A/N:I'm back with another installment of Operation PayBack. I do hope you enjoy it. And I know you do, because a bunch of people read this without reviewing –twitch- Anyway… I hope you like this chapter and you REVIEW IT BECAUSE THAT'S THE NICE THING TO DO! Heh

Diclaimer: I don't own crap…

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to one of the coolest person on fanfiction… Anasazi Darkmoon! Hope you like it and hope everything is ok by you!

A Little Game of Cat and Mouse.

He knelt down by the water and splashed his face with it. I watched him, trying desperately to fight the urge to splash him. I tried to move, to lessen the temptation, however, the moment I moved he called me back. "I think it would be best if we spent the next night in Macalania. It'll give Bevelle time to calm down."

I nodded in agreement and went to move away again, but before I could take two steps he started talking again, "Rin should have room in his inn, especially since 'Lady Brooke' is accompanying me once more."

"Yea, sure," the urge was getting stronger and I need to get away so I went to move, and yet again, he spoke. "Brooke?"

"What!" I yelled at I stomped my foot in the water. I knew that was a mistake the second I did it, because when my foot made contact with the water it splashed up and wet the whole front of his shirt. I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing and took a few quick steps away from him.

He wiped the water from his face and glared at me. "You'll be training tonight,
he said as he stood. "And don't worry, I have plenty of potions."

'DAMN IT!' He turned his back to me and walked off to his belongings. I stomped my foot again before I exited the spring. I placed my socks and shoes back on and started after him.

When I was by his side he stopped me, holding out two familiar looking objects. "These are yours, I presume."

I smiled widely as I exclaimed, "My daggers!" I quickly took them and twirled them in my hands before latching them onto my belt. "Why did you keep these?"

"I assumed I'd find you right away and you'd be unarmed. However, I was surprised to find you a week later, with a new" he stalled before saying, "…toy."

I smiled sheepishly as my hand felt the hilt of the sword I had acquired. He sent me a sideways glance before saying, "Why were you with Maester Seymour to begin with?"

"I passed out right inside the walls of Guadosalam and he found me."

He nodded, "And what happened before Guadosalam."

The rest of the way through the forest, I spoke of what happened after I left him. I told him everything except the part of my 'new friend' who can read my mind. He listened attentively, every so often asking one of his own questions and we eventually reached the inn.

After Auron entered the inn, I followed. I had to force myself to blink a few times before I said, "Rin!" I asked with disbelief laced in the words.

He nodded his head, "Lady Brooke, I see you are back in the companionship of Sir Auron."

I nodded my head slowly as a thought struck me, "Did the two Al Bheds I …"

He cut me off by saying, "The mother and child were well taken care of, I assure you."

I smiled. I was relieved to hear they were ok, I wasn't exactly sure if they understood what I had told them. "That's good to hear."

He bowed his head, "Forgive me, but I only have one room vacant."

"Why is that?" I questioned.

"With Zanarkand and Bevelle at war the temple priest do not wish to remain in the temple over night so they reside here," was his reply.

Auron nodded his head, taking in all the information, before deciding he was going to be spokesman for me, "That is fine. We will only be staying one night anyway."

Rin handed him the key and Auron turned and headed off towards our room. I was famished and tired from the past few days. The nice gentle Auron was back and he had left the room momentarily to get food. When he came back, I ate as much as I could before I leaned back on the bed and yawn. "Night…" I muttered as my eyes closed.

I don't know how long I had slept, or honestly why Auron let me sleep, but soon enough Auron woke me up. Very unceremoniously I might add. "What?" I grumbled as I rolled over.

"Get up. We train," he instructed.

I sat up and looked for him through the darkness. "Here," I heard him say as a slight weight landed on my lap. I grasped the objects in my hands and groaned, "Auron, it's the middle of the night. I mean… you have got to be kidding me."

"I kid you not. Now, get up." I heard him start move his way across the room.

"You suck," I told him as I got out of the bed. I slipped into my shoes and stumbled out into the hallway. Slowly, I made my way out of the inn and into a small clearing. "So you carry these around thinking 'gee, I wonder if I'll run into a girl who uses these kinds of daggers and when I find her will she want to spar with me?"

I think I was starting to get on his nerves because he snapped back, "Stop talking and prepare."

"Maybe I don't want to train. Did you ever stop to think that MAYBE I'm tired since it is the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT," I yelled at him, not really caring if I woke the residents of the inn.

"Maybe," he said calmly, "I don't care." With that he took a swing at my head.

"Crap, Auron, really…" I yelled as I jumped back to avoid a concussion. He didn't say anything, just swung again. I ducked under this one before I back-hand springed away from him. "I really don't want to train," I whined again.

