I haven't forgotten about this fic, REALLY! Nor have I died. Or given up. Just… got… really delayed. A lot. . I am very sorry.

*rips at her hair* Augh. Weeks of hell. X__X Good grief, I am sorry for the delay, though I couldn't help it. This was supposed to be done at least a week ago. *sighs* I WILL try to get the next chapter up sooner, but I'm not sure if I can promise it'll be up in a week. I do however promise, I will NOT go more then two weeks without an update. That's just insane of me. .

Again, BIG BIG thanks to my beta, Golden Rose3. Chapter is all nice and tidy now. ^_^

As usual… I don't own FFX or FFX2.

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Chapter 11

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By some miracle, Tidus found himself still alive and not suffering too much pain. With a groan, he slowly picked himself off the cold floor, and brushed dust off his skin. Nothing appeared to be broken. He'd been lucky. Very lucky. Maybe all those times falling during Blitzball practice had actually counted for something after all.

A strange rumbling made him look up to the hole through which they had fallen. Squinting, he could barely make out the gap in the murky darkness. It appeared to be closing, somehow, the metal plates that had come free when Yuna had pressed that switch were once again returning to a solid floor. But it also meant they were closing the only exit. Groaning he brushed his hand through his hair and looked around him.

He was standing in a long hall, exact in appearance to all the ones that had come before. It was darker then the previous halls, and felt more sinister. The fog wasn't quite as thick as it had been, but it almost seemed to glow an eerie white. Shivering from the sudden cold, Tidus looked around the area for any sign of the others. It didn't take him long to catch sight of someone else, even through the fog and darkness.

Paine was nearby, slowly attempting to get up herself. Upon further inspection, he spotted Rikku a few feet away from the warrior. She appeared to be in the same condition as Paine, and was slowly sitting up with a groan. So Rikku and Paine were fine. But…

'Where's Yuna?' He looked around again but didn't see anything. A panic gripped him and he quickly walked around in a circle, looking everywhere frantically. He couldn't see her with the others.

"Yuna!" He called, and his voice seemed to die just as it'd left his lips. The fog enveloped it and seemed to mock him with its soft glow. He frowned, and felt concern growing inside of him. Where was she? He'd seen her fall, hadn't he? She couldn't be very far away… She should be able to hear him.

"Yuna!" He shouted again, and Paine grimaced at the loudness of the sound. Rikku's eyes suddenly lit up and she too, began to look around frantically.

"Yunie! Yunie where are you?"

Not waiting for the others Tidus began to walk away from where they had fallen, his eyes searching the floor over and over. Sweeping clouds of fog out of his eyes, he stared harder into the murky darkness. She couldn't have gone any further, unless she had gotten up before the others and went ahead. But Yuna wouldn't do that. She would have stayed with the others if they seemed to be injured.

"Yuna!" Paine called, her voice adding to the dull echo that bounced across the hall and seemed to die within the fog. There was no answer save the eerie silence and a strange humming that seemed to vibrate through the air. Why hadn't he noticed that before?

Frowning he slowed down, and looked around once more. Still no sign at all of Yuna, or that she'd even fallen. What if she was still above with the Tonberries?

'No, I saw her fall, I'm sure of it.'

The humming seemed to get suddenly louder.

"What's that?" Rikku asked timidly from behind him, standing nearby beside Paine.

Paine tilted her head to look up at the ceiling above them, then down to the floor.

"I don't know." She said finally, with a frown. "But I don't think I like it."

"Where's Yunie?" Rikku cried, turning in a circle to look around the area once more. "Why isn't she here?"

Paine gritted her teeth but Tidus saw she looked just as worried as Rikku did. "I don't know." She repeated with a slight sigh.

"You don't think she's…" Rikku's voice trailed off and Tidus tried to ignore the words that could have completed that sentence.

'Still there up there with the Tonberries?'

'Fallen further down somehow?'

'…Dead?'

"We would have found her, Rikku." Paine growled, glaring both at the Al Bhed and Tidus. Perhaps somehow she'd seen the words in their eyes. "She probably just wandered off."

"But Yunie doesn't wander off…" Rikku mumbled, her green eyes looking down to the floor in worry. She looked tired and frightened, but the worry for her cousin's well being seemed to suddenly overcome all of it.

"We're not going to find her standing around talking. Keep looking!" Tidus snapped angrily, and Paine gave a curt nod before walking down the hall. Rikku looked taken aback, but she too began to wander around the area, back to where they had fallen.

'Have to calm down. She's got to be here somewhere. Probably just walked off in a daze like Paine said. But why haven't we seen her? How long were we out? … What IS that humming?' Slowly he looked up again, to the ceiling. Through the darkness, he saw something glint.

