**'Allo! Long time no see, eh? Sorry about that, things have been hectic--as usual. Hope you like this chapter. The story's almost done, guys! Just a little bit longer! A few more chapters and we're done...wow...this has taken long, eh? ^_^ ;;;;; See ya guys around! --Jedi Ari**
Genki quietly munched on some dry bread as Mariana sat like she was meditating. It had been at least a day since they had defeated Yunalesca, and all they had been doing was sitting on the highest platform of what had been Yunalesca's lair and either sleeping or eating. Neither of them had spoken since the death of the already dead woman, and, quite honestly, it was driving Genki nuts. His wife had been nice and fine when they got here, albeit a bit vague about her goal, but now was smiling and silent. She tended to go through spurts like that—spurts that lasted for even hours at a time at the very least. Sometimes he wondered if she didn't have multiple personalities.
He finally spoke up. "Mariana…they haven't come yet."
"I know. They'll be here tomorrow, I believe," Mariana said without opening her eyes. "Their summoner is leading them ahead, but the others will want to rest once they reach the middle of the Zanarkand ruins."
Genki sighed. "I think I've had enough rest for all of them combined." He leaned back on the hard ground and took another bite of the bread without another word.
Sometimes, silence was the best thing. At least then Mariana didn't confuse him.
*-*-*-*-*
"Catch this!" The white and blue ball went hurtling towards the other boy's face.
"Whoa!" A quick jump and the ball went flying back at the sender.
"Oh yeah? Can you do this?!" Tidus did a back flip into the air to send the blitzball flying into the air way above Atrah's head.
"Easy!" Atrah jumped up high enough to catch the ball with his hand and kick it around like a soccer ball on his head and knees. He kicked it high and copied Tidus's previous move. Tidus caught the ball as Atrah laughed. "Too easy."
"Man! You should play blitzball professionally!" Tidus commented, holding the ball under his arm.
Atrah shrugged. "Blitzball domes don't exist where I live. I'd play if they did have 'em." He stretched out his arms behind his head. "Best sport we have here is soccer—you should try it, it's a bit like Blitzball, with the goals and stuff, but its on land."
Tidus took the ball and began bouncing it on his head as he talked. "Sounds neat, but nothin' beats Blitzball." The two were silent for a moment before the blond boy spoke again. "Do you think they'll be here soon?"
"Knowing Arashi the way I do…" Atrah cracked his knuckles and peered out the small "window" of view into the world of earth-Spira. "She'll be here soon, but just in time." He pointed at the window. "Right now, we're kinda hovering above the land."
"Huh?" Tidus peeked out the window. "Weird."
Atrah sighed and sat back down on the ground. "I hope they get here soon."
Tidus nodded. "Yeah. This is boring."
Atrah rolled his eyes, but said nothing. "Yeah. Boring."
*-*-*-*-*
Yueh and Hunter had been given the task of setting up tents for the night. The guys had two tents, as did the girls, so it was decided that Arashi got her own tent, Niet and Yueh would share another tent, Hunter and Mattian would share yet another, and Gage would get his own tent as well. Unfortunately, night was quickly falling and as of yet they only had two of the aforementioned tents up and ready for use.
Arashi was leaning out of one of the tents, lying down and propped up on her elbows. She was staring at the fire and humming a lilting tune to herself as Niet plopped down and began cooking over the fire. Mattian was sitting a small ways away, watching Niet as she prepared their dinner.
"Here's the veggies from the ship, Niet," Gage said, dropping a basket next to Niet. "Carrots, potatoes, and…what are these things?" Gage picked up an odd-shaped green blob of a vegetable by its stem. "Is it a pepper or something?"
"It's an Al Bhed vegetable that's kinda like a pepper, but with a sweet tang to it," Niet explained, beginning to chop it up and put in into the boiling water in front of her. "Yummy."
"It's actually an Al Bhed delicacy," Mattian piped up. Niet and Gage turned to look at him.
"Yeah…it is," Niet agreed, blinking slowly. The corner of Mattian's lips turned up slightly. Niet shrugged and turned back to the fire. "That's why I'm surprised they gave us so many." She continued adding them to the pot as Mattian let out a full smile. Gage shook his head and sat down next to Arashi, in front of her tent.
"Oi, you two! You almost done with those tents? It's gonna get cold soon!" Gage shouted to Yueh and Hunter.
"We know! It'd be easier with a bit of help, ya know!" Yueh yelled back. She let out a long breath. "Just because Niet can't do it doesn't mean they can't help…"
"Ah, don' worry 'bout it, ya? We'll get it done in no time!" Hunter said, holding up one of the poles. "Now, just pull dat thing over—agh!" The cloth cover of the tent whipped back from Yueh's hands, past the poles, and all the way back to the ground. The movement surprised Hunter, who then dropped the pole to the ground, leaving a pile of poles and cloth on the dirt in front of the pair. The two sighed and picked the materials back up to try again.
