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?

12. Two Foul Beasts

Chapter Twelve: Two Foul Beasts

A/N: Alright, I finally got around to finishing this chapter up. I don't know how to begin to say how sorry I am for the EXTREAME delay, but most of you already know what's been going on and why it took so long, but for those who don't know, I've just been gong through a lot of shit in the past few moths and I've had no will to write, and I'm sorry for not writing. Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope you all remember what's going on and that you enjoy this chapter in its twenty four page entirety.

"Mika!" Nora shouted in a valiant voice at the old Maester, brandishing her dual dragon hilted daggers out to her sides, knees and elbows bent for battle. The white bearded Maester spun around to face his amethyst haired challenger, a look of surprise and amusement written all over his face. "Stop right there! You're not going anywhere till you answer my questions!" Her vivacious emerald eyes locked onto the elderly Maester's soulless age faded eyes in a defiant stare filled with tension as well as hatred.

"Ah, I see you are still alive, Nora." Mika cracked a smile over his lips, beginning to laugh halfheartedly in a maniacal way that sent chills down the amethyst haired teen's spine. "I see that wretch lied to me about you being dead. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to silence you myself." A strange pallid aura began to waft around the outline of the aged Maester, shrouding him in a semi-blinding radiance.

"Answer me two questions before I kill you." Nora ordered of Mika in a firm, unwavering voice, getting the go ahead from the elderly Maester with a nod of his head. "Why didn't you tell me about my brother being alive here? And why did you take his memories away from him!" The amethyst haired teen stepped closer to the glowing Maester, her emerald eyes filled with hatred fixed upon his radiating form.

"I didn't tell you because you didn't need to know anything about him." Mika retorted in an unemotional voice, showing no concern for anyone as the pallid aura around him began to diminish. "If you knew about him you would have hung around him like the good sister you are and you wouldn't have followed through with my plans to kill that girl. But you couldn't even do that right." The elderly Maester took a few steps toward Nora, his arm glowing in the same pallid light that encased his entire body moments before. "You don't deserve to live anymore." His aged soulless eyes narrowed, glowering at the amethyst haired teen, his right arm continuing to shine in a brilliant pallid luminosity.

"You're the only one here that doesn't deserve to live!" Nora cried out defiantly, her emerald eyes flaring up with aggression as she took off at top speed toward Mika, who was standing still only ten feet from the teen. The elderly Maester made no moves to evade the oncoming blow from the amethyst haired teen, ensuring it to be a death blow. The emerald eyed teen leapt into the air about teen feet in front of the bearded Maester, her arms bent back over her head, daggers facing down instead of the usual upward position. The elderly Maester made no move to elude his assailant's attack as she barreled down upon him from the air like a cheetah pouncing on its prey. Only inches away from her target, the amethyst dagger wielder brought her dual dragon hilted daggers down upon her quarry's head with one swift motion. The teen's twin curve bladed daggers plunged into the elderly Maester's flesh, only to sink into it without a single sound or blood.

"What the…?" Nora landed upon her feet gently; her dual dragon hilted daggers still sunk into Mika's skull, seeming as though her attach had done absolutely no damage. "Ho… how are you not dead!" The amethyst haired teen stammered in horror as an amused smile played across the elderly Maester's lips.

"You can't kill those who are already dead." Mika let out a small chuckle as he gripped both of Nora's wrists with his left hand, drawing the dual blades out of his skull. Pyreflies began to whirl around the elderly Maester, basking him as well as the amethyst haired teen in an eerie, pale multihued radiance. "Now you are going to die for your insolence." His right arm shifted from a pallid glow to a dark, foreboding shade of black that seemed almost as if it were an empty void leading into eternal nothingness. The teen's emerald eyes shot wide with horror as she stared in awe at the black sphere forming around the elderly Maester's right hand. The bearded man placed his hand against the amethyst dagger wielder's bare stomach, a strange pull tugged at her as though it was going to suck her in. "Goodbye you troublesome wretch." With those harsh words, the elderly Maester pressed his gleaming palm against the teen's stomach, pushing the air out of her lungs within a single second.

Nora, suppressing all her pain, twisted her shoulders to her left whilst bending her torso to follow the same path in preparation for her escape. Abruptly twisting her body back in the opposite direction, the amethyst haired teen leapt into the air, twisting her body around to break Mika's grip off her wrists and her stomach. The elderly Maester glowered at the emerald eyed teen as she finagled herself out of his deadly grasp, landing on the floor next to the unsent Maester with a softened click of her shoes. Whirling around, right arm extended in a swiping motion, the bearded man spun around to his right with finesse that no one would ever think an old man could perform. The dagger wielding teen, seeing her assailant's new plan of attack, ducked down under the blow just as it skimmed the air where her head had been mere seconds before. The teen shot out her right leg in a sweeping motion as she eluded the deadly strike from the Maester's black radiating right fist. The old man felt himself swept off his feet by his assailant's sudden leg sweep, dropping to the ground with a loud thud.

Glowering down at her fallen adversary, Nora flung her right arm, dagger in hand, down in a slashing motion in an attempt to sever Mika's right arm off. Just as his assailant's curved blade was about to sever his right arm from the rest of his body, the elderly Maester's arm flicked into pyreflies. The amethyst haired teen gazed in horror as her blade passed harmlessly through her quarry's now faded right arm, almost coming back up to strike herself in the leg. Another amused smile crept onto the Maester's lips as he gazed at the look of trepidation and mystification playing in his attacker's emerald eyes. 'How am I going to defeat him if I can't even hit him!' The amethyst haired teen thought nervously as her adversary rose back to his feet, unaffected by her attempts in severing off his right arm, which was still radiating the same black aura.

Razing his right, glowing black, arm into the air over his head, the black aura welling up in size with each passing moment. Nora gawked in horror as the black aura grew three times a large as its wielder's head, black sparks leaking out in all directions, enveloping anything they touched into nothingness. "Now get ready to meet the nothingness that you belonged with since you were born." The now revolving black aura over the elderly Maester's head began to send out multitudes of the same black sparks as it had done whilst gaining power, only this time they were larger, flying straight at the amethyst haired teen violently. The emerald eyed teen took off to her left as the sphere's of black aura shot toward her, following her every move intently as if they were a loyal K-9. Noting that she couldn't out run the attacks chasing her, the amethyst haired dagger wielder doubled back around and charged straight for her assailant.

Rushing toward her assailant, Nora ran as fast as her legs would carry her to escape being absorbed into nothingness by the black spheres on her heels. The amethyst haired teen whizzed past the elderly Maester, almost causing him to spin around from the velocity at which she was traveling. The black orbs zipped through the air toward their quarry, only to have the unsent Maester bar their path as the teen rounded to her right behind him. Pyreflies began to waft around the form of the bearded man as the pitch black spheres passed through where his flesh would have been if he were living. Instead of going through the fazing out Maester, the black spheres stopped in the midst of his pyrefly form, becoming absorbed into his nonsolid form. The amethyst haired dagger wielder came to a sliding halt, snapping her head back in the direction of the Maester to see her handiwork. Her emerald eyes shot wide in terror as she witnessed the black orbs not drag the elderly Maester into nothingness, but fuse with his body.

Wracking her brain for ideas, Nora made another pass at Mika with her twin dragon hilted daggers, only this time aiming for his chest instead of his head as she had done earlier. The amethyst haired teen's dual curve bladed daggers sank into where the Maester's flesh should have been, only to receive no indication of actually hitting him. Upon his assailant's binary daggers missing him yet again, the unsent Maester flung out his left fist to catch the teen in her stomach. Not noticing her adversaries move, the emerald eyed teen continued on with her follow through of her strike until the Maester's fist connected with her bare abdomen. The teen felt all the air rush out of her lungs as the elderly Maester's gnarled fist sank into her supple gut with force that would have never been suspected of an old man. The sudden, commanding blow to her abdomen caused the amethyst haired dagger wielder to crumple over in pain around his fist as well as sent soaring through the air. She came to a crash landing only ten feet away from the unsent Maester, landing with a softened thud as her head connected with the rigid flooring.

Struggling to get back on her feet, Nora glanced around the room franticly, her emerald eyes filled with apprehension as they shifted from one object to the next. Seeing his opponent squirming around on the ground in pain, Mika began to speak in a grim tone that sent chills down the injured teen's spine. "You cannot possibly believe that you can defeat the power of death, can you? I will show you just what you are dealing with before I send you into the ghastly oblivion." The teen's emerald eyes were fixed in a look of pure trepidation, her breath being torn from her lungs by an unseen foreboding aura. The air around the unsent Maester thickening as it began to darken until it was nothing more than a pitch black barrier around his body. The darkened air began to contort around the form of the Maester as an eerie, deep crimson radiance began to well up within its confines.

A wave of unseen power smashed into Nora sending her sliding back along the ground on the ground about five feet until she crumpled up against a wall. The crimson light emitting from within the heart of the black aura flashed blindingly for a moment before subsiding into the pitch black aura. The amethyst haired teen, removing her shielding arm from her emerald eyes whilst getting out of the uncomfortable position imposed on her from striking the wall. A jet black figure emerged from within the constructs of the now fading pitch black radiance, a pair of blood red eyes piercing the darkness whilst striking inconceivable fear into the emerald eyed teen's heart. The figure harbored a pair of gnarled hours protruding from either side of its skull, making their way out in front of the skull. Wings that cut through the light in the room were as black as the empty void in which the unsent Maester promised the amethyst haired teen that she would be imprisoned in forever. Long scaled black arms and legs protruded from the creature's lanky body, large claws jutting out from each of its gnarled fingers and toes.

