AN: Sorry it took so long guys. I only though I would be bonding with my family on Christmas and New Years, but it seems my family decided that we needed more time together. I snuck into my room every now and then to type this chapter up. Uh, it was so annoying, but spending time with family is important I guess. Anyway, can you guys believe it's a new year already? It seems like only yesterday were we saying the exact same thing.

Rikku: So did you make any New years resolutions?

DT: Yup, I'm gonna go to all my classes next semester and I'm going to do all the reading that's necessary for each class. I will get A's in all my classes this semester.

Ryu: I'm glad you have high standards, but it's still left to be seen if you will do it.

DT: I WILL! I promise.

Rikku: Well, I hope you can.

DT: Trust me…name one time I broke a promise.

Ryu: Last year when you didn't do your resolution.

DT:……who told you about that?

Rikku: Don't you remember? You were babbling about it a couple of days before New Years eve.

DT: Oh, uh, well…..this time for sure.

(Rikku and Ryu look at DT skeptically.)

DT: Anyway I would like to thank Blu Rose, Rikku, pLz gO oN, Faye Leingod, and 100-percent-hp-fan for reviewing. Also I would like to welcome habbo to my story. Well guys it's the first chapter of the new year and I hope you will all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 or Kingdom Hearts. I only own Ryu, Kai, Yuki, Maya and Karen.

Ch 12 Downfall

Ryu stared out into the hoards of Heartless. It was unnerving, but he couldn't show that it concerned him. He needed to come up with a plan to get them all out of there alive. He turned to Brother.

"Does this airship have any weapons?"

"Uh, no." Brother answered.

"We didn't think we'd be needing any weapons since there really weren't any threats at the time. Cid's ship has weapons, but there isn't enough time to call him over." Buddy explained further.

'Great.' Ryu though. Well they had to do something no matter how crazy it was. Nodding his head, he turned to everyone else.

"Okay guys, we can safely assume that Ansem is probably behind this. However, we can't just sit here and let those Heartless attack us."

"What do you propose we do?" Gippal asked.

"The important thing is to keep the Heartless from bringing down the airship. With that in mind I want you guys to stay on the deck and destroy any Heartless that come with in range of you or the airship."

"What about you?" Rikku asked.

Ryu turned around to look at the hoard. "I'm going to attack them head on."

"Are you crazy!" Maya yelled.

Ryu looked at his sister calmly. "No."

"You are not going to go alone." Karen interjected.

Ryu ran his hand through his hair. "Well I didn't want to put you two in unnecessary danger."

"And it's okay for you?" Maya added hotly as she poked his chest.

Ryu sighed. "Okay, okay, you can accompany me, but be careful." He looked at the other. "That goes the same for you."

They nodded and headed to the deck. Ryu made a pit stop in his room. He reached under his bed and pulled out a long black case. He opened it and inside were two swords along with various knifes. He slipped his hands through his coats sleeves. Then he reached down and pick out various knifes before slipping them into his coat. Finally, he grabbed the two swords and attached them to his belt. He had a feeling he was going to need them this time. Once he finished he walked out and to the elevator. He reached the deck and found that everyone was prepared for their assault. Paine had sphere changed into a Black Mage and Rikku into a Gun Mage. Yuna had opted to remain in her Gunner outfit. Ryu had to do a double take on Gippal's weapon. It looked like a mix between a grenade launcher with a grinding blade in the back. It kind of freaked him out. Kai and Yuri were giving some practice swings of their Keyblades. That's when he noticed that they had changed them.

"What happened to your Keyblades?" he questioned them.

"Oh, we upgraded them. See we can add this key chain to the Keyblade and based on what the key chain is it changes. I'm using the Oblivion while Kai is using the Lionheart."

Yuri demonstrated further by taking the Oblivion key chain off and putting it back on.

"Huh, just like magic." He said with a smirk.

Ryu walked to the edge of the deck. He turned around and cleared his throat.

"Okay guys, lets do this."

Maya and Karen walked beside him. He nodded to them and they summoned their wings. With a final look to their friends they took off.

"Be careful." Rikku said above a whisper.

Ryu flew ahead of his sisters. He drew his katan and initiated the attack.

"Aerial Slash!" Ryu swung his katan several time. The blades of energy flew into the hoard causing them to disperse and attack.

