Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate, Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them. ^_^
Chapter: Twenty.
Rise to meet the end!?
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"I see you found them. Where's Tracy?" Rebecca demanded as soon as Souron, Skye and Kayden walked through the door.
Skye blinked with a confused expression, why was Rebecca awake? It was like four in the morning. She then shook her head to clear it. Rebecca was always awake at this time. "She's at Djose Temple."
"The rescue mission was a success," Souron added. His hand tightened around Skye's slightly.
"Where's the rest of the party, and why is my sister there and not here?" Rebecca looked at them suspiciously.
"Nysa was hurt.. a little bit." Kayden started, "She'll be fine!" he was quick to reassure. He remembered clearly how protective Rebecca was of her little sister. "But it'll take her a couple days before she's back to full health." he added.
Rebecca frowned, "A couple days?! With healing as easy as it is here? Who hurt her?" The shop owner looked as if she was gong to go out and find whoever had hurt her sister, and if she found that person, no one would ever find their body.
"Seymour." Skye replied with a yawn. "Becca, it's alright, Nysa will be fine. Her and Xander'll just be a little tired for the next couple days."
"Xander was hurt too?" Rebecca demanded. Honestly, she couldn't remember which of Tracy's friends was going by Xander. She wanted to know what had happened! "Fine. You three look exhausted, go to bed. But we will talk about this later."
Kayden nodded, "We'll talk about it tomorrow afternoon when the rest of the group gets here."
"Fine." Rebecca locked the door behind them and walked around the bar into the kitchen.
The three Earthlings left in the room winced, "Becca's older by six years...I had forgotten how overprotective she is of her sister. She doesn't have need to show it much, as Nysa is usually very capable of taking care of herself. I mean, Becca took a year off school so she could be home with Nysa when she first got sick."
Souron blinked, he hadn't known that. To him, it had always seemed like Nysa was the one who was overprotective of Becca, not the other way around.
Skye just nodded, in her opinion, Becca was scary.
"Let's get some sleep, it's been a long day." Souron commented before leading them up the stairs. Him and Skye took the room he had stayed in the last time, while Kayden took a room further down the hall for obvious reasons.
-----
"It's almost over." Shiva commented idly. She looked out the open doors of the Remiem Temple. "Our chosen are ready to fight without us."
"Are they?" Ifrit asked skeptically.
"They are." Bahamut replied. "They are stronger than we gave them credit for."
"We're almost done. Soon, we will finally get our rest." The Magus Sisters smiled cheerfully and spun around the room.
"Where are the others?" Yojimbo demanded. He was leaning up against one of the side walls with his arms crossed.
"They got lost while searching for their chosen on the otherworld." Bahamut replied. "They will be here soon."
"Are we sure that the chosen are going to be able to free us from the future we saw?" Ixion asked.
"I am sure. I was sure when I picked them, and though they went off the path once, they are back on it." Bahamut sighed, "I just wish there was an easier way."
"The others have arrived." Shiva interrupted. She watched as Valefor and Anima walked up the bridge to the Temple.
"I apologize for our lateness. While in the otherworld, I dealt with something I should have dealt with years ago." Anima said softly. She walked past her fellow Fayth and leaned against the back wall pensively.
Valefor just nodded once and sat down in the middle of the temple. "And now we wait."
"Yes." Bahamut replied softly. He sat next to where Shiva was standing by the entrance. "Now we wait."
----
"You know how we're going to defeat Sin?" Xander exclaimed, "How?"
"Well, in the final battle, after they defeated Jecht, Yuna summoned all of the Aeons one by one and as Yu Yevon possessed them, she fought them, and as she defeated them, she sent them to the Farplane."
"Until there was nothing left for Yu Yevon to possess." Xander continued her line of thinking. He carefully stood up and made his way to her bed before sitting again, this way they didn't have to talk so loud to hear each other.
"Yes. And that is when they defeated Yu Yevon." Nysa Finished.
Xander frowned, "Okay.. you lost me, what does that have to do with how we're going to defeat Sin?"
"We're not going to defeat Sin. In fact, it would probably be best if we don't even go into Sin. We're going to preform the Final Sending right as Yuna and her guardians defeat Jecht."
"So the Aeons will be gone before she even gets to Yevon!" Xander replied. "But why won't we be in Sin during this?"
"Well, the way I see it, the six of us, are the closest thing normal humans can get to being Fayths. I don't think we should take the chance that Yu Yevon may possess us. We'll join the battle once the Aeons have been sent, that way we will have no ties left to them... thus we wont have to worry about being posessed." Nysa replied. She then groaned when she realized the condition her clothing was in, "Gyah, I just had this all washed! Thank the Fayth that all of our clothing seems to have some sort of indestructible quality to it. But seriously, it looks like I was rolling around in a mud puddle."
"Well it wasn't exactly a puddle..." Xander started, "It was more, you got covered in dirt, and then got soaked, so the dirt stuck."
"By the way, Xand..." in a complete change of thought Nysa looked around and realized she didn't recognize anything in the room they were in. "Where exactly are we?"
"We're in the Djose Temple." He replied. "Both of us needed healing, and Tara didn't know if she would be good enough to do it."
"She needs more Faith in her abilities." Nysa exclaimed, "No pun intended." she added with a smirk.
"Oh! You're awake!" The priest seemed startled. He walked further into the room. "How are you both feeling? Any aches, or left over pain?"
Nysa did a quick inventory of her body, she wiggled both feet and hands, " I'm fine, just tired, and a little dizzy," She replied honestly.
"Same, just minus the dizziness." Xander replied. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."
The priest nodded knowingly, "I wasn't actually expecting the two of you to be awake for a couple more hours, and I never expected in a million years that you would be a coherent as you are." He smiled down at them, "If you hold on a minute, I will go retrieve your friends and summoner, they are quite worried."
Nysa nodded and leaned back against the wall the bed was up against. "I can't believe we're almost done..."
"It's almost time for us to go back to our ordinary lives..." Xander continued.
"Yeah..." Nysa suddenly remembered that she hadn't told the group her plans. "About that..."
