2 Fallen Gods, and a Guardian Angel

by anbu713

Complete! My first fic on What would happen if 3 kids from our world were sent to Spira and ended up as Yuna's guardians? Unknown to them, they've got a great destiny to fill, one that will break at least one of them. RikkuOC? YunaTidus

16. Preparing for Sin

We're getting down to the end people... as far as I can tell, there's only gonna be 2 more chapters after this one. I'm kinda shocked that I was able to get so far in this. Normally i'd have given up on a story by now, but i think having reviewers kept me going. so on that note, on to the reviews!

Sephirothxx- yes, yunalesca is dead. thank god. and yes, i thought Rae's "little talent" would be liked. and yes, seph does kick serious ass. so far he's winning my poll. i'm glad you liked the fight scenes!

Da Ker MysTeRr- well, i guess you'll be waiting a little longer for the next update since iplan to finish the actual game related chapters in the next chapter. so we're going back to earth at the end of the chapter. but i'll try not to take too long with that.

lightningwizard- i'm glad you like my fight scenes... everyone seems to. anyway, Ryan will NOT be dressing in drag and doing the hula, although he might in the epilouge or the prequel to the next book (in which he has a serious drinking problem might i add).

BOrn-Slippy- well, i'm hoping that since that was the best chapter so far that this one will be better. i personally think it is. and i've never seen anyone comment on my fight scenes as being "stunning", only as great or good. sometimes amazing. thanx for the praise!

labrat-seph- don't worry aboutit, i haven't reviewed, or even read, several of the fics i normally read lately. as for the party having two summoners and neither sending auron, Rae doesn't care since she's a fallen summoner, and yuna doesn't know yet. and perhaps my writing seemed a little off because Ryan got his ass handed to him instead of saving the day, righ BOrn-Slippy? and as for the e-mail thing, i'm gonna finish it and then go back and redo all the gramar and what not, so if you wanna help, you could just correct the chapters that are up. i didn't mean to not tell you, i suffer from memory problems too, so i kept forgetting.

Kyela- welcome to my ring of reviewers! i'm not sure if you're actually this far. it said you reviewed chapter 1, but you mentioned Ryan's wings so i know you're acutally farther then that. but as for the Ryan/Rikku thing, Rikku's staying in Spira and Ryan's going back to Earth. but fear not, this series has at least 3 books, probably 4! there's plenty more to come people!

Plum-chan- hundreth time? really? didn't know i had that many plot twists... but i seem to be very good at them, even when i was a crappy writer (i've only really gotten good since i started this fic). and don't worry, there'll be more plot twists in the next book, and more in book 3 too. you'll have strong toes by the end of the series ;p

and that's all for the reviews so on to the story!

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Chapter 16:Preparing for Sin

"Dad?" Tidus asked the giant fiend. Seph and Rae looked at him like he was insane, but Tidus kept talking "I know. The final summoning is gone. But I'll think of something! Just give me a little more time!"

Sin floated there for a second, and Matt, Ryan, and Andy felt their blood run cold with fear until it turned and left. As it left a familiar airship flew in and took its place. It landed and a couple of Al Bhed came out, motioning for the group to get on quickly.

When they reached the bridge the pilot was yelling something in Al Bhed, but Cid ignored him and turned to face his niece's group. "Well aren't we the happy lookin' bunch." The pilot started to yell again but Rikku freaked out on him.

"'Were, where?'" Is that all you can say? Why don't you think of something?" She demanded. Nobody said anything for a while until Auron spoke up, asking if anyone had any good ideas.

"Come on! Help us!" Tidus whined.

"What do we know… Sin is Jecht. Thus you have a link… a bond with Sin. That may be our key."

"So what do we do?"

"We think and we wait." Auron told him.

"Two things I'm bad at." Tidus muttered. After that everyone dispersed themselves throughout the ship. Ryan, Matt, and Andy found themselves in a library of sorts.

"What is this place?" They muttered, looking around at all the old books. They opened one up and found themselves unable to read it, since Spirian was so different from English when it came to the alphabet.

"That's the story of three billy goats who want to cross a bridge and get to the grass on the other side, without bein' eatin' by the troll under the bridge." Cid said as he walked in. Matt put the book back on the shelf as Cid walked to the back of the room. "Come here." He said, motioning for them to come. "You kids seem to know things people just don't know anymore. Maybe you can read these here runes. Nobody else can read the damn things."

"What are they for?" Matt asked.

"Well if we knew that we'd have figured out what they meant by now." Cid told him. "But as it stands, they've got us stumped. We can't find anything like them anywhere in Spira." He pulled a book off a bookshelf and handed it to Matt. "All we can do is guess it's important."

"Why's that?" Andy asked.

"Because someone made up an entire alphabet up, and it's unlike anything else in Spira." Cid told them. "You don't do that for some fiend stew, you dimwit." Cid started to leave and Matt opened up the book.

"I've seen this before." He declared. Cid froze in mid step and spun around to face them. "I can't read it, but I know of seen it before." Cid's face dropped.

"Let's see." Matt handed Andy the book. "Oh my god!" He said in a dramatic voice. "It's the Damnable Runes of doom!" He declared. "Let's see… nope, forgot too much of it. Ryan, here. Read, now." He handed Ryan the book. Ryan looked at the first page and nearly burst out laughing.

"What? What'd ya find kid?" Cid demanded.

"Nothing, but I can read it." Cid looked at him in amazement.

"How?" He demanded.

"Well, where we come from, I was an utter loser," he heard Matt and Andy mutter in agreement, "and one of my friends had this awesome book. It had these runes in it, and I got bored one day so I memorized them. And unlike this dumb-ass," He pointed at Andy who smiled and gave a sarcastic bow, "I never forgot them."

"Well then what's it say already?" Cid asked hopefully. Ryan sat down at a nearby desk and looked the page over for several minutes, a smile growing on his face as he did so. He stopped and turned towards Cid.

"You ever heard of some legendary weapons? Or the Omega Ruins?" He asked. Cid's face paled considerably. "Okay, I'll take that as a yes."

"Damn right it's a yes! Everybody's heard about those! They're legends!" He told them. "The legendary weapons are said to be Yu Yevon's gift to the people of Spira. He hid them in random places right before Sin showed up, but the people that knew where they were died, and took the locations with'em. You're tellin' me this here book tells you where they are?"

Ryan looked back at the book for a second and then studied the next page. "And how to get them." He added. "And it also says that they'd be helpful to anyone who decides to try and make it through the Omega Ruins as well."

"Well finish translating the location of those weapons! And how to get them! That's an order!" Cid added before leaving.

"An order?" Ryan repeated to himself.

"That's what the man said." Matt told him. "Now, we'll leave you to your work. Wouldn't want Cid to kill you or anything."

"Ain't that the truth." Ryan muttered. "And get me some paper or something."

"Why?" Andy asked.

"Well, if you don't, this is gonna take a hell of a lot longer." Ryan told him.

"Ah."

"Well then, we'll see you when we've got some paper." Matt said as he and Andy left the room.

"Well then," Ryan muttered, "let's get started."

888

"What do you want?" Cid asked as Tidus walked onto the bridge.

"We need to go to Bevelle. We think Maester Mika knows how to kill Sin!" Tidus told him.

"Well, that's the second best news I've gotten all day." Cid declared.

"Only the second, pops?" Rikku asked, turning in her seat to face Cid. "What's the first?"

"You know that book we couldn't read?" Rikku nodded. "Well, it seems yer boyfriend is good for somethin' after all. He's translating it right now."

"What! Ryan can read that stuff!" Rikku cried in disbelief.

"Fryd? Fryd? (What? What?)" The pilot demanded.

"Ryan lyh nayt tyt'c puug! (Ryan can read dad's book!)" Rikku replied.

"Book? What book?" Tidus asked as Rikku jumped out of her seat, nearly running Auron over as she ran off the bridge.

"Heh. She always was energetic." Cid admitted.

"What did I miss?" Auron wondered aloud.

"Ryan's a book worm." Tidus told him. Auron raised and eyebrow and looked at him, waiting for a further explanation. "He can read one of Cid's books. Everyone's making a big fuss about it."

"That book has the location of the legendary weapons in it, and how to get them, and the location of the Omega Ruins!" Cid informed Auron. The old guardian's eye widened in surprise at the declaration.

"I assume you have him translating it now?" He asked.

"Of course I do! What do you take me for, a fool!" Cid demanded. "Hey, wait!" Auron looked at Cid curiously. "How'd you know it needed to be translated if ya didn't know I had him translating it?"

Auron chuckled a little. "I know a great many things." Was all he said as he walked off the bridge.

"Man, guess it pays to be old…" Matt muttered.

888

"So you can summon Aeons now?" Seph asked Rae sarcastically. He was leaning back in a chair on the other side of the room, his back facing Rae who was lying on the bed. "Man, and I thought I was full of surprises."

"It's not that I didn't want to tell you." Rae whispered. "I just didn't expect to ever do it again, that's all. If I had known that I was going to need to summon Aeons I would've told you."

"So all those comments about not knowing where we were at, they were all just lies?" Seph looked back and saw Rae smiling slightly, apparently enjoying the fact that he hadn't recognized them as lies. "I'll take that as a yes. So, is there anything else that I should know about?"

Rae stood up and motioned for the assassin to follow. She walked out the door and navigated her way through the hallways like she'd been raised in them her entire life. Before he realized where they were going Seph found himself walking onto the bridge.

"It's been a while Cid." Rae said, walking up to the Al Bhed leader who she'd been avoiding. Cid looked over at her and sneered.

"Who let you on?" He demanded, turning to face the girl completely. "I'll make him regret ever being born."

"Namyq umt syh. Oui'mm keja ouincamv y raynd-yddylg (Relax old man. You'll give yourself a heart-attack.)." She told him. Seph's jaw dropped.

"Hey, you told me you only knew the summoning incantations in Al Bhed because they had to be in Al Bhed or they wouldn't work!" She turned and looked at him sadly. "What's wrong now?"

Cid smiled knowingly. "You haven't told him, have you?" Rae shook her head. "You lying whore."

"Shut up!" Rae yelled, spinning on the old Al Bhed. Instantly she found every gun in the room trained on her and took a deep breath to calm down. "It wouldn't have mattered anyway."

"What wouldn't have mattered? What are you lying to me about?" Seph demanded. Rae tilted her head so Seph couldn't see her face and did something to her right eye. When she looked back up he found himself starring into a green eye with a swirl in it. She repeated the process for her left eye, revealing another Al Bhed eye. Seph raised an eyebrow. "What the hell? How'd you change your eyes?"

"Something I came up with when I got kicked out of HOME." Rae told him as she put the thin covers back on her eyes. "I call them contacts."

"That's a neat trick." Seph said admiringly. Cid looked at him oddly. "What?"

"You a Yevonite?" He asked Seph who snorted.