"Wha… what… is… that!" Nora managed to utter in a voice choked with trepidation and uncertainty, crawling back away from the demonic creature on her back until she backed herself into the cold steel wall behind her. Pressing her back up against the wall, the amethyst haired teen slid up the steel wall gradually, pressing her body flat against the partition. 'Whe…where did that thing come from! And where did that lying old bastard go!' The teen's emerald eyes locked onto the demonic being's blood red eyes, freezing her in position with fear up against the wall. Her grip around the dragon hilted dagger in her left hand slipped, sliding through her semi-opened fingers, hitting the ground next to her with a resonating clatter. The jet black creature's blood red eyes slipped off of the amethyst haired teen's emerald ones and down to the dagger that had just plummeted to the ground. The wicked beast noted the teen's fear as it passed over her trembling left hand, allowing a sinister smile to pass over its wicked visage.

"This is but a taste of what the power of death can produce!" The wicked creature's bone chilling voice slithered through the air and into Nora's ears causing her to quake with fear even more so than before. "Good, good… Your fear invokes much pleasure within me. But don't worry, for soon you won't feel anything." The jet black creature leapt at the amethyst haired teen, covering the distance between the two in a matter of two seconds. A clawed hand wrapped itself around the teen's slender, chilled neck, its long nails pricking the back and right side of her neck. Instantaneously, the demonic creature's grip went from lose to that of a grip that ensured to strangle the life from anyone in a matter of seconds. Already being semi-out of breath from the unsent Maester's punch to her gut, the emerald eyed teen attempted to breathe in; however, only succeeded in allowing her assailant's grip to grow tighter around her neck. Shooting both of her arms up in an attempt to dislodge the death grip from around her neck, the teen dropped her remaining dragon hilted dagger to the ground with a small resonating clatter.

Nora squirmed in the steel like grip of the demonic creature as it lifted her off her feet, pressing her back violently to the chilled wall behind her. 'I… I can't die here! I have to see Brian again… I can't let this bastard keep me from him any longer!' Mustering all her strength left in her body, the amethyst haired teen flung her right foot out up toward the jet black beast's chin in an attempt to shatter his grip on her. The blow connected with the wicked creature's chin sending his head jutting back up toward the sky, having no further effects than the momentary distraction. Leisurely lowering its head back down to eye level with the emerald eyes teen, the demonic beast tightened it grip upon her throat causing her to choke faintly, but was restricted by its forceful grip. The teen tried to scream out in pain as her lungs burned and her brain screamed for oxygen, only to have a shrill squeak pass through her wide open mouth.

'I'm going to die here… I can't believe it, but I can't hold on any longer…' Nora thought grimly as she felt her heart beat slowing down in her throat, her breathing becoming totally nonexistent as her body started to go limp on her.'I can feel the strength leaving my body as each second passes… I've experienced this feeling before and I told myself I would never feel it again!' The amethyst haired teen's arms slipped off of the wicked creature's arms, falling back down to their respective sides in a small free swinging motion. The teen's thrashing legs became still and limp, swinging slowly from side to side from her body being held in the air against its will. Her emerald eyes began to grow heavy with each passing second without oxygen, her head following their mark, tilting down to touch the wicked beast's clawed hand. A devious smile passed onto the demonic figure's visage as it held its unconscious quarry in its right hand up against the chilled metallic wall.

"Hmph! You are as weak as I thought." The demonic creature's sinister slithering voice pricked the attention of Nora's ears in their last moments of being attached to a living brain to decipher the sounds they took in. "You never deserved to see that wretched brother of yours. And now, you won't have to worry about seeing him again… or anything ever again for that matter. Now, say goodbye to your life." The wicked beast was about to snap the now unconscious amethyst haired teen's neck when a sharp, burning pain erupted from the back of his spine. Dropping his quarry out of his steel grip, the demonic creature cocked his head back of her shoulder to see a bright pallid light resonating off his back. As the searing pain dissipated, the wicked beast turned full girth to face his new assailant with his full furry. Another vivid burst of pallid radiance struck the beast, only this time it struck him in the chest sending him sailing backward toward the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Nora felt life return to her body slowly at first, but then with a great burst of vigor as a warm, soothing aura washed over her entire being. She pealed her emerald eyes open to see a bizarre black fog hazing over her vision to clearly make out the figure standing above her. "Are you okay? Can you get up?" A friendly female voice broke the silence in the amethyst haired teen's world causing her to shake her head and rub her eyes with the palms of her hands in an attempt to clear up her vision. Her savior had dark brown hair and was clad in a worn out blue and gold shirt, a warm smile painted upon her face as she gazed down at the injured teen. "Need some help up?" The female said, extending her right hand friendly to the emerald eyed teen, holding it only a few inches from the injured teen's own hand. Hesitantly the teen took her rescuer's hand, feeling herself being pulled up as soon as her shaky hand gripped her savior's firm hand.

Finally getting back to her feet, Nora gaped in wonder at the young woman who had just saved her from the demonic creature Mika had morphed into. "Hey, sorry. No time for introductions!" The dark haired young woman shot out her left hand toward the amethyst haired teen's chest, casting a pallid healing aura over her entire being. "There, that should do it! Let's kick this guy's ass!" The young woman declared as the wicked beast came lumbering back toward the two teens, a blood lust filling its blood red eyes.

The dark haired young woman counter charged the demonic creature barreling down upon her and Nora, body bent forward, arms out and back to her sides. The wicked beast flung out its right clawed hand in an attempt to catch his assailant by the head, crushing her skull in all in one fluid motion. The young woman ducked under the wicked creature's deadly blow with the slightest ease, shooting her fist up into the beast's jet black abdomen. The emerald eyed teen looked on in astonishment as her savior's right fist began to glow with a vivid pallid radiance causing her to shield her eyes with her left arm. The jet black creature let out a shrill shriek of pain as a wave of holy energy passed from the dark haired young woman's right fist into the abdomen of her quarry. The sudden surge of holy energy sent the demonic creature sailing back through the air until he came into contact with the steel wall on the opposite side of the chamber. The amethyst haired teen just stared at her savor, her emerald eyes shot wide in utter bewilderment at the fact that she could harm the creature where she couldn't.

The demonic creature went to get back upon his feet, only to receive a blow to the head from another holy spell shot from the dark haired young woman's right palm. Approaching her downed quarry, the young woman held out her left hand in which a vibrant pallid light shined brightly in the shape of some kind of weapon. After a few seconds of radiating its pallid radiance, the glow began to contort into something useable, a spear crafted entirely out of holy energy. The young woman wrapped her slender fingers around the pallid spear shaft tightly, drawing it in front of her body as well as into her right hand. Poising the spearhead at the temple of the wicked beast that lay before her, the dark haired young woman took a few seconds to gather even more holy energy into her newly crafted weapon.

The beastly creature, seeing that he was about to receive a blow that would actually slay him, abruptly summoned up an orb of dark energy that enveloped his assailant. The dark haired young woman franticly glanced around her at the sphere of dark energy that was containing her as well as her holy spear. With a sudden percussion of ripping, tearing, stretching, pulling the orb of dark energy began to contort around its captive in a torturous torrent. The air around the young woman began to shrink in close to her body, cutting off access to her lungs as well as to her heart. Another sickening sound resonated from the orb of dark energy as it began to pull away from its captive in all directions, stretching out her entire being. Almost as soon as it began to pull away, the sphere of dark energy whipped back to its compact form before abruptly dissipating, leaving the young woman to collapse, battered, to the ground. Her spear made of pure holy energy still radiating its pallid vivacity rolled out of her left hand and across the tiled floor toward Nora.

Glancing down at the holy energy crafted spear, Nora bent down slowly, reaching her right hand out to grip the lustrous spear shaft. Wrapping her slender fingers around the smooth shaft cautiously, the amethyst haired teen brought herself back to a full upright position. The demonic creature now stood back upon its lengthy hind legs, ready to pounce on the emerald eyed teen at any second. The teen charged the wicked beast, holy spear in her grip as it in return charged back at her with the blazing fast speed of a jet. Thrusting the holy energy crafted spear out in front of her body, the amethyst haired teen put all the strength she could muster into her two arms. The jet black creature did not come to a stop at the sudden offensive attack being given out by his assailant, but continued his charge uninterrupted. The teen forced herself to a sliding halt, spear poised out in front of her body at her attacker's chest height in an attempt to impale the demonic beast as it charged her. The creature came in closer and closer as the teen shut her emerald eyes tightly, not wanting to see her own death coming toward her.