"It's okay Ny, I already know." He met her eyes, "You're not coming with us are you?"
Nysa blinked up at him, astonished. "How did you know?"
"I've never seen you as happy back home as you are here, it's like you were always meant to be here." He gave her a one armed hug, "Tara didn't take the news well did she?" He made it out to be a question, but they both knew it was more of a statement.
"No, you saw her reaction back on Gagazet." Nysa agreed.
"Oh, so that's---"
"You're awake!" Batalax bounced into the room. She grinned at the two recovering summoners and hopped onto the bed Xander had slept in. "We just have to wait for Tara before we go. She'll be by in a bit, Priest Lanemt is teaching her more about white magic, because while she has the ability to use it, she doesn't know how to heal the more serious things. And we don't want another situation like last night.
Akail followed at a more sedate pace. "You both look much better than you did last night."
Nysa frowned down at her muddy clothing once more, "You mean it's possible to look worse?" She then grinned and pulled two com-spheres out of her bag. "Akail, Xander, we got these for you." She handed them each one and gave them a brief summary about how to equip it.
"Oh! Awesome!" Akail grinned and quickly equipped it, "I've been planning on getting one for awhile, but the opportunity never came up."
"Any idea what time it is?" Xander asked. He equipped his own com-sphere at a much more sedate pace.
"Around two pm, I think." Batalax replied, not looking away from the weird artifact she was having a staring contest with.
"Where are the others?" Nysa asked. She realized that they weren't in the room, and that no one had mentioned them, she hoped that they had made it out of EvilCastlegar alright.
"They're at Becca's." Akail replied. He moved over to the bed and sat next to Batalax. "We should be getting back to them soon, are the two of you alright to move?"
"Sure."
"Maybe."
Batalax turned away from the relic, she would call for a rematch later. "Maybe?"
"Yeah, as long as I don't have to walk very far, I'm kinda really dizzy." Nysa replied. "It feels similar to when I overdosed on X-potions that one time on Gagazet."
"We'll be flying, so it won't take long to get there... maybe an hour, two hours at most." Batalax exclaimed. The four friends fell in to a comfortable silence, all getting lost in their own thoughts.
Around three hours later, Tara poked her head through the open door. She gave the group a once over. Batalax and Akail were sitting on one of the beds playing cards, while Xander and Nysa were leaning against each other shoulder to shoulder on the other bed, both of them fast asleep. "Are you guys ready to go?" Tara asked quietly. She walked further into the room and gave them a half smile.
"Sure, I think." Batalax exclaimed quickly. She was glad for the distraction, as Akail was kicking her ass at go fish. She did not want to let him win.
"We've just got to wake those two, they drifted off around an hour and a half ago." Akail replied. He quickly stood up and stretched his legs, he wasn't used to sitting for long periods of time anymore. "How did the magic lesson go?"
Tara smiled, "It went really well. It turns out that with white magic, once you learn the abilities on the Sphere Grid, you are supposed to destroy the white magic section of the grid. Apparently, white magic is much better channeled through our own bodies and not the grid. It's actually quite similar to how we merged with the Aeons. I've merged with the White Magic. Now, it's not just a tool that I'm good at using, it's a part of me." She explained.
"I think I understand that. It reminds me of something Bahamut said." Batalax replied.
Akail just smiled in a way that said he had no idea what they were talking about but he would never admit it. "I'll wake the others."
----
"I just got off the Com-sphere with Akail. He said they'll be here in about an hour and a half." Skye whispered. She let the door of the restaurant close behind her and joined her long missed boyfriend. He was standing outside watching the sunset. With an easily remembered ease, she slipped her hand into his. "It's beautiful here, isn't it."
"Yeah." he smiled down at her. After a few moments of peaceful silence, he spoke once more. "This place seems to have done you a lot of good, it's like you finally found yourself. I've never seen you so sure about your abilities before. Well, besides when you're singing."
The female assassin just smiled and turned her eyes back to the sunset, there was no need for words in a situation like this. She leaned up against him, "I'm glad you're here."
The door behind them opened. It startled them both out of their thoughts, and they both turned to see who had came out. It was Kayden.
"Hey." they addressed him simultaneously.
Kayden smiled and finished putting on his block cloak. "Hey." he answered back. "I'm going to make a quick trip to the travel agency down the road; stock up on supplies."
"We'll come too." Skye exclaimed. "I'm almost completely out of everything, it's been a couple weeks since I last stocked up."
Souron just shrugged, "Are we walking?"
"Nah, Becca said we can borrow her Chocobo's again." Kayden replied.
---
Tara smiled as the coffee shop came into view. This would be her first time seeing the inside of it. She looked to her left and had to stifle a laugh. Nysa was leaning up against her, and it looked as if she was trying really hard to stay awake. She would close here eyes, and then a couple seconds later, she would sort of jolt as she forced herself to stay conscious. She looked to her right and suddenly found it impossible to hold her laughter in. Xander was passed out against Akail. She had never seen Akail look so embarrassed.
Batalax looked back at her, "Whatchya laughing at?"
Tara didn't even bother answering, instead, she shouted, "B! Pay attention to where you're driving!"
Batalax winced when she noticed she was about to hit the coffee shop. "Woo!" She pulled the dragon into a dive that had Tara covering her eyes and praying to Anima that they wouldn't crash.
"You can open your eyes now T." Batalax laughed and jumped off the dragon, she had stopped it directly in front of the door. "Xand, Ny, wakey wakey!"
Xander sat up abruptly and wiped the drool away from his mouth. "Are we there?"
"Yep." Akail replied. He quickly jumped off the dragon to get away from Xander. "Let's get inside."
Nysa blurredly opened her eyes, "We there already?" she crawled and half stumbled off the dragon. "Whoa..."
"Careful Nysa." Tara steadied the long haired thief, "Priest Lanemt said that you would have to take it really easy so as to not hurt your leg or ribs again."
Nysa nodded and allowed the blond to lead her into the coffee shop, she vaguely saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye signaling that Batalax had sent the Dragon Aeon away.
