A/N: I would normally apologize for the delay, but I'm not going to. I don't get like any reviews for this story and personally I think I should probably delete it- or stop writing it… even though its so close to its end. That though is in the hands of you –points- Review and I'll be more apt to update.

However, I will apologize for this; this is a REALLY short chapter, but I thought this was a nice place to end it. Other wise it's like… boorish… -shrugs- oh well.

ATTENTION: I along with four other authors (some you may know) are writing a collaborative fiction. We posted chapter one, its called Broken Alliance! The pen name is Crazed Unit - it on my favorites! Anyone that READS AND REVIEWS Fics should do just that.

Scott: Kerri is currently preoccupied playing with barbies and watching the Wiggles on the Television
KeR: WHAT!
Scott: … I said you're a beautiful sister, whom I love
KeR: -glares- Ya damn right that's what you said
Scott: –mutters and that you like the wiggles and barbies-
KeR: That's it! –tackles him to floor and presses his face to ground- Now, tell the readers what you are supposed to say
Scott: Kerri doesn't own anything… and please for the love of my life, REVIEW!
KeR: –smiles- Good Boy –pets his head-

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Death, Dollies, and Bad Karma

Auron's eyes were wide with disbelief as he stared at her in a horrified stupor. I grabbed his arm and started to drag him away again. "No time to sit around and gape at the dragon, this is her giving us a chance to escape." I wasn't joking when I said that either. As I lifted my head to glance around my surroundings, I saw all the soldiers turn their attention towards the giant beast in the sky that was attacking them. "Jump," I warned Auron as I jumped off a ledge down about five feet. Surprisingly enough, Auron didn't fall; he had jumped and landed gracefully besides me.

"Wait," I said as I looked over towards where Vincent and the others were. They were surrounded by a group of soldiers. And, from what I could see, it seemed as if Shuyin was really hurt. I locked eyes with Auron and said, "I have to go help them."

He held fast to my arm, not allowing me to run off to help my friends. "Brooke, you can't just go running in there. If that large a group can't hold them off, what makes you think you'll be any help?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Who said anything about it being just me?" He looked at me skeptically and I placed my free hand on my hip. "Fine, don't help. I don't care, but I'm going. But can you at least do me one favor?" I asked him with a hint of sarcasm in my words. "Let me go freely, because I don't really want to have to hurt one of my friends before I go."

He seemed to be contemplating my words before he released me from his grip and said, "Lead the way, milady."

I raised an eyebrow and, had this been under different circumstances I would have smacked him for that sarcastic tone he took with me, but it wasn't and I was free. I immediately sprinted off in their direction, my daggers in hand. As I grew nearer, I could see a soldier sneaking up behind a preoccupied Gippal. The blond was having difficulties in keeping the soldiers away from Shuyin who didn't appear to be moving. Using my right hand, I threw my dagger at the soldier creeping up on the Al Bhed. Thankfully, it was a direct hit. The dagger entered at the base of his skull and the beginning of his neck. The Zanarkand soldier dropped to the floor without so much as a peep.

I grinned as I ran over to the body. I placed my hand on the handle of my weapon, and gave it a tug expecting it to come out, however, that isn't how things work for Brooke Rassi. Oh no, it was stuck. But what else is new? "Shit…" I said as I pulled on it again, with the exact same result I had gotten before. Gippal jerked his head over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw me.

"Brooke!" he called out. 'Yes, that's my name, now what is the name of this lovely little weapon stuck in the Yevon damned solider?' I looked at him, acknowledging his presence. "You shouldn't be here. We wanted you to get out of here! Vincent is going to kill me if something happens to you!"

I shrugged my shoulders. What is it with everyone and thinking that they can tell me what to do. Or better yet, that I'll listen to what they tell me to do. "Oh, Gippal, no problems, I'm glad that I could save the life of a friend. Hey, Don't worry about it, I'd do anything for a friend," I said with intense sarcasm, even for myself. I looked beyond Gippal to where Shuyin was lying. "Gippal, go protect Shuyin, he needs you, I don't. I'm a big girl."

He looked over towards the unconscious blond who was being approached by three Zanarkand soldiers. "Vilg…" he said under his breath as he cocked his gun and ran over to help his friend.

With a slight roll of my eyes I, again, tried to free my dagger from the confines of the man's neck. It was proving to be extremely difficult. The main reason was the blood streaming from the wound. I found myself getting kind of light-headed from the strong scent of the crimson liquid that was now covering my hands. "This is gross…" I said to myself as I wiped my hand on the shirt of the soldier.

