Hello everyone again.
Been a while I'd say.. well, it has. Been happening stuff around me everyday, and writing has just been the last thing I've had time or motive to do.. But really, I would lie if I said I wasn't writing at all.. Cuz I have, I just haven't been writing on Once More.. Been working on original projects such as a few other fics I'm planning on putting up once I've gotten the plot line straight on them. I surely hope Once More will not be left as an uncompleted project, but it most certainly won't be completed in the near future I'm afraid. I'm slacking off on the Final Fantasy interest, we all have our periods where we
just can't find the interest. But I am and will always be a Final Fantasy fan. The FF-fire will lit up again powerfully once FFXII's American release date comes closer. I've been too busy playing Kingdom Hearts 2 as well, but I finished it 2 days ago, so I'm free to write again. However, I won't be writing Once More so often.. Sorry, but I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you all that much. Enjoy, and please do review :)

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Chapter 16 - Keep Searching

The lightning thunder echoed throughout the whole plains of the Thunder Plains. Avernus slowly walked his way through, cursing for not being able to take himself to other places the same way as Alyzzia. He did not posses the powers in which she held within her. Unlike him, she was the daughter of the forsaken, and sister of the ruler. She was born with immense power.

Avernus wondered if she really wanted to help or use him. But he could do nothing as it laid now, she had the power to send him right back to hell if she so wanted. Messing with her with the weak mind of his would not be a good option. Avernus continued walking his way through the Thunder Plains when he soon encountered a small Inn house coming closer into his view to his left.
He smirked, Spira had changed a bit since his time there. If he could find any people in there to spill blood with, he would agree that it had changed for the better.

Stepping closer to the Inn with each step he took he soon reached the front door. With a wicked smile he grabbed a hand on the doorknob and turned it and slowly entered inside.

"Welcome my dear friend." an old man warmly greeted from behind the desk. Right next to him stood a elderly woman at the same age who smiled warmly as well to him.

It was a disgusting feeling to see their smiling faces, Avernus thought. Yet he tried to muster up a weak smile himself to gain him more time to inspect the place before he went on to give himself a few minutes of pleasure.
To his right side a young boy sat on a chair, looking seemingly bored. A woman right next to him had her attention on a bookcase, rummaging through the books in search for a special one.

Avernus felt the bond between the boy and the woman. Mother and child, he thought. Killing them would be outmost cruel, but then again. Who was he to care for any human beings?
He looked to his left to see a rather peculiar trio all close together around a table. Each having their own cup of coffe before them on the table.

One of them was awfully tall and expressionless. The one in the middle was female, unlike the two others that were males. Avernus looked at her in disbelief as he noticed what she was wearing.

It was awfully a turn-on as the blonde haired woman in her pink dress which covered up very little on her front frame seemed to be every mans fantasy. She was a beautiful woman, but Avernus wondered if she was as smart as she was beautiful as she hardly seemed to be able to hold a cup right. To the womans right sat the short and tubby guy. Avernus had hard to see if it was a smile or a frown the man carried with that round face of his. A peculiar trio indeed.

"Come on, Boss. Let's just get back to Guadosalam." the tall one complained. Avernus listened in closer as he seemed to recognise this somehow.

"Yeah, Boss. I want to go home. It was only a waste of time to go to Macalania like that. You decided to turn back halfway through the forrest." The tubby one said in exhaustion.

"Will you two stop complaining! It's not my fault that I saw no point in going there halfway through." the woman explained. Truly out of her mind... Avernus noted to himself with a sigh.

"But why did you have to drag Logos and I around if you were to change your mind?" the tubby one asked in disbelief.

"Stop complaining for once, Ormi." the woman sighed.

Avernus attention was caught at that very moment. Logos... he remember that name from the journal he carried with him. It was the writer's name. Could it be the same Logos sitting right next to him that had seen the room in Bevelle's Underground? It had to be, Ormi was there as well, and their blonde leader Leblanc.

Avernus quickly reached inside his robe, searching for the journal that he had brought with him from Guadosalam and went over to where the peculiar trio sat. A smile plastered across his face.

"Excuse me, but did one of you call each other by the name Logos?" he smoothly asked.

"What does it concern you?" Ormi asked the strange man before him in distrust.

"Nothing, I was only wondering if the Logos who wrote this journal happened to be one of you." Avernus explained, dropping the journal flat on the table.

