Let me tell you, when Murran said the Youth League was "banging on New Yevon's door," he wasn't kidding. They just weren't banging with their fists. They were banging with cannons. "Wow, they're pulling out all the stops down there!" Camall said, observing the scene below us.

"It looks like they're going to war over this," Farru said. And I had to agree with him; that was exactly what it looked like. The Youth League were equipped with all the guns they had, from their rifles to their cannons, laying siege to the outer walls of Bevelle. New Yevon was responding by sending out their mechs to take the fire and beat back the encroaching guns. It was absolute chaos.

"What have I started?" I cringed.

"Well whatever you started, it's perfect," Vidina said.

"Perfect?"

"It's just the distraction we need. Murran, take us down to the towers."

"Now hold on," Paine said. "This isn't the time to go charging in blind. We need to plan our next move."

"Screw that," Vidina barked, "I'm going down there!"

With that Vidina turned and went charging off the bridge. "Vidina, wait!" I called after him, just as the automatic doors closed behind his running form. I took off after him, but he was already gone from view when I made it to the halls.

It didn't take much thinking to figure out where he was headed, though. I got in the elevator as soon as I could get it to come back to me after he got off it, and took it down to the bottom level. I made it to the emergency hatch just as it was closing. Next to the hatch were the glider boards, a set of boards with wings and handles Camall had invented that people could ride on to make a quick exit in case of emergency. One of them was gone.

I don't know at what point the others started following me, but when I turned around everyone else was there, and all of them were on the same page as me. "Well it looks like Vidina's made our decision for us," Paine said. "We'd better go down and get him before he does something stupid."

"-Er," I amended.

Each of us grabbed a board, and we opened the hatch. I gripped the handles of my board and jumped out, planting my knees in the grooves and spreading the wings… and fought off the impulse to scream. You know, I'm just going to be straight and say that riding on a glider board is one of those experiences you really need to have before you die. It's definitely a candidate for the most exhilarating thing I've ever done, and for me, that's saying something.

I steered the board toward a bridge at the top of one of the main walls, where I could see Vidina had landed and was knocking a New Yevon guard unconscious with a toss of his blitzball, before making a run for the towers. I narrowly dodged a canon blast, and dove in, coming into a kind of rough but altogether okay landing that left me with only a little bruise or two on my shin. The others landed similarly behind me, though Nadaleen's landing looked a little bumpier than the rest of ours. Farru was quickly by her side, helping her to her feet.

I think we were landed for ten seconds before three more New Yevon guards had their rifles on us, shouting "Stop right there!"

"Hey, hold on, we're not looking for trouble," I tried to say, but I don't think they were listening.

"What do you want here?"

"Don't move!"

"Damn Youth League sympathizers!"

"Look guys," Farru said, "let's slow down and talk about this—"

"Look out!" Camall suddenly shouted. We heard the canon shot whistling through the air in time to dive and duck. The blast hit the wall just behind where we'd been standing, sending rubble flying up around us. I kept my head down and covered until I was sure it was clear, and then lifted my head to see the guards had been knocked back and out cold by the blast. Not exactly how we wanted to resolve the conflict, but it would do.

"Let's go!" Paine commanded.

We couldn't see Vidina anymore, but the path was pretty straightforward. But we didn't make it very far before we started running into more opposition. Big opposition. Big as in YAC-13's and YAU-28's. Two of the first and one of the second, to be exact. "Do these things think we're with the Youth League?" Nadaleen said.

"I don't think New Yevon was expecting anyone else to be coming this way," Camall said. "They let the guard dogs out on whoever tries to break in, and right now that means us."

"Heads up," Farru alerted us as a YAC-13 cocked its canon arm and launched a mortar at us. We scattered and dodged as the mortar hit the ground and exploded. Paine recovered quickly and dashed for it, bringing up her sword in a flash. One of the gun arms on the mech was sliced off, and I jumped in to finish the job, giving that thing another good hack that dropped it to the ground.

I grinned proudly up at Paine, who only gave me a stern "Stay alert!" I guess it was a good thing she did, because when I looked up the YAU-28 was hopping up to kick its hanging leg at me. I quickly jumped back from the attack—and had a split-second to notice the other YAC-13 launching another mortar. I did a quick backflip, but not quite quick enough. Just as my hands touched the floor the mortar hit the ground just a bare few feet from me, the blast knocking me rolling away.

