Chapter 18: Akagi sphere finale

Chappu hit the ground, landing on his back hard enough to bounce up a few feet, Auron landed next to him, and Braska landed on top of him. Shuyin landed painfully on his stomach, and Jecht was the only one who managed to land on his feet. But was quickly swept off by a large quake and gust of wind from the falling Bahamut landing.

"Sorry Auron." Braska lifted himself off of the guardian, rubbing his slightly bloody head while Jecht helped Auron up.

"Chappu? Are you alright?" Shuyin asked, kneeling over him.

The boy opened his eyes, now half red, staring upward, squinting. "Where are we?"

It was completely white above them, it was white all around, but under them was another mirror, sitting over a body of water. Shuyin shook his head. "I don't know."

There was a sliding sound coming from above them, Braska was the first to notice it. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he knew it was getting louder, that was never good. "I think we need to get going." He suggested worriedly.

"Where do we go?" Jecht looked about him, noticing he no longer had the recorder. But he found it a few feet away from him, and after a small examination luckily wasn't broken.

"What about breaking this glass?" Braska asked.

Auron looked down, this glass was thick here, too thick to get through. "It'd take to long, we have to find another way."

They spread out, searching for a hole or some sort of weak point. It didn't take long though.

"There's no way out of here….." Jecht said almost to himself, looking down at the body of water under them, it seemed father away then when he first saw it. "

No, that can't be? There has to be some way……." Braska looked down, then looked up when he heard the ever present sound becoming louder. They were running out of time...

"I found something, it's not a way out but……"Shuyin called them over, pointing to a large crack where Bahamut landed. He found it right after the Aeon reverted back to his faythe form. "We can go through it if we break through."

"For get about that...Time's up….." Jecht said, pointing the camera strait up to catch a view of the hoards of debris starting to rain down on them, shards of the broken mirror. Auron lifted his sword and brought the tip down on the fractured section, nearly frantic, someone who didn't know him may have mistaken what he looked like at the moment for fear. He managed to break through with one blow, but was only able to open up a hole big enough for one person to go through at a time.

"Go, I'll try to hold it off." Braska didn't know exactly what it was, but it would end up smashing them if they didn't hurry. The summoner lifted his staff in the air, casting a Barrier spell that delayed the enormous shards at lest for a few seconds at a time before the weight became too much and it broke through.

"Guess I'm first." Chappu sheathed Yojimbo's sword and jumped in, ready for the prospect of water. Shuyin and Inoringo followed.

"Come on! Let's go!" Jecht prompted before going in after the three. They could see it now, peering through the white light. It was gathered pieces of the mirror world, all of it was coming down together, explosions and all. It was a horrifying sight to see coming down on you... At lest half of it was on fire, they could feel the heat from here, making the air distort and waver, making breathing that much harder.

"Go!" Auron shouted, physically forcing Braska to leave first.

"Sure?" He asked, casting another barrier spell with heavy breaths. By now they could reach up and touch it, it was falling too fast, if Braska went first, it would probably crush Auron before he could get his feet off the ground. But If Braska went last he'd have a better chance casting spells to slow it down.

"Yes! Go!" Auron prompted, Braska silently obeyed, jumping in to the hole, just as the spell failed. Auron knelt down, placing the sword in-between the burning remains and the ground, giving him just enough time to slide through.

What ever piece of mirror was holding the falling mass back was easily demolished. Letting the burning mound chase after them with a roar worse then thunder.

"We have to stop it." Braska shouted up to Auron, noticing the fall was longer then they first thought. He was right, it was to big to get past when they hit water, the ocean under them wasn't deep enough for that and the undertow would be hell.

From below, Bahamut rose up, catching Braska on the circular plate that floated above his wings. The dragon open his mouth, and sent out a powerful mega flare. The beam was able to tare through some of the falling debris, breaking it apart and destroying a portion of it.

Holding his staff in both hands Braska cast a haste spell on both of them, and a Full cure on Bahamut. Giving him enough strength to keep fighting. Another Mega flare fired from Bahamut, the white beam broke off more of the debris from the hellish mass and incinerating it. "Wateraga!" Braska shouted, knocking away a large chuck of the burning wrekage coming at him with large bubbles.

