A/N: Disclaimer at end of chapter. Hey, I have my reasons. And if you couldn't tell, I have grown fond of Emily Dickinson's poems/letters.

Chapter VIII

Everything is Connected Somehow

The difference between despair

And fear, is like the one

Between the instant of a wreck,

And when the wreck has been. -Emily Dickinson

XxXxX

Why is this happening? her mind asked, wanting an answer but knowing she wasn't going to get one any time soon. First Paine, now Kilika…

"Brother says that Celcius should be completely fixed soon." Rikku reported as she walked up the stairs to the top floor of the cabin. "I say it'll take them at least several hours to fix this thing."

"Oh. I thought you were helping too?" Yuna cocked her head to the side.

The Al Bhed shrugged and shook her head. "I thought I was too. Brother told me to check up on you to make sure you weren't hurt." She sat down beside Yuna and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You're fine, right? 'Cause I wanna give a good report."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yuna sighed. "Why can't the Calm just stay? We brought it twice yet it keeps going away. Were we not meant to ever have the Eternal Calm?"

"Don't talk like that, Yunie!" Rikku stood and looked down at her. "We'll figure out what's going on and we'll find Paine and…um…Kilika."

"Of course we will. We lose things only to find them again. "Yuna stood, moving to stare out of the window. "Do you think that person really has Paine?"

"I really don't know." She answered, shaking her head. "But if they do, and when we find 'em, we'll give 'em a beatin' like they never had before, right, Yunie?" A smile appeared on her face.

Chuckling, Yuna said, "Right."

XxXxX

Gippal ran toward Youth League Headquarters, almost out of breath. Late again, Gippal. I think you made a new world record, his conscience told him, sounding quite irritated.

As he burst through the doors to where Baralai and Nooj were seated, he quickly took a seat in one of the empty chairs at the table, hoping they wouldn't notice he was late.

"You look like you ran all the way here," Baralai said, half-jokingly.

"I did. Man, you don't think it's that long of a walk when you're ridin' a machina, but when you have to walk here by yourself, it's then that you find out that you're farther from here than you thought." He put his feet up on the table and leaned back in the chair. "I'm here now so you can start the program."

Rolling his eyes, Baralai pulled out the ransom note and placed it on the table, a more serious look appeared on his face. "Whoever wrote this note, I'd say they are a child," he started, laying a hand on the paper, his eyes focused on the child-like handwriting. "Or-"

"Or they just really suck at writing neatly." Gippal put his hands behind his head.

"Exactly." Baralai smiled.

"Aside from checking each individual house in Spira, I can't think of any other way to find her." Nooj had finally decided to speak. "We don't know if they have her, and if they do, I'd say she's hurt from being thrown out of a window and into the ocean."

"I think we should do anything we can to find her." The Al Bhed rested his hands on the arms of the chair. But what if she's-NO! Stop think' like that! He mentally slapped himself. He had to stop thinking like that.

"I doubt she's…dead…" Anyone could tell that Baralai had trouble getting the word dead out of his mouth. "She's tough. I have this feeling that she's alive."

"And well," added Nooj.

"Yeah, I have that feeling too." Gippal sounded unsure, even for Gippal. A part of him was scared to even think she could be hurt, or worse ¾ dead.

"Sirs!" One of the men in the Youth League ran into the room.

"Yes?" asked Nooj, turning slightly in his chair to see the man.

"This may sound weird, but…uh…"

"Zicd kad uh fedr ed." Gippal said, rather irritated. "Ruf faent luimt ed buccepmo pa?"

Baralai understood what Gippal had said and shot him a glare. He looked at the man who had just entered the room. "Please ignore him… Now, what is it that you wanted to say?"

Nodding, the man continued, "Kilika Island is gone, sirs." Getting gasps from the three, he continued to speak, "I know this sounds a little weird, but-"

"A little? You're talkin' 'bout an entire island here! How can that be a little weird?" Baralai kicked Gippal underneath the table as soon as the Al Bhed finished his sentence.

"He's just stressed right now. We all are." Baralai rubbed his eyes. "Kilika Island…gone? Are you sure?"

"Very sure, sir. Never been more sure in my life."

"That's pretty sure," said Gippal.

"Does Yuna know?" Nooj asked.

"Yes, sir. She's the one who told us about it."

