The day dragged on, incessantly long, and the Gullwing girls couldn't wait for night to arrive. None of them had bothered to tell anyone else what they were up to. It was dusk. The three of them were on the bridge with Brother, Buddy and Shinra. Rikku was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, looking bored. Yuna was pacing back and forth so quickly that she was going to wear a hole in the floor. Paine was leaning against the wall, watching and waiting as the sun went down. As the last rays disappeared beneath the horizon, Yuna smiled.
"Soon, girls."
"What's soon?" Shinra asked, jumping at the chance to find out why the girls were all so strangely quiet. Rikku just shook her head in response. Paine didn't bother to answer; Shinra hadn't been expecting much of an answer from her. Yuna didn't even seem to hear him. Shinra sighed and went back to his work. Rikku was pouting. Yuna yawned and smiled, getting all the more excited and all the more tired very suddenly. Paine looked like she had to work to keep her eyes open. Yuna yawned again as Rikku stretched out on the floor and mumbled something about a nap. Paine smiled, walking over to Yuna and whispering.
"Looks like we're on our way to Zanarkand already." However, Yuna had fallen asleep standing up and was collapsing to the floor. Paine followed moments later. It was Buddy who heard the faint thumps. He saw the three of them lying on the floor, fast asleep.
"Hey Brother, Shinra. What happened to the girls?"
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Kairi was in complete darkness. Everything was black. However, there had to be some sort of light source, because when she looked down, she could see her clothes, her tattoo, and her bare feet. She frowned. I need shoes. she decided, taking a few steps forward. She had to go forward. There was no going back.
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Yuna opened her eyes and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the scene around her. She was in Zanarkand, she knew. She recognized it instantly from all the times she'd been there over the last few years. Only, it was so much different. The buildings were in top condition, not in ruins. There were lights everywhere, so many that they blocked out even the stars. The noise was immense and there were people everywhere. Rikku and Paine were standing beside her, just as surprised. The three of them were in the middle of a crowd standing outside the stadium. Yuna's heart leapt into her throat. She knew very well that Tidus played for the Zanarkand Abes.
"Maybe he's playing!" she said excitedly. Apparently the same thought had occurred to Rikku, who was nodding vigorously as she spoke. Paine seemed to be slightly confused, but did well in hiding it. The barrier that kept the people outside the stadium disappeared, and the crowd flooded into the huge marble coliseum. The three girls wandered the halls, pretending they knew where they were going. Yuna bit her lip, looking around.
"So, where do we go?" she asked as they came to another dead end. Paine glanced around.
"There." she decided, picking out a random door. Rikku and Yuna shrugged, not having any better ideas, and followed the warrior to the doorway. As they opened the door, the sounds of deafening cheering burst through. Yuna giggled in sheer excitement, and pushed through the door. Paine raised her eyebrows at the usually passive Yuna and followed.
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Tidus smiled, ready for the game to begin. It was one of the biggest of the season; the two best teams in the league, competing for the top position. He was sitting in darkness, blitzball at his side, waiting. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he was reminded greatly of the day he dreamt of the destruction of Zanarkand, he'd dreamt fighting along side Rikku, he'd dreamt finding Besaid, he'd dreamt of Yuna. Two years ago, after his 'death' in Spira, he'd woken up in a hospital room. He had found out later that he'd hit his head during the blitzball game and went unconscious. He'd been out for almost two days. He'd dreamt up the entire pilgrimage in two days. When he first woke up, the doctors had thought him delirious, going on about Sin, Yuna and Spira. He'd found it hard to believe that something so vivid as Spira, as Sin, as Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, Kimhari and especially Yuna could have been a dream. He didn't know how he could have let himself fall in love with a dream. Even worse, he had never gotten over her. He still thought about her all the time. He was pulled back to reality as the lights flashed back on. Standing, he signaled to his teammates and they stepped into the light.
