Dammit it all it happened again. So here I was, being good and focussing my entire attention towards my FF8 novelization when BOOM! My muse comes flying in through my bedroom window and proceeds to beat me with a concrete slab and for what? All so that I'll have this insane idea that won't get out of my head! I can't even begin to fathom which is worse, the concussion resulting in the assault or the bitch laughing her ass at my discomfort. It's probably a mixture of both, I'm sure.

So, instead of working on a chapter of the Novel, I am posting this story instead. Granted, this happened quite a few months ago (and thus I am without concussion), before Dissidia came to North America. I'm assuming this was my subconscious preparing a substitute in the event Dissidia flopped as badly as Dirge of Cerebus. It didn't, but I'm posting it anyway.

Before proceeding with the chapter beyond, I feel it is my duty as a fanfiction author to warn you all of three very important details. First and foremost, this story will not be regularly updated. Why? Because it is a stress reliever on my part. Whenever a new chapter is posted, it will be because my muse has either decided to pay me a visit (joy) or I am stuck on my other story and opted to work on this one instead. Do not spam the review posts by demanding an updated as you will be ignored. My next warning is more relevant to the story. Because FFnet are a bunch of tools, I can only select two universes to post under crossovers rather than three, which is what I intended to do. As such, for those of you who don't like FFX, please bare with me, it wasn't as bad as FFX-2, and I'm sure you'll agree with me on that. Finally, the third bit of news is that this story is not a fan based yaoi where the main characters will get together. I'm not a fan of breaking up couples just for the sheer pleasure of watching guys fuck. If that's why you're here, then I suggest you leave now; you will not like this story.

Now onto the most loathed part of being a fanfiction author; the freaking disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasies 7, 8 or 10, nor do I recieve any kind of profit from writing this story. All blame goes towards my psychotic muse.

Chapter I:
Coalescence

"Shera! Just what the hell did you put in my god-damned tea?"

The first thing he was aware of was that his senses were dulled and he felt groggy. The volume of the familiar voice was what had jump-started the process of awakening and slowly he began to feel every sensation, from the feel of the clothes he wore to the cold hard surface he was lying on. Even his hair felt strange. Never before had he felt like this, not even after a confrontation with a monster. Not even against Sephiroth.

He tried to think about what he had been doing last and it came back to him in bits and pieces. He remembered riding his bike christened Fenrir through the desert on a delivery before suddenly feeling dizzy. He could barely recall pulling the vehicle over thinking that perhaps he'd needed a rest, and it was after that memory that it all became spotty. He hadn't trusted his memories much. Not since he'd recovered from his second bout of Mako poisoning. But it had never been that bad before.

The first thought that came to mind was that he'd been attacked from behind. Of course something like that hadn't happened since Kadaj and his gang had jumped him in the canyon outside of Edge, but he wasn't arrogant enough to believe it wouldn't happen again. The world had become a stranger place since Midgar had been decimated by Meteor and Holy.

All of these thoughts and more ran through his mind as he slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. First he propped himself up by his arms before forcing himself up fully, mindful of the dull throb that would probably spawn a headache later on, and when he willed his eyes to open, his vision blurred as the bright daylight almost blinded him. He blinked a couple of times to get things to focus and started when he recognised the figure that was laying a few feet away from him.

He knew that the voice had sounded familiar, though he hadn't seen the elder man since the showdown in Edge's Central Square. Still, Cid Highwind hadn't changed since the last they'd fought together. Short cropped blonde hair and goggles strapped to his forehead, wearing a blue t-shirt and gloves, black pants and a sweater tied around his waist and a pair of black boots. But what stood out against all of that was the sight of his spear, long and thin, with white wrappings around the middle for easy gripping.

First of all, before the strange black out he hadn't been anywhere near the airship pilot, but he also wanted to know why he had his weapon with him. Cloud always travelled with his sword, mainly because making deliveries in the badlands without a weapon was a really stupid idea. Thinking about it made him want to check up on the item in question and when he looked around, he was shocked to find that the sword he had used to fight Sephiroth was missing. In its place however was an equally familiar weapon. The last time he'd seen it, it had been knocked over from its standing position and he'd had to reposition it to its original place.

Cloud Strife eyed the Buster Sword wearily, wondering how the hell it had managed to swap places with his usual weapon. Even before he'd prepared the latter object he had barely lifted the sword for the sentimental value it had. Of course at the time, it had been a different sentiment than what it meant now but the point was moot. Tentatively, he reached out and grasped the handle. It felt somewhat lighter in his hands and he pulled it closer in order to inspect it properly. The dust and dirt that had been collecting along the metal for the last two years was gone and it was as pristine as it had been on the day Avalanche had destroyed the number 1 reactor in Midgar.

It was strange.

