I think this update might be a little bit shorter XD I hope so! Well, anyway, thank you soooooo much to all who reviewed, I'm really writing this story for you:
Motet: Haha XD glad you think so! Thanks for reviewing, as always!
7w7: Good to hear :D Thanks for the review!
Paine3: You never know what Aya could be up to... you'll get a much better idea after this chapter and next, which have a pretty big scene with her in it... cliffhanger, sorry XD
DarkAnimePriestess: Glad you think so :D Keep reading and reviewing, thanks again!
"Did you notice Rikku sticking her tongue out at you?" Yuna asked Paine warily as they walked along the path.
"Of course," Paine said. "She's so immature."
"She's… I guess I can't say that she's still a kid, because she's not…"
"She likes to think that she is," Paine said, eye twitching slightly. She was evidently trying to mask her anger.
"Anyway, what do you think the chances of finding them here are?" Yuna asked.
"Zero," Paine said. "I'm sure this has been all over the news in Spira, so I doubt they'd be anywhere were civilians go, or someone would have seen. People walk through this woods all the time. It doesn't seem like the ideal place to hide someone."
"Be that as it may, we can't overlook anything," Yuna said with a sigh.
"There is, of course, things that are easy to overlook."
"You're suggesting…?"
"How tall d'you think Aya is?"
"Oh, Paine," Yuna said in disbelief. "You couldn't honestly think that this whole thing has been Aya."
"Well, can you name another mage we know?" Paine asked, staring demandingly at Yuna.
"No," Yuna admitted. "But that doesn't mean it was Aya. She wouldn't have helped us."
"That's what she wants you to think," Paine said irritably. "And if you want to believe her more than me, that's fine."
"It just… doesn't add up, Paine," Yuna said.
"What about this is so difficult?" Paine said, voice growing noticeably louder as her patience began to wear thin. "She sets Wakka and Tidus up in the Blitzball store—she lives in Luca, doesn't she? How convenient, she could have easily been there that day! Then, she tags along with us, leading us away from the scene of the crime to that ridiculous basement!"
"I think you're a little sore about that Blitzball trophy we found," Yuna said.
"Don't joke with me!" Paine said sharply. "I'm in the middle of an explanation, here! The point is, she led us away from the scene of the crime!"
"She took us back later, though, didn't she?"
Paine remained silent, an air of defeat about her. She didn't speak until she saw three Red Elementals floating eerily up ahead. She quickly changed into the Black Mage dressphere, cast three quick blizzard spells, and disposed of the Elementals before Yuna could so much as take out a garment grid.
"Listen, Paine," Yuna said. "I think we should be cautious of her, because she may be involved, but… let's try not to talk about it in front of Rikku. I'm sure she's completely convinced of Aya's innocence."
"I know," Paine agreed. "That girl trusts people way too easily."
"I trust Aya," Yuna said, "and I don't think she did it. If she did, she couldn't possibly have acted alone, which is why I say we should be careful. I trust her, but I'm still going to be careful, because you never really know."
"I… agree, I guess," Paine mumbled grudgingly. "But if we ever find out that she had something to do with this—"
"You'll kick her butt," Yuna finished, giggling a little.
"That I will," Paine replied in a low, focused voice. Her hand, which had been firmly resting on the hilt of her sword, tightened around it. They rounded a corner, and saw a Queen Coeurl along with two Pairikas, awaiting anyone who happened to be walking through the woods. Paine drew her sword with amazing speed, and charged.
She slashed at the Coeurl, while Yuna donned the Samurai dressphere. Paine continued to swipe at the Coeurl. Yuna's arm muscles tightened as she brought her enormous blade above her head to smack the Pairika down to the ground. It dodged her, emitting a small, gurgled sound of pleasure. She smirked slightly, and quietly cast a Fireworks attack on the Pairikas, and both fell to the ground, twitching slightly. In one motion, Yuna swung her blade around and knocked both all the way across the small clearing where they had gathered and into large tree trunks. Both cracked in half, and disappeared in a wave of pyreflies. By this time, Paine had fully taken out the Coeurl, though she seemed slightly upset that there weren't more around for her to take out.
