First, I want to thank rikku-thief, Insane Child, Xmaster, Kiki, Kyanos, and Chaka for their reviews. I'm also glad that everyone understands that Ria doesn't like Wakka. I personally haven't really liked him ever since he compared the destruction of Home to happy festival fireworks. Anyway, my mouth (or is it fingers?) is starting to run away with me, so let me shut up now.

Chapter 20: Trials of the Mountain

The group climbed the snowy slopes of sacred Mount Gagazet, hoping to reach Zanarkand before it was too late to stop whatever it was that Seymour was planning. Scaling the mountain was a lengthy process, however, and now, for the second night running, the driving snow forced the five of them to take shelter in a shallow cave.

"It is absolutely freezing out there!" Bob said, shivering in the icy gloom.

"You can always go back, you know," Auron told him, irritated at the delay.

The Tonberry King shook his head. "No, I can't go back. I have to go with you guys and make Seymour pay for everything he's done."

Meanwhile, Rikku pulled all sorts of odd items out of her belt pouches and finally took one apart. "What are you doing?" Ria asked, watching her friend's activity with great interest.

"I'm taking a fire grenade apart," the thief replied with a look of intense concentration on her face.

"Hey, isn't that kind of dangerous?" Wakka looked worried.

"Yeah, but if I don't, then we won't have anything to make a fire," she explained. "Now stop interrupting me; you're making me lose my concentration."

The Al Bhed finished her project, and a tiny flame lit the cramped confines of the cave with a warm, sanguine glow. "It's not going to last long," she told them, "But it should warm this place up enough for us to sleep."

Ria was not particularly happy with her current situation, because she was stuck in the middle of two of her least favorite things in the entire universe: extreme cold and heights. She kept her opinions to herself, however, and sat with her back against the wall. Auron watched her suppress a shiver out of the corner of his eye, and took his coat off. "Here," he said, handing it to Ria.

"Give it to Rikku," she flatly replied, shaking her head.

"I'm giving it to you," he told her, as stubbornly as ever.

"Rikku needs it more," the sorceress' tone grew cold.

"No, I'm fine…" the thief started to say, but trailed off when she saw the look on Ria's face.

"I'm bigger than she is, and I'm more warmly dressed, so give the coat to Rikku."

"I have the perfect solution for this," Bob interrupted, seeing that the situation was about to explode.

He snatched the coat away from Auron and spread the purloined article across the two of them like a blanket. "There," the little fiend said in a satisfied tone, "Now both of you can be warm, and Auron can stop giving everyone such an ugly look."

The coat wasn't big enough to cover the both of them effectively, but Bob seemed to think that he had done a good job, so no one burst his bubble. Auron shook his head and sat down away from everyone else, resolutely closing his eye. Wakka was grinning and he looked like he wanted to say something, so Ria gave him a frosty stare and asked, "Yes, was there something you wanted to say, Pac-Man?"

"No, I'll keep my mouth shut," the blitzball player replied.

"Why are you so angry anyway, Ria?" Rikku wanted to know.

"Yeah, didn't you and Auron enjoy yourselves in the hot springs the other day?" Bob chimed in, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"What are you talking about?" Wakka asked with a confused expression.

The Tonberry King let out a long-suffering sigh and whispered something inaudible into the big man's ear. Wakka's eyes went wide, and then he smiled broadly. "Oh…" he chuckled.

Ria suddenly found herself wishing that she had a rolled up Sunday's copy of The New York Times, but she couldn't decide whether it was Wakka or Bob that she wanted to hit first. "Yes, we did enjoy ourselves, but it wasn't what you think it was, so you can just get your filthy minds out of the friggin' gutter." She was extremely angry, and it showed. "I know you set that whole thing up, and I know you mean well, Bob, but it's not any of your business whether I sleep with someone or not!"

"I…I'm sorry, Ria," the little fiend quietly replied, clearly taken aback at his friend's vehemence.

"Forget it. Let's just get some sleep, okay?"

A little while later, Wakka and Bob were snoring loudly, and keeping Rikku and Ria awake. Auron, too, was asleep, but he was nowhere near as violent as the Tonberry and the blitzball captain. "Ria?" the thief called softly.

"Yes?" the sorceress replied without opening her eyes.

"I know you really don't want to talk about it, but I've really got to know: did you…and Auron…you know?" She fidgeted as she asked the question.

