Standard disclaimers apply.
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Chaos of Seven
Chapter twenty-one
By; Kissa-chan
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The moon had almost filled the entire opening. Yuna felt her skin start to tingle aprehesively. "TIDUS!" she shouted fearfully. "TIDUS... HELP!"
Yu Yevon laughed from the sidelines. "Foolish... that idiot dream will never be able to save you. Nothing can save you now!" His laugher deepened and he sounded genuinely gleefull.
Yuna felt her heart beating furiously at her chest. Her blood pounded thunderously in her ears. "TIDUS!" she screamed desperately again... but there was no answer.
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It was another dead end. "YUNA!" Tidus shouted in fustration. "Where are you...?" He pounded the wall with his fist, shouting in fustration. "This is hopeless."
"Don't give up so easily," Baralai advised.
Tidus whirled on him, eyes glinting dangerously.
Baralai frowned and took a step backwards. "Don't get funky with me," he warned the blitzer. "I'm here to help."
"Yeah, well... you're not helping," Tidus said in fustration. He slammed his fist into the wall again. "I can't loose her."
"We'll find her..." Shiroi started to say when the sound of running feet met their ears. She drew Lost Nightmare and turned, branishing the deadly weapon with a furiously calm expression.
Rikku burst into sight. "Hiya, Shiroi." She looked around at the dead end and frowned. "So... where's Yu Yevon and Yunie?"
"Not here... OBVIOUSLY!" Tidus snapped.
"Dont' get snippish with us," Rikk responded. She glanced around. "Where's Paine?"
"She's..." Baralai started, glancing around in confusion. "She's gone."
"She probably went on ahead to find Yuna," Rikku-sama decided. "Rikku-chan," she called out as the crying girl arrived on the scene, "Open the door."
"What door?" Tidus asked.
"Watch," Rikku-sama said with a smug smirk.
Rikku-chan glanced at her for confirmation. Finally, she had a purpose in the group! Even if it was just opening doors. She cast Fira on the fire symbol and they all heard a deep clank of a lock falling out of place.
"Cast Blizzara next," Rikku exclaimed, pointing to the ice star.
"Don't be stupid. That would reverse the lock we already undid. Cast Watera next," Rikku-sama said.
Rikku-chan shook her head slightly and cast Thundara on the lightning symbol. Cringing slightly as the bolt of electricity went off, she hurried foreward. "Let's go!" she called behind her as she slipped through the door.
"Three cheers for Rikku-chan!" Rikku shouted an she slipped through the still widening doorway.
"What are you doing back here?" Tidus demanded of Shuyin, stopping everyone in their tracks.
"Oh... brilliant, a fight now," Rikku-san murmured. "Let's keep going," she advised the rest of the Rikku-gumi. "Yuna doesn't have time for..." she yawned. "You know, I'll stay and watch the fight while you guys go ahead..." She started sinking down beside a wall only to be seized by Rikk.
"We're going foreward. No one else is going to stupidly stay behind... got it?" She tugged Rikku-san to her feet and marched through the doorway. "That counts double for you, Tidus. You're the one that Yuna needs right now. You're the one she's calling for."
"Can you hear her?" Tidus demanded, abandoning Shuyin and charging foreward.
"Rikku-sama... educate him," Rikk said flatly.
Rikku-sama smiled knowingly. "You're the one she loves most. You're the one she'd give up nearly everything to see. You're the one that gives her the strengh to move foreward. She needs you."
Shuyin nodded his head silently. "She wants you to save her."
"How would you know?" Tidus asked.
"SHUYIN!" Rikku-chan shouted from up ahead. "Just come... Tidus will follow!"
Shuyin nodded his head and smiled slightly. "For the record, I know a lot about your wife... I know how much she wanted me to be you before... The kind of love she has for you is the kind that never changes." He paused. "It the same kind that Lenne and I have."
"Then what are you doing here?" Tidus asked softly. He didn't wait for a response. Within seconds, he was through the door and racing up the steps.
"I'm alive," Shuyin offered. "Ri... brought me to life. Before that, I was just protecting someone who helped me from my enemy..."
"Sure you were," Shiroi answered him. "But you're not doing a very good job... are you?"
"I'm sure I'll find someway to help them," Shuyin answered.
"You'd give up your life?" Shiroi asked.
"He's already dead... what's lossing life mean to him anyway?" Baralai interrupted as he walked by.
"It means I get to return to her... my precious, Lenne..." Shuyin said with a heavy sigh. He closed his eyes, picturing her smiling at him from the Farplane. "Soon..." he murmured to her image. "I won't keep you waiting long."