"War's not for the weak of heart, little girl…"

I jerked my head to the left, laying my gaze on another soldier. Great, just what I needed. "Ya know, I don't recall the last time someone referred to me as a 'little girl.'" I smirked as he grew closer. "Though, I did get called some pretty words last time I did this." I quickly shifted my weight onto my left leg, throwing my right leg up. The kick connected with the soldier's abdomen.

He bent over forward, clutching at his stomach. "Oh, you little bitch."

"What a coincidence, that's exactly what they said too." I straightened myself, one dagger in my hand. I wasn't about to wait for him to regain his stature; instead, I dealt another swift blow to his head and watched, with a satisfied grin, as he toppled over to the ground. "That was a bit easier than I had thought…"

"Don't let it go to your head, taking out a lowly foot soldier is nothing to be proud of," a deep unfriendly voice said to me from behind. I didn't even have a chance to face him, because as I went to turn, he wrapped an arm around my neck. I instinctively, brought my hands up to his arm to try and pull it off. I halted my actions, though, when he placed the barrel of his gun to my head.

My eyes went wide as I felt the metal from the gun push up against the temple of my head. I let my hands drop to my sides before gripping my dagger tightly, my mind racing with thoughts. I could stab him, but I didn't want that to cause the reaction of him shooting me. So what to do? I did what any level-headed girl in my position would do. I panicked and spazzed out. I did anything and everything I could to get out of that position. I stepped on his foot, elbowed him in the stomach, banged my head into his. I think in the long run, I was doing just as much damage to myself, but… that wasn't a main concern of mine at the moment, and it worked anyway.

He jumped back away from me, covering his nose with his hands as a long stream of vulgar terms left his mouth. I didn't waste any time either. I leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. This sight must have been an interesting one, a 5'4" petite girl tackling a soldier to the ground. I frantically grabbed the gun from his hand. I looked at it questioningly, I had no idea how to use it, well the proper way anyway…

Instead, I used it to beat the guy senseless. I repeatedly banged the metal firearm into the man's skull. And as I was doing this, a little part of me was hoping Auron wasn't watching. The last thing I need was to hear about how sloppy my formation was.

When I thought the soldier wasn't going to be a threat, I mean he was kinda not moving… or doing much of anything for that matter, I stood. I tossed the gun aside as I ran back to the previous soldier I had taken out. "I want my freakin' dagger back," I stated as I grabbed the handle. I placed my foot on the guy's head, giving myself some leverage, before I gave it one last pull. I stumbled back when it finally came out. "Finally," I muttered under my breath.

"Brooke!" Auron's voice didn't seem to have much joy flowing through it. The tone kind of reminded me of how my father would yell when I broke something in the house.

I jerked my head up, "It wasn't me!" I yelled out of habit. I grinned sheepishly when he gave me a look that clearly stated he was confused. I quickly made me way towards him, swerving in and out of people that were shooting at Crystal. "Yes?"

"We move," he grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards Gagazet.

I struggled to get out of his grasp. "Auron! Stop it! I can't leave now!" I locked both my feet firmly on the ground as he continued to drag me forward.

"The others are leaving, they're going to Bevelle. They said they'll try and keep Zanarkand from invading the main city," he informed me as he gave me a rough pull, causing me to stumble after him. "They also said, you better not get hurt or they'll cause me massive pain beyond anything I can imagine." I smirked. Someone threatening the 'almighty' Auron, I wish I had been there to see that.

"Fine," I grumbled as I followed him through the grassy plains. I assumed the others were a little preoccupied with the huge gray dragon to notice me. And I guess it helped that the rest of the group was running the other way… they wouldn't exactly notice two people inconspicuously running towards the area where the soldiers were coming from. "Auron…" I said slowly. He turned his head over his shoulder and glanced at me, giving me a silent acknowledgement. "I'm a big girl, I can run on my own. You can let go of my hand now."

"I, uh.. er… right," he stuttered as he released my hand, turned his back to me and continued to walk on.

I smirked to myself. The stoic warrior got flustered! Yevon, the man has feelings! It's a miracle! Well, that or some strange force has invaded his mind and taken over, either way… it's an improvement. Where's the sphere when you need one… oh right… it's in the tree back in Macalania. I rolled my eyes as I picked up the pace, making sure to keep up with him.

888

Only when snow was crunching under our feet did we finally stop running. I fell to my knees as I took several deep breaths. I may be young and in shape, but running across a huge grassy plain, into a mountain wasn't exactly my idea of training. I looked over to where Auron was also trying to catch his breath, bent over, hands on his knees. My breathing was beginning to level out, when I felt the ground underneath me tremble. "Auron…" I took another breath of air before continuing, "Please tell me I'm imagining the tremors…"

He looked forward in the direction that led to Zanarkand. "I wish I could…" He placed his hand over the hilt of his sword, readying himself for anything that was going to round that corner of the mountain.

