Disclaimer: Same as last chapter, and the chapter before, and the chapter before and-well, you get the idea. I only own the things that I created, plot included.

Chapter XIV

You Won't Take Me Alive

They are alive and well somewhere,
The smaller sprout shows there really is no death.
And if ever there was it led forward life. -Walt Whitman

XxXxX

"This is…unbelievable…" Nooj was seated once more in his chair, his eyes staring out at nothing. "Do you know why this is happening?"

"No," the girl simply answered.

"You expect me to believe that? You knew about this enemy, you knew about this other world-"

"Gala."

"Why won't you tell me why this is happening?"

"Because…" she looked like she was choosing her words very carefully. "You aren't ready."

"Aren't ready? Will I be ready when I disappear like my friends?"

This time, the girl stayed quiet.

"All you have to do is explain to me why there's a storm going around, sucking up bits and pieces of Spira and spitting them out somewhere else, or just destroying them all together." Nooj was frustrated; this girl just wouldn't tell him anything.

XxXxX

"Do we have enough fuel, now?" asked Yuna, hands behind her back.

"Yes, yes, we have enough to last us a long time. I hope." Brother answered, going back up to the Bridge, Yuna following.

As Brother went back to his seat, Yuna stayed near the railing. "Are we able to contact anyone, yet?"

"No, not yet," Shinra answered, still fixing his computer. When they had crashed, the computer got damaged a little and the CommSphere Network stopped working. "But we have a problem."

"What?"

"The storm is back."

"Where's it headed? Maybe we could steer it off course, or somethin'." Rikku suggested.

"We tried that with Kilika." Yuna reminded the Al Bhed.

"Oh…heh…yeah…"

"So where is it headed?" Yuna asked the super-smart Al Bhed.

"Besaid."

"Besaid!" Yuna gasped. "Oh no… We can't let it get Besaid…"

"What can we do?" Rikku hopped from foot to foot. "Ooooo… I hate that stupid storm."

"Let's go to Besaid and help as many people as we can! As long as we load them on here and get out of there before the storm hits, we're fine, right?" Yuna looked back and forth between Rikku and Shinra, hoping for a good answer.

"We should be fine, yes," Shinra stopped working long enough to answer her, but quickly went back.

"Wait! You always forget that I am the leader-"

"Ugh, not this speech again!"

"And you never interrupt the leader, Rikku," Brother had jumped up from his seat and now stood in front of Yuna and Rikku. "I make the orders around here."

"Then what do you want us to do, captain?" Yuna asked, jumping down to the lower half of the room.

"Uh…rescue people of Besaid…"

"Then a rescue mission it is!" Yuna clapped her hands together.

"To Besaid!" Brother slouched over a bit as he walked back to his seat.

"E famm hajan ihtancdyht res," said Rikku, shaking her head.

A few minutes later, Brother informed them that they had arrived at Besaid. He parked Celcius extremely close to Besaid so they could load up the people easier.

Yuna left Celcius and ran up to Wakka, Lulu, and the little baby, who were waiting on the shore.

"What brings you to Besaid, Yuna?" Lulu held the baby in her arms.

"I don't suppose this is about that storm, ya? It's hard to believe that it eats towns and entire islands, ya know."

"Yes, this is about the storm, Wakka. I need everyone to get aboard Celcius." Yuna told them.

"All right, we understand." Lulu was slightly shocked by the news, but had expected something like this to happen sooner or later, just not…this soon…

"You three go ahead and get on Celcius, I'll try to get everyone else aboard, too."

"I'll help ya; you can't do it alone, you know."

Yuna nodded, knowing there wasn't time to argue with him. As Rikku came out and helped Lulu aboard, Wakka and Yuna ran inside the main town.

"You take that half, I'll take this half, okay?"

"Okay," Yuna ran to the right half of Besaid. Starting at the first house, she informed the people there that they needed to get on Celcius, which was waiting out by the shore, and quickly. They didn't hesitate; they trusted the ex-high summoner.

After the first three houses were done, Yuna looked up at the sky, shocked at how fast the storm was coming. The winds were already starting to pick up speed, and the sky was a dark, gloomy gray.

"Yuna! We don't have much time!" hollered Wakka, trying to speak over the sound of thunder.

"I know!" Quickly, she ran toward the temple, where she saw a little girl sitting on the steps, crying. "It's going to be okay. Why don't you come with me and I'll get you to safely."

The girl looked up and said, "Lady Yoona, my brother is missing."

"Your brother? Where was the last place that you saw him?"

"Playing on the bridge by the waterfalls," she answered, now having the hiccups from crying so much.

"I'll find your brother; don't you worry." Grabbing the girl's hand and helping her stand, she walked over to Wakka. "Can you take her to Celcius? I have to go get her brother."

"Okay, I just got done here." Wakka took the girl's hand and looked at Yuna. "You be careful."

"I will," she ran towards that hill in front of the town. It didn't take her long to find the boy sitting in the middle of the bridge. When she got to the small bridge, she was careful not to startle the boy. "Hey there, your sister is worried about you."

