Ugh…I'm not even going to attempt to justify my lateness this time—please try to avoid the terribly written parts and grammatical errors—partially because I really wanted to write this despite it being midnight. Try to enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything remotely connected to FFX or X-2 (except my Zanarkand Abes necklace) However, I do enjoy using the characters for my own personal enjoyment, so please don't sue!

Chapter 3- The Meeting

After watching Rikku and Baralai leave for Bevelle, Tidus hunted around for a quiet place where he could watch the sphere in peace. Tidus felt the heavy item in his pocket while he wondered to himself what in the world it contained.

'Rikku said this should explain everything that's happened so far. I wonder how much I've missed—three years sure is a long time to be gone…'

Tidus soon found himself wandering in the small patch of jungle leading up to the village. Figuring this was as good a place as any, Tidus slightly strayed from the path and nestled himself in-between two large palm trees, shielding him from the hot island sun. A small gust whispered through the trees, gently ruffling his hair. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the azure sphere. He stared at it in quiet wonder as a few of the sun's rays glinted off of it. Tidus carefully set it down on the ground and turned it on, eager to see exactly what it contained.

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It took most of the day to finish the long sphere, the sun was almost preparing to set, the temperature slightly beginning to lower. He was very interested to see what Yuna and the others had been up to in the last three years, though the sphere only covered two of them—from his leave to the fall of the great machina, Vegnagun. It was quite the journey, filled with both happiness and sadness, pain and joy. Tidus was still in awe at how calm Yuna could stay under pressure. He absorbed everything the sphere showed him, from the battle between the three factions of Spira, to the odd story of Lenne and Shuyin.

Tidus was amazed at how alike he looked to him, but decided not to dwell too much on it—Shuyin was resting now and there was no need to disturb him. He then thought of the Farplane, and the two fated lovers. They had waited 1000 years to rest and now…they were probably suffering, due to Seymour's psychotic plan. Anger flushed his face, and had to take a moment to regain his train of thought.

He was insulted a number of times whenever the subject of marriage was brought up. He knew it had been two long years from that date, but he still felt a surge of rage and jealousy pass through his body every time the notion of marriage came up. Rikku was right however, he had been too late, and now…Yuna was going to marry some leader of New Yevon. After watching the sphere, Tidus grudgingly admitted he had no real reason not to trust Baralai, but something about him just didn't sit right with Tidus. He shrugged it off, assuming it was the jealousy, not him, talking. Tidus sighed. And Yuna… The sphere had originally been meant for him, for his return, whenever that was. Yuna's voice from the sphere still echoed inside his head…

'It all began when I saw this sphere of you. At least, it looked like you. I couldn't say for sure…'

'We travel from place to place, and the days just seem to fly by. But sometimes I find myself stopping... I'm listening for your whistle.'

'Is it you? Or does he just look like you?'

'Why is this happening? I wish you were here with me…'

Tidus' thoughts were cut short to the sound of a loud whirring engine. He stuffed the item back in his pocket and got up, dusting himself off. He traveled back onto the main path and saw a large crimson airship in the distance. Rikku had finally come back, and Tidus was eager to catch up on everything—now that he had all the background information. He got back on the main path and began to jog toward the beach as the sun set behind him.

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Tidus gladly accepted a mug of tea from Rikku as the two of them sat down at the cabin bar. He lightly blew over the top of it to cool it down, while he watched the steam dance away from his breath.

"So…did you watch it?" Rikku curiously asked. Tidus took a slow sip and nodded. "I hope it helped some…technically you're not even supposed to have it, Yunie never showed it to anyone—not even me. But you know me, I'm a thief! I have…ways of finding stuff like that."

"Thank you Rikku, it helped a lot." Tidus took a longer sip and continued, "So let me get this straight…Baralai's in Bevelle now meeting with Gippal and the new Youth League representative?"

"Yup. There's just something about him I don't like…Krael I think his name was. People really don't call him by his name though—they just call him 'The General'. That alone should set some alarms off in people's heads." Tidus only gave a slight nod of his head to show that he was listening and stared down into his mug, as if it held some sort of answer to his problems.

"And the date?" Rikku cocked her head curiously.

"Date? Date for what?"

"The wedding. When is it?"