Once the five of them were sitting at a table in the coffee shop, Tara smiled at Rebecca. "Hey Becca, where are the others?"
"They went to get supplies, they said you all were running low." Rebecca replied. She walked over to the table and sat down across from her sister. Nysa had her head down on the table and looked as if she was trying really hard to stay awake. "So, are you guys going to tell me what happened?" She looked to the chair to her right, Xander was in a position much like Nysa. To her left sat Batalax, the mage wasn't paying attention, instead choosing to study the menu behind the bar.
Tara and Akail flanked Nysa on the other side of the table. "We were sent to a place that looks very similar to Castlegar... If Castlegar were actually a town out of the Silent Hill Games." Akail replied.
"We were only there for about a day, until we got a call from Batalax saying that they were there to rescue us and that we should meet them at your house." Tara continued. "About two hours before we got that call, we thing one of the Unsents used some sort of earthquake spell. It threw Xander across the road by Mohawk, and as he had his sword out at the time, he somehow managed to impale himself."
"I have zombie status on my sword." Xander explained tiredly. "They didn't know, and tried to treat me with high potions. It didn't work--"
"--And did you know that you're not supposed to treat serious wounds with potions anyways?" Tara cut in. "I'm a white mage, and yet I hadn't known that... there should be warnings on the bottles or something. If this was Earth, I'd sue!"
"We went to some catholic church Rita or something, and robbed them of their holy water. None of us had any left after building up our sphere grids in Zanarkand." Akail leaned back in his chair so it was only touching the ground with the two back legs, "So that's how Xander got hurt, Batalax can explain how Nysa got hurt."
"Seymour ambushed us and used the opposite of the attack used on Xander. Instead of the ground spitting her across an area..." Batalax faltered, not sure how to word the next sentence.
"...It swallowed me whole." Nysa whispered, her voice haunted. Digging herself out of what would have ended up as her own grave, was something that would give her nightmares for a long time to come.
Rebecca's eyes narrowed. "Where is Seymour now?" she asked, her voice coming out as a deadly whisper.
Nysa lifted her head slightly, "I don't know."
"I don't think we'll have to worry about him anymore." Tara reassured. "I don't know why, but I just have a- a— feeling... that he won't be bothering us anymore."
There was a small ringing of bells as the door to the shop opened and a group of two walked in. Rebecca smiled apologetically and stood up to greet them. "Welcome to Bobs, How may I take your money today?"
Nysa's head thumped back down onto the table in exasperation. "Only my sister would model her business skills after a greedy thousand year old ex- vengeance demon."
"Hey I'm gunna call Rikku. See when they'll be able to meet us, so we can talk." Nysa suddenly exclaimed. She activated her com Sphere. "Rikku."
"Rammu?"
"Hey, Rikki," Nysa replied, to tired to speak Al Bhed.
"Nysa? Hey! It's been eons since we talked!"
"Rikku. It's been like four days." the sound of Rikku's giggling filled the com-sphere. "Anyways, I have a reason for calling, have you guys finished obtaining your ultimate weapons?"
"Not yet. I think It'll be another week or two before we're done. We still have to find the last power up for Aurons weapon, and we have to find Tidus's weapon still."
Nysa nodded to herself. "I see. Well, I can't help with Auron's weapon, but have you looked in the Calm Lands for Tidus's weapon?"
"No, we haven't looked there. Should we?"
"Yeah..." Nysa yawned and leaned her head back down on the table, "Call me once you have your weapons, I've figured out how to take down Sin."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Nysa yawned again, "Talk to you later Rikku."
"Bye bye Nysa!"
Nysa closed her eyes as the com-sphere shut itself off.
"You figured out how to take down Sin?" Batalax shouted.
"Yeah. Xander'll explain it to you. I'm going upstairs to bed. I've not been this tired since back on Earth." Nysa stood up, and after waiting for the world to stop swaying she headed past the group and towards the stairs.
A couple seconds later, Tara stood up. "I'm going to go talk to Ny, you guys can fill me in on the plan later, you'll have to fill Skye, Souron and Kayden in on it anyways."
---
Tara poked her head into all the rooms until she found the one Nysa was in. The thief was sitting on the bed in the lotus position with her eyes closed. Moving softly, so as to not startle her, Tara sat on the bed in the same position facing her. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
Nysa's eyes opened, "What are you sorry for?"
"For freaking out on you back at Gagazet. I was just being selfish." Tara explained. She looked guilty. "I may not be the most observant of people," she laughed lightly at her own expense. "But even I can see that coming to Spira has been the best thing that has ever happened to you."
"Tara- I--"
"--No." Tara interrupted gently, "Let me finish." She looked thoughtful, "I wanted you to come back to Earth for my sake. You're my best friend, and I didn't want to give that up. I still don't. But we're from two different worlds, and I'm going to have to live with that. I'll miss you Ny, every single day. But you have my blessing. I hope you have a really happy life here."
Nysa blinked rapidly and reached over to hug her best friend. "Thank you Tara." She leaned her head on the blonds shoulder. "I'll miss you too."
"Go to sleep Ny, I'll bring you up something to eat later, okay?" Tara said. She noticed that the other girl was falling asleep on her shoulder.
"Mm'kay." Nysa lay down on the bed and was asleep almost instantaneously. Tara watched her for a few moments before she turned off the light and left the room. The door closed softly behind her.
---
"Okay, we'll take..." Souron paused to do the math in his head. "One Hundred and Sixty High Potions." that would give them all twenty each. "Eighty Phoenix Downs." which would give them ten each. "And Forty bottles of Holy Water." He looked over the list of items in stock and sighed when he realized they didn't sell Remedies or Ethers.
The woman at the travel agency smiled and used her Al Bhed calculating device to tally up the cost. "Okay, so High Potions are five hundred Gil each, Phoenix Downs are one hundred Gil each, and bottles of Holy Water are three hundred Gil each. So that will come to... 92800 Gil."
Skye laughed lightly when she realized she was the only one with enough money to buy the supplies. Souron hadn't expected it to come to that much. "Here." she handed the woman the required Gil and in return the woman handed her the items. "Have a nice day!" Skye called out as she handed some of the High Potions to Souron as her pouch could only hold 99 of each item.