"Thank you. You may leave now." Nooj shooed the man away. After hearing the door close, Nooj rubbed his head. "Why is this happening?"

"It's the storm."

Both Baralai and Nooj looked up at Gippal, confused looks on their faces. "What?" They asked in unison.

"Yeah, the storm." Gippal placed both feet firmly on the ground and began tapping his fingers against the arms of the chair. "What if…Paine missing and now Kilika gone, is connected…somehow… Ya know, like, what if the storm outside of Kilika was the same one that hit Celcius?"

"Impossible. The same exact storm can't do that; it's just not possible." Baralai pointed out.

"But this isn't a normal storm."

"Gippal's right. For a change." Nooj thought about what Gippal said.

"Heeeeeeey…"

"This storm isn't normal. It seems as if whatever it touches, disappears."

"Perhaps Kilika just sunk?" Baralai considered this, then shook his head. "No, I'm sure if it sunk, we would have heard about it while it was sinking, not afterwards. It's not like an island takes only a few seconds to sink."

"If the storm's strong enough, possibly, but if this is the same storm, why didn't Celcius sink or disappear when it was hit?"

"Maybe Brother did something to it to make it withstand the force, or somethin'. I don't know." Gippal ran his hand through his hair. "Hate to say it, but, I've never been this confused in my life."

"I'd have to agree. This is all very confusing." Baralai sighed.

"Okay, so let me get this straight: the storm is why Paine and Kilika are now missing. So why send a ransom note if the storm is what made Paine disappear?" Nooj thought about this.

"Maybe they found her on a shore." Baralai suggested.

"Perhaps…but why want something as strange as us handing over the world? Why not gil?"

"I don't know, but whoever it is, they're a bit crazy in the head," said Gippal, tapping a finger against the side of this head.

"Crazy, yes, but not stupid."

All three men turned their heads to see where the female voice came from. They got to their feet, hands on the weapons by their sides.

"Who are you?" demanded Gippal.

Before them stood a girl in an old Victorian style kind of black and white dress. Her legs were covered by white tights and her feet black shoes. The long sleeves of her dress ended in ruffles at her wrists. Her shoulder-length blonde hair swayed a little as she moved toward them a step or two. "Everything is connected."

"Answer my question: who. Are. You?" Gippal didn't know whether or not this girl was any danger, but he didn't want to take that chance; he kept his hand on the handle of his gun.

Closing her very blue eyes and shaking her head, she spoke, "My name is not important right now. What is important is the fact that Paine and Kilika are missing." She reopened her eyes and looked at Gippal, seeming not to care that there were two other people in the room. "Or do you not care about her as much as I think you do?" Now she looked at Baralai. "Your friend is in danger. She cannot handle this alone."

"Handle what alone?" Nooj asked the strange girl.

Looking at Nooj, she answered, "Handle what is going to happen if we don't find her before she gets to her."

"Who's going to get to her?" Baralai now asked, worry in his voice.

"A danger she cannot face alone."

"Can't you just give us a straight freakin' answer!"

"Gippal, calm down," The Praetor stared at the Al Bhed, then looked back at the girl. "Please, tell us exactly who you are talking about."

The girl ignored Baralai and walked toward Gippal, stopping when she was just a few inches away from him. "Do you care about her?"

"Yes." Gippal lowered his eye.

"Would you do anything to save her?"

"Yes."

"Even risk your own life?"

"Yes, of course."

"What about you, Praetor, or even you?" The girl looked at Baralai first, then at Nooj. Getting the same response from both, she smiled. "If only your love for her could save her, then she would have nothing to worry about." The smile disappeared. "But that will not be enough. What you are going to go up against is more than any one of you can handle."

"Says you!" Gippal was getting impatient with this girl. "We can handle anythin' to save Paine! Heck, we helped defeat Vegnagun."

"So what if this new enemy is more deadly than Vegnagun? What would you do if that was true?"

"Gelg edc ycc!" Gippal said, sounding very confident.

She shook her head, blonde hair gently swaying with the movement of her head. "You don't even know what you are going up against."

"Then perhaps you could tell us." Baralai tried to not sound impatient, unlike his Al Bhed friend.

"That I cannot do."

"And why not? I don't see any harm in giving us information about this new enemy." Nooj was at least able to not sound impatient.

"You don't understand." She shook her head once more. "Paine is in the middle of something not even I would want to be in. She could easily get killed-"

"Paine's stronger than you think." Nooj sat down, guessing that this would take a while.