He blinked and stared at it. There hadn't been anything before. What was that? He squinted and opened his mouth to call to the others, when the humming suddenly got louder and erupted into a deafening roar. Stumbling backwards, he managed by pure luck to get out of the way as the huge fiend fell to the ground with a rumble. As he regained his balance and looked up at it, he felt both relief and terror at the same time.

"YUNA!" He shouted, and the fiend craned its long neck to look at him, then at the woman it held in one of its long claws. Almost as if it understood what he was saying. Slowly it turned back to him, its long tail curling around its body as it reared itself up to full height.

She seemed to be knocked out, but he couldn't tell if she was hurt, or… 'No.' He gritted his teeth and struggled to make out her form in the darkness. It was impossible to tell. The fiend was waving her around too much.

"What the heck is that?" Rikku cried, then spotting Yuna let out a squeal of terror. "Yunie!"

"It's a basilisk?" Tidus muttered with a frown. He'd never seen one do anything like that before. Usually they froze their prey instead of grabbing them and then climbing up a wall with them.

"No…" Paine said quietly, as she looked as the beast with realization filling her eyes. "Yunalesca."

Tidus stared at her, then back at the fiend that was watching them intently, hissing and waving Yuna around like a doll. Yunalesca? Had he heard her right? He snapped his eyes back over to Paine as the name hit hard.

"Yunalesca?!" He half shouted, looking back to the fiend who seemed to… grin.

"Yunalesca. Or at least her spirit. She was never sent, when she died. She lingered for ages, until she was finally sent by Yuna in Zanarkand."

"But… if she's sent…" Tidus stared at Paine, confusion running rampart in his mind.

"You remember Shuyin. His emotions were left over. This is just like that, only it's Yunalesca. We encountered her before down here. Apparently, her 'spirit' is strong." Paine glared at the fiend, and slowly drew her sword.

"So this should be okay, right?" He looked back over to Yuna and felt worry grip him even more.

"She wasn't exactly easy last time." Rikku moaned, as she too drew her weapons.

Paine ignored them both and drew her sword up in preparation to strike. As she dashed forward with the sword held tightly in her hands, Yunalesca suddenly slithered backwards and held up the claw that held Yuna. Paine barely managed to stop her blade before it hit the young woman's prone form.

"Damn!" Paine shouted, leaping back just in time to avoid Yunalesca's other claw that had swiped at her. "She's using Yuna as a shield!"

Tidus felt his stomach sink even deeper. Perfect. It could never be simple, could it?

"What are we going to do?" Rikku cried, lowering her weapons as Yunalesca regarded each of them with a dull hiss.

"We've got to get Yuna." Tidus heard himself say, as his eyes locked on her pale form.

Yunalesca seemed to grin wider, as she swung Yuna around behind her and tossed her onto the ground carelessly. Tidus felt the impact as Yuna rolled and lay still. Gritting his teeth, he glared up at the fiend as it began to steadily advance on the three of them.

"Don't you hurt Yunie!" Rikku shouted, running forward and raking her daggers across the thing's exposed chest. It screamed in surprise and reared back, flailing a long arm full of claws and hitting Rikku hard in the side. Rikku yelped in pain but it seemed the blades had only scraped her. The Al Bhed glared up at the creature harder, and struck again.

But this time, she was not alone. Paine had used the time to shift into her dark knight form, and was already attacking Yunalesca beside Rikku.

"Help Yuna!" Paine shouted gruffly at him as he stepped forward to help. "We can handle this." Tidus hesitated for a moment, as Paine took a hard blow in the stomach but recovered. "Go!" The warrior shouted, shoving Rikku out of the way as a downwards slash of claws nearly impaled the thief.

He didn't need anymore pressing. Turning away from the battle he ran over to where Yuna had fallen. "Yuna?" He asked hesitantly, touching her shoulder lightly. She was cold, but she seemed to be breathing. She wasn't dead. He took in a breath to try and calm himself down. Not dead. She was okay. Behind him he heard a shriek from the fiend and then one from Rikku. He had to help them, but he had to help Yuna.

"Yuna." He repeated, but she didn't make any sign of hearing him, or even waking. He felt tears of frustration threaten to fill his eyes. "Wake up."

She didn't answer. She just lay there, still and silent as the cold air around them.

He felt so helpless, he wanted to scream. Carefully he brushed a strand of hair that had fallen in her eyes off her face, and frowned. Maybe the fall had just knocked her out. Or maybe Yunalesca had done something to her. Whatever it was, she didn't look well at all.