"I should kill you for that." He muttered. "Why the hell would I follow Yevon? I'm an assassin by profession."

"Really now?" Cid asked disbelievingly.

"The best in Spira." Rae told him. Cid sighed and rolled his eyes. "What now? Blood pressure getting to you?"

"Would you stop with the health related insults?" Cid asked. "I'm just amazed by what odd friends my daughter and niece have."

"Well I wouldn't exactly say we're 'friends', Cid." Seph told him. "More like we've got the same goal, so it's just smarter to work together rather then against one another."

"Well, whatever your reason, you're going to need to your sleep." He told the two. "An assassin and an outcast. Rikku, you're an odd child."

"E luimt ryja dumt oui dryd, Vydran. (I could have told you that, Father.)" The pilot said.

"Crid ib. (Shut up.)" Cid snapped. "You two go get your rest. I'll get everyone together when we know where we're going."

"Right." Seph muttered as Rae led the way back to their room. "So, you're really an Al Bhed Summoner who can summon both fiends and Aeons, and not some bar maid that happens to like me?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Man, the women in my life." He muttered. Rae smiled and glanced over her shoulder.

"If you want I could still be the bar maid that happens to like you. I'll just have to be the Al Bhed Summoner who was kicked out of HOME for practicing the Art too." She turned into the room and stretched out on the bed suggestively. "Besides, you know it turns you on."

Seph closed the door and turned back around to find Rae motioning for him to lie on the bed. As he started over she started taking off her shirt and he smiled.

888

"Hey." Rikku whispered in Ryan's ear, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind him. He stiffened at first, but relaxed when he realized who it was. "Sorry."

Ryan shook his head. "Not your fault. I was just focusing completely on translating this, and not on my surroundings." He told her. Rikku glanced past him to the English translation on the table.

"What's that? I can't read that either." She told him, pointing to his translation.

"That? Well, it's my native alphabet. I don't know the Spirian alphabet, and if you can't read it then I guess it's not the same anyway." He told her. "It's just easier for me to write in English since I've been doing it for so long."

"Oh." Rikku pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. He looked at her oddly. "What?"

"You just gonna sit there?" He asked. She nodded and he shook his head in disbelief. "It's not exactly exciting to watch someone translate something from one language you can't read to another."

"And you would know?" She asked doubtfully.

"Yep. Very well actually."

"Really?" Ryan nodded. "Oh. Well if I'm disturbing you I'll leave…" She said, standing up and pushing the chair in.

"Hey, it was just a question! I didn't mean for you to leave!" Ryan cried, spinning around in his own chair so that he was looking directly at her. She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled. "Oh, that is so mean. You're such a tease."

Rikku walked over and sat down on his lap. "Yeah, it's so much fun too." Ryan smiled and spun the chair around. Rikku leaned against his shoulder so that he could still see. "Did you know shoulders are oddly comfortable?"

"Well, a lot of the girls I know have said that. Then again, most were talking about mine, so maybe it's just me." Rikku giggled a little as Ryan went back to the translation.

"Would you two get a room?" Matt asked as he walked in several hours later.

"We already have one." Ryan said without looking up, barely stifling a yawn. "You just happen to walk into it."

"Anyway, Cid needs to talk to Rikku." Matt told them. Rikku muttered something and Ryan turned so she could get up. "He said it was important." He added when Rikku didn't move. "Jeez, is she sleeping?"

Ryan looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, I'd say she's sleeping." He admitted.

"Jeez, how long have you guys been in here?" Matt asked before he looked around. "And what could you do with all that time, alone, in a dark room that nobody goes in."

Matt ducked as a throwing star sailed through the air well over where his head had been. "You have no idea how hard this is to translate." Ryan told him. "I never actually learned all the advanced runes, so I have to translate the rest of the sentence to figure out what some of it means. And then I'm trying to get only the parts we actually need, so I have to read a bunch of it and then go back and translate what's important. You'd be amazed how many words some people can use to say 'use the mirror to open the lock' man, truly amazed."

"How many?" Matt asked, truly curious. Ryan turned slowly and looked at his notes.

"Well, this one's 13… and this one's 15… and that's about the average." Ryan added.

"Long winded people." Matt muttered. "Now, back to the current problem. What do we do about Cid wanting to talk to Rikku?"

Ryan looked at the Al Bhed who was sleeping peacefully on his shoulder, realizing for the first time that her arms were wrapped around him too. "Well, I guess I'll have to take her to her room, or Yuna's, or Lulu's."

"Well, it's late anyway. Whatever we're doing, Cid's gonna want us at our best to do it." Matt declared. "I'll tell him that it's too late. Rikku wasn't the only person who was already asleep." Ryan yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" Matt leaned out the hallway and looked at the cloak.

"Cid said that we ran on military time in here, right?" He asked.

"Right." Ryan agreed.

"3:30 am then." Matt informed him. Ryan looked at him in amazement, then back to his notes. He only had 3 of the weapons translated.

"Wonderful." He said. "I'm gonna need some coffee anyway."

"Why's that?" Matt asked.

"Guess what the first four weapons that were mentioned were." Matt thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging. "Lightning Edge, The Twin Fire Starters, The Forty Diamonds of Water, and Wind Cutter." Matt's face dropped.

"So if the rest of the legendary weapons are in there, then they're probably as strong as ours?" Ryan nodded, having thought the same thing himself.

"There was something else that you might want to know about." Ryan added. He flipped back several pages and looked his new page over several times. "Ah, here it is!" He declared. "Frozen Wood. That's the name of the ice god's weapon."

"You're not sure whether we should tell anyone, right?" Matt asked. Ryan nodded.

"I mean, the ice god's still back on earth. Who knows when we'll find him, and then when we'll find the portal. Carrying whatever that is around on Earth, who knows what could happen."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Just pocket the information. We'll hold onto it until we need it." Matt reasoned.

"Aye, I've already done that. I just wanted to know whether you thought we should tell anyone else."

"No, most definitely not. Now if you'll excuse me, sleep is good." Matt said before bowing and walking down the hallway to his room. Ryan yawned, picked Rikku up carefully and wandered into the hallway. The identical hallways on the ship screwed him up, making him think he was in one while he was really in the other.

'I'm worse then I thought.' Ryan thought as he finally found Rikku's room. He walked over to the bed and lowered her into it gently. He shivered and stole the extra blanket at the end of her bed after he covered Rikku in her own blanket. He walked out of the hallway and found Auron watching him.

"Not going to stay with her?" He asked. Ryan shook his head and yawned.

"Don't you sleep?" He asked.

"Not really." Auron admitted. "So, you really aren't doing anything more then kissing, are you?" Ryan's look told Auron that he was coming close to offending him. "I see. That's what Cid was worried about."

"That's why he wanted to see her. I get it now." Ryan yawned and started towards the bridge absently.

"Where are you going?"

"Well he wants an answer, right?" Ryan asked without stopping. "Besides, I can smell coffee from over here."

"Hey, boy. Get over here!" Cid ordered as soon as he saw Ryan walk onto the bridge. Ryan walked over quietly, wrapped in the blanket he'd taken from Rikku's room.

"You don't happen to have any coffee do you?" He asked. Cid grumbled but pointed to a small dispenser over in the corner. Ryan walked over and poured himself a cup, added some cream and sugar, and walked back. "Ok, what's up?"

"Are you fucking my daughter?" Ryan's coffee sprayed out and covered Cid from mid chest up. He wiped the coffee off of his head and glared at Ryan who was now laughing. "You are, aren't you!" Cid demanded, grabbing Ryan by the front of his shirt and lifting him off the ground.

Ryan wiped a tear away from his eye. "What the hell do you take me for?" He asked in between small fits of laughter. Cid continued to glare at him but did allow Ryan to stand on his own feet.

"I didn't think you were. But hear me kid. I ever find out you are, and you're not 21, I'm gonna kick your ass so bad Rikku'll think you're a girl, got it?" Ryan nodded and Cid smiled. "Well then, now that we're passed that, get back to your translations!"

"Will do, captain coffee." Ryan said with a mock salute. "Just need to grab some more coffee. I'm not sleeping until I'm done this thing."

"Well, a kid with a good work ethic. Didn't think I'd see that for a long time."

"It's not so much a good work ethic as it is curiosity." Cid looked at him oddly. "I've got a few of the weapons translated, and now I'm curious to see where the others are."

"Curiosity killed the cat kid."

"Maybe. But for a while I was the main suspect." Ryan said as he left with a laugh. Cid shook his head at the bad joke and went back to managing the ship.

'Maybe he ain't so bad after all.'

888

Rikku woke up and found herself in her bed rather then on Ryan's shoulder. She walked out of the room and went to the bridge. "Rikku, morning." Rae called from a few doors down the hall. Rikku turned, still half asleep, and waved lazily. "Not a morning person?" Rae asked through a yawn. Rikku raised and eyebrow and Rae pointed to her hair and hand Rikku a small mirror. Rikku broke out in laughter at the sight of her bed head, Rae joining in at the sight of her own.

"Morning pops." Rikku greeted Cid as the two walked onto the bridge. Cid looked at her like she was a ghost. "What?"

"It ain't even seven o'clock yet. You never get up this early." He told her. Rikku glanced at the clock and shook her head.

"Times are changing pops. We'd normally be on the move again by now." She told him.

"Really? They managed to wake your lazy carcass up?" Rikku rolled her eyes. "Man, that Auron must be a slave driver."

"Really?" Auron asked, walking onto the bridge.

"If you can wake her up in the mornings then yes damn it! I can't even wake her up!" Cid said with a laugh. Rikku giggled a little and hid her embarrassment by turning and pouring herself and Rae cups of coffee.

"Jeez, what's with all the yelling?" Matt demanded. "Ever heard of a thing called sleep? Yeah? Well some of us are trying to get it. And Ryan just got to sleep."

"You mean he's done!" Cid asked excitedly. Matt held out several sheets of paper. Cid took them eagerly and looked at them before turning back to Matt. "What's this crap? I can't even read it!"

"That's why I'm here. Ryan woke my ass up so that I could read it and someone else could write it down in Spirian." Cid looked at him, clearly confused about the roundabout route.

"Why didn't he just write it in Spirian?" The Al Bhed leader asked.

"You seem to forget that we're not from Spira." Matt told him. "We don't know the Spirian alphabet or the Al Bhed alphabet." Cid growled in frustration but didn't say anything else.

"You made my boyfriend stay up until seven o'clock in the morning to translate something?" Rikku demanded.

"I didn't make him do nothin'." Cid said defensively. "He's the one that decided to stay up. He was here just an hour ago getting more coffee. Looked like hell too."

"He'd been up for more then a day you know…" Matt said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Cid looked at him oddly. "He gets up at 4:30 in the morning. Damn morning people."

"Man dad. He wakes up 'bout the same time as you." Rikku commented.

