Disclaimer: Not taking credit for anything but the plot and my original characters.

Well over two months it's been, and my writer's block still hasn't passed. No idea how to overcome this, so this chapter felt a bit forced, may be noticed.
Many things has been going on, been going through a family loss, so forgive me if I really haven't had the time or effort to look this chapter over clearly.
Still, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you all too much. Please do enjoy chapter 18 of Once More, and review with your thoughts.

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Chapter 18 - Revealed

"Hell?" Tidus questioned the strange man before them. "What is hell?"

Áthels smirked at Tidus' question. "Trust me, you don't wanna know, boy."

Tidus shook his head. "Would I be asking if I wouldn't wanna know?"

"Very well then, I'll tell you of hell." Áthels sighed after a while. "Ever dreamed of paradise? Ever had a fantasy of living in a place where all you could feel was pure happiness?"

Tidus nodded his head simply, thinking of how Zanarkand used to be his paradise. How it still was the fantasy place he dreamed of all the time, hoping to revisit it again.

"So hell is a paradise of joy?" Yuna asked Áthels, hoping she had catched on to what the older man was telling them, but the chuckle Áthels let out bothered her.

"Far from it." he continued chuckling. "It's the opposite. Trust me, you don't want to ever visit hell."

Tidus stepped forward, coming closer to Áthels. "So it's a bad place then?"

"Of course it's a bad place!" Áthels sighed. He soon let his hands rest on either side of his waist as he stared them down intensely, almost as if he was studying them.

Yuna watched his stare intensely herself, feeling a strange drawing to him. Something about him frightened her deeply, yet it calmed her beyond her imagination.

The man in front of her was not from Spira, he came from a place he himself clearly stated to be bad. Would that make him bad as well, she wondered?

"Who are you?" she asked after a while.

Áthels eyes met hers. "What is it to you of whom I am? A name has no meaning if the person carrying it does not want to be reminded of it. A personality has no meaning if the person having it does not agree with it. A body has no other meaning than containing the soul within us all. A feeling has no meaning if you cannot feel it. Who am I and who are you? Who is anyone of us if we cannot have these things and understand them? I have forgotten whom I am, but do you know who you are?"

Áthels words made no sense as he spoke them, she could not understand what he tried to tell her, but she answered his question clearly.

"I'm Yuna, daughter of High Summoner Braska and a member of the Gullwings." she answered, standing her ground strong.

Áthels smirked entertained. "Are you sure that this is really who you are?" he asked, confusing Yuna and Tidus even further.

Not even waiting for her answer, Áthels turned his attention to the young male beside her. "And you," he started, eyeing Tidus intensely. "You're not even real, are you?"

"Don't say that!" Yuna exclaimed loudly. Nothing infuriated her more than this. Nothing got to her more deeply than the circumstances of Tidus existance. "Don't ever say something like that again, you hear me?" she continued, glaring at Áthels with rage in her eyes.

Tidus stood speechless beside her, his eyes going back and forth between Yuna and Áthels, not really knowing his place in this whole conversation.

Áthels chuckle echoed throughout the dead city. "Can't answer for yourself, Tidus? Letting the woman talk for you?"

Shaking his head slowly Tidus continued being more confused than ever as every word leaving Áthels lips repeated itself in his head. He tried to speak. "I-I.. I'm not.. I'm not..real.."

"No, Tidus! Don't say that, you know that it's not true!" Yuna said, turning to face him with desperation in her eyes. "You're real, you know you're real!"

Narrowing his eyebrows in confusion Tidus looked at her, carrying the same desperation in his voice. "Do I?"

Yuna nodded several times.

Tidus gaze turned to meet Áthels smirking face, and his confusion just grew as the incoming headache attacked him furiously. He shook his head terribly, his hands flew in a protective manner around his head as he muttered in a pained voice. "No, no.. not again."

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked, filled with worry. She neared him in attempt to hold him still as he was moving around in anguish. "Calm down, Tidus."

Tidus settled down as he was told and fell to the floor on his knees, still holding his head furiously. He felt Yuna sit herself beside him, and soon he felt her arms crawl around his shoulders as she tried to hold him. "I hate this, Yuna. Why is this happening? What's wrong with me?" he asked her, the headache faltering slowly.

Yuna shook her head sadly. "I don't know." she lied.

Yuna looked up for a moment while holding Tidus to see Áthels smirking down at her, making her feel uneasy.

A moment of silence passed where none of them spoke a word until Yuna felt Tidus moving around in her embrace, trying to stand up. She followed his movements.

"Let's go back to the ship." he said quietly. "Can't waste anymore time on this nutcase."

They both heard Áthels laugh at the comment Tidus had used to describe him, and they could not understand what he had found funny in it at all.

"I may be a nutcase, but at least I'm not a liar.." Áthels said to them, smirking yet again.

Tidus eyes met his askingly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh," Áthels started, his eyes darting between Tidus and Yuna. "Nothing special."

