A/N Sorry if the fued between Paine and Rikku is ooc, but it doesn't really matter how it happened, thats not important to the story. The point is, Laralyne and Aaron and the other four aren't really sposed to see eachother, specially not Lara and Aaron. It's forbidden romance. But that isn't the point either. this is not some sappy Romeo and Juliet thing.

Chapter 2: Drastically Wrong

Laralyne waited until she was sure her mother and father were sleeping before she opened her window. Her room was situated on the top floor of Djose Temple, at least four stories high. It didn't bother her though, considering the number of times she had escaped from the room. The decent was easy, using her double daggers to claw her way down the side of the temple. She reached the bottom in minutes, sheathed her daggers next to her gun, and took off at a fast jog down towards the moonflow.

She was dressed in a black halter top and short black shorts secured by the belt she kept her weapons in. Her hair, blonde streaked with red highlights, was tied back into a long pony tail. Ten minutes passed and she was at the bank of the moonflow, her sandaled feet just brushing the edge of the water as she stared across the river for a moment, before leaping onto the lift that had been built to carry people across the river when shoopufs became endangered. Activating the machines that ran it, it propelled her quickly across the pyrefly illuminated water, and she hopped off onto the other bank. Sliding silently onto the forest path, she raced towards Guadosalam. Laralyne checked her watch, it showed that it was 11:30 P.M. She was right on time.

She reached the entrance to Guadosalam quickly, jogging down the ramp into the eerily quiet town. Thankfully not a single guado or human was outdoors, and Laralyne was able to pass through the town without hindrance, until she was looking out over the thunder plains, listening to the roar of thunder and searching for the figure that should be somewhere nearby. It wasn't.

Laralyne rushed out onto the wet and muddy ground, ignoring the rain that cascading down her body as she searched the area quickly. "Aaron!" She shouted, listening as her voice echoed throughout the plains, making her feel very alone. She wasn't afraid of lightening and thunder, and loved the rain, but somehow the vast thunder plains made her feel uneasy, especially when she felt so alone. "Aaron!"

"I'm here, Lara!" She heard a voice call, and saw Aaron emerge from the mist. She sighed, relieved he had shown up and wasn't hurt or something. Aaron was quite handsome, even when drenched in rain. He had silver hair like his mother, though right now his was drenched and messy, falling slightly into his eyes. Usually it was combed to look a lot like Baralai's. He had his father's complexion, deep brown skin that was smooth, without a flaw, and brown eyes like his father as well. He was wearing loose black pants and a loose silver shirt, both drenched with the frigid rain and clinging wetly to his body.

Laralyne embraced him tightly, not caring that she was getting even more wet than she already was, before pulling away. She ran a hand through his hair, and then kissed him gently, ignoring the rain and the cold, just happy to be in eachothers embrace. They broke apart after a few moments, smiling, before Aaron took her hand and led her back to Guadosalam.

"We're right on time, we half half an hour to meet the others. Better hurry." Laralyne said quietly as the entered Guadosalam. A Guado was standing before the mansion, gazing up at it wearily, green spiky hair branching out at all angles. It was Tromell.

"Trom-?" Aaron said softly, and the guado turned to face the couple. He looked so old and frail now, even after seventeen years he still kept the Guado at peace with the other peoples of Spira. The fight with the Ronso tribe had proven a difficult barrier to overcome, but after a few minor arguments Kimarhi and Tromell had managed to join the races in friendship again.

"Yes, my dear boy, it is I. Old and weary, but it is I." Tromell answered, in his slow voice. Indeed he did look older and more weary than he had, lately he had been aging twice as fast. "You must be freezing, children. I thought you might be here tonight, and so I brought these out."

Tromell was one of the only people who excepted the relationship between Laralyne and Aaron. He was always helpful, like now as he was passing them both warm black blankets. He sighed, nodded, and walked back into the mansion. Sometimes it was hard to predict Tromell. The teens wondered if he had come out solely to give them blankets or for something else as well.

