Hi, all! This chapter isn't as good, at least I don't think it is, but I was completely determined to get this up! I just recently got a job, and was really busy training and stuff all week, soo... as for the Aya voting, we had one for keep her, one who said they liked her (keep her, I'm assuming?), one who said toss her, and one who it didn't really make a difference to. So, if that's the case, then I'm keepin' her around! She won't be around as much... I said I'd keep her, and I will--she'll keep popping up, and we'll check in with her every couple chapters or so, but she won't be following the Gullwings around. Hope that works for all of you, since the main reason why I'm writing this is to keep all of you entertained :D THANK YOU to all who reviewed:
Motet: Nope, I don't consider that a diss to my OC. I asked for what you thought, after all! I do like Aya, but I think that's because I gave her my hair color, and just a tiny bit of my personality, cuz I'm stubborn. She's not really modeled after me, but I thought about making someone who was a bit firey and stubborn, and I immediately thought of a short, red-haired girl:D
Paine3: It's okay ifit doesn't really make a difference to you... but thank you for reviewing anyways!
7w7: I actually thought about that when I created Aya! At this point, I will neither confirm nor deny Aya's involvment with Tidus and Wakka's kidnapping. Thanks for the review!
DarkAnimePriestess: I don't really get writer's block on this fic, because I know where I'm going with it, generally speaking. It's much easier when you've got your ideas thought out. Thanks for reviewing :D
Aya walked with the girls all the way to the edge of Luca. The other four girls began to climb the stairs that led up towards the Mi'ihen Highroad, but Aya hesitated, watching the other four girls, looking unsure. Rikku suddenly turned around, and looked at Aya with a confused expression. "Aren't you coming?"
Aya looked at Yuna uncertainly. Yuna nodded. "Okay!" Aya said happily, racing up the stairs to join them.
"So, what have we got to search here?" Lulu asked.
Aya was glaring around at all the people who were staring at her. "Haven't you ever seen someone with red hair before?" she grumbled.
"Well, there's that nasty dungeon full of bugs," Paine said, nose slightly wrinkled in disgust.
The girls made their way down the road, stopping occasionally for a quick battle with fiends. You could hardly call them battles after the fiends that had attacked them in the basement, and nearly all of them were over with a snap of Aya's fingers, or a wave of Lulu's arm. Paine became increasingly grumpy—she, evidently, would rather handle the fiends the hard way as opposed to eliminating all of them with one shot of magic. After a bit longer, they had finally found the way down into the lower level of the highway. When they at last unearthed the entrance to the cave, Paine was only too eager to get inside.
"Those bugs are going down," she said in a low, intense voice.
"I think we should split up," Lulu said, interrupting Paine's immediate plans to charge into the cave.
"Say whaa?" Rikku said. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd want to be in the group that doesn't have Aya."
"Are you sure it's safe?" Yuna asked, looking skeptical.
"The worst thing we're going to meet in here is bugs," Aya said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the entrance to the cave appraisingly. "Lulu or I could blow them all away, if we really wanted. It would be easy to get out."
"What if we get lost?" Paine asked, eyes narrowed warily.
"You won't," Aya assured her. She pulled something out of one of the pouches on her belt, and tossed it to Paine.
"A compass," Paine said.
"The exit is due South," Aya told her.
"How do you know all this?" Paine asked, eyebrow raised inquisitively.
"Exploration, my friend," Aya said. "This is the farthest I've gotten… I have to be back home every night, or Ryuen throws a fit. Otherwise, I would have gone farther."
"It's settled, then," Yuna said. "We'll cover more ground if we split up, anyway. The fiends probably won't be gravitating towards one place, since we killed their King a couple months back, so we'll have to search the whole thing."
"My thoughts exactly," Lulu said, nodding in agreement.
"There should be a mage in each group, too," Yuna said. "In case we need to get out."
"Let's go… Aya, Yuna, and Rikku," Lulu said. "And then Paine and I."
Paine, looking quite relieved, said immediately, "Done," and led the way into the cave.
The girls walked as a group until they came to the first fork in the path. Rikku handed Lulu and Paine a communicator so that the two groups could talk to each other. Paine and Lulu took the right fork, and Aya, Yuna, and Rikku took the left.