As expected the tall one of them reacted when his journal was in view. "Where did you get this?" he asked, reaching for his journal.

Avernus smirked knowingly as he watched him take the journal. "Guadosalam..."

"What were you doing there, and how did you get into Logos personal things without entering his room?" Leblanc demanded.

"Who said that I wasn't in his room?" Avernus asked smugly. The smirk never leaving his face.

"Listen, I don't know what your trying to pull off here, but I don't appreciate you going through my personal things at all." Logos said in a disturbed voice.

"Do you really think I care what you appreciate and don't appreciate?" questioned Avernus like a madman.

Leblanc made a stand for it and shrugged quickly. "Never mind, let's just leave."

Her companions made the same gesture as her, to stand up and walk away when Avernus yet again spoke up. "I don't think so.."

Before they knew it they saw blood being splattered all over the place as Avernus made a swift turn of his wrist. He had just killed off he old man by the counter and the old woman soon followed the same destiny as him when she refused to shut her endless screaming.

Leblanc watched in horror as the woman and her child on the other side of the Inn ran into each others embrace in fright at the scene. Avernus slowly walked over to them and smiled at the young boy when he stood in front of them. He eyed the woman, standing face to face with her. With a speed like no other his hand reached her troath, holding it tightly.

The woman cried in agony at the pain from his hold, and from pain that her son was witnessing all of this without her being able to do anything about it.

"May you rest in.." he said, now slowing his voice down into a strained one, speaking only of agony. "p.i.e.c.e.s."

The son was filled with horror as he saw his mother's head being ripped of her body. The image replayed itself in his mind over and over as his mother's dead corpse laid bleeding down the whole floor. His eyes remained empty as he said nothing, and did nothing. He only saw the repeating images. He did not see Avernus sink down to his length with a evil smile. Before the child knew it, darkness consumed him.

Leblanc could not move, neither could Logos or Ormi as it all went so fast. However the speed of it, they were able to see it with their own eyes, and they couldn't stand it at all.

They tried to make a run for it through the door, but Avernus was just all to fast for them.

"Now now, leaving so soon?" he smiled, he had some blood stains over his face and hands from his messy slaughter seconds earlier, but it was only a joy for him to feel the crimson liquid on his skin.

"What are you and what do you want?" Leblanc asked harshly. She couldn't believe this man. How cruel he was, what he had just done. She remembered the boys expression as he watched his mother die. Did this man or monster not have any dignity in him? Could he not have killed he child first and spared him the images of his mother's death to be the last he saw? Leblanc felt sick more than anything.

"None that concerns you. I only search for Logos." Avernus barked as he brought his hand up so his eyes could see it stained in red. He stared at it with desire as a kid would stare at candy.

"What do you want with him?" Ormi managed to squaek out through his frightened state.

"I want him to show me the door in Bevelle's Underground." Avernus said, not noticing exactly what had slipped out of his mouth as all he could was to desire the taste of what his hand now carried.

"What?" Logos wondered for a moment. He looked down on the journal of his that he held and thought quickly. Then it came to him... the door...

They all watched in disgust as Avernus slowly licked a bit of the dripping blood from his hand. They were even more disgusted when they saw him smile in content.

Logos understood by what he saw that the monster in front of them enjoyed to kill. It was somehow of a hobby for him, since he did it so skillfully. The fact that he also licked the victim's blood with such desire and content made Logos even more convinced by it. He also knew that this man meant business, he was no one to fool around with. Logos did whatever needed to do in his situation.

"Alright, I'll show you the door without any resistance on one condition."

"What? No!" Leblanc shouted at him, refusing to let him even bargain with such a monster.

"Eh, I don't make deals with humans." Avernus stated coldly.

"Then you will have to kill me and then I will never show you the way." Logos simply countered,desperetely trying to keep his cool.

"There's always a first time to everything I guess." Avernus sighed. "Tell me of this condition of yours that you have to propose."

"I'll go with you willingly if you let Ormi and the Boss go without any harm." Logos said, trying to shut out the complaints and refusement coming from Leblanc and Ormi.

"Very well, it's a deal." Avernus smiled before he continued licking the blood of his hand before it dried up completely.

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"This is horrible." Yuna closed her eyes at the scene before her, trying to block the image out. Tidus was by her side in an instant as he himself understood her feelings towards the sickening scene.

"What is horrible, Yuna?" Brother's frantic voice asked through the Gullwings tiny headsets.