Ria sighed. "We came close, but no, we didn't. Auron said that he didn't want me to do something that I might regret later, so we stopped."

"Why would you regret it?"

"Probably because he thinks that I'll be sent back to Earth after all this is over." The sorceress smiled, "He's got to be the most self-controlled man in the entire universe."

"But what if you can't go back to Earth?" the thief persisted, "What will you do, then?"

"I honestly don't know, Rikku. My family is gone and the shop I worked at was destroyed, so I don't really have anything to go back to. Of course, I don't really have anywhere to go in Spira, either, so I don't really know what I'm going to do."

"Well, if you can't go home, and you can't go anywhere else, then you can come with me," Rikku told her.

"What?"

"Yeah! You can come with me, and when the Celsius is finished, the two of us and Yunie can go look for records of Spira's past and stuff."

"Oh, something sort of like 'Indiana Jones'?"

"What's 'Indiana Jones'?" the thief was curious.

Ria shook her head and said, "Never mind."

The next morning, the five of them left the cave and continued to climb the mountain. They turned around a bend and found a huge, plantlike fiend blocking their path. It was large, with mauve colored petals, and long clawed tentacles waving in the air. "Why in the world is a Mandragora out here on the slopes instead of in the caves?" Bob wondered aloud.

"It's really weird, ya?" Wakka replied.

The plant monster sensed their presence and immediately went on the offensive. The Mandragora flailed about with its whip-like tendrils, while the group fought back with their various weapons and spells. The creature let out a terrible scream as Auron's katana bit deeply into its side. "Hey, I think this thing is almost dead!" Rikku shouted as she used the cover of Wakka's blitzball assault to dodge the poisonous claws.

Suddenly, the fiend hopped up and down, opened its petals and released a cloud of toxic pollen into the air. Ria, although partially blinded, lashed out with the Starblade, and managed to distract it long enough for Bob to use his now-enhanced Karma attack. The creature died, but no one had noticed that the dust had affected Wakka's mind. "FIEND!" he shouted, throwing his blitzball at the Tonberry King as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, Wakka's aim was way off, and he bashed the sorceress in the back of the head with the ball. Ria keeled over like a felled tree and did not move. "Oh, no!" Rikku shrieked, rushing to her fallen friend's aid.

…Flash…

Ria was back in the hot springs with Auron, and she felt as if her soul was about to take wings and fly. She loved this man so much, more than she had ever loved anyone else, and it felt as if her heart would shatter from such a strong emotion. Suddenly, Auron released her from his embrace and pulled away from her. "No, this isn't right," he said, not looking at her.

"What are you talking about?" the sorceress was bewildered.

"I don't want to force you into this," he told her.

"You don't want to 'force' me? Auron, I've got plenty of ways to keep someone from pressing their unwanted attentions on me, so don't give me that line, okay?" Ria shot him a suspicious look. "You aren't having some kind of guilt trip over you being fifteen years older than me, is it?"

He chuckled at that. "No, that doesn't have anything to do with it. I just don't want you to do something that you might regret later, that's all."

"I see…"

"We don't know what is going to happen after we face Seymour," he continued, "I may have to go back to the Farplane, or I might not, but you'd be sent back to your world. I don't want to do this, only to lose you later."

Ria closed her eyes and whispered, "I understand, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Suddenly, all of it seemed so incredibly funny, and the sorceress began to laugh uncontrollably. Auron watched her warily, thinking that she had lost her mind. "Are you okay?" he asked, uncertainty coloring his voice.

"Yeah…" she gasped, "I'm fine. It's just so funny."

"What is?"

"There are all these corny romantic books and movies back on Earth, where the girl tells her love all of these reasons why they should wait…and…" Another round of laughter overcame Ria.

"And?" the swordsman was curious now.

"Just now, you sounded just like one of those girls!" she finished.

Auron gaped at her, and his expression only added to the hilarity. Now the sorceress was positively howling with mirth and tears were streaming down her face. Finally, the guardian chuckled, and soon the two of them were laughing as if it was going out of style. They finally calmed down after a few minutes, and Ria leaned over and playfully tugged his ponytail again. "I hate to admit it, but you're right: we should just wait, but that doesn't mean that we can't just sit and enjoy each other's company, does it?"

…Flash…

Ria awoke from her memory/dream to a splitting headache that made her wince. "Ria, are you okay?" Bob asked, concern written all over his face.