An odd sickening squishing sound resonated from right in front of her causing her to open up her emerald eyes wearily to gaze upon the spectacle in front of her. Nora's heart skipped a beat when she saw the sight of the demonic creature impaled through the chest, halfway down the shaft of the holy energy spear. Dark crimson, almost black, blood dripped out of the jet back beast's fanged mouth as the holy energy from the spear coursed through his body with a searing vengeance. Snapping the holy spear in half, the wicked beast broke away from his assailant, ripping the half still stuck in his body out of his flesh, casting it to the ground in a violent manner. The severed halves of the holy spear flickered faintly in their pallid light for a moment before fading into nothingness. A deep crimson glow surrounded the beast as he backed away from the amethyst haired teen jadedly, a trail of almost black blood lining every step of his movements. The figure of the demonic creature faded away, giving way to the silhouette of Maester Mika, dimming to a faint pallid radiance.

"It would seem I didn't foresee her showing up to save you." Mika faintly staggered as he moved over to the unconscious form of the dark haired young woman, who had saved Nora's life. "No matter, I have no time to deal with you at the moment. I have a summoner to condemn." The unsent Maester trained his right hand on the amethyst haired teen's head, muttering something under his breath as he did so. "I hope you enjoy your rest… It will surely be your last." With that the bearded man cast a sleeping spell upon the emerald eyed teen causing her to collapse to the floor, asleep, as soon as the spell struck her body. 'She should be out for enough time for me to condemn the one who defies the teachings of Yevon.' The wicked Maester nudged at the unconscious form of the dark haired brunette sprawled out on the floor merely a few inches from his feet. The unsent continued on his way to the large wooden doors at the end of the chamber, twisting the knob open with a slight flick of his wrist.



Gradually opening her turquoise eyes, Lauren blinked the haze from her vision, scanning the area around her for anything, or anyone familiar. The blonde teen gazed upon the same metal bars that she had seen back when she was being held in that bird care like cell before she was forced to the wedding. Upon further inspection of her surroundings, the blonde guardian gazed upon the familiar friendly face of a certain blonde Al Bhed sitting propped up against the steel bars of their cell. "Lauren! You're awake!" Rikku exclaimed in an overjoyed voice, rushing over from her relaxed position against the metallic bars to a kneeling position next to her blonde friend. "How are you feeling, Lauren?" The turquoise eyed teen sat up leisurely into an upright position next to her Al Bhed friend, who held a hint of concern in her jade swirl eyes.

"I've felt better, Rikku. Right now I feel like I was hit by a truck" Lauren expressed her condition as she went to make a move to stand up, only to be held down by winces of pain jutting from her back. "What happened, Rikku? All I remember is coming out of the chamber of the fayth and then being captured by that creep Kinoc and Bevelle soldiers, but after that it kinda gets all fuzzy." The blonde teen remained in her upright sitting position to avoid from drawing anymore unnecessary wincing in pain. "And where are Yuna and the others?" The turquoise eyed teen let out another of the many questions swirling around in her head about what is going on and who, or what everyone is.

"Well, at first you went along peacefully with the guards with the rest of us, but then you started acting out against them. You punched the guard that was holding you captive in the jaw which caused all the other remaining guards as well as Kinoc to get you under control. When you resisted against them, they hit you in the back of the head with the butt of one of their rifles, knocking you out." Rikku explained how Lauren had fought the guards for her freedom without even remembering a single detail to what had happened. "As for the others, they're in trial for disobeying the teachings of Yevon. They tossed us in here because I'm an Al Bhed so they didn't want me in their 'sacred' presence, and they tossed you in here with me because you were unconscious. Besides, I don't think they wanted to risk you attacking the guards again in a public arena." The blonde Al Bhed explained the rest of their situation as the turquoise eyed guardian placed her right hand on her chin, tilting her one way or the other and up, getting a kink out of her neck.

Lauren cocked her head back, gazing up above her before she closed her turquoise eyes serenely, taking in a deep breath to calm her body and mind. The haunting image of Rikku impaled upon her katana through the stomach, crimson blood trickling off her lips, ghosted in front of her vision. The blonde teen shot her head back into a normal position whilst launching her turquoise eyes open, trepidation and revulsion apparent in her eyes. 'I can't let that come true… I have to stop myself from killing everyone I care about… but how can I stop myself if I have no control over my body?' The blonde guardian thought sadly, stealing a glance at the adolescent Al Bhed, who had now made her way back to the side of the cage where she started. "Rikku…" The blonde Al Bhed cocked her head questioningly at the sound of her friend's low voice, gazing over to see her head hung in sorrow. "What if I said that I can't go along with you guys anymore? Do you think Yuna would be okay without me?" The blonde's sorrow filled words drew a completely perplexed and concerned look from her Al Bhed friend sitting only a few feet from her.

"What are you talking about, Lauren?" Rikku queried in a voice that expressed both her utter mystification and uneasiness at the turquoise eyed teen's words of sorrow. The adolescent Al Bhed shuffled along on her knees over to the side of her friend, placing a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder that was as much as much for her friend as it was for her. "What would stop you from coming with us to save Yunie?" The blonde Al Bhed's voice was now filled with complete astonishment that her friend would say such things out of the blue.

"I… I had this dream when I was being held here before the wedding… And in that dream Seymour took control of me and had me kill all of you… even Brian and then he had me kill myself when you were all dead and gone." Lauren explained through a sob filled voice, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks from her turquoise eyes now heavy with horrible memories of the nightmare. "I know that it was just a dream and I couldn't see anything like where it was taking place… but… it was just so real… I felt my heart being torn apart as I watched each and every one of you die by my own sword… I heard your final thoughts as you died… It was just too much to bear… And now, I can't get the images and your voices out of my head..." The blonde teen cried as her Al Bhed friend wrapped her arms around her, patting her on the back for comfort as she cried on her shoulder.

"Lauren… It's okay. It was just a dream." Rikku continued to hold her friend in a comforting embrace, patting her on the back gently, as the blonde continued to cry on her shoulder. The blonde Al Bhed couldn't see her friend's eyes, but felt the sadness radiating from her as well as the mild tears dripping onto her shoulder. "Lauren… We're all here and safe. Don't worry about it. It was just a dream and dreams aren't real. What is real is that I'm with you right now and Yunie and the others will be with us again soon." The adolescent Al Bhed did not feel anymore tears rolling onto her shoulder and did not hear anymore sobs coming from her friend.

"I know, Rikku. I know it's just a bad dream and that you are here now, but I just can't get the images and thoughts out of my head…" Lauren spoke in a somewhat clearer voice than she had used earlier when she was explaining to the blonde Al Bhed what her dream was. The blonde teen pulled out of her Al Bhed friend's comforting embrace, wiping the remaining tears from her turquoise eyes as well as off her cheeks. "I don't think I can go with you guys anymore, though. I could never stand killing all of you with my own hands, even if I'm possessed… I can still feel the pain…" The teen's turquoise eyes welled up with tears once again at the thought of never seeing Rikku or her other friends again, or even worse… killing them.

"Lauren, you have to come with us! I don't want to lose one of my best friends just because of a bad dream she had! And I'm sure Yunie wouldn't like losing you, either! You've been her friend and guardian, and I know for a fact that you two are good friends." Rikku's voice held a little bit more than a little bit of frustration, but she tried to keep it to a minimal since her friend was in such a bad mood. The turquoise eyed teen opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by her Al Bhed friend's voice cutting through the air once again. "Don't worry about Seymour, Lauren. If that creep tries to do anything to you, I'll stop him, and I'm sure everyone else will do as much as they can also. Just believe in us, okay? We're your friends and want to help you. Besides, I can't stand seeing you like this…" The adolescent Al Bhed placed another comforting hand upon her sorrow wracked friend's shoulder as the words came out her mouth.

"Thanks, Rikku… I really appreciate you standing up for me and all, but I just don't think that you will be able to stop Seymour from possessing me again…" Lauren hung her head in sorrow, tears welling up in her turquoise eyes, leaving the blonde Al Bhed's hand placed comfortingly on her right shoulder. The blonde Al Bhed opened her mouth to protest against her friend's words, only to be silenced by her placing a silencing finger upon her lips. "You guys weren't able to stop him from possessing me back in Macalania… What makes you think that you would be able to from now on?" The blonde guardian's Al Bhed friend hung her head in shame, for she could not come up with anything to reassure her friend, as well as herself. "I'm sorry for doubting you, but I'm just not sure of anything anymore…" The turquoise eyed teen apologized to the adolescent Al Bhed after glancing up at her, seeing the sorrow in her usually lively jade eyes when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything, Lauren… You're the one going through everything, and I don't blame you for doubting me… After all, I couldn't save you back in Macalania… But back then we had no idea that he was going to do something like that and we had no way of reversing the spell… But now, we know what he has planned, so we can stop him." Rikku lifted her head back up and gazed over at her blonde friend, who had now tilted her head back up and cocked it to face her Al Bhed friend. The teen's turquoise eyes were filled with a mix of doubt, gratefulness, sorrow, and strong will to stick by her own words. "Lauren… You just gotta believe in me and the others. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you, so we would all risk something for you… or at least I know I would and I'm sure Yunie would, too." The adolescent Al Bhed's voice, as well as her jade swirl eyes, was filled with pleading to get her friend to see things her way and dismiss the thought of leaving her friends.