Rikku rolled her eyes to her two companions. "Nothing that we can't handle without you."

"Is he always like this?" Tidus found himself asking, eyeing Yuna in question about just how many time Brother was like this.

"Not always, but most of the time." Paine answered, standing between Rikku and Baralai.

The group walked their way through the dead place until they reached the cheateu where Leblanc could most of the time be found at. Tidus narrowed his eyebrows at this place as he remembered the last time he was there. Inside the chateu was where Seymour Guado had proposed to Yuna. Wanting her hand in marriage to give the people of Spira something joyful to talk about.

Tidus shrugged of the disgust that came over him whenever Seymour came to mind and continued to stare ahead. Focusing his eyes on a lonely wall which only withheld dried up blood stains as its company.

"Leblanc!" Paine exclaimed, saying what everyone else besides Tidus had been thinking about. "Do any of you know if she was here when this happened?"

"No," Nooj shook his head sadly. "but last I heard of her, she said she was on her way to Macalania. Let's just hope she really was and hasn't returned before this disaster."

Yuna nodded, not really knowing what to say to a man who didn't really know if the person he cared for had joined this tragic fate or not.

She felt Tidus hand intertwine with hers from behind and she turned to see his encouraging smile during this awful moment. She gave a weak smile back and she felt him squeeze her hand with further encouragement, somehow hoping that he could transfer some of his bravery into her. With the warmth of his hand around her, Yuna felt as if she did grow a bit stronger and learned to accept what could not be changed.

"Do you guys think we should take a look around in there?" Baralai asked them all, gesturing towards the bloodsplattered doors of the inner cheateu of Leblanc's.

They all followed where he gestured at and remained quiet for a while. Each and everyone thinking of reasons as to why they should enter, and reasons as to why not.

"I think we should, if Leblanc has joined this fate together with Logos and Ormi it would most likely to find them in there than out here." Gippal said, trying to see the logic in it all.

"He's right. If we go in there we might be able to find out if Leblanc still lives or not." Rikku agreed, staying rather close to Gippal's side very much oblivious to the others at this moment.

Tidus not really knowing who this Leblanc was but figured it had to be someone close to them all decided to speak up slightly. "Let's just take a look then. What harm will it do?" he chuckled nervously.

"What harm will it do, you ask?" Baralai snapped, still being hard-headed and mean whenever he could towards Tidus. "How to know if the very cause of all of this is in there or not? What if it is in there? What harm will it do, you ask. We could all die, if you haven't been able to figure that out yet!"

"That's enough!" Nooj barked. "We didn't come here for this, we came here to inspect things and hope to find some clues as to what actually happened here."

"That's right." Yuna backed up. Inwardly she was utterly annoyed with Baralai's behaviour towards Tidus. Why couldn't he just believe in her and the others that Tidus indeed wasn't Shuyin?

Baralai's gaze remained glued to Tidus, showering him with coldness from his stare before he sighed and turned his back on him. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go on."

They all lined up to enter the cheateu, Tidus and Yuna being the last ones to enter.

The way through the door and the corridor was dark and quiet. It felt like ages before they reached the circular room with the two stair at both sides leading up to Leblanc's room.

So far they only saw dead bodies of her servants lying in pools of their own dried blood. Trying not to get too affected by all of this they split up slightly and each group took a staircase each to walk up on to later on meet in the middle. Bracing themselves to enter Leblanc's room, hoping for a miracle.

Entering the room and taking a quick look around before breathing out in relief they found this room to be the only one empty from slaughter and blood everywhere.
So Leblanc wasn't in there to their relief, but that didn't mean that she was still alive.

"There's nothing here." Paine muttered as she walked around the room, searching for signs that could lead to any clue at all.

"Let's hope we find nothing that could indicate the worst." Nooj said before walking out of the room again. It reminded him so much of the woman who spent most of her time in there.

The rest followed Nooj out and down the stairs before they came to an halt.

"Let's check out in here." Tidus suggested, pointing at the door by the first floor, underneath the right staircase. He remembered that being the room in which they had met Seymour, right before he showed them Tidus' metropolis, Zanarkand, and had proposed to Yuna right after the vision of Yunalesca with her Lord Zaon.

A short nod came from Yuna before they all prepared to enter the room, relieved to find that one empty from death as well. Most of them preparing to head out again halted when Yuna asked them to wait as she remembered the secret backdoor entrance in the room. Suprising mostly Tidus more than anyone else when the secret passageway showed itself, Yuna went to enter first.