"I still can't believe that you can do all this cool stuff, like transportation spells," Rikku was saying to Aya as the three girls walked along the passageway. "And how you blew that door off its hinges, and how you—"
Aya laughed. "Rikku, you're easily amazed."
"Nuh uh," Rikku said. "I just know I could never do that!"
"You could with the right amount of training," Aya said.
"I wish you could be a Gullwing," Rikku said. "Wouldn't it be fun to come around with us all the time?"
Aya smiled faintly. "Yeah, it would be… but I've got an inkling about Luca… I think maybe after this, I should go back and take another look around… no, no, not in that basement… just, around in general… I mean, there could be some secrets that I've missed. I just feel like there's something there…"
"Or, you could check around the other areas in Spira for clues," Yuna suggested.
"By herself?" Rikku asked, horrified.
"It's fine," Aya said in a shrugging tone. "I can't teleport to places I haven't been, which rules out half the areas, but I could bring Ryuen along with me."
"It's a good idea," Yuna said thoughtfully.
"I'll think about it," Aya said with a lopsided smile. Despite the fact that she had said it would be fine, they could tell she didn't like the idea at all.
The awkward silence that followed the short conversation didn't last long. They soon came upon a wall, and a rather thick one at that. "Aya, if you would?" Rikku said, giggling a little at her own use of an obscenely proper tone.
Aya smiled, and focused in on the wall. She strode up to the wall immediately, and said as she was pressing her hands on the wall, "Stand back!" The wall exploded suddenly, and the once solid rock wall crumbled to the ground, now a mere pile of gravel. Aya, still smirking, brushed herself off hurriedly, and said to Yuna and Rikku, "C'mon, let's go!"
Yuna and Rikku followed her over the pile of rubble and on through the cave. In order to keep their progress quick through the cave, each time they encountered some of the gigantic bugs that attacked them often, Aya threw her right hand out in front of herself, and completely torched them. It kept the battles to a minimum, and it didn't seem like Aya minded casting all the spells or exploding all of the walls. At any rate, she didn't seem to be getting the least bit tired. She had led Rikku and Yuna all around the dungeon at such a fast walking pace that it left them completely worn out.
When Rikku and Yuna were completely wiped out, and felt like they couldn't take another step, they came up upon another particularly thick looking wall, which Yuna and Rikku immediately pounced on as a time to rest. Aya walked up to the wall, and peered at it uncertainly for a moment. She raised an eyebrow, and slowly placed her hands on the wall. It exploded, and revealed a particularly horrified looking Paine and Lulu standing behind it, a bomb clutched in Paine's hand.
"Relax, it's just us," Aya said with a giggle. "I kind of figured you were there… bits of this wall were obviously already gone on the other side… there was a big crack."
Lulu put her hand on her chest and continued breathing heavily. "Don't scare us like that!"
Aya and Rikku both laughed. "That was funny!" Rikku squealed.
Aya smiled. "Thank you, thank you!"
"Well, nothing here," Paine grumbled grumpily. "Let's just get back to the airship, now, please."
"Aya?" Yuna asked. "Would you please get us out of here?"
Laughing, Aya nodded. She repositioned herself, raised her hands above her head, and shut her eyes. They all felt again as though they were being forcibly held under icy cold water, until they were out of the cave. The sunlight was the first thing they noticed—it felt so warm in contrast to the bitterly cold feeling they all had when they were being transported. Everyone was standing except for Aya, who was laying on the ground on her back, holding her head, her eyes tightly shut. It seemed as though she thought keeping her eyes shut would squeeze all the pain out of her head. She writhed in pain for a moment, before finally calming down as everyone huddled around here. Lulu reached for one of Aya's pouches on her belt, and pulled out a familiar looking green liquid. She poured it slowly down Aya's throat. Within minutes, Aya was getting up hastily off the ground, and acting as though nothing had happened.
"Sorry about that," she said, dusting herself off. "A bit of backshock is all. That's a nasty spell…"
Lulu smiled softly, and nodded in understanding. "You're okay now, of course?"
