A/N: Disclaimer at end of chapter. I'm sure you know why, right?

Chapter X

One down, Two to Go

Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
'T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur, -you're straightway dangerous
And handled with a chain. -Emily Dickinson

XxXxX

He walked even steps toward the place where the Praetor stayed: that huge building in the middle of the city, Bevelle. His medium, spiky black hair shimmered slightly as the light from the sun hit him. Black clothing covered his body; the sleeveless shirt he wore had strange red markings on the front and back, while his pants had the same markings on the sides. The black boots on his feet made no sound at all as he continued his way to the front doors of the building.

"Halt! Who goes there?" asked one of the two guards on either side of the double doors.

"I come to see the Praetor. I have an important matter that I must discuss with him." The man's voice suited his muscular frame.

"We cannot allow you to speak with him." the same guard said, not willing to tell the man that the Praetor wasn't even here.

"I must speak with him. Tell him this. Now." He smirked, keeping his gray eyes focused on that guard.

"Yes, I will tell him." The guard saluted, then ran inside to where the CommSphere was being kept.

After a few moments, the guard came back outside. "He is on his way, sir. Please, make yourself comfortable," he held the door open and gestured inside.

"I think I will." The man smiled a rather evil smile as he walked past the guards and inside the building.

XxXxX

"You'll be okay, right?" Gippal asked Baralai for the second time after that guard asked him to come back to Bevelle for an important matter.

"I'll be fine, Gippal." Baralai reassured his friend, for the second time.

"Okay, okay." The Al Bhed watched the Praetor leave after saying goodbye and that he would be back as soon as possible.

The girl, on the other hand, didn't pay much attention to him. She looked like she was thinking about something.

"Helloooooooo? Anyone in there?" Gippal stood right next to the girl and waved his hand in front of her face until she blinked. Now she looked irritated.

"Yes?"

"I was just makin' sure you were still with us."

"Sit down, Gippal. We still have a lot to talk about," Nooj ordered, looking sternly at the girl.

Gippal muttered 'bossy', but sat down anyway, wanting to get on with this meeting.

XxXxX

Baralai entered the building after being greeted by the two guards at the doors. The first step he took inside, he saw a strange man in there. As he looked around, he saw that no one else was in here. "Who are you?" He demanded, not feeling exactly safe.

"I want to speak to you about a subject I think you'll find quite interesting."

He eyed the man suspiciously as he took a few steps forward. "And what might that be?"

"Paine."

Letting out a gasp, he asked, "Paine? What do you know about Paine?" Think, Baralai, think. You got all the information you could possible get from that girl, right? There's no way he could-

"I can help you get to her. She needs her friends. In the condition she's in, I wouldn't blame her for wanting someone there beside her."

"Condition? But I was told that she was-" Baralai quickly realized what he was saying. There was no way that this man could now about that girl. No way.

"She was what? All right? Fine? Not hurt? Safe, even?" He chuckled. "Who told you a silly thing like that? I've seen her myself. She's not in good condition."

"How bad is she hurt?" Baralai knew he couldn't trust him, but he couldn't exactly trust what the girl said either, now could he? Besides, it wouldn't hurt to find out what he knows and compare it to what the girl said.

"Bad. She's lucky she's not in a coma. A group of people found her and have been torturing her ever since, trying to get information out of her. They think she's working for the enemy."

This hurt Baralai. How could someone do that to Paine? He may be lying. Which should I believe? The girl who said she's okay, or the man who says she's badly hurt? The girl's sounded better, but something about the man told him he wasn't lying. It was like he wanted him to believe him… Like he was-

"Do you want to save her?"

"Yes." He answered, not realizing what he was saying, though, it was true. He did want to save her, but should he trust him?

"If you love her, let me help you. I know how to get you to her."

Baralai wanted to say 'yes'. He wanted to save Paine. But something told him not to trust this strange man; yet…he couldn't help but wonder if he was right. There was a chance that Paine could seriously be hurt and if he said 'no' and that he didn't believe him, what if the man was right? Baralai couldn't live with the guilt that he would feel if he chose that option and Paine died because of him.

"Do you want to see her?"

This question surprised Baralai; how fast he replied surprised him even more. "Yes."

"I warn you: what you see won't be pretty."

Nodding, he walked toward the man. He wanted to see Paine, he wanted to make sure she was all right. The man looked at him. "What you will see in a few moment is unfortunately true. Are you sure you want to see her?" Getting another nod from the Praetor, he moved his arm out in front of him and brought it out to the right; at the same time, the room around them disappeared. Now they stood on cold, stone floor, surrounded by stone walls.