This whole situation was strange.

"Cloud?"

Cid's voice startled him out of his thoughts and he looked over to eye the pilot, who was staring at him like he'd seen a ghost. "The hell are you doin' here?" He took a moment to survey his surroundings, the confusion lining his features deepening all the more as the seconds passed. "And where the hell is here anyhow?"

Cloud mirrored the elder fighter's actions and realised with a sinking gut that he didn't recognise the area either. They were lying in what looked like an alley on dirt coated ground and the buildings surrounding them looked as though they had been crafted from stone. Looking up, the sky indicated that it was around midday, but that didn't make sense since it should've been close to dusk by now. He tried to check his watch before he realised belatedly that he never had one. It was always Tifa who took to that kind of thing.

"Good question," Cloud answered gravely before turning to address Cid. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Cid shrugged. "Was working on tunin' up the Shera, and the next thing I know I'm wakin' up in this shit hole."

Cloud frowned thoughtfully. At least he wasn't the only one losing his mind. This time anyway. "So you don't remember how you got here either," he said this more to himself than to the former astronaut. Regardless of this fact, Cid nodded in response while he patted himself down. Cloud figured he was searching for his pack of cigarettes.

Ignoring him, the blonde swordsman sighed before pushing himself up onto his feet, the dirt clinging onto the dark material of his pants and vest. Even the sleeve over his left arm was thick with it and he dusted it off almost apathetically as he looked around.

Beyond the alleyway were people walking around casually, talking with the people they were travelling with as they went about their business. Their clothes were strange. It was nothing as far as to call it a costume, but strange all the same. Cloud supposed it was the foreign nature of it all. Some wore shirts and shorts that looked as though they'd seen better days, and almost everyone wore sandals, but it was the people who walked around wearing robes that put him off. The only person he'd ever seen dressed in one had been Red's grandfather, BugenHagen, and he had been strange to say the least.

"We may have a problem fitting in," Cloud said as he looked down at what he wore, the black vest with the one sleeve and metal shoulder guard and a pair of pants with pockets along the side standing out amidst the populace who wandered the streets beyond. More importantly, he eyed the Buster Sword apprehensively. The weapon was almost as tall as he was, and barely half as wide. If it didn't draw attention to him, then the surrounding people were blind.

Cid seemed to get the idea, eyeing both the sword and the spear in the same manner the ex-Solder had done before looking at his own clothes. Something told him that they weren't exactly going to be able to blend in with the natives.

Still, they left the alley being careful to walk down the street without being impeded by the civilians wandering about. Some of them stopped to stare at them in startled wonder. It was hard to conceal their presence with the weapons they bore, but they still pressed on, determined to show the strange villagers that they meant them no harm.

"Halt!"

Cloud and Cid both reflexively stopped at the sudden request (order) and turned to regard the speaker. Unlike the people wandering about, the man who had called them was wearing a strange kind of body armour he had never seen before. It was black in colour with what appeared to have been gold lining crossing in odd formations, as though the designer hadn't truly known what he was trying to do when fashioning the odd garment. He wore a helmet of the same material and design, the top of the head pointed as though it could've been used as some kind of weapon. Fastened to his left arm was a large shield that was roughly half the size of him and sheathed on the right hand side of the belt he wore was a sword.

And behind this man were two more people dressed like him, each with their hand on the hilt of their swords. Cloud frowned, not at all liking the feeling he was getting from their sudden appearance.

"State your name and business here," the leader of the group said stiffly. His voice was deep and filled with an authority that seemed to suggest he was always in a position of power. "You're not from around these parts, otherwise you would have known that it is forbidden for anyone apart from the royal guards to prowl the streets with concealed armaments."

Cloud's gaze flicked over towards the Buster Sword before returning to the guards in front of him. They must have spotted the gesture, because the two guards behind the leader withdrew their weapons from their sheaths. Instinctively Cloud sank into his battle stance, his right hand gripping the handle of his weapon. Beside him, he caught sight of Cid doing the same.

"I must advise that you relinquish your weapons to our custody by order of the King," the lead guard continued and the former Soldier operative frowned at the thought. That was unlikely to happen if he had any say about it.

When they made no move to comply with the request, the leader withdrew his own weapon with what amounted as a weary sigh. "If you prefer to resist, then we shall take them from your lifeless bodies."

"Ya hear that?" Cid laughed mirthlessly. "He thinks he can kill us and take 'em from us. Wanna show him how wrong he is?"

Not particularly, Cloud mused to himself. If they started a fight then they were drawing unwanted attention towards themselves. They still didn't know where they were or what the locals were capable of, and not knowing anything about your adversary and fighting them anyway was stupid.