"Fine," Aya said, grinning. "Thank you, Lulu."
"Brother," Paine barked into her communicator. "Get your tattooed butt down here!"
"I cannot go into a basement with my airship, Paine!" Brother yelled back angrily.
"We're not in the basement, stupid, we're on the lower level of the Mi'ihen Highroad near the secret cave," Paine shot back.
"Fine," Brother snapped, clicking off.
"Jerk," Paine mumbled under her breath.
"Would you like a ride back to Luca, Aya?" Yuna asked her.
Rikku let out a small whine, and shot a pleading look at Yuna. Yuna shook her head slightly, hoping Aya wouldn't notice.
"Sure," Aya replied.
They all sat in silence as they waited for any sound of the airship. When they at last heard it, they all jumped up and down with joy—it had already been a long day, and they were all more than ready for sleep, despite the fact that it was just sunset.
Once they were all on the airship, Aya told Brother to drop her off near the sphere theater, and they were off. Before Aya got off, Yuna handed her a communicator.
"Aya, this is for you," Yuna said. "Keep it on at all times, and keep it with you. If there are any new developments in this, radio us. We'll be in touch with you if we need you, and don't hesitate to call us, even over a small thing."
Aya grinned. "Thank you, and I'll definitely be calling you!" she said happily, gingerly placing the communicator in one of her pouches. She had seemed slightly grim since they had boarded the airship, but as she left, she was all smiles—evidently, staying in contact with the Gullwings was all she had wanted. The prospect of leaving her new friends hadn't been all that appealing, but now that she had her communicator, she left with a huge smile spread from ear to ear.
"She's finally gone," Paine said once Aya had left.
"Hey, I wanted her to stay," Rikku said, sounding her offended. "How could you not want to keep someone like that around?" she demanded of Yuna.
"Maybe when she's a little older," Yuna said. "I don't want her getting into life threatening situations at 16."
"But I was!" Rikku protested.
"I know you were," Yuna replied calmly. "But we don't want to do that to another person, do we?"
Rikku's eyes fell on the ground. "I guess you're right."
"Besides, you can talk to her any time you want," Yuna said reassuringly. Paine scoffed behind Rikku's back at this.
"I'll miss watching her do her magic," Rikku said, an air of sadness about her.
"I will too," Lulu agreed. "Quite flashy, but effective, nonetheless…"
"Why were her motions different, anyway?" Rikku asked.
"It's based on how you want the spell to work, or how you want to control it," Lulu explained. "She prefers having a greater control over hers than I do, but she seems to have a more close combat fighting style than I do. Sometimes, you can even change your motion to increase power, though I doubt this is the case with Aya. She just seems as though she prefers a greater amount of control over her spells."
"Why don't you want more control?"
"I had always heard that using motions like that would decrease your power, because it is, of course, much more difficult to control your magic in that way, which would in turn weaken it. I preferred to keep it simple. By no means am I old, but I'm a bit too old to learn this fairly modern style of magic."
"You couldn't be too old!"
"I am," Lulu assured Rikku. "It's better to learn when you're younger. Just like controlling your magic is harder, the older you are, the harder it is on you, and the harder it is on you, the weaker the spell will be."
Rikku finally seemed to have run out of questions. "That's so cool!" she decided at last.
"Yes. Aya is a very powerful mage," Lulu said with a trace of a smile. "And I believe she knows this. Right now, I think we're fortunate that she's using her powers for good things, like helping people, and exploring. We're very lucky that she's not completely set on ruling Spira—I'd be worried if she were trying to take over."
Paine scoffed again. "I still think something's strange about her."
"She's fine," Yuna said immediately. "Let's just get some rest before heading to… well… where do you guys want to go next?"
"Let's backtrack to Kilika," Rikku suggested. "Mushroom Rock Road can wait, for now."
"I can agree with that," Lulu said with a nod.
"Then tomorrow, Kilika it is!" Yuna said, leading the way back towards the elevator.
If you liked it, leave me a review, please! This chapter was a little bit rushed, but I haven't updated for awhile, so I wanted to get this up. Let me know what you think!
Thank you sooo much,
Lulala