DISCLAIMER: I do not own FFX, FFX-2, FFVIII or any of the characters and locations affiliated with it. I do, however, own the story "Silver Wings", "Silver Wings 2: 1000 Confessions" and all references to dialogue not originated by Square-Enix.

DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!

If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. Email with any requests.

PLEASE NOTE: "PaineOfBevelleSairysSkyeWind" is a fic stealer!! Watch out for her. She is also known as "Paine" and "Paine of Spira". She has also taken to stealing my name "akksgurl" so for future reference, I am the one and only "akksgurl" and I have never posted on any other site besides this one, so if you see my stories floating around out there and they are not directly linked back here then they have been stolen and I'd appreciate if you'd report them to the webmaster for removal. Thanks a lot in advance! I am also sure I am not the only one she is stealing from so be sure to keep an eye out for my fics as well as others on other sites.

Author's Notes: wicked laughter Not gonna tell you anything!

SILVER WINGS 3: Back Into My Arms

by akksgurl

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Your Hope Ends Here

"What did you do that for?!" Yuna shrieked, wrenching the wooden bat from Gippal's hand and smacking him in the shoulder with it, "How do you like it?! Huh?! How do you like it?!"

Gippal raised his arms to fend off her attack, "Okay! I'm sorry!" he shouted until she stopped her vicious attack and practically threw the bat at Rikku who sat it quietly in the corner and wisely didn't say a word. Gippal sighed, "Geez, Yuna. What the hell is your problem? I'd think you'd be grateful."

"Grateful!!!" Yuna cried, practically breaking the sound barrier by Gippal's estimation. He even saw Lulu cringe at the sound of her voice, "Why would I be grateful for you clonking my boyfriend over the head with a baseball bat until he fell into an unconscious state?!"

"First," began Gippal, lifting his hand to count off the reasons, "I only hit him once. Secondly, he said specifically that both Tidus and Shuyin were 'quote, unquote' sleeping meaning that whoever that was, wasn't your boyfriend."

Yuna groaned in aggravation, "Minor details…" she muttered, wandering over to the unconscious blitzer that lay sprawled across the bed. She wished she knew what was going on with him. Why was he acting like this? Who was that person that had spoken to her before Gippal hit him? That certainly wasn't Tidus and it lacked any discernible Shuyin quality.

But…

Whoever it was did seem vaguely familiar. There was something recognizable in the way those eyes looked at her. It was as if they had looked at her before. But if whoever it was had been inside of Tidus watching, then they had looked at her before. She shivered slightly. It was bad enough knowing that Shuyin was capable of possessing Tidus, but if an unknown force could do it too…

Snapping out of that thought process, Yuna put her hand on Tidus' forehead and frowned, "He's really cold."

Gippal shrugged, "He'll live."

"How do you know that?" Yuna snapped, lifting her eyes to stare at him, "How do you really know that for sure? What if he doesn't?"

"Then Baralai is avenged…" replied Gippal plainly.

Yuna felt the small flicker of anger in her stomach fan into a wildfire and her eyes flashed as she shouted, "Oh that's it, is it? You want him to die, don't you?" she scoffed at him, "That's not going to change anything, Gippal. Baralai will still be dead."

"Well at least Tidus…er…Shuyin…er…whoever the hell killed Baralai can't do it again!"

"How do you know that he would?!"

"How do you know that he wouldn't?!"

Yuna stomped her foot like a petulant two-year old and shouted, "Damnit, Gippal. No matter what you do, Baralai is dead. Your brother is never coming back!"

"….what….?" came Rikku's tiny squeak and Yuna realized what she had said. Judging from the almost murderous look that Gippal shot her, it was obvious that he hadn't gotten around to telling Rikku that part of his heritage yet. Her blonde cousin shared an equally shocked look with the beautiful black mage standing next to her but it was Rikku who spoke first, "Baralai…is…your brother?" she asked Gippal, speaking slowly as if to test the words in her mouth before saying them.

Gippal glared at Yuna before turning to face Rikku, "…yes." He admitted quietly but he raised his hand to fend off further questions, "I'll explain later, Rikku. This isn't the time or place to get into it now."

"Gippal is right." Agreed Lulu, pointing at Tidus, "We've got to do something about him first."

Rikku swallowed hard and took a deep breath as she went along with the change of subject, "Let's take him back to town. We can take care of him there."

"I agree." Stated Yuna, turning to stare at Gippal with a hard expression, "Well…?" she asked, motioning toward Tidus, "What are you waiting for?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you expect me to do?"