Unfortunately for the pair, they didn't exactly have a choice. The blonde swordsman heard movement from behind and when he flicked his gaze in the direction of the sound, he caught sight of more guards flanking them from behind. They couldn't have run even if they'd wanted to.

That left fighting as their only real option.

So nodding in response to Cid's question, he sank deeper into his fight stance, withdrawing the Buster Sword from its place along the metal plate on his back and holding it level in front of him, both hands gripping the handle tightly. Beside him, Cid swivelled the javelin in the air before twisting the object behind him, leaving his left hand free for spell casting.

Wordlessly, Cloud inclined his head forward, indicating that he would charge to the front while Cid took care of the guards behind them. Taking a puff from his cigarette, Cid nodded back before the two combatants pounced into action. The former Soldier charged forward, bringing his sword down in an underhand sweep and lashing out, catching the lead guard's weapon as he blocked the attack. Gritting his teeth, Cloud reversed the cleave, allowing his arms to spin behind him while he remained rooted to the spot as he swung in the opposite direction, only to be blocked once again.

Raising his boot clad foot, he thrust it forward, catching the metal of the enemy sword, but he pushed off with his other foot, taking to the air and knocking the guard down onto one knee. Collecting as much energy as he could gather, he raised the sword over his head and swung down, forcing him to spin vertically in the air as he unleashed his attack. He caught movement from below and watched as the guards jumped away from the blast as they split into three. The result left trench like scars across the ground beneath him.

Landing in a crouch, he pushed forward and the guards in front of him scrambled to their defensive positions. More than likely they had expected for him to need time to recover. He swung the massive sword once again, the lead guard ducking the attack while the one to the left of him blocked it with his own weapon. The remaining guard charged forward, preparing to attack the blonde fighter with an overhead cleave of his own.

Changing tactics, he brought the sword back around, causing the guarding man to lose his balance and lean forward. Bringing the sword up in front of him in a horizontal position, he pushed his weight upward as metal clashed against metal. Cloud threw the rest of his weight against the sword, and over-balanced the other fighter but felt his feet suddenly fly out from underneath him as something hard knocked into his legs. Landing awkwardly along the small of his back, he turned the fall into a tight roll as he moved away and frowned as he realized that one of the guards had gotten past his blind spot.

Irritation clawed from his throat in the form of a small grunt and he raised his hands in front of him so that the palms were touching. If physical attacks weren't going to cut it, then he would have to play the role of a ranged fighter. Concentrating on the stock of materia he had junctioned to his arm, he threw his arms out and watched as the ground lit up with electrical energy. The bolt spell blasted apart the ground, surrounding the guards baring his path in its electrifying wake and knocking them off their feet.

"Cid! Let's go!" Cloud shouted.

The pilot looked back towards the former Soldier and noted that a path had been cleared. Sweeping the javelin in front of him to stave off the remaining guards, he turned around and high-tailed it past Cloud, who quickly covered him by launching fire spells at the pursuing guards. Not sticking around to see if the attacks landed, he pelted off after the former astronaut, their feet making hard thuds as they sped their way through the crowds surrounding them.

His senses having been enhanced by exposure to Mako energy, Cloud cursed as he heard the guards beginning to recover behind, but barely had enough time to shout out a warning for Cid when he spotted more of the armour clad warriors jumping into the fray. With a loud curse, the cigarette smoking fighter bounded up the side of a building and used the surface to propel himself over the enemy guards. Thinking quickly, Cloud unsheathed the Buster sword and slashed forward. The guards reacted quickly. Two of them dodged back while the closest one ducked the blow, only to have his feet swept out from beneath him by Cid's javelin.

Smirking, Cid swivelled the weapon in front of him once again much like one would if he were wielding a quarterstaff, and managed to parry an attacking guard's sword swipes, the bladed weapon clanking against the steel spear loudly. With a flick of the wrist, Cid had the weapon raised up over his head as he disarmed the guard before he spun the weapon around and nailed the unsuspecting man in the stomach, knocking him into the side of the building. Following the elder man's suit, Cloud ran up the side of the building and lunged forward, landing in a crouch behind the enemy guards before they took to running once again.

Somewhere off in the distance, a loud klaxon sounded. The swordsman realised that their enemies were calling for reinforcements and he uttered a soft curse in disgust.

Catching sight of a group of guards advancing towards them from the opposite direction, Cloud guided Cid to follow him as he manoeuvred left. He didn't know where he was headed, but he knew against the number – which was enough to form a small platoon of Shinra infantrymen – they wouldn't last long.

But turning left proved to have been a mistake. More advancing guards were headed their way, pushing past the townsfolk in their haste to reach them. Both fighters skidded to a stop before turning around to see the guards behind them were quickly closing the gap between them.

"This way!" Cid shouted and this time it was the swordsman who followed the pilot down the road as they evaded their pursuers.

