Final Fantasy: A Ronin's Love
Chapter 4: From the Shadows
Author's Note: All Characters appearing in Final Fantasy X and X-2 are the property of SquareEnix and Hironobu Sakaguchi. All additional characters are the property of sut69. This Fan Fiction is for entertainment purposes only and I will make no money from it in any way.
Feedback: This is my first Fanfic so please feel free to offer any suggestions etc you may have for me. Keep in mind that I imagine this work will not be perfect in any shape or form due to my inexperience, so please try to make any criticisms constructive.
Type: Action/Adventure/Romance.
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 4: From the Shadows
Yuna and Rikku could only watch in horror as the usually calm and patient Paine leapt into the ferocious winds surrounding Pandemona, her attack not even leaving a scratch on the new Aeon. The creature didn't wait for Paine to strike again though, and swiftly launched a powerful counterattack, throwing her across the room. Paine's body hit the far wall with sickening force and collapsed in a heap on the floor, her limp body not moving.
"PAINE!!" Yuna and Rikku shouted once more, running over to tend to their friend.
"She's alive, but out cold" Rikku said with relief. "Yunie, what are we gonna do? This thing just knocked out Paine in one hit." Rikku looked to her friend, whose face told her how serious the situation was.
Yuna looked down at the floor and muttered quietly "We might not come out of this one alive y'know. This new Aeon seems even more powerful than the ones we knew."
"Yunie…" Rikku thought for a moment "Well I'm not going out without a fight, let's see what this thing's made of. Cover me ok" and with that, Rikku turned and ran to attack Pandemona.
"Rikku… sob …wait" was all Yuna could manage, knowing all too well that this Aeon was too powerful for them to defeat. As a summoner she had felt its power, and it was far beyond anything she had known before.
Rikku thought differently however, and figured it must have a weakness somewhere. After seeing Paine's physical attack fail miserably, magic must be the way to go thought the young Al Bhed. Gathering all her power she charged up the most powerful spell at her disposal, a Blizzaga, and unleashed as much energy as she could at Pandemona. A giant icy spear grew above Rikku's head, growing to an immense size before she finally threw it toward her enemy. The Aeon was taken slightly aback by the power of the ice spell, but was ultimately unaffected, the tornado surrounding the great creature smashing the ice to pieces within seconds.
"Tut tut, how rude" mocked Seymour "You could have put somebody's eye out with that. Pandemona, I think its time you taught her a lesson."
Rikku could only stand and stare in horror as the Aeon cast Aero on her, the power of the wind sending her flying back across the room. Now that her friends were out of the way, Seymour focused his attention back on Yuna. The Gullwing's leader turned to face her nemesis, her head bowed in submission. "You win Seymour, I will give up if you let my friends live" Yuna said calmly.
"How very noble, my dear lady Yuna, if that is what you wish I will comply. Although I must say I am disappointed you put up such little resistance. Pandemona, she's all yours." Seymour said dejectedly as he disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Pandemona towering over Yuna. The Aeon began gathering strength for a final spell as Yuna simply stood in front of it, waiting for the end to come.
"Yuna…I won't let you do it. Get out of here…now" came a weak voice from just behind her. Yuna turned to find Paine holding Rikku in one arm, her sword in the other. Paine looked at Yuna with surprisingly soft eyes, catching the ex-summoner off guard "Please go, take Rikku and go, I'll take care of things here. Quickly."
"Don't be stupid Paine. Either all of us get out or we all stay and fight…together. There's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise so don't try" said an emotional Yuna.
Paine simply nodded, readying herself for the impending attack. In the centre of the room, Pandemona had created a massive swirling tornado in front of itself and was preparing to send it towards the trio. Paine and Yuna looked at each other, realising that they weren't going to survive this. "I'm sorry I failed you Yuna, please forgive me" Paine muttered softly.
"You did just fine Paine, there's no one I would have rather had by my side" replied Yuna, tears welling up inside her. The two girls reached out and held each other tight as the tornado swept towards them, anticipating the pain from the blast, their eyes shut tight.
"ZANKUSEN!!!"
SLASH …… SLASH …… SLASH …
Paine opened her eyes slowly, wondering why in the hell they weren't dead. The stoic warrior released Yuna from her grip and directed her attention to the centre of the chamber where Pandemona had been a moment earlier. All that remained was a large cloud of pyreflies surrounding the figure of a small woman dressed in Samurai attire, her Katana hanging by her side and a small bottle of sake fastened to her belt. As the pyreflies disappeared the girl turned towards the three sphere hunters, staring at them with unblinking green eyes. "You are safe now, please leave before Seymour returns. I will deal with him" said the girl quietly, before turning to leave.
"Wait!" cried Yuna. The Samurai stopped, still facing away from the group "What is it?" she replied.
"You don't stand a chance against Seymour on your own. We have to find out how many aeons he has, and how powerful they are. We need time to think about all of this, come with us please. We won't let you go to your death after saving our lives. There must be some way to repay you for this."
"I require no payment for this deed, I am not worthy of anyone's praise. I lost my honour long ago, and cannot let go until HE is dead" came the response.
Paine walked over to her mysterious saviour, trying to get a better look at her face. "Yuna is right, even if you did defeat that aeon that guy was merely toying with us. You wouldn't stand a chance, the four of us together can defeat him, we just need time to recuperate. I know we can…we have to."
"Very well" said the girl after a moments thought "you are correct, although I don't like to admit it. Let us go now, it will not be long before he realises Pandemona is dead"
The girls made their way swiftly out of the sacred temple, back through the eerie Yevon dome and signalled for Buddy to come and collect them.
As the Celsius approached, Paine turned to their new partner "What is your name by the way?"
The girl looked up at Paine and seemed to relax slightly, the warrior's calm eyes meeting hers. "…Adelya" was all she said before looking away again.
I apologise that this chapter took a bit longer, I've been working a lot lately to pay off my university debt J. Also, I got a little stuck with some parts of this chapter so it took longer to put together. I'll be going back to uni in a little while so I won't be able to update quite as regularly, but I will try to keep the wait between chapters to under about 4 weeks. I'm a bit of a slow writer, as I tend to change things quite a bit until I'm happy with it. Just bear with me and be patient please, and don't forget to review (I need all the help I can get J)