A particularly large bubble surrounded the whole wreckage, clearing away the flames and loosening some on the side. The fire had melted and molded the debris in to an even and smooth mirror that almost made them look like ants when they starred up at, it was almost like looking at a planet from space. They didn't have much time either, they were finally getting close to the water.

Chappu's overdrive: 100

Auron overdrive: 100

Jecht overdrive: 100

Braska overdrive: 100

Shuyin overdrive:100

Bahamut's overdrive: 100

Bahamut started aiming for the sides, trying to take off enough for them to escape from, to at least just slip past.

"Mandingo!" Braska's overdrive to an immediate effect, A red light covered the complete radius of the structure, followed by a ringing sound that became painfully loud. Until it resulted in a massive almost deafening explosion that covered the whole mirror in a haze of fire once again.

Thick sheets fell off from all sides, effectively breaking down the mirror to a smaller size, but not small enough. Bahamut may have been able to finish breaking it down, but he was busy taking out all of the falling shards and sheets that threatened to knock him out of the air. It became clear that he wouldn't have enough time to actually do it, the only option he had was to escape. Using the remaining bit of the haste spell, Bahamut dropped down in to a strait noise dive, grabbing the only person he could, which was Auron. And moving out of the way.

Just barley, the dragon spanned the whole Mirror in one flight and made it to safety out side the mirror's range before it hit the water. Shuyin, Jecht, and Chappu had no choice but to dive and move while Braska, Bahamut and Auron tried to break more off above the surface..

"What do we do now!" Chappu asked, swimming backwards to avoid the mirror.

"We're going to have to get around it." Shuyin told him, the only option they had.

"We'll never make it! It's suicide!" Jecht looked down at his sword, the stared ominously at the falling bulk. He could already feel it's pull.

From above with an audible splash, Bahamut dove into the water, catching all three on the wheel on his back. His weight helped him sink.

He wasn't exactly the fastest thing in the water, especially with out Braska's haste spells, but they would have a better chance. All they had to do now is take out the falling debris, and I use that term loosely, obstructing Bahamut's path.

The obstructions in question were thick walls of mirror that were falling from the side of the mirror. Bahamut could easily take it out with a mega flare, but he'd probably drown trying, and with every limb in use for swimming, he couldn't help.

The obstructions weren't exactly small, some of them were the size of boulders and things much larger. Something that fit that description came hurdling towards Bahamut's head, Jecht pulled his sword back at his side with both hands and drove the blade in to the center of the rock like structure, smashing in to smaller pieces that scattered out of the way.

It was hard, the sheer amount of things coming down on them were hard to fight off. Chappu, Shuyin and Jecht worked diligently to keep any of them from hitting Bahamut.

Jecht noticed that Bahamut was starting to slow down, the dragon wasn't exactly suited for underwater, that was clear. The Aeon was still holding his breath, not an easy task when swimming that distance. "Keep going, were almost there….." Jecht told him, knocking away and destroying more falling chucks. The end of the large structure was in sight, 500 feet at the most.

All three of the dived off the dragon as soon as they reached the edge, Bahamut just wasn't strong enough to hold that form... forcibly reverting back to the Faythe form. Jecht pulled the tired boy on to his back, safely out of reach of the mirror or any undertow, and went for the surface, not exactly a quick swim.

A large crashing sound echoed from the ocean floor when the mirror finally crashed. Shaking the ground and sending strong current upward along with more debris and dust. With the help of the upward stream, they were able to make to the surface quickly.

As soon as the emerged Jecht, much to his relief, could hear the boy take a deep, staved breath, filling his deprived lungs with air followed by a series of violent coughs.

The mirror protruded from the water at lest a hundred feet above sea level, it was like being in the valley of cliff, so clean and reflective it was hard to see where the ocean stopped and the mirror began. "Braska and Auron." Jecht held on to Inoringo's wrist to make sure he didn't accidentally slip off, he had to give him a few light slaps to keep him alert. "Are they up there?"

Inoringo nodded with a weak groan, barely managing to do so before his body became completely limp and he fell unconscious

"Well, it's not a bad thing." Chappu shrugged, beginning his assent up the smooth surface.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Glad to see you all are safe." Braska knelt down before the edge with a smile of relief spreading across his face, greeting them as soon and they scaled the wall. The first thing they noticed was different about him was that he had a pair of sunglasses on. Where did he get those?