"Where's Kayden?" Souron asked. He hadn't even noticed that the stoner was gone until now.
"I think he went to go challenge that chocobo guy to a race." Skye replied. "Didn't you hear him? He said that he would meet us back at Rebecca's."
Souron shook his head, no he hadn't hear him at all. "Let's go, the others are probably back at Becca's by now."
Skye nodded and cautiously climbed back onto her borrowed chocobo. Riding the big yellow birds always made her nervous.
----
The next morning found the nine Earthlings sitting around the biggest table in the coffee shop. "So that's the plan." Nysa finished dramatically.
"It's such a simple change to the time line, I can't see it changing things too drastically." Souron pondered.
"But it's still a big enough change that the Fayth get what they brought us here for in the first place." Batalax added. She looked down and continued to play with the food in front of her, she was never hungry in the morning.
"So where will we do this?" Tara asked.
"Guadosalam." Nysa replied. "That way, we can make sure you guys get you're portal home."
"You guys...?" Skye sat up straighter, "What do you mean.. you guys? Are you not..."
Nysa visibly winced. She had forgotten that she had only told some of the group. "I forgot to mention that small fact didn't I? Well, now you know, I'm not going with you guys; I'm staying here."
before they could say anything, Batalax coughed awkwardly to get their attention. "I'm staying too."
Xander just nodded, "I'm not surprised actually. He turned to look at those that hadn't known, "Think about it guys, have you ever seen the two of them more happy than when they're here? I know I haven't."
Skye nodded reluctantly, "It's true." to lighten the mood, she looked over at Nysa, "Do you remember that Internet quiz we took that said you were born in the wrong time line and that you should have been born in the sixties? Well, I think it was wrong, I think it should have said that you should have been born in Spira."
Nysa grinned, "Is there anyway we can convince the rest of you to stay too?"
Skye grabbed onto Sourons hand and shook her head. "No way, I can't wait to go back home."
Souron just shook his head, which didn't surprise Nysa one bit, the guy was a mechanic after all, and there are no cars in Spira. The closest thing to them would be Hovers, and at the moment they were still banned as forbidden Machina.
Kayden also shook his head. "I'll miss you Ny, but this world is way too bright and goody for me. I mean, I like that most people get along in this world, but there are things I miss too much, like smokes, and Smirnoff."
Everyone laughed. Akail was the next one to shake his head, "As much as I love it here, I would miss technology too much."
Batalax nodded in understanding, she too would miss technology, but she could live without it. "What about you three, any way we can convince you guys to stay?" she addressed Rebecca, Tara and Xander.
"Not a chance. I'm not really one for adventuring more than I have to." Tara replied with a smile. She was sad that Batalax was staying, but also happy, as it meant that Nysa wouldn't be the only person from Earth left on the planet. It could get pretty lonely being the only person from an entire planet, living with people who would never understand any of your inside jokes.
Xander laughed, "I like it here, but I miss the real world, and my girlfriend."
Rebecca just frowned, "You actually think I'm leaving?" She said, shocking the entire group. "I mean, come on, I own a business that is flourishing, I have minions that are attempting to build me a computer, I'm getting rich even though I don't have to do like any actual work... and you think I'm going to leave you behind on an entirely different planet with no supervision?" the last part was directed at Nysa.
Nysa tried to look offended, but found she was laughing to hard to pull it off. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're staying." Now that the conversation was deemed over with for the time being, the group went back to their breakfasts.
----
"Hey Cadmion," Nysa poked her head into the kitchen, "Have you seen my sister?"
"She's back in the stables. I thinks." The tall blond man replied, he turned his back on her and went back to making the meal he was working on.
"Dryhgc cu silr!" Nysa replied in Al Bhed. She grinned and skipped out of the room. It had been a couple days since they had gotten to Rebecca's coffee shop and she was only just now starting to get her energy back. At the moment the group were taking their first prolonged break since they had gotten to Spira. She had given each member of the group a charm bangle, well, besides Xander who already had one.
At the moment, Skye and Souron were off having a day to themselves in Luca, Akail was wondering around catching fiends for the monster arena, Batalax was in Besaid with Luzzu, Kayden was having rematch after rematch trying to beat the chocobo trainer in a race, Tara was wondering the world picking up souvenirs to take back to Earth, and last but not least, Xander and herself were banned from leaving the coffee shop until Tara deemed them fully healed. Supposedly, another thing she learned from Priest Lanemt was that after you have had serious healing cast on you, it would be very bad for your health to use any healing potions or have any more curative magic used on you for at least five days after. In other words, Xander and her were shop bound and extremely bored. Thus why she was looking for her sister.
"Becca?" She called out softly, as she entered the chocobo stables, she didn't want to shout loudly at the risk of startling the large birds.
"Yeah?" Rebecca replied back, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. "What?"
"I've got an idea." Nysa replied as she pulled out a video sphere. "Since we're not going back... I think we should send something to mom and dad, to let them know that we are okay."
Rebecca frowned thoughtfully, "That's a good idea. I just hate that in order to live our lives we have to leave them behind. I wonder if there is any way to keep in contact with those on Earth..."
Nysa sat down on one of the benches in the stables. "Well, there was a lot of static, but the Com-Spheres did reach through to PhantomCastlegar. Maybe Shinra would be able to increase the range of them somehow?"
"If Tara says you're able, why don't you go talk to Shinra tomorrow?"
"I'll have to do that, but for the moment... We need to record a sphere."
----
"Tidus?" Akail asked. His voice was perplexed, why would Tidus be here? "I thought you guys were looking for your ultimate weapons?"
Tidus looked up, startled. "Akail? What are you doing here?"
"I'm catching fiends for the monster arena." The assassin replied.
"Oh, cool! And yeah, I'm still looking for my Ultimate weapon, everyone else already has theirs, but Nysa hinted that I should look in the Calm Lands for mine... I think I need a bigger hint, did Nysa forget just how big the Calm Lands are?"
"Huh... so what exactly are you looking for, maybe I could help, I've been wondering the Calm Lands for days, I may have seen it."