Tidus took her cold hand and held it tight. Still no response. Behind him he could hear the battle. He couldn't help her, he didn't know what to do. But he knew what he could do.

Slowly he let go of her hand, and carefully put it on her waist, away from the cold floor. Then he stood up, and looked down at Yuna. He couldn't sit there and watch her while the others died trying to defeat that fiend. He had to fight too.

"I'll be back." He whispered quietly to her, though he doubted she could hear him. She looked so sad, lying there motionless, her face looking so worried and tired. He knew she couldn't possibly be any older then twenty years, maybe even younger, she'd never told him. But there were times when she seemed much, much older. So much had happened to her. It wasn't fair. She was strong, but hadn't she earned a break?

He tore his gaze away finally and looked over to Yunalesca and the others. It wasn't going well at all. Worse then he had expected.

Taking a deep breath, he drew Brotherhood out again, and advanced. Paine frowned at him and opened her mouth to protest, when Yunalesca swiped her tail across the warrior's chest, sending her slamming into Rikku. The two landed in a pile as the fiend drew up her claws to strike down at them.

"Hey! Over here, you overgrown worm!" He shouted, waving his sword in the air. Yunalesca paused, then slowly turned her head to look over at him. The large gem in the center of her forehead seemed to glow angrily, and she let out a low hiss.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!" The bravado made him feel a little better. He knew it was just going to get her angrier and probably more dangerous, but he was past the point of caring. She'd hurt Yuna, and now she was trying to hurt the others. No way. Not while he was around.

Before she could strike, he ran forward and held up his sword high, readying for a strike against her hard scales. He'd beaten her once before to save Yuna's life. Now it seemed history wanted to repeat itself. He couldn't lose.

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Yuna could tell before she opened her eyes she was in the 'dream' again. This time it was clearer, and it appeared she was standing in the Farplane itself. But she knew she wasn't. At least… she prayed she wasn't. She couldn't be dead, after all this. After she'd found him again.

"Where am I?" She spoke aloud, surprised at how her voice echoed through the still air.

Something stirred in the darkness. She turned to face the nightmare creature. Recoiling she gasped as it unfolded its twisted wings and looked up at her. It was terrifying and sad all at the same time. She wanted to pity it, but she also wanted to run away from it.

It blinked its eyes at her, pools of silver baring no sign of a pupil of any kind. It made no movement save for kneeling into the grass, slowly as if it was trying hard to not alarm her. But with it's strange limbs, twisted wings, and strange form in general, every move it made seemed as if it were about to attack.

"What… are you?" Yuna finally said, her heart slowly returning to its normal pace as she gathered her emotions.

It blinked once, and then looked up to the Farplane's swirling mists above them. It opened its mouth, and a small scream emerged. Yuna winced, but the creature closed its mouth quickly and looked to the grass shamefully.

Frowning, Yuna peered closer at it. It wasn't trying to hurt her, in fact… it seemed different then it had ever before. It was no longer the screaming nightmare that devoured her mind.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly, correcting her question. The creature looked up at her slowly, its silver eyes slowly shifting color to a darker glow.

'Help me.'

"You're… the Fayth." Yuna sighed quietly, kneeling down to be eye level with the creature.

'I didn't mean to hurt them.'

"Where are you?"

'Help me.' The eyes screamed to her, seeming to radiate a strange heat. Yuna sighed and slowly stood back up. It either couldn't understand her, or its mind was too driven into to the darkness to reply.

'Yuna…' A voice called softly, and she slowly turned to face a small hooded boy. She blinked in surprise. Bahamut.

"What's wrong?" She asked, frowning. His voice held the edge that he bore ill news.

'We are losing the battle. The fiends are out of control. You have to help us. Our time is running out…' His voice sounded odd, strangled, as if it were forced.

"I'm trying to…" Her voice trailed off. The realization she was in the Farplane returned to her. She winced, and looked back down at him. "Am I…dead?"

He didn't say anything, and suddenly faded into the darkness.

She didn't like the look of that at all. She turned back to the creature only to find it gone, in its place stood Jecht. He smiled at her a bit, and for a moment she was reminded of Tidus's smile, before he took a look of seriousness.

'Get up! Your friends need your help.'

She frowned. What did he mean? She wasn't dead? She wanted to say something, but she couldn't find any words.

'Help them!'

How could she help anyone if they kept ignoring her questions? Why did she have to be so important? She opened her mouth to speak when Jecht shook his head and disappeared.

"Sir Jecht?" She called, but there was no answer and everything was starting to fade away. She sighed and turned away, suddenly face to face with the creature.

