Paine was staring out the window of the cabin while sitting on her bed and half listening to the other three bickering about something, she forgot what. "Come on Tidus it'll be fun." Oh yeah, Yuna and Rikku wanted to go shopping in Luca.
"Ok, ok I'll go!" Tidus yelled finally giving in. "But I'm not going into any of those girly stores ok!"
"Yes!" Both cousins exclaimed jumping up and down. "Hey Paine do you wanna come too?" Rikku asked even though she knew Paine would say no.
"Yeah sure…I don't have anything better to do."
"What!" All three of them were surprised.
"We deserve a day off don't ya think?"
"Well then Luca here we come!" Rikku hopped off the loft and landed gently on the floor.
"Gullwings! Report to the Bridge!"
"Perfect timing eh?" Tidus chuckled as Rikku started cursing in Al Bhed.
"What does tattoo boy want now?" Paine asked scowling.
"Baralai?" Yuna said curiously as Paine went as pale as death. Baralai had contacted them, he apparently needed there help.
"Lady Yuna I regret having to come to you with this but…have you seen this woman anywhere?" He held up a picture of a young woman, much older than them, with short blond hair with orange tips. Crystal.
"Uh…"
"No." Paine interjected stepping forward. "Never seen her before, who is she?" Yuna and Rikku stared at her.
"Her name is Crystal Meyer, she lived in Kilika-"
"Lived?" Paine blurted out.
"Yes, earlier today she set her house on fire-"
"How do you know it was her?"
"Because I was there. She set it on fire and soon after it exploded."
"Was anyone hurt?" Rikku asked worriedly.
"None of the villagers were around at the time and we successfully contained the fire, but Ms. Meyer's whereabouts are still unknown. She was still inside when we left." Paine looked as if someone had just punched her in the stomach.
"So what do you want with us?" She asked keeping her voice surprisingly level.
"We would appreciate if you would help us find her that's all." He said smiling.
"If there's anything to find."
"Tidus!"
"What Yuna, I was just stating a fact."
"So will you help us?" Baralai asked.
"Well…"
"Yes." Paine said firmly. "We'll help, we'll be there soon."
"Why did you lie to Baralai, Paine?" Yuna asked the warrior as the four rode the lift down to the Engine Room.
"I have my reasons," she said monotonously.
"So," Rikku sighed, "that means that you're not going to tell us either."
"Basically."
"Paine!"
"Rikku just…let it go." The doors opened and Paine stepped out. She turned halfway around and looked straight at the Al Bhed. "And trust me. I'll tell you, sometime, if you just do that for me. Fair enough?"
"……Fine." Rikku pouted.
"Good. So there's no problem then."
"O my Yevon." Paine saw the charred remains where a house once stood, that must be her's then.
"Paine, hey!" Baralai trotted over to them, smiling again. "Glad you could get here so fast. It's good to see you." Paine, who could not honestly say the same, simply smiled but remained silent. "So, shall we get started?"
"Sure." As soon as Yuna, Rikku, and Tidus had caught up to them, they began walking away towards the forest, Baralai talking animatedly and Paine simply nodding, or smiling, or sometimes even laughing.
"Ahh, young love, isn't it wonderful." Rikku said dreamily.
"Don't let Gippal hear you say that Rikku!" Paine called over her shoulder. "Don't want to give him ideas! Or…do you?" Everyone laughed, except Rikku. What would Crys say here? Paine frowned as she thought about it. She'd probably scold her, and remind her of what happened to Rachel.
"Come on, the sooner we find Ms. Meyer, I think, the better." Baralai said dragging her off.
"Ok we'll search over there, you four can search over there ok?" Baralai said pointing in two directions indicating where he and his guards would search and where the Gullwings would.
"Got it," Yuna nodded. "We'll contact you if we find anything." And the two groups went their separate ways. After searching for about a quarter of an hour the four turned down a new path and suddenly heard a twig or two snap to the right.
"Who's there?" Tidus shouted drawing his Brotherhood.
"I-I…" It sounded like a younger version of Paine, everyone looked at her.
"Was that you?"
"No." The warrior took a cautious step forward.
"Don't come any closer!" Whoever was there apparently took a few steps backwards. "I-I'm warning y-you!"
"Come out, we won't hurt you." Yuna said softly also stepping forward to stand next to Paine. She stepped closer to where the girl's voice was coming from. "Hi." Yuna spotted the girl who was cowering in the foliage. "I'm Yuna, what's your name?"
"L-Lady…Yuna?"
"Yep that's our Yunie alright!" Rikku hopped beside Yuna scaring the girl so she sank deeper into the darkness. "Oops sorry kid, I didn't mean to scare ya."
"Y-You're Ri-Rikku, the Al B-Bhed Princess…aren't you." The girl said pointing a shaky gloved finger at the Al Bhed who turned a distinct shade of pink.
"Uh…yeah. You're not an Al Bhed are you?" The girl possessed purple eyes, and dirty blond hair, so that meant that she couldn't be an Al Bhed.
"N-No…but I was raised by one, h-he worked for Rin." The girl slapped her hand over her mouth. "I s-shouldn't have told y-you that!" She stood up quickly and dashed out onto the path and in the opposite direction of the four.
"Hold it right there!" Paine dove and grabbed onto the girl's bare foot and she tripped. The girl looked fearfully over her shoulder, showing a very pretty silver necklace hanging around her neck which had a Yevon symbol on it. "Where'd you get-AH!" The girl kicked Paine hard in the face and ran off again. "Damn, you little brat!"
Rikku, Yuna, and Tidus sprinted after the girl, past Paine who seemed lost in thought. Tidus pounced on her bringing them both to the ground with a loud crash. "G-Get off…of me!" The girl cried as the two rolled over on the ground. She clutched his arm tightly with her gloved right hand. "No…STOP!" Without warning there was a flash of blue light and Tidus could be heard wailing in agony.