Something was bothering Cloud about the guards. They had swords and shields, but why did they have no guns? Not that he was complaining about their sudden good luck, but he found it strange that they weren't opening fire from a distance instead of attempting to close the distance and strike them down the way they were. It occurred to him that perhaps they weren't armed with long distance weapons like that, but he couldn't help but question why.

The only answer that made any sense was that they didn't have access to them, but Cloud couldn't understand how that was even possible.

Focusing his attention towards running, he was forced to stop abruptly when Cid whirled around, javelin in his left hand with his right hand extended in front of him. "What are you doing?"

"Makin' this quick!" Cid shouted back and Cloud recognised the red energy that frothed along the pilot's fingertips; it wasn't the standard magic that came with an ordinary spell. He had seen the magical mist before in their travels three years ago, and the thought wasn't altogether very pleasant.

Cid was summoning.

As much as a summon would give them the necessary time to escape, the chances of innocent bystanders getting hurt in the crossfire were astronomical, but before he could shout for the older man to stop, it was too late. The magical energy shot out in front of the pilot, quickly closing the distance between the two sides, however instead of unleashing its radical energy against the advancing troops, the blast collided with the group, staining the affected area an array of reds and blacks that weren't altogether normal.

Through the colourful stream, a clawed hand pawed its way out from beneath the hole that had formed out of nowhere, followed by another before a mean looking creature with horns protruding from the top of its head rose up into the air, landing in front of the hole and snorting white steam from either of its nostrils. Its skin was a chalky yellow, and fire frothed from inside of its mouth, with long brown horns curved back behind its head.

At Ifrit's sudden appearance, the guards stopped their advancement. Someone shouted something about sorcery before they began to withdraw, however by then the fire summon began its charge, blasting forward inside of a shield of fire that scorched the ground as it progressed.

"You could have hurt someone!" Cloud shouted, well aware of how stupid he sounded. "Any one of the civilians could have jumped into the crossfire and taken the hit instead. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinkin' about saving our hides from those jackasses," Cid bit back heatedly. There was a bit of defensiveness in the tone as well. "'Sides, someone shouted for me to summon somethin'."

"What?" Cloud blinked in confusion. He hadn't heard anyone shout anything. "What did it sound like?"

"Hard to explain," Cid said with a shrug. "Some old guy's voice, I'd reckon. But do ya honestly think that now's the best time ta yammer on about it?"

Before Cloud could answer, more guards emerged from another pathway and with a curse they were forced back towards the way they'd come. The walls from the surrounding buildings were scorched by Ifrit's attack, and the guards who had suffered from it were laying splayed out on the ground. Unfortunately they had been replaced by more advancing guards, their weapons primed in their direction.

Standing back to back against one another, Cloud frowned as he tried to figure out a means out of this one…

When he caught the familiar sight of the fire elemental, he had rushed over in that very direction without another moment's thought.

His first thought when he'd watched the Aeon suddenly appear out of nowhere had been that Yuna was somewhere nearby, and that she'd summoned the Aeon because she was in danger, but as he continued to make his way to the very location he was headed, he started to doubt the logic. When Yu Yevon had been defeated, the Fayth had stopped dreaming and it had caused all the Aeons to disappear from Spira forever.

That made his very existence a little more complicated. He was a dream created by the Fayth after all, so in all honesty he really shouldn't exist to begin with.

Yuna had tried to explain it to him when he'd found himself drifting along the beach of Besaid once again and he'd managed to grasp the gist of it. By saving all of Spira from the shadow Shuyin and stopping the reactivation of some ancient Machina called 'Vegnagun', the Fayth had granted Yuna one wish as a token of thanks. And somehow, that had brought him back to life.

It wasn't that he was complaining. He just didn't understand it.

Ever since his return, he'd joined the travelling Sphere Hunters that the former Summoner had become a part of in his absence called the Gullwings, and together they collected spheres just for the fun of it. It was kind of like treasure hunting, really. And after each and every successful hunt, the Gullwings would celebrate in what could only be described as the Gullwing's style of partying.

Or maybe it was just Rikku's brand of partying. He knew he shouldn't have let her convince him to have another drink.

It wasn't that he was a lightweight when it came to drinking. He'd gone drinking with his team-mates back in Zanarkand after Blitzball games every so often before heading back to his motor-boat home. But he was surprised at just how much the concentration count had changed over the years. Spira liquor was almost ten times more potent than anything he'd ever tried before he'd been hauled off to Spira by Sin.

Then again, he was a thousand years older than everyone else. Maybe he was just old fashioned that way.