It reached out a twisted hand full of claws to Yuna's face, barely touching her skin. The air around its hand seemed to be almost frozen, and it chilled her own skin. Its eyes looked so sad, she couldn't make herself look away.

'Summoner. Wake up. Linger here no longer. Wake up.'

She blinked. The thing almost sounded… sane? It blinked its huge eyes and drew away, taking the icy air with it. Was it the one who had brought her into this 'dream'? Somehow like the other Fayth she had managed to drag her here to speak with her? But to what point? She hadn't told her anything she hadn't known before.

'WAKE UP.' The creature suddenly screamed, and Yuna recoiled in pain.

A jolt ran through her body suddenly as the Farplane suddenly melted away from her.

'I'm not dead.' She thought slowly, then couldn't help but smile in relief. 'Wake up.' She thought again to herself, closing her eyes and forcing the thought through her mind. 'Wake up.'

Suddenly a bright light erupted in front of her, and she opened eyes she didn't know had been closed.

Noise. Much too loud. Roaring of a fiend, a cry of pain.

A battle of some kind. It was all so blurry, and her head hurt so much. The thickness of the air was gone, she had left the dream.

Sitting up slowly, she forced herself to become more aware, and push away all the thoughts and questions that were lingering. They could wait. She had to help her friends, before she could help anyone else. The air in front of her seemed to swirl, and for a moment she felt dizzy. A high pitched whine suddenly exploded, and she clutched at her head in pain.

What was that?

Turning her head she looked over to where the sound was coming from. A huge fiend was towering over Tidus, Rikku, and Paine. From a large stone on its forehead, a beam of light was searing out towards them, and the whine seemed to travel with it.

No, not just any fiend.

Yuna stood up shakily, and reached for the guns at her sides. Yunalesca. Would she never be free of any of it? She felt angry, frustrated, and tired all at the same time. Enough was enough.

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"Any more brilliant ideas?" Rikku shouted at Tidus, over the roar of the fiend. Tidus glared right back at her, and watched as Paine scrambled out of the way of Yunalesca's tail.

"Let's see you come up with a better one!" He retorted, swallowing another potion.

"Anything's better then just standing here and letting her maul us!" The Al Bhed cried, squeaking as Yunalesca hissed in her direction.

"Last time I checked, there wasn't anything that could hurt her. What else are we supposed to do?" Tidus snapped, feeling quite irritated. His mind wasn't on the battle, or on Rikku's whining. He was too worried about Yuna.

"We could always run!" Rikku hissed, throwing a potion to Paine who barely caught it.

"We're not leaving Yuna." Tidus growled, though he knew that Rikku felt the same way as he, she was just scared. They were losing. The fiend didn't seem to have any weakness, and she was enjoying a game of cat and mouse. She'd sit back and let them attack, only to bat them back with her tail or claws. But not hard enough to kill. She wanted them to suffer first.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was doing this on purpose." He muttered under his breath.

Yunalesca seemed to smile at him, mockingly, as she whipped her tail up and sent Rikku sprawling with a shriek.

"Paine, do something!" Rikku called with a groan from where she'd been tossed, clutching at a bloody cut on her arm.

Gritting her teeth, Paine swept her sword up and across the fiend's scales. It had no effect. "I'm trying." She snapped, as she tried to dodge a tail swipe. "She's stronger then last time. She's just like the other fiends."

"She's got to have some weakness!" Tidus snapped, watching as the fiend reared up onto her tail and looked down at the three of them with a wicked grin.

"If she does, I haven't found it." Just as Paine spoke, the jewel on Yunalesca's head began to glow.

"I don't like the look of that." Tidus said quietly, as the air suddenly went very silent and the jewel began to grow brighter.

"No…" Rikku groaned, covered her head with her hands.

Apparently it was no news to Paine or Rikku, as they both began to shield themselves in any way possible. The jewel grew brighter and brighter, and suddenly the air began to vibrate around them.

An idea suddenly came to Tidus's mind, as he watched the fiend's head sway from side to side. A painful whine began to fill the air, but he forced himself to ignore it. The jewel. That had to be it. She always moved too fast for them to reach it, and always kept it out of range.

"That's the weakness!" He shouted, just as the air exploded in a painful burst of whining and colors.

"Some weakness." Rikku managed, as a searing ray of light burst from the jewel and hit Paine directly in the chest, sending the warrior crashing into the wall behind her. Before Tidus could even move the ray hit him too, and his whole body screamed in pain, the air torn from his lungs. Within an instant the ray had hit Rikku as well, and the young girl screeched in agony.