"Maybe it's that girl with the six white horses?" I opted with a false hope in my tone.

He shook his head, evidently put off by my comment. I made a face at his back, yet again my intense maturity shining through. "Whatever it is, it'll be coming round the mountain…" he turned his head over his shoulder and smirked at me before continuing, "When it comes…"

I stood up, and grabbed my daggers. I grinned, was this Auron… making a joke? Ok, who slipped some kind of mind-altering substance in his breakfast…? I want to shake their hand. My smile quickly faded though as my eyes laid sight on this metallic heap rounding the corner. It wasn't the most extravagant piece of machinery I've ever seen, but that huge barrel in the front gave off the idea that it really didn't need much else. If that wasn't enough, there were also two soldiers guarding the piece of machina… or maybe it was the other way around. I shook the thoughts from my head and looked at Auron. "Well, this is… special."

"The soldiers aren't important, just cut through and move onto the machina," Auron barked out. Oh great, Mr. Domination is back. I love how he makes it seem as if everything is so simple.

"Easy for you to say that…" I mumbled as I twirled my daggers.

"Halt!" one of the two soldiers shouted out from a distance. 'And now the fun begins.' "Civilians are not permitted any further."

I rolled my eyes, was that supposed to make me want to turn around and go home? "And if we refuse to oblige?"

"Death will meet you quickly, little girl," the man said as he held up his machina firearm. Shesh, what is it with everyone calling me a little girl? I mean I guess in comparison to him I was 'little' but… that's only because he looked like he had one too many Kilika Cream Donuts, and I don't think that's what he was referring to anyway. I narrowed my eyes in his direction as he continued speaking, "Go home and play with your dollies, don't want to get a bop-boo do you?"

My eye twitched. He was mocking me. "Sorry that's a no can do." I took a few brave steps forward. "You guys ruined all my dollies when you attacked my home town and pretty much destroyed everyone and every thing." I took another step forward, not letting my anxiety get the best of me. I could feel my heart rapidly pounding against my chest as I said, "And I apologize, but Brooke Rassi is a vengeful, spiteful kind of person.

"Brooke Rassi?" the other soldier shouted in surprise. The other soldier was tall than the pudgy one and was almost scrawny. "You're the girl that took out captain Nooj, the one we're supposed to capture?" He laughed to himself. "A teenage girl is what the commander is afraid of?"

"There's a reason behind that," I sardonically remarked as a malicious grin came to my face. "Want to learn first hand what that reason is?" Wow, I was slowly becoming extremely cocky as this journey progressed.

"Smug little brat, isn't she?" the first soldier said. Both he and his scrawny friend lifted their gun into the air, "And just, what are you going to do? You'll be dead before you take two steps."

I stopped moving, they weren't kidding. That was more than obvious, but I couldn't just stand there and let them take me into captivity. Not after what had happened last time I had been held captive. I shuddered violently as the thoughts from my imprisonment at Bevelle ran through my head. I needed a plan and quickly.

That's when Crystal, yet again saved me. A loud roar echoed throughout the air, causing the distraction I needed. The two guards jerked their heads upward, looking around. "Now!" Auron yelled as he ran inward towards the two men.

Not even two steps behind him, I ran over to the tall scrawny guy. By the time the guy regained his awareness of what was going on around him the only thing he could do was dodge out of the way from a slash from one of my daggers. Jumping back he tried to pull one of my own moves. He tried to hit me with the end of the gun.

"Whoa!" my voice echoed through the atmosphere as I awkwardly twisted the top half of my body out of the way. The awkwardness of the twist pretty much threw off my balance and I found I was going to be reacquainted with the floor if I didn't do something. I quickly threw out my right arm, using it to keep me from slamming head first into the ground.

The position I landed in had to be one of the most awkward ones I've ever been in. My right leg, slightly bent at the knee, was planted on the ground, while my left leg was suspended midair. My right hand was folded into a fist that was helping me stay up, the dagger's rough handle digging into my flesh. And finally my left arm was pulled in close to my chest to keep a sense of balance. Using this position to my advantage, I used my 'free swinging' leg to kick the soldier in the abdomen.

The guard stumbled back, and let out an unintelligible pained noise. 'I didn't hit him that hard…' When I was back on my feet I saw Auron cleaning off his blade and the guard lying on the ground, blood beginning to pool around him. "What the frig, Auron? I can handle myself."