Some of the Heartless flew past him and to the airship. Ryu had the urge to fly back to help, but he resisted. He trusted them and he knew they could handle it. He needed to concentrate on destroying as many as he could to give the others less work. Kai and Yuri saw the Heartless that approached. Now that they were closer he could tell what they were dealing with. The hoard consisted of Wyvern, Air Soldiers, Gargoyle's, Air Pirate's, and Angel Stars. Several of the them attacked them head on while the others proceeded to attack the airship. Yuri looked at Yuna and Paine.

"Go to one side of the ship and make sure those Heartless don't cause to much damage to it." He then turned to Gippal and Rikku. "You two take the other side. Kai and I will watch your backs."

Kai transformed to his Dark form and nodded. Yuri went to Yuna and Paine's side while Kai went with Gippal and Rikku. Yuri and Kai cut down any Heartless that came near them or their friends. Paine used her Thundaga to cover a greater area of the airship. Yuna used her sharp shooting abilities to destroy any Heartless that were farther away. On the other side, Gippal used his weapon to launch rockets when the Heartless grouped together. It blew them to pieces. Meanwhile Rikku used the Blue Bullets to use 1000 Needles on the Heartless.

Back at the hoard, Ryu was slicing through a lot of the Heartless with his Aerial Slash, but he could only use it so much before began to tire out. He stopped using it and just resorted to slicing through them with the giant blade. Maya and Karen had been using a combination of Magic attacks on them, but they knew they could only do so for so long. Finally Maya decided to use her trump card.

"Cover me." She told Karen. She closed her eyes.

Karen realized what she was doing and looked at Ryu. "Get out of there!"

Ryu heard his sister's warning. He looked at Maya who seemed to concentrating. He immediately decided to get out of her way. It seemed she was preparing for something big. Maya's eyes then flashed open.

"Ultima!"

Ryu flew next to his sisters. He looked as a giant black ball destroyed the all the Heartless. He was about to praise his sister when he saw her wings disappear. Karen quickly grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. Ryu helped out and decided to carry her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Maya smiled weakly. "Yeah, I just need a little break. That took a lot of magic."

Ryu nodded and flew back to the airship with Karen. They landed on the deck. The others immediately rushed over to them. The girls looked at Maya worried.

"Are you alright?" Yuna asked her.

Maya waved them off. "Don't worry. I just used up too much magic. A little rest and I'll be fine in no time." She turned to her brother. "You can put me down now. It's not like I'm mortally wounded."

Ryu frowned. "Can you stand?"

Maya nodded. Ryu put her down reluctantly. She was a little wobbly at first, but then she seemed to get her bearings.

"You used Ultima didn't you?" Kai asked her.

"Yeah I did, but I had too! There were too many Heartless and there was no way I was going to risk every ones lives!"

"Okay, okay I understand." Kai said.

"Yeah, I wasn't too sure how long we were going to be able to last." Yuri added.

Suddenly the sky got black. For a second they though a second hoard of Heartless might have appeared. However to their relief, it was only storm clouds. They were rolling across the sky with flashes of lighting.

"It looks like a storms rolling in. We better get inside." Yuna said.

The others agreed and headed to the elevator. Before he got on to the elevator, Ryu looked back at the sky. He couldn't shake the ominous feeling he was getting. It….scared him.

"You coming?" Maya asked him.

Ryu nodded and followed her in. They lounged about in the bridge with Brother and Buddy. They were celebrating another victory against the Heartless. During this time, the girls took the liberty of noticing that Rikku and Ryu were avoiding each other. They made it a point to figure out why. They finally arrived at Djose temple. They filed out of the airship and walked towards the temple. When they walked in they were surprised to find Tidus and Cid there. Yuna ran to her husband and jumped into his arms. Rikku walked to her father to greet him.

"Hiya pops! What are you doing here?"

"Well I gave Tidus a ride. He wanted to see his wife, plus Baralai needed a ride back to Bevelle. Looks like there's some trouble."

"That's right. I would like to leave as soon as possible." Baralai said as he walked out of one of the rooms. Nooj was not far behind him.

"What's the trouble?" Gippal asked.

"Someone attacked the records keeper and stole an important file." He answered. Ryu grew nervous with that reply, however he shook off the foreboding feeling and turned to his sisters and the boys.

"The blonde guy is Tidus. He's Yuna's husband and the bald guy is Rikku's father."

"Oh…." They replied.

Kai suddenly turned around and drew his Keyblade. Ryu looked at him confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Ansem is here." He answered.

Ryu quickly turned to the others.

"Ansem is here somewhere." He informed them.

