Apologies for this being short, and a day late. I was greeted by a nasty surprise when I realized that I had a huge test to study for, and didn't have time to write. So I'm really sorry, but here it is finally. Yet another short chapter, and probably not enough happens in it, but I hope it's not too bad. I didn't want to drag it out to make it boring. The next one will be longer, I promise, though it will be a bit of a longer wait. Most likely a week.
(EDIT: I uploaded a different file of the story, so hopefully Fanfiction.net will be more happy with this one and won't kill the paragraph structure… sorry about that for those of you who had to read it all scrunchy!)
This chapter has been fixed up by Golden Rose3 who was nice enough to beta it for me. Thank you again!!
Hopefully now there aren't any errors, and it's easier to read then the last chapters I've done.
Thanks for the comments, as usual, it's wonderful to read them.
In reply to comments-
Kamikaze-
Ah! Don't shoot me! Please! X__X It's here it's here… just a day late due to stupid school. I didn't know they were going to hit me with that. As for Brother… yes… they didn't give me much to work with, and I know I made him a bit weird… probably too weird.
AngelOfDeath90-
Most of it is based on my imagination, though most of chapter 1 and chapter 3 are directly from the games, except for some stuff I added. The rest of the story is all my idea… yes… I am to blame!
Golden Rose3-
Yes.. I think I did make an error there with the whole Bevelle/Zanarkand War… but I honestly couldn't remember what the game had said about it, and I sort of just guessed instead… not much was ever said about it, I don't think.
… Chapter 10? What?! Already?! Well I guess technically it's chapter 11 with the prologue but… what happened?! How'd this get so far?! I only ever meant it to be a few chapters… Sheesh. Well, I hope it's still an okay read. I'm not sure if I like how it's going right now, but I don't seem to have much of a chance. I just sit down, and I go into this daze and start writing. Then when I regain my sanity I look back at what I wrote and doubt… but I think it's okay. Or rather, I dearly hope it's okay.
Thanks for all the reviews, I don't own FFX-2, and now on with the darn chapter already.
~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 10
~~~~~~~~~
"It's endless!" Tidus sighed, stopping beside Yuna as she regarded the two paths in front of them. "It just keeps going down and down…" His voice trailed off as he too looked down each path. They were exactly the same. Dimly lit and slightly foggy, with a very uncomfortable, eerie feeling about them.
"Welcome to Bevelle's underground." Paine snorted, kneeling down to recheck her equipment as they paused.
"Welcome? But we've been here for hours! Can't we just go home?" Rikku cried, clutching Yuna's arm and looking around warily. "We haven't even seen any fiends! This is really weird, Yunie…"
Yuna had to agree. It was strange. They'd been walking for at least three hours, descending the many levels, and they still hadn't seen one fiend. But the feeling they were in danger of being attacked never left them from the moment they had entered the chambers.
"What do you think, Paine?" Yuna looked over to the warrior, who was carefully counting out how many potions she had with her.
"I think we just have to keep going. We can't give up now, we must be close." She said calmly, and Yuna wasn't surprised by the answer. Though she'd found herself hoping that Paine would just say they should give up and leave.
"We can handle any fiends, right? We handled Sin!" Tidus grinned, looking as though he was trying very hard to be encouraging and cheerful despite the surroundings. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit.
"You haven't seen the fiends down here." Paine muttered, standing back up. With a sigh, Yuna felt the smile leave her face.
"That's not helping." Rikku hissed, bouncing up and down nervously.
'But she's right. Usually this place is crawling with powerful fiends. What happened?' Yuna thought to herself, looking around. She saw only the same thing she'd been seeing for the last three hours. Disturbingly calm fog, her companions and the endless halls. It was getting not only annoying, but eerie. The air was filled with the constant feel that something was watching them, following them, but there were no signs of life at all. She shivered a little, but tried to hide it. She didn't want them to worry.
"Maybe when we defeated Trema they all just disappeared?" She asked after a moment, thinking of no other explanation. Paine frowned and crossed her arms, while Rikku looked hopeful.
"It couldn't have been that simple. Not with that many fiends." Shaking her head, Paine walked over to the left path and looked down it. "They're here somewhere." She added, a frown still on her face as she turned around and walked over to the other passage.
"Just a question of where." Tidus looked around hesitantly, then sighed. "Let's just keep moving, this place is giving me the creeps."
'I couldn't agree more.' Yuna thought as she looked from passageway to passageway. "But which way?"
"They both look the same." Paine shrugged. "Let's just pick one and go. I don't think standing here is a good idea."