Really, though let's be logical about this. Who wakes someone up in the middle of the night to train. And now I'm going to be all hot and gross when we're done. He ran at me, going to make a stab for my chest. I looked at him skeptically, because he was breaking one his rules. I merely side stepped it and hit him in the neck. "If you are going to try to force me to spar, at least be serious about yourself," I chastised him

This was a big mistake, he turned to face me, said, "Alright," and came at me with a series of slashes, each more difficult to avoid than the last. He finally had me backed up against the wall of the inn and I was forced to use the daggers to defend myself.

He looked down at my face, "You barely fought back, I must say after our last meeting, I was expecting more of a challenge."

"I'll show you challenge," I said through gritted teeth. I quickly brought my foot up, placed it on his chest and shoved him back. I immediately jumped in with a few of my own offensive moves. He got in one swing, but I merely ducked down. The sword completely missed me as it harmlessly cut air.

I brought one of the daggers down on his wrist and the "great" swordsman was disarmed. I looked at him skeptically, "And you said I held back, what was that?" Before he answered, or I knew what was happening, he flipped me over and held the wooden blade to my throat. "I.. uh… what the hell?"

"Guess what?" he started as a smirk spread across his features, "You're…"

But before he could finish his sentence, I kicked his legs out from under him and jumped back up. He quickly did the same and swung at me. I managed to block the strong hit and countered with one of my own. This went on for a while, neither of us giving in. However, the difference was that this was a difficult task for me. He was just taking in all in stride.

Out of breath and beyond tired, I lunged at him. He just grabbed my wrist and kicked me in the stomach. I stumbled back, clutching at my abdomen. Then, adding insult to injury he brought his sword down on my shoulder, completely knocking me down onto my hands and knees.

He looked down at me with a condescending smile, "Had enough?"

I took a deep breath and in my desperation to somehow win, I leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. I don't know exactly what good it did me, but I wasn't really thinking about the future. I took the dagger and went to strike him in the chest, he, however, grabbed my wrist and flipped me over his head and into the wall.

I slid down the wall, my head hitting the ground first. Pain seared through me again as I limply laid on the floor. He walked over to me, knelt down besides me and tipped a bottle into my mouth, "This will help," he said as I drank it.

After finished the bottle, he lifted me into his arms and headed back to the inn. That's the last thing I recall before I passed out.

888

The next morning the sunlight poured through the window and onto my face. I groaned slightly before I buried my face into the pillow, which was unusually warm and it smelt nice too.

I was lying on my stomach and my hands were above my head. My fingers were intertwined with something soft and I continued to toy with whatever it was, that was until the bed moaned, moved, and wrapped its arms around my waist. Finding it odd that a bed had such features I moved my head and opened my eyes.

Upon opening them, I saw Auron face mere inches from mine, any closer and would have been kissing. 'It's just Auron,' I thought as I closed my eyes once again. A few minutes passed before that new discovery clicked in my mind. 'Its just… AURON!'

My eyes shot open as I let out a blood-curdling scream. Being sound asleep, the scream caught Auron by surprise and with a few quick movements, we were off the bed and landing on the floor with a thump, him landing roughly on top of me. He looked at me with a look of worry, "What's wrong?"

I grimaced slightly as I said, "You're crushing me…"

He quickly used his arms to lift the upper part of his body off me and he asked, "Are you ok?"

Now me only being up for a short period of time the question was taking too long to register in my mind, resulting in me just staring at him. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his muscular physique was very noticeable… 'And not to bad to look at either..'

'Ah! What am I thinking?" I shouted in my head.

That little annoying perverted side of me that voices it opinion in my head (I like to call the voice Lil' perve, yes I named him. There are too many voices in my head for him to just be 'voice') replied, 'You like it.'

'No I don't!'

With the little voice inside my head silent, I looked up at his face. It was a cross between a worried and an annoyed look. 'I never realized it, but he's very handsome…'

'Told you, you like him,' Lil' perve said in reply to my thoughts.

'No I don't! People can say other people are handsome without being attracted to them!' I yelled at the Lil' perve.

'Yea, other people… but not you. And if you don't like him, why are you just staring at him with that goofy smile on your face?'

I shook my head and put on a grave face before I said, "Why were you sleeping in my bed?"

"Brooke," he started, "I paid for the room. So technically, it's my bed. And as to why I was in it, I thought I would be nice and I shared it with you." When he saw me eyeing him suspiciously he said, "Nothing happened except you hogging the bed."

I glared at him, "Why was I sleeping on top of you?"