Walking down the stairs with a strange sound right behind her, Yuna soon stopped and turned around to face her cousin, who was feeding her hunger on a juicy apple.

"Where'd you get that from?" Yuna asked, her eyebrows slightly narrowed as she found it becoming a rather usual thing for Rikku to do.

"Didn't you see that huge table in the room? It was filled with food and fruits." Rikku exclaimed, taking another chew out of the red apple. "I couldn't resist the temptation."

"Seriously, only you can go and do that in a place you don't own." Tidus stated with a smirk towards the hungry blonde.

Yuna gave out a small giggle before moving on, happy that her cousin had lifted the mood a bit, even if it required the help of her stomach.

Soft laughs and chuckles was heard from behind her as well as the other ones joined in the lively moment with Rikku as its host and Yuna smiled as they went deeper and deeper down the tunnel.

Right ahead Yuna saw the first room, and if she remembered right it had to be Ormi's room. Not taking the time to enter, but only to cast a glance in search for any sign of living or dead the group continued when they found nothing in the room. Walking down the next corridor the silence became to much for the curious and clueless Tidus.

"How did you know of this place?" he asked Yuna, who he walked right next to.

"Found it during one of our Gullwing missions. Leblanc robbed us. So we spent a fair amount of time searching throughout Spira for her goons, knock them out and steal their costumes so we could infiltrate this place." she explained simply, remembering the mission so well. It would be a long time before she ever got to forget Leblanc's moaning and groaning when she had to massage her.

"Robbed you?" Tidus exclaimed amused.

"Yeah, a sphere we stuggled to get our hands on in Zanarkand."
"Oh, I see. But wait..." Tidus trailed off, recieving a curious glance from Yuna. "You guys actually got robbed!" he laughed. With so much girlpower in the girl-trio he found it rather hard to believe that they had gotten robbed. But then again, he had no idea how tough Leblanc was...or were.

Tidus sure enough got a well-deserved slap on his shoulder by Yuna as she glared at him, faking the icy-cold expression behind her eyes.

They approached another room further down the corridor and Yuna remembered this as being Logos room. It was wide open and she only needed to step right in to inspect.

It seemed just like it had been when she gave her last visit there.

"Nothing here as well." Yuna sighed to the others.

"Let's keep looking in case." Rikku suggested.

With a nod or words of agreement from the group Rikku walked ahead down the corridor. Yuna went to join the group outside the room to follow Rikku when she noticed Tidus pass by her, entering the room beloging to Logos and gently sitting himself on the bed with a tired motion. Confused by his actions and even more confused in him not saying a word to her she turned around to enter the room once again. Forgetting about the others who continued walking down the corridor after Rikku, not noticing the ex-summor or bliztball player's absence with them.

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked concerned, nearing his sitting form on the bed.

"Nothing, just feeling a bit dizzy. Just needed to sit down for a while, that's all." he answered, smiling up at her.

"Dizzy, you say?" Yuna questioned with a frown. Having a very itchy feeling about what the reason behind it could be. It didn't please her one bit either.

"Yeah, but it's almost over now." he said, before straightening himself up again to his normal height.

"Good." Yuna smiled, as she inwardly didn't know what to think of the situation really as she remembered what the Fayth had said.

'...but there will be side effects. Such as moments where he might feel somewhat dizzy, headaches or maybe short moments of fainting and such. That will be because of us forcing an already forced dream into a deeper level...'

"..Yuna?" Tidus confusing voice called out in question, bringing her back from the disturbing words she had repeating over and over in her head.

"What?" she asked, confused herself.

"I asked you if you wanted to join the group before they get to far ahead of us or not, and then you just spaced our for a few seconds. Your eyes unfocused, you seemed a bit far away..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice." she answered simply. "But yes, let's join the others before they notice our absence."

Together, hand-in-hand the both of them stepped out of Logos room to join the others ahead to continue their search for Leblanc and her friends. None of them hearing the far-off sounding footsteps that started echoing through the secret passage's corridors behind them.

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Okay everyone, that was it for this time. I'm sorry for the long message at the top. However, it was only for you to understand how things will be for a while. I hope to find that FF-spirit soon again, since I really did enjoy writing Once More, and somewhere inside of me I still do. It's just not strong enough at the moment. I hope this chapter didn't suck all that much, review with your thoughts etc.. Until next time!

Alexiel91