"Rikku, I understand that you don't want me to leave, and I don't want to leave, either, but I have no choice… If I go with you guys and we meet up with Seymour again he could possess me again and have me kill all of you just like in my dream…" Lauren's voice drug low and sad as she spoke the last few words of her defense as she once again hung her head in both sorrow and shame for trying to abandon her friends. "Deep down, I believe in you guys, and think that you'll protect me from him… But, at the surface, I just don't think that you guys will be able to do anything… I killed him back in Macalania, but he just came back to life… How are you guys supposed to protect me from a guy that's supposed to be dead but isn't? If even death can't stop him, what makes you think that you could possibly do anything?" The blonde teen shot her head up to gaze directly into her Al Bhed friend's jade swirl eyes with her own doubt filled turquoise eyes. The adolescent Al Bhed glanced away from the gaze of her friend to prevent her from seeing the uncertainty in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Lauren. We'll think of something!" Rikku said in her usual lighthearted tone in an attempt to cheer her friend up whilst suppressing her own doubts that reside within her. The blonde teen gazed at her Al Bhed friend, a halfhearted smile painted on her face in an attempt to make the adolescent Al Bhed stop worry about her and her problems. "Even if death can't stop him, I'm sure he's not totally invincible. We'll find out a way to stop him from harming you or anyone else. I'm sure Yunie and Tidus will do all they can to help you out and so will I. I think even Auron and Kimahri will help out." The blonde Al Bhed added, noting the false smile upon the turquoise eyed teen's face, trying yet again to bring out a real, unworried smile.

"I guess you're right, Rikku…" Lauren's voice was soft, uncertainty and trepidation bleeding through what she wanted her voice to sound like, agreeing and lighthearted. The adolescent Al Bhed was about to say something when a creaking sound slipped through the silence from the wooden double doors at the end of the bridge like causeway. The left door opened up only several feet, allowing enough space for one person to walk through the passage normally. From within the shadows cast by the creaked open wooden door came two guards, the same ones that had taken the turquoise eyed teen out of her cell to go to the wedding. "Not those two again… I wonder what they want this time…" The blonde teen brooded in a whispering voice drawing her Al Bhed friend's attention, for she knew nothing about the blonde's earlier imprisonment.

"You, get up!" The guard clad in off white armor commanded , pointing an accusing finger at Lauren as the second guard looked on with apathy. The blonde teen pointed to herself and gave the first guard a look of confusion as to if he meant her or Rikku to get up. "Yes, you! The one called Lauren. We have special orders to escort you. Now get up and get ready to be let out of your cell!" The first guard explained as he waved his right hand carelessly to the second guard, who brought in the bird cage like prison cell to the bridge. Unlocking the cell, the first guard grabbed the blonde guardian by the wrist brutally and heaved her out of her cell and onto the floor next to him. "Remember, try any funny stuff like what you did in Maester Kinoc's presence, and we'll beat you down into submission. We won't be as kind as those soldiers of his… We won't just knock you out. We'll make you suffer a lot more. Got that?" The turquoise eyed teen gave a slight nod of recognition as the guard hauled her back up onto her feet suddenly before leading her off back through the double wooden doors. The blonde Al Bhed looked on with a look of concern written all over her face as her friend disappeared through the doors with the two guards.

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'I wonder where they're taking me…' Lauren wondered as the two guards escorted her down a seemingly never-ending corridor illuminated only by a few burning candelabras mounted on either wall. The light grew fainter and fainter as the three continued down the dimming corridor toward a location unknown to the blonde teen. 'I hope they aren't taking me to be executed… or worse… to Seymour…' The guard in front of her came to an abrupt halt causing the blonde to peer over his shoulder to see what he stopped for since she was too short to see what lay ahead. An antique looking wooden door stood before the two guards and the turquoise eyed teen, shedding a foreboding aura that sent shivers down the teen's spine. 'I really hope Seymour or one of the other Maesters aren't behind there…' The blonde guardian gulped as silently as she could, but the guards still head her and let out a little chuckle as the one in the front twisted the brass knob on the door slowly.

"You should be scared, little girl. You're about to meet Tasuh… I hope you aren't afraid of creatures that look like they were ripped out of a nightmare from Hell." The two guards laughed evilly as the one in the front parted way for the second to push Lauren into the pitch-black room. Instead of finding herself in an empty room, the blonde teen felt herself drop off the edge of the hallway as she stepped into the supposed chamber. The turquoise eyed teen felt herself become lightheaded as she continued to plummet through the pitch-black air to an unknown location. Her eyelids began to grow heavy from the lack of oxygen getting to her brain as she continued to plunge through the pitch-black void. Besides the fact that it was too dark to see anything, the blonde's vision began to fade to an even deeper shade of black as all her senses began to fade.

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"Those who question these truths-they are traitors!" Mika proclaimed from the balcony in the court room, his old raspy voice echoing off the curved walls of the dome like chamber. Yuna called to the unsent Maester but he did not heed her words of pleading as he turned from the young summoner and the other present at the trial. The elderly Maester, opening up a metallic door set back behind him and the other Maester, hastily disappeared from the view of the brunette summoner and her friends slash guardians. "Ah, good. You are here." The bearded man greeted a cloaked man standing off in a shadowed corner of the chamber the Maester had just walked into.

"I said I would be, did I not?" The cloaked man retorted in a voice that seemed to be more than a little irritated with Mika as he pushed himself from the corner. The unsent Maester let out a low grunt before he nodded his head in agreement to what the cloaked man had said even if it was in a rude tone. "Now, what did you want to see me about, Mika?" The cloaked man inquired, striding over to stand in front of the elderly Maester to look him in the eye from within the shadows of his cloak's hood.

"Ah yes, you were always one to get straight to the point, now weren't you?" Mika spoke a question that he had no intention of being answered by the cloaked man, who seemed to getting more than a little tired with the old man's way of dealing with business. "It has to do with Seymour. He cannot be trusted anymore to fulfill anything. He has proven to me that he is a weak, low being that has absolutely no power and therefore is no use to us anymore." The unsent Maester elaborated on why he wanted to meet with the cloaked man; however, he left out the rest of what he was going to say.

"So, you want me to take care of him? You want me to get rid of the useless garbage so he cannot stink up the place anymore." The cloaked man queried, rifling around under his cloak until his hands came to rest upon something draped in cloth and as rigid as steel. "If that's the case," The man began, whipping out his dual skull hilted swords from underneath the veil of his jet black cloak in either hand. "Then you have nothing to worry about. I am one of the best, if not the best swordsman alive anymore." The cloaked man twirled his dual swords in between his fingers a few times casually before resting them peacefully at their respective sides.

Mika chuckled a bit at the cloaked man's eagerness to get rid of Seymour, for he had not used his blades to dispatch of someone for some time. "Oh no, I do not want you to kill Seymour." The unsent Maester could not see his facial expression, yet he could feel an aura of annoyance radiating out from the cloaked man. Twirling his dual swords in between his fingers, the man slid them back into their respective sheaths harbored within the depths of his cloak on either side of his waist. "Instead of getting rid of him now, I want you to follow him when he goes to guard the exit to the Via Purifico." The elderly Maester explained his plans for the cloaked man to follow Seymour due to his lack of reliability shown in the past.

"How are you positive that he will go to guard the exit? After all, isn't that place designed to keep people from escaping?" The cloak man expressed his doubt that Seymour would actually guard the exit of a place that no one has had ever escaped from. "Plus, don't you have that Issaru fellow down there to do that job anyway?" The man's voice sounded as though he were trying to get out of following around the twisted half breed to ensure his loyalty.

"What's the matter?" Mika said in a sarcastic voice, laughing lightheartedly at the fact that the cloaked man seemed to be unsure of his reasons for saying that Seymour would do what he said. "You sound like you are trying to get out of following him. Now, why would you be trying to do that?" The unsent Maester continued to chuckle to himself as he awaited a response from the man standing a mere two feet in front of him.

"I'm sorry if I sound like that, but can you really blame me? I mean who would want to freely follow around that warped man?" The cloaked man's inquires seemed to strike an amusing cord with Mika, who sustained his chuckling as the man continued to speak. "I mean would you like to follow around a man that killed his own father, betrayed his people, and is just a complete freak?" The cloaked man proceeded to defend his case by putting the elderly Maester in his position.

"I understand what you are saying, but nonetheless, he cannot be trusted. He will go to guard the exit because he knows as well as I do that our prisoners are stronger than they appear." Mika spoke now with a serious voice that he had not used earlier, startling the cloaked man at the Maester's sudden change in attitude. "You merely have to stick to the shadows and follow him to the exit to the Via Purifico. Then, when he confronts Yuna and her guards once they have emerged, if he fails you take his place and finish off the job. But remember, do not kill any of them slowly, for we wouldn't want them not to suffer, now would we?" The unsent Maester chuckled evilly to himself as he turned back away from the cloaked man, seeing as though he was done speaking to whom he had summoned.

"You truly are one of the most evil men on the face of Spira. It's kind of funny since you are the head of a holy religion that punishes traitors, and yet you seem to defy it yourself." The cloaked man's comment stopped Mika in his tracks, only long enough to laugh in a minute tone that was barely audible in the small chamber. "But no matter. Don't worry, for I will succeed where Seymour has failed, I can assure you that." The cloaked man pivoted on his heel after proclaiming that he would not fail as Seymour had, walking out the door on the opposite side of the room.