As the light slowly began to fade, Yunalesca slithered closer, looking quite pleased with herself as she looked down at her fallen prey. Tidus could barely breathe, let alone stand. He looked up at the fiend and felt a dull panic begin to enter his mind.

A shot rang through the air, and a half a second later, a scream of rage and pain from Yunalesca. Before the echo had even faded from the first shot, another rang out. Then another, and another, until the air was filled with the sound of gunfire and Yunalesca's cries. The fiend swung backwards, trying in vain to shield the jewel on her head with her claws, as the shots hit it directly. But the claws were meant for cleaving, not shielding. They proved useless against the shots and soon she appeared to be weakening.

Pulling himself up, Tidus looked over to see Yuna standing shakily, firing her guns without pause into the fiend. She looked deathly pale, and quite angry. She looked as though she was in pain, but forcing herself to ignore it.

'Yuna…' He struggled up, filled with a new energy and the knowledge that she really wasn't dead. How had he let himself even think that?

Rikku and Paine slowly stood up as a well, though Rikku a lot slower then any of them. She looked to be in bad shape, though the appearance of Yuna seemed to brighten her spirits.

"Yunie!" Rikku shouted over the firing, but Yuna didn't move to look at them. Her eyes were locked onto Yunalesca's withering form, as she fired round after round into the fiend's head.

The fiend fell back until it was finally on the ground, unable to move its arms or even scream in pain. As the fire suddenly stopped, she withered on the floor, hissing and seething at all of them. Her fury was not as terrifying as it had been when she'd been attacking them. Now it seemed pitiful.

"Finish it." Paine hissed, helping Rikku up as the girl stumbled to her knees.

Without hesitation, Tidus drew his sword and strode over to the fiend. For a moment he looked down at it, and Yunalesca's eyes seemed to burn out at him, full of madness and hatred.

"See ya." He smiled in spite of himself, and brought the sword down on the jewel with a swift movement of his wrist. The jewel shattered underneath the blade, and Yunalesca let out one last tortured cry. Then she sank into the floor, and her body seemed to slowly fade into the darkness. A few pyreflies emerged from her, then drifted away into the air.

A thud dragged Tidus's eyes away from the fiend's remains to behind him. Yuna had fallen to the floor. Dropping Brotherhood he ran over to her before the others could, and knelt down at her side.

Her eyes were closed, but she was awake. Gently he took her head and cradled it in his lap, wanting to suddenly be back in Besaid, away from all this darkness and nightmares.

"Yuna? Are you alright?" He asked, though no doubt she would have known his concern even if he hadn't said anything. His face was probably so full of worry and panic she could easily tell without even looking.

She nodded slightly, her eyes still closed. As he held her, he could feel her shaking a little. As if something was fighting inside of her. He could almost hear the screams that were assailing her mind. He felt angry and helpless at the same time. Why couldn't he do anything to help her?

"I want to go home." She mumbled quietly into his chest, and he just held her tighter.

"Me too."

"Yunie? Are you okay?" Rikku flung herself to her knees and grabbed Yuna's hand, shaking it a little as tears ran down her face. Though the girl was wounded, she seemed more concerned about Yuna then herself. "We were so worried!"

Yuna's eyes flickered open, an orb of water blue and one of forest green. Her gaze caught Tidus's for a moment, then slowly went to Rikku.

"I'm fine." She said slowly, as if the words were awkward on her tongue. "We have to… go… find the spheres." Feeling her struggle to stand, Tidus quickly rose to his feet and helped her up. She was shaking as she reached out for his hand, and held herself steady. "Where's Yunalesca's body?" She blinked, looking around in the murky darkness.

Paine, looking surprisingly relieved, shrugged. "It disappeared."

"Maybe she's dead for good this time." Rikku sniffed, hugging Yuna's other arm tightly.

"I doubt it." Paine snorted with a sigh. "But I don't want to sit around and find out. Let's go, there's a passage leading down up ahead. It appears we may have found what we've been looking for."

"Down?" Rikku cried, looking horrified. "You mean we're still going down?"

Paine sighed loudly. "Rikku, we don't have any choice. This is the only way to go. Besides, the room seems different from the others."

Rikku stood silently, looking quite dismayed and frightened. She was clearly getting at the end of her patience for this place, and Tidus couldn't blame her. Even Yuna looked exhausted, though she seemed to be trying to hide it.

"Come on." He smiled, pulling her gently with him as he walked after Paine. She gave a faint smile back, squeezing his hand, then pulling Rikku along behind her with her other hand.

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AN: One more chapter after this with the Underground, for those wondering, so don't worry that they'll be stuck there for ever and ever and ever. Next chapter should be up in a week or so.