A/N: I was hoping to get this story up faster but a lot of stuff is coming up this week so updates will probably be short and choppy. This story is going to be a bit shorter than Lost Love because I'm planning the third story and most of it wouldn't fit as well in this story.
-Chapter Eleven-
Losing Hope
"Welcome to your father's hometown," Ahriana said sweetly.
"What are you talking about?" Piper asked. She didn't really care where she was at the time. Just how to escape. She was surrounded by tall cliffs, and seemed to be sitting in the middle of a path. It was definitely an old path, but maybe not used much. What amazed her, though, were the large vortexes of water to her far right.
"Over five thousand years ago, this was the place where your father grew up. Where Sephiroth began his terror. This was Nibelhiem," Ahriana spoke. "Beyond is Mount Gagazet, or as you might know it, Mount Nibel."
"What is it now?" Piper inquired, somewhat interested. She didn't know how she could have gotten to a different continent. But something told her, she was still in Spira.
"This is the city of the dead. Where summoners would end their pilgrimages and go on to defeat the monster called Sin. Welcome to Zanarkand, Piper Strife."
Closing her eyes, Piper cursed under her breath numerous times. Someone, help me. Or at least Spira... she sent out her hopes that someone would find her here. No. All her friends now thought she was back home. Maybe someone would follow her through. She opened her eyes, walking toward the strange vortexes. "What are these?" she asked. She vowed not to let them see her fear. Where's Sephianna? she wondered.
"Those are Fayth," Ahriana answered.
Fayth. Maybe she, and Spira, would be saved. Piper reached her hand out, running her fingers along the stone near them. It seemed to be a statue of many people. She hardly knew anything about Spira, or the Fayth. She just knew they could help her. For the first time since she had come to Spira, she was homesick. Why me? Glancing at the girl clad in amethyst, she noticed something different. Something she hadn't seen before. Although the girl was facing mostly the other way, it was easy to see she was troubled. A single, crystalline tear trickled down Ahriana's face. True innocence. "Are you okay?"
Ahriana looked at Piper with soft eyes. "Leave me alone," she said quietly, her innocence finally matching her soft voice.
Piper turned back to the rocky cliff, confused. Guess everyone has to have a heart. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she feared the child's power too much to bother her. Why isn't she trying to capture me? Probably because she already had her there, and just needed to wait for Sephianna. Tracing the indents in the stone, she recognized one of the figures in the stone. "Yuffie...?" she whispered. Clinging to the rock, a young woman with short hair framing her face stared back at her with stone eyes. Everything began to darken around her, and Piper feared falling unconscious. Not again...
"Piper. Open your eyes," said a familiar voice.
Her world flashed then Piper found herself sitting in a small flowerbed before a few gravestones. Sitting beside her was the black haired ninja. "Yuffie, is that you?"
"Yep," she said, turning a flower over in her hand. "Do you know what this place is?"
Piper looked around, "I think so..."
"This is your mother's church. She used to tend to these flowers every day when she lived in Midgar. Before she met your father and before Sephiroth returned." Yuffie seemed unusually calm and serious. Her dark amber eyes were sincere, yet almost afraid. She looked worn and tired.
"Am I home?" Piper asked, excitedly.
"In your mind, yes. But the other Fayth and Yuna don't understand that you can't go home yet," the ninja spoke.
"Yeah, that Time-Porter thing sent me to Zanarkand. Yuffie, am I going to..." she couldn't complete her sentence, and just hoped Yuffie understood what she was talking about.
"That's for you to decide Piper." She looked at Piper. "I know you've seen my daughter. But you have to forget all about her. Understand? You have to help Ahriana and Sephianna."
"Help them?!" Piper cried, "They want to destroy Spira!"
"Not quite. They are under the control of Jenova. I know Tifa told you all about Jenova but Sephianna and Ahriana can't control themselves at times. They want to go home, just like you." Yuffie placed a hand on Piper's shoulder, "This is more serious than you might understand. If Jenova is reborn in you, her essence will leave them and join yours. You can't let that happen. There aren't enough summoners or people to stop you. Spira will be done for."
Piper had already guessed this. Doesn't anyone have good news? "Yuffie, what about Charis?"
