Alvis, Marilyn, Beverly and Ale do not belong to me, they belong to the respective fandom authors who created them. Well, they sort of belong to me. In the sense that I took some of their characters and twisted them…but hey, y'know. It's all part of the plot.


"Hey, Shinra."

Shinra hopped onto his chair and stared at me, his body rigid with fright. Underneath the mask I was sure he was gawping. "How do you know my name?"

"I know everything." I replied, in my best imitation of Shinra. Shinra whimpered slightly.

The girls had gone to Besaid and I was left with the dysfunctional crew in the bridge. It was slightly worrying; all I could hear was the whirr of the engines and Brother muttering in thickly-accented Al Bhed, with Buddy occasionally shouting stuff at him. I'm pretty sure he was bullying him, but I wasn't about to interfere.

"You have profiles on almost everyone you've met, right?" I asked him, sitting on the armrest of his chair.

"Y-yeah…"

"Can I see them?"

Shinra looked very nervous at my proximity to him. "I thought you knew everything…"

"I'm just going to check that you do."

Shinra made a sound that sounded like a gulp, then left his chair and gestured for me to sit down. He tapped some buttons on the keyboard, which brought up the menu on character profiles. It looked very much like it did in the game.

I scrolled down the list, eager to find any newcomers. If I hadn't woken up with the Gullwings I'd be the kind of girl to go out and track them down, so I instantly assumed everyone else had.

The first new addition was easy to find. Sixth down, between Baralai and Gippal, was the label '????'. I clicked on it, and it showed and repeated a short clip of a girl in the desert, mucking around with Baralai. I supposed that it couldn't really show the character under a spotlight, so it just used recordings or photos of them. She had brown, curly hair that was probably a little darker than it seemed as the light from the recording and the desert lightened it a little. Most importantly, she wore a tartan skirt.

"Presumably a relative of Baralai, this woman was also a recorder in the Crimson Squad. Whether or how she survived isn't yet known."

A relative of Baralai? What did that mean? If she was the girl with the tartan miniskirt from before, then how could she be a relative of Baralai?

"Shinra."

"Yes, ma'am?"

I grinned at being called 'ma'am'. "What else do you know about this girl?"

"Uhh…" Shinra shrugged. "Very little. We have three crimson spheres recorded by her, but they're in bad shape. It would imply that most were destroyed or lost."

"And she's close to Baralai?"

"Not like that. Like a sibling, as it says. Baralai seems…protective of her."

I grinned. Yuna of Besaid would be jealous.

I exited the menu but imprinted the image of her in my mind. The slight overbite, pale but sunburnt skin, the Yevon Guard-esque metal corset and garters. I did a quick scan and sighted twelve unknown entries, which worried me. There'd only been so many girls who had fallen into Spira – why were there so many newbies?

Oh, wait. Make that thirteen. I suddenly noticed my own name, right at the end, waiting to be categorised. Shinra was quick, huh? I clicked on it, and a picture of me asleep came up.

"You have to change that picture." I growled at Shinra. "I look grim."

"Strangely appearing in the Celsius cabin, Jenny faded into existence. Her skin colour and speech are all foreign to anything known on Spira – where could she have come from?

I grinned. I sounded so enigmatic. Underneath Leblanc was 'Beverly'. Clicking on her, I was confronted with an image of Leblanc. Confused, I read on.

"Leblanc's twin sister. A sphere hunter and second-in-command to the Leblanc Syndicate. Could she be another sworn enemy of the Dull – er, Gulwings?"

Leblanc's twin sister? What the hell?

Oh, great. There were two Leblancs…

Underneath Shinra was 'Lyibe', which rang a bell, although I had no idea how to pronounce it. The image was of a girl, mid-teens, with long, black hair and red highlights. She had grey eyes and was very lean, wearing black shorts and a cropped top. She wore a pair of daggers; it appeared that, like Rikku, her default was thief.

"The mysterious mechanic of the Celsius, Lyibe seems to know something suspicious about Baralai's unknown relative and Paine. However, her lips are shut firmly tight. She's a whizz-kid at mechanics, and is half Al-Bhed."

Lyibe! Wasn't that an OC made by Paine jnr on FanFiction? What was she doing in the real FFX-2 game? Unless there was something I'd missed…

All in all, I managed to guess out about three girls, which left two to guess. Kurissyma was easy to guess – it transpired that she'd hit Spira two years ago, hadn't hidden the fact that she'd come from another world, and had served as a guardian to Yuna. I wondered if she was a girl I knew…she was currently living in Luca. The other, who I'd just managed to recognise from the brief moment I'd seen her in the sky, was Zaida. She'd been adopted by the Ronso a year ago and claimed amnesia. That must be rough – living on Gagazet.

