Disclaimer: You do realize that I'm just gonna stop doing these, right? Of course I don't own anything, I'm a FAN. Hence the fanFICTION.

Note: This chapter will contain some reference to various mental disorders. I'm really sorry if this makes anyone uncomfortable, but it's important to the plot, and I'll understand if you stop reading now. I'm not trying to make fun of anyone whose family or friends have been diagnosed with any of these disorders.

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I was lying on the beach, looking up at the sun, taking in the feeling of the sand against my exposed skin, the sound of the waves lapping against the shore and then receding, only to do it again a second later, like children playing a game of tag. The feeling of the sun as its rays bounced off my tanned skin. I closed my eyes, letting the sounds take over me.

I suppose I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was in this big circular room. The walls and even the ceiling and the floor were painted red, black, or both. I was sitting on the floor, my legs drawn up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. My chin was resting on my knees. I couldn't see anyone else in the room, but I felt like I was being watched. I stood up. "Who's there?" I shouted angrily. "I know you're there somewhere. Come out!"

There was a strange laugh that echoed off the walls, making it sound slightly androgynous and like it was coming from everywhere at once. It was familiar to me, but I couldn't place it as belonging to anyone I knew.

"You have better perception than I thought, Tidus." The voice was more concentrated this time, like it was in one place. And that place seemed to be right behind me. I turned. A woman was standing there, her arms behind her back, almost as though trying to imitate innocence. There was something dark about her; it made me feel almost instantly afraid of her.

"Welcome to Reaoren, Tidus," she continued. "I am called Lilith. But names aren't important. Not here."

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"

She smiled mysteriously at me. "Oh, it's not important," she responded innocently, then nodded towards a small window. "Take a peek, Tidus. Look at where you are."

I walked over to the window, not taking my eyes off her for a minute. When I saw what was outside this room, I gasped. The streets were packed with humans and some creatures whose names I neither knew nor wished to know. "What… what is this place?" I asked quietly.

Lilith sighed impatiently. "I told you," she snapped, her mysterious air evaporating. "It's Reaoren."

"But what's Reaoren?"

She sighed again. "It's one of the hell dimensions, stupid!"

"Hell dimensions…?" I say, a question in my voice.

"Don't you know anything? One of the places of torture for humans, inhabited by demons," she said, in such a voice that I half-expected her to add "duh" after it.

I stared at her. "So… why am I here?" I hadn't done anything to deserve to go to Hell. At least, not that I knew of.

She looked like she was a mother whose child was annoying her by asking too many questions. "Because I brought you here, Oh Dim One! How ELSE would you get here?"

"I don't know, for doing something bad?" I was starting to get annoyed by this woman.

"What? That doesn't even make sense! How would you get to another dimension for doing something bad?" She was extremely irritated with me by this time.

I shook my head with a sigh. "Never mind. So why did you bring me here?"

Lilith took a couple deep breaths to calm herself, her eyes closed. "Because I wanted to see who my victim would be this time," she said slowly, as if I were a little slow.

"Victim? Of what?" As confused as I was before, I was even more now, along with a bit frightened.

She let out a sound of aggravation, half way between a scream and a growl, throwing her arms in the air. "I give up!" she exclaimed. "You're going back to your own time!" Before I could do anything, she was holding her hands above my head, murmuring something in a language I couldn't understand.

I sat bolt upright on the sand, my breath coming in short gasps. I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself that it was just a dream. But I remembered it all so vividly. That Lilith creature, her eyes blacker than night, her hair an unnatural, raging violet. I shook my head to clear it, to clear the picture of those streets that appeared whenever I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and stood, stretching. "It was just a dream," I murmur quietly, unaware that I'm speaking aloud.

"No it wasn't."

I turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. But there was no one near enough to me who could have said it. I suddenly recognized the voice: It was Lilith. My eyes widened in fear. Where was she? I could feel her watching my, her eyes burning holes deep within my very soul. But she was no where to be seen.