"She, too, is under Jenova's control. But she doesn't know it. Her father will claim her soon, and she will be sent out to do what she was fated to do. Piper, you have to stop her before it's too late," Yuffie said.
"Stop her? From doing what?" Piper demanded. She wondered what Yuffie meant by 'stop' her daughter.
Yuffie bit down on her lip, "I've been here for over a thousand years. I watched Sin destroy Zanarkand, and kill thousands. I became a Fayth as directed by Yu Yevon. Piper, Charis, like me, is a Fayth. But she doesn't remember any of it. Something... happened."
Piper's head began to hurt. Who was Yu Yevon? And she 'became' a Fayth? "What was it?"
"I don't know. And it doesn't matter. You have to stop her, Piper. You have to kill my daughter."
"What?!" Piper yelled. "I can't kill my best friend!"
Yuffie shook her slightly, "You have to. If you don't, you will die. So will everyone else."
"No! I can't kill her! If it has to be done, have someone else do it!" she shouted. Suddenly her world shifted again, and she was standing in Zanarkand again. "Gee, thanks Yuffie," she muttered to the stone figure. I could never kill my friend. Hell, she couldn't kill anyone.
"It's about time you came back," Sephianna said. She obviously arrived while Piper was 'gone'. Her dark smirk was twisted as ever. "The summoning will begin soon."
Standing beside her was a taller girl, about Piper's age, decked out in purple. "Enjoy your last few hours," she said with an equally dark grin.
Is that Ahriana? she said in her mind. It looked like her, except older. Had she been gone for years? No. Couldn't have been. Of course, she didn't understand anything anymore. Anything was possible. That was all she knew.
Charis Kisaragi stood on the top of a building, watching Piper, Sephianna, and Ahriana carefully. She had sensed her mother nearby, and hoped she had warned Piper about her fate.
"She won't believe your mother anyway. She doesn't know anything about you."
"I know," Charis said quietly.
Standing beside her was a young man, dressed in a white lab coat, his black hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Then why do you want her to come after you?"
"I want her to stop you," the girl replied. Her fierce brown eyes glared at the rocky terrain as she crossed her arms across her chest. "You don't deserve to do this to her. To me. To Spira."
"But it won't be me who does it. It will be you, my daughter," he said with a tone of wicked humor in his voice. He chuckled quietly, setting a hand on her shoulder.
Charis shuddered. "Don't. Touch. Me. I don't care who you think you are. You are not my father."
"You belong to her, Charis. Just like Piper's fate belongs to you," the man said.
There was nothing more Charis wanted than death. But even that had been stolen from her. She wasn't allowed to do anything she wasn't 'fated' to do. "Screw fate," she muttered. "I don't want any part in it."
"That's the funny thing about fate. You don't have a choice."
"So do you think everything will be okay now?" Nari asked. She looked at her brother and her best friend, both who were staring at the Time-Porter. "Hello?"
Zalèa glared at the infernal device. She knew something had gone wrong. Just a gut feeling. "No. I don't think it will be."
"Why do you say that?" Narianne questioned.
"I just know it, okay?" Zalèa retorted. "We have to go after her."
Evan glanced up, "And get in more trouble than we already are?"
"Might as well," Zalèa said, standing up. "Are you two coming with?"
"I suppose," Nari shrugged.
"Better than staying here," Evan grinned.
Together, the three stepped through the still open portal, hoping Shinra wouldn't come back for a while. But they didn't appear in the quiet, homey living room they had seen. "Is this...?" Nari looked around, taking in her surroundings.
"But if Piper's here..." Zalèa bit hard on her lip.
"We're all dead meat," Nari said fearfully.
"Zanarkand," Evan said in awe.
A/N: One review...? Well fine, Emmy just gets the spekkal reviewer reward :P Hehe. Nah, I'm sure you're all busy or something (me too) so I'll let it go. Heh. Boy, oh boy do I have a lot more to write in a short time. Summer's almost over! (Sort of) I don't want to go back to school! ::bawls:: Oh well. Uhm, otherwise I'll just keep updating and hope you're all at least reading it. And if you have an idea who Charis' "father" is, you are probably right.
Always - Letselina