My head spinning, I pushed myself up off the floor. I'd picked up a few scratches from that blast, and they were stinging. "Okay," I grunted, rising to my knees, "now I'm annoyed."

Nadaleen staggered the YAC-13 by splashing it with an intense water spell. I wanted to make sure I got the final blow on that one before anyone else did. "Let me at it!" I shouted as I got to my feet and hefted the Brotherhood. But Farru beat me to it, giving it a taste of his lance that brought it to the ground.

Well, at least I still had the third mech to thrash on. Camall slashed through the gears of the YAU-28 with his blade wheel, and a slash from Paine's sword hacked off its kicking leg. I wasn't waiting for anyone else to take the final blow against that thing, and a leap attack later I had that thing in a heap at my feet. "That wasn't so hard," I said, looking back at the others—

"Riza, look out!" Nadaleen shouted.

I spun around—another YAU-28 had come out of nowhere, and its kicking leg was coming up at me—

WHAM

Everything started spinning. I could barely see through the stars and my head was ringing, but somehow I knew that the mech had kicked me up into the air, and I was about to hit the ground hard. Except I didn't.

WHAM again.

Its second kick sent me flying. I was careening through the air, sailing out over the edge of the bridge, hearing the others shouting my name as I started falling down off the building to the city streets far below me. I shut my eyes, not wanting to see the ground before I went splat… for the first time, I found myself hoping my parents actually were dead, so they would be there to greet me when I made it to the Farplane. Because I couldn't die like this if they were still alive. Not here. Not now. Not before I found them—

I stopped falling. I opened my eyes and saw the streets still hundreds of feet below me, my feet dangling over empty air… and I felt someone's hand holding my arm. I didn't look up before whoever it was pulled me up. I took a moment just to appreciate the fact that there was floor beneath me, and that I wasn't a messy splatter on it. When I took in my surroundings, I saw that I was on a covered walkway on some upper level of the city, with a railing along the edge that my savior had just reached over to grab me. Speaking of which, who was my savior, anyway?

I looked up…

"Hiya, klutz."

Oh no, it's him.

"Jorin! What are you doing here?"

"Saving your clumsy tail."

"Get off of me!" I barked, pushing him away and climbing to my feet.

"You're welcome, princess."

"Whatever, I just…" I couldn't think of anything else to say. This was just too much. This jackass had just saved my life again. And as horrible as it was to admit, I was grateful to him. Which meant I couldn't hack him apart with—

I looked down at my sword hand, which was empty. I looked around my feet, and I saw nothing. "My sword! Where's my sword?"

"Blue, shimmering blade, hook on the tip, red ribbon hanging off the end?"

I shot a both curious and accusatory look at him, wondering why he remembered it with that much detail. He read my look and explained, "I'm a thief, remember? I always pay attention to things that look like they'd fetch a good price."

I snarled and grabbed him by the collar, pinning him up against a pillar. "That's my dad's sword, you bastard! Now where is it?"

"It's down there," he said, pointing his thumb over the railing. Still holding him in place with one hand, I leaned to look over the railing, and yes, it was down there, on top of an ornamental archway several stories below us. Damn.

"Rizaaaaa!" I heard Farru call from way up above me.

"I'm okay!" I called back. "I just gotta go get my sword!" To myself, I groaned at hearing myself say it out loud. I was supposed to be going to get Vidina right now; instead I had to go down several stories and climb out on top of an archway to get my sword—and I was here contemplating this with Jorin. Sometimes, my life just sucks.

I turned and ran for the first stairway I could find, and started running down flight after flight of stairs. I stopped when I was pretty sure I'd gone down far enough, and ran out onto the walkway… I looked out over the ledge… "Damn it!" I'd gone down too far. The archway was above me now. Ugh, this was not my day.

And then it got worse. I heard "Look out!" and then someone was on top of me, brining me to the ground as a canon shot hit the wall behind where my head had just been. "You alright klutz?"

Of course, Jorin had to follow me down all of those stairs and save me again, and now I had him laying on my back. "I will be as soon as you get off of me," I snarled.

He got up off my back and I hopped to my feet to hurry back to the stairway. "You're welcome again," he called from behind me.

