A/N: Here is the new exciting scary chapter! And by scary I mean weird. I'm serious.

Reviewers: Yeah whatever Aerith we all know you're never serious

Me: But seriously!

Chapter Twenty-Three: Farewell

"Okay team follow me," Beatrix instructed leading Tifa, Rinoa, Yuna, and Fuu back towards the forest where they would meet the helicopter. Before Tifa left she made sure to leave her mark. She stood in front of Kairi and Yuffie who were already glaring at Tifa.

Tifa chuckled. "I just wanted to give you two something to remember me by," Tifa said. Without warning Tifa kicked both Kairi and Yuffie the ground. She snickered and ran after her team.

Kairi glared and picked up a rock and threw it at Tifa's head. With her marvelous aim she hit Tifa directly in the center of her head. Tifa glared and ran away. Sora was already by Kairi's side. He laughed helping her up. "Thanks Sora-kun," Kairi said.

Yuffie jumped up surprising Riku. "Eh? I've had worse," Yuffie laughed. "At least you guys won't have to deal with her at home, she'll probably turn into a monster."

"Don't worry Yuffie you'll be okay," Roxas assured.

"I guess we should start packing," Axel suggested folding his arms as Rikku stared at him batting her eyelashes.

The group nodded. "I'm sure going to miss you all!" Olette exclaimed linking arms with Kairi, Yuffie, Dagger, Rikku, and Naminé. "You are all like my long lost sisters." Paine refused to get in the hug it wasn't exactly her thing. The competitors soon started their walk to the hotel hearing Cid saying his thanks and what not.

"The girl is unconscious as you requested, what do you want us to do with the winners?"

"You heard him, kill them all. If one escapes he'll have your head."

"Right. What about the ones in the hotel."

"Use the girl as bait, and kill them too! You heard his lecture didn't you!"

"You actually listen to those things."

"Why you lazy good for nothing!"

"Hey look at the time I have to go!"

Kairi had her bags packed already. She never unpacked them. She sat on her two suitcases. She looked up at the ceiling. "This is it, I'm going home. Without Selphie, how am I going to tell her parents?" she asked the ceiling. Tears started to fall down her cheeks again. She shook her head. "No snap out of it Kairi, spend the last days with your friends and be happy." She took a deep breath and looked at her promise ring.

'They'll always be with me.'

Rikku and Paine were packing their bags. Paine was gathering all her clothes from her dresser. She looked over at Rikku and saw her sitting on the bed watching Paine. "Aren't you going to pack?"

"I'm already packed everything I brought is right here in this mini purse," Rikku exclaimed happily. Paine raised an eyebrow. She snatched the purse away and began to examine it. "No don't open it!" Paine opened it and all the clothes and everything else flung out covering the room.

"Rikku!"

Rikku laughed nervously. "I told you not to open it Paine."

"Clean it up now!"

"Y-Yes sir, I mean ma'am!" Rikku quickly grabbing a broom from her bag and began to sweep up her clothing. Paine sighed and shook her head.

"You embarrass me."

Sora, Riku, Roxas, Hayner, and Axel watched at Tidus was packing his things. The blonde hadn't even noticed his friends watching him mumble to himself and pack up his personal belongings. He picked up a picture of him and Selphie.

He sighed carefully putting it in a compartment in his suitcase. He was going to make sure that picture would stay safe. Tidus zipped up his suitcase and sat on it. He heard laughing coming from the doorway. He turned around and saw all his friends laughing at him. Wakka had just joined in and he was laughing for no reason.

"What's so funny?" Tidus asked embarrassed.

"Are you going to treasure that picture when you are old?" Sora asked curiously. Tidus frowned folding his arms. "What it was just a question."

"Whatever guys, come on let's go meet the girls in the game room."

The group was blissfully unaware of what was going on upstairs. They had met up in the game room to say their final sorrow-filled goodbyes before morning would come. After all it was already seven at night.

The boys watched at the girls had their tear-filled goodbye. Riku laughed occasionally. He never knew girls could be so entertaining. Sora was comforting Tidus who was once again in tears for his dear Selphie. Wakka was having his last chat with Hayner. Axel and Pence were talking about Leon. Roxas just had his eyes closed. He didn't want to see Naminé crying.

Kairi wiped her tears still in a hug with Naminé. "We should stop crying, I mean we have ways to contact each other, it'll be okay," Kairi said her voice still shaky from her crying. Yuffie nodded still letting her tears fall.

"But it won't be the same," Olette protested.

"As long as our hearts are connected we'll always be together," Rikku stated putting her hands on her hips.

"Is that something you got from a cereal box?" Paine asked.

"Yep!"

Kairi laughed. "Who's up for a round of DDR?"

Yuna screamed jumping out of the way of another chunk of the helicopter she had previously been inside. Dirt, blood, and ash were covering her face. The blood was dried up and on the side of her head where she had been injured during her fall.

"Okay everyone buckle up," Cid instructed. The girls did as they were told and buckled extra tight just incase. Cid grinned. "This will be the ride of your lives." Yuna smiled sadly looking out the helicopter window.

Cloud had been elected driver. Yet Yuna wasn't too sure about this. She was wondering why they didn't have a real pilot, but figured Cid was just too lazy to pay for one. Soon enough they were high in the air.

"Oh girlies."

