I'd like to go ahead and say thanks to Chaka, Insane Child, Xmaster, LadyMercy, and Kiki for reviewing. Okay…explanation time. First, I understand that I was a little confusing when I didn't name the colors and spells together, so I apologize for that and they go as follows: Red/Fire, Blue/Ice, Purple/Lightning, Indigo/Water, Gold/Earth, Silver/Wind, White/Holy, Black/Gravity, Orange/Flare, Green/Ultima. I guess that curative spells would be pastel colors and Kiki's nasty mixed watercolor shade would represent status spells. In addition, I do admit that Auron knows some things about magic, which is why he tried to help Ria in chapter 4. Anyway, let me stop rambling and get on with the next chapter.

Chapter 15: Reflection

Ria, Auron, Rikku, and Bob trudged through the blue gloom of the Macalania Woods. Since the fayth disappeared, the crystalline beauty of the wood had started to fade. Ria looked around and let out a long sigh. "How sad," she said, mostly to herself.

"What's sad?" Bob asked her.

"This forest…the trees are all so sad. They loved the fayth that resided in the temple, and now it's gone, so the trees are grieving," the sorceress sorrowfully replied.

Auron gave her a speculative look. "How in the world do you know that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know...it's just the feeling I get in here."

"Well, cheer up," Rikku said with a friendly smile. "We won't be in here too long."

They continued in silence, battling with the occasional fiend, but were otherwise unhindered. Finally, the four of them came close to the end of the forest, but a swarm of corrupted pyreflies halted their progress. "What are they doing?" Bob wondered, watching the little lights swirl and pulsate.

The pyreflies glowed poisonous red and smoky black, and seemed to regard the group with sheer malice. Suddenly, the swarm fused together and took on the form of a man. He looked as if he'd stepped out of a black-and-white picture, except for his eyes, which had a frosty yellow glow. If it weren't for the sneer that seemed to be his permanent expression, he would have been handsome. He was tall, with a pair of stylized dragon tattoos on his chest and long ponytails that looked suspiciously like handlebars. The stranger had clawed fingers that were twice as long as a normal human's was, and he wore baggy clothes that looked as if they were about to fall off.

"Seymour!" Auron hissed, drawing his katana on the stranger.

"No," the intruder replied with a slight smile, "I'm not Seymour."

"Oh, really?" Rikku retorted, "If you're not him, then who are you?"

"I am a projection created by Lord Seymour…a reflection, if you will," he explained.

"That's impossible! No one can create something like that!" the swordsman stubbornly replied.

The reflection waved its long-fingered hand dismissively. "Oh, come now. Do you REALLY think that you have any right to say what is and is not possible? You were dead for ten years, and yet, you still walked around among the living."

"What do you mean, 'were'?" Auron's expression was confused.

Shadow-Seymour's laughter rang out through the dying forest. It was a cold and mirthless sound. "You mean to tell me that you didn't know? Guardian, although you still smell faintly of the Farplane, you've been alive ever since you appeared in the other world. Well, more alive than dead, anyway, but I can fix that for you," he smiled with all the warmth of an arctic January.

"You're welcome to try," the guardian offered with a feral grin, as Ria, Rikku, and Bob stood beside him, ready to fight alongside their comrade.

"Why is it that nobody on Spira seems to wear clothes that fit?" the sorceress wondered aloud.

The reflection looked at the young woman with some surprise. "I didn't expect to see a person from the other world just yet," he said, ignoring Bob completely. "I have no quarrel with you, just the Al Bhed and the guardian. Why don't you just leave now? I won't try to stop you."

"Why don't you just kiss my ass?" Ria snapped, accompanying the comeback with a rude gesture.

"I tried to be merciful…oh well," he sighed, flicking his hand at the group.

Suddenly, a dark mist surrounded Auron, Rikku, and Ria, and they dropped to the ground without a struggle.

…Flash…

Rikku stood in the middle of the ruins of a city, lightning flashing overhead. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud, walking through the strangely familiar wreckage as she did so.

The Al Bhed wandered for what seemed like hours, calling for her friends as she went. Finally, she came upon a sign that, upon reading, informed her that she was standing in Bevelle. "That's impossible!" she cried, backing away from the offending sign. "What happened here?"

"They came…" an all too familiar voice rang out behind her.

Rikku turned around and saw Yuna standing in the middle of the ruined street. Her cousin was worn and dirty, but very much alive. "Yunie," the thief cheered, hugging her cousin.

The High Summoner violently shoved the girl away. "Yunie, what's wrong? Why is Bevelle gone?" Rikku asked.

"Why? You want to know why?" Yuna began to laugh maniacally. "You let 'them' come, and you have the nerve to ask me what happened?" she hooted.

"Yuna, who are you talking about?" the thief's voice was little more than a whisper.