"I'll do it!" Arashi sprang up and ran to the building duo. "Lemme!"
"Uh, Arashi, I don't think—" Yueh began, but to no avail. Arashi had grabbed the materials from both of their hands and tossed them up in the air.
"Dat's not gonna help," Hunter mumbled to Yueh.
"Ue ue ue! Hup hup hup!" Arashi shouted. Yueh and Hunter's eyes widened as the cloth and the wooden poles began to fly around in the air like butterflies and bees, almost swimming in the air. Arashi began twirling around, gathering the attention of the rest of the campers.
"How in the heck…?" Niet's mouth gaped open.
"Around and around!" Arashi sang. The poles swam around, closer and closer to the ground, until they finally hit and stuck into the earth. "Up and down! Around and DOWN!" The cloth came down quickly like a parachute and slid itself over the poles neatly, coming to rest in the shape of a tent. "Ta da! Easy!" She twirled around once more and hopped back into her tent, her blond hair flying behind her as she laid back down just inside of her tent. Quite quickly, Arashi was back to staring at the fire, humming.
The rest of the travelers were still watching the tent with awe. Slowly, Yueh turned around and said, "Arashi…how did you do that?"
"Easy!" she repeated. She pulled out her belt and pointed to the charm. "Remember, these give us more powers than just from Final Fantasy, silly." Smiling, she threw the belt behind her and began watching the fire once more.
"That…I forgot," Yueh muttered, clasping a hand around her necklace charm. The others did much the same.
"Telekinetic powers, magical powers, anything in any video game!" Arashi chanted, her gray eyes still trained on the fire. Her smile fell, and she became serious. Turning her gaze to the group, she said quietly, "You would do best not to forget that in the battle upcoming…"
"Right," the rest agreed. Yueh shook her head a bit. I can't believe I forgot about that…I guess it has been a while, though, hasn't it? So long ago since I had Pokemon here, or my Neopets…all I can remember is Sin dropping down from the sky…
"So, does that mean I can get Legolas here?" Niet asked, holding out her wrist to stare at her charm. "He was in a video game, y'know." Mattian scowled and pushed his way through the group to sit at the fire.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Yueh warned. "Things are messed up enough as it is."
"I wanna do it—" Niet began to close her eyes to cast the spell.
"Don't say we didn't warn you!" Arashi sang, and she flung down her arm, white magic shooting down at Niet. It was, of course, the silence spell. Niet opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She looked around the group and gave a glare at Arashi, who said, "Don't do it—you could bring Sauron here, and things are bad enough as is, dear." A bit quieter, she said, "Lucky for someone…"
Mattian shot her a quick look, but she dodged it by looking at the licking flames. Niet just frowned and went back to cooking the stew, leaving her dreams of meeting Legolas behind. Gage settled down next to her, cutting up some of the other vegetables and giving them to Niet to add to the stew.
Hunter went back to staring at the tent that had just been set up amidst a whirlwind. "Dat was…"
"Interesting. Yeah," Yueh agreed. She let her charm loose from her grasp and went to grab the other tent's poles. "S'pose we should put up the other tent…"
"Can we do it her way?" Hunter asked. Yueh bit her lip.
"I suppose we can try it, anyway…" Yueh closed her eyes and concentrated, like how she used to have to do her magic in the very beginning. Holding her hands out in front of her, she imagined the tent flying up into the air and getting into position.
"It's workin', ya?!" Hunter shouted happily. Yueh opened one brown eye hesitantly, but quickly opened both when she saw the cloth and poles sailing high in the air.
"I'm doing it—I can do it!" she yelled, laughing. "I can do it!" Hunter soon joined in, taking over control of the cloth and making it do somersaults in the air around the dancing poles. The two were laughing heartily, like two normal young teenagers with nothing to worry about—no Sin, no Aeons, nothing but a little fun underneath the falling sun.
Arashi smiled and laid her head down on her arms, watching the flames leap up and around the pot. The laughter was wonderful on her ears—and on everyone else's, she bet.
The next tent was soon set up and supper was almost done when Arashi finally crawled out of her tent and pulled her belt out from its place. Yueh, absorbed in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe in the sands with Hunter, didn't notice until she said, "Everyone, weapons out!"
The whole group jumped to their feet, weapons at the ready, in battle positions. Mattian surveyed the area with a wary eye before standing up straight again and laying down his katana, saying, "There aren't any enemies here!"
"No, which is why we're putting our weapons to rest," Arashi explained, stepping about ten feet away from the campsite. She held up her belt above the ground, letting the tip dangle in the dirt and rock. "We need rest, and so do they."
Everyone nodded.
