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

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SPECIAL THANKS TO: Black Eyed Mistress for being with me through every chapter and giving me reason to continue! YOU'RE WONDERFUL!

sdreamz: I'm so glad you liked it! Read the next chapter and let me know what you think!

PLUS AN EXTRA BONUS: yet another REALLY LONG chapter! Hurrah!

Pieces of Pain

Chapter 10

Paine

Paine slowly opened her eyes and gasped, the swirling clouds of darkness were gone.

"You are on the Farplane Ledge. It's been seven years since you left here. Now leave and remember tragedy should not push you away from yourself and your memories but bring you closer together." The voice whispered.

Paine slowly got to her feet and looked around, she was so happy she couldn't do anything but smile. She walked over to the center of the ledge and picked up her sword.

She was finally going home, she was finally free.

She walked to the entrance and then looked back, "Thanks mom."

She turned and left the Farplane with a new sense of purpose and a healed heart.

Nooj

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it or not." Nooj said into the Commsphere. "But we will try."

It was the twins' birthday and they were invited to stay on Besaid Island for a few days during the celebration.

They were turning eight years old but it seemed like the twins were far more mature then that, like they had a piece of their namesake's soul inside them or something.

"Noojie-Woojie we are going to go right?" Leblanc asked from behind him.

He turned and nodded "Yes we'll go."

"Wonderful! When are we leaving, love?" she asked.

"We'll leave tonight, but we're only staying for a few days." Nooj said as he turned and left the room.

Leblanc watched him go and smiled, "This will be fun."

Nooj headed up the stairs shaking his head, sometimes Leblanc drove him up a wall and back in a matter of seconds.

He entered his office, and sat down in his desk. He began flipping through papers and stopped when a sphere rolled off the desk.

He picked it up frustrated, he hadn't left a sphere on his desk. He turned it on and gasped, it was a sphere of Paine.

He gazed into it, trying to figure out when it was done when she started speaking.

(Hey Nooj, how are you? I bet your trying to figure out where and when this was taken but I have a feeling you'll never guess. So here's a hint. Go downstairs and outside your house. Then enter the inn by the entrance from the Moonflow to Guadosalam. Bye!)

Then the sphere cut off. He stood up his knees were shaking and he had a welling sense of apprehension. He put the sphere in a locked drawer and left the room.

He walked down the stairs and past Leblanc who was happily ordering Logos and Ormi around. He left the house quickly and quietly and stopped.

He closed his eyes and calmed down. Then he headed for the inn, he wasn't sure what he'd find there but he knew it was something big.

Paine

She stood in her room and smiled, it was only a matter of time before Nooj and/or Leblanc showed up and she wasn't even sure what she'd say when they did.

They had thought she had been dead for seven years. She set her sphere grid on the table beside the bed and stood her sword up next to it. Then she went into the bathroom and cleaned up.

She had just walked out of the bathroom when she heard a loud and demanding voice coming from the lobby. She smiled and walked out into the lobby with a smile. She quietly walked up behind Nooj and tapped his shoulder.

He spun around, "What?" he demanded, but when he saw her he stopped short. "Paine?"

"Hello to you too Nooj you look like you've seen a ghost." Paine said her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

"Paine is that really you?" he asked his voice incredulous and unbelieving.

"Yeah is there anyone else with a name like that or that looks like this?" Paine said with a slight laugh.

"Actually yes. Lulu's daughter." He said without thinking.

"What?" Paine said as her jaw dropped.

"Paine where have you been? You've been gone for seven years, but you don't look any different." Nooj said eyeing her suspiciously.

"That can wait, go back to the part about Lulu's daughter." Paine said her voice quiet and unbelieving.

"No that can wait, where in the hell have you been? We thought you were dead!" Nooj yelled becoming very agitated.

"I was in the Farplane." Paine answered.

"We looked on the Farplane Path you weren't there." Nooj said adamantly.

"I was in my own personal part of the Farplane, I had some stuff I had to deal with before I could come back." Paine said.

"Your own personal part? What are you talking about?" Nooj demanded.

"I don't know, that just what my mom told me." Paine answered.

"Your mom? Paine, your mom's dead." Nooj said his eyes narrowing.

"I know that but I was in the Farplane remember?" Paine said with a smirk.

Nooj gazed at her for a moment more and then he tossed his arms around her and hugged her tight.

"NOOJ!" a female voice screeched loudly.

"How dare you leave the house to be with another woman! I can't believe this! My heart is surly breaking!" Leblanc wailed dramatically.

"Leblanc, is it just me or have you gotten louder?" Paine asked as she turned to face the flailing over dramatic woman.

Leblanc stopped moving mid-flail, "Paine? PAINE!" she screamed.

She rushed the silver haired warrior and almost knocked her over.

"Paine it's you you're here, am I dreaming, no I don't think so! AHHH I can't believe it you came back from the dead!" Leblanc yelled still clinging to the girl.

"I was never dead." Paine said gasping for air.

"Hmm?" Leblanc said letting go of her and stepping back.

Suddenly she noticed something about the girl in front of her, she was still a girl.

"AHH HOW UNFAIR!" she shrieked. "You die for seven years and you still look as young as the day you died!"

"Leblanc I wasn't dead and where I was the time flowed differently. Where I was only a few days had passed." Paine said watching the woman's face display an array of emotions.

"Leblanc let's go back to the house and call Yuna." Nooj said watching the two women interact.

"What? No we'll make it a surprise. We'll take Paine with us when we got to the twins' birthday party." Leblanc said excited.

"Twins?" Paine asked. "Yes Paine and Chappu. Lulu and Wakka's kids." Leblanc said as she swept from the inn pulling Nooj and Paine along with her.

"Oh this will be SO much fun!" Leblanc said loudly as she dragged the pair into the mansion.

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(Celsie) Okay now you guys might have missed it but I hinted at the reason behind Paine Padryho's eyes and hair changing color. I hope this isn't considered a cliffy because I know how much you all hate them. (wink wink) but anyway. Let me know what ya'll think about the story and if you have any questions just put them in the review and I'll answer them on the next chapter!