"Tidus!" Yuna screamed as a black blur rushed past her. Paine was feet from the two when she heard shouting.
"I saw it! Over there, that light! Alchemy, it must be!" Paine looked at the girl.
"You're an Alchemist?" She asked quietly in awe. There was another flash of light and Yuna Rikku and Paine lay sprawled on the ground, two unmoving. "Well…can't say I didn't see that coming." Standing up Paine jogged over to Tidus…he was alive. "Oh thank Yevon." Then footsteps drew nearer.
"Don't ever show this to anyone you can't trust! Don't ever let yourself get caught in a situation like this… if you do run. Like you're life depends on it! Because it does"
In a sudden, uncharacteristic panic attack, Paine ran just like the girl had, too caught up in Rachel's old warning to realize she had nothing to fear.
Paine crashed through the trees running like her 'life depended on it'. She had no clue where she was running too, but she ended up at the edge of the forest before long. "Paine!" She looked to her left quickly.
"Crys? You're alive!"
"Of course I'm alive." Paine rushed to her and knelt down.
"Oh my Yevon thank-…wait…You blew up your house!"
"Yep, that was fun." Paine didn't laugh. "Ok, not funny."
"How could you do such a thing Crys?" She asked quietly. "I can't believe you."
"That's not surprising."
"What happened to your leg?" Paine asked changing the subject.
"Fiend." Crystal replied looking at her leg which she had bandaged with her sleeve, she may have been smart, but she couldn't perform magic worth anything. And she had left all her items back home. "Now I have no clue what I'm to do if they come looking for me." Do I mention the girl? I'm not positive if it's her or not…Rachel's daughter, and after all this time I finally get to see her again, it's so surreal. I knew it may happen eventually, but…IT'S NOT FAIR!
"That's easy," Paine said, before healing the appendage effortlessly. "Just take this," She handed her Yuna's comsphere which she still had from before; "I'll call you from the airship tonight. I can get Gippal, the Machine Faction leader, to come pick you up and I'll call you when he's on his way and we can arrange a place for you to meet away from where people can see you. He's Al Bhed so you can trust him."
"You've got this all worked out don't you," Crystal laughed.
"I learned from the best."
"Aww that's so sweet thanks Paine."
"I was talking about Shinra but…oh well." Both laughed at this.
"That's mean."
"It's true."
"Whatever." They sat in silence for a few moments. "Why are you here?" Crystal asked finally.
"Baralai asked me too come look for you," Paine answered. "Don't worry I didn't say anything, I'm not stupid."
"So now what?"
"I go back to the others and we wait."
"That sounds easy."
"Paine?" Baralai looked up as Paine walked back to the clearing where she had left her unconscious friends. "Where were you?"
"What happened to them?" she asked monotonously, ignoring the question.
"They were attacked. You mean to say you weren't with them?"
"No," Paine lied. "We split up a while ago. Who attacked them?"
"We don't know."
"What do you think it was?" Baralai hesitated a bit. He shuffled his feet while thinking of something to say. Finally he decided to go with the truth.
"Paine, have you heard of people called Alchemists?"
"Like my dressphere?"
"No, not that kind. They were once a proud race of people, but after Sin came and the religion of Yevon was instated they turned on the other people." Liar! Paine thought furiously. "The new people of Yevon had no choice but to annihilate Alchemists before they annihilated the people."
"So you murdered them." Paine couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.
"Murder, is such a strong word."
"But true!"
"Yes, it is true. But they would have killed all of the people! If the people hadn't stopped them…who knows, maybe they could have killed one of your ancestors! They did the right thing. Now an Alchemist has killed someone, and we have to find it."
"Well if an Alchemist did this to my friends then I…don't want any part in this!"
"What! You don't want to catch the person who almost killed them!" Purple eyes, dirty-blond hair, that necklace…it has to be her, she's the right age too. Sierra...
The purple eyed teen ran through the trees, her bare feet cutting on twigs and rocks. She tripped over a large branch, but an arm caught her by her shoulder. The strong limb jerked the shaking alchemist up and her violet eyes met emerald ones. The pupils were normal so it was not an Al Bhed. Looking the figure that clutched her shoulder the girl saw that the figure had a head band covering her right eye, a black mask covered half her face. And the woman was also heavily armed. She had shuriken strapped to her back, and pouches the girl assumed held more weapons or items. "Hello." The woman said sweetly.
"W-Who-"
"Oh you don't need to worry about who I am….Sierra." She reached into one of her pouches and pulled out something grasped in her hand but the needle poking out scared the girl almost senseless.
"What is t-that!" Sierra squeaked.
"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit." The masked woman jammed the needle into Sierra's arm. The teenager didn't scream but her eyes widened in shock and she gapped up at the woman as she pushed some clear liquid from the needle into her system, then removed it from her arm. A numbness spread through Sierra's body, sinking to her knees her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed.
The masked woman reached into the same pouch again and pulled out a slip of paper and unfolded it. It was a picture of three people, one adult and two kids. The adult woman had purple eyes and brown hair and she was smiling broadly. On her shoulders sat a small child, barely older than four, whose eyes were closed and her head rested on the top of the woman's head, sleeping. The two looked related, mother and daughter maybe. The woman had her arms wrapped around the third girl, who bore almost no similitude to the other two at all. Her eyes were red, and her hair was a light grayish-brown. Her small pale hand clutched a silver chain around her neck. She was smiling reluctantly but her eyes showed happiness.
"One down, one to go," the woman whispered, then she slipped the paper back into her pocket.