Immediately they drew their weapons. Kai looked around frantically trying to locate him. While he did so, Ryu ran over to Rikku to protect her. Gippal stood by her as well. Some of the Al Bheds that were there drew their weapons and also looked around for the source of the voice.

"Show yourself Ansem!" Kai growled.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" his voice echoed through the temple. "I'm glad to see you survived my hoard of Heartless."

"Heh, you'll have to do better than that to stop us. A lot better." Yuri said.

"Whatever your plan is you're not getting your hands on Rikku!" Ryu snapped at him.

There was a chuckle. "I'm afraid I'm not here for the Princess….this time."

"What?" they all said confused.

"As a matter of fact, I'm here to give you some valuable information. At least for the Princess and the Spirans. I have with me the file of a certain person in this room."

At that moment, Ryu's blood ran cold. He loosened his grip on his katan. 'No…..there's no way.'

Baralai shifted his gaze to Ryu. He was informed that it was his file that was stolen. Baralai was one of the only people who knew what Ryu had done for the Maesters. That was one reason Ryu didn't take a liking to him. Ryu feared Baralai would use that information for blackmail.

"That's right. You see your dear friend Ryu has been hiding something very horrible from you. I'm sure you're all aware he use to work for the Maester."

Gippal and the other Al Bheds shot him a surprised look.

"Shut up." Ryu said as calmly as he could. Sweat was trickling down his face.

"He probably hasn't told you what he did though. Right? Well, allow me to fill you in."

"Ansem!" Ryu snapped.

"Well your friends here was the Maesters personal assassin."

The room went completely silent. "Not only that, but he also was their scout. Two of his biggest finds were places called the Den of Woes and an island called Bikanel."

"What?" the Spirans asked.

"That's right. After the find the Maesters decided to use the Den of Woes as the final test for the Crimson Squad candidates. As for Bikanel, Maester Seymour had ordered Ryu to locate HOME. He wanted to know it's location just in case something called for it to be…destroyed."

Rikku recalled the events of that day. Events she had blocked from her mind. Yuna and Paine went to their friend and held her in an effort to comfort her. Rikku's eyes began to tear up as she looked at the slump form of Ryu. He had sheathed his katan by then.

"It's not true….is it?"

She hoped with all her might that Ansem was just playing a sick joke on them. They all hoped. Rikku wanted him to turn around and tell her it was a lie. To tell her he never did such a thing…..but he didn't instead…..

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Those two words broke her heart. A folder then dropped in the middle of the lobby. Gippal, Baralai and Nooj walked over to the folder. Gippal picked it up and the three looked through the files, though Baralai already knew what was in it. Gippal's expression hardened.

"He's…..telling the truth." He told everyone in the room.

Rikku broke away from Yuna and Paine's hold and ran at Ryu. She turned him around roughly and slapped him as hard as she could.

"HOW COULD YOU! How could you do such a thing! So many people died that day! My friends and family…..they all suffered that day! I hate you!" she screamed. Tears flowed freely from her face.

Cid pulled his daughter away and handed her over to Yuna and Paine. Tidus joined them. Cid walked up to Ryu and pulled back his arm. Ryu looked at him blankly. Cid punched Ryu so hard that he fell backwards. Maya and Karen were about to run to help him when Ryu stood up and looked at them from the corner of his eyes.

"Don't get involved." He said in a monotone voice. He didn't even bother to wipe the blood that dripped from his mouth.

Cid stood back and the Al Bhed in the room surrounded Ryu. Their guns pointed at him.

"Oui pycdynt! So pnudran teat palyica uv dryd yddylg! (You bastard! My brother died because of that attack!)"

"E mucd so cecdan! (I lost my sister!)"

"So feva! (My wife!)"

"So getc! (My kids!)"

"E cruimt gemm oui! (I should kill you!)"

"Cdyht tufh! (Stand down!)" Gippal told them.

"Pid Kebbym…. (But Gippal….)"

"Tu ed! (Do it!)"

The Al Bhed reluctantly put down their weapons. Ryu looked blankly at them all. His eyes looked dull….lifeless.

Gippal handed the file to Baralai. He walked over to Ryu. "I want to know why. Only after that will you be punished."

'He's waiting for you outside. He wants a rematch.' Ansem said to Ryu mentally.

"Start talking." Gippal ordered.

Ryu instead turned away and stared at the door. Sephiroth was on the other side. Waiting to get him. For some reason, that though didn't scare him anymore. He felt like nothing could hurt him anymore.