The temperature of the small room made Baralai shiver. But what he saw in front of him, a few feet away, shocked him. His eyes were wide and jaw dropped, completely shocked. "Paine!" Before he could run over to the badly hurt warrior, the man grabbed his arm, stopping him from taking a step forward.

"She cannot see nor hear you." He informed him.

"Paine…" Still in shock, all he could do was mutter the woman's name.

Paine, the woman he cared so much for, was chained up by her ankles and wrists. Her body was bruised, her hair a mess and red-tinted from what looked like blood. He could tell she was breathing by the way her chest went up and down, though, she was also having a hard time breathing. He could hear her trying to breathe as best as she could.

Now that he paid closer attention, he saw what kept her from breathing normal: a collar that was tight around her neck. Attached to the collar was a short strand of metal links, the end of that strand being connected --if not nailed-- into the wall. She could barely lift her head up without risking the possibility of choking herself.

It hurt Baralai to even look at her, so he turned his head away, his eyes closed. "I told you it wouldn't be pretty, now didn't I?" The man beside him sounded like he almost enjoyed seeing her like this.

Anger filled Baralai's voice as he spoke. "Isn't there some way you can turn this thing off?" He asked, referring to whatever the man used to make him see…this…

"Yes."

"Then turn it off!" He raised his voice --something he didn't do often.

"Of course." With a wave of his hand, the horrible image disappeared and they were back in Bevelle.

Baralai felt sick, angry, sad, worried, and hurt all at the same time. How could someone do that to Paine? Whoever they were, they had a cold, black, empty heart --or were heartless all together. He could spit out an entire row of curses if he hadn't been so speechless right now. "Horrible, isn't it?" He heard the man say. "That's what they've done to her. Just think: they can do worse. And there's a man there that's grown fond of her, if you know what I mean." You could tell there was a smile on his face by the way he spoke. "He can do awful things to her, like-"

"Enough!" screamed Baralai, close to tears. He felt like he had been stabbed in the gut. "Why are you doing this?"

"You wanted to see her, did you not?"

"Yes, but I didn't mean for you to give me a description of what else they can do to her!" He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand seeing Paine in that condition. "What can I do to help her?" He turned and looked at him.

"Tell me where your friends are so I can tell them the horrid news."

"Don't show them what I saw…"

"Don't worry; I won't."

"Mushroom Rock Road, inside Youth League Headquarters. Tell them I sent you and they'll listen." Baralai softly said. He couldn't seem to get that nightmare out of his head.

"Understood." The man turned and started to walk away.

DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY! The female voice was so loud in his head that he started hearing ringing sounds nearly a half a second later. Not realizing what he was doing --exactly-- Baralai turned around to face the man, who was walking toward the exit. It was like time slowed down as he did so.

"You…demon!"

Before Baralai could even realize what he said, the man before him had turned around completely to face him. His face no longer human --nor was he.

The Praetor only had time to calculate that the man was no longer human as he flew towards him with amazing speed; giant wings flapped hard and fast. Two horns poked out of the top of his head and he had a mouthful of extremely sharp teeth.

This was all Baralai had time to see as he fell backwards on his back as the…thing hit him full force. His head bounced off the ground and he blacked out.

XxXxX

"Praetor!"

Huh? Baralai moved his hand to his head, only to feel warm, wet liquid beneath his fingers.

"Praetor!"

He opened his eyes slowly and saw a man --possibly a New Yevon-- leaned over him, worry covered his face.

"Praetor! You're alive!"

Alive…Yes, of course I am,
he wanted to say, but didn't.

"We must get you out of here --and quickly!" He stumbled a bit as the man helped him up.

"Why?" He asked, trying to remember how he ended up on the ground in the first place.

"Bevelle is under attack!" shrieked the man.

Baralai flinched. "Please, don't yell. I still hear ringing sounds." Once he said that, he remembered what had happened, but had to put that aside and work with the problem at hand…even if those images of Paine would haunt him forever. "What is attacking us?"

"Machina!"

Enough with the yelling… He understood he was frightened, but did he have to yell when he was right next to his ear?

"Praetor, you cannot fight them!" The man shrieked as Baralai walked toward the exit.

"Give me my weapon," he ordered, holding out his hand. A moment later, he walked outside, weapon in hand, eyes scanning the city for the intruders.

It didn't take him long to find one of the intruders. I mean, the machina practically ran at him.