"You're the one who knocked him out. You carry him."

Now maybe it was the fact that he hadn't had a reason to laugh in a long time. Maybe it was the look on Yuna's face. Maybe it was the simple fact that he just wanted to laugh at something. Whatever the reason, the entire situation struck him as absolutely preposterous, and Gippal found himself laughing hysterically at Yuna's demand for several seconds before the stern look on her face made him stop and gape at her, "You're not serious, are you?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding you?"

Gippal shook his head and shot a pleading look at Rikku who shrugged, "You did knock him out." She said, proving once and for all that she wasn't going to help him. And with Lulu obviously not planning on using Flare to defend him from Yuna anytime soon, Gippal found himself meandering over the unconscious psycho-killer and lifting Tidus over his back to carry half the blitzer's weight on his back and half the blitzer's weight on his front. He instantly felt like his knees were going to buckle between him and he silently swore to himself that if he made it down to Besaid without dying, he'd personally see to it that Tidus be made well aware of just how heavy he was!

As Gippal struggled to follow the girls down the stairs, an annoying vibration rattled against his right leg.

He silently cursed the Al Bhed for the reinvention of the cell phone.

Gippal stopped as he straddled between two stairs, sweat popping from his brow under Tidus' weight, "H…hold up. My phone's ringing."

"I got it." Rikku said, rushing up the steps two at a time and reaching into his pocket to retrieve the phone. If he hadn't been so focused on not dropping Tidus down the stairs, Gippal would have found the fact that Rikku's hand was in his pocket, dangerously close to his inner thigh to be very appealing. She pushed a blonde strand out of her face and spoke into the machina, "Gippal's phone. This is Rikku!"

"Rikku. Can I speak to Gippal please?"

"He's kinda busy at the minute, Nooj. Can I take a message?"

"I really need to talk to him."

Rikku shrugged, "Just a sec." she said to Nooj. Cupping her hand over the mouthpiece, she said, "Nooj needs to talk to ya. Why don't you put down sleeping beauty?"

Gippal didn't have to have it suggested twice before he was backing slowly up to the nearest bed and dropping Tidus firmly onto the mattress. He caught a glare from Yuna – no doubt over how he had so callously dropped the blitzer, but he didn't care at the moment. He accepted the phone from Rikku and said, "You know you're lazy when you don't even walk to the ship to talk to me in person."

"I'm in Guadosalam."

Gippal bit his lip, "Why?" He swore for a moment that it sounded like Nooj's voice caught when he tried to respond, but that was impossible. Nooj was never upset. He was the captain. He was the rock. He was the deathseeker for Yevon's sake! But when he heard a ragged breath on the other end, he immediately realized something was very wrong. He turned his back to Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"I got some really bad news, Gippal."

"What sort of news?"

Rikku stormed over to him, "Put it on speaker!" she demanded, ripping the phone from his hand and pressing the speaker button.

Gippal silently cursed the Al Bhed for the reinvention of the cell phone with speaker option.

A cold sense of dread came over him as Nooj explained about the call that he and LeBlanc had received and how the Syndicate didn't want to tell her what had happened over the phone.

"What did happen?" asked Gippal.

"The Farplane…imploded."

Gippal took a sharp intake of breath, "Imploded?"

"It collapsed in on itself sometime last night. All that's left is cinder and soot – the remnants of a fiery explosion that severely burned the Guado that was guarding outside."

Yuna walked a little closer to the phone, "Does the man need to be healed, Nooj?"

"No." came the man's reply, "He's going to be fine. LeBlanc had learned a few spells so she took care of him. He was able to talk to us just a little bit ago."

"And what did he say?" asked Gippal.

Nooj was silent for several minutes before he finally said, "That's where the bad news part really comes into play."

"…what happened…?"

"He told us that…that there were two people inside the Farplane when everything happened." He paused and to Gippal that silence was even more telling that his previous silences. He waited for Nooj to say who the victims were, but judging from the fact that there were two people that he hadn't seen since the day before, Gippal wasn't surprised when Nooj said, "Seifer and Paine."

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Waking up with a smile on her face was something she hadn't done in quite a while, but something she thought she'd be able to start doing more often. Of course, Nooj leaving with that blonde bimbo hadn't been in her initial plan, but he'd be coming home to her soon enough.

She slipped out of the sheets of her guest house bed and padded across the room to the dresser, pulling her robe out and slipping it over her shoulders. It was only a matter of time until they met her…surprise. A surprise that was going to really rock everyone's world.

