Ripped and Torn

by Sephirothxx

A 16 year old girl is ripped away from the life she loves and sent to Spira to aid Yuna along her pillgramage. Wil she be able to overcome an untaimed power that has been lurking within her from birth or will it cause her to destroy her freinds?

11. Bevelle Imprisonment

Chapter Eleven: Bevelle Imprisonment

Anasazi Darkmoon: Hey! Thanks a lot for sticking with my fic and being such a cool friend on AIM. I really do look forward to when the little thing tells me that you log on. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter in its twenty seven page entirety.

dark dragon knight1993: Hey! I'm glad to hear that you thought last chapter was so cool and that my fight scenes are awesome! This chapter doesn't have that much fighting but it has enough, but don't worry next chapter has I think three major fight scenes in it so next chapter will be mostly fighting! Hey, since you're only twelve that gives you a lot of time in which you can make your writing better. No problem! I like your fic! I really think that you can make it a really good one! Ah, so you take fencing classes? That's freaking AWESOME! I wouldn't mind taking some classes on that but I'm too lazy to do much of anything so… Anyway, sorry for the little bit of a delay on the normal update time for this chapter!

Brooke: Ello! Welcome to the fic! I'm very glad you're liking everything and thinking that it's interesting! Well, I hope you continue liking everything!

Spira's Sentry: Yo! How's it going man! Welcome back! How was your little trip? Glad to hear that you still love my fic and think that I've added some nice touches to it, I try! Oh, I plan on keeping up the good work, but you tell me if I am or not, 'kay? Hey, I'll get you another reviewer for your sequel! I got one of my friends to read your first fic and she liked it but I don't think she knows about the sequel so I'll let her know when she gets on AIM later. I hope you can update that quickly 'cuz I'm really looking forward to more of your work, man! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and I'll talk to you later!

"Wait up guys!" Rikku hollered to the rest of the group as they hurried away from the doorway that led into the summoner's sanctum. "This is where I said that Lauren would meet up with us!" The blonde Al Bhed explained, standing at the end of a corridor that she now had a slender finger trained on. "We gotta wait for her to meet up with us!" A thunderous explosion followed by a tremendous rumble resonated down the corridor from which the turquoise-eyed teen was supposed to link up with her friends.

"We don't have time to wait for her, Rikku." Tidus turned back to face the adolescent Al Bhed as another deafening explosion erupted from down the corridor where Lauren was supposed to emerge from. "This place is coming down all around us!" The blonde blitz ace yelled over the chaotic noises whirling around him as well as his friends that were present at the time.

"But what if Lauren's just around the corner? If we leave now then she won't be able to catch up with us before we leave." Rikku started down the corridor leading to where Lauren was supposed to be coming from when a firm hand gripped her right shoulder. "Let me go! What if she's hurt and needs our help!" The blonde Al Bhed slapped away the hand upon her right shoulder whilst whipping around and throwing a punch in Auron's face. The one eyed guardian allowed the fist of the adolescent Al Bhed to connect with his face, knocking off his sunglasses in the process.

"You must learn to guard your emotions before you can do anything." Auron stated, snapping his neck back into place from Rikku's strike whilst bending over to retrieve his unharmed sunglasses from the broken flooring. After realizing what she had just done, the blonde Al Bhed flung her jade swirl eyes open in awe, not moving from her position facing the legendary guardian.

"Yeah, Sir Auron is right, Rikku." Wakka chimed in with an upbeat voice instead of the overshadowed with sorrow one he had used only moments before. As he spoke, the orange haired blitzer strode over toward the legendary guardian and blonde Al Bhed standing in front of one another. "Besides, Lauren's probably up ahead already, ya know?" The tan skinned man spoke in a lighthearted voice in an attempt to cheer his friend up and get them moving before the ceiling collapsed on them.

"Wakka could be right for once." Lulu said in her usual monotone voice drawing an angry glare from the orange haired blitzer and a slight chuckle from Tidus. "It is highly possible that one of the other Al Bhed saw her and hurried her along to where we are heading." The black mage's garnet eyes were filled with a sort of comforting aura, the likes of which had never been witnessed by anyone present.

"But what if nobody did find her?" Rikku queried in a voice that both showed her concern for her friend's well being as well as a determination to crack her friends and make them search for Lauren. "That path isn't taken too much. So, what if nobody went down there and found her. She could be trapped under something or caught in a fight where she needs our help, you know?" The blonde Al Bhed whirled around in mid step to face the corridor in question, only to be stopped once again by a hand placed on her right shoulder, only this time, it was a lot gentler.

"Rikku…" Tidus uttered the adolescent Al Bhed's name in a soft, caring voice, removing his left hand from her right shoulder slowly. The blonde turned to face her blitz ace of a friend to see his azure eyes filled with the same concern that her own jade ones harbored. "I want to make sure Lauren isn't hurt down there somewhere just as much as you, but if this whole place comes down on us, we won't be able to save Yuna." The blonde blitz ace stated, trying to sway his friend to his side of thinking by showing that he cared just as much as she did.

"So you're saying we should just abandon her!" Rikku shouted back at Tidus, a single tear streaking down from her left jade swirl eye down along her left cheek. "Some friend you are!" The blonde Al Bhed shouted at the blonde blitz ace, annoyance and distress apparent in her usually exuberant jade eyes.

"I'm not saying we should abandon her, Rikku!" Tidus shot back at the blonde Al Bhed standing before him, a hint of anger in his voice quickly subsiding back to his regular, friendly voice. "We don't even know she's down there anyway. It's not like we know she's down there and needs our help, but we're too heartless to care. For all that we know she's up ahead worrying about us since you made us stop here." The blitz ace's azure eyes harbored a kind of friendliness that seemed to sooth the adolescent Al Bhed as she gazed into them whilst he spoke.

A thunderous explosion followed by a massive splintering noise erupted from the already cracked ceiling above Rikku. The blonde Al Bhed gazed up with her jade swirl eyes into a mass of plummeting ceiling fragments, red-orange flames licking the edges of each and every bit of debris. Shifting his gaze down from the collapsing ceiling to his blonde friend, Tidus bolted for the Al Bhed as hastily as he possibly could. The jade-eyed Al Bhed stood fixed in position, unwavering to everything going on around her, staring intently at the rubble raining down upon her. The blonde blitz ace came to a frantic sliding halt a mere foot from his Al Bhed friend, grasping her right arm tightly in the process. With a mild tug, the blitz ace budged the transfixed Al Bhed, pulling her stumbling out of the way of the falling wreckage. The ruble slammed into the already fractured floor, generating an immense crater in the cement flooring whilst filling up the entire corridor with masses of debris.

Rikku ran over to the newly formed wall of smoldering rubble and pounded on it with a frustration only surpassed by how Tidus reacted back in the summoners' sanctum. The blonde Al Bhed hammered upon the partition of wreckage until her hands hurt too much to do much of anything with them. "Looks like we have only one choice now." Lulu stated, turning away from the adolescent Al Bhed, who had now sunk to the splintered flooring right at the foot of the screen of debris. Wakka, hesitating for a second whilst glancing over at his Al Bhed friend, chased after the leisurely striding black mage. Auron shifted his gaze from that of the now sobbing blonde to the corridor leading to their final destination in the battered Al Bhed city. Unmoving from his sentinel like position, Kimahri seemed as though he was plagued by the thought of abandoning all hope in finding Lauren.

Tidus strode over to Rikku and placed a comforting hand on the sobbing Al Bhed's right shoulder gingerly. "Rikku… we have to leave now or we'll all be buried." The blonde blitz ace, removing his right hand from the blonde's right shoulder, turned and walked away from his friend, leaving her in a slumped over position. "You coming, Rikku?" The blitz ace turned back to face his Al Bhed friend only for a moment to see her nod faintly, beginning to rise to her feet all the while. Gazing back at the barricade of rubble one last time with her jade swirl eyes, the adolescent Al Bhed picked up her pace in following after her blitz ace of a friend, who was only twenty feet from her.

Moments later the group got to their destination, a rather large room with a causeway leading to an opening in the side of an airship. The massive, crimson colored airship bobbed up and down in position as various Al Bhed ran on off using the small causeway linked to the metal platform the group was upon. Rikku ran up to three Al Bhed standing in a small cluster right next to causeway leading up to the crimson airship. "Rao, ryja yho uv oui caah cusauha dryd muugat mega drao teth'd pamuhk rana? (Hey, have any of you seen someone that looked like they didn't belong here?)" The three Al Bhed looked at the blonde with what could only be taken as questioning looks, for each of them had masks of some sort on. "Uha uv so vneahtc. Cra'c ynuiht so yka. Tet oui caa ran? (One of my friends. She's around my age. Did you see her?)" The adolescent Al Bhed gazed at the three Al Bhed with pleading eyes; however they didn't seem to react to her inquiries.

"Fa tet veht cusauha. Cra'c tufh eh uha uv dra nuusc uh dra yencreb, (We did find someone. She's down in one of the rooms on the airship,)" The Al Bhed man to the right of the group spoke up, remembering that they had found someone and took them aboard the colossal crimson airship that sat next to them. Rikku's jade swirl eyes lit up gleefully, preparing to take off at top speed down to where the person the Al Bhed had said was. "pid cra'c bnaddo pyhkat ib. (but she's pretty banged up.)" The Al Bhed man continued on with what he was saying causing the blonde Al Bhed to stop dead in her tracks on the metallic causeway.

"Fryd tu oui sayh 'pyhkat ib'! (What do you mean 'banged up'!)" Rikku shouted at the Al Bhed man, whirling around on her heels, anger welling up in her jade swirl eyes. "Fryd rybbahat du ran! (What happened to her!)" The blonde Al Bhed hollered her query at the Al Bhed man, up on her tiptoes, staring the man right in the eye.

"Famm, fa fana caynlrehk ynuiht vun yho cdnykkmanc frah ouin vydran kyja dra lymm du kad rana, yht drah lysa ibuh dra vymmah cdyenc du dra cissuhanc' cyhldis. Cu, fa duug dra ymdanhyda bydr yht vuiht ran uh dra knuiht yd y tayt aht fedr y caneuic kycr eh ran cdusylr. Ed ymcu ryt caasat mega cra ryt paah drana vun y meddma frema cu fa nicrat ran du drec bmyla icehk yh yen tild cehla ymm udran byccykafyoc fana pmulgat. (Well, we were searching around for any stragglers when your father gave the call to get here, and then came upon the fallen stairs to the summoners' sanctum. So, we took the alternate path and found her on the ground at a dead end with a serious gash in her stomach. It also had seemed like she had been there for a little while so we rushed her to this place using an air duct since all other passageways were blocked.)" The Al Bhed man elaborated on how they found the injured teen and brought her back to the airship for medical attention.