"Yep. That's why we always woke up to him and Auron sparring." Matt added. "Cause Auron didn't think he was good enough."

"What are we talking about?" Andy mumbled as he shambled onto the bridge.

"Morning Andy." Matt greeted, handing his friend his cup of coffee. "You look like you could use this." Andy took the coffee gratefully.

"No, seriously. What were you guys talking about?" Andy asked.

"The ethics of having Ryan stay up all night to translate what we need from that book." Rae explained. "Whatever book that is."

"Ah, the one with all the runes?" Matt nodded. "He actually finished it?" Cid held up the papers he'd taken from Matt.

"Yeah. He also just got to sleep." Matt added.

"Poor kid." Andy glanced over at Cid. "You should be ashamed. Making a kid stay up so late. And we thought Auron was a slave driver."

"I'm not a damn slave driver!" Cid yelled. "I never said he had to translate it all in one night! If you don't believe me I'll go wake his ass up and he can tell ya himself!"

"Pops, remember your blood pressure!" Rikku warned. Cid's face turned red and Rae giggled a little. "Besides, you think he'd even be able to talk? Matt said he just got to sleep, right?"

"So?" Cid demanded.

"Can you talk with only an hour of sleep?" Rikku asked.

"I've yet to go to sleep these past three days." Cid said dryly. Everyone looked at him like he was utterly insane. "What? I've gotta make sure this rig is runin' right, don't I?"

"Sleep is good." Matt muttered. "Lack of sleep drives people insane after a while."

"So that's what's up with dad." Cid gave his daughter an annoyed look.

"Kids these days. No respect for their elders." He muttered before turning back to running the ship. The kids laughed at his comment before dispersing throughout the ship. A few hours later Tidus walked in and found everyone on the bridge excited.

"What's up?" he asked as Yuna and Kimahri walked in.

"I just had a great idea!" Wakka told them.

"It was my idea. Let me tell them!" Rikku demanded.

"It's like this ya?"

Rikku stepped in Wakka's way and cut him off, "I just thought--"

"The Hymn is the key." Lulu said, cutting Rikku off. Rikku and Wakka glared at her.

"The Hymn?" Tidus asked, confused.

"Sir Jecht likes the Hymn of the Fayth, correct?" Tidus nodded.

"That's why he was listening to it in Macalania!" Rikku added.

"Sin… violence incarnated, listening peacefully." Lulu said quietly.

"I know it's your old man, and I don't mean no disrespect, but…" Wakka trailed off.

"No, it's fine." Tidus told him. "I've gotten used to it."

"Let me say it." Lulu said, stepping forward. "If we attack Sin head-on, we have little chance of winning. However, if he hears the Hymn of the Fayth, he will become docile."

"Yeah, and that's when we make our move!" Wakka said energetically. "Might be against the rules and all, but who's keeping track, ya? Ya?"

"Yeah! It could really work!" Rikku agreed.

"Yeah… Yeah, it's worth a try!" Tidus agreed.

"Well, that sounds like a plan to me! My baby here'll take us anywhere we want!" Cid announced proudly.

"Bevelle then!" Tidus declared. "We're going to talk to Maester Mika!"

"Ymnekrd! Du Bevelle puoc! (Alright! To Bevelle boys!)" Cid yelled to the crew, who cheered in response.

"Let's go get Ryan." Tidus started to walk off the bridge but Auron's shoulder stopped him.

"Let him sleep."

"Yeah, he's only been asleep for a few hours!" Rikku told him.

"Wha? Why?"

"Cause Cid's a slave driver." Matt said sarcastically. Cid rolled his eyes as his daughter joined in the laughter.

"Matt." The teenage god turned to face Auron. "Go get Seph and Rae."

"Why the hell would you wanna bring those two along?" Cid demanded.

"Would you rather we left them with you?" Auron countered simply.

"Good point, go get'em kid." Cid agreed.

"Damn you all! Making me work." Matt complained as he walked off the bridge. "Andy, get your lazy ass up. We're getting ready to leave." Matt told his friend from the doorway of his room. Andy mumbled something about burning him alive but stood up and starred at him blankly.

"Where the hell are we going?" He asked.

"Back to Bevelle. Without Ryan though." Matt added immediately.

"Why without Ryan?"

"He's only gotten a few hours of sleep. He stayed up until a little before 7 to finish translating that stupid book, remember? And when did you go back to sleep?"

Andy glanced over at the digital clock on the wall. "Bout a half hour ago."

"What were you doing until then?"

"Walked around aimlessly." Andy stated. "What did you do?"

"Pretty much the same thing." Matt admitted. "Anyway, lets go. We're going to get Rae Seph."

"Why?"

"Auron said to." Matt explained. He walked out the door, not really caring whether or not Andy followed. He found the door and knocked.

"Come on in." Seph called. Matt opened the door and found an empty room.

"What the hell? Seph, what the fuck? Stop screwing around. We're going to Bevelle." Seph dropped down from directly over the door, scaring the crap out of Matt. "Jeez, if you were anyone else, I'd kick your ass right now."

"Ah, but I'm not someone else. I'm Seph." The assassin said with a grin.

"Yeah, don't remind me." Matt muttered as he turned and started back down the hallway.

"You're an idiot." Seph told him, easily catching up.

"Why, 'cause I turned my back on an assassin? Or because I turned my back on an ally?" Matt asked without stopping.

"Once an assassin, always an assassin." Seph warned him. "And one day, I'll kill you. Remember that."

Matt smiled at the challenge. "We'll see how that plays out when we get there. Why don't we worry about killing Sin for the moment, hmmm?"

"So why are we going to Bevelle if we wanna fight Sin?"

"Dunno, just letting you know what I know." Seph looked at Matt oddly.

"There is power in secrets you know."

"Not when we're all working towards the same goal there isn't. Besides, Ryan just translated an entire book of information that only me, him, and Andy can read."

"And how do you know that?" Seph questioned.

"Well, we don't come from Spira, we can't read Spirian. Ryan translated all the runes using the alphabet we grew up with." Matt and Seph both smiled.

"Well, I guess you're not as dumb as you look at times."

"I'd hate to disappoint you."

"I'd hate for you to disappoint me too." Seph admitted. "Lately, I haven't had any challenging targets. It's been getting a little boring. You and your friends though, damn that's gonna be a fun fight."

"Only for the winning side. It won't be anything for the losers."

"You know, for someone I'm gonna kill sometime, you're ok." Matt smiled at Seph's comment.

"I do only what I can."

"That so?" Seph asked as they walked into the bridge.

"Ask Ryan." Matt suggested. Seph turned to head towards the boy's room but found himself starring at Auron's neck. "What do you want, one eye?"

"We go to Bevelle." Auron said simply.

"Actually you've gotta go that way." Rikku told the oldest guardian. Auron looked to Cid, who nodded confirmation, and then stepped aside and let a glaring Seph pass. Rae and Rikku passed Seph in the hallways, leading the group through the ship.

"Alright everyone!" Cid's voice cracked through the airships intercom and hour later. "We're goin' in!"

"Finally." Matt said with a sigh of relief. "I was starting to think that Ryan was gonna wake up before we even got there."

"Well, let's get this over with." Rae muttered, surprising everyone by walking over and dropping out of the cargo bay of the air ship, one of a rope in her hand. As she fell a Zu appeared below her, cushioning her fall the way Valefor had done for Yuna last time they'd been in Bevelle. When she landed she wrapped the rope around her hand a couple of times, gave it a good yank, and motioned for everyone to come down.

"Well, that's not the Rae I'm used to seeing." Seph admitted as he jumped onto the rope. He slid down the rope with ease, landing next to Rae without a sound. Yuna summoned Valefor to carry her and Lulu down, much to the dismay of Wakka and Tidus who followed them down on the rope. Auron and Kimahri went down next, and then Rikku, Matt, and Andy brought up the rear. "So we're looking for that bastard Mika, right?"

"Yes." Auron started to walk down the bridge only to be stopped by a few guards.

"Infidels!" One of the guards yelled. With surprising coordination they all leveled their guns at the group.

"Are you for real?" Matt wondered in amazement.

"Man, don't these guys ever give up?" Wakka questioned no one in particular.

"You'll all regret showing your faces here!" The same guard yelled again, this time sounding more confident with the backing of more soldiers. "We'll strike you down in the name of Yevon!"

"Try it." Matt said just loud enough for everyone to hear. The guard looked at him oddly as he stepped forward. "What's wrong? I said try it. Try to kill me. I bet you not one of you is even a good enough shot to hit me, let alone kill me." By now Andy and Seph were standing next to him. "Well?"

"Die traitors!" The soldier yelled, emptying his entire clip on the three. Fire, lightning, and water burst into life, stopping each bullet easily. "What?" The entire group started to mutter as they reloaded their guns. Shelinda appeared, cast a horrified glance at the massive amount of bullets at the feet of the three gods, and turned to the soldiers who were preparing to fire.

"Stop!" she yelled. Instantly every head in the group turned to face her.

"Captain?" The guard asked in a clearly confused voice.

"Lady Yuna is not to be harmed!" Shelinda declared. "She' no traitor! That is an evil rumor spread by the Al Bhed!"

"What?" Rikku gasped in surprise.

"That's low, even for Yevon." Rae added with quiet rage.

"Maester Mika told me himself." Shelinda told the men who were watching her doubtfully.

"Then what… are we to do?" one of the soldiers asked.

"You could start by standing down." Matt suggested.

"As he says." Shelinda agreed. The soldiers nodded, saluted her, and then went back to their patrols.

"What was that about evil Al Bhed?" Rikku questioned as soon as they were gone.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too." Rae agreed.

"I… truly, I do not understand it myself. All of Yevon seems to be in confusion." Shelinda's voice was full of obvious sadness. "Why yesterday they came out of the blue and made me captain of the guard!"

"Well there's a shock." Seph agreed.

"Short on believers?" Auron's tone sounded almost sarcastic.

"Yes, the chaos in the temples is worse then I'd imagined. It's horrible. And all the priests do is blame each other. I worry what will become of Yevon." The words made Matt and Andy feel sick to their stomach. Even though they'd only been in Spira a short period of time they'd developed a silent hatred of even the word Yevon. "But no! I must be the rock that stands against the swirling tides, right? Lady Yuna, I must tell you, your courage has been a great inspiration to me." Yuna blushed a little at the compliment.

"Yeah, that's great, but we came here to see Maester Mika." Tidus told the new captain of the guard. "Is he here?"

"Yes, I shall arrange an audience." Shelinda told them. "Please wait in the courtyard." She left in a hurry to find the Maester.

"Hey, hey, wait!" Rikku called after her. "What was all that about Al Bhed lying and stuff?" A small lightning bolt slammed into the ground a few feet away from Rikku. Despite the fact that it was barely strong enough to leave a black mark on the concrete Rikku practically curled up into a little ball. "Stop it you jerk!"

