"What are you doing here!"

A voice rang out as he pushed the door open. Somewhat irritated, he turned to the source of the voice. There was a person, his body clothed in green, and in his hands he held two short knives. Auron wasn't impressed.

"That's not of your concern. I need to speak with your leader."

"Sure you do. Why don't you take your matter, which is none of my concern, and get OUT!"

Auron smiled grimly, then rather quickly unsheathed his sword. The tip found its way near the guard's jugular.

"I believe you may have misheard me. I said, I want to see your leader."

The goon gulped, then began quickly walking, almost tripping away. Auron quietly re-sheathed his blade, then waited. Three more of the guards of this place were standing on the ledge above him, watching warily, waiting to see if he would make any move. He would not.

The door opened behind him, and a boisterous voice boomed behind him.

"Ha ha ha! We sure got them boss!"

Auron turned to see who was behind him.

A small, rounded man had walked in, followed by taller, distinguished looking man.

"Boss, who is this... rabble?"

Then behind him, followed a woman. Her clothing clung to her every curve, and her short blonde hair clung to her face. Whatever she had just come from doing, had obviously taken some energy.

"I don't know. Who are you, love?"

Auron stepped a bit forward.

"Someone who can pay if you can help. I have a broken sphere, and I've heard rumored that you are a good source to come to on these matters."

"On broken spheres? How ridiculous!" the woman answered.

"Then perhaps I can take up my business elsewhere. Perhaps with the Gullwings?" he asked. He knew this mention would give him her full attention.

The woman's mouth hung open slightly at the mention of the name.

"You'd take your sphere to those rank amateurs, love! Everyone knows that the Gullwings can't compare to the Leblanc Syndicate."

"I'm sure I won't have to, if you'll be so kind as to help me."

"Very well. Give it here!" she exclaimed. He nodded, handing it over to her. Her gloved hand flicked the activation switch, and she began to watch it. After she was finished, she handed it back.

"Just making sure that it was real, love."

"Of course. Can you assist me?"

She motioned for him to follow deeper into the chateau. He followed, and soon they were at the back of the banquet hall.

"You never saw this. I just want you to realize that. Understood, love?"

"Of course."

She reached into a nook in the wall, and he could hear an audible click. She removed her hand, and for a moment there was silence. Then, in a blur, the wall revealed a door, and behind it a passageway. Leblanc motioned inside, and Auron obliged her.

They walked in silence, and Leblanc led him into a small room deep within the chateau. After he stepped in, she closed the door. Auron glanced around, and allowed some mild shock to cross over his face. Around him were spheres that had been discovered that were dull, some were cracked, and finally... some were broken cleanly in half.

"Now, there are two ways we can do this. How much do you know of spheres, love?"

Auron slightly shrugged. For all that he knew, spheres remained a mystery. He knew they recorded, but as to how they were able to, he'd never had the initiative or cared enough to find out. She smiled broadly at him, then started.

"Think of it this way. Let's say you take sand from Besaid, mud from Djose, and water from the Moonflow, then mix them all together. What do you have then?"

"...Very dirty water," Auron dryly answered.

Leblanc glared at him.

"Very funny, love. But there's more to it than that. Because of the sand, the water now has foreign particulate floating in it. Then, you add the mud, and the water becomes darker as it starts to float amongst the sand. As you put it, it's become very dirty water. Now, you dump the mixture into a strainer. Is the water, sand, and mud back to the way it was?"

"No."

"Very good, love. The water will still have some bit of the sand and mud left over, and no amount of cleansing will completely turn it back to its original state. The sand is now wet, and it started to clump together. The mud has parted a bit, and is now separate. You could put it back together, but it will never be in the exact same form as it was. Now, let's look at a sphere. I can take this sphere and use an amorphous sphere to fill the gaps, and it would attempt to reconstruct the full sphere. It may work, but if it doesn't, your sphere will be corrupted. Plus, if the amorphous sphere has anything on it, it will... well, let's just avoid that, love."

"And the other options?"

"I can attempt to read it using our spherescreen, which will attempt to recreate the rest, but.. because of the damage on this sphere, I don't think it will work well. Then, the third one, though.. I don't like this option... is to search through the broken spheres that I have, and try to match them up. The sphere won't seal together unless its an exact match. Although not my favorite option, it will work if I have the other half."

"Then, let's get to work," Auron said, as he picked up a broken sphere.

"Let's? I've got other things to do right now, love. You can. If you happen to find it, find me."