"Well, if you weren't hogging the bed," he said as he finally got off of me, "You were clinging to me. It was very difficult to sleep like that."

"Well, excuse me for living," I said bitterly.

"Living isn't the problem, it's your sleeping," he retorted with a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Funny…" finally, I stood up off the floor and made my way to the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower and unless you want to get stabbed, I suggest not coming in."

888

After my shower, I walked out into the room. Auron was standing in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest, "Ready?"

I shook my head, "No, I've been rushed through every town and city I've been too, I want to see this one…" 'I may never be able to come back…' I finished in my head.

"So be it," he said before swiftly moving to the door and exiting.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my belts. Wrapping them both around my waist, I headed out the door. I exited the inn and walked toward the frost covered forest. It was actually quite an awe inspiring sight. I was slightly chilled by my exposed torso, but I ignored it as I walked down a side path to another small cove area.

I squatted down by the 'water' and stuck my hand in. It was thicker than water and upon closed inspection, it was opaque, unlike the transparent qualities o water. I cupped my hand and brought it out of the 'water' before slowly allowing the liquid substance to drip back into the lake.

"Spheres are made of that."

I jumped slightly and lost my balance, thus landing on my behind. I looked over my shoulder at the man in red. "How long were you just standing there, Auron?"

"Not very long," he said as he walked over to me. He took a knee besides me. "If you place this is a recorder like this one," he picked up a sphere recorded from the floor and showed me it, "You can record an event on it."

I popped the sphere that was in the recorded already out and placed some of the lake's liquid into it. I looked at the recorded before pressing a random button. "Is it working?" I asked as I continued to look at it.

He laughed, "Yea, it is. However, you're filming your chest."

I blushed slightly, "Whoops." I lifted the sphere up to eye level and said, "Hi there! I'm Brooke!" I turned it around towards Auron and said, "And this sadist over here is Auron."

He waved slightly before I turned it off. I held it in my hand and examined it again, "That's pretty cool." I stood up off the ground and turned it back on. I let it record as I circled Auron. "Hello folks, today we're watching the elusive Auron."

He placed his hand on his forehead and groaned, "I already regret showing this to you."

I smirked as I continued, "It is the middle of the mating season for the Auron, however, it would appear this Auron doesn't seem to be getting any."

"Brooke," he said as she gave me a warning glance, "Stop it."

I ignored him as I continued to have my own fun, "He's trying his mating call again, though, it doesn't seem to be working."

He stood and gave me a stern look. "Give me that, Brooke."

I took a few steps back, "We best be careful, the Auron becomes violent and distempered when the sexual frustration builds up."

"Stop being so childish," he snapped at me.

"And by the tone of this one, I'm assuming it's been years since he last got any."

"That's it," he said as he came at me.

"Ah!" I ran from him, the sphere still recording, "Someone call animal control! The Auron is attacking!" He grabbed my arm and I bent forward, holding the sphere recorder close to my stomach. "It's mine you can't have it!"

He wrapped his arms around me, making a grab for the sphere recorder. "Ah! Someone help! Rape!" I screamed out.

He covered my mouth with his hand, "Are you crazy?" he harshly replied. I bit down on his hand causing him to quickly retract it. "You bit me!" Then he grumbled a few other words that I'm sure weren't noble.

I laughed a bit and this little break in my attitude gave him enough time to grab the sphere and chuck it into a tree. I watched the sphere go sailing through the air before I turned back to him, "Auron! You jerk!" I kicked him in the shin before storming off.

"Stupid Auron and his 'Oh look at me, I don't know how to take a joke'." I muttered as I came back to the main trail of the forest. I was heading back to the inn, when this oddly dressed guy playing a small harp stopped me.

"Hello, miss, I was wondering if I could interest you in a little game."

I sent him a quick glance before saying, "No thanks."

But of course you can't be nice about these kinds of things because the minute you do they think they can 'convince' you other wise. "You'll be rewarded if you win," the man said in an attempt to get me to play his little game. Though, I'm not sure if man is the correct term, he kind of resembled a parrot.

"I really don't have time for games," I said fighting down the urged to just punch the guy in the face and walk off.

But this guy wanted to push his luck. If he had looked at me, he would have realized my hand were hovering over my daggers and to provoke me would not be a wise thing to do. "All you have to do is touch the blue butterflies…"

By this time, I cracked. I grabbed the handle of one of my daggers and brought it dangerously close to his throat. "Alright, listen up, Polly. I do not want to play your stupid game. I don't like butterflies and I don't like you. Now, I'm going to leave, and you are going to take this sorry looking parrot costume off and NEVER harass me about your stupid precious butterflies again, got it?" I didn't wait for a reply, I merely latched my dagger on my waist and stalked off towards the inn.