"Well, all I know is that it's a sword, and that it's really powerful, it probably has something guarding it." Tidus replied.
"Oh! There was a guy on the far side guarding something, maybe that's it?" Akail asked.
"Could be," Tidus looked in the direction Akail was pointing, it was a long way away. "Well, I better get going."
"Wait, if we stop at Becca's we can borrow some chocobos." Akail proclaimed.
"Becca's?" Tidus asked. The name sounded familiar as if he had heard it in passing, but he wasn't sure who it was.
"Nysa's older sister owns a coffee shop in the Calm Lands, it's only around ten minutes away from here. C'mon!" Akail started to lead the way back to Becca's. "So..." he said conversationally, "Where's the rest of your group?"
"They're looking for the last power up for Auron's ultimate weapon. I'm not alone though, Rikku and Wakka are here with me, but we split up thinking we would find it faster."
"Kayden." he activated his Com-Sphere.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Akail. Have you seen Rikku or Wakka?"
"Uh... Who and who?"
Akail smacked his head in exasperation. He had forgotten that Kayden had only been in Spira for around a month. "Uhh, Wakka has weirdly styled orange hair and a yellow outfit, and Rikku has long blond hair, and is wearing an orange shirt and green shorts."
"I haven't seen Wakka, but I just saw Rikku."
"Where?"
"She just went into my cousins shop."
"Cool. I'm almost at the shop, talk to you later... oh, and good luck with the racing!"
"Thanks, bye!"
"Rikku's at the coffee shop right now, but I don't know where Wakka is." Akail said to his spiky blond headed friend.
"Cool." Tidus replied.
"And here we are!" Akail gestured ahead of them where the large shop stood.
"Tidus!" Nysa exclaimed coming from the back side of the shop with Rebecca slightly behind her. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for my ultimate weapon." Tidus replied, he suddenly got the urge to hide, the redhead behind Nysa was looking at him as if she would like nothing more than to see him die a very painful death. "Uhh.. Hi there!" he said to her.
Rebecca just shook her head and walked past the three of them into the shop. Seconds later Rikku ran out of the shop and immediately went over and hugged Nysa. "Your sister is scary." she stage whispered as if afraid the redhead would overhear her.
Nysa just laughed, "She thinks so too."
"Did you find it?" Rikku asked Tidus anxiously.
"No, but Akail thinks he knows where it is... wait, Nysa! Didn't you say you knew where my ultimate weapon was?"
"Sure! I know exactly where it is I'll take you there!" Nysa replied cheerfully, she threw her braid over her shoulder and bounced up and down slightly.
"Not happening." Akail immediately protested. "Tara would have my head if I let you leave the shop before she said you're well enough."
Nysa pouted, "But Akaaaaaail! I'm so bored!"
"No. You are free to leave soon, you just have to wait a bit longer." Akail said, his tone of voice final. "Is it where that guy is guarding the path down past the Travel Agency?"
Nysa sighed, defeated. "Yeah. That's where it is, and you don't have to worry about him guarding it, he's watching Kayden race the chocobo guy whose name I don't know."
Akail grinned, "C'mon then, let's go grab some chocobos and go get it!"
Tidus nodded and looked at Nysa, "Why can't you come?"
"Seymour came back again and attacked Batalax and I. I got hurt pretty bad and had to have a lot of curative magic cast on me, so Tara has me locked up here until she deems me well enough to get out and actually do stuff again. Thankfully, Xander is also under house arrest with me, or I'de have gone crazy!"
"Damn that Seymour..." Tidus hissed. "Oh yeah! We forgot to tell you!"
"Yuna talked to the higher ups of Bevelle, You guys have been cleared of all charges. It turns out that you guys have made quite a few friends besides us who were willing to vouch for you." Rikku smiled up at them. "So you guys don't have to hide anymore, ya know?"
Nysa grinned, "That's the best news I've heard all week!"
Akail pumped his fist into the air, "Yes!"
"Well, we should go, the rest of our group is counting on us to find my ultimate weapon by the end of the day."
Nysa nodded and turned to go back into the shop, over her shoulder she called back, "Rikku, don't forget to call me once you all have your weapons."
-----
Eight days later the group was once more sitting within Rebecca's shop, though this time, they were joined by the Spiran group. "So, that's the plan." Tara finished.
"So, Pops will drop us off on Sin and we'll go into it and fight the form it is taking right now, while Pops drops the eight of you off in Guadosalam where six of you preform the sending for the Fayth?"
"Yes, and then me and Batalax will go back to the airship and join you for the battle with Yu Yevon." Nysa finished.
"It sounds like a good plan." Yuna said softly.
The group continued to discuss the plan in greater detail for hours.
Nysa looked across the table at Tidus and then looked down, trying to work up the courage to say what needed to be said. Finally, she looked up and met Tidus's eyes. "Ti, I need to talk to you."
Tidus looked confused and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Sure thing.. do we need to..." he gestured to the door.
Nysa nodded sharply and tried to get her emotions under control. She stood up and walked to the door trying to hide the sadness she knew had to be showing on her face. "We'll be back in a bit." she said over her shoulder to the rest of the two mingling groups as she led the star blitzball player out of the room.
Tidus stayed silent as they walked along the Calm Lands, absurdly, the only question on his mind was why they weren't being attacked by Fiends. The last time he had walked along the Calm Lands, he had been attacked nearly every ten feet. "So," he prodded once they were a good distance from Rebecca's coffee shop, "You needed to talk to me?"
Nysa stopped walking, her back turned to him. "You heard the plan."
Tidus stopped walking too. "Yeah. I did." he replied, softly.
Nysa turned to face him, suddenly noticing how much taller he was than her. She was five foot five while wearing her combat boots, five foot three without them, while Tidus had to be at least five foot eleven. "When we send the Fayth, do you know what is going to happen?"
Tidus's eyes widened. "I had forgotten you knew..."
"Are you okay with this?" Nysa watched his face carefully. She looked down and nervously started playing with the end of her braid. "If we do it like this, you won't even make it to the final battle."