The boy looked up. "Lady Yoona!" He stood and ran toward her.

"Come on, let's get you to your sister," she picked him up, thankful he didn't weigh much. She ran back in the direction that Celcius was in, careful not to trip over anything.

The storm had gotten worse, in just a short amount of time. "Don't worry, we're almost there," she whispered to the boy.

XxXxX

Nooj sat there, staring at the girl who stood at the other end of the table. The room was quiet, you could probably listen to their heartbeats if you listened close enough.

Finally, Nooj broke the silence. "You can sit down, you know."

"I'm fine."

Silence again, but this time it didn't last long. "They waited for them to be alone. Why not just hit here and take us all out in one hit?"

"Because they can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm stopping them."

Now we're getting somewhere. "How can you be the one stopping them?"

The girl sat down at the closest chair, obviously tired of standing. "As long as I'm here, the storm can't come near."

"You could have told us that before my friends left," he said, his voice harsh.

"At the time, I did not know the storm wanted them gone. It just shows that I don't know as much as you think I know."

"Ah, but you do know more than I do, correct?"

"…Yes, I suppose so…"

He stared at her. "Then start explaining."

"Fine-"

She was cut short as a man ran into the room. "Sir! We're being attacked!"

"By what?"

"I-I don't know, sir, some…fiend…"

Standing, he looked at the man. "Tell everyone to get ready for a fight."

"No, your people will just die. We can take care of this."

Both looked at the girl as she spoke. "Hold the attack, get everyone to safety." Nooj grabbed his gun.

When the man left, the girl spoke again, "Someone doesn't want me to tell you." A smile was on her face.

"Let's go." He left the room, the girl behind him.

When they stepped outside, they saw this enormous fiend standing at the entrance of the HQ.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a T-Rexaur from Gala. She obviously wants you either dead, or extremely hurt," the girl answered.

"I hope you can fight."

"Funny; I was just about to say the same thing." She held her hands by her sides as two swords appeared. The swords were completely black, matching her dress. The blades were oddly shaped; the sides like teeth, and closer to the handle, it separated and formed "horns" that were shaped like half-moons, the tips pointing at the handle. At the end of the handle, there was a white sphere, matching the white on her dress. The total length of the swords was about three feet each; short, yes, but she was short herself.

"Stay back and hit it with your gun; aim for the eyes, head, any place that looks vulnerable. Hit it with any ice spells, also --if you have any. I'll go in and attack close range, since that's what I'm good at."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah: don't hit me or get killed." As soon as she said that, she ran toward the fiend, swords out by her side.

Nooj aimed his gun and started firing, careful not to hit the girl. She ducked the enormous tail easily. He wasn't going to be able to do anything other than stand here and fire his gun, mainly because of his limp. So he just stood where he was, firing at the fiend's head when the chance came, and watching the girl fight.

XxXxX

As she ducked the tail, a strategy was forming quickly in her mind. Kicking off the ground, she shot upwards, dodging that enormous head that snapped at her. She landed back on the ground, surprisingly making no sound at all, and crouched, noticing that the dinosaur had grown tired of her and now ran toward Nooj.

Knowing that he could watch his own back, but still wanting to fight that fiend, the girl charged forward. An ice spell was thrown at the T-Rexaur, making it stumble backwards several steps. She used this as an advantage, and ran underneath it, stopping when she was standing in front of it.

"Shall I take it from here?" She asked, directing the question to the man a few feet behind her.

"Be my guest. I'll just fire when I'm given the chance." He didn't sound too thrilled about this, but he knew the reason why he had to stay there. So did she.

She whistled, getting the fiend's full attention. As it tried to bite her again, she jumped to the left, using one sword to cut into the thick, scaly shoulder of the beast. Pleased that she saw blood, she dodged the huge mouth again by jumping upwards, landing on its head. Before she could react, the beast threw its head backwards, throwing her several feet in the air. Flipping, she landed on her feet, left hand flat on the ground to keep her balanced.

"So you want to play rough, huh? Well I can play that way too." Seeing that her swords had been thrown out to the sides, she summoned them back to her, grabbing the handles tightly. "You may want to get ready; when I say 'now', you shoot a bullet at it," she said to Nooj, hoping he heard her. Getting a nod in return from the man, she decided that it was time to end this battle.

The T-Rexaur lunged at her again, her jumping to the right to --once more-- dodge it. She crouched, springing up, landing on the fiend's back. She ran to the thick neck before it could throw her off. Again. Now leaning against the back of the neck, she stuck her two swords in the sides of its throat, or tried to, at least. When the fiend reared backwards, trying to throw her off, she missed and dropped both swords. Cursing to herself, she wrapped her arms around the neck as best as she could, gripping onto the loose skin to keep herself from falling off. "NOW! Shoot it in the throat!" She screamed as the beast's mouth opened, revealing sharp, sharp teeth. She knew it was risky, but didn't care.

"But-"

"NO BUTS! IT WON'T- JUST SHOOT!"

BANG!