'I hate you!' Those three words hurt. It hurt even more because Rikku said them. Yet he didn't know why it hurt so much. All he knew was that the instant she said those words, he felt like he died inside.

"Are you going to talk?" Gippal asked.

"Evacuate everyone." He said.

"What?" Gippal asked confused.

Ryu walked away from him and to the door. He stopped in front of it and turned to his sisters.

"Make sure they all get away…..and look after Rikku for me."

"Why? What are you doing?" Maya asked nervously. Karen only looked at him fearfully.

Ryu summoned his wings and kicked the door. It flew off it's hinges. He reached into his coat and pulled out several knifes to throw. Wind blew water into the temple. Lightning flashed causing twisted figures to form outside. However there was one figure that needed no special affects or mother nature to make him look feared. Sephiroth floated in the air. His arms crossed with a smirk on his face. Ryu turned and looked at Kai and Yuri.

"Take care of them." He said with a sad smile.

"Wait!" the they yelled, but he ran out into the rain and threw the knifes at Sephiroth.

"Damn it!" Kai growled.

Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai ran up to them. They had not heard what Ryu had told them.

"What's going on? Why'd he run out like that?" Gippal questioned.

"Sephiroth is here and Ryu wants everyone to leave."

"But isn't safer if we just stay here? If we leave we'll get caught up in the battle." Baralai pointed out.

Just as he finished his sentence there was a loud crash. They looked up to see that Ryu had been smashed through the walls of the temple. He fell on the steps that lead to the Cloister of Trials. He stood up and flew threw the hole that he made.

"That's why." Kai said. "Sephiroth is here with the intention to kill. He doesn't care who gets in his way. His attacks have the potential to destroy this building. Do you still think we should stay?"

Gippal nodded. "Mecdah ib! Fa ryja du ajyliyda. kad uh aedran Let un Pnudranc yencreb. Suja! (Listen up! We have to evacuate. Get on either Cid or Brothers airship. Move!)"

Paine told Yuna and Tidus what Gippal had just said. They nodded and gently pushed Rikku towards the exit. She was still in shock over what just happened. Gippal and Nooj coordinated the evacuation. Baralai followed Yuna and the others to Brothers airship. Maya and Karen lead them from the door out to the rain. Yuna, Paine and Tidus glanced at the battle that raged in the air. Sephiroth teleported behind Ryu and smashed him to the ground. Ryu slowly got up and Sephiroth charged. Ryu stood his ground and held the katan out in front of him.

"Shadow of the Assassin!" a second Ryu appeared. One charged at Sephiroth while the other flew behind him.

Sephiroth slashed the Ryu in front of him. It disappeared in a dust of smoke. The original Ryu came from behind and slashed his back. Sephiroth growled in pain. Ryu then grabbed Sephiroth's hair and swung him around before releasing him to crash into the bridge near the temple. By then Ryu could hear the airship engines starting.

'Good.' He glanced briefly at the sky. The water continued to pour. 'It's been fun guys.'

Ryu was snapped out of his thoughts by Sephiroth's scream of rage.

"You think you got the best of me! Boy I've only been toying with you up until now! Die!"

He ran up towards Ryu only to disappear and reappear somewhere else and attack him. Ryu could not even block any of the attacks because of Sephiroth's speed. He did so several times creating several cuts on Ryu's body. Then Sephiroth stood a few feet away from Ryu. An evil glint in his eye.

"Fire Storm!"

Ryu saw the ground below him take an orange glow.

"Shit." He said and flew up as fast as he could. The fire followed him. Seeing that the fire was not going to stop rising, he made a sharp turn and out of it's path. He looked down to see Sephiroth was no longer on the ground. He immediately turned around to block his attack. Sephiroth was indeed behind him with another evil glare. He swung his blade down. Hard. Ryu stared in horror as Sephiroth's blade cut through his katan. Next thing he knew he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He dropped the half of the katan he still had in his hands. Sephiroth smirked again and flew behind him. He grabbed the back of Ryu's neck.

"My, my, you have a nice white wing. It would be a shame to have something happen to it."

Ryu's froze in horror. 'Is he going too….'

Before he could finish his though, Sephiroth placed his hand on the wing and ripped it off. Ryu let out a scream of agony. Sephiroth was enjoying torturing his enemy. He then stabbed the sword through Ryu. The pain that was going through his body was incomprehensible. Sephiroth let him go. As he fell, Sephiroth use his Sin Harvest. Ryu felt is energy get drained. Everything began to get blurry. He knew he was falling, but he didn't have the strength to summon his wings…..wing.

