I'm thinking that if I can count (which isn't guaranteed to be true) we've got 2 chappies left! Including this one! AND I JUST CAME UP WITH A KICK ASS TWIST FOR NEXT CHAPPIE! YES! Can't wait! Of course, once the fic is done, be sure to check back for my epilogue. Believe me it will be worth it! Bwahahahaha!

Guys! I'm kinda disappointed! I got only 2 reviews for last chappie! I think the lowest before this was like 5. The fic's nearing it's finish, I was expecting a little more than that/ I so definitely am going to keep writing because I don't write just to get reviews, but getting a few more reviews would be kind of encouraging! They do help inspire me o get the next chappie up faster! Hopefully I'll see more this chappie then, hm? You know, with it being the second to last chappie and all…

………………………………

Walking through the streets of Geo, Gippal scratched his head.

"I still don't get the whole Pearl-Blackpearl thing." He complained.

"I became Pearl when Alexandra erased my memory, but the impending conflict has unlocked my memories of Blackpearl and so I become Blackpearl in battle now." Pearl answered. Gippal nodded, understanding only a little bit better, but still better nonetheless. Reaching the huge Café Square, they found a disturbance. The Café Square was a huge patio with many little cafes lining the perimeter. In the middle, a group of students were yelling at each other.

"You knocked him over!"

"I did not! You did it!"

"No I didn't! You believe me, don't you Mr. Nunuzac?" One student asked, looking at the ground. An angry shout all send them scuttling away. On the ground, a large disk was lying flat. There was an explosion of energy and the disk was knocked onto its side.

"I don't care who knocked me over! None of you should be out here! Return to the school at once and report to me for detention after every class for the next week!" A voice bellowed. The students in the square, even those not involved in the argument, scattered. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"The circle can talk!" She said in awe. It turned to face her.

"Of course I can talk! I am the great mage Nunuzac! It would be ludicrous to expect any less!" It shouted at her indignately. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Great mage? You kinda look like stained glass." He answered. If it was ever possible for an expressionless circle to look angry, this one did now. Before he could explode, he noticed Pearl.

"You there. Jumi. I'm surprised you're not dead." It said snottily. Pearl, hands on her hips, glared at him.

"Well, I'm not, no thanks to you. If you'd looked better after Esmeralda, we wouldn't have had to go hunting for her."

"That lump of dirt? She's lucky I look after her at all. Mind you, you're no better. You and that boyfriend of yours, you're all worthless lumps of dirt." It said, disgusted. Pearl took a step towards him. She straightened up, and then even grew taller. As if a shadow was passing over her white dress, it became grey, and then black. Her long curly blonde hair grew longer, and her white pearl core turned cloudy, dark, and then became black. She was now holding a long staff in her hand, with a huge mother-of-pearl stone at the top that served as a hammer, which she was waving menacingly.

"Never insult the Jumi in front of me." She ordered. "You don't look after her at all. Esmeralda's dead, her core stolen by Sandra. You're lucky I don't smash that disk and trap you in the otherworld for calling her a lump of dirt." (Nunuzac was a mage who was trapped in another dimension when he summoned a wyrm that was too powerful for him to handle, so all that's left of him on Fa'Diel is his magic circle). Nunuzac laughed her off, though his nerves, however well covered, could still be heard.

"You are all lumps of dirt. Those cores of yours used to hold value. Now they carry next to no mana. What value have they now?"

"We blocked the mana from flowing in them because you stupid human mages were killing us for them!" She answered.

"Well, if you'd done a better job of using the mana you had, we may have allied with you instead of attacking you. I take back what I said. You aren't just worthless lumps of dirt now, you always have been." He told her. Blackpearl growled at him.

"Lumps of dirt? That's plural. There's only one of us left. Me. And that means I have no one of my own kind left to make me feel guilty about killing you." She answered coldly.

"Hm. Only one left eh? Well, that's interesting." With that uncaring tone, Nunuzac left the square heading back towards the Academy. Blackpearl slammed her hammer into the ground angrily. Her angry expression suddenly turned sad, and she morphed back into Pearl. Blinking, she looked around.

"What happened to that circle? What did I do?" She asked, seeing the look on the faces of the others. Paine smiled amusedly.