The sorceress opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but no sound came out. She tried again, but still no sound could be heard. "You've been Silenced," Auron explained, handing her a Potion for her head.

Ria drank the blue liquid and her headache vanished, but her voice was still gone. She gave the group a questioning look, and Bob said, "The Mandragora's pollen Silenced you, but it Confused Wakka, and he whacked you in the head with the blitzball. It's okay, though, because Auron fixed him."

"Fixed me? Nearly broke my jaw is more like it," the blitz captain muttered, rubbing one side of his face.

"I think we have a problem, you guys," Rikku said, rummaging through her belt pouches.

"What is it now?" Auron sighed.

"I don't have any more Echo Screens," the thief replied.

"Couldn't you just mix one up?" Bob suggested.

She shook her head. "I've got six Potions, four Ethers, a Phoenix Down, an Antidote, and more Elemental Grenades than I care to think about. None of that will make what I need."

Finally, everyone noticed that Wakka had a rather smug expression on his face. "Wakka, do you have an Echo Screen?" the thief asked.

"Yeah, but it's my last one," he replied with a grin.

Ria walked up to the big man and held out her hand expectantly. Wakka looked at Silenced sorceress for a moment, as if he were trying to make up his mind and said, "She's a lot better this way, ya?"

Bob sighed and started backing away, pulling on Rikku's arm as he went. "We might want to give her a little room," he advised the Al Bhed.

Ria's eyes flashed with anger as she stared at Wakka. He was laughing hysterically, as though her misfortune was the funniest thing he'd seen in a while. She waited for him to finish, and when he did, she smiled sweetly, gave him a rude gesture, and promptly kicked him in the balls. Wakka's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he hit the snow without making a sound. "Are you happy now?" Auron asked, carefully keeping out of Ria's long reach.

The sorceress pointed at the prone blitzball captain and made a slicing motion across her throat. Rikku walked over to Wakka, took the Echo Screen, and handed it to Ria, saying, "He brought it on himself, the big meanie."

Ria opened the vial, and a crystalline bubble surrounded her head for a moment, and then vanished. Now that her voice was back, the angry sorceress gave vent to her rage. "You stupid bastard," she spat, her voice full of fury. "This is not the time or the place for you to carry out your little vendetta against me! The next time you try to pull something like that, I swear to God that I will tear your arm off and shove it up your ass! You'll have a whole lot of fun trying to play blitzball then, won't you, Pac-Man?"

She blistered his ears with several more vile and physically impossible threats, and then turned on her heel and stalked off, leaving the rest of the group to stare after her in amazement. Wakka finally regained his composure and said, "Why did you guys let me do that?"

"We didn't let you do anything," Auron told him, "You're a grown man; you don't need our permission to do or say something. I hope for your sake that you don't pull another stunt like that, because I'm pretty sure that she'll make good on those threats next time."

With that, the swordsman walked away, leaving the three of them to catch up. "Wakka, that wasn't exactly the smartest thing you've ever done, you know that, don't you?" Rikku asked, giving the limping man a sidelong glance.

"Tell me about it!" he replied with a grimace of pain. "If I had known that she would do that, then I wouldn't have said anything, ya?"

"It doesn't take much to set her off," Bob told him. "You should've heard her back on Bikanel Island. I didn't even know that some of the stuff she said was biologically possible for humans!"

By the time the group made it to the plateau below the caves, Ria's temper cooled and she finally stopped glowering at Wakka. "Hey, isn't this the place where we fought Seymour?" Rikku asked, looking around at the familiar surroundings.

"Yes, it is, and it looks like his 'guardian' has been here, too," Auron replied, impassively staring at the bones that were scattered about.

Out of nowhere, a group of corrupted pyreflies appeared, but unlike the ones that spawned Shadow Seymour, these regarded the group with a strange sadness. The red and black lights swirled and pulsed, and then took on the form of a woman. She had long platinum hair and somber golden eyes. Her skin was very fair, even though she was clad only in a blue bikini, and she slowly approached the group.

"You…it can't be…" Auron trailed off, watching the woman with stunned recognition.

"Who is that?" Ria asked, her voice quiet.

"That is Lady Yunalesca, the Reaper of Souls," Rikku solemnly replied. "She died a thousand years ago and was the first person to defeat Sin."

