sister Edea...yes, thank you," Edea crossed her arm across her midsection and tapped her foot on the tiled floor, which made clicking sounds as she waited for Braska to pick up the phone on his side. "Yes, Braska...they're here...yes...yes...I understand...yes...okay. Good bye." Edea hung up the phone and handed it back to Cid. Edea turned to the people standing around staring at her and she asked, "Would somebody please go get Yuna? Tell her it's urgent. I will be in Cid's office." Edea began walking toward the door as a few students ran out to find Yuna.
"Eternity, Zell...please follow us to Cid's office. You may want to know what those things were and what it means," Edea told us. Cid followed Edea out of the ballroom, and we both followed Cid.
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"What's wrong?" Yuna asked as she came into Cid's office, closely followed by Lulu and Wakka.
"Please, sit down," Cid instructed them as he stood with his hands behind his back.
"You understand what your father did ten years ago don't you?" Edea cut in. "With his pilgrimage and defeating Sin?"
"Yes," Yuna answered nervously as she glanced at Cid. "Why?"
"Because Sin is back. As a Summoner, it is your duty to go on your own pilgrimage and get the Final Aeon. If you succeed, you know what that means?" Edea asked.
"Yes...the Final Summoning..." Yuna answered.
"I always wondered how your father survived that," Edea thought to herself, "we all thought he had died. That is what we were even told." She then turned to me and continued, "Those things that attacked you earlier Eternity, were what is called Sinspawn. Sin creates them and they will attack anything they see."
"So the stories about Sin are true?" Zell asked as he leaned forward in his chair.
"Yes," Lulu answered before Edea could.
"I've never heard of Sin before," I replied while looking at Zell.
"Oh, Sin's a badass! It goes around destroyin' things when it comes back from wherever the hell it goes to," Zell told me.
"Sin seeks places that use Machina. It never attacks anything that is free of Machina, this is why the teachings of Yevon forbid the use of them," Lulu finished for Zell.
"Unfortunately, this Garden and every other Garden is made from Machina," Cid told us all.
"Machina means machine right?" I asked to nobody in particular.
"Yes," Edea answered simply.
"I knew this day would come," Yuna told herself as she stared down at the floor. "I didn't expect it to be here so fast."
"We need to go to Besaid Temple, ya?" Wakka asked. He was being so unusually quiet that I forgot he was even in the room with us.
"Yes, as soon as possible," Lulu answered.
"You may use the Ragnarok to get there quickly," Cid started and Lulu was about to say something, but Cid held his hand up, "no arguments about it. You all need to get to Besaid ASAP and the Ragnarok is the fastest way there. It will only take you about twenty minutes to get there from here."
"Cid is right," Edea started. "We just prevented one world disaster with Sorceress Ultimecia, only to be met with another one with Sin."
"Kimahri should be in Besaid already, so that will be three Guardians for you Yuna," Lulu smiled at the younger girl.
That is when Yuna turned to me, "Would you...you and Zell...also be my Guardians?"
"Guardians?" I asked. I felt stupid having these things explained to me.
"Every Summoner has a Guardian or two," Edea began to answer, "they protect the Summoner on their pilgrimage."
"And you are the most powerful person I've ever met Eternity," Yuna cut in as she turned her body towards me.
"I'm in if Eternity's in," Zell told her. "What d'ya say Eternity?"
"I...would need to speak to Squall first, to see if he would take care of Kaelen," I replied uncertainly. I wondered if he would look after our son or not.
"We need to leave tonight," Lulu told me. "Or as soon as possible."
I nodded and said, "I'll go speak to him right now," before standing and making my way to the elevator door.
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I waited patiently after knocking on Squall's door. He opened it not too long afterwards, "Do you know what time it is?" he asked groggily. The only thing Squall wore was a blue pair of sleeping pants and a pair of white socks.
"I need to speak to you, it's important and cannot wait," I replied. Squall held the door open so I could walk in. After I did, he closed the door and waited for me to start. I was relieved to see that he was alone in his room, which meant Rinoa was staying somewhere else. "It's about Kaelen...I need to leave Garden and I have nobody to look after him for me. Would you take care of him until I come back?"
"Why can't you take him with you?" Squall asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He might get hurt if I do..." I trailed off as I averted my eyes to the floor for a second before meeting his again.
"What do you mean?" Squall pressed as he smoothed his hair out of his eyes.
"Let's just say that it's my turn to help save the world," I answered conspiratorially with a small smile. I didn't know how much information I was allowed to tell Squall.
Squall stared at me for a few minutes before finally saying, "Alright...I'll look after him. When are you leaving?"
"Sometime...what time is it?" I asked.
"There's a clock," Squall pointed to his desk and the clock read '12:32'.
"I'll be leaving anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours. Lulu wants to leave as soon as possible, but it could be later today," I answered while turning my eyes back to Squall.
"Where is Kaelen now?" Squall asked.
"He's at my dorm with Ellone," I told him. "I'm about to go pack and get ready to go."