"What?" Matt asked, making very little effort to hide his enjoyment as every face in the group gave him an annoyed look. Except for Andy, who seemed to enjoy it as well; Auron, who didn't seem to care either way; Kimahri, who really didn't care so long as it was Rikku and not Yuna; and Seph, who simply watched with a bored gaze.

"It's simple, Rikku." Auron said, breaking the awkward silence. "Yuna has become Mika's only hope."

"Oh… okay" Rikku said, standing up and glaring at Matt who smiled even more.

"Just what does he think he can get away with?" Lulu wondered aloud, annoyance showing in her voice.

"Time to teach him some manners!" Tidus declared.

"Yes," Yuna agreed, "let's."

"Well then, follow me." Seph said, taking up the lead. He led the group to the courtyard, which was simply a couple hundred feet in front of him.

"That, was really, really stupid Seph." Matt said. Seph raised an eyebrow at his comment. "Any of us could've done that. It was a straight line." Seph shrugged as Maester Mika walked into the courtyard. When he first saw them his eyes widened in surprise, then they narrowed with rage as he stomped towards the group.

"Why are you here!" He demanded without making any attempt to disguise his anger. "You must go and defeat Sin, quickly! You have obtained the Final Aeon from Yunalesca, have you not?"

"Well, we did meet her." Tidus admitted.

"We fought and defeated her." Yuna clarified. Instantly Mika's face flushed with rage and horror.

"What!" He demanded.

"Summoners and their guardians will be sacrificed for the Final Aeon no more." Auron's voice held a hint of joy in it.

"You have profaned and subverted a thousand year-old tradition? You fools! Infants!" Mika was practically yelling by now, but oddly no one had come into the courtyard yet. "Do you realize what you have done? You've taken away the only means of calming Sin!"

"Hey, maybe that's not the only way! We think we've got another!" Tidus told the Maester happily. Mika's resolve seemed to waver for a second.

"Why…" Apparently Mika realized he faltering, a fact that made him even more cross, " Preposterous! There is no other way!"

"The Grand Maester, running away?" Auron questioned the Maester in a taunting voice. Everyone but Seph and Rae gave Auron an amazed look.

"Spira has lost its only hope. Destruction is inevitable." Mika whispered sadly. "Yu Yevon's spiral of death will consume us all. I have no desire to watch Spira die."

"It won't die!" Yuna told him so firmly that his eyes widened with hope for a second.

"Who is this Yu Yevon guy?" Tidus asked. Matt and Andy glanced at each other but said nothing.

"Lady Yunalesca also mentioned him." Lulu added.

"Wait, gramps! Who's Yu Yevon?" Rikku pleaded with Maester Mika as he started to become pyreflies.

"He who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armor. An armor called Sin." Mika told them. "Clad in it, Yu Yevon is invincible. And the only thing that could've pierced that armor, you have destroyed! Nothing can stop him now!"

"The final summoning isn't the only thing that can pierce his armor." Matt said bluntly. Mika sneered at him. "A god can always pierce another gods armor, right Andy?" He nodded. "Seph, what do you think? You're Spira's top assassin, do we have a chance?"

Seph shrugged. "Who knows? But I'll be damned to the Farplane if we aren't gonna give it a hell of a shot." As he finished Mika disappeared completely.

"Disappear on us? You rotten son of a shoopuf!" Wakka yelled into the empty courtyard as Shelinda reappeared.

"Where… where is the Grand Maester?" she asked.

"He, um…" Yuna was horrible at lying so Auron stepped forward.

"He's not here yet. How long must we wait?" He demanded of the girl.

"That's odd… I'll go look for his Grace." Shelinda told them.

"Okay." Yuna said to nothing but air.

"Who you talking to?" Wakka asked.

"Oh. Uh, no one." Tidus lied.

"I must go see the Fayth." Yuna told everyone.

'At least she's not trying to lie.' Matt thought as the two left. The group sat in silence until the two returned. Unfortunately Shelinda returned at the same time.

"I'm afraid the Grand Maester is nowhere to be found." She told the group.

"S'okay, we were just leaving." Tidus told the girl.

"Oh, I see." Shelinda said sadly.

"Hey! Maybe you could help us with the Hymn!" Rikku said suddenly.

"Hey, good idea!" Tidus agreed.

"It's like this," Rikku said to the captain of the guard, "we need you to tell as many people as you can."

"What should I tell them?" Shelinda asked in a determined voice.

"A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth. When they hear it, we need everyone to sing along."

"Everyone in Spira!" Wakka added to Rikku's explination.

"I'm not sure I understand." Shelinda said more then a little reluctantly.

"In the name of Yevon…" Seph muttered, turning and walking off to get away from the Yevonite.

"You don't have to! Just tell everyone!" Rikku said, ignoring Seph's comment.

"A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth?" Rikku nodded. "So when they hear it, everyone should sing along, correct?"

"If they do, we might be able to defeat Sin!" Tidus added in.

Shelinda nearly fainted. "Truly?"

"Yes." Yuna confirmed.

"That's wonderful! You can count on me! I shall tell all of Spira!" Shelinda pledged.

"At least she's energetic." Matt muttered to Andy as the group walked back to the airship. Rae, Lulu, and Yuna flew up while the guys climbed up the rope ladder. "Only problem now is what do we do about the legendary weapons that Ryan translated. Think we should go and find them without him? I mean that took what, an entire twenty minutes?"

"Well it wouldn't be very intelligent to have someone along that'd just slow us down." Seph reasoned. "I vote for leaving him here."

"Sound, if harsh, logic." Matt admitted. "Besides, Ryan's a pain in the ass to wake up. Leave'em here."

"I don't care either way." Andy admitted.

"He'll need his rest." Auron declared. "We leave him sleep."

"Auron, did you know you're a lot like a dictator?" Auron didn't reply and Matt nodded. "Yeah, thought so."

"Where's the first weapon?" Seph asked, suddenly feeling rather annoyed at the group's lack focus.

"Lemme see here…" Matt said as he reached into his pocket. "Damn, Cid still has them."

"Here." Cid told him, coming into the cargo hatch. "I couldn't make heads or tails of this crap."

"Guess it's a good thing we're here after all, eh Andy?" Matt said as he took the papers from Andy. "Looks like the first weapon is something called… the cloudy mirror?" Matt raised an eyebrow and continued to read. "Oh, ok. Sorry, the key to getting the weapons is the cloudy mirror."

"And where's that?" Tidus asked.

"Says it's at Remiem Temple in the calm lands. Here, there's a little picture to go along with it." Matt said, handing the page to Rikku who was next to him.

"Hey! I know where that cliff is!" Rikku declared. "That's where me and Ryan got in the calm lands. Then we had to leave though."

"And I know a lady that can get us up there!" Tidus added. Everyone looked at him with impressed looks.

"Well, you aren't totally useless outside of a fight after all." Matt's sarcasm was rewarded with the group breaking into laughter.

"So to the calm lands then?" Cid asked. Tidus nodded and the Al Bhed disappeared, sprinting down to the bridge. He was barking out orders before he was even there, and before long the group was in the calm lands.

"Man, it's almost nine. When's Ryan gonna wake up?" Matt wondered as he dropped the rope ladder down. They left the airship and Tidus took up the lead. He constantly changed direction, but eventually the group understood why.

"Hey, it's you!" The Chocobo trainer said, waving to Tidus as she rode over. "What can I do for ya? Wanna train a Chocobo?"

"Actually we need a favor." Tidus said. "We need to borrow some Chocobo."

"How many do you need?" The woman asked. Tidus turned around, counted up the group and turned back to face her.

"We'll need seven." Tidus told her.

"But you've got eleven people."

"We can double up." Tidus said instantly. "And we wouldn't want to take all of your Chocobo from you."

"Well, if you really only want seven…" The woman gave seven sharp whistles, each one slightly different then the others. Almost immediately seven Chocobo came tearing across the calm lands towards them. "Well, here you go. They'll find their way back if you leave'em alone for too long, ok?" Tidus nodded. "Well, take care."

"Thank you." Yuna said as the Chocobo trainer rode off. "She's very nice."

"Yeah." Tidus agreed as he hopped onto his Chocobo. He held out a hand and helped Yuna up. It was tight squeeze for them to both fit in the small saddle, but they managed better then Matt, Andy, or Kimahri did.

Matt and Andy couldn't get the their rides to stop jumping, and Andy went flying off and to the ground multiple times before they finally calmed down. Kimahri had it the worst though. Every time he even came near his ride it ran away. After several minutes of chasing it he managed to grab the reins and slow it to a stop. He got into the saddle on the first try, but the Chocobo freaked out and bolted off. Kimahri roared and jumped off the thing, electing to walk instead of deal with the hassle of calming his mount down.

"Okay, follow me everyone!" Rikku said cheerfully as she took up the lead. It didn't take long for the group to reach the cliff that Ryan had drawn, especially since Matt's ride freaked out at the sight of a fiend and took off towards it at full speed. It actually jumped the fifteen-foot high wall in its terror. By the time everyone else had tried and then failed to copy the feat, and then had gone and jumped a gap to reach him, Matt was laying down in the grass, looking up at the sky lazily.

"It just says that it is at the temple somewhere." He said as his friend approached. "Let's go."

"It's been quite a while since I've been here." Rae muttered as she took up the lead. "It was a long time ago, but I don't remember her saying anything about a special mirror being here."

"Her?" Yuna's question brought a smile to Rae's face.

"You'll have to wait and find out yourself. I think you'll be surprised, since you've probably seen her around several times before. Most Summoners do." The group followed Rae into the temple where they were greeted by a familiar face.

"Lady Yuna. It is good to see you!"

"Lady Belgemine!" Yuna gasped. "How have you been?"

"I have been fine. But what of your Aeons? Have they gotten any stronger?" Belgemine wondered aloud. "Rae? Is that you?"

"Hey, it's been awhile. You're still holed up in here I see." Rae commented. "And you still haven't gotten around to redecorating since the last time I was here."

Belgemine chuckled. "I get the oddest feeling you did not come to test yourself again, did you?"

"No. We came to find some kind of magical mirror… what was it called?"

"Said the cloudy mirror according to Ryan's translations." Matt informed her.

"Oh, that old thing? Why, that's the prize for beating the champion Chocobo in a race!" The entire group looked at her like she was crazy. "Surely you saw the prize Chocobo as you came in. It would have been on your left."

"That was the legendary Chocobo?" Seph asked with a raised eyebrow. Belgemine nodded. "And where exactly is the racing track?"

"Below the temple." Belgemine told him. When you leave the temple turn to your left and you will find another Chocobo. Ride the challenger and make it to the bottom first and there will be a treasure chest. In that chest is the cloudy mirror."

"Thanks Belgemine!" Rae said, already halfway to the door. "I'll bring Yuna back later, so rest up!"

"Bring me back? Why?" Yuna asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'll explain it later." Rae assured her friend. "Right now we've got some legendary weapons to get."