Tidus face turned cold and he started to walk away. "Let's go, Yuna."

Yuna was just about to follow him, when Áthels voice rang out again. "Not so fast, I must exchange some words with the ex-summoner for a minute or two."

"Forget it." Tidus stated, as if it was the most common thing he would say at this request.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, dream boy." Áthels replied, his voice growing colder. "I will have my words exchanged with her. What you think and want, certainly doesn't mean anything to me."

Tidus looked as if he was one step away from getting into it with Áthels before Yuna decided to speak up, and agreeing to Áthels request in order to avoid fight.

After a moment of convincing Tidus, Yuna told him to meet her back at the ship.

"What is it?" she asked, when Tidus was out of sight.

"In a hurry are we?"

"You said you wanted to talk, now talk!" Yuna sighed.

"Okay, okay." Áthels chuckled, holding his hands up in defeat. "On to business then. I know for a fact that you are the liar between the two of you."

Yuna's eyes softened in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You very well know what it means, ex-summoner. You lied to poor little Tidus about his condition. Is this the 3rd time? I haven't been holding count that much. But you certainly lied just minutes ago when he asked what's wrong with him, and you answered with your usual 'I don't know'. Is that the right way to treat your fading boyfriend?" Áthels asked her.

Yuna remained quiet, unable of knowing what to respond to her secret being revealed.

"Wouldn't be much fun if he found out, would it?" Áthels mocked, smirking her down.

"What do you want?" she asked him coldly after a while.

The smile that came across his face told her that he had awaited her to ask just that. What ever did he want from her?

"I'm not that familliar with this world, so getting myself around by myself would take too long, and I can't afford that happening." he explained to her.

"So what does that have to do with me?"

"I need you to give me a ride on that ship of yours."

Yuna arched her eyebrows suspiciously at him. "How do you know of the ship?"

"Well, except for the fact that your boyfriend spoke of it just minutes ago, " he laughed. "I know more about you than you can imagine."

"Is that so?" Yuna questioned him. "How come you seem to know so much?"

Áthels sighed smiling at her before slamming his hands together in a ready motion. "Look, I would stay around here and play 20 questions with you, if I had the time. But I asked you for a ride because of my lack in time. So let's get a move on shall we?"

"I never said that I accepted your request." Yuna stated with a cold expression.

Áthels sighed again. "Unless you want Tidus to find out that you lied to him about his fading reality, I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice."

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"I've told you before, Jai. I can't get that parchment myself. If I could, don't you think I would've already?" Alyzzia spat at her servant with deep irritation. "I can't even touch the damned thing, thanks to my brother."

"But why, Alyzzia? You've told me that you can't touch it, but you never said why." Jai braved himself to ask. With each passing conversation he seemed to have with her, the more intrigued he became with her history and planning.

Alyzzia faced him coldly. "What makes you think I'd tell you anything about that, Jai?"

"Please, Alyzzia. Make me understand better, so I might try to help you better." he tried persuading her, with suprising success.

"The parchment is blessed by both heaven and hell. I should've been able to touch it, being blessed by hell myself. But when my brother imprisoned me centuries ago in our battle for power, he cursed me from ever being able to touch any blessed object that could in any way provide me to open another struggle over power with him in case I ever managed to break myself out from my prison."

she explained to him, settling herself on the soft cushion chair that Jai had once stood in front of when trying to convince Baralai into granding him access to the ancient old parchment.

He was amazed by Alyzzia's power in convincing and persuading. She had managed to get total control over Bevelle without much effort. How she did it, he would never know.

But he would forever be impressed by what she had managed to do.

"What about the other escaped one?" he asked her after a while of silence.

"Avernus, you mean?" Alyzzia questioned in reply. "He'll be here. Convincing him was a little harder than I had imagined, but he never was the smart one. If you name power in a sentance, he'll do just about anything to acchieve it. He'll even join forces with Satan's daughter whom is known for countless stunts and treachery."

Jai looked at her carefully. "That power struggle stunt you did really shook the underworld up, didn't it?"

"Yes," Alyzzia nodded. "It was the first unexpected treachery for power ever pulled in centuries. My father had always held the throne with immense strength. No one dared to defy him, not even I.

But when he granted Aztrax to be the next leader of the underworld, I brought up the courage of fighting my brother for the ultimate power."

"But you lost..."

"I've learned from my misstakes." Jai got in reply from her. Her voice was harsh, almost angry. "I will not lose to him this time. Not once I get my hands on that orb."

Jai stayed quiet, only looking at his masters' beautiful features as she spoke lustfully.

"Once I get my hands on the Orb of Twilight, I should be able to obtain the power I need to overthrow my brother and finally take the throne for myself."

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That's it for this time I guess.. Not sure if my muse will spark up anytime soon.. but do know that this story isn't deserted yet.
Trust me when I say that I do think about it everyday. I will not let it hanging just yet.
Til next time, review and thank you for reading. :)

Alexiel91