"You told him off and threatened to kill him a couple of times. Then he got scared of you and ran off back to the Academy." She answered, sounding impressed. Pearl shook her head.

"But I wouldn't kill anyone." She said slowly. Baralai shrugged.

"Maybe you wouldn't. But I don't doubt that Blackpearl would."

…………….

They reached the edge of the city and placed the Jumi Staff. Before them towered a huge tiered city, the stone that made up the walls a shining grey shade, hinting almost at purple or blue, and encrusted with jewels. Which rather befits a city of Jumi. Yuna decided, awed by the sight of it. The only thing was, the entire city was completely deserted, though they supposed that shouldn't come as a surprise; there was only one Jumi left, and she was standing at the gates with them. The gates were a marble of every different kind of precious stone imaginable, clear in places and opaque in others. Pushing the door open, they stepped inside and found their breath taken from them once again. There was a road that led all the way around the perimeter of the city, made of cobblestone, though the occasional cobblestone was some sort of jewel. The other side of the road was lined with empty houses and shops, though there didn't appear to be any way to go further into the city. Wandering down the road in awe, Yuna suddenly stopped walking, an important realization coming to her.

"Pearl! When you came to the house, you were crying! Florina said she was the only Jumi who could cry!" She said, spinning to face Pearl. She stopped, surprise overcoming the Jumi girl. She paused.

"I, I guess that means I'm next in line to be the Great Guardian. After a while, the Great Guardian is replaced, so that they won't give away too much of their life. The new one is picked when he or she cries for the first time. That's me then." She said with a quick smile. No one else was sure what to do. Was being the Great Guardian a good thing or a bad thing? Pearl's smile widened. "What an honour!" She cried, grinning. Her expression changed suddenly and she pointed something out a little ways away.

"That must be the gate into the next tier of the city!" She stated. They looked rather surprised.

"Haven't you been here before?" Tidus asked. Pearl shook her head.

"When I was living here, I was Blackpearl. I haven't been here since Alexandra erased my memory." She answered, walking up the gate. There were two pedestals sitting in front of it, and the doors were firmly shut. She inspected it for a moment, then nodded.

"I remember this, sort of. There should be jewels hidden somewhere in this tier that we can place on the pedestals that will make the door open." She said firmly. Rikku sighed.

"We have to search the whole place?" she whined. Kairi was smiling knowingly at Sora. He looked unsure, but remembering what she'd said to him earlier about having faith, he nodded. Aiming his Keyblade at the door, he was a bit surprised and very pleased as it flung open. Everyone else stared in surprise. Sora grinned.

"That makes things lots easier!" He stated. There were stairs leading up the to next tier of the city. Coming bounding down them were two Jewel Beasts, mummy-like creatures with innumerable gems folded into their wraps. Tidus sighed, lifting his Brotherhood into the air.

"Looks like Sandra left us a little gift. In congratulations for getting the gate open maybe?" He asked, striking at one of them. He hit what he thought was a bullseye, but his sword cut into the wrappings and slid off, hitting a gemstone. Kairi was having the same difficulties with her claws. Yuna's and Gippal's bullets were falling to the ground, useless. Paine and Sora were both helpless with their swords. Baralai's staff wasn't doing much better. Rikku transformed into the Blackmage dressphere.

"You think the mummies are flammable?" She asked, smiling slyly. Paine nodded, smiling herself.

"As I recall, perfumes are very explosive." She noted. "And I think it's habit to perfume mummies…" She continued, encouraging Rikku to try. With two fluid waves of her staff, both Jewel Beasts were burning rapidly. Within but moments, all that was left of them were two piles of ashes full of charred gems. Gippal grinned.

"That was brilliant….so you do have a brain in that pretty head of yours then." He noted casually. Rikku opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it again, unsure of whether to get mad because he called her brainless or start gushing because he called her pretty. Gippal saw the look of confusion on her face and started to laugh. Making into the next tier of the city, they found another road running around the perimeter of the tier, almost exactly the same as the one before, with another set of gates, though this time with four pedestals for the jewels instead of one. Pearl shaded her eyes from the sun and looked up.