There was another one which I wasn't entirely sure was one of us. Another set of ????'s, third from the end, led to a picture of a slightly European-looking girl. She was average in height, but curvy.

An unknown friend of Lenne's, she tried to stop the guards from shooting the lovers. She is also seen in a sphere during what can be assumed as the construction of Vegnagun.

That was an interesting development. But what worried me was that if this girl had lived thousands of years before, surely…she would have died by now? If she was from Earth, how were we going to get her back? My heart sank and panicked simultaneously – she would have people waiting for her at home!

Apart from that, there were more characters. There was an extra Youth League general, Gloria, who was known for making strange comments about the future and being right. There was a singer, Isobel, and Alvis, her producer, who had mysterious ties to the Church of Yevon and were apparently old friends of Maroda. There was Ale, an old servant of Seymour's, and Marilyn, an ex-summoner who had at some point joined Yuna on her journey. And then there was Katie.

I know – my heart skipped a beat when I saw it. But then I saw that she was a girl who looked nothing like my sister. She was the girlfriend of Isaaru which was quite fitting, because Katie had always had a liking for Isaaru.

"Are you finished?" Shinra asked.

"Yeah…" I said, sadly. Then I perked up. "Wait, no! Can I look at the spheres?"

"Sure. All the videos have been ripped onto the database."

I snorted at hearing Shinra using such Earth language. I managed to navigate to the sphere menu and scrolled down the list. Unfortunately, there were now one and a half pages of spheres, though not all were found.

"Hmm…" I wanted to watch all of them, but I had already taken in a brain-imploding amount of information. I had to go search for all these people. There were two extra crimson spheres, as well as a couple of extra film spheres above. And by the sound of it, many of the spheres had changed.

"Baralai's relative appears in Crimson Sphere 3, amongst others. Kurissyma actually appears in one, too." Shinra piped up from over my shoulder. "Lenne's friend appears in Vegnagun's Beginnings. Beverly appears in Leblanc's Last Laugh, naturally. When we next go to Luca, you could go to the sphere theatre and see the ones there. There's more of Lenne's friend and Isobel there, besides others."

"Shinra, you're the best." I told him, giving him a high five.

"I know." Shinra replied.

I clicked on Vegnagun's Beginnings, seeing as it appeared to be a new sphere.

The scene opened on Lenne with friends in a café. Tthe sphere camera and recorder were situated by the window. The atmosphere seemed to be the instant where a joke turns sour or someone suddenly interrupts with some bad news. All faces were turned to Lenne's friend, the one whose profile appeared on Shinra's list.

"You…can't."

"I have to." Lenne's friend shrugged. Her skin was a lot more tanned than the others', and she seemed to be in her early twenties. "My foster mother is ill again, and if I don't go home now…"

"The war will strand you here." Another friend finished the sentence.

"Besides, the Maesters want me to help work on a new project. If I don't go, they'll brand me a traitor and if I should ever return it'll be my death. I have no choice. I've really enjoyed my time here – I've gained such great friends and learned so much. But I can't stay."

Lenne sighed. "So the war really is coming?"

"That's what Maester Karka says. Bevelle is intent on it."

"When are you going?"

"Soon. I…may never see any of you again."

"You will." Lenne insisted. "When the war is over and peace returns, we'll find you. We'll meet in the no-man's land, if we have to."

The young woman smiled. "Thanks, Lenne."

"So what's this new project?" asked a different friend. "Can you tell us? Or is it top secret?"

The young woman laughed. "Only so much that it's called 'Project Vegnagun', and they want me to help the mechanics with 'sensing aggression'. It's a bit of a mystery to me as well."

"Good luck."

The sphere ended. I wanted to go onto the other extra sphere, "Construction of Hell", but Buddy called across the room to us.

"Yuna called. They've cleared up the fiends and are coming back." Buddy said. He twisted around to look at me. "They're bringing a friend to join us. Apparently she wants to meet you."

"Who?" I asked.

"An old guardian of Yuna's. Kurissyma."


I was standing by the large information sphere in the middle of the cabin when the girls finally arrived, my arms crossed, my face blank. There was only one reason why Kurissyma might want or have a need to see me; she was another of the girls who'd been transported to Spira.

Rikku, obviously feeling energetic, did a forward flip off the landing and nearly crashed into me. "KURISSYMA'S HERE!" Rikku screeched, jumping up and down in excitement. Paine came down the stairs wordlessly and took up her usual spot, which was to my right. I could hear Yuna and the voice of one other as they talked, coming through the corridor. The voices hushed just before they came into view.