Yuna and Paine continued down the path, fighting off more Coeurls, Taromaitis, Pairikas, Assassin Bees, Red Elementals, and other assorted fiends, until they came to what was perhaps their worst fear—a dead end.
"It's okay," Yuna insisted to an angry Paine. "We'll just backtrack to one of the other paths that we saw."
"Okay," Paine grumbled with a slight nod. "I guess the whole reason we're checking this place is to see if there's anywhere we don't know about that they could be."
Eventually, Paine and Yuna made their way through all the dead ended paths they could on their side of the forest, before finally stumbling upon the path that led them back to the main path.
"I hope Lulu and Rikku are having better luck than we are," Yuna said sadly, surveying the scratches on her legs from their long trek.
"Doubtful," Paine replied, brushing dirt from her boots.
Lulu and Rikku, consequently, weren't doing much better. They had mostly run into dead ends, before finally, after passing the tree three times, Rikku remembered that there was a secret lookout point on top of the tree. She climbed up the rungs that had been driven into the sides of the tree, and slowly made her way to the top. By the time she was there, she had just enough energy to pull herself up to the top. She collapsed onto her back, breathing deeply in relief. Climbing that tree was no walk in the park. She quickly collected herself, and looked around the small lookout area. She didn't see anything, but she thought it might be good to take a look around the woods from up there to make sure they had checked everywhere. She spotted two moving dots down on the main path. After squinting and wrinkling up her nose, she finally realized that it was Yuna and Paine.
"Yunie, Paine!" she called out.
Neither seemed to notice. Rikku decided to just leave it, and peered around the rest of the forest. She didn't see any paths that she thought they hadn't already been down, and resolved to climb back down, and take Lulu to go find Yuna and Paine.
As Rikku climbed down the rungs carefully, the radio in one of her pockets crackled. "Rikku?" Rikku jumped in fright, and fell the last ten feet of her climb.
"Rikku!" Lulu said, eyes clouded with worry as she hovered over her. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," Rikku said, slowly sitting up. She pulled the radio out of her pocket. "You just made me fall majorly," she whined.
"Sorry," Yuna said apologetically. "Are you okay?"
"Barely," Rikku said, standing up and dusting herself off. "I saw you guys when I was up on the secret lookout."
"I thought I heard someone yelling our names," Yuna said. "Anyway, we're heading in your direction now so we can all head up to the temple."
"Kay," Rikku said, inspecting a large cut on the back of her arm. "Meet you at the bottom of the stairs."
Rikku held her radio out in her hand, about to put it back into her pocket, when she had a thought. Yuna had given Aya radio number three… the '3' button seemed extremely tempting… Rikku pressed it, just for the heck of it. "Aya?" she asked expectantly.
The radio crackled almost immediately. "Rikku, oh my god, how are you?"
"Really good," Rikku said, smiling widely despite the disapproving looks Lulu was plainly giving her.
Rikku led the way down the path toward the stairs leading up toward the temple. "What have you been up to?"
"Well… this morning, I went back to the Blitzball store," Aya said. "I tried to trace what was left of that spell that the mage used, and I think it can be done… it will just take a couple days."
Lulu gasped. "Really?"
Aya giggled. "Yeah, Lulu, really. Whoever did it was a little sloppy, but thought of a lot of things to keep people from finding it."
"I see," Lulu said, biting her thumbnail in thought. "Good job, and thank you very much, Aya. Let us know when you have it all figured out."
"Don't forget to be careful," Rikku said, glancing pointedly at Lulu.
"I will, don't worry," Aya said. "I'll call ya when I've got this thing done."
Rikku slipped the radio back into her pocket. "Why'd you call her?" Lulu wanted to know.
"I just wanted to know what she was doing," Rikku said, pulling out ahead of Lulu slightly as they walked quickly towards the stairs.
"Don't tell Yuna and Paine," Lulu said warningly. "Paine won't want to hear it."
Rikku sighed. "I spose. We shouldn't really be fighting, should we?"
When they finally came upon the stairs, Yuna and Paine were already there waiting for them. Together, they all started up the stairs toward the temple.
When Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Lulu had at last reached the top of the stairs and were at the temple, they found the place to be completely deserted. Yuna pulled out her radio, pressed the button for radio 6, and said, "Buddy? Have we gotten reports of anything funny going on at Kilika Temple?"
"Well, nothing major," Buddy said. "One of their main priests just died, so they're probably all in mourning, and leaving the temple empty in respect or something."
"Now that you mention it, it was quieter and emptier than usual in the port," Paine put in.
"Alrighty then," Buddy said. "Good luck, Gullwings!"
"Does that mean we can't check the temple?" Lulu asked worriedly.
"Maybe," Yuna said. "We might have to come back."
They walked up to the doors, which were shut and locked. "Poopie," Rikku mumbled. "Geez, now this was all for nothing!"
"Well… at least we got the forest done," Yuna offered.
"Hmph," Rikku said, stomping back towards the stairs.
"Buddy? Could you guys come pick us up?" Yuna asked into the radio. "We can't get into the temple."
"Sure thing," he said. "Be there in a minute."
"If Aya were here, she could just bust that door open for us," Rikku grumbled.
"I could bust the door down, too," Paine said, grasping the hilt of her sword. "But let's not, since that would be disrespectful towards the dead priest."
"Fine," Rikku said, sounding whiney.
The airship swooped down upon them moments later. After they all had boarded, they all crowded around to see if Shinra was done with the sphere yet.
"Not quite," he said. "It could still be a couple more days. Like I said, this picture is badly deteriorated, as well as the audio."
"I'm starting to think that someone destroyed this sphere because they didn't want people to see it," Yuna commented.
"I wonder why they left it in the cave if they didn't want people to see it," Lulu mused.
"Let's not worry about that now," Paine broke in. "Let's get to Mushroom Rock Road… it's still early."
"Okay," Yuna agreed. "Buddy… Mushroom Rock Road, please!"
Aya walked along the docks with Ryuen, glancing around curiously. The docks were a bit more calming than inner city Luca, and though you could hear the ocean pretty much everywhere in Luca, the sound was much more pronounced on the docks. Ryuen was negotiating something with a sailor, presumably for some type of book about magic, while she waited, leaning against the wall of the stadium. She shut her eyes to take in all the sounds and smells of the ocean, seagulls, and fresh, salty air. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and her face gained a hardened look. Her eyes, wide open now, appeared to be staring into space.
I felt that, she thought to herself, as her rigid form finally relaxed. I know I did. What had she felt, exactly? An enormous flare of magic coming from the basement beneath her feet. One type of spell could have been such an enormous bit of magic that Aya noticed it immediately—a transportation spell. Why was someone transporting into the basement of the stadium? More importantly, who could be casting the spell? Aya knew that there weren't many mages like her left, but in the past week, Luca had seen two transportation spells performed by people that weren't Aya, which was far too many, in Aya's opinion. Ryuen seemed to have noticed Aya's strong reaction to the spell she had felt. He was walking toward her, a large book in tow, and a concerned look on his face.
"What is it?" he asked her. "What made you look completely scared?"
"N-nothing…" Aya said quietly, staring off at the ocean, and not making eye contact with Ryuen. "Nothing at all…"
"Liar," Ryuen said immediately.
Aya's face remained neutral as she stared out blankly at the water. "No, I'm not."
"I want you to tell me now," Ryuen demanded. "If it's got anything to do with those sphere hunters—"
"Drop it," Aya said with a scowl. "Nothing's wrong!"
"Fine," Ryuen snapped. "Let's keep going, I've got one more guy to see."
Aya hung back a little. While Ryuen was bartering with the second guy, Aya slipped around a large crate. She shut her eyes, and lifted her hands above her head quickly. She disappeared, reappearing moments later somewhere in the basement. It's gotta be around here… she thought, breaking out at a run down the corridor. If I could just find who it was—
Aya came to a dead stop as she rounded a corner. There stood a tall, hooded figure, holding its hand out and pointing a finger at Aya threateningly.
Uh oh, evil cliffhanger! XD Haha, don't hold that as a reason not to chuck me a review, folks! Seriously, I'm writing this for all of you, so let me know what you think!
Thank you for reading,
Lulala