Rikku whacked him in the middle of his back. "Don't you go talking like that!" she ordered sharply. "We'd all feel really bad if anything happened to you, you know."
"I only meant..." Shuyin started to defend himself and then stopped, shaking his head slightly. "Nevermind."
"We get it; let's go!" Rikku-san said abruptly and shortly. She leaned against Rikk. "So... are you carrying me?"
Rikk pushed her away slightly. "No, keep up on your own."
Rikki gazed at the wound with an apprehensive expression on her face. "So... potions don't work, and magic doesn't work either..." she murmured. She pressed her hand to the injury, trying to staunch the flow of the blood. "What the hell does that leave?"
She shere-changed to Black Mage and slipped a Tetra Band onto his arm. "Maybe some Black Magic..." she whispered to herself hopefully. She cast, but the wound didn't heal even with the band converting the energy into healing power.
"No...." she murmured. She slapped her thigh in fustration and attempted another spell.
"Splitling... where are the others?" a voice echoed through her head.
Rikki spun quickly to face the Fallen woman who had flown into the room.
Sarra, iradecent wings fluttering lightly, descended the last of the steps, her dainty feet never touching the ground. "Where are the others? Surely you haven't abandoned them to death."
The Fallen woman looked concerned, and fearful at the same time. If the Splitlings were breaking away from each other so shortly into the Heisson, it didn't bode well that they would last long together.
Rikki pointed at Tammurin's wound. "It was caused by a weapon called the Lost-"
"That wound is from the Lost Nightmare," Sarra said. "There is little to nothing that you can do for him. Although the Ancient method would probably be of some use."
"Ancient Method?" Rikki breathed softly.
Sarra knelt down, her clean robes touching the dirty floor. "He has escaped from the Farplane, the same as Yu Yevon. He is bound to obeying Yu Yevon. Leave him to his fate."
Rikki shook her head venomously. "No way! If the only thing I can do is stay by his side, then that's what I will do."
Sarra might have smiled at that; it was impossible to tell with the silken cloth across where her mouth should have been. In any event, Rikki had the distinct feeling that the Fallen had gotten the general gist of her protest and had been amused by it.
"Do you think that's funny?" Rikki demanded hotly.
"I must deliever the method to Seal to your Orginal. If you will not leave this man, I suppose I have no choice but to help you..." Sarra said, voice echoing in Rikki's head. She reached out with both hands, placing the long fingered limbs on either side of the blond girl's face. "A Sharing."
"Sharing...?" Rikki managed. Then images flooded her thoughts. Her first thought was that someone was trying to sew clothes badly. The images showed skin being sewed together as if a mere tear had occured in a favorite piece of clothes. "What..." she stammered.
Sarra moved back from her. "In my youth, I used to train under a healer. I was to be a Shaman for the Fallen. That path turned agains me and now I have no use for Ancient Healing methods. I serve the Guardian of the Relms Harra now."
Rikki shook her head, trying to get the images out of her head.
"What you saw was a man - my first patient. My teacher wanted to show me how much more effective magic was. I healed one man with Curaga and gave the other one stiches. While stiches take longer, the overall effect is mostly the same."
"Mostly?" Rikki asked.
"Besides time," Sarra continued as if she hadn't heard her, "The only difference is the size of the scar. Stiches leave more scar tissue..." She looked towards the steps the others had headed up. "Do what you must, but return to the others. They will need you for the Sealing."
She flew towards the stairs without looking back.
Rikki wasted no time. "If it's the only way..." she murmured.
Tammurin, as if hearing her voice, opened his eyes slowly. "You should... help your... friend. Sin doesn't... need to return."
"Sssh. Rikk will save Yunie. I believe in her... And I believe that I can save you." With those words, the sexy blond retrieved a needle and some heavy duty thread from her Alchemist Bag. Typically she used the items to hold together her mixed items. Now she found a new and hopefully better use for them.
Lenne placed Toya aboard the Celcious in his crib, and slipped onto the bridge. "You!" she declared, startling Brother out of his wee little mind.
"Aggggghhhhh!" the spazed Al Bhed shrieked. "HOW did YOU GET HERE!" As he spoke, he made odd gestures with his body, failing his arms and hips strangely.
"Not you," Lenne said softly. She turned towards Buddy. "I need your assisstence for the merest of moments."
"Who are you?" Buddy demanded.
"How did you get on my ship!" Brother demanded.
Shinra spoke up next, "She probably came onboard using the boarding ramp. Am I right?"