I went back up one story, and found the archway with my sword on it, only now getting a glimpse of the gymnastics I was going to need to employ to get it. Fortunately that's something I'm good at. I climbed over the railing and hopped over the hills and valleys that the archway was covered in. The Brotherhood was resting in a nook just hanging over the edge, where just the slightest nudge in the wrong direction could send it falling to the street below, and where I had to hold onto a spire and stretch myself out to reach for it. I could just barely get close enough to touch the handle with my fingertips… I stretched a little farther…

I ended up accidentally giving it a tiny push. It shifted, and started sliding down… I grabbed it by the ribbon and pulled it up into my hand. Letting my breath out, I hoisted myself back up—

"Hey you! What are you doing out there!"

When I turned around, another New Yevon guard was at the railing, pointing his rifle at me. "What is it with you guys and pointing your guns at everyone?"

"Get off of there, now!"

THUD

The guard dropped like a ton of bricks, and Jorin was standing in his place after bringing the butt of his dagger down on his head. He reached his hand out over the railing for me. "Could you use a hand?"

My lip curled up… but I took his hand anyway and let him pull me back. I gave him the courtesy of just a second's glance before turning to find a way back up to join the others. "You know, I don't know what's worse about you," Jorin called from behind me, "the way you keep getting into trouble or the problem you have saying thank you."

I pointedly ignored him. I concentrated instead on trying to navigate the winding stairways and walkways going up. I still don't know if there was any other way I could've gone that would have gotten me back to the others, but where I ended up was on another path overlooking the spot where they were in the middle of fighting with a few more guards and mechs. As Nadaleen beat down a guard with a heavy water spell, I called down to them. "Hey! Up here!"

"Riza!" Farru called back. "Do you see Vidina from there?"

Huh, there's a thought. I turned around, and lo and behold, I did see Vidina. He was running up the steps to a massive door, stopping to chuck his blitzball at a guard and dodge the attack of another. "Yeah, I see him! I'm going after him! Can you guys handle things down there?"

Paine used her sword to deflect a kick from a YAU-28. "We're okay. Get Vidina!"

I clenched my jaw and nodded, and hurried off for Vidina. A couple of guards appeared in front of me, but fortunately for me they were headed in Vidina's direction, to deal with the guy causing the most trouble. I jumped onto one of the guards, putting my hands on his shoulders and throwing him to the ground hard. Jorin did similarly to the other one next to me.

"Vidina!"

I got his attention as he caught his rebounding blitzball that had just knocked out another guard. "Riza! I'm gonna get some answers out these guys!" He ran the rest of the way up the steps and grabbed one of the unconscious guards, lifting him by the collar and staring him in the face. "Hey, you!" he snapped, slapping the guard across the face and bringing him back to semi-consciousness. "Where's Roumsey?"

"Vidina, back off!" I yelled, pulling at his arm.

He shoved me off. "Not until I get some answers!" He turned his attention back on the guard. "Where is he? Tell me damn it!"

I grabbed Vidina's shoulder and pulled harder this time, pulling him to face me and making him drop the guard, and gave him my hardest slap. "Snap out of it! Do you see what's going on around us? You're going to get yourself killed!"

Vidina looked at me… and slowly sighed with resignation. Finally, I was getting through to him. Then he turned his eyes behind me to my left. "What's he doing here?"

I turned to look at Jorin standing behind me. "You know, that's a good question. Is there a reason you're still following me?"

"I figure wherever you go is where the best action is gonna be," he smirked.

"Why don't you go find somebody to rob already and stop bothering me?"

"Well since you seem to need saving every five minutes, I thought you'd appreciate me hanging around."

Ooohhh! "Vidina, if you really need to vent your aggression with violence, he'd be a fine target."

All of a sudden we heard a loud creak, and the big doors next to us started opening. And then there was Roumsey, stepping up to meet us out of those open doors, with a scowl in place of the oily smile he'd had before. Vidina gripped tight on his blitzball, ready to hurl it hard enough to knock someone's head off, and started to charge. I stepped up in front of him, extending an arm to hold him back.

"Miss Riza," Roumsey's slick voice said, without the same kind of oily tone as before. "I must say, I'm disappointed. When you came to me before, I showed you nothing but civility, and this is how you return it? You rally the Youth League against me, you bring all this chaos down on my city, and now you come barging in unannounced and hostile. I'm afraid, O daughter of Yuna, that you are no longer welcome here. And since I don't imagine that my dismissal alone will be enough to turn you away, then I must remove you forcibly."