And she couldn't wait…

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The vibration was annoying. It shook him out of his world of dreams when he wasn't interested in leaving just yet. He wanted to sleep forever. Stubbornly refusing to give into consciousness, he began to roll over when he felt a sharp and stabbing pain run the length of his hand and he jumped up, shouting in pain. The hand was swollen twice its size and was quite obviously broken. How had that happened?

Pounding footsteps told him he had alerted someone to him, and that was when he noticed where he was.

Yuna ran up to him, "Are you okay, Tidus?"

He blinked back a little annoyance and replied sharply, "My name is Shuyin, thanks. And I'm fine, aside from my hand."

"Oh," she said, "Sorry, I had healed it a little but I guess it didn't work as well as I had hoped." She sighed and sat down across from him on the little bed, "And I'm sorry for calling you Tidus." She said, "I just, I mean…that's who was here for the last few days so I just figured…" she sighed and reached for his hand, "Don't worry about it. I'll just heal this up a bit more."

As a cool feeling traveled through his fingers, Shuyin lifted his eyebrow at her, "What happened to it?"

"You broke it."

"Thanks for that." He replied sarcastically, "but how did I break it?" Shuyin leaned in to the girl close enough to notice rather large bruises on her cheeks which she had tried to cover with makeup, "What happened to your face?"

Yuna backed up sharply, dropping his hand but it didn't hurt this time. She raised her own hand to her cheek and muttered, "Nothing…"

"Yuna…I asked you a question."

"Shuyin…" she whispered, "You've had a tough time. I don't want to bore you with the inconsequentials of my life."

"What happened?" he asked again, more forcefully, anger piercing through him at the thought that anyone would hurt her. Then his eyes focused in on a hole that was in the wall, a hole that wasn't there before. His eyes snapped back to her and he frowned, "Did Tidus hurt you?"

Yuna shrugged, "It doesn't matter anymore." She replied with a sigh, "It really doesn't. I'm fine, you're fine. Everything is just fine."

"Did he hit you?" demanded Shuyin, ignoring her silent plea for the dropping of the subject, "Did he?"

Yuna nodded slowly, "Yes," she admitted, raising her hand to silence his angry retort, "but I'm fine. I'm fine, I promise."

Shuyin lifted a finger to gently trace her jawline, trying to quell the anger that was boiling in his stomach at the thought that Tidus – anyone for that matter – would dare hurt such a beautiful creature, "Yuna...." he whispered. Yuna trembled a little under his touch as he leaned closer to her, pressing his lips against hers gently and then, when she didn't deny him, more passionately. Her hands slipped around his neck in a motion that seemed oddly natural to her and she pulled him close to her to feel his body heat through her clothes. His mouth left hers and traced a warm path over her cheek to her ear, touching it gently with his tongue. Without truly thinking, Yuna pulled him down upon her on the bed and moaned softly as his lips traveled down her neck to her collarbone.

Shuyin had given up logical thought as soon as Yuna began responding to him. It wasn't the first time he'd been with her like this, and it certainly wasn't the first time she'd kissed this body, but it was the first time that she knew for certain it was him and she wasn't pushing him away.

But…she did know it was him, right?

"Yuna…" he muttered against hoarsely in her ear.

Yuna turned her own head against his and whispered, "Don't stop…please don't stop."

He didn't want to. It took all his strength to raise himself up on his arms and look into her eyes. Those eyes, now smoldering with passion, stared at him with such want that he felt his knees turn to jelly. He could just ignore the guilt he was feeling and take her the way he wanted to. But he'd never be able to live with himself after that. He gave her a half smile and said, "I think we should stop before we do something you'll regret."

"Don't stop…" she whispered again, her hands trailing along his muscular stomach.

He fought the urge to do exactly what she requested as he said, "I can't…"

"Why?"

His blue eyes connected with hers as he said, "I'm not Tidus. I never will be."

"Don't you think I know that?" she asked, cupping his face within her hands and gently stroking her thumbs over his cheeks, "I'm not stupid, you know."

"I never said you were." He replied with a soft smile, "I just don't want you getting a little carried away again…"

She frowned, "Like I did with Gippal, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, but it's not just that." He admitted, rising to his knees and rolling onto his back to lay next to her, "I just get the feeling that you're doing this to try and forget something." He paused and looked at her, "Did something happen that you're not telling me? Besides Tidus hitting you, I mean."