"Oh that. Baralai said he wanted to make sure all was right with Spira before setting an official date. Once he was satisfied with the way Spira was running, their wedding would be the celebration to mark the rebirth of Spira…or something like that, I really wasn't paying attention to him." Rikku then sighed gloomily. Tidus looked up to see the look of doubt cast over her face—something rare, even for Rikku.

"You okay Rikku?" She chewed on her bottom lip and began,

"Its just that…I don't have much faith that Spira will be able to pull itself together—not with the leaders we have now. With Baralai and Krael running the show, I just…don't have much faith in them, that's all." Tidus listened, interested.

"But isn't Gippal there too? He sounded like a good guy to me."

"He is, I know he is. But…things haven't been going good at the meetings for the Machine Faction, that's what he says. The meetings aren't meetings, he told me, its just one long conversation between Baralai and Krael. Gippal's lucky if he gets to speak up once or twice during the meeting—and he's getting really fed up with it." She sighed and finished, "I'm just…scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah…scared. It's just that we've been though so much you know? The Al-Bhed's I mean. Just when we're starting to be accepted by Spira and everyone else, I'm afraid Krael and Baralai are going to destroy it. I mean, if they persecute Gippal at meetings…what's next? I just wish everything were clearer…" Tidus frowned and continued to stare down at his mug.

"Me too Rikku. Me too." However, perhaps what Tidus admired about the most about Rikku was that she never stayed upset long.

"So…do you remember anything about the Farplane? What was it like? I mean, Al-Bhed's don't usually go down there, but what was it like being a spirit?" She placed a finger on her chin in thought. "Did you see Shuyin and Lenne? Huh?" Tidus chuckled.

"Whoa there, one question at a time." Tidus silently groaned and figured now would be the best time to tell her about the crisis of the Farplane. The Fayth told him to act fast, and Tidus didn't figure they had much time anyway until Seymour would be resurrected into a physical form. "Well actually Rikku…"

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Tidus explained the story as well as he possibly could, though the idea still seemed a little farfetched, even to him. Rikku listened quietly in awe for the most part, occasionally gasping or stopping him to ask an occasional question. By the time he was done, Rikku's face was a cross between disbelief and anger.

"It's not fair! Spira's finally pulling itself together and then Seymour has to come along and ruin it! Typical…it figures, doesn't it?"

"Well you can't really say we weren't expecting this. Did you really believe Seymour would be at peace after we destroyed his plans and sent him to the Farplane?"

"No…I guess you're right." Rikku sighed glumly. "So…what can we do?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to think of something. I'm really not the brains of these kinds of things…just the brawn." Rikku laughed and nodded her head in agreement. She rose out of her seat and began to pace back and forth, her steps increasing in speed every few moments. After fearing she would wear a hole in the floor, Tidus inquired,

"Any ideas?" Rikku turned back to him and plopped back down in her seat.

"Well…I think the best thing to do would be to gather everyone here and talk about our options. After all, a bunch of heads is better than just our two."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be back soon!" Tidus thanked her for the tea and sprinted out onto the beach and toward the village.

It didn't take long at all to round up everyone: Wakka, Lulu (who had brought along a sound-asleep Vindina), Paine and Yuna. Paine however, was the most difficult to find, hiding out in one of the jungle trees. To be blunt, he was slightly afraid of talking to the stoic warrior after watching Yuna's sphere, but she wasn't as bad as she looked. When he came to get her, she simply looked him up and down, shook her head and followed him back to the airship.

They had decided to meet on the deck, and Tidus was grateful for the cool night air. However, he looked toward the sky in dismay to see a vast amount of clouds congesting the sky. It was unusual for it to be so bleak in Besaid, and Tidus wondered whether there was a possibility of a storm approaching. He shrugged the thought off and approached the five of them, mentally running over what he wanted to say.

"Well, I suppose you're all wondering why I wanted you here tonight. To put it shortly, the Farplane is in trouble—much more trouble than it's ever been in before. Fiend attacks have become more and more common, I'm sure, and we have only one person to thank for that—Seymour. He corrupted the Farplane and is now preparing to come back here in a new body. I only know this because I was there myself, and now it's up to us to stop him. I know this isn't the best news to be hearing, but it's the truth, and something has to be done about it." Tidus scanned over them while the five of them murmured among themselves in quiet awe. Tidus took a seat beside Yuna and Paine and began to go into deeper detail.

After Tidus had finished, a long pause of silence enshrouded the deck, the only noise was the faint rumble of the heavens above. Tidus inwardly groaned, surely there was going to be a storm soon.