"Poor Tromell." Laralyne said shortly, wrapping herself in the blanket. "Ooo, toasty!" She said, grinning. Then she took Aaron's hand and the two jogged off towards their destination, the Djose Highroad.

"How have the 'parents' been?" She asked him, even as the ran. Paine and Baralai were always totally unexcepting, just as her parents were. Thank goodness it wasn't hard to sneak out. The two had been in love for years, and had been friends and playmates since they were very young. At first Rikku and Paine's argument had been just extreme amounts of tension between them, nothing too serious (perhaps it was the desperate efforts of Yuna that made them be almost civil towards eachother) even though they argued about everything. But the tension grew and grew until it was imbued into their minds that the other was a poisen desperate to ruin their lives.

"Normal. You?" Aaron replied, hopping onto the lift at the moonflow behind Laralyne.

"I got in trouble for trying to stab a potential boyfriend. I cannot believe they keep trying to hook me up with those freaks!" She said, laughing. Aaron laughed along with her, knowing she would never consider another guy besides him. It was the way it was. They both knew it, it was obvious, they were made for eachother.

They sped down the path, a few houses had been built about the end closest to the temple, but the lights were out and the inhabitants were asleep, oblivious to the young couple who had escaped their homes to preserve forbidden love, and unknown friendship.

"Oh fuck, stop!" Laralyne whispered, jerking back on Aaron's hand, pulling him to a complete stop. In the shadows up ahead was the figure of Rikku. She was wearing a long dark red dress and was holding a grey cloak around herself.

"Laralyne, Dammit, where are you!? I know your off at the thunder plains again, with that miscreante son of hers! I just don't understand you. But...not tonight. Can't I just get one night without you sneaking off to ruin your life?" Rikku shouted to the still night air, before walking quickly up the path towards the moonflow, grumbling to herself. Laralyne had to stifle a snort at her remarks.

"Come on." Laralyne said giggling. Aaron nodded and they set of sprinting down the highroad. It took a few minutes, but they finally reached the edge, just where the Mi'ihen Highroad and the Djose Highroad met.

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Vidina and Aerella were in Luca visting Lenne and Shuyin that day. Of course, the only reason they insisted on going to Luca all the time was so the six teenagers could meet together. Their parents didn't have a clue they knew eachother so well, about how great of friends they were. It felt odd, not telling their parents, but it was something that was their secret.

The four, Lenne, Shuyin, Aerella and Vidina set off at 11:30, Vidina's arm linked with Aerella, who was linked with Lenne, who was linked with Shuyin. They walked silently, never making any sound so as not to wake Yuna or Tidus, or any other person in Luca. It felt so good to be near eachother, best friends that lived for eachother. And of course Laralyne and Aaron. Together they were a sort of secret committee, the new generation of Spira, the children of the eight most powerful figures in Spira. Nooj would be counted amongst them, but he and Leblanc had been killed when they went searching for spheres in the caves of the calm lands, nearly 13 years ago. Ormi and Logos had gone into denial and had moved to Bevelle. The syndicate had broken up and was now a remnant of the past.

"Who's turn to drive?" Asked Aerella, hopping onto the hover waiting at the entrance of the highroad. "I did it last time."

"Me!" Squealed Lenne, climbing into the driver's spot, the two boys sitting behind her with Aerella. She turned on the engine, laughing quietly to herself. She always loved driving hovers, even though it was technically illegal. Even if somebody saw her, she wouldn't get more than a scolding from them. Slowly she turned the large craft around, which was difficult in the dark, but she managed. Then she started off at a slow pace, considering the narrow paths and small amounts of light, and drove towards the edge of the highroad.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the end because of the chocobos that were running in the road. Lenne nearly mowed a couple down, but managed to avoid them. "Would you stop attempting to murder the poor things!" Aerella laughed, and Lenne blushed a little bit.

"Well it's not like it's easy to see them in the dark! Why don't we just ride them next time?" Lenne asked, swerving to avoid a fluffy chocobo that had decided to run in front of the hover.