"Huh? Are those Auron's?" Jecht drove his sword into the ground, with one hand on the edge he pulled himself up, Inoringo hanging loosely over his shoulder.

"Yes, how do I look?" The summoner asked playfully.

Jecht laid Inoringo down, checking over him to make sure he was more or lese alright, or as well as to be expected for someone in his condition. Seeing that he was alright Jecht brushed past Braska looked around for Auron.

Standing not too far off, looking over the reflective land they were now residing on for anything else beside mirror, water and sky .

Jecht handed Chappu the recorder and walked over to Auron, glancing over the man's shoulder when he was sure he wasn't expecting it. With an annoyed grunt the warrior monk turned his back on Jecht, trying to ignore him since he wasn't in the best mood at the moment.

Jecht slipped pat Auron's side and quickly moved in front of him, grabbing a hold of his shoulders with an impish grin so he couldn't move.

An unconcealed Auron gave him an agitated glare, one that grew colder and more annoyed with each second, if looks could kill...

"I think you should leave him alone, he looks kinda mad ya. And he still had that sword." Chappu placed a nervous hand on Jecht's shoulder, trying to convince to leave Auron alone. Jecht didn't listen and only brushed away Chappu's hand, still trying to get a complete look at the man. Finally having enough Auron pushed him away, sending him falling to the ground.

"I thought so ya." Chappu sighed...noticing the Sphere recorder laying on the ground near where Jecht had fallen...Hey it's still on." Chappu picked up the discarded deceive, turned the Recorder around so that he could look in to the lens before handing it off to Jecht with no use for it.

"Hey, Shuyin…."Jecht did a small assessment of it himself, it still had a little space left on the Sphere that he hoped wasn't damaged from all of the commotion. Since they had nothing better to do at the moment, and there was no need to waste perfectly good space, why not use it? Jecht climbed off of the ground, deciding to leave Auron alone for the moment, and made his way over to Shuyin. "If you got anything to say to Tidus, better say it now." "Huh?" "There's no point it keeping the sphere here."

Shuyin sat down at the edge of small island they now seemed to be stranded on, one leg drawn up with both of his arms resting on them. He just sat and stared... "There's nothing to say."

"Oh come on, you can say something." It was apparent that Jecht wasn't going to leave him alone until he said something. "You know you wanna."

"Fine, as long as you leave me alone... Tidus... Thank you, for everything, and tell Yuna I'm sorry…" Shuyin turned around, making it clear that was all he was going to say.

"Braska, I know you wanna say something to Yuna." Jecht turned the recorder on to Braska.

The summoner smiled proudly, adjusting the sunglasses that he seemed to be enjoying with his finger. "Well, I'm proud of you Yuna, you managed to save Spira.. twice. And I'm sorry I missed so much of your life, I hope your happy... Auron tells me you've grown a lot, and your in Besaid now. I guess it's easier then Bevelle, it's perfect for you. Oh and Tidus, thanks for your help, make sure you take care of Yuna for me."

Besaid? Yuna was in Besaid, so Tidus no doubt would got to Besaid...which meant this sphere would go to Besaid. "Oh, this is going to Besaid right?" Chappu asked.

"Yeah I guess so." Jecht shrugged, allowing Chappu to say something after he mentioned his brother lived there.

"Wakka I hope your doing alright ya. I heard you helped beat Sin, guess you knew what your were doing...I kinda screwed up Huh, Sorry bro. Oh and tell Lulu I said hi, I hope you've been taking care of her like I asked...It's been strange being dead ya, hope everything's alright down in Besaid."

"Auron? If you wanna say something, better do it now." Jecht called over to him, in his usual quiet manner he declined. So Jecht turned the recorder on to a sleeping Inoringo, announcing that the boy had a very long day before turning it on to himself "Guess that leaves me ……Well it was good seeing you again Tidus, considering the whole Sin thing and all… At least you toughened up…"

"Wait, if they're there, how did they get the spheres here?" Rikku asked.

"The Faythe." Paine told her.

"Oh. I wondered what happened to them." Rikku got up and stretched out.

"Guess a lots happened." Yuna sighed, watching the crowd disband.

"Yeah, guess your right." Tidus agreed with a nod. "Well, what's next?"

"Dose it really matter?"

"Not really…"

End of Part 1

Like I said before, I got at lest 2 sequels coming up. Look for them soon.