He spun his spear around, stabbing it into the head of the machina a second later. As that one fell to the ground in pieces, a much bigger one --a Pop Fry-- came at him. The three-legged machina was unusually fast for its large size. And before it could crush him, he jumped to the right, quickly dodging it. He hit it multiple times with his weapon, and seemed to be doing little damage --if any at all.

The Pop Fry was powering up an attack, so Baralai had to think fast. Doing just that, he jumped up into the air and stabbed the end of his spear right down into what he guessed was where the main computer was, using every last bit of strength he had left in his arms.

Guessing right, the machina began to shoot out electricity, causing Baralai to stumble backwards. After a couple seconds of light shows, the Pop Fry fell down into pieces. He looked around, seeing many more pieces of machina around the city, but no people. Except one. As he turned around to face the building he just came out of, he saw the man walk out. "Where is everyone?" He asked him.

"They-they evacuated, Praetor, you should do the same," the man answered, obviously caring for the Praetor's safety.

"I will. Report to Youth League HQ and tell them we've been attacked. Understood?"

"Yes," the man bowed and quickly ran off.

Baralai watched him leave to make sure he made it out safely. Thunder boomed above, and the sky lit up by lightning. Looking up, he found that a storm had arrived unusually fast, too fast for comfort. "This…can't be good…" The first thing that came to his mind was the storm that made both Paine and Kilika disappear. Paine had went to another world, but he didn't know what happened to the people on Kilika Island… He looked toward the exit and found an impossible amount of machina blocking the way out. What a coincidence… Quickly running back inside the main building, he tripped halfway inside. Finding himself not being able to move his legs, he looked down, only to find himself gasping. Green vines had wrapped around his legs tightly, and they only got tighter the more he struggled to get free.

He tried to reach his weapon which had been thrown a couple feet away from him when he had fallen. Failing to do so the first try, he tried to stretch his arm a little farther, wincing as pain went through his arm and legs. The vines wrapped around his legs tighter. More vines came out of the ground and held his arms and torso down. He continued to struggle, but this only made another vine wrap around his neck, causing his vision to blur because of lack of air.

He stopped himself from struggling. The vine around his neck loosened a bit, but not by much --only enough not to make it feel like he was going to die from lack of air.

The thunder outside got much louder, making the builder shake as if in fear. Baralai, not knowing what to do, just closed his eyes. He wasn't one to give up easily, but look at the situation he was in now: held down by unusually strong vines while the deadly storm was probably right over top of Bevelle at this very moment.

What was he to do except lie there and wait for his doom? He wasn't able to move, so he didn't have any options at all. He tried to steady his breathing, but it wasn't an easy thing to do. He sighed slightly, the sound of heavy rain on the roof above was all that he could hear……

XxXxX

Nearly an hour later……

"I hope all is all right," said Nooj, quite worried.

"I know Baralai, and this isn't like him. If it was goin' to take him a while, he would have told us through the CommSphere, right?"

Looking at Gippal, Nooj answered, "Yes, which makes me even more worried."

"We have ourselves another 'Bringer of Bad News'," the voice of the girl sounded surprisingly calm.

"Huh?" As soon as Gippal spoke, the doors swung open and a frightened looking New Yevon man ran into the room.

"What's the problem?" Nooj asked the man.

"Bevelle was…under attack…" he answered, voice shaky.

"What! What attacked it?"

The man glared at Gippal. "Don't pretend you don't know, Al Bhed. It was your filthy machina that attacked Bevelle."

"And you think I had something to do with it?" Gippal looked at the man. "Why would I attack Bevelle?"

"An Al Bhed doesn't need reason to attack Bevelle. But I say you attacked out of hate."

Before Gippal could respond, Nooj spoke up, tired of this man blaming his Al Bhed friend for this. "Let's not point fingers. I'm sure Gippal did not order an attack on Bevelle. There's probably a good explanation for why the machina attacked Bevelle."

"Yes! He wanted to kill the Praetor!"

"What! I would never hurt, much less kill, Baralai!" Gippal raised his voice slightly.

"Where is Baralai?" asked Nooj, directing that question at the man.

"I don't know. He was in Bevelle the last time I saw him. But you won't find him even if you looked around all of Spira."

"And why is that?" Nooj placed his elbows on the table.

"Because a storm came and then Bevelle disappeared." They both should have expected it, but the words still hurt. Neither of them knew what happened to Kilika, so what if when the towns disappeared, they disappeared for good?

Nooj looked over at the girl, but directed his order toward the New Yevon man. "Leave, now. We need to discuss something privately."

Disclaimer: Ah, the good ol' disclaimer. Well, here it is: I only own the mystery guy, the mystery girl, and the plot.