"Right. And I'm gonna take that champion Chocobo down!" Tidus added with his usual enthusiasm.

"Who said anything about letting this jock ride?" Seph demanded.

"Would you two give it a rest? You can both try then!" Matt complained. "My god, I hate kids."

"I'm older then you dude." Tidus told him.

"Only physically…"

"What's that mean, Matt?" Tidus demanded.

"Whatever your limited brain power can come up with for a meaning." The lightning god replied.

"Well I know for a fact that I'm not a kid." Seph said with a sigh. "I'm older then Tidus is."

"Really? Well Ryan's older then either of us." Andy pointed out, motioning from himself to Matt.

"He certainly doesn't look it…" Rae stated.

"It's only by a few days. Six for me, and seven for Andy." Matt explained.

"Alright! Here I go!" Tidus told the group as he jumped onto the challenging Chocobo and it trotted onto the track happily. "Wish me luck everyone!"

"Good luck!" Yuna yelled as the race began. "Think he can win?" She asked Rae, Lulu, and Rikku.

"Well, other then Seph, he's probably the only person that's ever ridden a Chocobo out of all of us. If they can't win, we're not getting this mirror." Rae stated in a bored voice.

"You don't sound worried." Matt noted.

"Should I be? I mean, it's not like we need the weapons. It'd just be nice to have them, right?" Matt nodded. "And it'd be better to not be able to get the mirror now, then not be able to use the weapons after we go through all the work of getting them, right?"

"Gotta love that line of thought." Matt muttered from behind the translations. "But it looks like we're going to have to go to Macalania to get something called the Celestial Mirror after this."

"Hey, the race is about to start!" Yuna said excitedly. The sound of the gates opening brought everyone's attention to Tidus. His Chocobo flew out of the starting gate, jumping over it rather then waiting for it to open completely. As soon as it landed on the other side of the gate it took off, jumping from level to level rather then running the race straight through.

"Heh, I wonder if Tidus is the smart one, or of it is the Chocobo." Seph questioned aloud as Tidus got off the insane Chocobo shakily. Several seconds later the champion reached the bottom of the race track, panting and obviously exhausted. "Well, guess we don't have to worry about not getting the cloudy mirror."

"No, just getting the Celestial Mirror." Everyone looked at Matt oddly.

"Explain." Auron ordered.

"Well, Ryan says that the only way to reach the Celestial Mirror is to climb a bridge of light in Macalania woods. I dunno about any of you, but we went all over the place in Macalania woods, and I didn't see any bridge of light." Matt commented.

"Interesting…" Andy muttered.

"Well, guess we'll just have to wait and see what we've got to do to find this here bridge of light, right?" Rae said happily as Tidus started back up towards them, his Chocobo running this time.

When Tidus arrived they gave him a few minutes alone, and heard several rather disgusting sounds. "Guess the ride was a little much for him." Seph said jokingly as Tidus caught up with the group.

"Hey, it's not my fault! I'm a pretty good rider, that thing was just insane!" Tidus stated in his own defense.

The group reached Macalania woods twenty minutes later. "Okay, now does it say anything about where the bridge is supposed to be?" Seph asked. Matt looked at Ryan's notes for a few seconds then shook his head. "Wonderful."

"Split up and search." Auron ordered as he and Tidus walked off in a random direction.

"Hey, what' in the name of Spira is that!" Rikku cried. Everyone looked at her, and then followed her gaze into the treetops above them. Sure enough there was a strip of light glowing softly in the dark forest. "Is that it?"

"Must be. Good work." Matt said as he started to make his way through the forest, constantly glancing up to make sure that the path wasn't turning. When they'd gone almost completely through the forest they found a couple standing at the spot where the bridge met the ground, and they didn't even notice the large group until Yuna greeted.

"Hello. We apologize, Lady Summoner. It's just that our son ran up this thing when it appeared, but we're terrified to follow him." The woman explained.

"Well, we're heading up there anyway." Matt mumbled as he started up the path. He heard the couple gasp in shock. "Well, anyone else coming or am I doing this alone."

"Only if you don't start walking." Seph said from behind him. Matt smiled and started walking again. When he reached the top the path widened enough for Seph to stand next to him without the risk of one of them falling off the edge of the bridge.

"Well, there's the kid." Seph said, pointing off to a part of the path that split off to the left of the main path up ahead.

"Hey! You there!" Tidus yelled, waving to the kid who waved back. He stepped carefully around Matt and Seph and rushed over to the kid, the rest of his friends following behind at a leisurely pace. "Your parents are worried about you. You should go back down and see them." The kid thought about Tidus' suggestion for a minute before shrugging and running off. "Ok Matt, now what?"

"I dunno. I just says that we would get the Celestial Mirror if we brought the cloudy mirror here." Matt replied helplessly. "But it does mention a crystal once. Doesn't say why it's important, or if we even need it."

"Hey, this is crystal!" Rikku declared. The group turned and found her standing next to one of the giant spherical crystal that looked a lot like a giant plant bud. Tidus ran up and looked at the crystal closely.

"Tidus, your pocket is glowing." Tidus looked down and found that Seph was right. He reached into the pocket and pulled out the cloudy mirror. It emitted a bright flash. When the light faded the group found that the cloudy mirror was no longer cloudy. Instead it was a normal mirror that gave off a slight aura. "Well, now that that is done, can we be going?"

"Only if it's back to the Calm Lands." Matt said, already heading down the path.

"I'm really starting to dislike the Calm Lands, did you know that? Why do we have to go back there anyway?" Seph demanded.

"2 of the weapons are there, that's why." Matt replied without slowing down. Twenty minutes later the group found themselves back in the calm lands. "Okay, now one should be in the upper northwest. Says there's a narrow pathway that leads down into the gorge. Then there is one over in the east. Says it's through a crack in the wall."

"East one is closer, it's got my vote." Andy declared, everyone agreeing quickly. Five minutes after Tidus had flagged down the Chocobo trainer and borrowed some more Chocobo for them, the group found itself standing outside of something called the monster arena.

"Welcome! Welcome! Come to test yourselves against the monsters I've collected?" An old man asked as he came out of the building that was built into the side of the wall.

"Actually we were wondering if you'd seen anything stranger around." Seph corrected. "Specifically weapons, or something that you couldn't open."

"Now that you mention it I did find a treasure chest that wouldn't open. No lock or anything, but nobody can open it. Hang on a moment and I'll go get it." The man returned with a long, thin chest. "Here you go. It's all yours if you can get it to open up."

"Now what, Matt?" Tidus asked. Matt glanced down at the paper.

"Use the Celestial Mirror." Matt told him. "It should open up." Tidus nodded and held the mirror out. The sound of a lock opening drifted along on the breeze that picked up rather suddenly, but nothing visible happened.

"Well that didn't work." Seph muttered dejectedly. "Now what are you doing, Tidus?" The blitz ace was examining the chest, smiling slightly. Without answering he lifted the top of the chest effortlessly, and produced a long staff with a phoenix on the top of it.

"I think that this might be Yuna's." Tidus said as he handed the staff to the Summoner. She nodded and took it carefully, and the staff gave off a soft light that surrounded her for a second before disappearing.

"Well then, on to the next one!" Rae and Tidus suggested at the same time, despite the fact that the group was already filtering out of the area and back to the Chocobo.

"Okay, now to the northwest section." Matt told everyone. They rode for ten minutes and found their way blocked by a guard.

"We need to get back there." Seph told the guard flatly. The guard looked like he was going to reply, but level gazes from Seph and Auron stopped any comment he was going to make. He stepped to the side instantly, his face as pale as a piece of paper. Tidus ran down the slope alone. There was another odd wind that carried the sound of a lock opening, followed by a soft glow that only lasted for a second. Unlike Tidus' cry of joy, which echoed loudly in the gorge.

"I'm gonna guess that one was his." Rikku pointed out with a laugh as Tidus rejoined the group with a large smile and a blue sword that looked more like a decoration than a weapon. "Where to now?" Matt looked at the paper and gave her an evil grin. "Uh-oh. This can't be good."

"Sure it can." He declared. "Next one is called the Spirit Lance."

"Oh, is it on the Farplane!" Rikku asked, thinking she'd gotten it right.

"No." Matt said slowly, still smiling. "It's in the Thunder Plains." Rikku's face dropped. "Well, no time to waste, let's go." Rikku laughed nervously as they called for Cid to land.

"Well, where to now?" The Al Bhed leader demanded.

"Thunder Plains." Matt said without hesitation.

"No can do kid." Cid told him. Rikku sighed in relief and Matt frowned. "Thunder storm's too dangerous to land in. I'll have to drop you off in Guadosalam."

"That works." Matt declared as Rikku slumped to the ground.

"Something wrong Rikku?" Rae asked, noticing the unusually down expression that Rikku was wearing.

"I hate thunder." Rikku admitted.

"Oh, that's it." Rae said, understanding fully. "Guess you and me are staying here then." Rikku looked at her thankfully. "Well I wouldn't want to leave you all alone with Cid when your boyfriend's too tired to get up. It's not even 10 yet."

15 minutes later the group, minus Ryan, Rikku, and Rae, found themselves dropping into Guadosalam, much to the amazement and horror of the Guado. Matt and Tidus had been given devices, that reminded Matt and Andy more then a little of com-links, to call Cid when they were ready to be picked up.

Five minutes after that the group was dashing from cover to cover to, minus Matt who calmly walked through the storm, ignoring the bolts of lightning that struck all around him. "We have to find a stone with a Qactuar on it!" He yelled, shivering at the thought of the annoying, agile little monsters. More then once he'd missed with a lightning spell, something that had made him exceedingly annoyed. About ten minutes later a roar from Kimahri brought everyone running to the powerful Ronso's side.

"Way to go lil' boy blue." Andy congratulated, noticing the stone with a glowing Qactuar on it immediately. He turned to Matt, "Now what?"

Matt shrugged. "Either Ryan missed that part or--"

"Look!" Yuna pointed above the stone were the barely visible form of a Qactuar was visible. As soon as everyone was looking at it the specter took off.

"Wonderful." Matt muttered, taking off after it at full speed. It lead them on a short chase that lasted almost fifteen minutes. When it finally disappeared the group found themselves standing in front of an incomplete lightning tower. Matt looked down at the paper then back at the tower. "Looks like we're here."

Tidus took the lead and started towards the tower. A lightning bolt struck the tower, stopping the blitzer in his tracks momentarily. "Over here." Auron called to the group. He pointed to a chest that a second, much smaller lightning bolt had uncovered. It was as long as Yuna's had been, but was also a little fatter. Tidus held the Celestial Mirror up to it, and a gentle breeze picked up. The sound of a lock turning came, and then Tidus opened the chest, revealing a long spear with feathers near the top and a yellow point. Without a word Kimahri stepped forward and accepted the spear.