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A foul, putrid aroma pricked at Lauren's nostrils, brining her abruptly out of her unconscious state, back into the real world, finding it grim. As the dark haze filtered out of her vision, the blonde teen stared around at her surroundings in an attempt to figure out where she was and what she was doing there. 'Wha… what is this place?' The teen brought her turquoise eyes around in full circle about her surroundings, cringing at unpleasant odors assailing her nose from every direction. Finally she managed to pull her sweatshirt up over her nose, holding it there so she could explore around in what looked to be some sort of dungeon maze. The stone bricked walls were coated heavily in moist, ancient green moss as well as slender vines from multitudes of plants, fanning out to cover practically the entire wall system. The ground on which the blonde guardian laid upon was also covered with the same moss and vine combo causing her to leap to her feat hastily just as she realized what she had been on.

Peering around in a circle, Lauren noted that there was one was and one way only out of the chamber like area she was in. The lone corridor loomed to the blonde teen's left like a foreboding void of darkness that would enfold any mortal being that entered, casting them into eternal darkness. Wearily the turquoise eyed teen strolled over to the darkened corridor, which was completely pitch black except for one lone candelabra mounted to the wall down an immeasurable amount of space. Even more cautiously, the teen strode down the nearly pitch black corridor, her right arm folded across her body, her hand resting on the clothed hilt of her katana the entire time. Her footsteps echoed loudly up and down the corridor, giving her the feeling that someone or something was following her, waiting for her to let her guard down to devour her. The blonde guardian whirled around at a peculiar sound behind her, unsheathing her katana in the process, training it on the source of the clatter. 'Man… I'm getting paranoid… It's just a freaking mouse…' The blonde turned back down her path, leaving the diminutive mammal alone whilst sheathing her katana back into its leather scabbard in the process.

As she neared the only lit candelabra mounted onto the corridor wall, Lauren heard a strange noise echoing from down the corridor. 'What the…?' The blonde teen thought just as the candelabra to her right went out on her, leaving her in complete darkness, gripping her katana hilt tightly. Another incoherent noise echoed down the corridor, sending chills down the turquoise eyed teen's spine as she warily strode forward. "Lauren…" An eerily familiar voice pricked at the blonde's ears causing her to stop dead in her tracks, gazing into the impermeable darkness with wide eyes. "Lauren… help me…" The voice called out again through the pitch black corridor in a random direction that the teen could not track causing her to stumble around aimlessly in search of anything. 'Why does that… Is that… Was that Brian's voice?' The teen guardian pondered as she drew out her katana again, pressing it closely to the front of her body whilst gripping the clothed hilt tightly, the color in her knuckles fading to white.

Lauren strode forward cautiously, katana out in front of her, through the now pitch black corridor toward the source of what she thought was Brian's voice. 'Why would they have Brian down here… unless… they're luring me into a trap by using him…' The blonde thought as she continued to stroll down the pitch black corridor, ready fro just about anything that could pop out at her. Moments later, her katana made a small tinny scraping noise as it pushed up against a moss and ivy covered stone wall. The blonde had to come to an abrupt stop to avoid cutting herself on her own blade as it came back toward her head. Turning around away from the wall, the turquoise eyed teen spotted a strange, faint glow hovering down the corridor she had just traveled. "Wh… Who's… there?" The blonde guardian queried in a weak, frightened voice, hoping all the while that it was someone that would help her instead of try to kill her. Whatever was glowing down the corridor did not answer, only to disappear seconds later sending shivers down her spine and thoughts of trepidation through the teen's mind.

'Am I going crazy, or is something hunting me?' As Lauren contemplated her sanity, the ground below her began to quake violently, throwing her balance off almost enough to send her on her back. Backing up as hastily as she could, the blonde teen got off the section of flooring that was quivering, pressing her back up against the wall behind her. As if it were a trigger, as soon as the teen's back rested flatly against the moss and vine covered wall the flooring in front of her gave way. The fractured fragments of the moss coated stone floor collapsed into a seemingly never ending void of nothingness. With an odd sounding, echoing bellow from within the seemingly never ending void, the shattered wreckage flew forth from the extensive crater. A rather large fragment of solid stone flew right past the turquoise eyed teen's head, smashing into the wall just far enough away from the teen's head to avoid hitting her.

She couldn't see it, but Lauren felt the presence of a rather large demon like creature as it landed loudly on the other side of the hole it had created. Suddenly all the candelabras in the chamber the blonde teen stood in with her back against the wall sparked to life in one fiery roar of life. A pair of blood red eyes cut through the air in between the turquoise eyed teen and whatever loomed ahead of her sending percussions of chills down her spine. The beastly monster had tan skin that bulged up in massive muscles all over its colossal body, making it look like an impermeable wall of muscles. One of its enormously muscular arms ended in a few gnarled tendrils in place of the massive fist at the end of its other arm, jutting out about five feet, dangling in the air like devastating slacked whips. Bits of its apparently rotting tan flesh bleed away off its body, landing on the shattered ground beneath with a barely audible splash. The demonic creature's head was rounded off at the top, had no ears, and appeared to be just as, if not more muscular than the rest of its body. Wedged in the midst of the brawny creature's gut, resided a katana thrust through the entire creatures girth, bursting out its back with a crimson blood soaked tip. The beast cracked a menacing grin with its fanged, yellow teeth, dripping wet with discoloring saliva that worked its way out of its keeper's jaws, splashing on the floor in silent puddles.

Lauren's body froze stiff as well as her min as the demonic creature let out a bone chilling roar, resonating off the moss and vine covered walls in an ongoing percussion of terror. The devilish beast whipped back its left arm, whipping the gnarled tendrils back behind its massive muscular body, poising them to strike its quarry. The blonde teen attempted to make her body move out of the direct path of the monster's left arm, but to no avail, her body was stuck. 'C'mon! Move! If you don't move, you're going to die!' The turquoise eyed teen screamed in her brain as her hunter followed through with the rest of its movements, putting all the power it could muster into its next attack. The blonde watched in horror as the creature before her brought down its left, tendril ending arm, down upon her with one swift movement. Closing her turquoise eyes tightly, the blonde guardian screamed at herself in her brain to move out of the way of the blow that would most likely kill her. Suddenly, she felt herself lean down to her right, bending her knees slightly whilst shifting her weight onto her right leg in preparation for her next move. With a sudden burst of movement, the teen pushed off of the cracked, moss covered ground with her right leg, propelling her to her left into a side roll.

The crooked tendrils smashed into the tiled flooring and chilled wall where Lauren had been standing only a second before the blow was preformed. The weak ground and wall foundation shattered under the immense power and momentum of the creature's wicked blow sending minute fragments sailing through the air in every direction. The blonde teen shot her turquoise eyes open abruptly to see that her body had in fact moved out of the line of fire and that she was still alive. She let out a short sigh of relief that was cut short as the demonic beast's right arm barreled down upon her clenched in a tight fist with the momentum of an oncoming train. The teen narrowly ducked under the head level blow, allowing it to harmlessly pass over her head, sparing her life once again. The overly muscular fist crashed into the feebly constructed wall constructs, shattering it into a thousand diminutive shards of aged stone whilst also crafting a foot crater in the surface. The back of the blonde guardian's head as well as her back was pelted with the tiny debris from the moss covered wall behind her.

Seeing an opportunity to catch her assailant off guard, Lauren thrust her katana up into the fiend's exceedingly muscular arm that was still poised over her head. The demonic creature's arm flinched a bit, but other than that the blonde's desperate attempt to harm her attacker ended in failure. Yanking its colossal fist free from the stonework of the now broken wall, the beast unclenched its fist as it drew over its quarry's head. With one abrupt jerk of its arm, and closing of its fist, the monster gripped the blonde's head in the palm of its excessively muscular hand tightly, but not quite tight enough to kill her instantly. The teen's turquoise eyes shot wide with the most intense fear she had felt in her life as she attempted to let out a shrill scream of agony that was only muffled by her assailant's fist. She felt herself being lifted off the ground as the pain in her head grew worse from the sudden rush of all her weight being pressured on her head.

Desperately trying to wrench herself free from her captor's firm grip, Lauren began to pound on the beast's wrist with her left fist, her katana in her right. She thrashed her legs about almost as wildly as her arms if not more as she made a series of hacking motions with her right arm, katana in hand. The steel crafted blade sunk into the demonic creature's flesh only about a half inch or so with each of the multiple slicing motions its master made. Deep crimson blood tarnished with a bit of green dripped casually out of the freshly made wounds along the fiend's wrist as it continued to grip the blonde in its clenched fist. The turquoise eyed teen's head began to feel like it was being crushed by an elephant, yet it would not kill her as she continued to thrash about madly in a desperate attempt to free herself. The creature, although keeping an almost deadly grip on the teen's head, never exerted the amount of power it needed to kill her instantly. Instead, the wicked monster let her suffer through one of the most physically painful experiences that you could imagine, your skull being slowly crushed as thoughts run feverishly through your mind.

