A/N: Hello everyone. Sorry for such the long wait. One, I had such bad writers block and this chappy is still a bit short. Yesterday I finally broke it and wrote a lot more than this but there was this big arse storm (it rocked, there were two rainbows and the lightning was going across it because the sun was out) and my power went out before I could save! I was so PO'ed I didn't even bother writing until today. So here you go! Remember, the character list is in my profile if your confused!
-Chapter Three-
-Morning-
Piper was kneeling down on a platform, praying her heart out. She wasn't sure what she was praying for, or even where she was. A young man stood in front of her, a sword looming omniously in his hands. She tried to see his face, but it was too hard. Yet somehow, she knew it was someone important to her. Someone she loved. He seemed to be struggling against himself, trying to pull the sword away.
Something stirred behind her, and suddenly... everything began to go black. Looking down, she saw the slender katana that had been thrusted through her body. Slowly, her body fell to the ground. She knew, she was dead.
Piper opened one eye tiredly, sitting up. The dream didn't bother her much. It was a recurring nightmare that she had been experiencing since she was a little girl. She often asked her mother and father about it, but they never answered. Obviously, they knew something. But they weren't going to tell her anytime soon. The warm early summer breeze was slowly awakening everyone on the beach. She kicked off the thin blanket that had probably been thrown over her while she was asleep. That was more fun than the dance ever would have been, she thought to herself. She managed to stand up, rubbing sand from her eyes. Hopping over sleeping bodies, she walked to the shoreline, letting the gentle tide flow over her feet. And it will probably be the only fun I have for the rest of my life if Mom finds out. She's probably going crazy calling up all the neighbors and all my friends searching for me. And my friends will just answer 'she never showed up.' I'm never going to hear the end of it...
"Hey new girl! Whatcha thinking about?" Zalèa inquired, walking towards her.
"How much trouble I'm going to be in when I get home," Piper sighed.
She stretched her long, slender arms, yawning. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure my parents can clear up that you were just at the beach party with me."
"Yeah, say that and it'll be even worse," Piper said. She crossed her arms over her chest, the wind blowing her tangles of hair around. "My mother is really cautious. She's always afraid of me getting hurt or killed."
"Total opposite of my mom then," Zalèa groaned. "My mom is really ditzy and acts like a kid. Everyone says I took after both her and my father equally, but I like to think I didn't."
"Hey Piper!" Evan waved, coming nearer.
"Hiya Evan," Piper said, waving back.
"You're gonna play blitz with us later right?" he asked, a pleading look in his eyes.
Piper grinned, "Of course!"
"All right! I'll see you later!" he said, running up the path to the village.
Zalèa began to giggle.
"What?!" Piper demanded.
"Oh nothing. I'll tell you later. Anyways, we better go back. You can ask Yuna about your mom and stuff," the blonde said, grinning to herself.
"Sounds like a plan," said Piper. They began to climb up the path, taking a shortcut to the village. She noticed a lot of rubble and debri from what looked like old buildings. "What happened here?"
"Happened where?" Zalèa asked.
"Why are all these old buildings here? It doesn't look anything like the village," Piper stated.
"Oh that," Zalèa sighed. "Well it was a long time ago. There was this monster, named Sin. Supposedly he was there because the impurity of humans made Yu Yevon summon it."
"Who's Yu Yevon?"
Zalèa shrugged. "You'd really have to ask Yuna. She's the high summoner after all."
Piper raised a puzzled eyebrow. High Summoner? She herself could summon with the right materia, but anyone could do that. "Why is she a 'high' summoner?"
"You really aren't from here, are you? She's the last summoner who defeated Sin. I guess there was this 'false tradition' before Yuna came along," Zalèa paused, looking at an old shrine. "People used to pray here before leaving the island. Mostly for luck. The adults are always telling us about how easy we live. When they were kids, they were afraid of death around every corner. Can you believe this island used to be infested with fiends? Most people rarely know how to defend themselves."
Piper listened as she told her about Sin and the religion of Yevon. It seemed like a bunch of hullabaloo about nothing. Zalèa seemed to think so as well.
"Well wouldn't you be the greatest history teacher?" teased a man with blonde hair. He sported a patch over one eye that poked at Piper's curiousity. "So you're Piper? You don't look that much like your mother." He looked at Zalèa, "I suppose that's your doing isn't it?"
"Of course. Piper, this is my father, Gippal," Zalèa introduced. Whispering, she said, "Don't worry, he's not always such a butthead."
"Nice to meet you," Piper waved slightly.
Gippal yawned, "Well I was looking for you Zalèa. Your mother and I are going to D'jose to help out. They're having some problems with the new machina. We'll be leaving late today. You coming?"
"Of course!" Zalèa jumped up. "You wanna come?" she asked Piper.
What the heck is machina? she wondered. "Sure, why not?"
"Great!" Zalèa grinned. "Kiacc oui'mm ryja du lyhlam fedr Evan," she said.
"Hu fyo! Evan megac dra haf kenm?!" cried another blonde, standing beside Gippal. It was Zalèa's mother.
Piper looked bewildered, lost in the strange language they were speaking. Something inside made her think they were talking about her.
Zalèa laughed, "Oib! Oui lyh damm ra'c cu rayt ujan raamc fedr ran!"
"Fyed ihdem Yunie raync! Cra'mm pa cu aqledat!" she squealed.
"Cbayg cu dra buun kenm lyh ihtancdyht oui! It's not nice to talk about her in Al Bhed!" Gippal scolded playfully.
"Pid Vydran!" whined Zalèa.
"Ed'c duu silr vih!" the mother sighed. "Sorry, I guess I never introduced myself. I'm Rikku!"