"No… you're probably right." Yuna thought for a moment, then looked over again at the passages. Nothing unique about either one. "How about left." She said finally, shaking her head and dropping her hands to her sides. She had no idea which way to go. But they seemed to be looking to her as the leader. Why was she always put in charge? She'd never wanted to be…
"Left it is then. Let's go." Paine strode off quickly, taking the lead and looking quite alert. Rikku followed close behind though somewhat hesitantly, constantly looking around as if something was going to jump out at her. Considering the feel that was in the air, Yuna didn't blame her.
"You ready?" Tidus asked, looking somewhat concerned. Maybe he could tell she was upset.
"Yes." She nodded, walking after Paine. He walked beside her, keeping pace and looking around and behind them. On the alert for fiends, but he still had his air of self confidence and boyish ease. He really hadn't changed.
Smiling in spite of the depressing mood surrounding her, she felt a little weight move off her shoulders mentally. Keeping pace with the others, she soon found herself losing focus on the things around her. Her mind started to drift back to everything that had happened. What was happening.
A distant scream echoed in her mind, but she didn't stop. Flinching she struggled to keep herself calm, she didn't want the others to notice, didn't want them to worry. It wasn't much. The scream was already fading. A muted whisper compared to what she had heard before.
'Please hold on.' She thought, as if somehow the Fayth might be able to hear her. She nearly chided herself for thinking such a thing, but she couldn't help but hope. Maybe it could hear her, like she could hear it. 'I'll help you.'
There was no answer of any kind, but she hadn't expected one. Sighing she kept walking without care and didn't pay attention to the conversation that was beginning to flicker back and forth between Rikku and Paine. She had a good guess on what the words would be, and she was tired of hearing it. Instead she wondered again at the dreams, and the images burned in her mind.
How had her father been able to reach her? He had been sent, weren't all who were sent forever lost to the Farplane, not even able to contact those living? She recalled his words in her mind. They were easy to remember, they felt as if they'd been burned into her memory. It had been him, and not just a dream, she was sure of it. 'I wish I could have spoken with him.' She felt almost as if she wanted to cry. It had been a long time since she had been sad of her father's parting. She'd been so young when he left, she barely recalled the memories of him. The spheres she had seen on her pilgrimage to Zanarkand had been something she'd never expected and dearly cherished. But she'd never thought she'd be able to actually have him speak to her.
'I wish I could have known you.' She'd grown up without any parents at all. Her mother had died when she was young, too young to even remember what she had looked like. Her father had raised her alone until he decided to go on his pilgrimage, leaving her behind. Then she'd been alone in Bevelle, taken care of by priests until Kimahri came and took her away to Besaid. Lulu and Wakka had taken her in as a sort of little sister, and with Kimahri always close by, she grew up as happily as she could.
But she'd always waited for the day when her father would come home. It was only until a few years later when everything was explained to her, when she finally realized. At first she'd cried and no one could make her feel better. Then she slowly began to realize what was going on, and what Sin really was. Soon she began to learn the teachings of Yevon, as Lulu left to become a guardian for a failed pilgrimage. When Lulu returned, Yuna realized what it was she wanted to do. Not to walk in her father's footsteps, but do what he had done, aid the people of Spira.
It all seemed like such a long time ago. Yuna sighed and looked down to the floor that passed below her feet. All those years, she'd grown up wanting to see her father. Then it had come so suddenly, she hadn't had time to even realize it until it was over. But at least, he knew. He knew everything. It made her feel better, that he was there somewhere, watching her.
The thought surprised her, and somewhere inside of her she felt a little bit more hope welling up. The thought of her father watching her gave her strength, and suddenly, the endless hall wasn't as eerie. She had her friends beside her, and her family watching her from the Farplane. What more did she need?
"What's that?" Rikku said suddenly, sending Yuna dashing out of her thoughts and coming to an abrupt halt. The Al Bhed spun around, her head shaking as she looked around feverishly. Paine's watchful glance was somewhat calmer, though no less intense.
"I don't see anything." The warrior said after a moment, frowning at Rikku.
"Me neither." Tidus shrugged, looking behind them and even up at the murky ceiling.
"But… I heard something." Rikku quivered, her eyes dilated as she moved to the center of the group. "I'm sure I did!"
"What did you hear?" Yuna asked, trying to keep herself calm and somehow calm down her cousin.
"Footsteps." Rikku blinked, then looked behind Yuna, as if something would be hiding behind her. "Behind us." She added, her eyes darting around the floor wildly.
"There's nothing there." Paine sighed, her tone slightly irritated though still cautious.
"But I'm sure I did…" Rikku's voice trailed off as she slowly spun around, looking every which way.
"Paine's right, there isn't anything." Tidus shook his head, though he didn't sound too convinced.
"Let's just keep moving." Yuna swallowed her fear and stepped forward past Paine.
They hadn't walked far when Rikku suddenly stopped again.
"There it is again!" She cried, looking behind Tidus towards where they had come. Yuna stopped and looked back herself, squinting.