'I can't die here! I have to stop Yuna from sacrificing herself for the final aeon! I have to be there for her and everyone else! I have to find someway to rescue Brian and get his memories of me back!' Lauren thought violently, continuing to thrash about crazily in the merciless, near deadly grip of her assailant's right fist. Feeling her strength dissipating from her body, the blonde teen focused all her strength into her right arm as she dropped it back to her side and a little behind her. With one frantic thrust, the blonde plunged her katana's tip into her captor's muscular fist with a sickening squish that splattered the creature's crimson-green blood on the tile flooring below. She felt the katana's blade slide right past her face, barely avoiding her forehead as the beast's fist abruptly shot open, dropping her to the ground with a softened thud. The blonde guardian hastily regained her composure, standing up whilst taking off in the opposite direction of the friend as fast as her legs would carry her. She whipped herself back around once she thought she was out of any immediate harm to gaze upon the sight of the demonic creature with its bleeding hand.

"That… was too close…" Lauren breathed as the pain in her head leveled out to a dull throbbing that kept her alert, instead of the sharp, unbearable pain that it had been in the grip of the fiend. Seeing that her blow only temporarily distracted her assailant, the blonde teen brought her katana up in front of her, crossing her body from the right side of her waist up over her left shoulder. The demonic creature let out a deep throated, challenging, bellow as it shifted its weight so it was facing the turquoise eyed teen head on. Its blood red eyes pierced the blonde's soul, sending chills down her spine in sporadic bursts, almost causing her lose grip of her katana's clothed hilt. Regaining her composure, the turquoise eyed teen took one vigilant step toward her demonic adversary in front of her causing the beast to do more than stare at her. It let out a devilish bellow resonating off the moss covered chamber walls at an earsplitting volume that caused the teen to almost drop her katana in the rush to cover her ears. The overly muscular creature let out another, softer roar before taking off toward the defenseless blonde guardian in a wild stampede across the fractured, mossy floor tiles.

The tile flooring below Lauren shook violently as her assailant charged her with speeds that she didn't think possible for the massive, muscular creature. Seeing that she could not stand a head on charge from the demonic creature, the blonde teen dove to her right out of the path of the rampaging fiend. As the foul beast passed by, the turquoise eyed teen flung her katana along the creature's left arm with a hasty flick of her right arm from her waist and up out to her right. The overly muscular fiend came to an abrupt halt, sliding along the fractured floor at the slight pain received from its quarry's blade along its left arm. Pivoting on its right leg hurriedly, whipping its tentacle ending left arm in the direction of the blonde guardian, its tendrils whistling through the air. The blonde lashed out against the fiend's thrashing tendrils by bringing her right arm back down from her upper right along her chest. A greenish-tan tentacle plopped to the ground, wriggling about wildly on the shattered ground for a few seconds before coming to a sudden halt sprawled out on the flooring.

The beast let out a mild pained roar as it brought its left arm back away from Lauren, holding it back bent at the elbow facing upwards into the air. The diminutive stub of a tentacle left on the demonic creature's left arm squirmed around madly, squirting out green tainted crimson blood all over the ground and its master. The fiend let an evil grin pass upon its devilish face as the green tainted blood stopped spurting out of the stub of a tentacle as it stopped thrashing about on the end of its left arm. The blonde teen shuddered at the sight of the creature's malevolence as she began to back away from it in a terrified manner. As she felt her back press firmly against the moss covered, vine doted wall, the teen brought her katana up in front of her in a feeble attempt to defend herself. The fearsome beast cocked its right, fisted arm back as it twisted its body to the right, putting more power and momentum behind the blow it was about to deal.

The demonic creature launched its massive muscular, clenched right fist at Lauren at the speed of an oncoming train. The blonde teen rolled forward just barely allowing the beast's arm to pass over her as it smashed into the moss covered wall where its quarry's head rested only a second before. The walls shook violently as the muscular fist bored a crater into the ancient wall tiles as the turquoise eyed teen recovered from her abrupt forward roll to save her life. With a quick thrust of both her arms, the blonde plunged the tip of her katana's blade into the thick, burly flesh of the fiend's right arm as it hovered over her. The creature's right arm twitched slightly as the teen's katana's blade sank through its flesh, popping out the upper side of its arm with a sickening squishing noise. The fearsome beast drew its right arm back as hastily as it could in an attempt to catch its assailant off guard and drag her along with its arm brutally. Unfortunately for the fiend, the blonde guardian yanked her katana out of its muscular right arm just as it began to draw it back towards its body.

The ghastly beast let out a frustrated roar before it brought around its left, tentacle ending arm, back around toward its quarry in yet another attempt to slay its opponent. Lauren dove in at the beast onto her stomach, just narrowly avoiding its massive, muscular arm and its wildly thrashing about tendrils. As if by an instinctual pull, the blonde teen pushed herself up off the ground with her arms and legs back off the ground into a sort of crouching position. With another push of her legs off the ground, she shot up to about neck level, her katana resting in its sheath in a drawing stance, ready to strike at its master's command. The teen hesitated in her next move for a split second as her turquoise eyes met the soulless, blood red eyes of the demonic creature before her. A slight swooshing sound echoed through the battered chamber as the blonde brought her katana out from within the confines of its sheath. Digging into the tan colored flesh of the fiend's neck, the katana slid through it with slight ease severing the creature's head from the rest of its body. Its severed head landed on the ground at the exact same time as the blonde guardian, green tarnished crimson blood spurting out in all directions from the remaining portion of its neck as well as the bottom of the head. The fiend's massive body convulsed a bit before collapsing backward onto the fractured tile flooring below on its back, a pool of greenish-crimson blood forming all around it.

Lauren backed away from the ever growing pool of green tarnished crimson blood until she was about a foot away from the battered, moss and vine coated wall. Suddenly, as the blonde teen let out a sigh of relief, lowering her katana, the decapitated body of her assailant rose from the shattered tile flooring as if nothing had happened. The teen's turquoise eyes shot wide in bemused horror as she watched on at the sight of the fiend she had just decapitated rise from the dead only ten feet from her. The devilish creature stood there in front of the blonde for a few agonizingly long moments before a deep crimson radiance resonated out from the creatures body. The crimson light forced the turquoise eyed guardian to hastily cover her eyes in her elbow from the blinding vivacity growing in front of her rapidly. The teen heard a percussion of sickening sounds erupt from within the crimson glow before feeling a sensation of fear and death wash over her from within the heart of the light. She felt the sensation fade away just as the luminosity trying to pry its way through either side of her elbow dissipated, allowing her to see once more. Removing her arm from her turquoise eyes slowly and cautiously, the blonde's eyes shot wide in horror at the sight of her new adversary standing before her.

The creature that now stood before Lauren was nothing like the demonic beast she had just slain except for the same piercing blood red eyes still stared at her soullessly. The fiend was now a lot smaller than its previous form both in muscle mass and in height; however, it still held a disturbing terrifying feeling that send shivers down the blonde teen's spine. Its skin was now almost armor like, colored crimson as though it were covered in blood instead of the almost decaying appearance of its first form. The blonde's turquoise eyes drifted from the ghastly creature's gut, where a lone katana used to reside, to the blade's new home. The green tarnished, dried crimson blood enveloped blade now rested in the fiend's tightly clenched right fist, portraying a sort of demonic samurai. A pair of twin jet black, gnarled horns jutted out from the creature's forehead, wrapping around themselves in an odd pattern before ending pointed forward. A bone chilling, maniacal grin slipped onto the horrid beast's visage at the sight of the confused and terrified blonde guardian.

Lauren's mind was completely devoid of all thought as she stared on in bemused horror at the newly arisen foul creature standing no more than ten feet in front of her. The demonic beast let its maniacal grin expand even more as it bent its armor plated knees in preparation for its next move against the fear inflicted paralyzed teen. Within a split second, before the blonde guardian noted its movements, the fiend charged her at an almost invisible speed, closing the gap between the two almost instantaneously. Launching its armor spiked knee up at the blonde's stomach, the vile creature came to a sliding halt, allowing its knee to smash into the teen's stomach violently. The devastating blow sent the blonde teen doubling over in intense pain as it sent her sailing back through the air until her lower back slammed into the moss covered wall behind her. As her body stuck the moist stone wall, it unfolded from its doubled over in pain position into a manner that seemed as though she were just a rag doll. The blonde's turquoise eyes shot wide in pain as the back of her head whacked into the moss and vine covered wall in a most brutal fashion.

Pain surged through Lauren's body as she fell from her plastered to the wall position back onto the fractured tile floor she found herself on a lot. Fighting the overpowering feeling of unconsciousness, the blonde teen managed to keep herself from being totally helpless from whatever the horrid creature before her had planned. Slowly pushing herself back up off the broken tile flooring, the blonde gripped the cloth covered hilt of her katana tightly, pulling it up off the ground along with her body. Now standing upright with a slight limp in her posture, the blonde guardian brought her katana up into a sloppy defensive stance as her assailant stood menacingly before her soundly. Cautiously sliding her right foot forward to improve her defensive stance, the blonde winced in pain as her lower back went into a small pain induced spasm, setting her off balance. The demonic creature seemed to be laughing at the turquoise eyed teen's struggle to stand fully upright and in a position to take on its next move. Feeling both frustrated at her body for not wanting to move properly and terrified at the same fact, the teen made one last push to make herself stand in a battle ready position. Her back made a slight cracking sound as she forced herself fully upright and into a defensive stance, relieving some of the pain from her lower back. Now fully prepared for her adversary's next attack, the blonde calmed her mind as she took in a few deep, calming breaths.