"Uh... Hi..." Piper nodded slowly.
"Sorry Piper," Zalèa apologized.
Piper smiled, "I thought you said you didn't want to take after you're mother."
"Guess I can't help it."
"What were you guys talking in anyways?" Piper wanted to know.
"Al Bhed. It's our native language," Rikku answered.
Maybe that's what the swirly eye thing is about. "Okay..." Piper said, as if she understood.
"Well come on," Zalèa said. "We can go talk to Yuna now."
"But what were you guys talking about?" Piper inquired.
"Hudrehk!" Rikku and Zalèa chorused.
Gippal shook his head, "Buun kenm," he muttered, leaving.
Piper and Zalèa walked down the village path to the temple. "Why are we going in here?"
"Yuna'll be in here. Come on!" she said, opening the door.
The dimly lit temple wasn't exactly how she pictured a normal churchy-temple. Of course, Piper had been in there the night before, but she hardly got a chance to look around. There were statues all over; all oddly dressed people. One was of a woman with long ribbon-like hair. She wore hardly any clothing. Another was a man clad in robes with a funny hat. The final one that caught her attention was a woman wearing a skirt with a flowery design. "Wow," Piper said in quiet awe. Even though the temple was empty of any persons, it seemed wrong to be loud.
"That's Yuna's statue. And the man wearing the strange hat was her father, Braska. He defeated Sin thirty years ago," Zalèa explained. "The half-naked woman is Yunalesca. Yuna was named after her. Yunalesca was the first summoner to defeat Sin, over a thousand years ago."
"Wait, why did they keep defeating Sin? Don't you think it would just be... defeated after a while?" Piper was confused.
Zalèa shrugged. "I'm not really sure why. I sort of fell asleep a few days in history class so..."
"Right." Piper looked around, "So where's Yuna?"
"That's weird. She's usually in here," the Al Bhed said. They checked the extra rooms but didn't see her.
"What about in there?" Piper asked, pointing to the doorway at the top of a staircase.
Zalèa looked around, checking for any sign of authority. "That's the Cloister of Trials. We're not supposed to go in there. It's really cool inside though."
"Maybe she's in there..."
"Wanna check?" Zalèa asked, a mischievious grin on her face.
Piper nodded, her grin matching the Al Bhed's.
Aeris Strife looked at her husband. "She is sixteen. I suppose we can tell her the truth."
"Do you really think she'll understand? I mean you were..." Cloud sighed.
"I know. But she is old and mature. She can handle the truth. Ty can wait a few years," Aeris said. She stood up, smiling weakly at Cloud. "Wish me luck..."
"Luck," Cloud winked.
Aeris walked down a staircase to their basement. It was a cold, windowless area, but Piper had insisted on moving into the spare room. Once they saw how Piper had gotten the room carpeted and painted, they decided to let her move in. It worked out for the best anyways. Their son, Ty, was afraid of the basement, giving Piper the privacy she always had complained about not having. "Piper," she said, knocking on the door. Listening for a moment, she heard nothing. Worried, Aeris opened the door. "Piper, are you awake?" she whispered, turning on a light.
The sight in front of her made her gasp. The bed was still perfectly made; nothing had been moved. Her daughter hadn't returned. "Cloud!" she yelled.
"Sephianna," the small girl, clad in purple, addressed the young woman with long hair. "She's going to enter the Cloister of Trials momentarily."
"Thank you Ahriana," spoke the young woman. Her sapphire-diamond eyes met a pair of sapphire-emerald eyes. "Hello Lady Yuna. Enjoying yourself?"
The High Summoner glared at her, struggling against the confining spell that had been cast on her. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.
"My name is Sephianna. Please don't struggle, I don't want you to be hurt," she smiled.
"What do you want with me?" Yuna questioned.
Sephianna shook her head, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you that just yet. For now, you're bait. I need the girl with Cetra blood, and you will lure her here."
"Aeris isn't here," Yuna said, "She hasn't even been in Spira for almost twenty years."
"Of course not," the little girl said, walking up to Yuna. "We aren't looking for Aeris though."
Yuna's eyes widened with realization. "Piper..." she whispered the name of Aeris' daughter.
Al Bhed Translation: (Sorry I didn't have this up earlier)
Kiacc oui'mm ryja du lyhlam fedr Evan - Guess you'll have to cancel with Evan
Hu fyo! Evan megac dra haf kenm?! - No way! Evan likes the new girl?!
Oib! Oui lyh damm ra'c cu rayt ujan raamc fedr ran! - Yup! You can tell he's so head over heels with her!
Fyed ihdem Yunie raync! Cra'mm pa cu aqledat! - Wait until Yunie hears! She'll be so excited!
Cbayg cu dra buun kenm lyh ihtancdyht oui! - Speak so the poor girl can understand you!
Pid Vydran! - But Father!
Ed'c duu silr vih! - It's too much fun!
Hudrehk! - Nothing!
Buun kenm - Poor girl
A/N: AHH! CLIFFHANGER! THE HORROR! Well now you know the names of the two people and you're probably guessing they are baddies. To Dr. P: Hi-o you! Don't worry about the kids, one I have a list in my profile and two, most of them won't be a main part of the story. To Beautiful Songstress: Lol okay, thanks for telling me. To blushnbabe: It's cute...? To Shelbie: Okay. To Emrelle: AHHH! DON'T TOUCH ME WITH IT! (the Shuyin plushie) beats Shuyin plushie with Evan plushie then gives Emrelle Evan plushie See, I'm perfecting Tidus by making Evan lol. To dark dragon: Okay thanks.
Remember, I like constructive (not flames) critisism!
LYL - Letselina