"Well then, I guess we're done here." Seph said dryly. Matt nodded, and used the comlink to tell Cid that they were on their way back. When they got back to the ship they found Rikku and Rae absent. "Oh man, where are they now? They better not expect us to do all the work."

"They said something about getting a tan." Cid told them without looking up from the navigation computer. He was busy typing in the coordinates for Mushroom Rock Road, which is where Matt told him to go next. "Dunno how they plan on doing that, we ain't got time to stop at a beach, and we ain't got no damn tanning both in here either!"

"You don't need to be at a beach to get a tan…" Matt told Cid. "I know a lot of girls that'll just go out in their back yard and lay there to get a tan."

"Well when you see our back yard, lemme know."

"You don't have a backyard, but you've got a deck." Matt said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Didn't think of that, did you?" Cid sighed and shook his head, but made no effort to deny the statement. "Didn't think so."

"What did dad forget this time?" Rikku asked as her and Rae walked onto the bridge.

"What happen to getting a tan?" Seph asked, noting the lack of a tan on either of them.

"Well, Al Bhed don't tan that easily to start with." Rae told him. "And the fact that it's about to rain didn't help much either." Before anyone could ask what she was talking about a crash of thunder caused Rikku to cry out in surprise. Not three seconds later the sky was dark with rain clouds, and the sound of raindrops hitting the metal roof was fast enough to dance to.

"I hate thunder!" Rikku cried before running off the bridge and down the hall. Seph smiled as Matt left the bridge a few seconds before him. They walked out onto the deck and sat down with their backs against the wall.

"You enjoy sitting in the rain too?" Seph yelled over the deafening sound of the rain.

"Not really. I like the thunder." Matt replied as he crossed his legs. He heard Seph laughing a little and glanced over.

"I never would've guessed that you of all people would like thunder. I mean, you're the god of lightning and all." The assassin explained. The door opened and Rae walked out, instantly turning on Seph.

"What the hell are you trying to do!" She thrust a finger at him accusingly. "You're gonna get sick if you sit out in this! Get your ass in there before I make you move myself." Seph starred at her in shock, absently doing as she ordered. The girl turned on Matt and prepared to say something, but stopped as Auron walked out. The old guardian picked Matt up with on hand and dragged him back into the airship.

"What the hell Auron?" Matt demanded, wrenching free of the old man's grip. "I always do that!"

"Not anymore." Auron's voice left no room for arguing as he walked away.

"Pain in the ass old man."

"He isn't that bad." Tidus told him from behind. "He's looked after me since I was a little kid." Matt just walked off to the bridge. "What's his problem?"

"Dunno." Seph replied immediately. "Don't really care to find out either."

888

"We're almost there. Get ready everyone!" Cid announced two hours later. The rain was still pounding, but the thunder had stopped, much to Rikku's relief.

"Man, Ryan can sleep through anything…" Tidus seemed to be a little jealous. "Why are we letting him sleep when we have to run around and get all these things?"

"Because he translated all of the information we have on them in one night, and has only been asleep for a few hours still." Seph told him. "And if he hadn't stayed up all night to translate that information then you wouldn't have that sword."

"Right. He's the reason we're getting all these powerful weapons. Got it." Matt walked onto the bridge, looking over Ryan's now crumpled notes. "So what are we getting here?"

"Well as far as I can tell, there are actually two weapons here." Matt replied without looking up from the papers. "One is a big sword named Masamune, and one is some kind of glove weapon? It's called Godhand. Masamune is in a statue of Lord Mi'Ihen, and Godhand is in a hidden ravine."

"How are we supposed to get it if it's hidden?" Tidus complained.

"The book gave the coordinates." Matt was already showing Cid the next set of coordinates. "Best thing to do," He said after Cid had written them down, "would probably be to split up. Half of us can go get the weapon in the ravine, and the other half can go get the sword."

"Well, aren't we taking charge suddenly." Rikku commented.

"He does only what he can." Rikku looked at the assassin oddly but Matt nodded. "It's raining, the Ravine will be flooding."

"That could be a problem." Matt admitted. "But we've got a four star blitzball players, two Al Bhed, and the god of water. I really don't think we'll have any problem with it."

"So me, Tidus, Seph, Rikku, Andy and Rae are gonna take the ravine down, right brudda?" Matt nodded at Wakka's idea. "All right everyone! Let's get us a weapon, ya?"

"Geez, enthusiastic?" Seph complained. As they walked down to the cargo hold he pulled Matt aside, "How are you going to open the chest with Masamune?" He asked.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out later." Matt told him with a shrug. Seph smiled and nodded approvingly.

"It's really a shame that I'm gonna have to kill you one day." He said again. Matt rolled his eyes. "You don't believe that I will?"

"I know you'll try. Whether you will or not, that's a little harder to know." Matt told him. 'After all, we're supposed to be going home after we kill Sin, and Yu Yevon won't die for good until we get the ice god to help too. Wherever the hell he is.' Matt thought as the two walked into the cargo hold. The floor was opening, to reveal what looked like white water rapids beneath them.

"Well this is gonna be fun." Rikku sighed as she jumped down and into the water, the rest of the group following her quickly. They were quickly swept down the ravine by the current. 'We're gonna die when we get to the end!' Rikku thought as she saw a solid wall of rock coming towards them quickly. She struggled to get high enough out of the water to warn the others, but the effort caused her to tire quicker then she expected. She found herself slipping underwater as the world around her went black.

888

Seph found that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He floated through the water like it was a calm pool, not bothered by the fact that he was completely submerged and should have been drowning. He noticed Rikku floating limply in the water ahead of him and sighed. He reached out a hand and a pendulum shot out of his sleeve, pushed by the water itself. It wrapped around Rikku's gloved hand and pulled Seph towards her. 'Such an annoying girl. Wonder what Ryan sees in her.' He thought as he wrapped an arm around her waist and swam to the surface. When he broke surface he found that the rest of his group was having problems as well, but they'd apparently taken blitzing pills and weren't bothered by being underwater. Four more pendulums shout into the water, wrapped around the four remaining members of the group, and lifted them out of the water. He walked along the surface of the water carefully, each step sending little more then ripples out throughout the water that was starting to calm down. He found a dry patch of land and pulled everyone onto it.

"Well, this has been fun." Rae muttered sarcastically. "So now what? Anybody know where exactly this stupid chest is?"

"Tidus, lemme have the Celestial Mirror." The blitzer looked at Seph like he was insane. "Look, the entire ravine is flooded aside from this spot, which means that the chest is underwater. I'm the only one that can deal with being in the water for a long period of time right now. So give me the mirror."

Reluctantly Tidus handed the mirror over. Seph nodded and dove into the water. "Hope he finds it soon." Seph couldn't help but smile at the comment as he swam towards the bottom. Sure enough he found the chest, half buried by several rocks that had been washed down in the current. He didn't have much trouble moving the rocks away, but much to his dismay the chest was being held in place because the bottom half of it was embedded in the rock. With no way to get it out the Celestial Mirror and heard the sound of a lock clicking and then falling to the ground, only it echoed and lingered in the water. He opened the chest, grabbed the massive red glove with dull pincers on the front and swam back to the rock the others were on.

"What kept you?" Rae asked immediately.

"Well, there were all these really cool fish down there that got swept in by the current, and I couldn't just leave them there, so I had to take them back to the ocean first." Seph replied sarcastically. He threw the glove to Rikku before sitting down on the rock. "So now what?"

Rikku pulled out one of the comlinks and said a few things into it so quick that Seph missed it. "He'll be here in a few minutes." She told him.

"Oh, well that's good."

888

"Ok, this should be it." Matt declared as the looked at the statue of Lord Mi'Ihen.

"So now what?" Andy demanded.

"Well, there should be a glyph on it somewhere. We find that, we find the treasure chest, we find the weapon."

"I see." The group started searching the statue. "This isn't getting us anywhere." Andy stated nearly ten minutes later. "It doesn't have a damn glyph."

"It's missing a sword as well." Lulu pointed out. "Could that be the problem?"

"Doesn't say anything about missing swords in Ryan's translation, but I guess it's possible." As Matt said this Auron walked over and began to examine the spot the missing sword would have been in.

"Stand back." He told the group. They backed away and watched as he produced his own sword and shoved it into the hole. With a grunt he turned his sword, and was rewarded when a hidden panel at the base slid open, revealing the glyph they'd been looking for. He tapped it with his boot and a line shot out. A small explosion revealed the treasure chest they'd been looking for.

"Well that's one way to hide something." Matt admitted as he pulled out his comlink. "Cid, lusa yht kad ic. (Cid, come and get us)" Cid replied and the group started back down to where Cid would meet them, Auron holding the chest in one arm and his sword in the other. When they got to the end of the ravine Cid was waiting for them.

"You said you were ready for a ride. Where the hell have you been?" He growled at Matt as the god walked on board.

"Everywhere and no where at the same time." Matt replied without breaking stride. "Did the others get back yet?"

"Not ten minutes ago." Cid told him as they walked to the bridge. "Where to now?"

"Luca." Matt replied.

"Luca?" Cid repeated doubtfully. "How on earth could a legendary weapon be in Luca without any of them damnable Yevonites knowing it?"

Matt shrugged. "Maybe they do know about it. It says that the family of one of their most trusted servants was going to keep it there."

"Wait a second, what is the next legendary weapon?" Seph asked suddenly.

"Why do you need to know?" Matt asked curiously.

"Is it a blitzball with spikes on it?" Matt nodded. "So that's why she's still there!"

"You know who has it, don't you?" Rae accused.

"I do." Seph admitted. "She said that her family had been holding onto this ball for thousands of years, but none of them ever used it. Her dad said that it was 'A weapon destined for one man only'. Didn't make sense at the time, but now it does."

"Well I'm gonna guess that's Wakka's weapon." Matt told him. "And if you know who it is that has it, this'll be quick."

"Yeah, so long as she'll still talk to him." Rae muttered. Everyone looked at her oddly. "Seph has a problem with insulting people, even if he doesn't mean to."

"This is true." Seph admitted sadly. "But I never really talked to her that much. That was pretty much the only conversation we'd ever really had."

"Well then I guess there's some hope for us yet." Rae muttered as the airship took off through the rain towards Luca. Twenty minutes later something on the bridge pinged.

"We're as close as we can get safely. You're going to have to go the rest of the way using the High Road." Cid told them.

"Such a hassle." Matt complained as the airship landed. They disembarked and walked the rest of the way, a trip that took far too long for any of them. When they finally reached Luca an hour later Seph instantly started towards the small café that Yuna had been kidnapped out of. Without stopping he walked up to the bartender.

"Well if it ain't the damn-assassin wanna-be." She said with an icy smile. "What do you want now, Seph?"

"What's with the cold reception?" Seph asked, more then a little surprised.

"Rumor has it that you had a hand in killing Lady Yunalesca. Along with all your friends." She replied evenly.