Tidus looked over the thief's shoulder at the setting sun. "I've known for awhile that Sin was going to be my final battle..."
"You won't even make it to Yu Yevon." Nysa said quietly. "You're last battle will be with Sin's newest incarnation."
"Jecht." Tidus finished. "The last battle I fight will be with my father?"
Nysa nodded. "Hn. Immediately after the battle, Yu Yevon will attack, so there will be very little time for goodbyes."
"Is there no way for me to stay just a little longer? If I disappeared right before the final battle, wouldn't it distract Yuna?" Tidus said, his voice sad, as if he was grasping at straws and not being fast enough to catch them.
"If there were any other way... you know that I would take it in a heartbeat right?" Nysa said seriously. She internally debated with herself for a minute on if she should give him the next bit of information. "Tidus... You know how I mentioned that in my world, this---" she gestured wildly. "All of this... is a video game?"
"Yeah... that's not a conversation I'm going to be forgetting any time soon."
"There was something I didn't tell you all." Nysa hesitated and met his eyes. "The game has a sequel. It starred Yuna, Rikku and a woman named Paine. At the end of the game... there was a possibility... a possibility that you could return."
Tidus looked startled, "Really? How?!"
Here, Nysa frowned and shook her head. "I don't actually know. I never got the perfect ending. And when I tried to play the game a second time, I was unable, as it kept freezing at the opening scene." She quickly continued when he gave her a hopeless look. "What I'm saying, is that it is possible. I will do everything in my power to make sure it happens. Yuna will too. She loves you, you know."
"I--- I love her too." Tidus whispered.
Nysa was about to reply when she glanced past Tidus and saw Tara watching from the distance. "Look, I have to go, but we'll talk again. We still have two days till we go after Sin."
"Yeah. Alright." Tidus nodded his consent. "Talk to you later... Uhh, can you tell the others that I'll be back in awhile? I need to clear my head."
"Sure." Nysa walked past him but stopped briefly to place her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Tidus... before I go, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. When I first saw you, my first impression was that you were a brainless jock. I was wrong; very wrong. I'm sorry I ever thought that about you."
Tidus just laughed, "I am a brainless jock! And don't you tell anyone differently; I've got a reputation to protect you know!"
Nysa laughed along with him, "I'll tell the others that you'll be back in a couple hours, okay?" She handed him her charm bangle with a small smile and walked away.
Tara met her half way. "Is there really no way to convince you to come home with us?"
Nysa smiled lightly, "Not in a million years! You think I'm going to give up my superpowers for high school?"
Tara winced and smacked Nysa playfully, "Thanks for reminding me. We'll have to repeat the year because of this, and it's Grad year to boot!" Tara sighed theoretically, "I was like four scant months from graduating." Her playfulness vanished as if it had never been there, and she turned serious eyes on her best friend. "I'm going to miss you Nysa. So much."
Nysa stepped closer and pulled her blond counterpart closer in a tight hug. "I'll miss you too Tara..." she whispered into the other girls now shorter hair. "Forever and Ever and Always."
"Forever and Ever and Always." Tara repeated. It was like a secret promise between the two of them.
"Tara? When you go back to Earth in two days... Can you give this to my parents?" Nysa handed the blond the small video sphere that she and Rebecca had recorded a couple days earlier and the com-sphere prototype that Shinra had made her.
Tara carefully pocketed the sphere. "I'll make sure they get it." she promised.
"Hey?" Akail called from the doorway of the coffee shop, "You guys ready? We have to finish our preparations."
Nysa pulled away from Tara and gave her a half smile. "Is there any way I can convince you not to go back?"
Tara grinned, "Not a chance. I miss my Livejournal too much to stay here." She glanced back towards Rebecca's shop where Akail was waiting impatiently. "We better get back before he uses his power over wind to make us come back."
Nysa gave a short laugh and hooked her arm with Tara's. "Let's go then,"
---
"Is everyone in position?" Nysa asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "We only get one chance at this."
"We're ready." Akail replied exasperatedly.
"Okay." Nysa replied. She stepped forward. "It's time." She closed her eyes and concentrated on Summoning Shiva. Until now, she hadn't even known she still could.
"Ieyui"
Skye and Batalax stepped forward next. Simultaneously, they summoned Ifrit and Ixion.
"Nobomeno"
Xander stepped forward next. Yojimbo and his dog appeared seconds later.
"Renmiri"
Tara smiled, slightly nervous, she had never summoned Anima before. She closed her eyes and located the previously hidden presence in her mind. Wordlessly, she summoned the deadly Aeon.
"Yojuyogo"
Akail stepped forward next, and with a dramatic wave of his hand, summoned Valefor.
"Hasatekanae"
Next, Nysa summoned Bahamut, while Batalax summoned the Magus sisters.
"Kutamae"
The eight Aeons nodded once at each other and poured their power into the Stargate look-a-like.
"The gift of the Fayth beckoned brightly in the distance. The group of miss matched heroes couldn't help but look at the glowing mass in awe, knowing in their very souls, that this portal lead to one place and one place only… Home.
The group of six walked towards the growing light, the energy in the air making them all look mythical, even godlike. They stopped just before the portal opening, wanting to say goodbye to the friends they had made over the last year and the friends they were leaving behind, knowing that this would be their last chance.
The six turned to see those that were there to see them off, tears showing in more than one pair of eyes; of course the males of the group would make up some excuse, saying that their eyes were watering from the brightness of the portal… But they all knew it wasn't true. The otherworldly heroes had accomplished a lot in such a short time; they had made many memories…Not all of them good.
Each heroes story was different- as each hero was unique. Some found love, some found a purpose, there was a lot of pain and hardships they were forced to overcome, but one thing they all found…was each-other.
This is their story— Our story."
Batalax gave Nysa a playful push. "Are you quite done?"
Nysa gave a sheepish smile and put the Video Sphere in her pocket. "Yeah. I'm done."