I was about to enter when I recalled that Auron and I shared a room and he would most likely go back to the room. I groaned as I turned and walked down the snowy path to the temple. I rubbed my arms to warm myself as I continued down to the temple area. "Stupid Auron… stupid parrot guy… stupid Zanarkand… stupid Seymour…" I mumbled as I walked up to the temple doors.

After entering through the temple doors, I was confronted by the soothing hymn of the Fayth. I walked further in and knelt down to pray. I closed my eyes and let the hymn calm me. I hadn't been inside the walls of a temple since that horrific day on Besaid. I felt a reassuring feeling of safety inside the temple. Being so close to Bevelle, many think the temple would be under constant attacks by Zanarkand, however, it seems to be the opposite.

"Brooke…"

My eyes shot open at the sound of my name. I looked around the room, searching for the owner of the voice. When I didn't find the voice's owner, I just closed my eyes again.

"Brooke, come see me…" the voice called again.

I looked around again. 'Great, now the mystical disembodied voices are speaking to me …' I stood and waited for more instructions.

"In the chamber of the Fayth…"

Of course, why would I ever be able to go some where without a problem? Never, That's when. I slowly moseyed my way to the antechamber. As I got close to the chamber itself, I took a look around to see if anyone was watching me. The last thing I needed was a summons to Bevelle's high court because I entered the chamber of the Fayth. Luckily for me, the temple was remotely empty, for the said reasons before. People assume it would be under attack.

As I approached the door it slowly slid open. When it was halfway open, I bent down and slipped in. Once safely inside, the doors slid back down. A cool wind whipped around the room and a woman appeared before me. She was slightly taller than me and her thin lips were curved into a small smile. She had piercing blue eyes that matched the blue hair that flowed from her head. She was wearing a pale violet colored dress. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Brooke," she spoke softly, "It is always nice to meet someone you've heard much about."

I smiled, "Well, I'm flattered that the Fayth speak of me," I paused before I added, "…I think."

"Do not worry, no ill words were spoken of you, chosen one." She walked towards me, he dress sweeping the floor. "I must say though, I do wonder why a young girl such as yourself was chosen to save Spira."

"As do I," I replied. "I would have imagined that a warrior type guy would have been chosen. Regardless, though, I will do everything I can to help."

"Do not do what others thinks you should. Yet, believe in your own cause and let that be the light that leads you through the dark times that are to come," she informed me.

I nodded. "I know, I'm not going to do this only because I'm the chosen one, I have reason I hold close to my heart that have caused me to go. The fact that I'm the chosen one only adds to my reasoning, not change it."

"I'm pleased to hear that." She smiled. "I do believe he made good judgment when selecting you."

She closed her eyes and lifted her head. He soft peaceful expression turned into a scowl. I watched her with a strange curiosity as she opened her eyes again. "Oh for the love of Bahamut," she muttered bitterly, "How dare he step foot in this hallowed place."

She turned her head to me, "Seymour and another 'friend' of yours is here. They're already looking to put you on trial for 'attacking a Maester' and I do not wish for you to be in trouble for this. When you leave, stay low and to the left. You can get out of the temple without being seen. I wish you luck on your journey, Lady Brooke."

"Thank you," I said as I walked to the door of the chamber.

But before she let me leave she said, "Tyseuh is searching for your mind. He can't find it now because you are within the walls of the chamber. When you leave, think about anything but your location. You do not want to be caught within temple walls."

"I don't want to get caught at all," I muttered as I crept out.

She wasn't exaggerating when she said he was searching for my mind. The minute the chamber door shut, he found me.

'Lady Brooke, there you are. I've been looking for you. Where have you been?'He said in a less than friendly voice.

'I was napping. And why were you looking for me? What have I said about entering my mind!'

'I know. I just find it hard to start the day without your voice,' His said in a sarcastic tone. 'Now, where are you?'

I was almost out of the temple by now. Just had to stall this game of cat and mouse a little while longer. 'What does it matter?'

'Why are you avoiding the question?'

'I'm not avoiding anything. Why do you want to know?'

'Can't a friend ask a simple question?'

'A friend, yes, however, you're not my friend,' I was now out of the temple and a wave of relief swept over me.

'I'm hurt, now, quit the games and tell me where you are.' He said in a forceful tone.

'Or no…' I started to run down the snowy path towards the inn, when his voice entered my mind once more, 'Fine.' As I was just reaching the inn he came back in my mind, with newfound information.

'Macalania. You can play all the games you wish, Lady Brooke. However, I always win.'