Lenne didn't repond. She was dressed in typical SRL clothes, complete with fake guado mask. She was getting the feeling that they didn't like her appearence, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She needed them to watch after the baby while she went to try and help break up the ambush.
"I'm game," Buddy finally said. "What do you need?"
Lenne smiled behind her mask. "Simple, I need you to take care of the High Summoner's baby. He's in his crib." She turned without another word and headed off the bright red ship.
The Heisson looming in front of her, she headed into the ancient structure.
Paine had finally stopped waiting for Tidus, Shiroi, and Baralai. She could feel something in the air... An evil that was growing stronger. Yuna was in trouble. One of her friends was in dire trouble...
Her thougths kept slipping back to the Den of Woe. This place, the Heisson, reminded her of that. Reminded her of friends and allies turning on each other. It gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Along the walls she could see strange symbols... Having Scaned one of the images she had learned that they had something to do with the fiends she had been enountering.
"You're too late," a voice breathed behind her.
The silver haired warrior spun, drawing her sword in a smooth motion. A woman filled with pyrefly light shook her head elegantly. "You're weapon cannot hurt me."
Paine narrowed her eyes, trying to get a good look at the woman. Whoever it was remained in the shadows, barely moving. "Too late for what?" she asked, fishing for information.
"To save that woman."
"Yuna?" Paine questioned.
"That Dark Summoning will take place shortly," the woman said in response. "They Fayth has been sealed in stone."
"What are you talking about?" Paine demanded dryly. She tried to keep her voice bored, but a hint of anxiety was flowing through her veins, and the feeling that everything was crumbling - the Eternal Calm, the rescue mission, the Gullwings... - everything was fading away.
"The moon has risen full-"
Paine shot foreward, slashing her sword through the woman, cutting her words off and making her dissolve into pyrefly light. "Yuna will be fine." Her words were more to reassure hereself then the faded figure, but it wasn't working.
"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you Paine," a voice said from behind her. The silver haired warrior whirled to confront the woman once more.
Now bathed in the eerie green light occupying the corridor, the woman was visible. "Rikku..." Paine whispered. "What are you playing at?"
Swirled green eyes holding a bitter note resentment closed. Tossing her head gracefully, the figure smiled sadly. She reached up, fingering her long blond hair. "Actually, I'm a memory of the Summon Midori. Pity no one tried to save me." She vanished leaving Paine alone.
At almost the same time, Yuna screamed in pain. Her body felt on fire. Piercing pains ignited every nerve and her mind could think of nothing except pain... and Tidus. she clung to the image of the blond blitzer.
Yu Yevon smiled, watching the moonlight fully illuminate her thrashing form. A statue of the Fayth appeared. "Now to summon -"
Lenne stepped into the room. Seeing the sight, she bit back a few choice words and fell to one knee. "Maester, Lady Alcione is in dire need of assisstence. The Machine Faction has overwelmed her..."
"Hnn? What's that...? Alcione failed." Yu Yevon frowned. "I'll speak with her immeadiatly." He glanced at the staue of Yuna, "She's not going anywhere." In his mind, he had no doubt that Tammurin had killed the others. And even if he hadn't, Agent 11 would have at least murdered most of them; the survivors couldn't help her anymore anyways.
He left the room via a secrete passageway.
Lenne stripped out of the SRL clothes and hurried foreward, pulling her summoning staff into her hands at the same moment. "This cannot be happening..." she murmured. She twirled the staff rapidly and began to sing a Cadence.
She heard the door open several moments later and turned her eyes to see the battle ready form of Tidus. It still amazed her how much her looked like Shuyin...
Shuyin was the first one through the door. What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. Yuna had become a statue of the Fayth and Lenne... his Lenne, was dancing and singing with her summoning staff.
"Lenne,,," he breathed.
Moments later, Tidus burst through the door. He didn't see Lenne at all. All he saw was Yuna. "NO!" she screamed and raced foreward, sword drawn.
Lenne's eyes widened. "Shuyin... don't let him touch her. He'll make it impossible to reverse!"
Author's notes; Before anyone gets mad, Yuna will not stay a Fayth. I've devised a way to reverse it. That being said, enjoy.
Next Chapter; Lenne explains the reversal. Rikku-chan and gang corners Yu Yevon and begins fight. Sarra contacts Rikku finally. And Shuyin and Tidus have a dual to 'the death.' All this and more in the next exciting chapter of CHAOS OF SEVEN!
Coming Thursday... (sorry this is so late --)
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan