Hi there!

Sorry it's been a while, and as always thanks for the great reviews, means a lot! I have been in a little writer's block here, and I like to be a few chapters ahead. But I'll be going on holiday tomorrow and I thought I'd give you something to read before then :) I'm writing a few other stories at the same time sooo I've been a bit distracted.

I'll come back soon, in the meantime enjoy! :*

Chapter 11 – Good things always comes in threes

As the team awoke the next morning, it did not take them long before they sensed that something was off. It was too calm, too quiet. From the step of their tent, Yuna looked strangely at Tidus, not yet mouthing her bad feeling. His eyebrows frowned and he looked around the camp, feeling it too. Under the delicious smell of freshly baked waffles—the Al-Bhed woman had promised them breakfast on the night before—Nooj, Paine, Lucil and O'aka came out of their tents as well, but two of their teammates were missing. And suddenly, something in Yuna's mind clicked.

- "Gippal and Rikku are missing!"

First of all, it had been quiet, too quiet. Usually, Rikku and Gippal would act as their wake up clock, with their fresh bickering, early in the morning. And second, they hadn't even come out, when the smell of food filled the air? Oh no, that wasn't good.

Increasingly worried, Nooj and Lucil searched the place. But it was true, neither of their Al-Bhed friends were anywhere to be found. And something told them they hadn't simply gone out to take an early walk.

- "Yuna! Tidus! You search West, Lucil and I will go East, alright? If anything suspicious, you warn us, and we will too."

- "And I'll go South." Paine decided, a hand already on her sword.

Yuna and Tidus looked at each other and nodded towards Nooj, grabbing their weapons and things and leaving at once. As promised, Clasko had send them four chocobos, and they each swiftly jumped onto one.

- "What about me? What do I do?" O'aka asked, already grabbing his backpack.

- "You… Stay here" Nooj said, trying to make it sound like an important task. "In case they come back."

And before the merchant could add anything, Nooj, Paine and Lucil had already taken off on the yellow birds.

- "Fine! That'll make more breakfast for mey anyway!" he yelled in their direction, stuffing one entire waffle in his mouth as he did so.

- "Rikku! Come on, Rikku, wake up!

- "I told you…" she started faintly. "It's Queen Rikku for you"

He chuckled, shaking his head. He was glad to see that even in prison cells and half-conscious, she still managed to be a pain in his ass. He wouldn't have want it any other way.

- "Are you ok?" He asked, looking at her for across the iron bars.

- "Yeah, yeah I think so. You?"

- "Yeah. We're in trouble, aren't we?"

Rikku didn't answer, as she slowly sat in her cell. All was dark and humid, sinister like you would except prison sells at the lair of someone who called himself Bonecrave with a straight face—although they still had yet to actually see his face, and then figure out if it was straight or not—to be. Yes, they were in trouble.

- "Hey, could you throw me my headband back, please? If we're gonna die, I think I'd rather go with an acceptable hairstyle."

Gippal chuckled again, and threw her blue headband he was still wearing seconds ago. It fell a bit short, but she managed to grasp it by squeezing her hand behind bars and placed it back around her forehead.

- "Ha, all better."

Gippal rolled his eyes, but what she had just said got him thinking. Were they really going to die? After all they had survived, all they had done for this world, was this really how they were going to go? Well, whether or not that was the case, he had to figure out something first.

- "Say, Rikks?"

- "Hm?"

- "If we're gonna die, can I ask you an honest question?"

- "Sure thing!"

- "What happened between us? Like, what really happened? Was it honestly only because it didn't work out?"

Rikku said nothing. She just stared at him for a moment. She could partially see him, behind the bars, and he looked really serious. It was weird, seeing him serious. Should she tell him? He did deserve to know the truth and after all, if they really were going to die, what did it matter, anyway?

- "No, it wasn't." She got out in a sight.

He slowly nodded, although he wasn't surprised. He could always sense something hadn't felt right. She paused, and he stared at her, silently encouraging her to go on.

- "I didn't stay with you because my dad threatened to find another second. And I didn't want to cost you your dream. You had so many great ideas for us Al-Bhed, I couldn't be that selfish… I wouldn't have forgiven myself."

He laughed, more out of disbelief than out of genuine humor. That was the big reason? A stupid threat from her father? He looked at the floor, still trying to wrap his head around this. How could Cid had done this to him? How could she not have told him? And most of all, why had he waited so long in asking her about it? He knew the answer to that last question: his pride had gotten in is way before now.

- "God Rikku! I spent all this time thinking of what I had done wrong. You were like… my one and only try at this monogamy thing. "

- "Sorry…" she said in a grimace, nervously playing with her fingers. Was he really mad?

He said nothing for a bit, and then let out a long, long sight and shook his head. Between her, her dad and her brother Brother, man, they were all nutcases.

- "That's ok" he finally said. "I'm just glad I know before... You know" He mimicked someone cutting his throat with his finger, a weird grimace on his face. "Plus... I always knew you still had the hots for me."

He winked and looked at her behind his eyelashes, like any true seducer knew how. She rolled her eyes, although she was smiling.

- "I didn't know I was the only girlfriend you had ever had." She fired back, her eyebrows going up and down.

They both chuckled. This should have felt awkward but strangely enough, it didn't. If anything, he was glad they were finally openly talking, without the bullshit and all the stupid stuff they would say to each other, pushing each other's buttons all the time. Don't get him wrong, he loved it, but this was good too. This was… connecting, openness.

- "You're a great girl, you know? I mean, you're like… batshit crazy and all, but you really are."

- "Thanks. Right back at ya, big boy. I don't regret my decision. You are a great leader."

- "Thanks… I guess?" Gippal wasn't sure if he should thank her for her compliment, or be offended that his leader skills had been enough of a reason for her to dump him without any regrets.

She paused, weighting her own words. She was looking at the ground, trying to remember how lost many of the Al-Bhed felt, and not just the Al-Bhed really, so many Spirians, before he came along.

- "I mean it, you know? Just to think of how much more people are using and understanding technology thanks to you... Take your watches for example! ... Wait... Your watches." She looked at her arm, growing more and more excited by the minute.

- "Yeah, I know, they're pretty cool, huh?"

- "Gippal! Your watches!"

- "What? What about them?" What was she getting so happy about? He knew the techs were pretty cool, but it was nothing to get euphoric about.

Rikku raised her arm in his direction, smiling from ear to ear. And indeed, right below her hand and many trinkets, the iron bracelet shone, still around her wrist. Their enemies probably had no idea what it could do, or else they would have taken it off and broken it by now.

- "Do you know what this means?"

- "Hmhm. We can send our exact location to the team!" Rikku almost shouted, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. This was not the time to screw this up

- "We might not die! Oh god, you're right. I truly am a genius. I love myself."

- "Slow down, big boy" Rikku said as she rolled her eyes again. "We have to come up with a plan, win some time. After all, for all we know, we could be on the other side of Spira by now."

But now they had hope. And they were going to fight until their last breath to turn that hope into a mean of survival and escape.

- "Duck!"

Yuna did as ordered, and Tidus slayed a Skoll, just as it was jumping in the air to attack his girlfriend. They were surrounded. It was weird, nowadays the Calm Lands were almost fiends-free. But not today, it seemed different. Was that connected to their friends' disappearance?

Since they had left to go look for their friends, Yuna and Tidus had barely talk. He could feel like she had switch into some kind of automatic mode, shutting him off. She would barely even check to see if he was still behind her. Tidus understood that she was worried about her cousin, but he wanted to be there for her, and she didn't seem to want to let him.

- "Yaa!" She yelled as she threw away two more Skolls, overkilling them in one blow. Her worry seemed to have decupled her strength.

Back to back, they fought off the fiends. They may have been numerous, but Tidus and Yuna were strong enough to send them back where they deserved. A Flame flan tried to cast Fira on Tidus, just as Yuna protected him with Nulblaze. And when an Ogre was charging towards Yuna, the ex-blitzball player circled both her arms with his and turned, so he would face the big fiend and she the flan. Within twenty minutes, they were done.

- "Let's go". She said after curing him.

- "Yuna wait. Talk to me?"

She didn't turn back, mounted her chocobo and gestured it to start running.

- "Not now" She said. "We don't have time."

Tidus sighed and followed. He'd better let it go, she was too hardheaded. She felt like miles away from him again, and he didn't like that feeling.

- "So, ye're an Al-Bhed, huh?" O'aka said as he winked at the blond, short-haired girl standing behind the counter.

She politely nodded but turned around, clearly making him understand she did not wish to speak to him. He sighed, and took a bite of the last cold waffle on his plate. He was sure she would not have made those had she known it was to feed a thief and a looser like himself. She had made them for the heroes and leaders of Spira. Well, unlucky for her, they had all left to be heroes, and she was stuck with him.

He wanted to be a hero, too. He looked down at his partially ate waffle and pushed the plate away. The merchant didn't feel hungry anymore. Even his teammates thought of him as a burden, dragging him around so he wouldn't do anything dumb. The whole reason he was travelling with them was so they could have an eye on him anyway. As soon as they'd reach Bikanel, they would gladly get rid of him.

Why should he stay with them, anyway? He didn't need them, he could take care of himself, couldn't he?

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard the squeaking sound of a chocobo behind him. Who was stopping him from leaving? He could run off to Gagazet right now, and no one would know.

- "Well, thanks for breakfast, heh. I'm gonna go now."

The Al-Bhed simply nodded, waving her hand. But still, she wouldn't even face him. That wasn't very nice, he thought, a bit bitter. Never mind, he shook it off, he was better off on his own. The merchant approached one of the chocobos, tied up on the gate by a leash. The animal backed away, scared of the merchant, and O'aka raised his hands, trying to soothe it.

- "Don't worrey little beast, I'm not a bad guye!"

Slowly, carefully, he grew closer and with one quick movement, he jumped on the bird, catching it by surprise. The chocobo complained, struggling to break free.

- "Shhhhhh! Shhh! Eveything's alright, it's ekay!"

Even the Al-Bhed girl was looking at him strangely now. He waved at her, reassuring her that he was no dangerous man. Four squeaking cries later, the bird seemed to finally start to accept the merchant's presence. But at that very moment, a ringing noise arose from his wrist and the bird groused. What was going on? He looked around him, worried that Nooj or someone else had caught him trying to flee. But no one was there. Under the bird's complaints, he looked at the watch's screen. It was showing the world's map, a red point flickering around the Mushroom Road area. The signal was breaking up, and he couldn't figure out what it was. News of the Youth League?

- "Is…Some…dy…ere?" a woman's voice whispered, her voice barely audible.

- "Who's that?" O'aka asked. He couldn't understand that whole technology thing. It freaked him out a little, too. A voice was coming out of his wrist, for god sakes, what in all that is holly was that?

- "O…ka?"

The voice sounded familiar. By the time it tried speaking again, a bit stronger, he had figured out who it was. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he knew that Gagazet would have to wait a bit more for him.

- "Rikku? Rikku is that ye? I don't understand what ye're sayin" He brought the watch closer to his face, trying to see the blurred, dark image transmitted on the screen.

- "Yes! …Es! … Warn… Others! We … cked … Cave… Come… Qui…!"

- "A cave? Where? Where's the cave? Rikku are ye still there? Rikku?"

No one answered and the screen turned back to black. He seemed to have been the only one who got Rikku's message. Well, what now? He looked at the immensity of the green lands. On his left, he was seeing the passage towards Gagazet. He could flee there, get lost in its heights and let the world forget about him. Or he could go right, and catch up with the others, to save two of his friends. He looked right, still unsure. Wasn't it time for him to prove he was better than what everybody thought? He had been in debt and had caused a lot of problems around him. And twice already, he had run away from all of it. Maybe now was the time to try something different. Maybe now was the time to be a hero.

- "Yuna! What an immense joy your presence here gives me!"

The man ran, his arms opened wide, towards Yuna, but Paine blocked him the way. Tidus looked at him from afar, his arm over Yuna's chest in a protective movement. Who was that?

- "We are here because your sister is missing, remember her? Blond hair, annoying high-pitched voice?" Paine told the dumb-looking guy in front of her. He was bare-chested, a lot of tattoos travelling across his upper body part and wearing black jeans. His skull was almost completely shaven, with only a clump of blond hair in its middle.

That's who that was! Brother, Rikku's brother. Tidus knew it was only a nickname, yet that sentence had sounded weird in his mind. He remembered him. The Al-bhed had once tried to attack them to kidnap Yuna, at Macalania's lake. And, as Yuna had told him countless times, he had been the Gullwings' boss, working closely with her.

He looked at the ship. It looked like it had been pimped by some cheap, tasteless idiot. The thing was flashing red, black symbols running over its car body. Two huge wheels reassembling Zanarkand's motorbikes were rolling upfront, accompanied by two equally big on the back of the ship. With one quick glance at that guy with his mohawk, Tidus could kind of guess who had been in charge of the decoration part. Still, it was flying, and they needed to travel quickly. He didn't like his attitude with Yuna one bit. Wasn't he her cousin?

Yuna looked at Tidus, her eyebrows a bit frowned. She gently took his arm away from her chest. She didn't need protecting, especially not from Brother, her friend.

- "It's good to see you too, Brother." She said as she smiled at him, and he seemed thrilled, almost jumping up and down. He ran inside the ship, like an overly excited kid.

Nooj, Lucil and Paine ignored him and they boarded the ship, quickly followed by O'aka, Tidus and Yuna. It was time to rescue their friends.

- "Ok." Tidus started, looking successively at Yuna, Nooj, Paine, Lucil and O'aka. "How should we do this?"

No one replied. They still didn't have enough information about this Bonecrave guy to really know what they were getting themselves into. All they knew was that his henchmen could turn invisible, he could most probably read their minds and capture their souls. Sounded fun so far.

- "I have an idea." O'aka started, a resolve they had never seen shining in his eyes. "I will go there first, and let them capture me."

- "No, O'aka, that's madness!" Yuna disagreed, worried for her friend's life.

- "Let him finish" Nooj said gently.

- "One or two of ye could follow, and try to catch him."

- … "If you bring me a suit, I can probably figure out how it works."

The voice had come from behind them, and all the team turned around as one man. A little guy, in a complete beige suit was staring back at them.

- "Shinra hi!" Yuna said. "You think you could do that?"

- "Sure!"

They had briefly told Buddy, Brother and Shinra what they knew about Bonecrave, and the little genius had said he had heard of those invisible men. It had been months since he looked for a way of analyzing one of those.

- "And could you create some kind of weapon to dismantle them?" Nooj asked, somewhat familiar with his abilities.

- "Probably. From what I've seen, it should work with some kinds of air frequency. And so if I just…"

And he left just as quickly as he had showed up, already lost in his thoughts.

- "Then what?" Tidus asked, looking at O'aka so he'd go on.

- "Then we go in and kill the bastard!" Paine finished for him, enraged.

Yuna wasn't sure if her friend was more worried for Gippal, or for Rikku. Probably both.

- "No. Then I let myself be captured."

- "He's right" Nooj added. "We need to know where exactly they are being held, and their watches aren't working anymore."

- "Who says yours will?" Lucil asked, also worried about O'aka.

- "No one. But we have to give it a shot. If it works, I'll send ye a signal and ye can come help."

- "And if it doesn't?"

- "Should be easy enough, if we can dismantle the suits. They'll lose their advantage."

- "But Shinra will probably need some time to analyze it first." Yuna said. They were talking about time they didn't have. Who knew if they weren't too late already?

- "Guys, Buddy here. We are over the Mushroom Road right now, ready to be dropped off?"

They looked at each other in silence. This was it. They had no more time to plan anything.

- "I still can't believe he was right under our noses the whole time." Nooj fumed.

- "We couldn't have known, sir. Just think that this way, we can mobilize our troops. It has some positive.", Lucil replied, her hand on his arm to calm him down.

Nooj looked at her and nodded. She was right. And either way, it didn't help to have regrets now. What was done, was done. They had already given orders to two dozen of their best men. They had to stand on site, close but not to close, and wait for further instructions so far. They were good fighters, but this wasn't something they could handle by themselves. The troops were back-ups, a little extra-help.

All of the team stood up, getting reading to depart. Just as they were about to leave the room, the Youth League Mevyn said:

- "We'll try this as plan A. If it fails, we will have to improvise on site."

- "We will be ok. We've practiced this." Tidus said as he looked at Yuna. She nodded firmly.

- "Yes. We got this."

- "If anything goes wrong, don't forget, we can communicate with the watches."

- "I want a code name. Ye can call mey MagicXXIII!"

The rest of the team looked flatly at O'aka. Boy, he seemed to have missed yet again an opportunity to shut his mouth. Things were a lot less fun without Gippal and Rikku. The merchant was sure he would have gotten their full support for this code name thing.

Thanks to the "historic" of O'aka's watch, they could see the list of all the locations that had been transmitted to the device, allowing them to rewatch the spot sent by Rikku earlier. It wasn't 100% precise, but it was enough to orientate them.

As they grew closer to the spot, Yuna, Paine and Nooj looked at each other, worried. They all shared the same thought: the three of them had been there before. And it certainly was not a nice place. O'aka was leading, followed by Yuna, Paine and Lucil, with Tidus and Nooj closing the march. The more they approached, the more they were sure it was that awful, awful cave.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

In a same movement, Yuna and Paine turned on her feet, only to see Lucil, Tidus and Nooj passed out on the floor.

- "I'll revive them. You take care of the bastards."

- "Deal!"

As much as Paine would have loved making fun of Yuna who had said a bad word, she had to let it go for now. A sword in her hand, she ran, zigzagging between her friends, sure some shadows still hid there. She hit an invisible wall, and before she knew it, all was black.

What could have been minutes, hours, or seconds later, she opened her eyes only to find a hand in her direction. She grabbed it and stood back up, thanking Tidus. He, Nooj, Lucil, Yuna and her formed a circle with O'aka in the middle, protected. Each of them were facing a different direction, trying to be aware of the enemy. Yuna closed her eyes to focus, and upon seeing her, Nooj and Paine did the same.

- "Ha!"

With one bang from her staff, the still invisible enemy fell on the floor in a loud thud.

- "O'aka! Undress him!"

There's a sentence he'd never thought he'd heard. The merchant did as he was told, although feeling weird about what he was doing. While his friends fought, he had to feel around the shadow to find how to take off his suit. He dodged a foot, a leg, and oh, a sword while his hands travelled an invisible body.

A swift sound ringing in her left ear made Yuna aware of what was coming, and she ducked just in time, followed by Paine who stood beside her. Her grey-haired friend stroke back with her sword, and a few nanoseconds later they heard a small resonance on the floor letting them know this one was out. Tidus moved right and left, dodging invisible but lethal blows.

- "How many do you think we are fighting right now?" he asked his friends, hearing the sword of his enemy buzzing against his chest. He had barely missed that one.

- "No idea!"

- "I'd say between 5 and 8 so far." Lucil yelled as she kicked the air, and it responded with a loud "aouch."

- "O'aka! How's the suit coming along?" Yuna asked as she casted a thunder spell, counting on its fast travelling proprieties. Unfortunately, if the enemy had been there he had already moved, and her mini storm only hit the floor.

- "Get'ing there!"

He was not getting anywhere, really, but he knew he was starting to lose his luck. His friends protected him as best they could so no one would attack him, but as time went by, the protective circle they had formed was getting more and more disrupted. O'aka felt awkward, touching this unknown guy. He had nothing against gay people, but he was not from this side of the road, no thanks. He rapidly passed his right hand along the guy's arm—or at least he thought—and hoped—it was his arm—and something felt less mythrily and snake-skin-like than the rest of the suit. He looked for the odd element again, circling the area with his fingers. And there it was, a smooth round area. He pressed it, and suddenly the body of the man—who was, in fact, a girl—was he going through such a long dry spell he could not tell the difference anymore?—appeared on the floor. He looked at the tip of his fingers only to find out he had pressed a little black button that seemed to make the suit reappear.

- "They've got on/off buttons on their right arms!" He yelled, sharing his knew found information."

- "Thanks, would be really useful if we could actually see their arms!" yelled Paine as one of her knee fell to the ground and she stayed, panting, a hand in the side of her chest.

He looked around, and he realized that in the few minutes he had spent focused on the shadow, his friends had somewhat lost their advantage. Paine was almost on the floor now, Tidus was protecting a low HP-Yuna and Lucil seemed to weaken.

Was he allowed to undress a girl? Something felt so wrong about him undressing an unconscious girl. But he took a second glance at his friends and realized they weren't going to hold on for much longer, they needed him. Closing his eyes, he grabbed the zipper and started pulling down. He half opened one eye and sighed in relief. She was wearing a top underneath the suit. Quickly, he took it out of her and proudly stood, shaking the suit above his head like a flag.

- "I got it guys! I got it!"

But an enemy flew by him and pulled it from his grasp.

- "Damn it!" He cursed, hating himself for his clumsiness. "I had it…"

Lucil planted her katana on the floor, the tip of her blade first and she quickly backed away a few steps. Then she ran and gracefully jumped on her weapon, using it to propel herself. Just as the shadow was dragging the suit flew by her—was it on some kind of miniature ship of some sort?—she extracted it from his grasp and threw it to O'aka.

- "Now run! Go!"

And the merchant did. He ran as fast as he could, trying to forget the high probability of an invisible attack that could come from anywhere. He had to make it to the ship. His friends were relying on him. O'aka was really mad at himself for cutting gym—he was really, really out of shape.

- "S…S-sir?"

Oh boy. Remember the training. Do not think. Do not think. Do not think or you'll piss the Boss off.

- "What is it?" He seemed bored. But bored was good. Bored wasn't mad.

- "There seem to be… We have… I mean."

- "Talk. Now." The boredom had left his voice. Crap.

He had barely risen the tone of his voice, and yet the soldier knew it was its last warning. He hated to be on report duty. They would always flip a coin, his co-workers and him. And it was already his third time reporting this week alone. He suspected them to be using a tricked coin on him. Shit! Had he thought this "out loud"?

- "Intruders!" He said quickly to cover up his thoughts. "It seems we have intruders in the near area, your majesty, sir!"

The man laughed. Or at least his subordinate thought it was a laugh. It was such a guttural, sinister echo, worlds apart from the light and pleasurable sound composing a "normal" laugh, that only its repetitiveness had tipped him off.

- "I know. I had been waiting for them."

- "So… What are we to do, your highness, sir?"

- "Nothing. Let them come."

The shadow bowed down and left the dark, wide room. This was the weirdest order he had ever gotten from The Boss. Do nothing. Why? He shivered. Something told him it was not to spare the intruders. No, he was going to do something even worse than the usual, the employee could sense it.

- "Well, well. I guess it's time to see my old pals again."

The massive silhouette stood in front of the fire, and with one quick inspiration, the crackling sounds stopped and the red and yellow light faded until they disappeared completely. He needed all the energy he could get.

Panting, barely standing up, the rest of the team stood in front of the mysterious door. The enemies were gone. They had defeated many, but the rest had just vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. They would have rejoiced if it hadn't been so suspicious.

Yuna cured them, but she was tired, so tired already. Tidus gave her an ether he was guarding for her, but still, she lacked energy. They needed some rest, if only for a few minutes.

Tidus abruptly walked towards the door and she studied it, both intrigued and scared by its symbols. It seemed so ancient he couldn't figure out how it could open. At the base of the door a purple circle was engraved. At its center, a golden sphere protected a blue pearl. From either side of it, two gold wings proudly spread. And above it, eight thin lines weaved like little snakes, covering the rest of the stony entrance. Finally, in the middle of the snakes, this big, wooden head rested. As Tidus approached even closer to analyze its face, he took three steps backwards when he felt a red, powerful gaze fixating on his.

- "The Den of Woe." Nooj simply said, looking at Yuna and Paine. "I never thought I'd have to go back in there."

- "You know about this place?"

- "I do, too." Yuna replied before Nooj could, looking at Tidus. "We are going to have to be careful. I can still feel a lot of anger, resentment, and hatred from the other side of the door. I don't even know if we can trust ourselves inside."

- "What do you mean, Yuna?" Tidus said, failing to grasp what she meant.

- "Inside, it's full of pyreflies." Paine went on. "They are memories, pieces of souls from long wasted bodies. And they resent us for the mere reason of being alive. But… They aren't like your usual unsent. They not only attack us, they take control of us. Make us turn on each other."

- "But… I don't understand. Shuyin is gone, so this place should be empty, shouldn't it?" Lucil asked, looking respectively at Nooj, Yuna, and Paine as she waited for a reply.

- "Unfortunately, Shuyin's spirit wasn't the only one in there… He killed so many people during the Crimson squad mission…" Nooj closed his eyes, terrible flashes grimly dancing in his mind.

They sat in silence for a bit, listening in on the silence. They could almost hear them, the pyreflies. Praying, singing, chanting, threatening, trying to draw them in. it was a creepy song they were humming.

- "It's not all…" Yuna finally said, her voice barely higher than a whisper. "I… I can sense new souls, that weren't there before… There's… so many of them."

When she looked back up, her gaze falling on Tidus, he noticed that her blue and green eyes were watery. She seemed so upset and fragile, he just wanted to run up to her and hug her tight, protect her from whatever invisible horror she could sense. But she had acted distant lately, and he didn't dare.

- "We don't have a choice. I think we should go in there."

- "Good call, pretty boy." Paine sarcastically snapped at Tidus. "We go in. Then what? Do you have any idea what that place does to you?"

- "Paine…"

- "Then we fight it! I know we can fight their control. And Yuna, you can send them, right? I'll protect you while you do." He said, trying to cheer his teammates up.

With the back of her hand, she dried her baby tears and quickly nodded once. Her eyebrows slightly frowned, she got on her feet, grabbing her staff-sword firmly. Tidus had managed to remind her of her own strength she had forgot about for a brief moment.

- "You're right. We lost enough time already, we should go. We have to find them ourselves." She said as she looked at Paine, and then at Nooj and Lucil.

As only reply, they got up and stood in line before the door. Nooj and Lucil mumbled into their watches, letting their troops know of their whereabouts and of the plan. They would wait for Lucil to call them inside. As Nooj placed his palm in the middle of the golden circle, and just like that the passage obliged and opened. It felt like a trap. It probably was, but they had no other option than going in and hoping to come out in one piece.

The first thing that stroke them was the smell. It was so heavy, so charged with fear, suffering and barbaric torture, it instantly turned their bloods to ice and made them nauseous. Breathing through their mouths, they slowly, carefully started entering the dark cave. There were no lights, nothing. It seemed as if the pyreflies Yuna could perfectly hear and feel had gone into hiding, trying to catch them by surprise. Nooj and Lucil stood in first line, quickly followed by Tidus, a protective arm over Yuna, and Paine behind them, assuring their rears.

Like two spotlights lighting up the showmen, two fire explosions resonated from either side of them. At first they thought of an attack, but as they stood with their weapons drawn, their breaths heavy, they realized it was not.

- "Is that…"

- "Lava?"

Two burning, deeply rooted lava rivers, that's what it was. Every two or three seconds, the micro eruptions detonated again, like precisely timed bombs. It felt like drums, giving this place a sad rhythm, a theme as they went deeper into it with each passing footstep. Every two or three seconds, a powerful red light shone, allowing them to analyze the place. Lucil was already on the task, looking at a different nook each time, mentally mapping the place.

Yuna wasn't that focused. The lava rivers intrigued her and she narrowed her eyes as the next explosion was about to burst. 1. 2. 3. And boom. As the little fire particles poured down in a cracking sound, like tired fireworks letting gravity reclaim its right on them, Yuna noticed something odd. Iron chains were engraved in the walls. And quickly she saw it. And she would rather have not. Bones. Humans, and animal bones, half eaten by the lava already. She could see two almost complete skeletons, one smaller than the other. An insane thought flew in her mind but she chased it away before it fully reached her conscience. She simply refused to accept it.