"Femm cra pa ymnekrd? (Will she be alright?)" Rikku inquired to the Al Bhed man that had told her about the rescue of the teen trapped in the collapsing Al Bhed city.

"Cra femm pa, (She will be,)" The Al Bhed spoke in a lighter voice than he had before when he explained what he meant. Rikku's jade eyes filled with an intense relief at the Al Bhed's words, but that relief lessened when the Al Bhed man continued. "pid yd dra susahd cra'c uid lumt yht haatc du nacd ib yvdan frydajan rybbahat du ran. (but at the moment she's out cold and needs to rest up after whatever happened to her.)" The adolescent Al Bhed turned back toward the hovering crimson airship and hurried up the causeway, stopping near the end of it.

"Dryhg oui! (Thank you!)" Rikku hollered back to the Al Bhed man before taking off once again, finally reaching the doorway into the airship.

Rikku rushed through the doorway, ignoring something her father called to her, continuing to hurry to where her friend was supposedly kept. The blonde Al Bhed came upon the metallic crimson door leading to a room being used for medical purposes. She ran in front of the metal door causing it to swoosh open in just enough time to allow her the go rocketing through. The adolescent Al Bhed rushed to a bed where a figure around Lauren's size rested contently under the whit sheets of the medical bed. Coming to a sliding halt at the side of the bed, the Al Bhed gazed down upon the figure in the bed, only to realize something. "This isn't Lauren…" She whispered to herself whilst gazing down upon an amethyst haired teen sleeping peacefully in the white sheeted bed. "That means… Oh no!" The blonde's distraught voice echoed through the many corridors of the crimson colored airship drawing everyone's attention to her.

"Rikku, what's wrong!" Tidus queried in an alarmed voice as he entered the small chamber that was being used as the medical facilities. The blonde blitz ace hurried over to stand next to the adolescent Al Bhed, his field of view shifted from his friend to the bed she was staring at. "Who's that?" The blonde's azure eyes connected with the sleeping form of the amethyst haired teen in the bed in front of him.

"This is who that guy was talking about…" Rikku's voice lowered as she spoke until it trailed off into silence after the last word passed over her lips. "He was talking about whoever this is… not Lauren…" The blonde Al Bhed collapsed to her knees, all the while tears streaking out of her jade swirl eyes and down her chilled cheeks.

"That means… Lauren's…" Tidus' voice trailed off, not wanting to articulate his thoughts into words for they would just be too hard to swallow. "No! She can't be dead! I can feel that she's still alive… Can't you, Rikku?" The blonde blitz ace's azure eyes meet with the adolescent Al Bhed's jade swirl ones in a brace that neither of them wanted to let go of.

"You're right, Tidus. I can feel, deep in my heart, that she isn't dead." Rikku held back her sobs to speak in a clear and definite voice, continuing to gaze into the blonde blitz ace's azure eyes for solace. "But where could she be?" The adolescent Al Bhed's inquiry was cut off by her father's gruff voice over the crackling speaker system.

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The darkness surrounding her soon gave way to a light shade of gray as her senses flooded back to her in one swift pulse. Fluttering her turquoise eyes open cautiously, Lauren began to stir, the light flooding her field of view blinding her temporarily from being unconscious so long. The transitory blindness gone, the blonde teen propped herself up by her arms to get her head off the chilled metallic surface she had laid upon whilst unconscious. She glanced around at her surroundings with shock and terror to realize that she was in a gigantic bird cage. Glancing over the very edge of the metallic rim of the cage, the blonde guardian propelled herself back away from it upon noting that she was suspended over nothingness. 'I hate heights!' She thought angrily as she peered around at the rest of her surroundings with curiosity in her eyes just as much as fear of not knowing where she was. "Where am I?" She wondered aloud to her self, only to get scared half to death when someone answered her in a soft, female voice.

"You're in the dungeon in Bevelle." The soft female voice replied to Lauren's inquiry as if it were nothing more than a simple question like, 'what's the time'. The blonde teen glanced all around her in confusion, searching for the source of the female voice that responded to her. Noting that the blonde didn't see her, the unknown figure spoke up again to get her attention. "Hey, over here." The voice was louder this time allowing the blonde guardian to latch onto the source almost instantaneously.

A girl, about the age of eighteen, sat in a position that seemed more than a little relaxed for her predicament, leaning her back on the metal bars of her cage. A dark brown, long pony tail jutted out from the back of the girl's head, lashed in place by what appeared to be nothing more than simple white lace. A tattered blue and gold long sleeve shirt that appeared to be a little big on her hung around her slender neck. Black pants, which also seemed a little big on her, with holes at both of the knees bunched up at her waist whilst extending over her feet. A ray of light shone down upon her face, sparking her exuberant hazel eyes into life. The ray of sunlight also revealed a more than friendly smile painted across her face, matching the liveliness found in her eyes. The young woman pushed her back off of the metallic bars of her cage gently, rising to her feet in one fluid motion. "Hiya, my name's Mina. What's yours?" The strange young woman introduced herself in a friendly manner, apparently not caring about where they were.

"Mine's Lauren." The blonde teen spoke in an unsteady voice that was both filled with uncertainty as well a kind of friendliness, not wanting to upset the only other human being in the area. Mina looked oddly at the blonde guardian for a moment before she just smiled a lighthearted smile, speaking only seconds later.

"I see you're not from Spira, are you?" Mina queried to Lauren from within her own cage, a small smile forming on her lips upon seeing the astonished look upon the blonde's face. "I see." The dark brown haired young woman stated still gazing over at the turquoise-eyed teen with a slight smile painted upon her face.

"Ho… how did you know I wasn't from Spira?" Lauren stammered her question out in an even more unsteady voice than she had used when she stated her name to a complete stranger. Mina simply smiled back at the blonde teen friendly while giving her a few moments to try to wipe that astonished look off her face.

"First of all, your name isn't like any found here in Spira." Mina responded to Lauren's inquiry, a friendly smile still plastered across her face as she continued to speak. "Second, the clothes you're wearing aren't like anything you'd find here either. By the way, you might want to get some new clothes from the guards next time they come around. You got blood all over your right leg." The blonde teen glanced down at her right pant leg to see it soaked in crimson blood, her own blood. The blonde's turquoise eyes shot wide in terror as she recalled everything that had happened during her fight with Nora and how she had attained her wound, yet she felt no pain. "What's the matter?" The dark haired brunette inquired upon noting the distressed expression upon the blonde guardian's face.

"Thi… this is my blood." Lauren stuttered, her turquoise eyes somehow transfixed by the crimson staining on her right pant leg.

"Haven't you ever bled before?" Mina queried in an almost sarcastic voice that seemed to aggravate Lauren just a bit that she was almost making fun of her. The blonde teen nodded her head to show the dark haired brunette that she had indeed bled before. "Then what is the problem this time around?" Her hazel eyes met with the blonde's turquoise ones, sparking a kind of connection between the two teens.

"I just never have bled this badly." Lauren admitted in a slightly soft voice, tearing her turquoise eyes away from Mina's hazel ones. "And I can remember all the details to how I got the wound, too. That's why I'm so freaked out… I can still feel the pain and still hear the sound of her dagger sinking into my…" The blonde guardian stopped herself from uttering the next, for it would bring what she was feeling inside out.

"You just gotta purge all those thoughts out of your mind." Mina sounded as though she were Auron trying to teach something to her about sword fighting or anything for that matter. "Sometimes time doesn't heal all your wounds so you have to do it yourself." The hazel-eyed teen spoke again as though she were some kind of philosopher drawing a small smile from Lauren in the process. "What now?" The young woman queried with an odd look upon her face after catching the blonde laugh silently to herself.

"It's nothing." Lauren assured Mina, who still had a look upon her face that showed that she didn't believe what the blonde was saying. "You just sounded kinda like Auron, that's all." The legendary guardian's name brought an astonished look to the young woman's face in the other cage.

"You know Auron?" Mina inquired in a sheer astounded voice that seemed to have an edge of disbelief wafting upon it.

"Yep! He and I are guardians for Yuna." Lauren replied to Mina's query drawing an even more astonished look upon the young woman's face after it was affirmed that the blonde knew him. "I've known him since Luca, and since then he's hurt me a few times." The blonde teen smiled lightheartedly upon seeing that what she had said had sparked laughter from the dark haired brunette.

"So, you're one of Yuna's guardians?" Mina inquired drawing a hasty nod of agreement from Lauren. The dark haired young woman's friendly, lighthearted aura changed to that of a more serious nature. "I understand why you're in here now. At first I just thought you were a normal girl and I was wondering why you were sent here. But now that you said you are a guardian of Yuna, it all makes sense now. You helped kill Seymour so they captured you and sent you here to repent for what you have done. And personally I think you guys did Spira a big favor by killing that messed up… I don't even know if you can call him a man." The dark haired young woman's voice was filled with hatred toward the half-breed Maester.

"What did you do to get yourself in here, Mina?" Lauren queried to the hazel eyed young woman, who had now propped herself up against a metal railing running up her cage. "I mean you don't look like the type that would be in prison, either." The blonde teen tacked on to her inquiry to explain her reasoning for asking the dark brunette.

"Oh, me? I'm in here because I spoke out against the pilgrimages of summoners." Mina admitted drawing an extremely confused look from Lauren from within the other large birdcage like cell. "I just think that summoners shouldn't have to be sacrificed just for the happiness of others. I know that they'll bring the calm and all but that's only for ten years, and to give up your life for ten years of peace for everyone except for you is wrong. I just think that there has to be another way other than sacrificing summoners to destroy Sin, and for good." The dark brown haired young woman voiced her thoughts that got her thrown into this little dungeon.

"What do you mean by sacrificed?" Lauren queried with a voice that held both perplexity and anger toward what Mina had said about it not being worth it to being happiness to others. "Sure, they may give up living their own life while they're on their pilgrimage, but it's all worth it to bring the calm. To bring happiness to those who need it most. That is surely worth giving up your life for a while to go on a journey to defeat that horrid monster." The blonde guardian still couldn't believe that the young woman in the other cage had said that a summoner's pilgrimage wasn't worth it.

"They didn't tell you, did they?" Mina inquired in a voice that showed that she was being entirely serious unlike how she was speaking earlier. Lauren didn't make any moves or made any sounds, only silence moved in between the two teens. "I didn't think so. You see, to be able to defeat Sin a summoner must get something called the Final Aeon. By getting it they can defeat Sin, but upon summoning it, it will also kill the summoner who summoned it along with Sin. That is why people like myself think the way we do." The hazel-eyed young woman explained everything about the Final Aeon and how it would kill its keeper after being summoned.