'Crap. I guess this is the end. I'm sorry….Rikku.' Was his final though as he felt the world around him go dark.

Meanwhile on the airship, Karen and Maya watched helplessly. As Sephiroth beat up their brother. Karen had seen Sephiroth's Fire Storm and knew he had stopped messing around with Ryu. She had to do something! They had just found him and now they were going to loose him! Karen ran to Brother and grabbed him by his overall straps.

"Don't leave yet!"

"What!"

"I'm going to save him! Don't you dare leave until I get back!"

Without any other words she ran from the bridge.

"Karen!" Maya screamed. She was going to run after her, but Yuri stopped her.

"Your in no condition to do anything. You're still recovering from using so much magic. I'll go after her."

Yuri quickly ran off after Karen.

"How come you kids ain't left yet?" came a voice over the intercom.

"We're waiting for Karen and Yuri to come back with Ryu." Kai answered for Brother.

"What?"

"You heard me. We won't leave until they come back." Kai said firmly.

"Fine, but you better make sure my daughter and niece get out of there safely." Cid added.

"Will do."

'Come back soon guys.' Kai thought.

Karen and Yuri reached the battle field. They looked up in time to see Ryu falling to the ground. He fell into a rubble of rocks.

"NO!" Karen screamed.

"Damn it! Karen Sephiroth is flying in for the kill!" Yuri told her.

Karen looked up at Sephiroth. Her features hardened. "I won't let him do that!"

She closed her eyes and she began to glow white. Yuri stepped back to give her some room. Her eyes snapped open.

"SEPHIROTH!" she screamed.

The white haired man halted his attack.

"HOLY!" a white light of energy crashed into Sephiroth. He was sent into the canyon wall and then there was an explosion. Sephiroth was buried under the rubble. Karen fell to her knees. Yuri went to her side.

"I'm fine." She told him. "Get Ryu."

Yuri nodded and went to help him. He looked at him. There was a puddle of blood already forming. Karen stood up and walked towards Yuri and Ryu. She almost tripped on her way over. She looked down to see what almost caused her fall. Ryu's Katan lay in two on the floor. Karen carefully picked up the two pieces and continued walking. She wanted to cry at the sight of him. She wiped away the tears that were forming. Crying was not going to help her save him. She helped Yuri by placing Ryu on his back. Together they ran back to the airship. Yuri placed Ryu in his room and allowed Karen to work on him. He quickly ran to the bridge.

------------------------

The others were worried about them. It felt like they had been gone for hours. Suddenly Yuri ran in. He was soaked with water and covered in blood. Yuri looked at Yuna.

"You know white magic right?" he asked with urgency.

Yuna nodded. "You have to come with me! Karen used Holy and is low on magic. Ryu needs to be healed or he's going to die!"

That was enough to get her moving. She ran with Yuri to the elevator. In the meantime, Brother quickly took off into the air. Maya was frozen in her spot. She could not believe that Ryu might die. She turned to Brother.

"Go to Mt. Gagazet."

"Why?" he asked.

"Just do it!" she snapped and ran to the elevator. Kai followed her as well.

Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, Rikku and Paine remained in the bridge. Paine decided to take Rikku to her room to get some rest. Too much happened to fast for the young Al Bhed…….for everyone.

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In the battle field, there was a mess of rocks and chunks of the temple laying around. The water pounded mercilessly against the ground. There was a flash of lighting before a hand popped out of a mountain of rubble. Sephiroth pulled himself out and stood on the rubble.

"You got away again." He smiled. "No matter. Hunting you down will make your death all that much sweeter, Ryu Strife."

He laughed as the sky boomed and flashed with lighting. From a distance Ansem watched from the shadows. He was very satisfied with how things went. He had hoped that Ryu would survive somehow. Now it was the time for him to have a little chat with Ryu. If his plan succeeded, he would have a new body in which he could plunge the world into darkness!

AN: Wow, that was long, but you guys deserve it! After all I did take forever to update.

Ryu:…..I might die and Ansem wants my body?

DT: Uh, yeah.

Rikku: Ryu I hate you!

(Rikku whacks Ryu's head mercilessly.)

DT: Now, now Rikku. Don't kill him just yet. Hear him out before you decided to murder him.

Rikku: Like hell I will!

(Ryu runs for his life.)

DT: Hmm, perhaps I should keep Ryu in a safe place until his situation has been explained. Well guys, you know the drill. Review and no flames. Later!