Yuna wanted to tell him about the mystery third person who had controlled the blitzer's body for a few moments, but the words caught in her throat. Was he going to think she was insane? Maybe that person really was him. Maybe it was Tidus. Maybe she imagined the whole thing. The group had already decided that they weren't going to mention it again unless something happened to make it come up. Lulu had returned to Besaid and only Gippal and Rikku had accompanied Yuna on the trip to Guadosalam along with the unconscious blitzer – who now, of course, was awake. If Yuna just kept her mouth shut, than no one would ever mention the issue again and they could go on with a semblance of normalcy.

And besides, if she mentioned it than he'd spend all his time worrying and not nearly enough time with those beautiful lips on her body…

Yuna rolled onto her side, "No…nothing happened." She replied, a simple lie that put an end to a conversation she didn't want to have anymore. She smiled at him as she remembered the way he used to make her feel as Lenne on those long Zanarkand nights and she decided that she wanted to feel that way again. She kissed him this time, and smiled to herself when she felt him instantly respond, his tongue touching hers. She took his hand in hers and trailed it up her hip until she laid it deftly on her ribcage, silently daring him to go further.

He shook his head and pulled his lips from hers, "Yuna…I think we should…stop…" he said in a breathless whisper, but his mouth said one thing and his body said another as he lifted his hand to her breast moving the other to make quick work of the threads that held her shirt together. His mouth moved upon the now bare skin and Yuna let out a sigh, running her hands slowly through his blonde locks and down to his shirt, lifting it from the bottom up over his head and discarding it into a crumpled pile on the floor.

A crackling noise caused them both to stop and look around for the source.

"Yunie…we're almost at Guadosalam so get up here and prepare for the landing." Came Rikku's voice over the loudspeaker, effectively ending any remnants of the mood that had swept them up just moments before.

Shuyin guiltily climbed off of her and retrieved his shirt from the floor, replacing it on his head as she tied the cords of her shirt. He was disappointed to have been interrupted and yet grateful to whatever god happened to be in place at this point for the interruption. He and Yuna were friends and he didn't want to ruin that. She'd just hate him and he couldn't bear it. He glanced up at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her watching him as she chew nervously on her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry…ya know…that I…um…" she stammered, "I came on too strong. I'm sorry."

Shuyin shrugged, "I'm the one who should apologize. It was my fault…"

She sighed and released her lip, "Well, I better get to the bridge before Rikku has a coronary. I'll see you later." She said, giving him a sincere smile before turning and walking out of the crew's quarters.

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"Where are you going?" asked LeBlanc, trying to sound as confident as possible to hide the fact that her insides were quaking with fear. She hadn't felt this uncomfortable in her home in…well…ever.

"I'm going to go look at the site and see if I can help the Guado with anything." Came Nooj's reply as he gently stroked her shoulders, "Gippal, Rikku, and Yuna are on their way. They should be here at any time."

"I'll come with you, love."

Nooj shook his head, "No, LeBlanc. I want you to stay here. Lock the door after I leave and don't open it for anyone." His expression grew dreadfully serious and he whispered, "I mean it, LeBlanc. Do not follow me. I know you don't like orders, but if you don't obey me then I'll drag you back here and lock you in a closet."

"You wouldn't!"

"I would."

LeBlanc pouted but she knew that Nooj wasn't joking and although she didn't relish staying in the chateau with only the Syndicate, Ormi, and Logos to look after her, she conceded to his wishes. Locking the door immediately after Nooj left, LeBlanc meandered up to her private bathroom and decided that relaxing in a hot tub was just the remedy she needed. She waited until the water was steaming before shutting the door and stripping her clothes. She climbed in, the hot water instantly making her aching muscles feel completely better. She hoped that Nooj would come back soon, and with information about why the Farplane fell in on itself. Her Noojie was hiding how truly upset he was over Paine's death, but she knew better than to push. He'd come to her when he wanted to talk about it. She was just grateful that Gippal was coming. Nooj needed his friend with him now. There was only so much that she could do.

A creak caught her attention and LeBlanc opened her eyes. The bathroom door was swinging open slowly and she was laying completely naked for anyone to see. She reached quickly for the towel she left draping over the side of the tub and covered herself, rising to her feet and walking slowly to the door to peer out. A sudden sense of dread overcame her as she jutted her head around the corner, "Anybody here?" she asked, praying silently that no one would answer and letting out an audible sigh of relief when that prayer was granted. She groaned to herself, "Honestly, LeBlanc, you're beginning to lose it. It's just a drafty old house with bad doors."