"Wha… what! That can't be true!" Lauren shouted at the top of her lungs almost scaring Mina half to death with her intensified volume. "Why would anyone want to have themselves get killed after summoning that thing! And why didn't anyone ever tell me!" The blonde teen's turquoise eyes began to fill with tears and her voice became chocked up nearing the end of her screaming questions.

"I'm sorry you had to learn of this now." Mina apologized in as much of a sympathetic voice as she could muster to Lauren, who was sobbing silently over in her cage cell. "As for why people would want to, you said it yourself. To bring happiness to those who need it most. As for your friends not telling you, they might have feared how you would react, and they feared that you would try to get Yuna to stop going along with her pilgrimage." The young woman's hazel eyes watched over the blonde guardian intently, waiting for how she would react to what she had just said.

"Of course I would have tried to stop her!" Lauren hollered almost as loudly as she had before when she couldn't believe what she had heard to be true. "She's my friend! I wouldn't want her to go and get herself killed just for a bunch of people that probably won't even remember her in a year or so. Everyone famous is eventually forgotten by the people but never by the friends and family. She'll just be replaced by another in ten years when Sin shows up again and she will be forgotten." The blonde's turquoise eyes were welled up with tears and she could barely keep from sobbing long enough to voice her views on the topic.

"These are points that you should be brining up with her, not me." Mina said in a voice that caught Lauren's attention even through her sobs and tear-wracked eyes. "I am already thinking exactly what you are. You should, when you get out of here, talk with her and try to make her at least reconsider if you cannot make her stop entirely." The brunette voiced words of wisdom for the blonde teen to follow whenever she got out of the Bevelle dungeon.

"I still can't believe that not a single one of them told me." Lauren said on her knees, hands placed over her kneecaps for support, her head hung in sorrow with blonde locks of hair cascading all down the front of her body. "I'm their friend. How could they have not told me? Even if they were scared of what I might do, they still should have told me anyway… I deserved to know." Tears began rolling off of her, dotting her thighs with small, circular water marks, getting more and more stead as time went on.

"Don't worry about that right now okay, Lauren?" Mina made an attempt to get the blonde teen out of her state of sheer depression by making her not worry about it. "You'll have plenty of time to worry about that and talk with Yuna and the rest of your friends when you get out of here." The dark haired young woman's voice was soft and filled with compassion toward the distraught blonde she had only met a little while ago.

"What makes you so sure that I'll get out of here?" Lauren queried at what she noted as suspicious about what Mina kept on saying about her getting out of the dungeon. "What if I'm stuck in here for the rest of my life? I'll never get to talk with Yuna or anyone else and she'll probably end up sacrificing herself to defeat Sin without me there." The turquoise-eyed teen began to silently sob again at the thought of never getting out of the small, metal birdcage like prison to see her friends or anyone else again.

"Don't worry about it." Mina stated once again in a soft compassionate voice in which she tried to sway Lauren's thinking into her playing field. "I just know that you're not going to be stuck in here for the rest of your life. You'll have your chance to get out and when that time comes you have to take it and don't look back." The hazel eyed young woman tried to calm the blonde teen down once again and it seemed like it was working. You look really tired. Get some sleep, 'kay?" With that the blonde guardian nodded and glanced around for something to rest her head on other than the hard metallic flooring. Her search failed, the blonde untied her sweatshirt from around her waist and placed it on the ground whilst laying her head down upon it, falling into an untainted slumber as soon as she shut her turquoise eyes.

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A high-pitched scream cut through the overwhelming darkness, pricking at Lauren's ears, brining her violently out of her slumber. The blonde teen's turquoise eyes shot wide open, only to see a veil of shadowed gray surrounding her in every possible. Another shrill shriek severed the otherwise silent, grayed setting causing the blonde guardian to whirl around behind her to locate the source of the horrified screams. A rift opened up in the gray veil in front of the blonde, allowing her to see past it to the source of the cries of bloody murder. Several grayed silhouettes stood around in various positions surrounding one that looked like it was in intense pain. Squinting to see what or who the grayed out forms were, the turquoise-eyed teen strode forward toward the open rift, which was tearing wider and wider into the shadowed veil. The teen's turquoise eyes shot wide open in sheer horror as well as bewilderment upon seeing the true identities of the grayed out forms revealed.

Lauren watched in awestricken horror as the grayed out form in the middle began to take familiar shape. It was herself. She stared down upon the dream version of herself, utter terror filling her turquoise eyes as she watched herself writhe in agony upon her knees. A disturbingly familiar, cold-hearted laugh flooded into the silence that followed the second shrill shriek. The gray silhouette standing before her dream self began to morph into a recognizable form leisurely. Seymour stood before the blonde's dream body, harboring the diminutive jet-black trinket he used back at the Macalania temple in his right palm. The teen's turquoise eyes locked onto the gray, soulless eyes of the half-breed Maester sending deep feelings of trepidation coursing throughout her entire being. Ripping her eyes away from the warped Maester's, the blonde guardian shifted her glance down to her dream self just in time to see her eyes glow blood red.

"Lauren!" A grayed out form to the right of her dream body hollered to the possessed for of her friend pleadingly. The silhouette contorted a few seconds before taking its final shape as Rikku, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You got to fight it, Lauren! Don't give into…" The blonde teen's voice was cut off by a soundless scream, crimson blood beginning to drip from her mouth. The possessed dream form of Lauren wrenched its katana blade out from within the blonde Al Bhed's abdomen. 'Lauren... Why did you have to do this now? We were so close… ' Crimson blood spilled out of the wound as the adolescent Al Bhed's body dropped limp to the gray shadowed floor.

Lauren opened her mouth to let out a horrified scream to her friend, but only silence passed over her lips. Her turquoise eyes were transfixed upon the motionless form of her dead, bleeding friend's body. She collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her face and off her bowed chin, words still unwilling to come to her mouth. 'Rikku… I can't believe that she's gone…' The blonde teen was brought out of her deep, grief wracked thoughts by another piercing scream of bloody murder.

Lauren peered down through the ever growing rift in the gray shadowed veil to see another of the grayed out forms twist into one of her friends. Yuna stood limp, bent over on the possessed dream form of the blonde's katana blade, crimson blood staining the young summoner's clothes as well as the ground underfoot. 'Lauren… I'm sorry we couldn't find a way to stop this… or get you back to your world…' The katana was thrust through the back of her lower spine and burst out on the other side right at the brunette's navel. A horrified scream of affliction stayed plastered on the young summoner's face, her bi-colored green and blue eyes staring into space. The blonde teen tore her turquoise eyes from the gruesome sight of her slain friend, once again trying to scream out in anguish, but her voice wouldn't oblige to her brain's command. 'Yuna… I'm so, so, so, so, sorry…' The blonde guardian cried in her thoughts for her friend to forgive her for what she had just done even though it wasn't her but her dream form that had done the actual slaughter.

Lauren's tear filled turquoise eyes shifted once again back to where the possessed dream form of herself stood, slaughtering her friends. For some reason unknown to her, the blonde teen could not avert her eyes from the revolting sight of each and every one of her friends being brutally slain. Her possessed dream form brought her katana around in an arch, beheading Tidus with one fluid motion. 'Lauren… We were going to find a way to beat Sin for good and save Yuna… but now…' The blonde blitz aces dead body collapsed to its knees before falling completely over onto the shadowed ground below. 'Tidus… you were always there if I ever wanted to talk about anything, but I never did come to you for anything… and now… I'm sorry…' Lauren thought sadly about how she had never taken the blitz ace up on his offerings of friendship and comforting.

The possessed dream form of the blonde teen continued the fluid arch she used to decapitate Tidus, brining it toward another of the unrevealed forms. The katana cut a massive, jagged gash into a shadowed figure's chest that turned into Kimahri as soon as the blade made contact. 'Kimahri fail Lauren…Kimahri say Kimahri would find way to protect Lauren from Maester…' The blue furred Ronso guardian fell back on his back from the momentum as well as the deadly bite from the katana's blade. 'It's not your fault Kimahri… I should have stopped this… I let you all down…' Tears continued to streak down the blonde's cheeks, crying out her friend's names desperately in her brain.

Wakka made an attempt to tackle to the possessed dream Lauren before she killed any more, only to receive her katana's blade through his forehead. 'We gave it our best shot… it just wasn't good enough, ya?' The orange haired blitzer's body went limp as soon as the katana blade pierced through the back of his skull, sliding off the blade entirely as his killer angled the blade down. 'Wakka… I'm sorry that this had to happen to you… Even though you have mixed up thoughts about people, you were still a good person at heart…'

Lulu cried something out as she cast a spell to stop the rampaging possessed teen in her tracks, only to be given a fatal blow through her heart. 'I never thought that I would die like this…' The black mage collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap, a pool of crimson blood inching its way out from underneath her black robes, leaving only Auron alive. 'Lulu… you weren't always as nice as the others, but you did listen to me back in Guadosalam about Seymour…'

Auron shouldered his massive sword upon his right shoulder in his usual manner, awaiting the possessed dream Lauren's attack. The dream blonde teen brought her katana down upon the legendary guardian's head with all the strength her possessed form allowed her. The sound of metal on metal rand out through the otherwise silent grayed out surroundings, echoing off unknown barriers. The blood red eyed teen flicked her katana's blade off of the one eyed guardian's colossal blade, bringing it around and back up at the swordsman from behind to her right. Surprisingly, the master swordsman tilted his blade down at the sight of his assailant's next move faster than was thought possible for the weapon's weight. The thin bladed katana bounced off of the rather thick, solid swordsman's sword causing the possessed teen to fall backward from the shock of the blow. The one eyed guardian, taking his opportunity with his attacker's balance off, brought his massive blade in toward the blonde's side. A sickening squishing sound echoed from the midst of the two combatants, crimson blood dripping onto the ground in a rather large puddle. 'I have failed… I should have trained you more for this… Jecht isn't going to like this…' The legendary guardian fell backward onto the ground, his throat slit, crimson colored blood spurting out of his jugular vein all the while. 'Auron… I'm so sorry for not taking your advice and sword training…'

Only one unrevealed figure remained down with Seymour and the possessed dream Lauren, off to the side of both. A strange pallid light resonated from the figure, diminishing within a few seconds revealing the identity of the grayed out silhouette. Brian stood with a disgusted and horrified look plastered upon his face, gazing at the bloody carnage the possessed dream blonde created. "Lauren, what are you doing!" The blonde teen's point of view changed from that of an onlooker to the eyes of her dream form standing before the jet-black haired young man. In her mind she felt an outlandish feeling creep into her thoughts whilst standing in the point of view of her possessed form. The feeling that she felt was blood lust followed by the fear that allowed herself to be taken hold of by Seymour with his magic trinket.