With that both felt and heard the footsteps of something really, really big. And heavy. Roumsey stepped to the side, allowing us to see the goliath stomping toward us: a YSLS-Zero. Now I usually pride myself on being a big tough girl who doesn't scare easy, but when that thing came stomping towards me… let's just say it took all the control I had not to wet myself.

It swung a huge stone fist at us and we ducked and scurried back down the steps. The mech came slowly stomping after us. If it were up to me, I would have been all for turning tail and getting as far away from that thing as we could, but Vidina wasn't done being stupid yet. Apparently seeing Roumsey in person had undone the sense I slapped into him.

"Heads up!" he shouted, rearing back and chucking his blitzball—which bounced harmlessly off the mech's stone armor.

In fact, it seemed like all he accomplished was making it mad. Well, I mean he would have if mechs could get mad, but it certainly retaliated. And it retaliated hard. It stepped up and swatted Vidina to the ground with the worst knuckle sandwich you could imagine. I was relieved to hear him groan and see him lift his head off the ground, so at least he was still okay, but his head was going to be hurting like no joke in the morning.

But that still left us with this big beast in front of us with armor that my sword could never hope to get through. "Anybody got any ideas?" I turned my eyes toward Jorin. "If you have some super tricks up your sleeve, this would be a real good time to use 'em!"

"I'm a thief, not a miracle-worker!"

Just as the mech looked like it was preparing to attack again, a sudden blast of water crashed down on it from nowhere, announcing Nadaleen's arrival, followed closely by the others. Paine dashed forward, swinging her sword up in a wide arc that actually staggered the stone-and-metal beast, putting a crack in its armor.

"Good timing, guys!" I cheered, raising the Brotherhood. But just as I was about to leap at the mech, Jorin suddenly put a hand on my arm.

"Hold on," he said, flashing me a mischievous grin… for some reason I was still seeing that grin on his near-perfect face for a few seconds after he had dashed forward. But then I looked up and saw what he was doing… not even I would be crazy enough to do that! He had run up to the mech, dodging its massive fists, and was actually climbing up on it. Standing on top of the mech's head… or, well, I guess the YSLS-Zero doesn't have a head, so just standing on top of it, where its fists couldn't quite get to but were certainly trying, Jorin jabbed one of his daggers into the crack Paine had made in its armor, opening it wider.

"Hit it now!" Jorin shouted to me.

I dashed, and with a leap I brought the Brotherhood down on the mech just as Jorin pulled his dagger away. I definitely felt my sword cut through something, and it was enough to jostle the mech and make Jorin fall off the back and roll away.

"Everybody get back!" Camall shouted. When we saw him lowering his goggles and deploying his machine gun, we all dove for cover.

TATATATATATATATAATATATATATATATAT

The mech went haywire under the hail of bullets, and steadily we watched as all its main parts began falling off. In a minute the thing had been reduced to just a pile of bits and pieces.

I bent down, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath, while Camall raised his goggles and stepped up to Vidina, producing a potion for him. "Are you all okay?" Paine asked. I nodded.

"Can someone please explain to me what the thief is doing here?" Farru said. All eyes turned to Jorin.

"I'm still trying to find that out myself," I said, folding my arms.

"What does a guy have to do to be appreciated here?" Jorin said. "Am I the only one who noticed I just helped you all against that thing?"

"How did you get away from Steel Island?" Paine demanded.

"I wouldn't be much of a thief if I didn't know how to pull a quick escape, now would I?"

I marched right up into his face. "How about you give us a straight answer for once?"

"How about you show a little gratitude, princess? I've saved your life at least three times now; don't I even get a 'thank you' kiss?"

No, he was not going to get a "thank you" kiss. He'd have to settle for a "thank you" punch. "Close enough," he shrugged, rubbing his jaw.

"Uh, guys?" Nadaleen said, looking up to the sky. "…What's going on?"

We looked in the direction she was looking, and saw what she was seeing: several giant glowing shapes descending from the sky, not falling but seemingly flying down and taking solid form. And as we looked around us, more giant shapes were popping up at various points around the city. And they were beginning to attack the people. "What are those things?" Jorin said.

"Aeons!" I answered. "Lots of aeons!"