"Because we like driving too much?" Shuyin suggested helpfully, leaning against the side of the hover casually. The other three laughed softly and quieted down.

With a screech, Lenne slammed on the brakes, pitching the passengers forward and nearly throwing them off.

"Yevon, Lenne! What was that for?" Vidina asked, glaring playfully at her.

"Oops...sorry. Oh, we're here!" Lenne said cheerily, hopping off of the hover onto the soft grass and helping Aerella down as well. Shuyin and Vidina jumped down as well, and the four looked to the edge of the highroad, where it met with the Djose highroad. Eyes scanned the fog for the figures they knew so well.

"Laralyne...Aaron...?" Aerella crooned softly, straining to see if the teens were lurking in the shadows up ahead. The silence was very odd, silent in a way that Aerella hadn't heard before, there was no sound, but in the distance somewhere was the hint of noise, of commotion. Like being in total darkness but knowing there was light just behind you. It was eery.

"Where are they?" Shuyin asked quietly, taking a step forward into the misty darkness. "They should be here...what time is it?"

Vidina checked his watch, his eyes grim. "12:05. We're late, even. They've never been late before. Even if it is only five minutes..."

"Maybe we should look for them?" Lenne suggested, stepping forward towards her brother. "Lara!? Aaron?" She called hopefully. Still no answer. That was strange, to say the least.

"Check the comm, Aerella. And Lenne, we'll have to go with your idea, we're getting the chocobos. You two-" he gestured to Shuyin and Lenne, "-get ahold of four and bring them here." Vidina had the habit of taking charge when he was nervous, a rather odd habit, but was usually helpful. He was the oldest of them, after all, and he was the one who usually made the best decisions.

The three nodded, and Lenne and Shuyin jogged off down the oldroad, where the chocobos were usually plentiful. Aerella pulled out a small blue commsphere that had been designed by Shinra especially for her. There were five others like it, one for each of the teens, so it wasn't just for her, but they had been designed escpecially for them. They were the only commspheres in Spira that could link to other random commspheres, the ones Shinra had built during the time of Vegnagun had only linked back to the Celcius, but the ones the teens carried were like seperate miniature bases, each able to link to any commsphere in Spira.

But they did have their faults. The coverage only worked when both the commsphere sending the message and the commsphere recieving it remained stationary. Shinra couldn't figure out how to link two moving commspheres together, but his inventions certainly were useful.

Shinra had taken a liking too the children, and had given them the commspheres two years before. During the fifteen years prior to that, he had been working on various other projects. He had designed several airships, helped to rebuild Home into a technological wonder, invented the ChocoTracker to keep track of Clasko's chocobos and Mr. Rin's, designed the hover blueprint that was able to seat at least twenty people and was easily operable (partly for the teens, but that was a secret) And various other things, but he never really developed the commsphere idea fully. True that most cities had one to connect to other cities, but they had yet to get into homes or other places. Shinra currently resided in Bevelle.

Aerella pressed several buttons on her commsphere, and it dialed Laralyne's commsphere with a serious of beeps. "CONNECTING" appeared across the screen in large commputer writing. After several moments it beeped and the words changed to, "No Response Recieved". Aerella puzzled for a second, cogs working furiously in her head, then she dialed again, only this time she called Shuyin. "No Signal". That meant that Laralyne's commsphere was relatively stationary, but was not being answered. Did she leave it at Djose? Aerella had never known any of the six too go anywhere without the commspheres. They were small, and could be slipped unnoticably almost anywhere. Laralyne had even concealed it in an elaborate hairdo once for a banquet. But she had a belt with her weapons. If she didn't have that, then something was very wrong. And if she just wasn't answering, then something was terribly, dreadfully wrong. The commsphere had a button on it that could be casually pressed in a situation where the commsphere couldn't be safely answered, such as when one of them were talking to their parent or at a social event. It could be easily pressed, without so much as an odd glance from anyone watching. And even though the commspheres were silent when they rang, they vibrated strongly, though invisible from someone watching, it was easy to feel. No matter what the case, something was drastically wrong.