The possessed dream Lauren moved slowly forward toward the fear stricken Brian, poising her katana over her head for a deadly strike. 'NO! STOP! NO MORE!' The blonde teen screamed franticly in her mind as the dream form of herself inched closer and closer to the only man that she had ever truly loved. "Lauren, stop this! Laur…" The young man's pleading voice was cut off by the sound of the possessed blonde's katana sinking into his flesh. 'Lauren… I… love…you…' Crimson blood welled up in the black haired teen's mouth, his azure eyes glazing over into a dead stare. His lifeless body, slipping off of his killer's blade, collapsed to gray shadowed ground, crimson blood scattering everywhere around where it hit. 'BRIAN!' The blonde guardian screamed in her brain, trying to tear herself out of the possessed dream form of herself to rush to the downed teen's side. 'I can't take losing him again... Please, don't leave me again!' She mentally cried, all the while feeling helpless and responsible for each and every one of her friend's deaths.

A malicious, heartless laugh sounded from the form of Seymour, eyeing the entire field of sheer carnage. "Good, good. Now with those fools out of the way, I have no more use for you… Kill yourself." The heartless half-breed ordered to his possessed puppet, who happily obliged by plunging her katana through her heart. The possessed dream form of Lauren let out choking noises as well others before collapsing to the ground in a blood heap. Crimson blood washed over Lauren's vision, encasing everything in an aura of blood before finally fading to black.



"Brian!" Lauren screamed at the top of her lungs, jutting up out of her sleep unexpectedly and into a sitting position. Mina jumped almost to the top of her cage at the random outburst from the only other living being in the dungeon below Bevelle. Tears streamed down out of the blonde's turquoise eyes, beginning to cry loudly into the palms of her hands pressed up against her face. "I didn't mean to do to you or anyone!" She cried in a sob-choked voice, crying more now that she had ever cried in her entire life, the images from her nightmare burning an imprint in her mind. "Please forgive me…" The blonde's voice was so soft and tear chocked that the dark haired young woman in the cage next to her could barely make out the teen's choked words of heartache.

"Lauren… What's the matter?" Mina queried in a deeply concerned voice from over in her birdcage like prison cell. "Did you have a nightmare, or something?" The dark haired young woman inquired when she got no response other than sobs of heartache from the blonde teen in the other cage. The blonde guardian made a faint nod to answer what was questioned of her, sobbing all the while into her hands. 'I wish I could be over there to comfort her… Damn these Bevelle dogs!' The young woman thought bitterly as she gazed over at the shaking, crying teen a mere ten feet out of her grasp. "It had something to do with that Brian guy, didn't it? I guess you're his old girlfriend that he was talking about… I mean the description fits and you and he aren't from here. So, you must be her." The turquoise-eyed teen suppressed her bawling to glance over at the young woman standing in the cage near her.

"You… you met him?" Lauren's voice seemed to get a little higher in volume and a little less shaky from her weeping. Mina gave the blonde teen a friendly smile, trying to lighten the otherwise sorrowful mood of the teen, nodding in agreement to her inquiry. "When? Where? How?" The turquoise-eyed teen shot a string of questions rapidly at the dark haired young woman, her voice getting more and more steady and normal toned.

"Yeah, I met him a few weeks ago. He was drug in here, unconscious, and thrown in the exact cell that you are in now." Mina explained causing Lauren to glance around at her cell franticly as if she were going to find something there. "He mentioned something about having a girlfriend that he deeply, truly, loved, but he never got to say goodbye to her… I take it that you were his girlfriend since you seem to know him and now that I think about it, you match what he did describe about you." Tears began to run down the blonde teen's cheeks once again after hearing what he had said about her to the dark brunette. "Then one day some of the guards came and took him out of here and he never returned. He seemed really nice and it was a shame to see him leave, but, unfortunately, I can't control anything." The hazel eyed young woman seemed a little depressed at remembering the black haired teen being taken away by the guards.

"He was really nice. He always was there for me whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on. He cared about others, too, and not just himself, unlike a lot of guys I've known. He would always greet you with the friendliest smile in the world. It would just light my eyes up and make me feel special whenever I saw it." Tears streaked Lauren's cheeks, remembering all the things that made Brian special to her and as a person in general. "But none of that matters anymore…" The blonde teen's voice sunk down into a depressed voice from the voice she had just used a moment ago filled with happiness remembering her love. "He doesn't have memories of me anymore…" The blonde's turquoise eyes welled up with tears of sorrow once more, overcoming her and spilling out over the rims of her eyelids.

"I see. They must have done something to him when they took him away." Mina spoke barely loud enough for her to hear herself, leaving Lauren sobbing to herself for a moment. "All the more reason to hate these dirty playing creeps. Where will it all end? They just keep getting more and more unethical with every passing day." The dark haired young woman spoke softly to herself, shaking her head in amazement, before redirecting her gaze over to the blonde teen in the other cage. "Do you have any idea of how to get his memories back, Lauren?" The young woman queried the weeping blonde, partially shattering her grief filled thoughts for a moment.

"I haven't the slightest clue of how to get his memories back, Mina." Lauren admitted in a voice that seemed to get more and more depressed every word, shrinking back into a sulking position. "All that I know is that that freaking creep Seymour said that his master was keeping hold of Brian's memories." The blonde guardian shuddered at speaking the warped Maester's name whilst remembering everything that he had put her through in such a short amount of time.

"Well, Seymour's a Maester of Yevon. So, his master must be one of the higher ups in the religion." Mina stated, pondering as to whom exactly could be the one pulling the half-breed's strings and kept hold of Brian's memories. "I got it! It must be Mika!" The dark haired young woman exclaimed, getting Lauren's attention with the name of the Maester that she remembered seeing back on the docks in Luca. "He's gotta be the one doing all this. He's the head Maester so he would have control over basically anyone within the religion. Lucky for you he's here in Bevelle so you can get payback for what he's done to you and Brian." The hazel eyed young woman said energetically in an attempt to cheer up the turquoise-eyed teen that she had only met about a day ago.

"Yeah, but there's one problem with paying him back for all he's done. I'm stuck in here and he's out there." Lauren once again voiced how she felt about getting out of this dungeon to do anything productive for herself or her friends. "I don't think I will be getting out of here anytime soon. And even if I do, how am I supposed to get past all the guards and get to him by myself?" The blonde guardian questioned to Mina, who put her right hand upon her chin and rubbed it as if she were thinking hard about the answer.

"Then I'll help you!" Mina declared, dropping into a fighting stance that showed she was a little more than prepared to help out Lauren in getting back at Mika. "Besides, I want to do a little payback of my own for them putting me away in here just for thinking differently than them. But, I guess I have to give them some credit. After all, if I wasn't in here I wouldn't have met you or Brian." The dark haired brunette avowed, throwing a few punches into the empty air in front of her before kicking one of the metal beams in front of her with her right foot.

"Thanks, Mina." Lauren expressed her gratitude toward the young woman in the cage across from her, a friendly, appreciative smile painted on her face. The dark haired brunette just smiled back at the blonde teen with a smile that made the blonde feel good inside after being emotionally tortured. "You're a really nice person, Mina, you know that? Not many people would say that they want to help someone that they just met about twenty four hours ago with a problem that could change their life." The teen's turquoise eyes were filled with happiness and admiration, still moist and red from her earlier crying.

"Hey, I'm here to make friends, not enemies. So I help out others as much as I can. It's just a part of who I am." Mina proclaimed in a gleeful voice, a lighthearted smile painted on her face as she gazed over at Lauren. "Besides, who wouldn't want to help get a loving couple back together? And such a cute one at that I might add." The young woman laughed a little, glancing at the blonde teen in the cage opposite to her, who was blushing bashfully. The turquoise eyed teen drew some more laughter from the brunette when she tried to hide her face by lowering her head causing her golden locks to cascade over her face. "Hey, you know it's true." The young woman was about to say more when a large metallic door creaked open slowly at one of the ends of the bridge like path that was suspended in between rows of cages.

Two guards, one clad in red while the other in tan armor, helmets shielding their faces from view, strode in through the newly opened door onto the stone causeway. "Hey, you!" The guard on the right clad in red and orange armor called out to Lauren whilst pointing an accusing finger her way. "Maester Seymour would like you present at his big event." The guard announced whilst ordering the other, tan armored, guard to operate the apparatus to move the prison cage so they could extract the blonde from within.

"Wait, did you say Seymour!" Lauren queried in a loud, surprised voice that shocked and insulted the guards at the same time. 'I thought I killed him back at the Macalania temple. Of course, I could be wrong… I don't remember everything about that incident too clearly. But I must have when I went berserk.' The blonde guardian thought whilst awaiting an answer from either of the two guards, who stood with appalled looks in their body language.

"First off, it's Maester Seymour." The second, tan armored, guard said in an angered voice as though it had insulted him on many levels. "And second, yes, he did say his name, for the Maester wishes you to be present." The second guard reinforced what the first guard had said in a voice that showed that he wasn't in the mood for anything other than complete and total cooperation.

"But how can Seymour still be alive! I killed him back in the Macalania temple." Lauren's voice was bold and a little louder than she probably had wanted it to be at the time. "Sure, I don't remember how exactly I did it, but I remember him being dead on the floor outside of the chamber of the fayth." The blonde teen admitted, only to have the guards show their anger in their body language since they had facial helmets on.

"What do you mean by 'I killed him'! That's impossible! I just spoke with the man not more than ten minutes ago when he ordered me to get you." The first guard hollered at Lauren in a gruff voice that showed no room for any distractions to his order. "Just keep quiet little girl, or we might have to make you the old fashion way. Now, you are to go to the first room on the right out of that door." The guard pointed to the double metallic doors from which he and his partner had used to enter the dungeon. "There you will find clothes suited for the occasion, instead of the outlandish filth you're wearing now. Once you're done changing, the guard outside the door will escort you to where Maester Seymour is having his wedding." The last word the guard uttered stopped the blonde guardian's heart, her turquoise eyes wide with surprise. "Try any funny stuff and we have our orders to punish you accordingly." The guard warned the blonde as his partner brought over her cage and let her out in the harshest way he possibly could.