XxXxX

He had pulled the trigger, hesitating to do so because he worried that the bullet would go through and hit the girl. His fears came true when he saw blood shoot into the air, the girl and the fiend falling backwards. The ground shook as the fiend hit the ground. Fearing that she was dead --no, knowing that she was dead, he ran as fast as he could around the fiend and to the body that lay a few feet away.

Kneeling down beside her, he saw where the bullet had pierced through her, dark blood on her dress. Her beautiful blue eyes closed, she was not breathing. He lowered his eyes, feeling deep sorrow. She had just been a kid --a kid with amazing strength, but a kid nonetheless. He hadn't even known her name, so what would he put on her gravestone?

Just a kid, a kid who didn't deserve to die; they never do. Keeping his eyes lowered, he sighed. And it was my bullet that killed her… I knew I shouldn't have pulled the trigger.

Slowly, he began to stand, leaning on his cane to keep his balance. He found himself staring at the girl, at the blood on her dress. I didn't think it'd go through… It seemed impossible. But the impossible turned possible when everything here changed, when they found out about this other world --Gala, as the girl had called it--, and when Paine had disappeared…

He turned, wanting to get away from the smell of death, which was still left behind from where the T-Rexaur had been --its spirit had floated away, the body disappearing with it. He knew that the smell would soon vanish in due time.

He was a good five feet away when he heard this…squishing sound, the sound of someone's insides being moved around or pushed together. Turning around slowly, unsure of the sound, he looked at the body and his jaw dropped slightly, as if he was gasping silently.

The body of the girl lay there, untouched and as still as a stone. But what caught his attention --and what must've been making the strange sound-- was her stomach moving, the hole in her gut and dress being sewed up; the blood where the hole was disappeared, as did the blood splatter elsewhere on her beautiful dress and pale face. The supposed-to-be-dead-girl shot up, gasping for air, the hole in her back where the bullet had exited gone, as was the blood. Her blue eyes wide, she continued to gasp for air.

"Oh, my God- You're- How is this possible-?" Nooj's mind searched for answers, only coming with one, which he said out loud, "You're not human."

XxXxX

"Yuna! Hurry!" Shrieked Rikku from the sandy shore of Besaid. Celcius was behind her, Yuna in front, running toward her, a boy in her arms. "The storm's closin' in!"

Yuna ran faster, jumping over a log, but ran even faster when her feet touched the ground. Rikku turned around and ran aboard the airship, knowing Yuna and the boy would make it.

"She comin?" Wakka asked the Al Bhed.

"Yeah, she's coming." She turned her head to look at Yuna, then continued to the Bridge.

As Yuna stepped aboard, she didn't stop as she ran after Rikku. "Where are the others?" She asked, catching her breath.

"Uh, in the cabin," Rikku answered, clicking the button labeled "Cabin" instead of the Bridge. Once the elevator stopped, all three stepped out, the boy running toward his sister, who was thrilled to see him.

"So many people… We did get them all, right?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah, we got 'em." Wakka answered, stepping off the elevator and walking up to them. "The boy was the last, so, they're all safe now. At least until we get away from the storm behind us, ya know."

"Brother should be-" Yuna was cut off as she felt Celcius start to rise. "Taking off."

XxXxX

As Celcius rose and flew forward and away from Besaid, the storm's giant waves engulfed the small islands, including the one Besaid was at. The islands disappeared from sight, neither sinking nor being destroyed. And as if the storm had eyes, It spotted something else to eat, flying away from It. Quickly, the dark clouds headed toward the flying object. The ocean stayed still, remembering its previous encounter with this flying thing.

The flying thing continued moving away from It, but It knew what to do. It moved until It was right above Its new prey, the ocean beneath It now fully awake; waves started to form, small but gradually growing in size. It was hungry, eating the other things had made Its hunger satisfied, but now It wanted more. Although what It ate disappeared, it still satisfied It. A low growl rumbled in Its throat, making everything outside shake. Impatient, It wanted food, and lowered Its body toward the thing below It.

But the thing picked up speed, making It angry and even more hungry. A small part of It was pleased that the thing was frightened of It, but It was more hungry than pleased. Determined not to let it get away again, It lowered Its body, Its tail reaching down and wrapping around the thing that was flying away from It. Now It guided the flying thing on Its own, wrapping Its long, snake-like body around the flying thing.

Its large, sea blue eyes stared through the window in the front of the thing, finding people inside. Wrapping around tighter to make sure It didn't fall off, the flying thing started to lower to the ocean below. Closing Its eyes, a giant water hand rose up from below, turning into a slender rope of water a second later and wrapping around the flying thing also. As the water pulled the flying thing down, It opened Its mouth and put the nose of the flying thing in-between Its gigantic jaws. Both were lowered and It could hear screaming --loud screaming coming from inside Its food.

It smiled on the inside, loving the screaming sounds. The screaming stopped, though, when both hit the water, making the people inside hit anything around them if they weren't prepared for it, and making It angry. It didn't like the fact that the screaming stopped, but a second passed and It didn't care anymore. At least It ate.

Al Bhed Translations:

"E famm hajan ihtancdyht res," --I will never understand him.