"So…you sure he's back, ya? I believe you brudda, I do. It's just...so hard to believe…" Wakka started, rubbing his stubbly chin.

"I hate to agree in this situation, but I have to. Are you sure that's what you saw?" Lulu asked.

"I'm certain." Tidus confirmed. "I wouldn't joke around about something this serious."

"Then we should think of something fast. The sooner we get rid of Seymour, the faster we can get Spira back to normal." Paine commented in her usual monotone voice, "Though this does answer some of the questions Spira has had lately. Fiend attacks have become more rampant lately, and the weather and wildlife are starting to feel some of it too. Chances are the darkened pyreflies have something to do with it. Even the Youth League base that was supposed to be finished in Kilika was demolished by some sort of monstrous aquatic fiend. If these fiends get any tougher to kill, they might even get close to rivaling…"

"Don't say it." Yuna glared at Paine, but quickly shot her and apologetic glance. "I…we can't say that yet. Yes the fiends are bad, but no fiend will ever be as much as a menace as Sin was to us. Don't compare them to Sin just yet." Lulu's face straightened, as if in deep thought while gently rocking the sleeping child in her arms.

"Yuna—didn't you say something about holes in the old Fayth caverns? Holes that lead to the Farplane?" As soon as Lulu finished, Rikku's face brightened.

"Yeah! We could go down there ourselves and deal with Seymour before he even got a chance to come back!" Tidus frowned and shook his head.

"No can do. You'd all be consumed by the corrupt pyreflies the moment you got down there. I don't want you all turning into fiends on me." Rikku huffed and crossed her arms in disappointment.

"Besides, the Fayth Chambers have been ordered off limits by the three leaders in Bevelle. It's too dangerous." Yuna reminded them.

"They've been ordered off limits?" Tidus inquired curiously. Yuna nodded.

"It was passed awhile ago. The public is allowed to enter the temples to pray, but no further—the Cloyster of Trials was closed off about a year ago." Tidus scowled, not liking the idea. Sure, there wouldn't be a reason for the public to go into the Trials, but the idea of it being completely sealed off didn't sit right with him either.

"If there's nothing we can do about it now, we could just ask Baralai." Paine suggested.

"Ask Baralai?"

"Sure!" Yuna brightened, wondering why the idea hadn't come to her sooner, "We'll just ask Baralai and Krael to help. I'm sure Krael would be more than willing to prepare any number of soldiers we need. If there's going to be a big battle, a little extra support wouldn't hurt. Plus Gippal could lend us some machines to make things easier. And Baralai could help us warn Spira—we might need to evacuate some of the cities as well, and we'd be sure to let them know so there won't be mass chaos. Baralai could help with anything else we need really—until then we'll just have to wait." Though Tidus wasn't keen on asking Baralai to help, he had to admit it was the only idea they could come up with at the moment. Tidus hated waiting around like a sitting chocobo, but it really was the only option they had.

"Alright!" Rikku cheered, "We'll ask Baralai for help as soon as he comes back—then we'll really be able to get a plan in motion. Don't worry about it until then guys—just go and get some sleep!" All six of them looked amongst each other, and rose to leave when an odd thumping noise struck the airship. Peering around to see nothing but total darkness, all of them jumped to their feet. Rikku scowled and opened the deck, shouting as loud as she could,

"Brother! Fryd ec fnuhk?"

"E tuh'd ghuf. E's lralgehk dra ahkeha huf--oui lusa yht ramb duu." Came his reply. Rikku groaned and turned to them.

"He doesn't know, but he's going to look at the engine now—and wants me to help." She sauntered away, grumbling something that sounded like she was mimicking Brother irately. As Tidus watched her go, he plopped down on the edge of the deck, attempting in vain to peer through the darkness. For an instant, he thought he saw a strange glowing light, but he assumed it was something to help Brother and Rikku see the engine better.

However, he was about to be proven wrong. A series of ominous glowing lights appeared, followed by a series of horrifying screams.

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Fryd ec fnuhk- What is wrong?

E tuh'd ghuf. E's lralgehk dra ahkeha huf--oui lusa yht ramb duu.- I don't know. I'm checking the engine now--you come and help too.

I apologize yet again for the suckiness—it'll get better! Soon…I hope…

Feel free to review if it so pleases you.

However, all flames sent to me will be instantly extinguished by my buddy Shiva.

-Spiran Summoner