Lauren strolled out through the double doors and into a massive corridor, which along the sides, harbored many doors leading to who knows what. 'Seymour having a wedding! Oh no! He must have kidnapped Yuna and forced her to marry him! That's why we weren't able to find her back on Bikanel!' The blonde teen located the room the guard had specified and placed her hand of the brass doorknob, giving it a slight twist and pull, opening it with ease. 'I gotta think up a way to stop him from marrying her.' The blonde thought whilst entering the room where she had to change into whatever they had thought suited her for the occasion. She shuddered at the thought of the warped half breed picking out what he wanted her to wear to his wedding.



"Vydran! Fa vuiht Yuna! (Father! We found Yuna!)" Brother shouted excitedly, turning back around in his seat at the front of the bridge to face everyone else in the bridge.

"Frana? (Where?)" Cid shouted back at his son's declaration whilst pivoting on his heels to face the blonde mohawked Al Bhed sitting in the navigation seat. Rikku, Tidus, Lulu, and Wakka rushed to the center of the bridge right in front of where Cid stood in front of a large, spherical object that severed as the navigation center. Auron pushed leisurely off the metallic wall in the corridor just outside of the bridge, making his way into the excitement filled bridge.

"E femm cruf oui! (I will show you!)" Brother shouted, typing in something on a keyboard panel to his right that brought up a small, blue liquid screen. The minute screen blipped a few times, static waves crackling over the blue liquid surface before finally smoothing out into a clear image.

The screen shined with a clarity that nobody thought possible from a thousand year old airship's monitor. Displayed upon the screen was a deep blue sky untarnished by any clouds, the golden sun shined with a vibrant radiance in the upper right hand corner of the monitor. The focus of the screen soon shifted down out of the azure sky, focusing now on a scene of hundreds of people gathered along side of a causeway with several different flights of stairs dotting the entire length of the walkway. All the people lining either side of the rather wide causeway were dressed up for an occasion such as a wedding or some other fancy event. Zooming in down the center of the causeway, two people appeared in the distance that appeared as though they were the ones that the ceremony was being held for. Upon zooming in even closer to the couple, the group in the bridge all stared at the screen in astonishment and horror.

"Yunie!" Rikku cried out, her horrified voice echoing off each and every wall in the bridge of the airship causing half the people present to shield their ears from being assaulted by the adolescent Al Bhed's dismayed cry. The brunette summoner strode up toward the screen, Seymour right at her side in a mostly black with a hint of dark blue suit with a pointed gray hat perched upon his blue, jutting hair. Yuna was clad in a white wedding dress that went up barely over her chest, feathered garments jutting out from her back and wrapping around just barely in front of her arms. A white veil draped itself over the young summoner's brunette hair that was now pulled up along the back of her head, a golden tiara residing right in front of the hair bunch.

The group stared awkwardly at the liquid screen whilst it backed up as Yuna and Seymour made their way up the causeway to their destination. As the screen zoomed back out, a teenage girl with straight blonde hair caught Tidus' attention. She had turquoise eyes that seemed as though their master was in excruciating emotional pain, aimlessly staring in the general direction of Yuna and Seymour. She was clad in a crimson colored dress that went all the way down to her ankles and up to right under her shoulders.

"Is that… Lauren?" Tidus queried in a shaky voice, pointing at the lower right hand corner of the screen slowly with his index finger. Everyone's eyes quickly bolted to where the blonde blitz ace indicated, surprise flashing up in each and every one of their eyes.

"Yes!" Rikku shouted at the top of her lungs, jumping up in joy to see that her close friend was still alive and unharmed. "That means she must have been kidnapped by one of the Guado back in Home." The blond Al Bhed was practically bouncing off the walls in utter excitement to see the turquoise eyed teen alive.

"Look at her eyes." Auron stated as much as commanded right before the screen zoomed out too much to see Lauren's pain filled turquoise eyes. "She seems to be in pain beyond that of anything that most people would endure." The legendary guardian's words seemed to have a depressing effect on everybody's mood that knew the blonde teen.

"I wonder what happened to her…" Rikku pondered aloud in a dejected voice, hanging her head down, her chin pressed against her chest. "I hope it's nothing too serious, but… just seeing her like that… it's just too hard to stand." Tidus strode over to where the adolescent Al Bhed stood, sorrowfully, placing a comforting hand upon her right shoulder.

"We have to get to Bevelle now!" Tidus exclaimed in a commanding voice, whirling around to face Cid to make sure he was listening to his words. "We have to get there as soon as possible to rescue Lauren and Yuna! Gramps, let's move!" The blonde blitz ace ordered the Al Bhed leader in a voice that sounded a little more than just a little impatient.

Cid gave Tidus a firm, serious glare, walking over to stand a mere foot from the blitz ace to reinforce what he was going to say next. "Easy, kiddo. Bevelle's defenses are top-notch." The Al Bhed leader's voice was stubborn and his eyes showed no signs of backing down to the blonde.

"C'mon, Pops! We gotta go down there and rescue Lauren and Yunie from Seymour!" Rikku went hastily over to her father and stared up at him with puppy dog eyes before saying anything more to convince the stubborn man. "Yunie's your nice and Lauren's one of my best friends. We gotta go there and save them. Please, Pops?" The adolescent Al Bhed pleaded, her jade swirl eyes gazing up into her father's in a pleading manner that even the Al Bhed leader couldn't resist.

"Cad luinca du Bevelle! (Set course to Bevelle!)" Cid commanded to Brother, who was turned around in his seat eagerly awaiting the order to take the airship to rescue Yuna, as well as Lauren. "Vimm cbaat yrayt! (Full speed ahead!)" The Al Bhed leader added as the blonde mohawked Al Bhed spun back around in his seat and fiddled with a few buttons and switches on the key panel in front and to the sides of him.

Rikku was just about to say something to her father when a mysterious rumbling sounded followed by the airship quaking violently. The metallic door at the entrance to the bridge swooshed open to reveal a blonde tan skinned Al Bhed in a baggy beige shirt. "We're being attacked from within." Rin explained upon entering the bridge and noting the confused looks upon everyone's faces staring at him. "Some of the Guado that attacked Home must have snuck on board." The tan skinned Al Bhed proposed his theory on what was causing the quaking of the airship.

"We'll take care of the fiends, no problem!" Tidus declared in a voice that showed that he was ready for just about anything that may lay ahead of him. Rikku glanced over at her blitz ace of a friend and gave him an appreciative smile, which he returned with a lighthearted smile. "Let's go!" The blonde blitz ace exclaimed, taking off through the doorway into the metallic walled corridor that led to the door leading out into the rest of the airship.

The group rushed out of the bridge hastily and into the arched corridor that resided right out side of the control center of the airship. One of the bowed ends of the corridor led down into a cargo bay where the Al Bhed Physics resided after Home was destroyed. The other curved end of the rather large corridor led around into a few more corridors that eventually led to a set of stairs in a large, open chamber. On the other side of the chamber rested a quite large, gray metal elevator used to get up onto the deck of the crimson colored airship. Numerous, wide window panes lined either side of the great, open chamber where you could gaze out and see the brilliant azure sky, losing yourself in its tranquility.

"Huh, now there's a rare sight." Auron stated as the group reached the top of the flight of stairs leading up to the second floor in the large chamber. Everyone else peered out through the huge window pane into the azure sky to see an immense creature flying parallel to the crimson colored airship. The soaring beast had pink-orange colored skin on its back and extremities whilst its underbelly skin was a dark bluish gray. The colossal beast's body snaked out behind it and whipped around in the wind as if it were moving through the air how a snake would move upon the ground. Massive wings of pinkish-purple hue jutted out from the creatures shoulder blades set right behind its muscular upper arms. Jagged bluish-gray horns jutted out from its skull and trailed down along the creature's body until it reached where its elegant wings spread out from its body. Its massive jaws harbored razor sharp, jagged teeth that looked as though they could tear through the hull of the crimson colored airship with ease.

"What is that?" Rikku inquired in an awe filled voice, continuing to gaze at the massive gliding beast trailing alongside the airship. The dragon like beast let out a slight terrifying roar as it dipped the wing closest to the airship down causing it to sail closer to the crimson aircraft.

"The guardian wyrm, Evrae." Lulu elaborated on what the massive, dragon like creature gliding a mere one hundred yards away from the crimson colored airship they were riding in was. "The great sacred beast-protector of Bevelle!" The black mage added to her explanation as the beast let out another deep throated roar, only this time it didn't glide any closer to the aircraft.

"The red carpet has teeth." Auron muttered in his usual voice, only it harbored a little more comedic value that he had ever expressed any other time before. A small slime passed over everyone's faces, quickly subduing in a matter of seconds remembering the situation they were in.

"Wait, that means we're close to Bevelle!" Tidus exclaimed in an overly excited voice that brought everyone's attention away from Evrae and back onto the blonde blitz ace. Before anyone could do anything more, a crackling came over the airship's intercom, brining a familiar Al Bhed's voice cascading over the speakers.

"Rikku, do you read me? We're going to fight that thing!" Cid declared through the slightly crackling intercom in a bold and proud voice that the Al Bhed leader usually employed. "Get on deck and show him what you got! Go!" The Al Bhed leader commanded boldly, the intercom crackling as he spoke until his voice disappeared from the speakers.

"There he goes again." Rikku let out a frustrated sigh at the fact that her father was so gung-ho about just bout anything and would rush in without saying anything. After sighing, the blonde Al Bhed took off toward the dark gray metal elevator, waving for everyone to follow her right away.

"The ferryman asks a high price." Auron made another comical comment before he took chase to Rikku, who was now on the elevator leading up to the deck awaiting the rest of her friend to join her.

Once everyone was on the gray metal elevator, Rikku pressed a small, green button on a control panel that would send the elevator to the deck of the airship. The metallic elevator lurched up a bit and then lurched again, a small creak and groan erupting form the joints of the elevator. The elevator ascended through the confines of the airship for a few yards before finally reaching a large metallic door, on which the other side was the deck of the airship. The door flung open with a loud swooshing sound, but was drowned out by the sound of wind rushing past at the top speeds of the airship. The group made their way hastily out onto the crimson metal deck of the airship, glancing over to their right to see Evrae swooping in closer to them. The group whipped out their individual weapons and prepared for the battle that lay just a few moments ahead of them.

"We gotta keep our distance, boys, but we can't let her get too far away." Cid's voice erupted over the speaker system out on the deck, surprisingly very audible over the loud rushing of the wind. "You all have to tell me when to move!" The Al Bhed leader said to which everyone on board the deck nodded absently, continuing to stare down Evrae as it drew closer and closer to them. "But tell me quick, eh? This rig ain't so nimble, you hear?" The bald Al Bhed warned as the intercom crackled one last time before the man spoke no more into it.