Still, he knew he definitely wasn't a lightweight, but he couldn't wrap his head around what had happened after he'd had that last drink. And the very thought had been in the back of his mind, surfacing to the forefront ever since he woke up in this strange place. He supposed that Shinra, who was too young to drink, had gotten a laugh at his expense for the evenings antics and had, at first, believed he'd been ditched along the coast of Besaid again. But not having seen an ocean anywhere around the vicinity and realizing the strangeness of his surroundings (well, stranger than Spira was to him at least) told him that he was somewhere entirely different.

So as he'd wandered around in search of any clues that would tell him just what the hell had happened, he mused at the thought that he had been carted away from Spira like he had from Zanarkand, but that wasn't possible since they'd defeated Sin once and for all. Yuna's calm was supposed to be eternal, especially since Yu Yevon couldn't exactly take control of another Aeon like he had for the last thousand years he'd been around.

Focusing his thoughts on the task at hand now, he ran around the corner, using the speed and agility he had acquired from years of playing Blitzball to power on through the crowds and scale the sides of buildings when he couldn't get around the throngs of people. They were dressed kind of funnily as well. They wore cloaks that were unlike the robes most people wore in Spira. They were more modest looking for a lack of a better term, but he didn't allow the thought to distract him.

Besides, he couldn't exactly claim not to stand out in contrast. The vest he had been wearing for the better part of Yuna's pilgrimage (who was he kidding. He never changed out of the thing) was bright yellow and easy to spot against the crowd of people surrounding him. His pants were mismatched lengths, his left pant leg was attached to the rest of the bottoms by a zipper that wrapped around the bottom while the other was missing said attachment, and the top had suspenders that wrapped around his shoulders. His shoes were a light brown colour with a black trim around the toe and the sole of the foot and all along his left arm was a glove made of intermeshing pieces of leather. His right hand was simply protected by a black glove.

He rounded another corner before ducking back just as quickly. There were a group of people wearing some kind of strange armour across the way from where he was, but their attention looked like it was fixated elsewhere. Tidus supposed that it could very well have been the cause of Ifrit's sudden appearance. There had been other Summoners taking part on the pilgrimage to defeat Sin, and they all seemed to be able to summon the same Aeons as each other, so it wasn't that big of a shock. But even now, he realised he'd noticed something off about the fire Aeon. Its skin had been a greenish yellow instead of the reddish fur that had covered it, and for some reason it also looked somewhat smaller than what he remembered it being.

Deciding he would look into that fact later, Tidus looked around for anything he could use as a projectile. Attached to his hip was the brotherhood sword he had gotten from Wakka when the pair had first met. Of course, Wakka had only given it to him because he'd looked a lot like his younger brother, Chappu, who had died during a Crusader operation. Nevertheless, both Blitzballers were good friends as a result.

But he was hesitant in using the weapon. For starters, there wasn't anyone around to back him up if he needed it, but most importantly, he hadn't used the weapon since that last fight against Yu Yevon. As far as he knew, Yuna was using it with her Warrior Dressphere (a concept the former Summoner had tried to explain to the Blitzballer, but he still had trouble understanding it), so the fact that he had it was a mystery, since he hadn't exactly used a weapon since he'd come back to life.

He found something alright. To his right there was a fruit vendor, and closest to him was a whole stack of apples – not very big, or anything like that, but it would have to do. Lulu and Yuna weren't there to cast any of their spells to distract the goons from whatever they were fixated on, and he'd never exactly learned how to utilise the energy that formed those kind of spells anyway, insisting on jumping into the fray with his sword and chopping away at any obstacles that got in their way.

He reached forward and grabbed a handful of the fruit (much to the shop owner's displeasure – if shouting at him to pay for it was any indication) and, with his right hand, he threw them as though he were throwing rocks. The apples hit their mark. One of the guard goons got hit in the side of the head and another, who had been turning to investigate where the flying projectile had come from, got one right in the face. Within the next thirty seconds, the goons all had their attention turned to the Blitzballer, who found that he was suddenly very hard pressed to figure out what his next move was.

Smooth… he thought to himself sarcastically before grabbing the brotherhood and adjusting the small shield along his arm. The blue blade seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, almost as though it was made out of water, and had a hook at the end that was really good for catching monsters.

"There's another one!" one of the goons shouted. Before Tidus could question the comment, they were suddenly charging towards him.

Thinking quickly, Tidus leapt up against the side of an adjacent building and ran along it for a moment before pushing himself away from the surface. As a result he landed on the shoulders of one of the nearby goons. The two in front of their comrade swung forward and, despite the poor goon's protests, he was cut down just as Tidus propelled himself up and away, landing on the next closest goon and continuing the pattern. Unfortunately for him, they caught on quickly, because before he could use another guy as a stepping stone, that goon jumped, his sword raised and ready to cleave him in half.