"We call them the Bane, for that is what they are…the bane of all life on Spira. After Sin was destroyed, they came from the sky by the thousands, killing or capturing every living thing in their way!" Yuna shrieked. "Cid led a campaign to stop them, followed by the rest of the Al Bhed and what was left of the Crusaders, but the Bane wiped them out without breaking a sweat!"

Rikku's body went cold. "You mean…Dad, and…"

"Yes, your dad, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri…everybody is GONE, and it's all your fault!"

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You should've just let me go on my pilgrimage. You should've let me get the Final Aeon and defeat Sin in the traditional way!"

"But, the Final Aeon wouldn't have defeated Sin forever and…"

"That's the point!" Yuna cut her off, "Sin was the ONLY thing that kept the Bane away for so long, and now that it's dead…"

Suddenly, the summoner let out a scream of pain and dropped to the ground. "Yunie, what's wrong? What's the matter with you?" Rikku was frantic.

"The Bane…" Yuna gasped, her entire body twitching in agony. "Those of us who were captured by them…they…"

Whatever the summoner would have said next was cut off as she let out one last blood-curdling scream as a creature clawed its way out of her stomach. Rikku stared at the thing in horrified fascination. The Bane looked like an unholy merging of a human, a mantis, and a snake, and it was already growing bigger. The creature looked up at the Al Bhed with cold eyes, one blue and one green, and it leaped at her face with a terrible screech.

"NO!" The thief cried, as she felt the monster's talons pierce her flesh.

…Flash…

Ria stood in the darkness, wondering what just happened. "Where is everybody?" she called, her voice echoing in the emptiness. The sorceress heard footsteps coming from behind, so she turned around to see who was there. "Auron, what happened? Where is everyone?" she asked, approaching her friend.

The swordsman drew his katana and pointed it at her. "Stay away," he growled.

Ria stopped in her tracks. "Auron, what are you doing? Where are Rikku and Bob?"

He laughed, but there was no sign of amusement in his voice. "They're gone. Both of them are dead!"

"What? How?" Ria couldn't believe her ears.

Auron's face twisted into a mask of rage. "They died saving you! They died because your stupid magic wasn't even strong enough to deal with a stupid Ogre. It's entirely your fault, Ria!"

"They died…because of me?" She shook her head in denial. "No, you're lying."

"Am I? It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, because it won't bring Rikku and Bob back from the dead." He turned and started to walk away.

"Wait," she called. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting away from you!" he snarled, rounding on her. "I'm leaving before you get me killed, too! I'm tired of always having to come to your rescue, Ria! I should have just let the Xiphos have you…it would have saved me a lot of trouble in the long run!"

As Auron continued to harangue her, Ria reeled as if he'd slapped her. She felt as if he'd punched her in the stomach, and it hurt to know that he felt this way about her. He kept on berating her, and as he yelled, her pain turned to anger, and she finally gave vent to it. "DAMN YOU!" the sorceress screamed, clenching her hands into fists.

A wave of dark flame erupted in answer to her angry cry, and it wrapped around the swordsman, instantly incinerating him. As suddenly as it came, the fire vanished, leaving only a blackened husk behind. "Auron…oh God, what have I done?" Ria whispered brokenly, sinking to the floor in despair.

Wes appeared before the distraught young woman, and he knelt down and looked into her eyes. "So, you've finally done it, haven't you, Sis?" he asked, his blue eyes cold. "You've managed to kill off everyone you care about. Congratulations."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "No, I didn't mean to…"

The fayth silenced her with a wave. "That doesn't matter. The point is that you destroy everything you touch. That's why me and the rest of the family are dead, Ria."

As he spoke, images of her mother, grandmother, sister, and stepfather appeared behind him, their expressions accusing. "You killed us, Ria. We died because you were too weak to come and save us," they all hissed in unison.

"You're right: it IS my fault," she sobbed burying her face in her hands.

Alexander appeared, and he changed from a heavenly being to a soldier from Hell. The aeon's armor, once shining silver, changed to leaden black and his once-angelic wings became twisted and demonic. Ria continued to cry brokenheartedly, and did not see the warped aeon raise his obsidian sword over her head.

…Flash…

Auron had an oddly metallic taste in his mouth, so he quickly drank from the lake that lay before him. He was still in the Macalania Woods, but his friends were nowhere in sight. The swordsman had just begun to wonder why he felt so exhausted, when a cruel laughter rang out behind him. "Seymour!" he cried, reaching for his katana, but it was not there.

The Guado chuckled sinisterly, "Are you looking for your sword? You left it back at the camp, along with what's left of your friends."

"What did you do to them?" Auron yelled, shoving the maester aside in his rush to get back to his allies.

What the guardian saw more closely resembled a massacre than a campsite. His katana was driven halfway into the ground, surrounded by a puddle of bright citrine blood. A little silver lantern and a kitchen knife lay nearby, the only evidence of Bob's existence that remained. Not far away, Rikku lay motionless on the ground, her head turned at an unnatural angle, eyes blank. Seymour appeared before him, a look of pure amusement on his features. "Me? I wasn't the one who did this. Why do you think that you're so tired?"

