A/N: And I thought this update was going to be long. NOPE! Hopefully the next one though. This chapter starts out right away with the sphere Shinra has.

-Chapter Eight-
Not Your Average Confusion


It was a dark, damp cave. The soft pitter-patter of rain could be heard outside. "Sephy...?" a little girl whispered. She was just a toddler, with violet eyes. Ahriana.

Another toddler with hair down to her feet whispered back, "Over here." Sephianna. Her teeth chattered as she wrapped herself up in a small blanket.

"Why aren't we home? Where are we?" the small girl clad in purple asked. She curled up next to Sephianna, crying softly. "I want to go home."

"Don't worry. We'll find a way." Sephianna had a soft, but determined frown on her face.

"What do we have to do?" Ahriana asked. She seemed so innocent, so afraid.

"My father want us to finish his mission. He wanted to save Spira, by recreating the Promised Land," Sephianna told. She hugged Ahriana like she was a younger sister. "We have to wait for another Ancient to come to Spira."

"How long will that take?" Ahriana inquired.

"I don't know..." the long haired girl said quietly. She leaned against the other girl, closing her eyes.

After a moment, Ahriana gasped. "Sephy. There's someone in here," her voice quivered as she stared straight into the sphere.

The other girl stood up, her face becoming dark and angry. "Who's there?" she called out. Nothing. "Who's there?!" she repeated, her voice rising. Sephianna crossed her arms and she began to emit a soft blue light. "I'm warning you. Show your face!"

"Going to hurt me, are you?" said a male who was operating the sphere camera. "Two little girls?" He neared the two.

"Back off!" Sephianna cried, her aura flaring.

Whoever was holding the sphere dropped it, gasping for air. His upper body wasn't visible, but his hands flew up, probably to his neck. "Please...stop...!" he gasped.

Ahriana came into view, an amethyst colored aura surrounding her. Her tiny fists were clenched tightly. "Who are you?!" she demanded. She unclenched her fists a little.

"I can help you," he said, breathing hard.

"Let's hear it," Sephianna said, still watching him like a hawk.

"I know about the Promised Land. I know who, when, and where the girl you need is. Her name is Piper, and she's coming." The young man kicked his foot at the sphere, and it turned off.


"Who was that?" Piper asked.

Shinra shrugged, "That I don't know. What I do know is he's an Al Bhed male who by now is probably around forty years old. The sphere was recorded about sixteen years ago."

"Wait a second," Zalèa said, "That means Sephianna's father is Sephiroth. That was his plan, wasn't it?"

The Al Bhed genius nodded. He set the sphere back in the drawer and closed it. "She is his only child."

Nari sat down on the ground. "How is that possible?"

"How is what possible?" Shinra asked.

"Yuna is Sephianna's mother," Piper looked from Evan to Nari then back to Evan. Yuna and Sephiroth... How? Even though she was trying to send Piper back to her home, Yuna didn't seem like a person who would do that with an evil man bent on world destruction. But then again, what did Piper know about Spira anyways?

Shinra stood, speechless. "Yuna never had any child other than you two. Whoever told you that was wrong."

Piper tugged at a copper strand of hair. Then who could it be? she wondered. "Why would Charis lie?"

"I don't know. Maybe she didn't," Evan said. "But Shinra, why can't you figure out who that Al Bhed was?"

"I've never had the time. It'd take some extensive research and forensic study of the sphere," Shinra answered simply.

Zalèa spun around in one of the chairs in the room. "Can you try? We really have to figure this stuff out fast."

Shinra pulled out the sphere again, and sighed. "Fine. Just don't tell anyone else about it. I have a hunch on who it might be and it will stir up a lot of trouble if I'm right. Come back this afternoon and it'll be done."

"Thanks Shinra! You're the best!" Nari grinned, "Come on guys. We have work of our own to do!" she said, leading out the door.

"What? Now where are we going?" Piper asked, being dragged along by Zalèa.

"Besaid," Zalèa said as they boarded the Dandilily.

"What for?" asked Evan. He was as confused as Piper.

Zalèa pushed a few buttons and set the airship on autopilot. "The time-key."

"What?" Piper cried. "I'm not going back home. Not yet!"

"Of course not!" Nari said, her blue eyes glittering. "But we might need it for escaping."

"Escaping what?" Piper wondered.

Nari shrugged. "The adults."

Evan fell back on a chair, "So what do we do if they attack again?" Both he and Nari seemed to have dismissed the idea of Sephianna being their sister and replaced it with more important thoughts.

Piper had almost forgot about that. She was open to attack from those two at any time. And the Fayth had said he might be able to save her again. They'd have to fight next time. She had enough materia with her, but she wasn't as comfortable fighting people as she was fighting fiends. And the power those two held were so great, it'd be impossible to fight, let alone win. Going back to her home seemed like the best idea, but what would that bring? They would find a way to travel through time and follow her. Or they would get her new friends like they had Charis. Flopping down on another chair, she sighed loudly. She was already confused to begin with, and it was only getting worse. They'd probably just have to wait until Shinra found out who the Al Bhed man was. That was something that was beginning to bother her. Shinra had said the sphere was recorded sixteen years ago. She was sixteen. How would he know anything about her? She might not even have been born when the sphere was recorded. Yet, she had been. When the sphere was recorded, she had long since been born, lived, and died. Her home was five thousand years in the past. Nothing made sense anymore.

"We'll have to hope for the best, I guess," Nari said after a long silence.

A/N: HOPEFULLY it will be the next chapter that has the big Paine thing in it. When I started planning this story, it was supposed to be more a romance-y story but that's not working as well as I had hoped. I'm going to plan out the rest of the story today (and hopefully the rest of all my other stories) so I can get everything straigtened out.
To the drawing board! AWAY!
To Emma: Wow some of that is a LITTLE bizarre. I had all these weird ideas and rumors too tho. Like Nooj was Seymour's half brother (same mother) and I believed it because of their hair heh. And Lenne (which I pronounced Lennie, dunno why) was Yuna's wannabe since Yuna became a singer (And somehow Yuna became a songstress... yeah) and there were a lot of other things too. Oh and Shuyin's name was Shuvin and it just sounded like a vacuum cleaner name. Oh well. Yah you have to update too Emmy. ::pulls out own Toxic Fish that YOU gave me and holds lemon stik in other hand (oh Gawd, don't ask)::
To SmkViper: Thank you very much. I know there are some mistakes because my computer is super-retarded and the spellcheck goes haywire once in while (mostly because of the Al Bhed language) and don't worry, I tell people about their mistakes all the time, go ahead and nitpick mine to death, it prolly deserves it. And the final fight in Lost Love was yes, short and boring, but I planned that out for a reason which you will all soon (actually prolly not for a long time) figure out.
Only two reviews this time...? Oh yah, this chapter was only up for a day, nvm. That's not bad. Okay okay I'll stop talking. I'm off to the drawing board. And I want some guesses on who the Al Bhed man is and who Ahriana's parents are (you'll never guess that, I bet!) And did anyone notice the joke on Yuna - (Even though she was trying to send Piper back to her home, Yuna didn't seem like a person who would do
that with an evil man bent on world destruction) - because of like Seymour... and stuff... okay maybe it wasn't that funny but it was at the time I wrote it.
Always - Letselina