"Yes, I know, but this enemy could…this enemy is a tricky one. One not to fool around with." The girl tried to explain without giving away too much information.

"So, practically, you know where Paine is, right?"

The girl looked up at the Al Bhed as he said this and nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Then how do we know you aren't the enemy? Maybe you're the one that kidnapped Paine-"

"She was not kidnapped."

"What?" The three guys stared at her, confused.

"She was- It is difficult to explain to those who would not understand." Now the girl looked like she was the one getting impatient. "But you must trust me, even though that may be a very difficult thing to do."

"You know where Paine is, yet you won't tell us. Why?" Nooj stared at her, wishing she'd tell them more about this situation.

"Even if I tell you, you cannot go to her. Not through me, anyway," she lowered her eyes, as if she was sorry that she couldn't take them to where they wanted to go.

"You can't take us? All you have to do is-"

The girl interrupted Gippal, blue eyes staring into his green one. "I can tell you where your beloved friend is, but I cannot take you there. How hard is that to understand? I do not have the power to take you all there, much less only one of you." Her voice sounded sorry, but her face showed no emotion.

Gippal scratched the back of his head. "Uh, how hard could it possibly be?"

"Very hard."

"Is Paine where Kilika is?"

The girl turned her head to look at Baralai, slightly shocked by his question, didn't show it. "Yes, she is."

"Where exactly is this place?"

"Far, far away. In a place that you cannot get to without some serious help." Crossing her arms, she stared at the Praetor. "Like I said before: I cannot help you with that. I can only tell you that she is in danger and that you cannot help her from here."

"Bringer of bad news, aren't ya?" Receiving a glare from the girl, the Al Bhed sat back down and propped his feet up on the table. "So…we can't help her, we can't see her, we can't speak to her, so how do we know you're tellin' the truth?"

"You just have to trust me."

"Gonna be hard."

Nooj thought hard about what the girl had said, his fingers absently tapping against the table. "Who can help us?"

"Someone you don't want to ask for help."

"We're screwed either way, right?" Gippal eyed the girl, who nodded. "Great." His eye widened as he remembered something. "That note. Does that person have her like they said they did?"

"Note?"

"Oh, out of everything else you do know, you don't know about the note?" Being slightly sarcastic, Gippal rolled his eye. "It's right there," he jerked his thumb in the direction of the note, which was still on the table near Baralai.

"May I?" She put her hand out slightly, and Baralai kindly handed her the paper, eyes watching her as she read it. Eyes narrowing, she had a slightly irritated look on her face. "She's toying with you. This note," she raised the note. "it lies."

"What?" All three looked at her, even more confused than they were before, if that was possible.

"I said: it lies. She doesn't have her; right now, Paine is as safe as she'll ever be, among people."

"What…people?" Baralai asked, curious.

"People who I think will protect her. She has a good bodyguard, if you would call him that." The girl looked like she was remembering, possibly about whomever Paine was with.

"Him? It's a him?" Both Gippal and Baralai asked.

"Yes, it's a him. You have no need to worry. He will hopefully protect her with his life."

"Hopefully?"

"Hopefully. I'm not saying he'll kill her, just…I'm still learning about this group that she's with." She thought about each word she would say, trying not to say too much or confuse anyone, if she hadn't done so already.

"Where is she and who is this group? I think we deserve to know everything you know about this." Nooj was tired of wasting precious time --they couldn't exactly trust this girl, so they didn't know if Paine was truly all right or not, but this was really all they had to go on…

"In a place called Gala. The group she's with are trained very well; you could call them soldiers, I suppose. They've fought and defeated an enemy --the same exact enemy, actually-- like her a couple times before actually fighting the witch herself."

"Where's this…Gala…? I haven't ever heard of a place like it before." Baralai seemed rather interested in this new place.

"It is the name of another world. One…different than this one. I don't think you will be going to this world any time soon, so I don't see why you would need information on it, right now, anyway."

"Does 'curious' ring a bell?"

She glared at Gippal, and said, "I'll tell you later. Process the information I already told you first."

Disclaimer: I only own the girl and the plot. That's all.

Al Bhed Translation:

"Zicd kad uh fedr ed." --Just get on with it.

"Ruf faent luimt ed buccepmo pa?" --How weird could it possibly be?