"Shit…" I said out loud as I ran into the inn. I threw open the door to our room and yelled, "Auron, move! We're leaving now!"

He jumped up off the bed and looked at me like I was crazy. "Why the sudden rush?"

"Bevelle's looking to put me up on trial. MOVE!" His eyes went slightly wide before returning to normal as he said, "We move."

The second we left the inn; I heard Tyseuh's voice ring out through the air. "There they are!"

I grabbed Auron hand. "RUN!" I screamed. We ran into the forest. We had a slight lead and we kept it till we came to a fork in the road. "We split up."

He looked down at me, watching me carefully, "Why?"

"There aren't that many of them, they'll have to split up. I can take a few on my own, but if all of them, plus Tyseuh and Seymour are there we stand no chance. Now go damn it!" Without another word, we took of down the two separate paths.

'Quick thinking and logical reasoning, that is something admirable and attractive in a woman. Too bad, it won't work.'

I shook my head, trying to ignore his words as I ran straight into something. At first I thought it was a tree since it didn't move when I made contact with it, but to my own horror I discovered it wasn't a tree. "Hello," the brunette said as I ran into him.

"Holy hell!" I yelled out, "How did you get here!"

He grabbed my wrist, "Such a mouth on such a fine girl." He began to pull me back towards the inn. "You are coming with me."

I kicked him in the back of the leg. "I beg to differ."

His grip on my wrist faltered and I broke free again. I started running as fast I could. As I was running, I took a quick glance over my shoulder to see if I was being followed. Much to my own disappointment, I found Tyseuh giving chase and gaining quickly. I tried my best to pick up speed, but it didn't work. He was beyond fast and took a running leap at me, wrapping his arms around my legs, knocking me to the ground. "Lady Brooke, you are proving to be quite a problem."

"Oh well, too bad." I said as I threw a punch to his head. He reeled back in pain as I fumbled to my feet and went to run again.

"No, you don't," he said as he grabbed my ankle, knocking me back down.

"Leave me alone! I refuse to go back to that flamboyant blue haired bastard and no one, not even Yevon himself can make me!" I continued to yell as I struggled with him.

"How about you and I strike a deal," he threw out.

I dealt him a swift kick to the head, "I don't make deals with the devil." And once again I was running. I didn't get far when I heard approaching footsteps. As I glanced over my shoulder, I would have sworn I was imagining things. Out of Tyseuh's back were two demonic looking wings that spanned about 12 feet.

"Holy Fu-" I was cut off as he leapt off the ground and swooped down on me, lifting me up under the arms. "I think you have things mixed up dear. I'm not the devil. I'm the demon of death. Now…" he flew up above the trees. I grabbed his arms as tight as I could as he continued his ascent. "About our deal…"

A/N: Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I had fun writing it and I have some of the next chapter up. If the beginning seems a little 'ehh' to you, its because I had trouble deciding on how to start it, but the rest of the chapter is good, I hope.

Thank You:

Anasazi Darkmoon: Yea they better not do anything to my account or else –shakes fist- oh man, hope you liked this chapter, I dedicated it to you since I haven't spoken to you in a while. Hope everythings okk. Well um, toodles!

labrat-seph: -mutters something about stupid typos and how the stupid piece of crap computer should have caught it- Yea Crystal 'saved' her from Maester Seymour, but if you think about it.. if she didn't come into the bathroom in the first place, Brooke would have been gone already. So as Brooke says, "I don't owe you crap!"

Sly: Yes, we would all love to just beat the crap out of Seymour, he's just stupid and annoyingly gross. I'm working on the next chapter of New Life, though I can't say for sure when it'll be up. School starts on Tuesday –cringes- So I'll try my best, I want to finish it before school gets into full swing.

Emmy-miester: hehe, hope you enjoyed your paintball with the plushie! Lol, Yea iI got that from a few people that Brooke's reminiscing was sad. I know, but I mean this one of the reasons she's going, to find him.

Akiraine of Gia: Vincent is just awesome! I know, he should be coming back into the story sometime soon, maybe 2 more chapters and he'll be back… not making any promises though because I don't have it written out, just an estimate… I'm glad you like it, and I know this story has a different atmosphere from the other. The other one is a highschool fic, this is more of a AH THE WORLDS GOING OT BE DETROYED! Type thing lol

Krystall Trensk: I'm glad you liked it, it was hard making up memories and what not. I wanted them to be sweet, funny, believable… I ended up not going upstate, stupid friends making me take off worrk! Complications… hehe Now she has a major problem heh –laughs evilly- and as for your question… uh –whistle innocently- I don't know what you're talking about…