The crimson skinned fiend standing before Lauren bent down a bit into a stance that looked as though it was preparing to launch itself at the blonde at break neck speeds. With a disfigured blur, the demonic creature zipped past the blond teen, leaving an afterimage that made it seem to the teen that it was still standing before her instead of having just rocketed past her. All of a sudden the afterimage disappeared as a surge of wind rushed by the turquoise eyed teen as a small warm sensation began to trickle down her right cheek. Placing the fingers on her right hand up to her cheek at the source of the warm feeling, the blonde's turquoise eyes widened in shock as she moved her hand out in front of her face to see what was on her fingers. Warm crimson blood covered her finger tips where they touched the wound on her cheek, opening a new fear within her that caused her to freeze up entirely, transfixed by the blood on her hand. The foul beast spun around, gazing at its handiwork, a wicked smile creeping over its facial features as the blonde guardian continued to stand no more than five feet from the creature.

The demonic creature waited for a few moments as Lauren finally regained her composure, pivoting on her heels to face it before making its next move. With a sudden burst of speed, the vile beast rocketed toward the blonde teen, its right, katana bearing, arm held back and over its head in preparation from a devastating blow that would surely kill the teen if it struck her. Seeing as how she had no way to block the oncoming attack, the blonde guardian hastily sheathed her katana before leaping back into a back flip out of the path of her assailant's attack. A loud cracking sound echoed throughout the now even more so battered chamber as the beast's katana burrowed into the tile flooring with immense momentum. Little bits and pieces of broken up stone tile flew out in all directions from the two feet deep crater that the fiend's blood soaked katana now rested in. The turquoise eyed teen ended her back flip almost with her back against a moss and vine covered wall as fragments of stone hurtled past her. A small, pointed rock smashed into the blonde's right shoulder, almost penetrating her skin whilst causing a sharp intense pain, leaving a sore spot on her shoulder.

Fighting the surges of pain erupting from her right shoulder, Lauren unsheathed her katana, standing firm in a defensive position, gazing at the demonic creature a mere ten feet from her. The beast slowly but surely lifted its katana out of the fractured crater, all the while keeping its blood red, piercing eyes locked onto the teen's turquoise ones. Almost instantaneously, the foul beast seemed to disappear from its spot standing over its carved crater, causing the blonde to glance around franticly for her assailant's whereabouts. Suddenly, as if on cue, the crimson skinned creature popped back into the teen's field of view right in front of her, blood soaked katana poised for a right to left slashing motion. In a frantic act, the turquoise eyed teen shifted her weight toward the direction the blade stoke would come from whilst also twisting her waist so that her katana was poised for defense. The sound of metal on metal echoed throughout the dimly lit chamber as the demonic beast's blow connected with the teen's defensive stance. The blonde felt herself losing her footing as the creature continued to apply pressure to his sword stroke as it grinded against the teen's own katana.

Suddenly, Lauren's footing failed her, and she soon found herself sailing through the air back behind her at a slightly hasty speed. Coming to an abrupt and pain full sliding halt on the tattered ground below her, the blonde teen tried to keep a tight hold on her katana's hilt so that she wouldn't be as defenseless. Crumpling up against the moss and vine covered wall on the other side of the chamber from which she was originally standing, the blonde kept her neck from being snapped from the sheer force of her impact. The turquoise eyed teen slowly pushed herself up off the floor as well as away from the moss covered wall as bolts of pain shot randomly through her body. She arched her back as if a massive amount of pressure was pushing on her lower back or as if something had her by her head and waist and was bending her upper body. She feel back onto the floor as the pain overcame her, clenching her fists tightly as well as grinding her teeth, waiting for the pain to hopefully dissipate. Finally, after a few moments of writhing agony, the devastating pain in the teen's lower back subsided to a dull ache, allowing her to relax the muscles in her body.

'This is bad…' Lauren thought as she forced herself up onto her aching legs, intense pain shooting throughout her body in random spurts, crippling her at some points. 'I can't see where it's going to move… and even if I could, I doubt that I would be able to stop it…What am I going to do? I can't die here!' The demonic creature cracked a sinister grin across its facial features as if it could read every thought floating around in the blonde teen's head. The teen's fear filled turquoise eyes shot around the dimly lit chamber franticly, in search of anything she could use against the beast that stood before her or an escape route. Her eyes fell upon a small alcove n a darkened corner that she had not noticed upon her arrival in the chamber nor did she notice it during her confrontation with her assailant. Something metallic flickered within the veil of shadows that the blonde made out to be some sort of ladder that hopefully led her to somewhere safe and away from the beastly demon. The crimson skinned fiend noted the hint of hope in its quarry's turquoise eyes, following their line of sight back to the shadow enveloped corner. Much to her dismay, the blonde guardian caught the sight of the foul creature's sinister grin catch a hint of a maniacal aura out of the corner of her left eye. The hope fell from the blonde's face as well as faded from her turquoise eyes as she realized that the creature ha seen her gaze off toward the corner with the ladder in it.

'I gotta at least try!' Lauren told herself as she still remained motionless staring at the shadow encased corner as well as the demonic creature out of the corner of her left eye. 'If I give up, I won't be able to see Yuna or Rikku, or anybody else… I gotta make it out of here so I can hopefully see... Brian again…I have to save him!' The blonde continued to pump her mind full of reasons that she had to survive this for, boosting up her confidence and determination in herself. The turquoise eyed teen bent her knees in perpetration for the sprint to the shadowed corner, the crimson skinned fiend preparing itself to intercept its quarry. With a sudden burst of speed, the blonde took off toward the corner where she hoped she could escape, the devilish beast following suit. The teen saw her assailant disappear from its spot where it had remained ever since it struck her with the devastating blow that sent her into the moss covered wall. Focusing her gaze back in front of her from where the ghastly beast stood, the blonde saw it suddenly appear right in her path only about seven feet from her. Hastily coming up with an idea, she dove between the fiend's spread legs as she came within a few feet from the vile creature.

Tumbling under the demonic creature as it tried to bash her with the blood soaked katana, Lauren shot back to her feet right behind the beast, just out of harms way. The ghastly creature followed through with its failed downward slash with a horizontal slash at about chest height as it whirled around to slash the teen across her back. The blood soaked katana whizzed through the air right behind the turquoise eyed teen as she continued to run as fast as she could for the shady corner. The vile beast stumbled for the first time during the whole confrontation, allowing the blonde guardian to reach the corner concealing the chrome ladder. Upon reaching the ladder, the teen began ascending the rungs almost instantaneously until she realized what the ladder led to. A large metal hatch resided in the ceiling of the shadow enveloped corner right above the ladder, preventing anyone or anything from passing through where ever it led to. The blonde franticly glanced around at the hatch, trying to find some way of opening it so she could escape from the deadly beast before it could catch up to her and kill her. Her slender fingers slid all over the hatch, feeling for some type of latch or knob, allowing her to open it up and craw up inside. Her fingers on the right hand came across something that felt like a latch causing her to shift her turquoise eyes onto the source of the feeling. She flipped the latch with ease only to find that there were of the latches, so she undid all of those, allowing the hatch to be opened freely at her own digression.

As she leisurely and vigilantly opened up the thick metallic hatch, Lauren heard a strange sound rushing down the shaft that the hatch led up into. The blonde teen soon realized that the sound she was hearing was rushing water careening down the empty shaft above the ladder. She braced herself for the impact of the rushing water as the demonic creature came bellow the teen, ready to attack her when the water poured out of the shaft. The water cascaded down upon the turquoise eyed teen from out of the hatch, almost knocking her balance on the ladder off. She clung to a single rung with her right hand tightly as the water threatened to knock her off of the ladder and onto the rigid fractured tile flooring. The devilish beast struggled to keep its balance against the raging water bearing down upon it as it suddenly burst forth from the newly opened hatch. The blonde guardian's grasp almost slipped from the rung of the ladder, but she managed to get her right foot up onto another rung to keep herself from being washed away by the wild waters.

The chilled water came to an abrupt halt, leaving only small drips of water and soaked metal and tile flooring alike in its wake. Hastily bringing herself back to reality, Lauren clambered up the slippery ladder and into the shaft above it from which the torrent of water plummeted down upon her only seconds before. The demonic creature had a harder time recovering from the sudden barrage of water than the blonde teen as it attempted to climb up the water soaked ladder. The fiend gripped a high up rung on the ladder with its right fist, only to be denied any right of ascending the ladder when its hand slipped completely off the rung. The beast hit the wet ground below with a loud and splashing thud that sent a small wave of hope surging through the blonde that was trying franticly to climb the ladder before her assailant caught up with her. Finally the turquoise eyed teen made it to the last rung on the ladder, pulling herself up and out of the dripping shaft.