Bringing up the brotherhood, he managed to hold up the weapon into a hasty block, resulting in both fighters being propelled back. The goon landed in the opening of an alley while Tidus found himself crouching along the wall behind him. Just before gravity could take over, Tidus propelled himself forward once again, the brotherhood brought up in front of him in an attempted cleave, but he was forced to abort the charge when another goon tried to attack him from the side. He barely touched the ground before he propelled himself away from his new attacker and the cleave that was aimed at his side went wide.

He landed and was about the leap forward again when a blast of magic surged from beyond the alleyway, catching the goons off target. From the looks of it, it was some kind of thunder spell and the three goons who got caught up in it were propelled up off the ground and into the wall Tidus had used as a landing post earlier. They hit the ground with a dull thud but did not stir.

Then, out from the alleyway emerged two people he had never seen before, and yet they looked even stranger than him. The first guy was blonde with crazy looking spiky hair and dressed completely in black. Attached to his back was the biggest sword he had ever seen before in his life, and atop his head were a pair of angled goggles that reminded the Blitzballer of the Al Bhed.

The other person who ran out after him was also blonde, but his hair was cropped really short. He had simpler looking clothes on – a t-shirt and a pair of pants – and a sweater-like jacket was wrapped around his waist. Like the first guy, he wore goggles but they looked more like something you would wear if you were flying some kind of aircraft. In the corner of his mouth was a cigarette that billowed a small trail of smoke along as the man passed him by and in his hand was a trident that made him think about Kihmari.

"Don't just stand there gawkin'! Move!" The smoking blonde snapped in his direction. Tidus didn't need to be told twice and he took off after them.

The guy at the front did a great job of clearing a path for them. By the time he and the pilot looking guy got to the groups of people they were already out of their way. The guy with the huge sword was surprisingly quick considering how heavy the object looked against his back, but decided that he could save the questions for later. Right now they had to lose their fan club.

"So what's going on?" Tidus asked through huffs of breath before turning his attention behind him. The goons were still chasing after them. Fortunately the distance between them was significant. If they kept up the pace they would lose them soon enough. "Where are we? What'd you guys do to piss them off that much?"

"Will you shut yer goddamned trap?" The pilot guy shot back at him and he was caught off guard by the sudden order. Sure, Kihmari had told him plenty of times to shut up during the pilgrimage but the Ronso had at least been nicer about it, if only a little.

They followed the swordsmen up ahead as he turned a corner. As soon as they did, Tidus gasped loudly as everyone skidded to a stop. He barely managed to avoid knocking into the swordsman, who turned out to be a little shorter than him by maybe a couple of inches. Wondering what the hold up was, he looked past the swordsman and gulped when he spotted a cloaked figure was standing in the middle of their pathway. He couldn't make much out from his appearance since the damned thing covered him almost completely. Even his face was hidden from view, but the clothes definitely looked in place with everyone else in this strange city.

Shouts from behind told him the goons were getting closer, and he wanted to say something that would make them all move again. He didn't really like how the cloaked guy's hands were positioned because it reminded him of when Seymour was preparing to blast them with spells.

The two guys he was with didn't wait for him to attack them though. Raising their hands they threw spells out towards him and Tidus watched as thunder and fire pelted towards the stranger, quickly closing the distance between them. The cloaked stranger positioned his arms in front of him before a bluish-green shield materialized in front of him and the spells blasted into it, changing the shields colour before the magic started to circulate around the guys hands.

Tidus swallowed the hard lump that had formed in his throat at the sight. He hadn't expected this guy to know the reflect spell. None of the other goons they'd faced off against seemed to.

However, just as the guy was preparing to throw their spells back in their direction, he shouted something at them that made the situation seem different than what it looked like. "Duck!"

Tidus wasted no time in following the advice and, using the quick reflexes he honed during tournament games, he pushed the other two guys into the ground and felt the magic pelt over his head, just barely managing to avoid singing his vest and suspenders. Curious, he looked around and watched as the spells collided into the goons who were just turning the corner. The first flank ate the spell full force before falling back, tripping up the goons that were behind.

"Run!" The cloaked figure shouted.

Not asking questions, Tidus jumped up onto his feet and did as told, running passed the cloaked fighter. The other two blondes were more hesitant to follow, but the sound of pounding footfalls from behind told him they were in pursuit. Another glance told him the cloaked figure was running with them now.

As they continued to run down the street passing by civilians as they did, the other three managed to catch up to him. Unfortunately – if the shouts from behind were any indication – the guards were closing the distance as well. Then, the blonde swordsman whirled around pressed his hands into the ground. About two seconds later, ice flared from beneath his splayed fingers and streaked a path right for the goons who slipped on the slippery surface and fell on their asses. The blonde with the cigarette threw out his hand and a blast of fire knocked down the ones who had managed to stay their ground and the cloaked guy slammed his foot onto the icy ground. The next thing Tidus knew, there was electric energy protruding from the foot and it caught everyone who was standing on the ice regardless of their position. When the electricity stopped, they all fell down.