Auron nodded, as he put down the first sphere. It hadn't worked. Leblanc closed the door behind her, and Auron began his search...

I wonder if Seymour knew of these tunnels? Or even Jyscal... If Seymour knew, what would happen down here? Torture? Did he create fiends? Dark magicks? Was this how he was able to hide his intentions for so long...?

Auron stopped as he put down what had to have been his thirtieth sphere. This was too slow, and he knew there had to be a faster way. Closing his eyes, he focused.

Inside the mind and soul of every warrior monk, even those who went the way of the ronin, possessed great amounts of self-control, concentration, and when focused, a sense of the world around them that surpassed the senses of the normal human. Auron was now broaching into that area. To someone watching, he was standing still, almost completely unmoving, with his eyes clenched in hard concentration.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open, and his arm grabbed a sphere. Putting the two together, he found a perfect match.

Yunalesca? What do you want?

The head summoner of Zanarkand stood behind her. The sphere panned out showing Lenne and Yunalesca standing near each other. Lenne's arms tightened slightly.

You were supposed to be in training an hour ago, Lenne. The other summoners were wondering where you were. You're to head off to the battle lines soon.

Lenne's fists clenched, and angry tears began to break her eyes.

So I can die? In a war I don't believe in? For people that in ten minutes will forget who I am? For a city that may not be here in a month? I don't want to be forgotten.

Yunalesca looked angry, but she flashed the look away quickly.

You won't be forgotten. Every summoner that dies-

Becomes a statistic. You remember Summoner Jaden? Or Lady Denya? No. Because three months after they died, no one remembers. Summoners are expendable, they make this war livable! It keeps the war away from Zanarkand, allowing everyone to believe that the battles that are killing so many aren't happening. I've cried tears for every summoner I've known, because I know that the shelf life of a summoner once they come here, is less than a year! Can you say the same for yourself?

Yunalesca turned away, and walked out of the seeing eye of the sphere.

Answer me. Will you come?

Lenne still had angry tears coming down her face.

No. People need to know what's happening here, and if you won't do it, then I'll do it. It's my responsibility to Zanarkand.

...I'm sorry you feel that way Lenne. I guess I have no choice then.

Then you'll let me leave?

...Not quite. I sense you are feeling.. tired.

Lenne's eyes started glazing over... then she slowly slumped over into the chair behind her. She was out cold.

Come get her. We'll have to move quickly.

-
The sphere ended, and he sat in silence. Yunalesca was responsible for far too many lives. How many summoners.. and guardians had she killed in her intentions? He shook his head, and picked up the sphere, placing it in a pouch. He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Boss! They're here!"

"Good. Tell the guards in front to let them in. We'll take care of them if the traps don't, love."

Auron smirked. Yuna was here.

He walked out, seeing a ladder off to the side, he quickly scaled it. As he reached the top, he remembered something.

Leblanc would wish to be paid. From what he'd discovered, spheres, even halves of them could go for upwards of a 1000 gil.

He looked down, and saw three figures walk in. Quickly grabbing a sack off his belt, he tossed 100 gil in it, then tossed it down in front of the three, and quickly backed away, and began towards the entrance. It would be terrible if Miss Leblanc didn't get money for the sphere, wouldn't it?
-
"Huh?" Rikku asked as she went around the corner.

"What?" Paine asked, stopping a bit behind her.

Rikku looked around, then bent down picking up a small sack on the ground. Looking in it, she giggled.

"Cool. 100 gil!"

...Author's Notes...

So uh... I get this strange feeling no one's reading anymore. There's a perfectly good and logical explanation on why this chapter took soooooo long. Lemme tell ya, basically, this chapter kicked my butt. And I can't even give you a good reason. There's no reason it should have, it just did.

It's not entirely hard to figure out where we are in FFX-2. At this point, Auron and YRP are going to be coming closer and closer, and without going into incredible details, this will only be the second story.

No lyrics this time, cause I couldn't find a song that I liked. Now, onto those crazy SHOUT OUTS!

The Art of Shout-FU!

Iron Reaver - I think your nose is hairy, and your forehead needs a hug from a walrus.

Madmaz - I hope you're not mad, and I hope this one was a good little chapter for you.

SA43 Vertigo - Thanks for your comments, and sorry for the wait.

Kad - Thanks Kaddy. D

Jasmine32 - It's okay. I sometimes don't want to/forget to log in. But either way, hope this was for the wait.

More soon. Yay!

And then, I, like, ran off, like, totally, like off, like the, like cliff!