"We have no time for games," he barked out. "We're not done," he motioned to the giant machina.

The seemingly inactive machina seemed to jump to life when I laid eyes on it. 'Of course it would, do you think it would stay inactive?'

-Loading Main Gun-

"Main gun? But there aren't any other guns…"

I don't know why I bother talking anymore. That line was just an invitation for Fate to laugh and go 'That's what you think!'

My mouth fell ajar as a plate of steel began to shake before it moved upward, revealing six holes, and I believe I could safely assume they were not filled with confetti or any of the other fun stuff.

"Oh, shit! Run!" I shouted as the machina rapidly started shooting at us. Auron and I sprinted off in separate directions. And I swear to Yevon, my Karma hates me. If it's possible, it seems that the machina hesitated when we split up before it decided 'Let's attack Brooke.'

I weaved around, trying to avoid getting hit with one of those lovely bullets that were flying at me. As I was 'surfing' I spotted a large boulder. I took a running leap over it so I could keep myself somewhat shielded from the barrage of shots being aimed at me. I had almost made it over unharmed when, in mid-air, I felt a metallic bullet graze my shoulder, causing me to involuntarily jerk my body. Ultimately it resulted on me landing oh so gracefully… on my head. I wrapped my arms around my head as I lay on the ground, writhing in pain, with a very long string of rude terms streaming from my lips. I rolled over a few times, my head was now facing the ground as I gave the ground a few kicks.

As I was absorbed in my own pain, I felt a gust of wind pass over me, followed by this extreme heat. "What the…" I looked over to where I had previously been, "HOLY HELL!" Not even five feet from where I was there was a path of scorched earth… and that boulder I had used as protection? Yeah… it was completely gone, like it disintegrated.

-Main Gun Loading-

"Oh, hell no," I muttered as I watched those lovely little machine gun hole begin to reappear. I jumped to my feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head and shoulder and took off running again, only this time it was straight for the machina. I don't know what had gotten into me, this machine could start shooting those little machine guns and that would be the end of Brooke Rassi and the hope of Spira ever being ridden of Zanarkand, but I still ran ahead.

As I came up along side of it, I grabbed the top of it and hoisted myself onto the giant machina. This came without a minute to spare, for what followed was another torrent of rounds.

"Yevon!" I held on to anything I could as the machine shook violently. Now that I was on top of the machina, I didn't know exactly what to do. I hadn't really thought this through, but hell, I can't get shot if I'm not in the line of fire, so this isn't all that bad.

"Brooke! What in the name of Yevon are you doing!" Auron yelled out at me, from… somewhere. I looked around. I didn't see him anywhere. Oh dear Yevon, he's in my head! "BROOKE!"

"What!" I snapped back to the disembodied voice.

"What are you doing!" He continued to yell.

Geez, what does it look like I'm doing? I am frantically trying to hold onto this machina that is shooting anything and everything in sight. "I'm having a tea party," I answered dryly as my eyes laid on something that jolted an idea in my head. Using my right hand, armed with my dagger, I jammed it into this weak smelted piece of metal. I did this a few times, and finally I had a hole big enough to fit my hand in there.

I quickly snaked my hand into and felt around. I didn't know much about machina, ok… I knew nothing, but I did know that something can't function if it isn't properly wired. Once I felt a bunch of wires, I grasped a handful of them and jerked on them as hard as I could. Once the wires disconnected, I could feel the machina begin to shut down. I tossed the wires aside as I slowly got down from the machine.

At this time, the almighty Auron decided to reappear. He gave me the sternest look I have ever come across, and I wasn't sure how to react. I merely avoided eye contact and focused on my now throbbing shoulder. Karma was being remotely nice, maybe it would keep the wrath of Auron away from me.

Did I ever tell you how much I love my Karma? Sure, it kept me safe from him, but not exactly in a way most would opt for. The machina I supposedly broke? It decided it was going to exact one more act of revenge on me before dying completely. It started up again and drove off the cliff, me in tow.

"Brooke!" Auron's voice echoed through Gagazet, as the machina and I went over the edge of the cliff.

I frantically made a grab for something, anything, but nothing ceased my decent, except the hard rock solid platform jutting out from the mountainside. I don't know how long I fell, or when I actually hit the plateau, but the bone shattering impact almost sent me into immediate unconsciousness. With the last bit of energy I had I muttered, "Fucking Karma…" before I fell unconscious.

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A/N: Okies, well there you have it. Operation: PayBack, chapter 18! I know it was short, but I had major writer's block and it was badd -- Okies, well toodles!