Fog. Two pyreflies. Darkness. Walls that went on forever and a ceiling that seemed to be made of shadow. But there wasn't anything else to be seen.
"Rikku, I don't see anything." She sighed, rubbing her eyes. The darkness was starting to strain them, and the fog made everything seem blurry.
"I know I heard it!" Rikku cried, looking even more upset and terrified. Yuna regarded her cousin with worry. A hysterical Rikku wouldn't be much good in battle, and she didn't want her cousin to get hurt. "Rikku, it's okay. We can beat anything that's here. We've been here before."
Rikku paused, but shook her head. "Not if it surprises us!"
"It won't." Paine cut in, her voice a pure calmness that made Yuna feel almost jealous. How did Paine manage it?
"How do you know!" Rikku shrieked and Tidus winced.
"Yuna's right, we should keep moving." He said quickly, before Paine could open her mouth or Rikku could start again.
Rikku looked over at him as if he were insane, but didn't say anything. She seemed almost too afraid to even speak anymore. Instead she walked over to Paine and huddled beside her, her eyes constantly darting around the hall. Paine rolled her eyes, but seemed to take some pity on the Al Bhed and didn't complain.
They started off again, this time their pace slightly quicker, and softer. Yuna could tell Paine was straining to hear any sounds other then their own, but it wasn't easy. There were no other sounds at all. In fact, the entire underground seemed to be completely silent, even the musical whispers the pyreflies sometimes emitted couldn't be heard.
Nothing eventful happened for quite a while, and Yuna was beginning to think things would be fine, when the passageway suddenly curved into a corner. On the other side of the corner, a dead end.
"What?! After all that?" Rikku shouted, stopping dead in her tracks. Yuna too was surprised, all the passageways before had always had stairs at the end of them, never a dead end. Perhaps they had taken the wrong turn after all.
"Is there any way down?" Yuna asked, looking around and unable to find anything remarkable herself. Paine walked to the wall and felt its surface carefully. After a few moments, she shrugged.
"It's a normal wall. Nothing special about it, and there are no stairs anywhere here."
"So we have to go back?" Tidus sighed, frowning and crossing his arms.
"I guess so." Yuna felt her heart sink. More time wasted, and energy they couldn't spare wasted.
"But it's so long…" Rikku's voice cut in, a tired wail that cut through the air like a knife. Yuna winced in spite of herself, but managed to keep herself from saying anything. She wasn't happy either. But they had no choice.
"So let's just go." Yuna turned around, and stopped dead in her tracks. Tidus frowned and looked over to her, then turned around as well. He stopped short, and blinked.
"Are you sure there isn't anything?" Rikku said unhappily, her back still turned to the way they had come.
"Rikku…" Paine called softly, her eyes focused on the path.
"What?" Rikku cried, sounding quite fed up as she turned around to look at the warrior.
Silence.
The Tonberry stared at them silently, the little lantern clasped carefully in his hand, emitting an eerie golden glow into the fog around him. His eyes seemed to glow from his green head, and the brown cloak he wore seemed to fade in and out of sight as if it were part of the fog.
But it was the knife that caught Yuna's attention most.
"But…" Rikku's voice trailed off painfully, and she took a step backwards to the wall behind them. "How?"
"That must have been what you heard." Paine said grimly, drawing her sword.
"It'll be no problem!" Tidus tried to sound cheerful, but Yuna could tell he was worried.
"These ones are stronger then the normal kind." Yuna heard herself say, her voice sounding strained. The Tonberry stared at them silently, the lantern swinging silently in his hand.
"Can't we… bargain with it?" Rikku gulped, taking out her twin blades with great hesitation.
"It's a fiend, Rikku. You can't bargain with a fiend." Paine snapped, holding her sword up in a prepared stance.
"But these guys are tough!" Rikku sniffed, putting her hands up in a defensive position as the Tonberry continued to stare at them silently.
"What's it doing?" Tidus frowned, drawing Brotherhood out.
"I don't know… I think it's waiting." Yuna said slowly, bring out her gun and holding it carefully in her hand. They never attacked fast, she didn't have to worry about speed.
"What for?!" Cried Rikku, edging nervously backwards.
Suddenly the Tonberry took a step forward, its strange body rocking back and forth with its movement.
Paine dealt the first blow. A sword swipe across the creature's chest, but the robe seemed to deflect it. Before Paine could even recover from her attack the Tonberry's knife jabbed into her leg. Stumbling backwards Paine quickly moved to use a potion on the wound while Tidus tried the same attack. Again, it was useless, and he narrowly missed getting cut by the creature's knife. Jumping back he stared at his blade then at the creature in confusion.
"I'm not hurting it at all!"
"Not again…" Yuna muttered, loading her gun.
"Maybe it's one of the crazed ones? They're all more powerful then normal fiends…" Rikku chattered nervously, refusing to budge from her position.