Auron shook his head in disbelief. "You're lying! I didn't do this!"

Seymour nodded, "Oh, yes, you did. You seemed to enjoy it, too. I would have interrupted you earlier, but you looked like you were having a lot of fun with your mage friend over there."

He pointed to an unmoving figure at the edge of the camp. Auron ran to where it lay, and what he saw made his stomach heave. Ria was unmistakably dead, her entire body savaged with claw marks and bite marks. The only reason anyone could recognize her was because her face was the only thing left unscathed. Even in death, the sorceress' eyes were accusing, her expression full of sheer terror. "No…I couldn't have done this," the swordsman flinched away from his friend's body.

"Oh, but you did," Seymour told him. "You know, she might have gotten away if she had a weapon, but all she had was her half-trained magic to protect her. By the way, have you seen yourself, lately?"

The Guado waved his hand and a large mirror appeared. When Auron looked, what he saw made him recoil in horror. In place of his reflection, a most terrible fiend stood there. It was glossy black with crimson streaks, and had huge, bat-like wings. The creature's shoulders were heavily muscled, but the rest of its body was lithe and graceful looking. Its face was only vaguely human, all sharp angles and skeletal in appearance, with pointy silver fangs in its lipless mouth. Most disturbingly of all, the demon still wore the tattered remains of a red coat, and behind the dark sunglasses, its right eye was sealed shut by a hideous scar, while the left one glowed a hellish orange. "You see, you're not a human anymore," the maester cackled. "Isn't it funny: the legendary guardian is now a man-eating monster?"

Auron stared at his bloodstained hands. They looked much like a Guado's, but the talons were much longer. "No, no, NO!" his voice changed from a slightly husky baritone to a noise that was half roar, half howl.

…Flash…

"Why won't you guys wake up?" Bob cried, frantically shaking his three friends.

The little Tonberry was the only one unaffected by the reflection's dark spell. Rikku, Auron, and Ria all lay prone on the ground before the evil creation, and it laughed triumphantly. "I tried to be reasonable, but you didn't want to listen…oh well."

Shadow Seymour pulled a black sword out of thin air and slowly advanced on the unmoving party. Suddenly, Bob interposed himself between his friends and the reflection. "Leave them alone," he cried, attempting to sound threatening, but failing utterly.

"Why, it's a Tonberry," the reflection said with some amusement. "What are you doing outside of the caves, little one?"

"What did you do to my friends?" Bob demanded, keeping his knife pointed at the approaching Guado.

"Your friends? Oh, you mean these three. I didn't do anything serious; I just trapped them in the most terrible nightmares their imaginations can create. I want them to drown in the most exquisite despair possible before I kill them."

"Stop it! Leave them alone!"

"Oh, I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't do that, little one. Their torment and deaths will increase my master's power, tenfold. Maybe if you get out of my way and keep quiet, I'll forget about you."

Bob became angry. "No! I said leave them alone, and I mean it! I'll fight you if I have to, so you'd better let them go, right now!"

Shadow Seymour laughed at the Tonberry's threats. "Oh, and just what, exactly, are you going to do, little fiend?"

Suddenly, a strange force emanated from the Tonberry Prince. His yellow eyes glowed brightly and he yelled, "YOU HATEFUL BASTARD!"

Bob dropped his lantern and leapt at the reflection, grabbing one of his pointy ponytails as an anchor and stabbing him with reckless abandon. "Take this, and this, and one of these!" the little fiend screamed, continuing to stab the Guado with vengeful fury.

Dark gray blood sprayed everywhere as the reflection fell to the ground, Bob still stabbing it. Finally, the Tonberry backed away from his enemy, and Shadow Seymour reverted to the corrupted pyreflies that spawned him. Ria, Rikku, and Auron, now free from the spell, awoke from their nightmares. The three of them looked around, still shaking from terror, and Bob turned and asked them, "Are you three okay?"

"How did you stop him?" Rikku quavered, trying to calm down.

"I used a move that can only be used by the Tonberry Royal Family. We call it 'It's Sharp'."

"Bob, you saved us all. Thank you," Ria whispered, hugging the little fiend.

"You'd have done the same for me," he replied.

"What did he do to us?" Rikku wondered aloud.

"Shadow Seymour had trapped you all inside terrible nightmares, but I'm a fiend, so his spell didn't work on me."

Auron shook his head, trying to banish the terror that he felt. "Come on, we can't stay here."

"Are we going to leave the forest?" Ria asked.

"No, we're going to backtrack to a campsite not far from here," the swordsman suppressed a shudder.

Okay, that's all you're getting for now. (Screams of anguish) Hey, stop that! I'll update soon, so don't do that! (Screams stop) Anyway, I know Rikku's nightmare sort of came out like something out of the movie "Aliens", but you can thank my brother for that idea. I tried my best to keep it PG-13, so hopefully the nightmares aren't too graphic. Well, review, and I will see you all later.