"I'll come with you and get him," Squall told me. He and I left his dorm to go to mine.
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After I finished packing, I left my personal room to put my bag near the door. "How long will you be gone?" Squall asked me.
"I'm not sure," I answered truthfully while inspecting my bag to make sure it was all zipped up.
"Eternity?" Squall started so I turned around to face him. He had both arms held up in front of him which confused me. "Come here," Squall ordered as he jerked his head back slightly, signaling for me to go over to him. So, I gave him a hug which he gladly returned. I loved being in Squall's strong embrace, especially when he was shirtless. I enjoyed the moment with my head against Squall's chest as he hugged me a little tighter and rested his head on the top of mine.
There was a knock on my door, so Ellone went and answered it. "There ya are!" Zell exclaimed. "Hey, how 'bout a group hug?" Zell walked over and wrapped an arm around mine and Squall's shoulders. "It's nice seeing this side of you Squall." Zell turned his gaze to me and asked, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, but I want to say goodbye to Kaelen first," I answered as I broke the embrace with Squall and walked over to the other room that used to be Ariana's. I walked in and found Kaelen sound asleep on the bed. I gave a sad smile as I realized I wouldn't be around for awhile to give him the attention he needed from me.
"Let me," Squall came in and made his way over to the bed, which was against the wall. He gently eased Kaelen into his arms, trying not to wake him.
"It's fine if he wakes up," I told Squall with a reassuring smile. Squall nodded, then nudged Kaelen awake with a hand.
Kaelen yawned before slowly opening his eyes and then he looked groggily around at his surroundings. "Daddy?" he asked quietly with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"Yeah Kaelen..." Squall replied.
"Kaelen?" I began as I took the few steps needed to stand in front of Squall. Kaelen was rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Mommy has to leave for a little while...your daddy will be watching over you, okay?"
"Where you going?" Kaelen asked.
"Um..." I tried to come up with an answer that he would understand but wasn't very successful.
"Your ma and I need to go save somebody from some bad people," Zell cut in for me.
"But why you have to go?" Kaelen asked in a whiny voice.
"Because I have to protect cousin Yuna. I can't do that here, but your father will protect you...okay?" I answered.
"Okay," Kaelen gave another yawn as he rested his head against Squall's shoulder.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Zell told us while rummaging in his duffle bag. He produced a camera of some sort and explained, "We can take pictures with my digital camera and then have them printed out. It only takes seconds to print them, then a lot of copies can be made for anyone who wants one." Zell studied each of us before continuing, "Squall, Eternity, Kaelen and Sis...all of you stand by each other."
"I don't want to be in any pictures," Squall complained. I grinned as I stood in front of Squall, while Ellone stood beside him.
"Heh, you're the father Squall, and besides, Eternity would have a picture of you ta look at whenever she wanted to," Zell replied. I turned my head to look at Squall only to find him staring at me, so I simply shrugged.
Squall gave a defeated sigh as he said, "Fine. But hurry up, I have paperwork to do later, so I need my sleep."
Zell turned the camera on and waited a few seconds while he put the eyepiece to his eye. Then, he pushed down on a button and told us, "A few more...Squall, hand Kaelen over to Eternity and wrap your arms around her waist."
"Why?" Squall asked with some irritation at being ordered around.
"Just do it," Zell gave a grin as he watched through the camera lens. Squall handed Kaelen over to me and I held him lovingly in my arms. Kaelen leaned his head on my shoulder and I felt Squall's arms wrap around my waist. Zell clicked the button again and asked, "Sis, would you take a picture with me in it?"
"Sure Zell," Ellone went and took Zell's spot as he nudged Squall from behind me, wrapping his own arms around my waist in the process.
Squall began to walk away, but Zell said, "Hold up Squall. You can stand beside Eternity...you can hold Kaelen too."
"What is this point of this?" Squall asked while scowling.
"Well, Kaelen is your son right? I think ya should get as many pictures together while he's young," Zell answered. Squall gave another sigh as he once again took Kaelen in his arms and held him.
"We better be finished soon, I have a lot of things to get done as I've said before," Squall complained.
"A few more pictures," Zell assured him.
Soon enough, we finished taking the pictures and I turned to Squall and saw that Kaelen was fast asleep again. "I'm leaving now." Squall told us while walking towards the door with Kaelen in his arms, and Ellone hurried to the door and opened it for him. Before Squall was through the door, he turned towards us and said, "I want both of you to be careful out there. Zell, you know how dangerous it can be."
"Right," Zell answered him and Squall left. Ellone closed the door as Zell turned to me, "Ready to go?"
"I guess," I answered him while making my way to my bags. I put my duffle bag over my shoulder and picked up my suitcase, which Cid let me borrow.
"I still need to go to my room and get the rest of my stuff," Zell told me while opening the door and exiting.
I followed him out and Ellone told us, "Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Zell yelled back as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
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A/N: Please read and review! (I noticed people put that at the beginning and end of their chapters and they get tons of reviews. I hope I can be that successful by doing that too!)