"Am I going crazy…?" I muttered to myself.

"It's really not that far of a trip," Lilith's voice once again sounded, but, this time, I couldn't tell if it was in my ears or in my head.

"Stop it!" I growl angrily, not quite loud enough for anyone nearby to hear me. "Leave my brain alone!"

She snorted. "Tidus, I would, really. But, this is a normal effect of my powers. Happens all the time. Don't worry, it should wear off… eventually."

"So, you'll just be hanging around and talking to me all day?"

Once again the woman snorted. "Please. I have better things to do all day. But you WILL be hearing things other people don't. Not all the time. Just occasionally." She paused, as if debating on whether to say any more. "Oh, and, by the way, your mom says hi."

"What?" How did she know about my mother? "What are you talking about? Tell me!" But it was useless. She was already gone.

I sighed, wondering what she could have been talking about. My mom? I hadn't seen her in… forever, it seemed. How did Lilith know about her? And, why had I yet to forget that dream?

I had more questions for her. What did she mean, an effect of her power? Why was she using her powers on me in the first place? There was no use; I couldn't answer any of these questions myself. But there was somewhere I could look.

Fifteen minutes later I was standing in the doorway to the building labeling it as the "Besaid Library for the Public." I asked one of the clerks if they could help me find a some books. She pointed to a table with six spheres on it and said, "Just use one of those spheres over there. Type in the subject you're looking for, and it'll show you all the books we have on it."

I thanked her and sat down near one of the spheres. It looked like one of the computers we'd had in Zanarkand. The sphere itself was bigger than usual, and there was a pad printed with letters hooked up to it.

The Besaid Library had an impressive collection of books on evil and demons, I found after I typed in the subject "demons." I was impressed when I saw that the list had at least twenty books on it. I scribbled down the number of the books and went to find them.

Two hours had passed before I was done. My neck was stiff from being bent over various books for so long, and my head hurt from all the new information it had absorbed. The library was dark, lit only with oil lamps on every table and torches in sconces along the wall. My vision was blurry and my eyes hurt from trying to read the tiny, orderly scrawl of monks in leather-bound books with pages yellowed from age. It appeared that no-one had opened any of these books in years, judging from the thick coat of dust covering them. I moved my head from side to side, trying to get the kinks out of it.

One of the clerks came up to me. "I'm sorry, Sir, but it's almost time for us to close," he said.

I nodded. "Okay. I was done, anyway. Thanks."

He smiled and nodded at me. "Have a good night."

I nodded, lacking anything else to say, and made my way back home.

.-

Hi! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I have tonsillitis, and it sucks. Monkeys. I can't swallow, and this is the first day since Friday that I can actually swallow. Five days with barely any food. I had a milkshake, some ramen, and a grilled cheese sandwich, I think that's it. Fun, huh?

I have to take these HUGE pink pills. They're, like, two-and-a-half centimeters long. And that's not one of my trademark over-exaggerations. But hey, they're pretty, and that makes it all better.

This chapter's pretty short, but only because I've been working on it all day for days (which is only a long time for me, who can usually get the chapters done in one or two sittings), and I got bored of it.

Once again, I'm sorry if the symptoms of mental disorders upset anyone. They honestly weren't there to make fun of anyone, and I'll understand if you stop reading now, because it's pretty important to the plot. I'm really sorry.

Qui-ti: Sure, I'll put you in. I think I already have a role you could play. I'm sorry about the 'bi-polar' thing. And I answered your question in my revision of chapter 8.

Sanguine-sama: You're absolutely right. There really is waaaaay too much sex in a some of those previous chapters. There probably won't be a lot more. At least, not that I go into detail with . And, yeah, rating really should be upped. A lot. (Note after editing: Although, I must admit, it's quite ironic that you say it's not PG-13, while I was thirteen when I wrote it.)

Shad: Thanks for the idea! And, thank you soooo much for all the moral support. Qui-ti too. I don't think I would still be working on this now if it weren't for you guys