Kurissyma was a very small and rather cute girl, though she was probably older than she looked. Her outfit was, in general, a quirkier version of the Gun Mage dressphere, though there were several differences. Her skirt was a lot shorter and the stockings were full-on tights, not revealing an ounce of leg flesh. Her boots were much higher, just over the knee, and her skirt was full and not to the side. Her skin was surprisingly pale for someone who lived on Besaid. Her hair was very light brown, with lots of blonde imperfections, probably due to the sun.

But she was definitely a friendly sort. Her blue eyes, though subdued by the serious implications of our meeting, were welcoming and wide. Her body language was open. A smile seemed to be fighting its way onto her features, and in the end, it won. She beamed at me, and put her hands on the rails as if to stop herself bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Where are you from?" Kurissyma burst out, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Australia." I replied.

Kurrisyma squealed in delight and jumped over the rails, walking right up to me. "Me too! I haven't seen another person from Earth in three years!" She told me, holding her hands up in front of her as if she wanted to hug me but felt too awkward to do it. I outstretched my arms, breaking into a smile, and Kurissyma embraced me happily. It was weird, but I think I clung to her as much as she clung to me. Even though I'd only been in Spira for so long, it was such a relief to find someone who could understand my predicament.

Then her words hit me and I pushed her away, holding her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "W-wait! Three years?" I asked, worriedly.

Kurissyma nodded. "I landed a year before Yuna's pilgrimage. I only know one other girl and that's Gloria, from the Youth League. I haven't actually met her, though. I know about it through contacts."

"Gloria!" I exclaimed. I hadn't expected that.

"Where's Australia?" Yuna interjected.

I waved off her comment. Bizarrely, neither Rikku nor Paine seemed confused. And I thought that at least Rikku would be confused. I glanced over at the Al Bhed, expecting her face to change.

"Rikku knows about everything." Kurissyma explained. "She found me near Home and we stuck together until the end of Yuna's pilgrimage, when I decided to do my own travels in Spira."

"How come you're only in Besaid?"

"I only came back after Yuna joined the Gullwings. I saw the whole of Spira, I swear I did!" Kurissyma insisted.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen. I was sixteen when I landed. I'm more mature than this, I promise, I'm just way too excited and spent two years with Rikku."

"Hey!" Rikku moaned. Kurissyma beamed in Rikku's direction then poked her tongue out. Rikku blew a raspberry back. Kurissyma had definitely spent too much time with the Al Bhed.

"Oh-kay, you're going to hang around with me from now on." I said, dragging Kurissyma with me to the lift. Yuna followed.

"Hey!" Yuna called, though as ever, her voice didn't carry too much demand in it. "Can I have an explanation?"

"She's from the same place as me. Kind of." Kurissyma told Yuna, with a big Rikku-smile that I could tell Kurissyma was putting on because it would shut Yuna up.

That reminded me. I had to kick Yuna in the face some time.

"If you're going to stock up, do it quickly!" Buddy called after us. "We're going straight to Kilika."

"The Temple!" Kurissyma hissed.

"Where we work with Dona, go through the trees and have to kill Daevas to reach Ifrit." I said.

"Wow. What are you, a walking encyclopaedia?"

I shrugged. "I was showing off."

Kurissyma turned to the bridge. "Can I come?"

"Sure!" Yuna grinned.

But I shook my head at Kurissyma. "What do you say we go pay Gloria a visit? See what information we can get out of her? She's got a more important position in society than us; she might have been able to root around."

Kurissyma also shook her head. "I think – from what I've seen and heard – the first of us who arrived are allied with or linked to Yevon. General Gloria won't know much."

I sunk into thought.

"Maybe we should ask Marilyn." Kurissyma suggested.

"Marilyn?" I asked. She was one of those I'd looked up in Shinra's database, but I couldn't remember much about her.

"She was a Summoner who helped us on our journey. She still has ties to Yevon. She lives in Bevelle."

"We have to go to Bevelle after Kilika." I said.

"Why?"

"So we can see the Crimson Squad reunion. 100%, and all that."

"Does that still apply?"

"I think it's best to assume it does."

Kurissyma nodded in agreement. "Then whaddya say we go kick some Kilika butt?"

I looked at her sceptically. "I am a White Mage and I haven't fought once. Am I going to be any good whatsoever?"

"Then we'll just stick to the forest and train you up." Kurissyma reassured me, with an evil smile on her face. "Don't worry, I've got loads of experience."

I gulped. Kurissyma was going to enjoy this.


Ok, sorry about the wait. Life interfered. Next chapter will be some fun with Kurissyma, Jenny and Rikku, and then off to visit Marilyn. Plus other stuff, probably. XD