"It must be." Standing back up Paine held up her sword again, but did not move to attack. "Weapons aren't going to work. What about magic?"
Yuna shook her head slowly, regarding the gun in her hand. "I think… we should try to make a run for it. They can't move that fast."
"But we're cornered! And who knows how many more of those things are out there, when they can go invisible like that!" Rikku cried, looking horrified at her own words. Yuna thought for a moment, and realized she was probably right. They could just jump over the thing, or run around it, but who knows how many more stood waiting for them in the fog.
"We better think of something quick…" Tidus hissed, as the Tonberry took another pace forward, looking to every one of them as if trying to decide who to attack first.
"Are you sure there's no way out of here?" Yuna looked over to Paine, but the warrior shook her head.
"I checked twice. There's nothing."
"But that can't be possible, all the other paths ended with a way out…" Yuna's voice trailed off. Just because they hadn't seen a dead end yet, didn't mean one didn't exist. Maybe they'd been lucky, until now.
"Yunie, what are we going to do?" Rikku's voice rose higher with every word she spoke. It was a panic that Yuna herself was starting to feel.
The Tonberry took another step forward, towards Rikku.
"Do something!" Paine shouted, standing in front of Rikku and holding her sword up at ready.
Frantically Yuna looked around the dead end, trying to find something, anything, that might help them. There truly was nothing remarkable about anything. The walls were smooth, the ceiling was the same as it'd ever been, and the floor was the usual metallic like surface. Kneeling down she looked at the floor closer. Nothing different then the one they'd been walking on since they got here. Frustrated she stood up and turned back around. Two more Tonberries had appeared, behind the first.
"Were they leading us here?" Rikku cried, backing up further to the wall.
"How would they have known? We chose a passage at random." Paine frowned, watching the approaching Tonberry like a hawk.
"Smells like a trap to me." Tidus muttered, backing up beside Yuna who stared at the fiends blankly. She had no idea what to do. She wanted someone else to make a choice, find an answer, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. It never seemed to.
"Paine!" Came Rikku's cry as the Tonberry suddenly struck out at the warrior, sending her stumbling backwards. Rikku grabbed Paine's arm and dragged her back beside Tidus and Yuna, up against the wall.
"Now we're even more trapped…" Paine groaned, clutching her bleeding arm, her sword dangling from her hand uselessly.
"We could call the others!" The Al Bhed suddenly turned to Yuna, her green eyes glinting in the dim light. "Try it Yunie!"
"They'd never come in time-" Paine started but Yuna ignored her. She hadn't thought of that, why hadn't she thought of that?
"Brother? Buddy? Can anyone hear me?" She tried, speaking into the small device that was clipped to her shirt. No answer besides a dim static. It didn't take her long to come up with an answer to that.
"Something in these tunnels must be blocking the signal." She said grimly. "I don't think they can hear us."
Everyone fell silent and all eyes went to the Tonberries that were slowly approaching, their small lanterns gently swinging eerily.
Yuna took another step back, and found herself bumping into the smooth wall behind them. They were truly trapped, and now they couldn't even run. After all she'd been through, was it going to end like this? Her foot bumped into something on the ground, and she frowned, thinking she had run into Rikku. Looking down she found nothing, and the others were not near enough to her to have been in the way.
Brushing her foot over the floor again, she hit the object again. Kneeling down carefully, she waved away the light fog and ran her fingers over the smooth floor. There didn't seem to be anything there. Tidus kneeled down beside her and looked from the Tonberries to her.
"Yuna?"
She didn't say anything but squinted closer at the floor. There had been something there. She was certain of it. Ignoring the others and the approaching danger she ran her hands over the floor once more.
There. Brushing away the fog again she peered closer at the object. A small square of metal seemed to have risen out of the floor. It was nearly impossible to see from any angle because of its appearance and size, but it was there.
"What's this?" She muttered aloud, and the others looked over to her.
From the corner of her eye she could see a Tonberry coming into range.
It didn't make any sense at all. What was it? It must be there for a reason, but why so well hidden? Maybe it was some kind of switch.
"Yunie look out!" Rikku cried as the Tonberry suddenly came at her a lot faster.
Only one way to find out. She slammed her hand down onto it as hard as she could, and the thing moved much more easily then she had expected. It sunk into the ground, and before she could even regain her balance, the floor began to fall apart from under their feet. She heard Rikku scream as they began to fall down, into the darkness of the underground below. The lights disappeared and all she felt was the sensation of falling. Somewhere she could hear the others, but she couldn't see them. She reached out into the darkness but couldn't touch anything. Only emptiness seemed to reach out back at her. She was about to cry out when she hit something solid far too fast and far too hard.
Everything blacked out completely and she felt herself slip into the darkness of sleep with little more then a whimper of protest.