"The next tier is the last one, the Royal Quarter." She stated. Tidus scratched his head.

"Doesn't quarter mean there's supposed to be four?" He asked. Rikku shrugged at him. Pearl nodded.

"There used to be four. The fourth one was the Palace Quarter, but the walls that separated the Palace from the Royal Quarter are gone, so they were just incorporated into one." She answered, while Sora opened the gate. Rikku, Yuna and Paine were all standing at the ready in front of the gates. It swung open, and the three of them immediately filled the gateway and stairway with fire. Letting the flames settle, they found that there had been at least ten Jewel Beasts waiting for them, all of which were now just piles of ashes and gems. Kairi inspected the ashes.

"Looks like she really doesn't want us getting up here." She noted. Yuna nodded in agreement, though she looked rather confused.

"Looks like it, but why? I thought that she would try to lure us inside if anything. Wouldn't she be after Pearl?" She asked. Kairi scratched her head and nodded. Sora shrugged.

"Well, only one way to find out what she's up to." he stated, starting the climb up the stairs. He was followed, and they found themselves in the last quarter of the city. This time, the outside wall was the one lined with shops and houses, though these were all very high-end shops and large houses, reserved for the Jumi that were a part of the aristocracy, the Jumi's whose cores were of the highest value. In the center was what used to be a wide and very beautiful garden, full of life, though all that was left now was the statues, dry fountains and stone gardens. And in the center of that was the Palace. By no means large, it still inspired awe, with its detailed architecture and the way the marble shone in the sun. The huge gates leading inside were locked shut, but were no problem for Sora's Keyblade. Inside, they found a huge throne room, with none other than Sandra sitting on it. Pearl stalked up to her, changing into Blackpearl with every step. Sandra noticed her and smiled.

"Hello, Lady Blackpearl. I was expecting you." She tossed an emerald, Esmeralda's core, into the air and chuckled. A huge beast that looked like a big dragon's head floated down out of the vaulted ceiling. Blackpearl and the others stared at it. Alexandra began to laugh. "This is the Lord of Jewels. He eats Jumi cores. Once he's eaten a thousand, he will be able to restore Florina." She stated, tossing the Emerald to it. Its gaping mouth opened, and swallowed it whole. Blackpearl slammed her hammer into the ground.

"Florina doesn't want to be restored! She doesn't want to be locked in a box forever either! What she wants is to be able to restore the Jumi you killed before she has to step down from the position of Great Guardian!" She shouted. Alexandra stood up and stared down at Blackpearl.

"How do you know what she wants?" She asked, fuming. Blackpearl crossed her arms.

"I asked her. Novel idea, no?" She asked, clearly mocking. Alexandra narrowed her eyes.

"What a person wants isn't always what's best for them! I'm doing what's best for Florina!" She answered defensively.

"By killing her and your own people? Do you actually think the end justifies the means when it involves wiping out an entire race?" Blackpearl asked, infuriated. Alexandra sat back down on the throne.

"I'm sick of arguing with you! Lord of Jewels! Dispose of them!" She ordered. With that, the monsterous head bore down on Blackpearl, who ducked out of the way, stumbling back towards the others. Yuna, Rikku and Paine were all still in their Black Mage spheres, and all began shooting random magics at the beast. Kairi shot her disk at it. It seemed to be flying right at it, with perfect aim, but she gaped as the creature opened its mouth and swallowed the disk whole. Everyone paused for a moment in surprise. There was a moment of almost complete silence, and then the Lord of Jewels began to roar in pain, thrashing about. Blackpearl, seizing the chance, drove her hammer down on its head. It dropped to the ground with a crash, supposedly dead. Horrified, Alexandra ran down from the throne and inspected the monster.

"It's alive." She murmured. Blackpearl rolled her eyes.

"It'll be dead in a few moments. It won't survive having Kairi's disk in its stomach." She stated uncaringly. Gippal nodded.

"Not to mention you probably did major damage to what little brains it had in the first place." He said, smirking. Alexandra stood up and glared at Blackpearl.

"You don't realize what you've done! I'm not going to let you ruin all my work!" She shouted. "All he needs is one more core…"

"I'll kill you before you get mine." Blackpearl said threateningly, brandishing her hammer. Alexandra almost laughed aloud.