Lauren emerged from the water logged shaft onto a small ledge where about a half inch of water rested a few feet above a water mass that appeared to be twenty feet deep. The blonde shot her turquoise eyes around hastily, trying to figure out where she was and where to go to escape the demonic creature if it could follow her up the ladder in the shaft. A large bridge like structure, much like the one Yuna's and Seymour's wedding was to be held on, only this one was level with no flights of stairs, sat to the teen's right. The ledge she stood on jutted out of the bridge like causeway about halfway up it, leaving about four feet that the blonde teen would have climb up to get out of her current location. A rather loud clambering sound echoed up out of the shaft as the blonde guardian continued to take in her surroundings, planning her next move. The abrupt sound broke the teen's focus on analyzing her surroundings, sending a twang of fear and nervousness throughout her entire being. She hurriedly rushed over to the side of the bridge, climbing up it as fast as she could in complete panic, for she knew if the ghastly beast made it up to the ledge, she was as good as dead. The turquoise eyed teen managed to climb up the side of the bridge like causeway hastily, without much hindering as the raging noise from the climbing beast continued to erupt louder and louder from within the shaft.

Upon getting up onto the bridge like structure, Lauren shot fevered glances down in both directions to see which path would best lead her away from her hunter. One direction seemed to lead out of Bevelle and into a forest that had an odd familiar feeling about it, but the other direction was a different story. The blonde teen found herself staring at the entrance to the city of Bevelle; however, that was not the only thing lingering in that direction. She saw seven figures moving around frantically performing on a larger figure that seemed to float off the ground with another lanky figure resting upon its right shoulder menacingly. Upon further inspection of the seven figures, the blonde realized that they were none other than Yuna and the rest of her friends, yet she could not make out who or what the other figure was that they were combating. The blonde squinted her turquoise eyes in an attempt to identify what all her friends were fighting, as she began to make a move toward her friends before her pursuer could catch her. The teen came to an abrupt halt in her movements, her turquoise eyes going wide in fear and shock, upon finally realizing who all her friend were fighting against. It was Seymour, only he no longer looked like a real person, instead his skin had turned silver, as well as the rest of his body. A large, metallic scorpion like entity rested on the twisted Maester's right shoulder, its long, snake like tail running down the half breed's back.

A sudden roar, along with the sound of something heavy landing on the ground behind her, tore Lauren from her astonished stare, casting her into a state of sheer panic. The blonde teen slowly pivoted on her heel to face the demonic creature, drawing her katana in the process to prevent herself from being caught off guard with it sheathed. Immediately after she turned to face her assailant, it lashed out at her with a furry of blade strokes, flailing in all directions, trying to hit its quarry. The blonde, standing still with fear, snapped herself out of a fear induced paralysis to defend herself from the barrage of sword strokes flying at her. The turquoise eyed teen managed to fend off a few of the randomly placed blade strokes until one slash caught her in the right thigh. A streak of crimson colored blood made itself visible from the upper inner front of her thigh to the opposite side just above her right knee. The blonde guardian took her right hand off of her katana's cloth covered hilt, thrusting it onto the freshly made wound on her thigh, trying to stop the bleeding. The ghastly creature took full advantage of the crippling blow it had dealt, charging right in for another blow that would probably finish off its prey once and for all.

Lauren attempted to take her right hand off her thigh and back onto her katana's hilt to defend herself from her adversary's next attack; however, she was too slow in her action. The demonic creature slammed its blood tarnished katana into the blonde teen's body, but instead of severing her in half, her katana managed to work its way in between the blow and her body, sparing her life. The teen's katana hilt slammed into her stomach by the sheer force of her assailant's stroke, knocking the air out of her lungs violently as well as sending her back onto her back a few feet from where she stood. The vile beast loomed over the downed turquoise eyed teen, blood tarnished katana drew back over its head in a finishing blow manner. A high pitched scream sounded from over where Yuna and the rest of the blonde's friends were, causing her to shoot her head back in that direction, as well as postponing her attacker's killing stroke. The scream was cut off unexpectedly as Seymour lifted Rikku into the air, his long gnarled fingers wrapped around her slender neck, choking her.

"Rikku!" Lauren hollered in a winded voice, for her breath did not fully return to her yet from the devastating blow dealt to her by the demonic creature. The blonde teen attempted to get back upon her feet to go and help her friend, but was stopped by both the crippling pain in her right thigh as well as her adversary's right foot hitting her abdomen. The overwhelming and unexpected strike to the blonde's stomach knocked her back down onto the ground with a softened thud, bashing the back of her head on the floor. She was almost knocked unconscious by the sudden stroke to the head, but something kept her conscious as the pain made its way throughout her entire body, crippling her. As she was being crushed under the commanding force of her assailant's right leg, the turquoise eyed guardian heard Yuna's pleading voice begging someone to save Rikku before Seymour chocked her to death. Something inside the blonde guardian snapped, making her immune now to all the pain coursing through her body as well as to any sounds other that the pleading voice of one of her closest friends. Suddenly, she felt something change within herself, as if something locked away was finally released sending a surge of power and stamina throughout her body.

Violent, vibrant red-orange flames leapt to life inside Lauren's turquoise eyes as once sealed up power surged through her body, giving her the will to fight as well as the strength. The same awe inspiring flames in the blonde's eyes erupted to life around the blade of her katana still residing in her right hand. The demonic creature looming over her slowly let his quarry free as it began to back away from what it knew to be a far superior power. As soon as she could move her right arm, the turquoise eyed teen whipped her burning katana up across her body, severing the leg that held her down from the body of her adversary. The ghastly creature let out a ear splitting shriek of pain, that the blonde didn't even seem to be affected by, as the wild red-orange flames began to engulf its leg. The flames raged up about half of the vile creature's leg before defusing off into the air without any trace of its existence except the smell of burning decayed flesh. The creature collapsed back onto its single remaining leg, trying desperately to keep balance and not become completely defenseless. It gazed down at the blonde guardian with its twin, glowering blood red eyes in anger and frustration that it could not defeat such a seemingly defenseless opponent as she began to rise to her feet defiantly.

Rising vigilantly to her feet, gripping her katana's clothed hilt tightly, Lauren stared down the one legged creature before her with fiery eyes. The blonde swung her right arm, flame enveloped katana falling to the middle of her back, back behind her, twisting her torso slightly to provide more momentum. The demonic creature stared in horror as the turquoise eyed teen brought her right arm back around across her body, spinning on her toes with the motion. The flame embroidered katana sunk into the horrid beast's torso flesh, setting it ablaze in a might roar. The vibrant flames of red-orange did not expand upward, nor did they expand downward from the cut, they just seemed to hover on the cut, motionless, as if time had stopped. As she came out of her spin, the blonde guardian stopped, flipping her katana into her left hand whilst thrusting her right arm up into a bent, out to the side, "halt" position. The flames in her eyes flashed brilliantly for a second as she moved her legs into a bent position, tilting her head in the direction of her right arm. A red-orange aura began to wrap itself around the teen's body before finally focusing it all into the palm of her right hand where it pulsed with a pallid glow momentarily. Everything around her seemed to be stopped as cyclones of red-orange flames came erupting from the sky with a deafening explosive sound.

The first blazing cyclone struck the ground to the demonic creature's left, shattering the bridge like causeway into fiery shards where it struck. As soon as it struck the ground, the twister changed course from its straight route to a curving path, leading directly to the foul beast as it seemed to just stand there unaffected by the chaos whirling around it. The second cyclone slammed right into the ghastly creature's chest, blasting bits of decaying crimson flesh in all directions. The third red-orange flamed twister smashed right into the beast's right kneecap, tearing off its entire leg whilst igniting the creature's waist in the vibrant and violent flames. A fourth one of the overwhelmingly destructive cyclones weaved its way through the air oddly before striking its target right in between the creature's blood red eyes. Its head came clean off from the sheer force behind the fiery twister, the rest of its body being overtaken by flames in a brilliant display. Finally, the first cyclone made its way over to the beast, overtaking it in its red-orange blaze as the final stage of Lauren's destructive attack.

Time seemed to unfreeze, returning to normal, as the red-orange flamed cyclones began to dissipate into thin air. The few random remnants of flesh from the demonic creature were burning rapidly in the fiery flames left in the wake of the four twisters. Lauren's turquoise eyes seemed to be dimmed by fatigue and fear, almost to the point where it looked like she was about to collapse. Instead of giving into her exhaustion, the blonde teen managed to turn herself around to face her next priority, saving Rikku from Seymour's grasp. The blonde adolescent's face was stricken with pain and suffering as the twisted Maester continued to grip her throat tightly in his right hand. A chill, soulless smile was painted all across the half breed's face as he stared into the Al Bhed's swirled emerald eyes with his own gray, colorless ones as he slowly but surely chocked the life out of her. All of her friends just stood there in horror, watching the mentally deranged unsent Maester leisurely murder their friend before their very eyes without doing anything about it. The turquoise eyed teen was the only one that was in the act of doing anything to save her Al Bhed friend from the blue haired half Guado in his demonic looking form. "Rikku! Hold on! I'm coming!" The blonde guardian shouted as she mustered all the strength she had left and charged full tilt, katana drawn out to her side, toward the depraved Maester.

A/N: Alright, I said there were gonna be at least three big battles this chap, but that would result in this chap being REALLY long and it would just take me even longer to write. So, I decided to split up the two chaps. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and until next time, take care all!