"Keep running," the cloaked figure said and, before anyone could question him, he sped off past Tidus (who had stopped to watch the magic attacks) and continued to run down the street. Shrugging at the other two who exchanged glances, Tidus followed after him, and soon all four of them were running again.

Looking up ahead, he caught movement from the left and lunged forward, tackling one of the goons who had jumped out to intercept the cloaked guy, which forced them both onto the ground. Looking down the path the goon had come from, he caught sight of more of them advancing. The cloaked guy wasted no time in raising his hands and throwing blasts of fire and ice in their direction. The ice spears that blasted out of the ground caught them and stopped their charges long enough for the blasts of fire to pelt them. Without even saying anything to one another, Tidus and the cloaked guy continued on ahead. The steady footfalls behind told him that the two blonde guys were in hot pursuit.

But then the cloaked guy stopped and looked around, as though he was looking for something. "What's the hold up?"

Ignoring Tidus' question, the guy in black continued his survey before he turned to his left. Tidus looked that way as well. There was another alleyway beyond that path. He didn't doubt that it led to a dead end.

But it was a surprise when the cloaked guy inclined his head in that direction. "That way."

"That way is a dead end," Tidus countered. He looked around and saw two alternate pathways further head. They forked towards the left and right respectively. "If we go further up ahead…"

"There are guards coming in from that direction," the cloaked person cut in. Tidus frowned and went to say something but again he was cut off. "Don't ask me how I know it, but we should go this way."

And he started off down the alleyway before Tidus could stop him.

"Where'd that guy go?" The blonde pilot shouted as he and the swordsman caught up to him. Tidus pointed down the alleyway, but just as he had turned back he watched in almost shocked wonderment as the guy just kind of passed through the wall, disappearing as though he had never even been there to begin with.

"Uh… you're not gonna believe this but he just kinda ran into a wall."

"He did?" The pilot asked before taking a look inside the alleyway. Predictably, he found nothing there and he turned his scowl towards the Blitzballer. "Quit pullin' my leg. Now's not the time for a comedian."

"But I'm telling you, he jumped right into that wall!"

"So why ain't he sprawled out onto his back like some retard who walked into a door?"

"Because he kinda went through it."

The look on the pilot's face darkened. Something Tidus didn't see as a good sign. "Now you just think I'm stupid. How in the name of the lifestream is he supposed to have pulled that trick out of his ass?"

Tidus didn't know what a lifestream was, but he guessed that now was not the time to ask that kind of question. "Well, he can use magic like you guys, right? Maybe he's some kind of spell caster. I've seen stranger things than this…"

His first thought was that the guy was an unsent. Unsent were beings who died but were clinging onto life so tightly that they could assume spectral form and blend in with other people. Auron had been one for ten years and no one had known until Yuna's pilgrimage had ended, and Seymour had become one when he'd tried to take them all on in the temple in Macalania. But he doubted either of them would believe him if he tried to tell them that.

But just before the pilot could bark out more questions, the swordsman looked up almost in shock, his eyes having gone wide. Tidus looked in that direction and almost smiled victoriously as the cloaked guy reappeared from the wall. Or at least half of him did. It almost looked like he was caught in-between the surface.

The pilot dropped Tidus in his shock, though the Blitzballer was quick enough to recover so that he didn't fall on his ass, despite being the tallest one of the three.

"If you wait any longer, the guards are going to catch you," the cloaked guy said. It sounded like he was annoyed at them. Either way, he ducked back through the wall, disappearing as quickly as he had reappeared.

Exchanging glances between one another, Tidus shrugged in an 'I-told-you-so' gesture before the trio quickly moved into the alleyway and approached the wall. The swordsman pressed his hand against the wall before removing it just as quickly. "It feels like water…" he said aloud. "No… More like a wall of magic."

"Is it safe?" the pilot barked out and the swordsman examined his hands. Looking over his shoulder, Tidus saw that there wasn't even a blemish in the material of his gloves.

"Seems like it," the swordsman commented with a nod.

There was a shout from behind. It seemed as though the guards were starting to reach their location. It was now or never. "So what're we waiting for?" Tidus asked.

No one answered the question and, without another moments thought, the trio passed through the wall. The swordsman was right, it didn't feel solid at all, but there was some kind of resistance in it as they passed through it, almost like they were suddenly underwater.

Unlike the other two, Tidus had no problem with treading through the stuff and soon they reached the other side. It felt like he had just been pushed out from inside of a vacuum and, losing his balance, he fell face first into the ground. The other two faired about the same.