"My Lady Blackpearl, if I have no other respect for you, I still respect your skills in battle. I won't fight you, I know I can't win. But there are three cores left." She answered. Blackpearl watched her warily.

"There's only mine. And Florina's, but it wouldn't serve a purpose to take hers." Blackpearl stated, wondering what Alexandra was talking about. The Alexandrite smiled mockingly.

"There's mine." She answered. With that, she pulled her own core out of her chest and threw it into the air, before dropping to the floor, dead. Blackpearl reached for it, but instead found her arm nearly bitten off by the Lord of Jewels as his huge mouth clamped around it. Suddenly and completely rejuvenated, the Lord of the Jewels 1000 rose into the air. It opened its mouth slightly, and a ball of energy began to form. The monster then spit it out and it grew rapidly as it fell towards them, almost to the point where it covered the entire floor. Paine and Blackpearl didn't make it out of the blast. Both of them were burnt and hurting, but all of them stood up, cringing with every step. Paine frowned.

"That's it. This thing is so dead." She growled before her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. Baralai walked over and gave her a powerful potion.

"Wouldn't want you to miss all the fun." He stated. He watched her, and paused when she didn't do anything. "Hurry up, or you might." He added, fending off one of the Lord of Jewels' attacks. Sora and Tidus were both slashing helplessly in the air towards the Lord of Jewels, but neither could reach it. Getting and idea, Sora threw his Keyblade dead at what he supposed was the creature's stomach. It drove in, but the beast didn't seem to notice. He frowned. Tidus tried next, but only found that the Lord of Jewels swallowed his Brotherhood.

"Hey! I'm gonna kill you for that!" He shouted angrily, shaking his fists. Sora saw what had happened, which gave him an idea.

"Rikku! You got bombs?" He asked, sidestepping a flurry of stones being shot down at him. Rikku nodded.

"Whatcha got in mind?" She asked in reply. Sora grinned evilly.

"Throw them at him." He answered, finding haven from the attacks behind Kairi, Yuna and Gippal, none of whom were having much luck on the offensive and were resigned to defending themselves against the Lord of Jewels' attacks. Rikku frowned.

"But he'll only swallow them!" She answered. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she grinned. "Hey! That's a good idea!" She said, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a huge handful of bombs, which she stuffed in Sora's hands. A moment later, she pulled out another handful and ran over to Tidus, giving them to him. After that, she pulled out two more, but those were coloured differently than the others. Sora shot her a questioning look.

"L-bombs." She answered simply. L-bombs were a nasty variety of bombs with more power that the usual kind. Tidus stared confusedly at the bombs in his hands, and then looked at Rikku, making a face as he dodged an attack and then ducked in behind Yuna, Kairi and Gippal, where Sora was.

"What do I do with these?" He asked. Sora grinned.

"Throw them."

"But he'll swallow them!"

"That's the point." Sora answered, throwing one handful. The Lord of Jewels opened his mouth and swallowed all five of them whole. Rikku threw one of hers, and again the monster swallowed it. Tidus seemed to be getting the idea and threw both of his handfuls, followed closely by Sora's, all of which were swallowed in one mouthful. Rikku threw the last of hers, and then grabbed Gippal and began to run, pulling him with her. He shouted some incomprehensible complaint and Rikku shouted "BOMBS!" With that, everyone scattered, looking for shelter from the impending blast. There was silence for a moment. No one moved, and the Lord of Jewels stopped, rather confused by everyone's sudden retreat. An explosion from with him sent him reeling, followed closely by another, then two more in succession, then a big explosion (Rikku's L-bomb) and a smaller one together. After that, they were exploding two and three at a time, until Rikku's other L-bomb exploded, taking a number of the smaller bombs with it and completely blowing up the Lord of Jewels. It rained Jumi cores. Tidus' sword landed point first in the floor, wedging itself between two stones, and Kairi's disk embedded itself in the wood of the throne. As the two of them retrieved their weapons, everyone else gathered around Yuna, who was staring down at the cores of Lapis Lazuli, Emerald, and Ruby. She bit her lip. Tidus touched her shoulder.