"Right," Mattian agreed. He walked up next to Arashi and stuck his katana in the ground next to her. Giving the whole group a glance, he said with a smirk, "That way Niet can't hurt us by flailing around her rapier like she does in battle."
"HEY!" Mattian ran away laughing as Niet gave chase, waving her rapier after him. "I'm a better fighter than you'll ever be!"
Arashi shook her head and began to swing her belt around. "Yueh, if you wouldn't mind giving me a little…help?"
Yueh smiled. "No problem. On three?"
"'Kay. One…two…"
"THREE!"
A flash of electricity and white magic tailed the jogging duo and smacked them both in the back. Niet lost her rapier (in a bit of amazing luck, it landed right next to Mattian's katana, point in the sand) and fell forward onto Mattian, who lost his footing due to the new amount of weight on his back, and they both tumbled head over heels across the landscape, coming to a stop about twenty feet away from the campsite in the opposite direction. Mattian was flat on his back, and Niet was halfway on top of him, her arm thrown across his chest during the confusion. The two looked at each other for a moment, absolutely silent.
"This should be interesting," Arashi murmured. Yueh silently agreed.
Even after they both blushed, neither one of them moved from their position. Finally, Niet jumped up and began to scream—or, rather, what would have been screaming had Arashi not silenced her.
Mattian began to yell back, but as he was silenced as well, couldn't speak a word. Arashi smiled.
"Ah, back to normal! Now, then, everyone, weapons up here!" Arashi said. The rest, stifling laughter, nodded and set their weapons down next to Mattian's and Niet's: Gage his broadsword, Hunter his blitzball, and Yueh her flute and mog doll. Arashi finished it off by wrapping her belt around the swords so the end with the charm dangled off of the hilt of Gage's broadsword.
Smiling, Arashi said, "Now…let's eat and get some rest. Forget about Sin for tonight. Tonight…just have fun."
Yueh nodded, agreeing, but then glanced back at Niet and Mattian, who had already finished yelling at one another (seeing as it was rather pointless to yell and shout at someone when you couldn't actually talk). "You might want to unsilence them first, Arashi."
Waving a hand, she said, "Okay, okay, but they have to play King's Corner with me." A wave of white sparkles flew around the duo who, as soon as they could speak, groaned.
"What's King's Corner?" Niet asked hesitantly.
"Probably some weird Japanese game that involves making a fool of yourself," Mattian said, standing up and brushing off the back of his pants.
"No problem, then," Niet said, smirking. "You're always making a fool of yourself."
"Why you—" Niet laughed as Mattian chased her once more. Yueh sighed, shaking her head, while Arashi giggled.
"Just try and make your way to the campsite soon, okay?"
*-*-*-*-*
The stars twinkled in the dark sky, but inside the tent, Yueh couldn't see anything except for Niet's feet in her face. Sighing, she sat upright and crawled out of the tent.
She couldn't sleep. Yueh knew it wasn't because of Arashi's snoring this time, despite it being as loud as ever. Something inside of her just wasn't sitting right. Something was bugging her.
Probably Sin, huh? she thought to herself with a small snort. She stood up and walked around the campsite, following her wandering feet wherever they would take her.
They took her to a small cliff, just beyond where the weapons were stuck in the ground. She sat herself down with her feet swinging off of the edge of the cliff. Wind blew her hair lightly, whipping it away from her face.
"You can't sleep either, ya?" came a voice.
Yueh didn't even jump. It was unmistakably Hunter.
"Nope. Kind of hard to," she said quietly. Hunter laughed and sat down next to the mage.
"Yeah, it is." He stared up at the sky. "Pretty, isn't it?"
"Yeah…just like our sky," Yueh noted. She pointed up. "You can see Orion just there." Putting her hand down, she said, "Maybe that's why their night sky at Zanarkand looks so different than Spira's."
"Y'mean, it's a hole t'earth?" Hunter suggested.
"Maybe Zanarkand, Spira, and earth were all connected to begin with," Yueh went on, "And we just provided the final connection to bring them all together." Her eyes opened wide, and she shook her head. "Or maybe I'm just losing it."
Hunter laughed loudly. "Ya, that could be it too, ya?" Yueh snorted and laughed as well.
"Probably," Yueh said. "Its kind of nerve-wracking, waiting for the 'final battle,' I guess."
"Y'think Arashi know's what she's doin'?" Hunter asked.
"I honestly don't know, but she's never failed us yet," Yueh said, shrugging. "Not once has she steered us wrong." She giggled. "Which is quite amazing, considering how out of it she always seems to be."
"We'll get out of it, ya?" Hunter said. His face turned red as he put a hand on one of hers. "You and I…make a good team, ya?"
Yueh blushed, but returned the sentiment by embracing Hunter. "A great team…"
Hunter threw his arms around Yueh, turning redder still. "Thanks, Yueh…"
A wonderful team…