"Yeah, sure. You can't exactly kill an unsent." Seph replied with a slight smile.

"Sure you can. You just so have to send them. And lone behold, you're traveling with a Summoner. Besides, this came from my most trusted source."

"And who would that be? I bet I could give you about ten better ones." Rae elbowed him in the ribs to remind him he was supposed to be getting the weapon.

"Doubt anybody's better at getting information then ZP is." The entire group stiffened at the name.

"When did he tell you this?" Seph asked without breaking the pace of the conversation.

"Not two days ago, why?" The woman asked.

"Just wondering…" Seph replied. "Anyway, you wanted to know what I wanted now? Well, you remember that 'damn ball' that was keeping you in Luca?" The woman nodded. "Wanna leave?"

"Yeah, but I can't until the ball is given to the person it's supposed to go to." The woman said. "And right now it's locked in its chest, which only some mirror can open. And that's been lost for years."

"Yep, and we found it." Tidus told her proudly. Seph sighed and Matt elbowed the teen in the ribs. "What!"

"Secrets are powerful you dumb-ass." Matt muttered.

"Oh, sorry."

"You've got the mirror?" The woman seemed more then a little relieved to hear that. "Alright, meet me in the back in ten minutes. And don't forget that mirror or I'll kick all your asses, got it?" The woman went back to work, but ten minutes later they found her walking out of the back exit with a chest in her hands. "Here's this god damned chest. Take the ball and do whatever the hell you want with it, I really don't care."

Tidus stepped forward and pulled out the Celestial Mirror. There was a flash, followed by a gentle wind and that carried the sound of a lock clicking and then falling to the ground. The woman raised an eyebrow as Tidus walked up to the chest and lifted the lid without effort. "Heads up, Wakka." Wakka caught the blitzball carefully and the woman's eyes widened in surprise.

"Holy shit! You're actually going to kill Sin!" She whispered in disbelief.

"That is what they were made for lady." Matt was already calling Cid up. "Well, see ya later."

"Yeah, sure." The woman whispered in shock as they walked back onto the main street of Luca. Twenty minutes later they were back in the airship.

"Now where to?" Cid seemed impatient.

"Baaj temple." Matt told him.

"Baaj temple!" Rae seemed surprised. "There's a legendary weapon in that crap hole?"

"Yep." Matt confirmed.

"Well then we have to go to Zanarkand first." Everyone looked at her oddly as she turned to Yuna. "Unless you don't want to get Anima."

"Anima's Fayth is at Baaj temple? No wonder I had never seen it before, it is not a temple that Summoners normally visit." Rae shook her head.

"No, you've never heard of it before because only Seymour exactly where it was for a long time. Then he slipped up while I was doing a waitress job for one of Kinoc's parties. He was drunk, and I heard him say that there was a powerful, hidden Aeon at a place called Baaj temple."

"That is how you got Anima then? On your journey?" Rae nodded.

"Yeah, and it took forever. And unless you got all these stupid items from the other five trials, you're going to have to go back and go through them again. It really sucked."

"Items? What items in specific?" Matt asked.

"Well, from Besaid there was a rod. Kilika had an armlet. Djose had a sphere, and so did Macalania. And Bevelle had a spear or a lance or something like that… and then Zanarkand has its stupid rod."

"Ok then, to Zanarkand." Tidus agreed quickly. "If it means we get another Aeon and a legendary weapon there isn't a problem, is there?" When nobody denied the statement Cid punched in the coordinates for Zanarkand.

"We've got about 45 minutes till we get there." He told them before resuming command of the bridge. When the group arrived they hurried through the dome to the Cloister of Trials.

"Well, this is different." Matt commented as they walked into the first puzzle room. Rather then having to light up the colored shapes they had to light up the square that reset the puzzle. With only one it didn't even take a minute to solve. The same thing was required in the next room, but this time it took a little longer since they had only found one of the four squares last time. When they'd found, and activated, the last square the monitor that had shown them the puzzle exploded.

"Heh, that's great." Andy muttered as he walked over and pulled a rod out of the remains. "But if Seymour has Anima, then wouldn't he have needed to have done this?"

"Yeah, and I did too." Rae looked at him oddly. "Why?"

Andy motioned to the broken monitor, "Who fixes this every time? Without it you wouldn't be able to complete the trial." As if he'd said a command word the spirit that they'd first met outside the dome walked in. Without a word he started to gather the pieces of the shattered monitor. "Oh. Well, let's go." The group walked out without a word until they were back in the airship.

"Now to that stupid temple?" Cid asked.

"Now to that stupid temple." Tidus answered since Matt and Andy had gone off. When they reached the temple, Wakka, Tidus, Seph, and Rikku found themselves once again the only ones able to go in at first. They dropped into the cold waters and swam to the nearest piece of rabble. Tidus looked around intensely. "I think I've been here before."

"Really? When was that?" Seph sounded bored despite the fact that they'd soon be facing some of the most powerful fiends in Spira.

"When I first came to Spira. This is where I first met Rikku."

"Hey, that's right! But this place shouldn't have a Fayth in it, we've searched it from top to bottom."

"Well, Rae says that there's a Fayth here, and she got its Aeon, so we really can't argue against that kind of proof." Seph told her. "And I'm getting cold here, so why don't we start moving, hm?"

"Guess we should do whatever we have to quickly. The faster we kill that stupid fish the faster we can get the legendary weapon and the faster we can get the Aeon." The group looked at Tidus with confusion. "What?"

"Stupid fish? What stupid fish, brudda?" Tidus' normally carefree face grew serious as Wakka asked the question.

"The fish that decided that I was its meal for the day when I was here." He told them. "It was giant, and it nearly got me, but I swam through this hole and it couldn't follow me through it. I was hoping I'd get the chance to come back and kill it one of these days."

"Well if we don't find it we can't kill it, so lead on already." Tidus took up the lead, and the group quickly found its way through the broken rubble. When they came to a dead end Tidus stopped.

"Its right in there somewhere." He told them.

"I don't see anything." Rikku said as she leaned over the edge.

Seph smiled evilly. "Ladies first then." He said before pushing her into the water. She landed with a loud splash and the rest of the group couldn't help but laugh at her a little as she surfaced.

"Not funny, you big meanies!" She yelled accusingly. Suddenly her eyes widened with terror and everyone quickly stopped laughing. "Hurry up and get down here." She whispered, her voice just barely perceivable to the rest of her friends. Without a moment's thought the guys jumped in, each making a splash of their own. "There's something really big in here."

Suddenly a giant, vaguely seahorse looking fiend jumped out of the word. Giant claws replaced its fins, and it had four tails rather then one, a cage like chest, and a giant mouth. "Well, at least you weren't kidding about the thing being big," Seph commented sarcastically, "but you didn't neglect to mention that it was an ugly bastard to boot."

"Whatever. Just kill the stupid thing!" Tidus cried, charging in with Caladbolg. As he swam he cast Hastega on the party, and Seph and Rikku quickly passed him. Wakka's ball sailed into the fiend's stomach repeatedly, its spike's breaking the bone a little more with each attack. Rikku had her giant claw thing from the ravine out, and despite its weight she was still faster then anyone else in the fight, the fiend included. She swam circles around it, punching it from time to time, but more often then not sticking bombs through he holes in its chest, and much to the confusion of everyone else they stuck to it no matter how hard the giant fiend thrashed. Tidus repeatedly hacked away at the right claw, while Seph tore the left one apart with four of his pendulums.

"Is it me, or is he not getting any weaker?" Rikku asked when she broke away from combat to catch her breath.

"It would certainly appear that's the case." Seph admitted. "But it doesn't make much sense that it's taking so long to die. It's really irritating me."

"So do something about it!" Tidus yelled.

"Tidus, Rikku, get away from it for a minute. I'm gonna need you to protect me while I do this." Seph told them, a slight smile on his face. 'Didn't expect to have to use this against a fiend. But then again, this isn't your average fiend, and his is too important to risk losing.' He brought his right hand up in front of him, and the water around him began to swirl oddly. Slowly the odd swirling expanded until it formed in entire circle around the fiend. "Heh, let's see how you like this! Special Technique One: Water Clones of Death!" When he shouted fifteen copies of him appeared in a ring around the fiend.

"What in the name of forbidden machina?" Rikku cried in surprise as each clone, plus the real Seph, dropped all 40 of their pendulums.

"Well, shall we?" They asked as one as 600 pendulums assaulted it, shredding it to pieces almost instantly. "Well, I guess that's that." Seph said as the clones disappeared from the gore filled water.

"What the hell are you?" Rikku asked in a horrified voice.

Seph gave her an exhausted smile, "I'm the worlds number one hit man. Now you're beginning to understand why, aren't you? Afraid yet, 'cause I'll come for all of you eventually." Rikku shivered and he closed his eyes and drifted to the surface. 'Too bad that technique takes up so much energy. I'd forgotten how exhausting it was.' He heard the click of a lock followed by the sound of it hitting the ground and his smile grew a little. 'At least I took care of that massive fiend.' Something grabbed his arm and when he glanced over he saw Rikku pulling him to the surface. When they broke surface they just floated there for a while before anyone bothered to call for Cid to drop the others off.

"What happened to you, Seph?" Matt teased. "You look like hell."

"Yeah well. That happens from time to time, you know?" He replied in his normal tone. "Let's just get this over with. I don't like this place."

"Well talk to Rae about it. She's the only one that knows where we're supposed to be going." Everyone looked at the second Summoner of the group.

"Ok, ok, I get the point. Follow me. And anyone who isn't a pretty good swimmer better use a blitzing capsule. It's a bit of a swim. Actually, everyone but Seph should use once, since he's the god of water and all." Everyone did as she said and jumped into the water. She swam to the far side of the area that Rikku, Tidus, Seph, and Wakka had fought the massive fiend in, and revealed an old door that was overgrown with moss. Without stopping she pushed the door open and began making her way inside. After nearly ten minutes of swimming through dark, twisting tunnels they came out in a room with six statues. "Ok everyone, pick a statue that you like and touch it. That'll unlock the Fayth."

"Unlock the Fayth?" Yuna asked as she touched the nearest statue.

"Yeah, Anima's really powerful, so Seymour put a lock on it after he got it. That's why he got the items. He's the one that made them into the keys to unlocking Anima's Fayth."

"Bastard. First he refuses to die, now he made us run all the way back to Zanarkand. Always causing us so much work." Matt complained as the group fanned out and touched the six statues. Each one glowed for a second after being touched, and when they all stopped the door at the far end of the room opened. The group walked inside silently and Yuna began to pray. After a few seconds the Fayth appeared.

"It's been a while, Rae. I'm glad to see you are still among the living." Rae shrugged.

"I made it to Zanarkand, but I couldn't kill someone just to get the Final Aeon. I'm sure you understand." The Al Bhed replied.