"I know, but don't cry." He whispered urgently. Yuna nodded.

"I'm trying." She said, her voice tight and thick with the oncoming tears. She began to blink rapidly, trying desperately to hold back her tears. Everyone caught their breath as a single droplet fell and landed silently on the floor. All eyes were on Yuna as they wondered what would happen. She didn't look well. Her skin was almost grey. Her eyes had gone dull, and her hair looked like it was going grey. All these things gradually became worse, and they watched in confusion until Rikku finally realized what was going on.

"YUNIE!" She shouted, grabbing a bottle and dumping it haphazardly over her cousin's head in her distress. Tidus caught sight of the bottle label and gasped.

"She's petrified?" He asked, horrified. Rikku stared in anticipation at her now-stone cousin. She bit her lip.

"Why isn't she getting better? THAT POTION IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE YUNIE BETTER!" She cried in alarm. Pearl, who had transformed back, frowned.

"She cried for a Jumi…I don't know what can fix her now." She said slowly. No one had seemed to notice, but the teardrop on the floor was glittering like a crystal. It caught Pearl's eye and she picked it up, gasping.

"The Teardrop Crystal…" She murmured. Holding it up, it seemed to take the light shining on it and cast it on each of the Jumi cores scattered on the floor. As if each were seeds, a human figure grew out of them. They all stared in awe as each core produced its Jumi, completely revived just as they had been before they were killed. The newly born Jumi looked around, confused.

"What's going on?" On woman dressed in white asked. Pearl cleared her throat.

"This woman cried for you, and her tears revived each of you. She gave her life to save our people. Please be thankful." With these words, Pearl's own eyes filled with tears. She rubbed them and looked sympathetically at Tidus. "I'm sorry." She murmured, touching Yuna's shoulder. Tidus nodded sadly. Rikku threw her arms around the now statue of her cousin, then pulled back.

"Yeck, why is her shoulder wet?" She asked. Pearl looked at her hands, which were soaked in her own tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" She answered, sounding rather disappointed in herself, almost as if she felt she had degraded Yuna somehow.

"Sorry? But you saved me." A quiet voice said. Blinking in surprised, Pearl spun around and came face to face with a very alive Yuna. She gaped and Yuna grinned. "You heal the Jumi by crying on their stone cores, why is it so inconceivable that you did the same thing for me?" She asked, sounding slightly perplexed.

"B-but you don't have a core." Pearl answered, saying the only thing she could think to say. Yuna made a face.

"I don't think I needed a stone core, because my whole body had turned to stone…right?" She asked, watching Pearl and waiting for the young Jumi to confirm her idea. Pearl shrugged in reply.

"I've never heard someone other than a Jumi being revived by Jumi tears." She answered. Before Yuna could answer, Rikku threw her arms around her cousin and knocked them both to the floor.

"YUNIE'S OKAY! YAY!"

"Rikku! Don't shout in my ear please!" Yuna answered, struggling to stand up with Rikku still holding on to her. Tidus gave her a hand up, pulled her into his arms and kissed her, all the while with Rikku still shouting random things in her happiness. Pearl giggled and smiled.

"I don't know how to thank you. If there's anything you ever need, don't hesitate to ask us." She said, shaking each of their hands.

"Do you know anything about the mana tree?" Baralai asked. To their surprise and delight, Pearl nodded.

"I don't know much, but I know about a sword called the Mana Sword, and it's the key to getting into the Mana Sanctuary. For a while we thought Elazul's sword might be it, but it's not. If there's anyone to ask about the Mana Tree, it would be a Sproutling. They live all over the place, you could go just about anywhere to find one. They say that they're connected to the Goddess herself, so they'd know all about it." She answered. "I hope that helps."

"Thank you so much! That helps a lot!" Kairi answered, grinning.

…………

Not too long later, the group was walking back to the house, quite exhausted from the two fights and looking to get Paine some rest and decent care for her burns. Ad they walked past the entrance to the underworld, Sora froze.

"What happened to the tombstone?" He asked, running over. In the long grasses, it looked like it had completely disappeared. Upon closer inspection however, they found it was now lying flat, and imbedded in the ground. Or, that's what it was supposed to look like. Now it was split cleanly in two and opened into a staircase leading down underground. It was a door, and a door that led into the Underworld.

