[Whee, my first reviewer! Thanks Shadowsin! I hope you enjoy the rest! ]

No Chance Encounter

At the gates of Luca, Zephyr skidded to a marvelous halt, stopping completely on the terrace overlooking the city on her knees. She was completely spattered with rainwater and mud. Undeterred, she glanced through the sight of her gun. What . . . AHA! The heat signature! She was right there! And near her . . . that was a really close match to Yuna . . .

Jackpot. Zephyr leapt down the steps into the city, and ran not for the group of people she had sighted, but for the shadows near them. Wouldn't want to introduce herself so suddenly. Better get to know them before letting them get to know her. Ehehehe . . .

She had unwittingly walked right into a blitzball match, having no real idea where she was, knowing only that she was so, so close to the end of her chase. However, when Zephyr caught sight of the Glories playing those insufferably arrogant Psyches . . . she couldn't help but scream and push her way to the rail. Hunt later. Cheer for the home team now.

…

"A game!" Silver suddenly got excited, and spun his blitzball on his middle finger. "Oh, I've been wanting to play for so long!"

Lucine watched Silver as he spun the ball on his finger. "Wow, you're good. Which team do you play for?" She asked, sitting down on one of the stone bleachers. It was cold, but at least the were dry and far from the rain. Lucine wasn't very fond of lightning. And rain and lightning went together like...A summoner and her aeons, She decided.

"Whoohoo! C'mon, Glories! Kick their pansy asses!"

…

Not only was her language somewhat abrasive, Zephyr also had an oddly deep voice. Her voice was pleasing to the ear, although clearly alto in pitch. She leaned heavily on the railing and watched the game intently through her perfect eyes, the details thrown into sharper focus by her specially crafted cobalt-tinted lenses.

…

Serenity covered her ears at the cheering of the stadium, closing her right eye, only revealing the left blue eye. "It's so noisy…" she muttered, looking around. She noticed the guy had a blitzball. She loved blitzball. It was natural, since her father played and the Besaid Aurochs lived on the same Island. Serenity sat down beside the girl, her ears still covered and eye still closed. "Oh, sorry about bumping into you before," Serenity said to her, watching the guy with the blitzball, resisting the urge to play with it herself.

"I have no team, I play for that one that pays me. I've been with the Luca Goers, the Kilika Beasts and even with the Ronso," Silver laughed and threw the ball at Lucine for her to hit it with her head.

"Oh, no problem, but I think I'm the one who bumped into you," Lucine said to the girl, giggling. As she turned back towards Silver, she saw a blitzball coming right towards her. Instead of bumping it with her head, it ended up bumping her in the head. It whacked her right between the eyes. "Owie..." She said, falling to her knees. "That really hurt." Tears started welling up in her eyes, but she was determined to force them back.

Silver was surprised. He didn't think he'd thrown the blitzball that hard. He kneeled next to her and bowed several times. "I'm so sorry, really," Silver said, wiping the single tear that managed to roll down her cheek. "I'm really sorry."

…

Along with the rest of the spectators, Zephyr turned to see where the rogue blitzball had gone. Imagine her surprise when she saw her quarry on her knees and nearly in tears from the pain of the ball!

"Well, this looks like a bloody convenient time to introduce myself," she muttered with a sly smile. Wiping it off of her face for the purposes of appearing like any good Samaritan, she ran to the side of Rikku's daughter and crouched down next to her.

"Oh, gods, that ball hit you, didn't it?" she said, eyes panicked and concerned. (Zephyr was an exceptional actress.) "Here, maybe I can help . . ." She rummaged around in a pocket of her coat and pulled out a small corked bottle of green liquid and a satchel of orange-pink powder. She added a pinch of the powder to the bottle and presented the solution, which had transformed almost instantly into a crystal clear syrup, to Lucine. "This should ease the pain . . ."

…

Serenity giggled with the girl as well then gasped as the blitzball hit her on the forehead. Serenity stood up as the girl fell on her knees, and the guy kneeled down beside her. Another person had approached them and begun helping the girl. "Are you alright?" Serenity asked, hovering over them. She had opened her other eye and took her hands away from her ears, looking down at them with blue and green eyes.

Silver suddenly got confused. That woman just appeared out of nowhere, threw him aside and began taking care of Lucine. What the hell was happening? "Excuse me... miss, but who might you be?" He didn't want to sound rude, though he could smell some kind of alteration in her, the light smell of a lie... not to mention the sound of her heart pounding just a little faster, not enough for even the woman to notice.

Lucine stood up and fought the tears. Even so, one managed to roll down her cheek, which was wiped quickly away by Silver. As she felt her forehead for any damage, a tall girl who looked of Guado ancestry came running toward her, offering a clear liquid. "Um...is this safe to drink?" She asked.

Sensing she had been caught, Zephyr turned to look at Silver. She smirked; this could be their little secret. Her eyes betrayed little behind their cobalt lenses, but the wink communicated a great deal to the tiger demon half-breed.

"They call me Zephyr," she said, nearly inaudible in the noise of the stadium. "A wandering chemist and sniper, always willing to offer a helping hand . . . I'm sorry, I didn't steal your thunder, did I?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

She turned back to Lucine. "Perfectly safe," she assured her. "A hi-potion with just a pinch of dispel tonic - it'll heal any ailment, mark my words." Zephyr grinned. "I'll test it for you, if you don't trust me."

Lucine saw the wink between this new girl Zephyr and Silver. She wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but decided to put it off till later. She would have to focus on what was happening now. She looked towards Zephyr. "Steal my...thunder?" She asked confused and sill holding the strange clear liquid. She felt a little slow after what had just happened.

Zephyr blinked, apparently confused herself, and shook her head. "I meant - ah, nevermind. We'll save it for later, alright? Come on angel eyes, take a sip. You're disoriented - here, we should really get you out of this stadium . . . it's so loud in here." She looked to Serenity and Silver imploringly. Zephyr had no desire to touch any of them, let alone steer Lucine out of the building; she'd probably freak them out somehow. "What do you guys think?"

She took a sip of the Hi-Potion. It tasted warm. Then she handed the bottle back to Zephyr. "No…no...I'm fine. I can walk." Lucine took a wobbly step forward, but a step all the same. "It would be nice to go somewhere quieter, though." But she could see that it was still raining outside.

Serenity nodded her head. As much as she would have loved watching the blitzball game, the sound was becoming too much for her. She was getting a headache. "Maybe we can go into the hall of the locker rooms?" Serenity offered. Standing outside in the rain catching a cold wasn't much better.

Zephyr accepted the bottle with a nod and re-corked it, shoving it in one of many pockets. "Locker rooms are this way," she shouted over the noise. The mysterious alchemist began to make her way towards a side-door leading to the locker room hallway. She was fairly easy to pick out in the crowd and to follow, being somewhat tall and having an unusual appearance.

Lucine followed after Zephyr, pushing her way through the crowd. She knew the Hi-Potion was working, because she was no longer stumbling around. That stuff sure was potent!

…

Serenity lingered for a short while, watching the Psyches score a goal, and she cheered along with the loud crowd. It was much easier on the ears when she cheered with them. After that, Serenity searched around for the rest of them, and easily found the mysterious person who had approached them, and quickly followed after them.

Lucine looked back around her shoulder. She could see Serenity following close behind her. Soon they would be out of this giant mess of people and safe in the locker rooms, where there was blessed peace and quiet.