"You're Seymour's mom!" Everyone looked at Matt oddly. "Remember, she was with Seymour when we saw him in the dome in Zanarkand."

"Hey, that's right!" The Fayth turned to Yuna.

"If I give you my Aeon, will you stop my son? He has become corrupted by the darkness known as Sin. It consumes his thoughts. My Aeon was not enough power for him, so he turned to Sin, the only thing more powerful then Anima aside from the Final Aeon itself." The Fayth explained. "If you promise to rid Spira of my son, and Sin, then I will give you my Aeon."

"I will." Yuna agreed. The Fayth smiled thankfully before floating into Yuna. After a few seconds Yuna stood up and motioned for them to leave. They swam down the long tunnel again and when they reached the surface they found Cid waiting for them.

"Well, to what do we owe this honor?" Matt wondered aloud as they boarded the ship. When they walked onto the bridge he got his answer. Ryan was waiting for them, coffee in hand, eye twitching slightly.

"Damn it Ryan! How many times must I tell you to get that eye checked!" Andy yelled before anyone could say anything.

"Apparently many more…" Ryan muttered.

"So, when did you wake up?" Seph asked. "You've missed out on a hell of a lot of fun."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Came the muttered reply. "But not the omega ruins."

"Now how the hell did ya know that?" Cid demanded. "Ya just woke up for Yevon's sake!"

"Well, I know that I would've gotten all the legendary weapons before going there. And I gave the translation to Matt specifically because we think so much alike it's more--"

"Then a little scary?" Matt finished much to everyone's surprise.

"Yeah, exactly. And I know that even though you're a lazy bum, like me, you wouldn't walk into something like the omega ruins without being almost positive that he could win. Besides, he knows I'd kick his ass if he went there without me."

"How does he know that?" Seph asked curiously.

Matt laughed. "He warned me in the translation." He told the assassin. Seph looked at him like he was insane so he pulled out the last page of the translation. "Matt, if you go to the omega ruins without me, you'll think Lusniec got off easy."

"Wow." Seph muttered as Ryan yawned. "I must admit, that's kind of scary."

"Yeah well. I do only what I can."

"I thought that was you," Seph turned to Matt who shook his head.

"Nope, both of us. We think almost exactly alike. Like we said before--"

"It's more then a little scary." This time Ryan finished the sentence. "Anyway, we've got two immensely powerful fiends to kill, right?"

"Don't forget cutting down all the fiends just to get to them." Andy's comment drew a suspicious look from the others from earth. "What? I did manage to get glimpses of it when Matt was reading."

"Oh." Everyone on the bridge said as one. "Well then, let's have those coordinates!" Cid said cheerfully. "Otherwise we may never get out of here."

"Right." Ryan agreed as Matt gave Cid the coordinates. He felt arms wrap around his waste as he started to pour another cup of coffee.

"Morning sleepy head." Rikku teased as he handed her the first cup he'd poured.

"Eh, I usually don't sleep this late, you know that." Cid raised an eyebrow at the comment but remained silent. "Besides, I was still awake when you guys left to get the second weapon."

"Really?" Ryan nodded. "Why's that?"

"Well, I'd gotten to sleep a few times before that, but I kept having nightmares." Rikku felt Ryan shudder.

"What were they about?"

"Lusniec." Rikku couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, you weren't the one he was in love with and trying to kill. Besides, before you got there he kissed me." Again Ryan shivered, this time visibly.

"Hey, that's not fair. Doesn't he know you're mine?"

"Guess not."

"Well if you two love birds aren't too busy we're almost there." Cid told them. "We put everything we had into getting there, so if you and your friends blow this, I'll kick all your asses when I get to the Farplane. Got that?"

"Well then, I guess it's time to go to work." Seph said in a voice that rivaled Tidus' normal enthusiasm.

"You feeling ok?" Rae asked, noting the change instantly.

"I've been here before. Ten years ago, when I first became an assassin. Only, back then, I wasn't strong enough to do anything to any of the fiends in here. I wanna see how far I've come since then." Without waiting Seph dashed through the airship and charged into the ruins.

"Well, that's not very… Seph like." Ryan commented as the rest of the group walked out.

"That's disgusting." Yuna whispered when they entered the cave. The high walls were covered in blood, and puddles of water and a long line of pyreflies illuminated Seph's path.

"Geez, who does he think he is, Ryan?" Matt muttered. "He's certainly moving fast enough, that's for sure." As the group moved deeper into the cave Seph's trail of death grew larger and more recent until they actually came across the assassin. He was covered in wounds and barely standing. The fiend that he was fighting was giant and silver, with four legs, a tail, and a human upper-body, minus two arms.

"Well, I guess Omega was a little tougher then Seph thought." Lulu's voice held a hint of amusement.

"That's not Omega, it is Ultima, Omega's shadow." Auron told them.

"Well then, let's kill the shadow and get to the real fight." Ryan muttered as he drew Wind Cutter. "Seph, move. I've been dying to try this out." Seph raised and eyebrow as Ryan cut his thumb on Wind Cutter's edge. He ran the injured finger along the entire blade. "Well, let's see the difference between my old Wind Cutter, and the actual Wind Cutter!" As he slashed the blade down a red beam came off of it, this time thick enough for it to be visible to him. He watched with grim satisfaction as it slammed into Ultima Weapon, which roared in pain as it engulfed him in a tornado of murdering wind.

"Wow, that's… a little different." Matt admitted. 'But if that's the real Wind Cutter, then why didn't Ryan get hit by the tornado part when Lusniec used it?'

"Well, now that we've dealt with that bastard, let's find Omega." The eagerness in Seph's eyes sent shivers down the spines of everyone but Auron and Kimahri. He took up the lead, and they quickly found themselves outside the cave. The new area had several platforms, and each time they came to one Seph killed the fiend there before anyone else could even draw a weapon. After the last platform they entered another cave, only this one had no tunnels. It had a high ceiling, and smooth walls. The only remarkable thing about it was the massive, black fiend that was leaning back on two legs, watching them with bright red eyes. Its legs were almost as big as tree trunks, and it stood well over 20 feet tall. Its wings were at least ten feet long and it had two massive arms. Its hands had gauntlet like protectors over them, and it had two massive bones that had decorative chains hanging off them.

"This is gonna hurt…" Ryan muttered in awe as the massive creature's wings started to glow. "Oh damn, not again." Memories of the fiend they'd fought just before coming to Zanarkand. This time the beams fired straight at them, giving them less time to scatter then they'd had before. The ground exploded beneath them as they tried to jump out of the way, further isolating each fighter.

'Bastard.' Seph thought as he skidded to a sitting stop. He glanced up and barely had time to roll out of the way of a tree-trunk sized foot trying to crush him. As he shielded himself from a wave of airborne rock he managed to watch Auron cut off one of the fiends fingers before getting knocked away by its other arm. Then Omega launched a gray ball at Auron, knocking the sword master to the ground. He hit the ground and his new sword spun across the room leaving him completely defenseless as Omega swung another arm at him. At the last minute Matt jumped in the way, nearly cutting the massive arm in two with a single attack from Lightning Edge. The massive fiend roared in pain and backhanded Matt halfway across the room. It's chest opened up while Matt was in mid air, and by the time he hit the wall more then thirty little balls of energy were flying towards him.

"Oh shit." He muttered before pushing off of the wall. For a second he seemed to disappear in the massive amount of dust, but when he reappeared he had another ball of lightning in his hand. Seph marveled at the sound it gave off, something akin to a lot of birds chirping in unison as far as he could tell. As Matt charged the giant fiend it's chest opened up and launched out another burst of energy balls. With speed that would have given Ryan a run for his money he swerved in and out of the deadly checkerboard like pattern. "Go to hell!" He drove up to his elbow into Omega's chest and pushed off, landing right next to Lightning Edge.

Rikku was the next to act, lobbing several grenades into the spot Matt had just opened with expert aim. When they exploded they sent hundreds of tiny pieces of armor out into the group. Suddenly Bahamut and Anime appeared on either side of the giant fiend.

"Anima, Oblivion!" The ground changed into the purple and black color of Anima's world as Omega began to sink into it. The sound of Omega roaring in pain gave the entire group shivers, particularly Andy, Auron, and Matt. When it surfaced again the massive fiend was favoring its right leg, and the arm Matt had nearly taken off was completely gone now, slowly bleeding the life out of Omega.

"Bahamut, Mega Flare!" The Aeon instantly obeyed Yuna's order, flipping onto its back as it began to power up. Omega turned its head towards Bahamut as its own wings started to glow.

"Everyone, stall for Bahamut!" Auron yelled. He'd retrieved his sword and was already charging the massive fiend. As he charged a pair of phoenix flew past him, slamming into Omega and exploding with enough force to knock it back several feet. Next came a Chinese dragon that wrapped itself around Omega's legs. When Omega bent down to pry the water dragon off Ryan and Rikku started to throw grenades at it from behind while Lulu assaulted it with spells and Wakka put World Champion to good use.

"Look out!" Yuna's warning barely came in time for Tidus, Auron, and Kimahri to jump out of the way before Bahamut fired its ultimate attack. For a few seconds the entire group held its breath, but when the smoke cleared only pyreflies remained of the powerful fiend.

"Oh my god, thank you." Matt muttered as he let himself collapse to the ground. Slowly Yuna stepped forward, and everyone quietly watched as she performed the Sending.

"Omega was once a priest of Yevon." Lulu explained. "He was cast out of the order, and his hatred for Yevon changed him from a man into what we just fought."

"Wow, talk about a grudge." Lulu nodded at Seph's comment.

"Yes, one that lasted several hundred years." Yuna finished up the Sending and led the group back through the twisting ruins. They called for Cid who greeted them with a grim face.

"It's time, ain't it?" Yuna nodded quietly. Cid laughed and everyone from Spira looked at him like he was insane. "The final showdown with Sin. I say we get this show on the road!"

"Yu Yevon is hiding somewhere inside Sin, and we're gonna find him." Tidus declared in a determined voice.

"Well, that sounds pretty simple." Cid's voice showed that he approved of the idea.

"Hey! Simple's the way you like it, right?" Cid's grin widened at the comment.

"You got that right."

"Pops! I'm counting on you!" Rikku added.

"Right, got you covered!" Cid reached over a flicked a few switches. Immediately the Hymn started to play out of the speakers of the Airship. "How's that?"

"Right on!" Rikku congratulated her father.

"A singing ship in the sky…" Lulu commented quietly.

"I hope everyone got the message" Wakka added in nervously.

Suddenly the pilot turned to them, pointing out the window. He managed only one word, which came out as a nervous scream, "Sin!"

---

well now, 45 pages just to get the legendary weapons and kill omega. that's why this chapter took so long too, it's a lot longer then normal. and don't forget people, in the epilouge i'll be posting the results of the favorite character poll, so tell me who you like! i'm keeping every e-mail that has a vote in it, so don't bother to vote twice! and don't forget to review!