Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy characters, I own baby Chappu and Paine, and any other character's I decide to add.

Pieces of Pain

Chapter 8

Paine

"You're an Al Bed!" she cried jumping up and backing away.

The man sighed, "I won't hurt you." The man said his eyes downcast.

Paine watched him for a few seconds, "Thank you for helping me." She said dusting herself off and straightening her clothes that were torn and bloody.

It was then that she realized she hadn't changed clothes since the boat incident.

"So what are you doing here, alone?" the man asked.

"I'm…I don't know really. I have nowhere to go, and I don't know anyone. I'm on my own I guess." Paine said as she looked around for signs of any other fiends.

"You shouldn't be traveling alone, with out any way to defend yourself." The man said looking the girl over. "How would you like to travel with me?" he asked.

"With you?" Paine asked shocked.

"Yes with me." The man answered with a smirk.

"What's the catch?" Paine asked suspicious.

"No catch. I can teach you to defend yourself and you can be my assistant." He said.

"I don't even know your name or anything about you, and what is it exactly that you do?" Paine asked.

"Well my name is Fiyaw, and I protect people for money." Fiyaw answered.

"You protect people for money?" Paine asked her eyes widening.

"Yes I do." Fiyaw answered.

"Okay I'll join you, for now." Paine said.

After five years of training and protecting people together Paine began to fall for Fiyaw, even though she was only 16 and he was in his early thirties.

But they spent so much time together it had just kind of snuck up on her. She'd watch the way he battled and try to imitate him.

She did everything she could short of dancing around naked to make him notice she wasn't eleven anymore.

Her fighting skills had become elite. She could take on almost any random fiend with minimal aid from Fiyaw. She earned them a hefty sum on a regular basis.

They would have lived a very good life had they ever settled down but Fiyaw just wasn't that kind of person, he was attracted to the thrill and excitement of traveling around Spira.

She begged him to stay away from the Calm Lands she told him she wasn't ready to face it yet and he honored her request, until one of his job's offered him double his protection fee to escort them across the Calm Lands.

He asked her opinion but Paine refused to accept it and finally he said she could go with him or leave on her own. Paine finally agreed to go with him as they came with in a few feet of where her parents had died all those years ago Paine began to feel cold all over she started shaking and had to keep wiping away her tears.

Fiyaw saw her reaction but ignored it in his desire for more gil. She touched his arm and he shrugged her off. The travelers were watching them confused, but didn't say anything.

Paine fell behind a few feet and began pondering why she was still around this guy. Sure he had helped her a lot when she was younger but she didn't need him anymore and she had more then paid him back.

She stopped and turned around, her eyes wandered over the spot where she buried her parents. She turned back and caught sight of the retreating backs of the travelers and Fiyaw.

She ran to catch up with them but stopped short when she saw a greater bolt drake emerge from the shadows. Fiyaw jumped at the fiend but was knocked away by the drake's tail.

Suddenly Paine was hit in the back of the head and she blacked out.

Some time later she woke to a horrifying scene, Fiyaw was laying a few yards away broken and bloody. The travelers were strewn out over the ground torn to bits limbs torn from their sockets, heads hanging in odd angles. Paine closed her eyes to block out the images and cried silently.

Paine opened her eyes to the swirling clouds of smoke that made up her prison.

"How much more before I'm free of this place? How much more pain?" she demanded.

"Have you noticed anything different since you arrived here?" the voice asked.

"What do you mean?" Paine asked confused.

"You feel emotional pain, anger, love, fear, sadness, happiness, joy. All of these are emotions you haven't felt in years. You are making progress, you know." The voice answered. "One more memory, and you'll be whole." The voice said again.

Paine gasped, "NO please not that one! Please I don't want to relive the cave!" the voice had disappeared.