Everyone looked up and saw Cid holding two twin guns. Cid shot Rinoa in her head and pushed her out of the helicopter. Everything turned into slow motion. Yuna heard screams and shouting. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Cloud had stopped the helicopter propeller and they were now quickly descending to the ground. Cid kept shooting at the engine eventually blowing it off.

Yuna opened her eyes only to see Cid pushing a screaming Tifa out of the helicopter. Tifa was trying to hold on to the side of the helicopter but Cid was prying off her fingers one by one.

"Tifa!" Yuna shouted running over to Tifa. Yuna grabbed Tifa's collar and ended up falling out of the helicopter with the brunette. They screamed as they fell farther and farther down. Lucky for them the ground was only a few feet down due to the descending helicopter.

Yuna heard a gun shot in the distance. She turned around and saw Fuu's lifeless body hanging out the side of the helicopter, before it crashed in the trees. Yuna and Tifa hit the ground making a loud 'thud' sound. Birds flew away from the site. Surprisingly Yuna was still awake and alive. "How am I alive," she gasped. She looked down and saw that she was lying on Tifa's lifeless body. She screamed jumping back.

She had never wanted to ever see a corpse in her lifetime, but she had just seen three. She started running through the forest hearing gunshots coming from behind her. Tears ran down her dirty face. Suddenly she heard an explosion. She looked behind her and saw a chunk of metal about to fall on her. She quickly jumped out of the way missing it by a couple of inches. Now ash was all over her face.

Her hair was singed and parts of it were sticking to her face. Her clothing was being ripped apart each time she passed a sharp branch.

Yuna was now lost. She looked around and saw the roof of the hotel. A small smile appeared on her face. Her lips were busted and looked redder than usual. She started running towards the hotel with only one thing in the mind.

Warn the others.

Kairi paid for yet another game of DDR. She watched as Olette and Pence started to dance on the machine. She smiled and sat on the floor watching the two. She would miss her friends. Sora sat down next to her and grinned.

"Don't feel sad Kairi," Sora said.

"How can I not, I'm going to miss you all so much." Sora smiled rubbing his hand in Kairi's hair messing it up. "Hey!" She frantically tried to fix her hair as Sora only laughed at her. She elbowed him in his gut causing him to bend over slightly. She stuck out her tongue.

Olette was beating poor Pence. He hadn't got a single good. He'd practically missed every step other than the few bads he had gotten. Olette was about to win when the power went out.

"Hey!" she shouted looking at the lights that were hanging on the ceiling. "What's going on?"

"Maybe this is their signal for 'lights out'?" Wakka suggested looking at his friends who only shrugged or shook their heads.

The group stood in the dark waiting for the lights to come on. A few minutes passed and still nothing. Instead they heard a scream coming from upstairs. It sounded all too familiar.

"Selphie!" Tidus exclaimed running out of the room.

"Tidus! Wait! You never it could be a…why am I still talking he's gone," Dagger said scolding herself. "I bet he doesn't even know where he's going."

"Nevertheless we have to figure out what's going on," Kairi said. Everyone nodded.

"Okay, we'll split up into groups of three searching the hotel for answers," Sora explained taking charge. "We're looking Tidus and the source of the scream."

"So who's going with whom general?" Riku joked.

"Kairi, Vivi, and I will be a group. Riku, Yuffie, and Pence will be a group. Axel, Paine, and Rikku will be a group. Naminé, Roxas, and Wakka will be a group. And Hayner, Olette, and Dagger will be a group," Sora said.

The groups set off in different directions to explore the hotel and find Tidus and/or the source of the scream. Kairi, Sora, and Vivi had gone upstairs to the girl's hallway. Even though all the girls were downstairs with an exception for Beatrix's team they figured they would look.

"Anyone here!" Kairi shouted making Sora put his hand over her mouth. She started to shout but the words she was saying were muffled. She looked up at Sora and put her hands on her hips.

Sora put his finger on his mouth. "Kairi, we can't be too loud we don't want anyone to find us," Sora whispered. Vivi agreed lightly tapping on all the doors they passed. Someone was bound to hear it and answer the door.

Yuna entered the hotel soaked from the rain. Now she was muddy and wet. Lightning struck lighting the hotel for a few seconds. "The powers out, oh no," Yuna whispered running out into the hallway. She bit her lip quickly letting go and wincing.

She wondered where the others would be. 'Maybe they are in Hayner's room to say their goodbyes?' Yuna thought. She decided to give it a try. She ran up the stairs bumping into someone. She heard a high-pitched scream from the stairs and instantly recognized it. Lightning struck again and she saw the faces of Rikku, Paine, and Axel.

"Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed giving Yuna a hug. Yuna groaned holding her side. "Yunie what's the matter I wasn't squeezing you that hard."

"I'll explain once we get out of the hallway."

"Let's go to my room you can explain there," Axel suggested leading the girls to his room, which was at the beginning of the boys' hallway. It was one of those good coincidences. Paine had to help Yuna up the rest of the stairs. She could feel the scratches and blood on her friend's body.

'What happened to her?'

A/N: The criminal is revealed! Well to Yuna anyway. I hope she gets there in time to warn the others before they meet their doom. Who screamed? Was it Selphie like Tidus predicted before he ran off into the 'wilderness'? Or was it some other female, or maybe just a male who screams like a girl.