"Roger! I'll give the commands!" Tidus proclaimed loudly over the rushing of the wind, brandishing Brotherhood in his right hand, gripping the hilt of the blue crystal sword tightly.

"Not alone, you won't!" Rikku exclaimed right as Evrae dipped its left pinkish-purple wing down sending the massive beast sailing toward the crimson colored airship.

Tidus took off toward the edge of the crimson metal deck at lighting fast speeds, Brotherhood trailing behind him in his right hand. He reached the edge of the airship's deck just as Evrae swooped down out of view before coming back up and poising itself right over the edge of the deck. The blond blitz ace took an abrupt turn diagonally to his right, bringing him toward the rim of the aircraft's deck to the right of the dragon like Bevelle guardian. Coming in from his spot to the right of the beast hastily, the blonde brought Brotherhood across the creature's face at its eye level. The blue crystal blade sunk into the dragon like creature's pinkish-orange flesh right in between its pair of beastly eyes. The creature let out a deep throated bellow of pain as the liquid crystal blade skidded out of its flesh into the air, spraying a thin line of crimson colored blood in the blade's wake.

Evrae lashed out with its right muscular upper arm, its almost foot long claws seeking for flesh to burrow into. Tidus whirled around, brining Brotherhood up in front of his body, to see the dragon like beast's clawed hand rushing toward him. He brought the blue crystal sword he was wielding out away from his body and out to his right, stretching his right arm out as far as it would go. The guardian beast's was almost upon the blonde blitz ace when he brought his blade back across in an arch in front of his body. The liquid crystal back sunk into the dragon like creature's flesh between two of its clawed fingers causing it to cry out in pain and give up on its assault. The blitz ace followed up his first strike to the massive beast's clawed hand with another blow, only this time he plunged Brotherhood into the back of its hand. The creature let out another deep throated bellow of pain whilst retracting its arm in a lighting fast manner that showed that it feared the blonde's blade's bite.

Rikku rocketed toward Evrae while Tidus had it distracted from striking its muscular hand not once, but twice. She rushed right up under the dragon like beast's head whilst it was still cocked toward the blonde blitz ace, who had dealt the only damage to it so far. The blonde Al Bhed shot out her right arm, her hand in a fist with her fist blades primed for action, toward the guardian beast's chest area. The small, steel blades on the end of the adolescent Al Bhed's glove plunged into the scaly, dark bluish-gray underbelly of the massive creature. The dragon like creature let out a bellow of surprised anguish as it brought its head back around and down to see its assailant. The blonde twisted her right arm violently, ripping some of the beast's flesh free from the rest of its body in a bloody burst.

Evrae reared back its massive head, readying itself for a strike against Rikku, who had just freed her fist blades from the beast's flesh. The blonde Al Bhed shot her jade swirl eyes up just in time to see the dragon like creature plunge its colossal jaws down at her, saliva dripping off of its off white fangs. The blonde preformed a side roll to her left, evading her assailant's attempt in devourer her in one fell swoop. The guardian beast's immense jaws slammed into the rigid crimson metal deck of the airship sending a shock wave throughout the entire aircraft. The group fought valiantly to maintain their footing, but succumbed to the violent quaking, toppling them over onto one another. Tidus and Rikku, being the ones closest to the edge of the airship's deck, almost lost their footing right over the side of the deck, but managed to grip to the metallic deck somehow. The massive dragon like beast lifted its head off the crimson decked airship, shaking it hastily in an attempt to kill the dizziness building up within.

Auron, regaining his footing, hefted his massive sword onto his right shoulder, charging at Evrae at full speed. The dragon like creature, who was still trying to relieve itself of dizziness from its collision with the airship's deck, didn't notice the legendary guardian rocketing toward it. The one eyed guardian came to a sliding halt right in front of the guardian beast's right muscular arm, poising his colossal blade over his head in both hands. The immense beast caught the swordsman's actions out of the corner of its demonic eye, but it was too late for it to save itself. Brining his enormous sword down upon the creature's right arm, the legendary swordsman glanced up at the beast's face, an arrogant smile painted upon his face. The blade sank into the guardian beast's muscular right arm with a sickening sound, crimson blood spraying out of the severing wound in all directions. The massive dragon like creature let out a deep throated bellow of anguish as the swordsman's blade came to rest on the crimson colored deck with a loud thud. The creature's severed right forearm collapsed to the deck of the airship, wriggling around as though it were a fish out of water for about ten seconds before finally dying all together.

Evrae, screeching out in pain for its missing limb, backed out of range of any melee weapon, hovering motionless for a few seconds. The dragon like creature shot its pinkish-purple wings out full spread and reared its head back whilst roaring menacingly. Eight beams of non-elemental magic rained down from the azure sky onto the crimson colored airship deck toward the group of six guardians. The first of the grayish colored beams stuck the deck of the airship right next to where Rikku stood shakily near the edge of the deck. The blonde Al Bhed dove to her right out of the way of the powerful blast, only to get knocked back through the air as she did so. The blast pushed the adolescent Al Bhed back through the air toward the rest of her friends about teen feet from her. The rest of the non-elemental magic beams struck the deck of the airship in random places near the group of friends, scattering them all about the crimson colored deck. The dust clearing from each and every strike from the non-elemental magic revealed that the dragon like beast's assault was in vain, for all of its combatants were still standing.

Kimahri, posing his lance behind his body, took off toward Evrae as the creature came back in toward the airship after its unsuccessful attack. The mighty Ronso guardian thrust his lance out at the dragon like beast as he and it neared the edge of the crimson colored airship's deck. The blue furred guardian plunged his lance's spear head into the flesh of the guardian beast's chest right next to where Rikku had torn out some of the bluish-gray flesh. A sickening squish resonated out from the point of intersection between the Ronso's spear and the massive creature's flesh. The beast let out a deep throated bellow of pain, batting at its attacker with is remaining muscular, clawed hand. The mighty Ronso guardian pressed upon his lance with all the strength he could muster at the moment sending the spear head back into the creature's flesh another foot. With an abrupt twist of his wrist and tank of his arms, the blue furred guardian wrenched his lance out from within the depths of the beast's flesh.

Evrae swooped down out of view of everyone upon the crimson colored airship's deck, its majestic tail flicking right before slipping out of sight. Rikku gazed over the edge of the airship's deck into the azure sky below with a perplexed look painted upon her face. All of a sudden a flash of pinkish-orange sprung up from the depths below the airship sending a wave of wind across the crimson deck of the airship, knocking the blonde Al Bhed onto her back. The dragon like creature sailed up into the azure sky and into the path of sun, blocking it from everyone's field of view for a few moments. The guardian beast shot down toward the crimson colored airship at lighting fast speeds, its pinkish-purple wings folded at its sides. The adolescent Al Bhed got back upon her feet, only to see the massive creature plunge down at her, jaws wide and hungering for prey.

Rikku stood paralyzed with fear as Evrae barreled down upon her at speeds that she didn't even know were possible. Tidus, being the closest to the blonde Al Bhed, charged toward her as fast as his legs would carry him to save her from being swallowed in one bite. The dragon like creature, seeing its vulnerable prey dragged out of the way, rerouted its path, soaring over the airship's deck harmlessly. The blonde blitz ace let out a sigh of relief seeing the massive beast sail overhead harmlessly instead of going after him or any of his friends. Suddenly, the guardian beast's long wicked tail lashed out like a whip, striking the blitz ace in the side of the head with a loud cracking sound. The blonde sailed through the air toward the double metallic doors leading to where the elevator resided. With a softened thud, he struck the metallic doors with his side sending a wave of pain coursing through his body rapidly. Bouncing off the metallic doors shielding the elevator, the blonde hit the ground with a softened thud as his head and waist connected with the crimson colored deck.

Rikku rushed to the downed Tidus' side whilst Evrae swooped back down under the airship, coming back up in its initial position in a few seconds. Before raising her right hand up into a spell casting position, Lulu rushed toward the dragon like creature until she was close enough to cast a spell. The black mage brought her right arm down to her side rapidly, a lighting bolt streaking down out of the clear azure sky toward the massive beast. The golden lighting bolt slammed into the top of the guardian beast's skull, right in between two of the bluish-gray horns jutting out along its back. The momentum of the blast sent the dragon like beast's head jolting forward, almost smacking into the deck of the crimson colored airship. Recovering from the sudden jolt, the guardian beast glowered at the black mage with hateful eyes, but seemed to be unharmed.

Wakka folded his arms over his blitzball out in front of his body, glaring at Evrae with hate filled deep brown eyes. The orange haired blitzer flung his arms straight out to his sides hastily level with his shoulders, blitzball in his right hand. He began to twist his upper body to his right, bringing around his left arm right in front of his chest whilst having his right arm out behind him. With a sudden change in motion, the blitzer whipped his body back around, untwisting his torso along with brining his arms around in a big cyclone. A blitzball zipped out of the human cyclone, striking the dragon like creature right in between its two large glowering yellow eyes. The blue and white bumpy surfaced sphere merely bounced off on the guardian beast's pinkish-orange flesh harmlessly enough, plummeting to the crimson colored metal deck of the airship. Within the next few seconds, a barrage of blitzballs whizzed through the air toward the massive beast from within the depths of the spinning blitzer. Each and every blitzball sent from within the human cyclone struck the dragon like beast in the same area on its body, its head. The tan skinned man finally came to a halt a few moments after he had started up his human cyclone of which the purpose was to fling multiple blitzballs at the opponent.

Evrae, dazed by the sudden bombardment of high velocity blitzballs to it skull, drooped in the azure sky as if it were sick. The dragon like creature sank back away from the crimson colored airship in a manner that showed that it was apparently dizzy from the barrage of blitzballs Wakka had struck it with. Tidus was just about to give the command to move the airship in closer to the immense beast when a metal panel on the side of the aircraft shot open. Inside the now open metal panel resided a rather large, red tipped rocket perfectly lined up with the guardian beast. No more than three seconds passed before someone hit the fire button, releasing the rocket from the metal constructs of the airship. The rocket traveled on an almost perfectly straight path heading straight toward the massive dragon like beast's chest area. The crimson tipped missile slammed into the bluish-gray underbelly of the guardian beast with a deafening explosion that was barely audible over the rushing wind. A colossal cloud of grayish-white smoke formed itself around the beast's body, making it impossible to see whether or not the rocket had dealt any damage.