"Afterward, she resided in Zanarkand, where she turned guardians into the fayth of the Final Aeon," Wakka added. "But we defeated her, so she should be in the Farplane."

"Yes, I should be," Yunalesca said.

"Then what are you still doing here?" Auron asked, barely concealed anger marring his otherwise stolid features.

"You still carry your hatred for me, even after you and your friends avenged your death? I'm touched."

Ria was shocked. "You mean that she's the one who…"

"Yes." Auron did not look at the sorceress. "She is the one who killed me."

"If you were defeated, then why have you come back?" Bob asked the undead woman.

Yunalesca held out her hands, and everyone saw that a hideous, light-devouring black substance shackled her wrists. "I have been bound to this world, and I cannot go back to the Farplane until I am either defeated, or released."

"Seymour is forcing you to be his guardian?" Rikku asked. "How?"

The summoner smiled coldly. "If you can defeat me, then I will tell you everything that I know. If not, then you will die."

She raised her hands, and the world shifted from the panoramic mountainside to a dark and eerie starscape. Yunalesca's shackles pulsed, and the summoner's form changed. Her pale skin turned deep, bloody crimson, and her hair changed into a swarm of black snakes that writhed and hissed malevolently. Her fingers twisted into long ebony talons, as a couple of extra pairs of arms emerged below the usual ones. Icy blue flames wreathed the now-demonic summoner as her eyes lit up with a leprous white glow. "Now…" she hissed, her voice now cold and rasping. "Defend yourselves."

Yunalesca lashed at the group with a wave of acid green fire, which they all just barely managed to evade. Auron closed in on the summoner, and struck at her with his blade, but she somehow escaped his attack, and retaliated with a backhanded swipe that sent the swordsman flying. Wakka used the momentary distraction to hit her with his blitzball, but then she turned around and fired a pulse of dark energy at him. Rikku lobbed a grenade at Yunalesca, and turned to check on her friend. "Hey, Wakka, are you all right?" she asked, just as another dark pulse barely missed the two of them.

"Yeah," he grunted, getting to his feet. "It'll take more than that to keep me down, ya?"

Meanwhile, Bob was circling around the battle, looking for his chance to attack the summoner, while Ria raised the Starblade into the air and called out to her brother. Yunalesca, however, struck the sorceress with a sphere of blue flame, shouting, "I don't think so!"

The fire didn't harm her, but Ria was now unable to call Alexander into the battle, so she tried the next thing that came to mind. Diamond white light filled her vision and caused the stellar pattern on the Starblade to glow as she yelled "Holy!"

Several orbs of sacred light rained down from the sky, smashing Yunalesca, and leaving some strange silvery burns on her body. "Hey, she's weak against Holy magic!" the sorceress called to her friends.

Yunalesca snarled in anger and shrieked, "Hell's Judgment!"

A large, lurid orange glyph lit up beneath the sorceress, and a wave of virulent yellow and purple energy shot up from the ground in an explosion of power. Bob sneaked up behind Yunalesca as she watched Ria fall to the floor, and he quickly slashed her across the backs of her knees with his kitchen knife, spilling bright pink blood everywhere. The summoner quickly turned around and caught the Tonberry with two of her arms and pummeled him with her other four fists. Bob tried to defend himself, but there were too many arms, and she quickly beat him senseless. Wakka and Rikku tried to come to the little fiend's aid, but Yunalesca dropped him, turned on his would be rescuers, and quickly cast Demi, smashing them into the floor. "Apparently, none of you were strong enough to defeat…AHHH!" Her triumphant cry suddenly cut off as Auron's katana erupted from her chest.

"Apparently, you were wrong," he snarled, twisting the blade with a sickening crunch.

Yunalesca coughed up some bright pink blood, and let out a cry as a wave of darkness engulfed her. The starscape vanished, and the group returned to the mountainside, worse for the wear, but otherwise healthy. The black glow that surrounded the summoner vanished, and the real Yunalesca reappeared. She was ghostly now, but she was no longer shackled. "You've broken the darkness that bound me…" she whispered in awe. "You are now free to ask me what you will…"

Okay, that's all you get for now, so review and tell me what you think. I know you're probably all thinking, "Why the hell did she bring Yunalesca back?" and the answer is because I don't think she suffered enough when she got her ass kicked the first time, so I decided to kick it again. Anyway, I'll see you all next chapter.