They turned to view the six that were leaving. To the left, Skye and Souron were smiling, hand in hand. They both looked sad to go, but relieved to finally be going back to their real lives. Beside them, Tara had tears running down her face as she looked back at them, but she still managed to give them a small smile through her tears. Kayden stood to her right, a small smile on his face, he had said his goodbyes earlier. Finally, Xander just stood there smiling. He would miss Batalax and Nysa, but he was happy to finally be going home.
"Go." Nysa whispered softly. "We'll handle the clean up."
"No. We want to see the end." Akail argued, not knowing the mistake he was making.
Batalax nodded once and with her eyes closed in concentration, she started to dance the sending. Her torch was a a colorful blur as she twirled it around with precise movements. Each movement seemed to seemlessly move into the next, and the air around her started to shimmer with power. The Fayth started to glow as their bodies turned to pireflies. Her eyes closed, Batalax never noticed until it was too late for her to stop; Akail turned to pireflies along with them.
"No." Nysa whispered, her eyes widened in shock. She turned and glared at Bahamut, he was barely visible. Already too far gone. She looked towards her friends, everyone was too shocked to move. She looked past them at the portal, it was starting to close. "Go! Before it's to late! I'll get Akail back, just go!" To her right, Batalax continued to dance the sending, unaware of the turmoil it was causing. The Hymn of the Fayth could be heard slowly fading into the background as the Spirans all over the world sang.
Tara nodded once and with one last regretful look, ran through the portal with the other four following close behind. The portal closed behind them as if it had never been there in the first place.
Batalax finished the sending at that moment and opened her eyes. "What'd I miss?" She asked, when she noticed the thief's dismayed look. She looked at the closed portal, "They gone already?"
"Yeah." Nysa smiled softly and watched the last of the pireflies disappear. She had secretly suspected that Akail was an unsent, but she had had no proof of it until now. Sure, she had used the save points, but she personally had believed that they were a little too good to be true, not to mention, if they really worked, no one in Spira would be dead, they would always just wake up at the last save spot they had used. "Let's go B, the airship is waiting for us. We've got to get to the battle. I'll fill you in later."
Batalax nodded once and allowed herself to be pulled through Guadosalam. Both teens stopped once and looked back at the stargate. "Goodbye guys..."
----
The airship picked them up just outside of Guadosalam, they were slightly out of breath from running through the entire town, "Cid, take us to Sin!" Nysa called as they ran to the bridge of the ship.
"Yee Haw!" Cid exclaimed gleefully. He spoke rapidly to Brother in Al Bhed, and the two girls could feel the slight lurch of the airship as it took off into the air once more.
Nysa sat down just outside the bridge with her eyes closed. She couldn't believe how fast everything was happening. Her friends, some of which she had known since she was just a little kid, had just left, and she would most likely never see them again, not to mention, another of her friends was actually dead; although she was going to do everything in her power to bring him back.
"You ready?" Batalax asked quietly as she moved into the room and sat across from the thief. "This is the end... we really made it."
"I'm ready." Nysa replied, her eyes snapped open and she grinned. "Yu Yevon is going down."
"We're directly over Sin." Cid called out. He stalked into the room they were sitting in. "You galls be careful a'right?" Cid exclaimed.
Nysa nodded curtly before heading out to the deck of the ship. Batalax gave Cid a half smile before running after the thief. She turned back just before they went out of sight, "Wish us luck!" Cid gave them a half salute and turned back to the bridge.
"Let's do this." Batalax grinned and jumped off of the ship onto Sin's back.
Nysa shrugged and jumped right after. They ran through the winding maze that was Yu Yevon's armor until they could hear the sound of fighting. "They're up ahead."
Batalax nodded and readied her Tikki Torch. "What are we waiting for?"
"Let's go." Nysa ran further into the area and noticed that it suddenly looked like they were standing on a bridge overlooking dream Zanarkand. She had forgotten what this area of Sin's armor had looked like.
"Nysa! B!" Rikku called out as she spotted them. The blond had a cut above her left eye and was holding her arm strangely as if it was dislocated, but other than that she seemed to be doing alright.
Nysa smiled at her faintly before turning her eyes to the rest of the group. Yuna was standing away from the fight, because without her Aeons, she wouldn't be able to do much damage to Yu Yevon. She looked mostly unharmed, but there was a vacant look in her eyes that was almost physically painful to see on such a sweet girls face. She noticed the blond Blitzers absence immediately, and suddenly the look on Yuna's face made much more sense.
Auron was on the front lines, his scared face was filled with resolve. He looked mostly unharmed, but that was not surprising, as you can't hurt what is already dead. Nysa glanced at Lulu next, the mage looked exhausted but was still continuously casting spells. She was favoring her right leg, but other than that seemed to be mostly unharmed.
Wakka on the other hand, didn't seem to be faring well. He was sitting on the ground with a dazed expression on his face, he had a head wound that was bleeding, but the dazed expression made Nysa belive he had a concussion. The Blitzballer's attack ball was no where in sight.
And finally, Kimahri was staying away from the fight guarding Yuna. Nysa took all this in within seconds and quickly ran closer to join the fight. "Yuna, take this." she handed the ex-summoner the gun she had stolen from Sterge the month before.
Yuna looked at the gun in shock before nodding. "Okay." She expertly took it apart and put it back together again, showing Nysa that she had been paying a lot more attention to Tara than she had thought.
Batalax had immediately joined the battle. She quickly replaced Lulu, giving the other mage a break to catch her breath and down a couple ethers.
Nysa nodded at Auron once and stepped up beside him with her daggers out. "And now... We rise to meet the end." she murmured to herself.
Like in the game, Yu Yevon was not actually that difficult to beat. It was Yuna who got the finishing blow in. It seemed fitting somehow, seeing as all she had given up in her short life. Tidus's last words were still ringing in her ears as she lowered her borrowed weapon.
Tidus held his dad as the man started to turn to pireflies. Yuna noticed that Tidus was starting to shimmer too. "No..." she whispered.
"Yuna... I have to go."
She shook her head in denial, this couldn't be happening!
"I'm sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand."
"Wha--?" Wakka took a step closer.
Tidus stood from where he had held his dad as the man faded. He looked at them all sadly, but could feel in his very soul that his time was almost up. "Goodbye." He started to walk past them to the ledge of the bridge they were standing on.