The group, minus Tidus, gazed in wonder at the massive plume of grayish-white smoke surrounding Evrae's body. As the smoke dissipated, the group's eyes shot wide in astonishment at the sight the newly dissolved smoke revealed. The guardian beast was still alive even after a direct hit from the airship's missiles, and seemed, for the most part, unharmed by the blast. The massive beast dipped its left pinkish-purple wing sending it sailing back toward the crimson colored airship once more. Dipping down out of sight of the group only to come back up at the edge of the deck, the dragon like beast poised itself like it was about to perform some sort of deadly attack. The massive beast breathed in a deep, heavy breath, bending its head back to the left of its body as well as up. Second later, the guardian beast brought its head back down rapidly, slowing up when it got to the portion of decking that the group was standing on. Deep green fumes began to flow out of the immense creature's massive jaws, spilling out all over the airship's deck toward the group.

"It's poison gas!" Rikku warned in a frantic voice from her position kneeling down next to the incapacitated Tidus, trying to fix up some potions for the injured blonde. The wave of greenish fumes emitted from Evrae's mouth washed out over the crimson colored deck like an early morning fog across the road. The blonde Al Bhed threw her arm up in front of her mouth and nose to block out the poisonous gas whilst doing the same for the unconscious blitz ace next to her. Everyone else followed the adolescent Al Bhed's action post haste as the poisonous fumes inched closer and closer to them over the surface of the deck.

The fumes first struck Rikku, washing over her body undamagingly, continuing back behind her toward her friends. Right after the poisonous fumes washed over her, the blonde Al Bhed began to feel lightheaded, her vision hazing over with a green fog. The poisonous green smog glided over the surface of the airship's deck leisurely toward the rest of the group that stood no more that teen feet from the wave. The venomous fumes washed over each and every one of the members of the group, harmlessly at first but then struck them with poison without warning. One by one, each member of the group collapsed to their knees, a green fog hazing over their vision, a lightheaded feeling following the blurring of vision. Auron tried to fend off the poison coursing through his body, but even he wasn't strong enough to suppress the poisons and get up.

"Rikku! Rikku!" Cid's frantic voice crackled over the intercom out on the deck of the crimson colored airship, which was now laced with a green, toxic fog. "Rikku, do you read me!" The Al Bhed leader's voice contained an edge of concern on it unlike anything anyone had ever heard come out of his mouth.

"Vy… vydran…" Rikku managed to utter as her knees gave out on her sending her face first into the crimson airship's metal deck. 'No! I can't die here! I have to save Lauren and Yunie! C'mon, Rikku! Fight it!' The blonde Al Bhed bent her arms back painstakingly, her hands resting just barely to either side of her slender shoulders. She pushed up on the metallic deck with all her strength she could muster at the moment, but it was all in vain. She managed to prop herself a few inches off of the crimson metal surface, only to have her elbows give out on her causing her to collapse back on the deck, slamming her face on the metallic surface.

Even though all her other senses gave out on her, Rikku still had her vision despite the fact that it was partially hazed over with green fog. Evrae crept up onto the crimson airship to claim its prey when all of a sudden the metallic door sheltering the elevator opened up. Through the now open doorway stepped a teenaged girl with amethyst hair, her emerald eyes locked onto the guardian beast lingering at the edge of the airship's deck. 'It's the girl that was in the infirmary. But how could she have recovered so quickly?' The adolescent Al Bhed thought right before her vision faded to black, her mind going numb seconds later.

Nora hastily drew out her dual dragon hilted daggers from their respective sheaths on either side of her waist. Evrae let out a challenging roar, for the amethyst haired teen had just come in between the beast and its meal. The teen greeted the guardian beast's roar by charging toward it as fast as her legs would carry her over the crimson airship's deck. The dragon like creature lashed out at the emerald eyed teen with its unharmed right arm in an attempt to catch her within its fist. Rolling to the right of the massive beast's clawed arm, the amethyst haired dagger wielder narrowly eluded the creature's powerful blow. Getting back to her feet, the teen whirled around, plunging both curve bladed daggers into the guardian beast's right muscular arm. The dragon like beast let out a deep throated roar of pain as its assailant dragged her twin daggers up along the beast's right arm toward the rest of its body. The teen yanked her binary dragon hilted daggers out of the guardian beast's upper right arm, twisting the curved blades out of the creature's flesh with a slow pull of her arms.

Its right arm falling limp to its side, Evrae reared its head back, dragging the rest of its body back far enough from the edge of the crimson colored deck so Nora would not be able to attack it. After bringing its head back, the guardian beast let out an earsplitting screech, launching its head forward toward the amethyst haired teen. Focusing on the oncoming attack, the dagger wielding teen bent her knees, leaning a little to her right in preparation for her next move. The guardian beast's head whizzed past the emerald eyed teen just as she preformed a forward roll to her right, eluding the deadly attack with ease. Pushing back off of the airship's deck, the teen leapt up into the air just as the dragon like creature's head drew back toward its body. A sickening squishing sound erupted from the beast's skull as the amethyst haired teen plunged her dual curve bladed daggers into the creature's flesh. The dragon like beast shook its head violently in an attempt to detach its attacker from its skull, but it was to no avail. Instead of removing the daggers from its flesh, the massive beast only made things worse for itself by forcing them to rip up more of its flesh and brains.

Removing her dual dragon hilted daggers from Evrae's skull, Nora leapt free from the guardian beast's body back onto the crimson colored deck. The guardian beast let out a deep throated bellow of anguish as it began to convulse violently in the azure sky right next to the airship. All of a sudden the crimson airship lurched away from the quivering dragon like creature, leaving a gap of one hundred yards between it and the beast. A percussion of loud metallic sliding sounds erupted from the side of the aircraft that the massive aerial beast was on. One by one, ten crimson tipped missiles escaped out of their holds in a thunderous, fiery percussion, trailing toward the wounded, aerial Bevelle guardian. The first rocket connected with the dragon like beast's skull, emitting flaming shrapnel piercing through the creature's body at lighting fast speeds. The aerial creature let out a shrill cry of pain as each and every one of the nine remaining missiles struck separate parts of its body in the same fiery explosion as the first. An immense cloud of pyreflies formed in the lingering shape of the guardian beast's body before spreading out in a harmonious flight to their final resting place.

Nora, her mission accomplished, sheathed her dual dragon hilted daggers whilst pivoting on her heel back toward the elevator door. A barely audible moan crept into the amethyst haired teen's ears off to her right causing her to stop mid stride, glancing over at the source of the sound. Rikku lay sprawled out on the crimson colored deck, moaning slightly in pain as Evrae's poison circulated through her entire being. Her fingers on her right hand moved slightly, showing the emerald eyed teen that she was barely hanging on to consciousness and in tremendous pain. "Well, I guess I have to keep you alive. After all, you are my ticket to Bevelle." The teen dagger wielder pivoted on her heel, striding toward the incapacitated blonde Al Bhed steadily. Once she reached the adolescent Al Bhed, the amethyst haired teen knelt down next to her whilst placing her right hand a few inches over the blonde's head. A turquoise radiance emitted out of the center of the emerald eyed dagger wielder's right hand, washing over the downed Al Bhed's body.

Rikku felt the crippling pain coursing through her body subside to a feeling of warmth and comfort. Her vision slowly shifted from pitch black to a foggy gray as she pealed her jade swirl eyes open to see who had rescued her. The blonde Al Bhed's vision soon cleared up entirely, giving way to Nora standing above her with a golden backdrop as the sun's rays poured over the crimson airship. "Who are you?" The blonde Al Bhed managed to utter groggily, sitting upright as she did so whilst gazing around the deck.

"My name's Nora." The amethyst haired teen proclaimed, reaching out a friendly hand to help Rikku up off the crimson colored airship's deck. The blonde Al Bhed took the teen's friendly, outstretched hand in hers, receiving a firm yank as soon as she clasped her savior's. "I guess I should detoxify them also." The emerald eyed teen stated as she lifted the adolescent Al Bhed to her feet with one pull of her right arm.

After helping Rikku off the crimson deck, Nora strode over to where Tidus lay a mere three feet from the blonde Al Bhed. Healing the blonde blitz ace with the turquoise aura, the amethyst haired teen moved on to each and every one of the remaining injured guardians. "Hey, Nora." The adolescent Al Bhed caught the attention of the emerald eyed teen just as she finished up healing the rest of the group. "Your name doesn't sound like it's from Spira. Are you from Earth just like Lauren?" The dagger wielding teen's emerald eyes flared up with hatred at the mention of the blonde teen's name.

Nora gave Rikku an evilly hate filled look as she strode forward toward the blonde with foreboding steps. Before the amethyst haired teen could say or do anything more, Auron cut her off by striding in front of her toward the edge of the airship's deck. "There's no time for questions. We have arrived." The legendary guardian declared causing everyone to rush over to the side of the deck he was on to gaze at the spectacle that was Bevelle.

The crimson airship zoomed through the air as fast as it could possibly could toward the causeway that harbored Seymour and Yuna's wedding. As the airship got closer, machina posted on the sides of the causeway opened up fire after being given a command from Maester Kinoc. Plumes of blackened smoke ejected out of the barrels of countless machina as well as the rifles the foot soldiers were wielding. Clouds of the same blackened smoke burst to life in the azure sky surrounding the crimson airship as it made its descent toward the heavily populated bridge. Lauren, seeing that the guards as well as Seymour were distracted for a moment, inched her way toward the top of the stairs. The blonde teen heard the twisted Maester utter something to Yuna before pulling her along by her right arm to the top of the stairs barbarically.

As it came within fifty yards of the enormous causeway, the crimson airship pulled along its side, coming to an abrupt halt. Metallic panels on the side of the hull flashed open sending four anchor like objects sailing through the air toward the bridge, massive chains towing behind. A guard standing close to the edge of the causeway made an attempt to get out of the way, but it was too late. One of the bulky, heavy metal anchor like objects slammed into the causeway right where the guard stood, smashing him into the constructs of the causeway. The crowd around the crushed guard let out shrill screams of horror, flocking about aimlessly as the remaining three anchors struck the bridge. Gun shots and cannon fire continued to erupt from every which way sending hailstorms of shells and bullets hurtling at the crimson airship. As each and every shell or bullet struck the airship, it harmlessly exploded or bounced off of the think, rigid metal plating.

Lauren glanced back over her shoulder at the airship hovering to her left to see seven shadowed figures sliding down along the immense chains strung to the anchor like objects. Upon closer inspection, the blonde noted just who the daring chain surfers were, letting a relived smile pass over her face. The turquoise eyed teen continued to gaze in the direction of her friends and glanced over each and every one of them until she came across the last one. 'What! How did she get with them! Last I remember we were both passed out back in Home... They must have come looking for me and found her wounded and took her to that airship.' A shell exploded right in front of Tidus and Rikku, shrouding them from view for a few seconds before they emerged on the other side unscathed. The blonde guardian let out a sigh of relief to see that her friends were not toppled off the chains by the machina's assault. Within a few seconds her friends reached the end of the chains, leaping off onto the causeway, weapons in hand.