Still, the mood for the bath had vanished and LeBlanc let the water out of the tub and replaced the towel with a pair of purple pajama bottoms and a white sweatshirt. Granted, it covered a bit more than her usual attire, but tonight she just wanted to curl up in something comfortable and relax. Maybe when Nooj got back she could convince him to lay back and watch the sphere with her for a while. She wanted to try to get his mind off of everything.

LeBlanc padded her way barefooted out of her bedroom and rounded the corner to the stairs. A breeze whipped past her and she paused, wondering where the draft was coming from when she saw it. The front door was hanging wide open. Stifling a yelp, LeBlanc ran down the stairs the rest of the way and slammed it shut, locking it again. She knew she had locked it the first time. Maybe Nooj was back? Or maybe Ormi and Logos were just stupid enough to have opened the door. The latter was much more realistic.

"Hello…?" she called, walking quietly back to the dining room. The door to the secret passageway was open and she searched her mind to remember if she had left it like that, but she knew she hadn't. She silently prayed that Ormi or Logos had. LeBlanc reached for the fireplace poker as she made her way down into the passageway.

Fear in her own house – or fear in general – wasn't something she was used to, but she felt in then in every step she took. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure that others could hear it and the whole time she kept telling herself that she was acting stupid. She was certain that Ormi or Logos were just playing a prank on her.

Right…??

A light flickered in the room at the end of the hall and LeBlanc quietly made her way toward the door but paused just short of the threshold. If (and she prayed it was a small if) someone was in there, she was hardly in a position to defend herself with a mere fire poker and her bare feet as her only weapons. She decided at that moment that she would go in swinging and whoever was in there would just have to deal with a head wound.

But…as LeBlanc made her way inside she realized that there was no one there. The light had been a candle fighting for its last breath of oxygen before dying. LeBlanc let out a little laugh at her own stupidity and set the fire poker down against a nearby wall. With everything that was going on she was just getting paranoid.

While she was down there, she decided that she might as well gather up a few books to read just in case Nooj kept her prisoner in her own house for a while. She kept her secret stash of naughty romance novels inside one of the trunks for just such an occasion. As she made her way to the trunk, she felt something wet and sticky under her toes and she paused and looked down.

"What the…" she muttered, squatting closer to the substance. It looked almost like…blood. She shook her head at the ridiculous thought. It had to have been paint. There would have been no explanation for such a ridiculously large amount of blood seeping out from under the bed.

And yet…

As if her hand had grown a mind of its own, LeBlanc found herself lifting the ruffle that lined the bottom of the bed and allowing her eyes to make contact with what remained of Logos, stuffed in an impossible position, blood seeping from his eyes and throat with a horrified look frozen on his long and serious face. LeBlanc let out a terrified scream, backing away as quickly as she could, her feet not working with her body. She tripped over the blood-soaked carpet and stumbled, grabbing onto the closet door for support, but found none when it swung open and she found herself pinned beneath Ormi and felt a warm substance flowing from his head onto her body.

"Ahhh!!!" she shrieked again, squirming as best she could to remove herself from Ormi's girth. It proved a difficult task, but she managed, grabbing the poker and running as fast as she could out of the room and back down the hall, slipping on the stones as her blood-soaked feet made contact with the freshly polished stones.

She broke into the dining room with the fastest speed she could attain but her slippery feet tripped her up and sent her sprawling face first onto the carpet, giving her a view of the underside of the table and the fem-goon laying beneath it. She let out another horrified scream as she scrambled to her feet, forgetting the poker and concerned only with getting out of that chateau. She saw the door standing open just a few feet away and then saw it slam shut before her and it took her a moment to realize why.

Long fingernails, connected with tapered hands that led up to a muscular torso and a face with an evil grin greeted her. Hidden behind the door, she hadn't seen the intruder before but LeBlanc saw him now and she felt her voice catch in her throat. It was impossible and yet…obviously it was possible. It was happening, was it not?

He stepped forward and gave her a chilling grin, "The chateau hasn't changed much." He stated simply, taking another step forward while she took another back. He reached for an apple that was sitting on the table and took a long and leisurely bite before he said, "Aside from the rather tacky hearts and the large painting of your lover in my bedroom, it's exactly the same."

"Y…y….you're…." stammered LeBlanc, trying to get her heart to calm its erratic beating so she could think.

He stepped forward and a grin spread on his face that made LeBlanc shudder from head to toe, "I believe the name you are searching for," he replied, "is Seymour…"