"Does that mean Drakonis made it back into the world of the living?" Gippal asked, pointing his gun down the hole. Rikku started down the stairs.

"Let's go see." She answered simply. The others followed silently, though reluctant to re-enter the Underworld. At the bottom of the stairs, they found a door, which they opened. On the otherside, Sierra was standing with her hands on her hips, shouting at someone.

"Stop being so stubborn! There's a door, you just can't see it because you're not alive!"

"No there isn't! The only door cursed like that is the one that leads into the depths of the Underworld, and it can only be seen by the dead! If there was a way out of this hell I'd have found it by now!" The other person answered, though their identity was concealed by Sierra's figure.

"It wasn't here before now!" She answered, exasperated. Stepping into the room, Yuna cleared her throat. Sierra turned around and looked relieved.

"Please tell him there's a door!" She ordered. Larc walked up to them, confused.

"Where did you come from?" He asked slowly. Rikku blinked at him, surprised.

"Aren't you dead? Didn't Drakonis kill you?"

"I was dead anyways when he killed me. It wasn't a big deal, all it meant was I had to be Baptized again." He answered. "Tell me about this door."

"It's right there." Tidus told him pointing. Larc blinked.

"You're all crazy. There's no door there." He told them, shaking his head. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"That's what Sierra said when we dragged her through the door to the depths of the Underworld." She answered. Then she blinked. "Wait, how come if all you wanted was to stay in the land of the living you didn't just stay up there when Drakonis sent you?"

"Because I was connected to him with a bond broken only by death. I had to return, I had no choice in the matter." He answered. "But, he killed me, so I'm not his dragoon anymore. If I could get back into the land of the living, I would be able to rejoin Sierra as a dragoon of the White Dragon." He stated. At that, Tidus and Sora both grabbed him by the arms and started to drag him towards the wall.

"Come on! You'll thank us when this is all over!" Sora said, puffing with exertion as he pulled the struggling Larc. Sierra began to push him from behind. Kairi was walking ahead of them, and she stepped through the doorway. Larc blinked, seeing her disappear into the wall, and shook Sora and Tidus off.

"Here goes nothing…" he grumbled, bracing himself and running at the wall. He didn't hit it as he was expecting to, and began stumbling up a set of stairs while Kairi watched him amusedly. Everyone else followed, Tidus and Sora breathing heavily.

"Why didn't you just do that before?" Sora grumbled at him. For the first time, Larc actually looked rather sheepish.

"Well then I'm sorry." He answered gruffly, heading up the stairs. Taking his first step on the ground, he let out a whoop. "I'M ALIVE!" He shouted. Sierra grinned at him.

"Come on, I'll take you to see Vandise." She said, once everyone else was out of the door. They pushed it shut. She started to walk away, but stopped and looked apprehensively back at the doors. "What if Drakonis finds the door?" She asked. Kairi looked at Sora.

"Then we make sure he won't be able to get out of it. Can you lock it?" She asked. Sora shrugged.

"I dunno, never tried anything like this before. I'll give it a try though." He said, pointing his Keyblade at it and visualizing a lock on the door. In his concentration, he stuck his tongue out and Kairi bit her lip to keep from laughing at the look on his face. A ray shot from the end of his Keyblade and a lock appeared on the door.

"Well, we don't have to worry about Drakonis anymore." Sierra said, relieved and leading Larc towards the White Forest.

……………………….

Approaching the house, they saw a strange sight. The Sproutling that usually loitered around the front of the house was lying still on the ground, with two Sproutlings they'd never seen before leaning over her. Sora was the first to reach them.

"What's the matter?" He asked. One of the Sproutlings looked up at him, clearly distressed.

"We don't know! She just fell down, without warning! A Sproutling has never died before!" She cried. Sora sighed and looked over the supposedly dead Sproutling.

"She looks like she's sleeping." He answered encouragingly.

"But we tried everything to wake her! She's trapped in her sleep!" The other one told him. A bang sounded from around the back of the house.

"You two stay here and watch over her, while we go to find out what that was." He ordered, standing up and joining the others as they ran around back towards the source of the sound.