Soldiers dropped into place in front of the seven fighters, training their rifles on each of the warriors' heads. Tidus charged toward the line of guards, barely eluding their fire as he drew closer and closer to the front of the blockade. Bringing Brotherhood in an arch out in front of his body and chest height, the blonde blitz ace cut through two of the guards' armor, slaying them instantly. As the soldiers' dead bodies drooped to the ground, Lulu cast off a string of lighting spells toward the remaining guards. Five lighting spells slammed into five different guards, burning a smoldering hole through their flesh where the spell struck. A guard trained his gun on the back of the black mage's head, ready to pull the trigger, when a blitzball zipped through the air, slapping the soldier in the face. Nora charged in before any of the guards had a chance to see her, simultaneously brining both her dragon hilted daggers out of their sheaths and out to her sides. As she ran past two guards, the amethyst haired teen whipped her dual daggers through the air, severing the soldiers' heads from their bodies.

Three machina brought themselves upon the group as the last of the guards' bodies hit the floor with a softened thud. One of the machina was hovering over the ground, two rather large cannons fixed to either side as their heads twirled around aimlessly. The other two machina were human like, only taller, and without any arms, two legs, one of which was propped up oddly. Auron charged up to one of the armless machina, his massive sword residing upon his shoulder, glinting in the golden sun rays splashing down through the azure sky. As the legendary guardian neared, the machina lashed out with its propped up leg, twisting on its side to project its leg to its maximum length. The master swordsman, seeing the attack coming, side stepped the otherwise fatal kick, brining his massive blade down upon the machina's fragile, yet powerful leg. Hopping around feebly, the machina attempted to balance itself back out, only to receive the one eyed guardian's sword in its side, severing it in twain.

Rikku, being the machina buff that she is, rushed up to the dual cannoned machina and went straight to work. With a few minor flicks and twists of her wrist, the blonde Al Bhed wrenched free a few vitals for the machina, casting them to the side carelessly. The cannon machina let out a few incoherent beeping and winding noises before its left cannon dropped to the ground with a loud clatter. Seconds later, the machina's other cannon slipped off from its keeper's body onto the ground followed by the rest of the machina shortly. Kimahri strode forth from the group, brandishing his lance proudly out in front of his body with both of his powerful paws wrapped around the shaft. Letting out a small battle roar, the mighty Ronso guardian pushed off of the ground below him with his muscular legs, propelling him toward the remaining human like machina. The blue furred guardian plunged his spear head into the chest area of the machina, sliding through the metal construct with unimaginable ease. Sparks flew from the fatal wound the Ronso had dealt to the machina, plummeting to the floor as he withdrew his lance from within it.

Maester Kinoc shot out his right arm at a guard standing right next to him, yanking the rifle out of his hands. "This has gone far enough!" The plump Maester commanded, training his rifle down at the group as twelve guards backed him up from all angels around the assaulting group.

Yuna, seeing the majority of the spectators distracted with her friends, decided to withdraw her staff slowly, cautiously from behind her back. "You would play at marriage just for a chance to send me?" Seymour queried whilst turning around to face the young summoner in a voice that sounded a little more than creepy. "Your resolve is admirable. All the more fitting to be my lovely wife." The brunette summoner shuddered at the twisted Maester's comment as did everyone else that wasn't under the mystification of the Maesters.

Yuna continued to reveal her staff to go on with performing a sending for Seymour when Maester Mika's old voice cut through the silence left by the half breed's comment. "Stop! Do you not value your friends' lives?" The young summoner stopped dead in her motions at the old Maester's command as well as his inquiry. "Your actions determine their fate. Protect them... or throw them away. The choice is yours." The brunette summoner dropped her staff regretfully to the ground at her feet at the Maester's words.

"You are wise." Seymour declared whilst striding right up next to Yuna, pulling her closer to him, to which she attempted to resist, but to no avail. With a sudden yank, the twisted Maester pulled the young summoner up to him, leaning down and giving her a disturbingly long kiss. The half breed's actions caused all of the brunette's friends to shudder in sheer disgust or to turn away entirely whilst trying to keep from throwing up.

'Oh my god! Poor Yuna…' Lauren thought, trying to keep herself from throwing up all over the crowd she had managed to get herself lost in. 'That sick creep! No one should have to be kissed by him! I'm about to hurl just seeing it… I can't imagine how Yuna feels right now…' The blonde teen managed to suppress the feelings of nausea to the point where she didn't feel like she was going to throw up.

"Kill them." Seymour commanded to Kinoc as he pulled away from Yuna, letting her go in the process, her bi-colored eyes wide in awe. The plump Maester as well as the twelve surrounding guards primed their rifles for firing, training them heavily on the group.

"I am sorry, but it is for Yevon." Maester Kinoc spoke to Auron, who harbored an unemotional look upon his face behind his sunglasses as he often did.

Lauren, seeing that the attention of practically everyone present was focused on what would turn into an execution, slowly made her way toward Yuna. The young summoner caught the blonde coming toward her cautiously out of the corner of her eye and waited silently, unmoving, for her friend to reach her. "Hey, Yuna." The blonde teen whispered as softly as she possibly could to keep herself from being noticed by Seymour or anyone else. "I got something planned for getting out of here, but you're going to have to summon Valefor for it, 'kay?" The brunette summoner nodded silently to her turquoise eyed friend as she inched closer and closer to her. "Sorry if this hurts you or anything. Just bare with me, okay?" The blonde guardian slipped her right arm around the young summoner's neck gently, yet firm enough to be convincing to anyone watching them. "Hey! Nobody make a move, or Yuna gets it!" Everyone's attention shot from the soon to be execution back to where the blond stood with her friend locking in her right arm around the throat.

With a wave of his arm, Seymour ordered the guards to lower their rifles to which they were happy to oblige. "Go on guys! Leave now! We'll catch up with you guys later!" Lauren shouted to friends as she backed up toward the ledge of the bridge, her arm still placed gingerly around the young summoner's slender neck.

"What are you doing, Lauren!" Tidus shouted to the blonde as she continued to walk backward to the edge of the causeway, Yuna still in her lose grip. "Are you crazy! If you go over the ledge you'll die!" The blonde blitz ace continued to get what his turquoise eyed friend was trying to accomplish by taking the brunette summoner and herself off the bridge.

"Don't worry about us! Just go!" Lauren commanded harshly at her friends, who were staring at her like she was a crazed madwoman "We'll meet up with you later!" The blonde teen hollered, stepping off the last inch of the causeway, releasing Yuna from her grasp in the process. Tidus and Rikku rushed to the edge of the bridge as the turquoise eyed teen and the young summoner plummeted toward the ground below. All of a sudden, Valefor dropped out of the sky from seemingly nowhere, racing to catch up with the two teens before they hit the ground. The bird aeon dropped right under the two, spreading her wings out wide to slow her descent in order to catch her summoner and her friend. The two teens landed on the aerial aeon's chest with a softened thud, dragging the creature down through the air a bit from their falling momentum. The aeon gently slowed her descent to an almost halted speed as she neared the ground with her two passengers. Almost level with the ground, the bird aeon left the two teens off her chest and onto the stable ground below right outside of the Bevelle temple.

Yuna ruffled Valefor's neck feathers gratefully before dismissing the bird aeon back to its realm. The young summoner turned toward the temple, waving for Lauren to follow her hastily before taking off toward the entrance. "Hey, where are we going now?" The blonde teen queried noting her friend's drive to be getting somewhere in a hurry whether she liked it or not.

"We're going to the chamber of the fayth so I can get the aeon from this temple." Yuna explained as they neared the entrance to the Bevelle temple, the sounds of chaos and confusion echoing from above them. "We have to go through the cloister of trials, also. Just like any other temple, so be ready." The young summoner warned before she and Lauren passed through huge metal doors leading into the main chamber of the temple.

Finally clearing the puzzles of the cloister of trials, Lauren and Yuna made their way to the chamber of the fayth residing right through the chamber ahead of them. The two teens rushed up to the door sheltering the chamber of the fayth through a rather large, domed chamber like the one back in Macalania. The young summoner prayed to the fayth inside causing the crimson colored door to slide up into the wall and the feather like veil to peal back. The two teens hurried through the newly opened door and into the chamber of the fayth where the brunette summoner was to acquire her new aeon. Upon entering the chamber, the blonde teen's turquoise eyes widened in wonder at the spectacle she witnessed. "What's that?" The blonde guardian queried, gazing over at the purple hooded kid floating right above crystal formation with a statue in the center.

"That's the fayth." Yuna explained in a voice that showed the very importance of the fayth to a summoner. "The fayth join with summoners, such as myself, and together we acquire an aeon. They're human souls encased in the statue in the stone that you can clearly see by Yevon rites." The young summoner explained just as loud, hurried footsteps echoed through the chamber through the pealed back door.

Tidus rushed into the chamber of the fayth, only to see the Bevelle fayth fly into Yuna's body causing her to collapse from exhaustion. "What happened to her?" The blonde blitz ace inquired to Lauren, who responded with a look that was just as clueless as his if not anymore so. Without wasting anymore time, the blitz ace went over to the brunette summoner's unconscious form and knelt down beside her. Taking her in his arms, the blitzer stood up and started for the doorway just as Lauren passed through it, out to their friends. The blonde was just about to walk out through the doorway when Rikku's voice came through it, but just a second too late.

"Wait, don't come out!" Rikku pleaded, but Tidus had already stepped through the doorway, Yuna in his arms unconscious. Seven guards stood stationed around the group as Maester Kinoc appeared through the doorway on the opposite side of the chamber.

"There's the last of them." Kinoc stated more to himself than anyone else in the domed chamber as he brushed past his guard detail to stand right in front of Auron. "You are to stand trial." The plump Maester proclaimed to the legendary guardian as well as the rest of the group present in the room.

"I expected it will be a fair trial." Auron stated bitterly, glowering down through his tinted sunglasses at the shorter, fatter Maester. Kinoc chuckled a little bit to himself at the one eyed guardian's comment before he responded verbally to him.

"Oh course it will." Kinoc mocked Auron as he waved for his guards to take away the prisoners to wherever they were going to be detained. One by one, Lauren and her friends were led out of the domed chamber through the doorway to where the trial was going to take place.

A/N: Hey, guys! Hoped you liked this chapter as much as you have the ones in the past! Yeah, not too much fighting in this one, but don't worry. Next chapter will have at least three big fights in it so the action will increase like ten fold in next chapter. Anyway, I can't wait to get your reviews, and until next time, take care all!