Looking around, Tidus realised they were in some strange boxed location. The floor was the same as it was outside, but the walls shimmered around them. In the sides left and right of them, the people looked as though they were going about their business, totally oblivious to their presence. It was like they almost couldn't see them. Looking behind them, Tidus caught sight of the guards moving past their location, like they didn't even realise they were there.

"Oh yeah!" Tidus shouted triumphantly as the guards milled about, no doubt confused at their sudden disappearing act.

"About time," a voice from behind sounded. Turning around Tidus recognised the cloaked figure standing on the opposite side of the room. "Maybe now I can finally…"

What he could finally do was lost on Tidus. The blonde smoker suddenly rose to his feet with a growl and, grabbing the front of the other guy's cloak, shoved him into the wall behind. Tidus was surprised when the pair didn't pass through it and figured that maybe that was the wall that was supposed to end the alley.

The swordsman rose to his feet, having seen his companion charge forward, but his shout for him to stop had fallen upon deaf ears. Tidus was just as anxious to stop the dispute before it started. They still didn't even know where they were and he had been hoping the cloaked guy could fill them in. Now he wasn't even sure he would want to.

"If ya mean tell us what the hell's goin' on, then yer on the right track," the pilot snapped. The cloaked guy was probably stunned from the sudden impact with the wall. Tidus' thoughts were confirmed when he caught the small movement of the head, as though he were shaking the stars from his vision. "So start talkin'. Where the hell are we and how the hell didja bring us here?"

"I didn't bring anyone anywhere," the cloaked guy said through a groan.

"Bullshit," the pilot snapped. "You knew where to go and how to get there and… GODDAMMIT!"

He broke off his tirade with the curse when the cloaked guy reached up and planted his hands on the pilot's wrists. The pilot dropped him as though he'd come into contact with something hot and Tidus was surprised to see smoke flowing from where the hands had touched him.

"To hell with this," the cloaked man said, sounding angry. "I'm out of here. You can fend for yourselves for all I care."

"Wait a minute!" Tidus said, jumping into the cloaked man's path to try and stop him. Behind him, the other guy stood over the pilot, inspecting his arms from whatever it was the cloaked guy did to him.

But the cloaked guy didn't seem to want to wait. He threw his arm forward and fire flew from his outstretched palm. Tidus brought the shield up in front of him, watching as the spell was absorbed into it instead of hurting him. The Blitzballer wasn't surprised by this, remembering how Rikku had added components to the otherwise simple looking shield to make it absorb fire.

The cloaked guy was surprised though, and it was enough for a blast of thunder to hit him from behind, causing him to fall onto his knees from the sudden attack. Both he and Tidus looked in the direction to see the swordsman had assumed a casting stance while the pilot was cursing as he applied something to his wrists.

The cloaked guy threw his arm out to cast a spell of his own, but Tidus had other ideas. Wanting to stop the fighting before it escalated too far, he grabbed the cloaked person from behind, his arms cutting in beneath the other guy's underarms and stretching up in a locking position. The guy's concentration was shot from the sudden manoeuvre and the magic fell away from his fingers before the cloaked guy started trying to loosen Tidus' grip. The Blitzballer was surprised to find that the manoeuvre was working and in a second, he found he was being flipped through the air and onto his back.

Refusing to let go even as the air got knocked out of him, Tidus quickly grabbed a hold of the guy and used the momentum to pull down, countering the move and pulling him down with him. Unfortunately, he hadn't judged the landing very well and the cloaked guy ended up falling on top of him, causing the athlete to wince and wheeze at the sudden collision as he lost whatever air he had managed to gather.

A moment later, that weight was lifted from him and he looked up to see the swordsman had grabbed the cloaked guy from behind. The latter's arms were pressed down at either side as the former had him trapped in a pin. It was much more effective than the full nelson Tidus had tried to execute. Just as the guy continued to struggle however, Tidus heard footfalls and barely had time to turn to the direction as the pilot came running up, hauling off and slamming a right hook into the cloaked guy's face. The blonde smoker cried out in pain suddenly, the cigarette that had been hanging from the side of his mouth fell to the ground beneath his feet as he cradled his hand like he'd just punched a slab of stone. He was cursing in a blue streak he hadn't heard since before he had been taken to Spira from Zanarkand.

The cloaked guy didn't get away unscathed. Almost like he was in a daze, he crumpled against the swordsman and stopped his struggles, the hood of the cloak flying off of his head and giving them a better look of his features. Tidus was shocked to find that the guy looked to be around his age; unlike the three of them however, he had dark hair that fell into his face, but it didn't hide the ugly scar that ran diagonally between the bridge of his nose.

However, before anyone could react, a bright light shone up from beneath their feet; looking down, Tidus saw to his surprise that the ground was glowing. He didn't need to tell the others because they saw it too and before anyone could say anything, the light blinded them before they were suddenly falling…