Yuna was almost too stunned to move, it was if everything she was hearing was a great distance away. She could faintly hear Rikku call out that they were going to see him again. Finally, she snapped out of her shock and ran at him, her goal was to grab on to him so he wouldn't be able to go; instead, she passed right through him and fell to the ground.
"Yuna!" Kimahri cried out, his voice gruff.
Tidus looked down at his hands as he watched the pireflies start to appear around him, he could feel himself crying softly. He had known this was going to happen, he had even told the group that this would be the last battle he fought with the... but secretly, he had hoped that something would go wrong with the sending, and that he wouldn't be sent away.
Yuna felt like she couldn't breath, for a few seconds it was if she had died with him, until finally the gentle resolve that had become such a huge part of her personality, kicked in and she stood. Her back to him, she whispered words that were for him only. "I love you."
Tidus looked at her back, his face astonished. Finally he stepped forward and carefully embraced her, he knew it was likely she couldn't feel much more than a phantom touch, but it was all he could offer at the moment. With a resolve he never knew he had, he stepped through her and with a running leap, he jumped off the bridge. And then he was gone.
Nysa could see that Yuna was preoccupied, so she stepped forward and preformed the sending. Her movements were not as graceful as Batalax's, but she had never been any good at dancing, so it was no surprise. With a flash of light, Sin exploded outward into millions of pireflies. Nysa was slightly startled to see that they were suddenly standing on the deck of Cid's airship. She had always wondered how they had went to being in Sin one moment to standing on the ship the next. Auron started to disappear as well.
Nysa faltered slightly in her dance, "Keep going." Auron demanded, a peaceful expression was on his face for the first time she had ever seen. With everything going on she had forgotten that he too was an Unsent.
Yuna blinked and smiled slightly at the sight of the millions of Pireflies. "We have done it."
---
"Everyone..." Yuna faltered slightly when she realized just how many people were watching.
Nysa stepped forward so she was standing next to the gentle ex-summoner. She nodded at the taller girl reassuringly. This had been her favorite speech of the game, but somehow, it was so much more heartbreaking to actually be here, listening to it with her own ears.
"Everyone has lost something precious. Everyone here, has lost homes, dreams, and friends." Yuna continued, "Everybody. Now, Sin is finally dead." The crowd went wild, but Yuna continued. "Now, Spira is ours again."
Batalax stepped forward, "Working together, now we can make new homes for ourselves." Her eyes scanned the audience until she caught sight of Luzzu. "And new dreams."
Yuna smiled and continued where Batalax had left off. "I know... the journey will be hard, but we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so lets start out today." Yuna turned around and smiled at her guardians. She nodded at Nysa, who blinked in confusion. Yuna discreetly gestured for her to take the podium and speak.
Nysa nodded and took Yuna's place, she knew exactly what to say. "Just... one more thing." She said, causing the crowd to slowly stop cheering so they could hear her. She looked over the crowd slowly. "The people and the friends that we've lost... and the dreams that have faded..." She smiled slightly, although it was pained. She closed her eyes and remembered.
"This is it then? This is goodbye?" Akail whispered. "For what it's worth, you guys are the best friends I've ever had, and I'll miss you all."
Nysa stepped forward and hugged him, Batalax was quick to follow. "We'll miss you too Akail." both girls whispered.
Nysa stepped up to Xander next, "Goodbye Xander. It's been nice seeing you again, don't forget us okay?" After they had broken up two years previous they had stopped being as close of friends as they once were, but this journey had changed that. "I'll miss you." She gave him a tight, brief hug.
She smiled to herself as Batalax threw herself into Xanders arms, hugging him with all her strength, "You ever forget me, and to hell with dimensional portals; I will track you down and beat you to death with Mr. Tikki!"
Batalax and Tara hugged next. "You be safe Ophelia." Tara whispered. "Take care of Nysa for me. Okay?"
"I will. I promise. You take care of yourself now, okay?" Batalax released Tara and moved to Kayden. "I don't know you that well, but you saved us a bunch of times. So goodbye," She stepped forward and gave him a hug which he reciprocated. "
Keep my cousins in line for me?"
Batalax nodded cheerfully. "I just have to mention Mr. Tikki, and Ny will do anything I say."
Nysa gave the mage a mock offended look, "I resent that." She turned her eyes back to Skye and Souron. "I'll miss you guys." She hugged Skye tightly, and after a moments hesitation, hugged Souron as well. "You two take care of each other, okay?"
"We will." Skye promised. She gripped Sourons hand tighter. "Be safe you guys."
As Batalax moved to say her goodbyes to Souron and Skye, Nysa moved closer to Kayden. "Remember what I told you earlier. You have to take care of them for me and Becca." She hugged him tightly and stepped away. Her and Kayden had said their goodbyes back at Rebecca's coffee shop.
Nysa paused and turned and met Tara's eyes. They had said their goodbyes the night before, knowing that if they left it for today, they wouldn't be able to let go. "I love you Tara. You're my best friend."
Tara nodded, her eyes sad, but understanding. "You too." she replied. She took a few steps forward and latched onto Nysa. "Forever and Ever and Always, okay?"
Nysa felt her vision blur with tears. "Forever and Ever and Always." She repeated back, the words felt like a prayer to her. She pulled away and wiped her eyes. "C'mon, we need to get started, the others are probably already fighting Jecht."
Nysa's eyes snapped open and she looked over the crowd for the last time. "Never forget them."
Batalax stepped forward and grabbed Nysa's hand with her right and Yuna's hand with her left. "On three. To the eternal calm." she whispered so only the two of them would hear her. "Three. Two. One." she counted down.
The three High Summoners shouted, "To The Eternal Calm!"
------
THE END.
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A/N: Wow. Finally done! Yay! This is the first long story I've ever finished. Okay, so it took me like two years, but still! Finished! I have idea's for a sequel staring Nysa, Batalax and a reluctant Luzzu on an epic quest to bring Akail back from the dead. Should I go through with it?
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-The Sequel is UP!