"And the game begins..." he muttered, entering the spherepool. Almost instantly the buzzer went and the game began. It went well. The Abes were winning by far. Was there ever any doubt? Tidus thought, knocking an opposing player clear out of the spherepool. And yet… it was all so familiar. For a moment he could have sworn he saw a certain mismatch eyed girl in the crowd looking up at him. He shook his head. Stop thinking about her!! He ordered himself. The ball came flying toward him, just above his head. He launched himself upward, knocking the blitzball out of the pool. He kicked himself up after it, flying out of the water. As he kicked it, the buzzer signaling a goal sounded and relief flooded through him. He had almost been expected to see the city burning and Sin rising out of the water again. As he landed gracefully back in the water, he sighed, mentally kicking himself. Stop being so stupidly paranoid! It was just a dream and I have to deal with it! It was all just a dream! Get over it! He told himself, swimming viciously toward the net.
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The game finished, and the Gullwing girls were searching high and low for a way into the locker rooms to find Tidus. At last, they found it, but there were two men standing guard at the door. A few people were loitering around, hoping to slip past the men when they weren't looking. The gilrs tried a much more direct approach. Yuna walked forward and headed straight for the door, ignoring the men completely. One of them stepped infront of her, looking as aggressive as possible.
"Hey, no one's allowed in there without a pass." He said gruffly. Yuna blinked at him.
"I had my pass a moment ago, I don't know where it went!" She cried, emphatically searching her pockets and trying to look as much like a damsel in distress as possible (though such proved to be hard as a woman who saved the world twice is anything but a damsel in distress). The man rolled his eyes.
"Nice try; that's not the first time I've heard that lie before." He said, grabbing Yuna's arm roughly and shoving her away.
"This is my pass." Paine said angrily, pointing her sword at him. Rikku looked alarmed, not sure as to whether she should follow Paine's lead or not. The man had his gun out now, pointing it directly at Paine. Yuna grabbed Paine's shoulder.
"Don't." she said resignedly.
"What about Tidus?" Paine and Rikku asked at the same time.
"We'll figure something out." Yuna replied vaguely.
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Kairi stumbled through the darkness, wondering where she was, and trying not to wonder whether she ever get out again. It seemed as if she'd be wondering aimlessly forever. Then, she started to see something strange hidden in the shadows. From where she was, it looked like a long, glowing string laid pin straight along the ground. She approached it curiously, but cautiously. As she got closer, she came to realize that it wasn't a solid line, it was a number of glowing blocks, one after the other, seeming to go on forever in both directions. She finally came up beside it, and realized that it wasn't a single block above and below a single block, but there were sometimes a few blocks side by side. She could also see that each block was a different colour. She knelt down and took a closer look at one of the blocks. Apprehensively, she reached out to pick one yellow one up. She touched it quickly and drew her hand away, half expecting it to burn her. When it didn't, she picked it up carefully, as if she was afraid she would break it. The glowing began to fade, and she saw a name she didn't recognize inscribed into the top of it: Bellerophon. She placed it back down, and it began to glow again. As she looked down the endless line of named blocks, she began to wonder what these names were for. Not far off, one set of blocks caught her eye. Most sets of blocks consisted of one, two or three blocks, occasionally even five or six. One set caught her eye though, because it had a much greater number of blocks than any of the others she could see. As she wandered toward it, She was just able to read some of the other names on the blocks: Zaon, Peppita, Caim, Furiae, Inuart. When she reached the largest group of blocks, she studied each of them, without picking any of them up.
"Gippal…Baralai…Paine…LeBlanc…" she read out loud, slowly. Her voice caught in her throat as she snatched one of them into her hands, looking closely at it. She traced the engraved letters with her fingertips, her heart beating out of her chest. "Kairi. That's me…" she murmured, placing the block back down with trembling hands. She stared at it a moment longer, before forcing herself to look to the next block. She could feel a presence next to her, but she was in such shock that her mind didn't register it. Her hands were still trembling furiously as she picked up the next block, knowing another distant name might help bring her back to normality. What she got was exactly the opposite. "Sora! It says Sora!" she cried, frustrated at her own misunderstanding. She turned to the shadowy figure standing next to her and held the block out to it. "What does this mean?!" she asked, standing up. As she did so, she was able to see the face of the person. Stumbling backwards, she couldn't stop herself from screaming as the shock raced through her and her heart nearly shattered. This was too much.
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w00t! It's a cliffy! Dontcha all love me? Anyways, in case you didn't realize, Bellerophon is the man who rode Pegasus in Greek mythology, Zaon was Yunalesca's guardian, Peppita is a character from Star Ocean and the others are all from Drakengard. Tell me what you think so far! Review please please please please!