- "Any idea where Gippal and Rikku could be?" She asked, just to get out of her own head.

- "Not really so far. This place is way bigger than I thought it would be."

- "Look out!"

It was all that Paine managed to yell before they appeared. An army of angry pyreflies, whooshing in their direction. They weaved like flying snakes, getting closer in their macabre dance.

- "Yuna!"

- "On it!" She replied as she grabbed her staff with her two hands. She too, could dance.

They were far past the lava rivers now, and the only lights came from the pyreflies themselves. Everything else was black. They couldn't fight them, as much as they tried. Tidus, standing in front of Yuna had tried indeed. His swords came through the piece of souls, but had no effect whatsoever on them. All they could do was dodge them, and protect Yuna as she slowly granted each of them with the peaceful rest they deserved at long last. But it was too slow, and they were outnumbered. They needed a second, or even a third, summoner.

As he stood in front of her, facing her to encourage her, Yuna saw Tidus' face change. His expression was comforting, encouraging, until it was not. His eyebrows met, and his mouth twisted into a rage spasm. She could see in his eyes that he was trying to fight it, but the pyrefly got the better of him.

- "Haaa!"

At the very last minute, Yuna interrupted her dance and jumped backwards, dodging Tidus' sword by an inch.

- "Come on Tidus! Snap out of it, please!"

But he didn't. She kept dodging and jumping to avoid his blows. He was like a berserk, hitting her non-stop, with an incredible strength she didn't normally know him to have. She looked at her left to see Paine who had just knocked out Nooj so he wouldn't hit her. Lucil was using a powerful magic light to cast the enemies away, and she quickly yelled for Paine to come behind her.

Yuna looked back at Tidus and, in her flee, she fell to the floor. She didn't even have the time to cast a spell on him or hit him, he was too fast. He raised his sword, about to strike, but she blocked him with her staff. She was holding it across her chest with her two hands, but he kept pushing and pushing. Soon he would break her staff and god knows what would happen.

- "Don't do it! Fight it! You told me you would fight it!" She yelled under her effort. "It's me, Yuna. The girl you love, remember?"

His eyes twitched, and she could see some part of him coming back, softening his eyes. He shook his head, and slowly, the weight of his sword lowered. But then they heard a crack, his gaze turned blank, and he fell on her.

- "Men are weak." Paine scoffed before jumping to Yuna's side.

The light was effective, but Lucil wasn't sure she could hold it for long. Yuna brought Nooj and Tidus back to life, and the commander urged them to come behind her.

- "Now would be a good time to call in some reinforcements, don't you think?" Paine said.

- "Sure!" Tidus replied as he dodged a pyrefly on his left "'Cause we definitely need more people likely to turn on us."

Boom. They were losing field, getting closer to the lava rivers again. Tidus looked at the souls, puzzled. As the explosion rang out, the pyreflies had one same spasm, as if the noise had startled them. But they didn't really seem scared of the sound. No, they were scared of…

- "The light!" Tidus screamed, struck by an idea. "Lucil, think you can light up this place?"

Nooj's second looked around her, trying to find something to cast her light too. She threw a ball of light at her left, just as yet another blast exploded noisily. There were some torches running up the walls. She breathed in, and ran towards the middle of the place, her shield white from the light it casted before her.

- "Lucil!" Nooj and Yuna yelled in unison.

The lady didn't turn. Before the pyreflies could even touch her, she began turning on herself, over and over again. The brightness embraced her, forming a white cocoon around her. As she turned and turned, the light became stronger and stronger, until it blinded them.

- "Close your eyes, all of you!" She warned her allies.

They did as ask. Even with their eyes closed, the burning white light was uncomfortable. And then, a second later, it was gone.

Yuna opened one careful eye, and then another. Lucil turned less and less fast as the light decreased, until she came to a stop and nearly fell. She dropped a knee to the ground to steady herself. Nooj, Tidus, Paine and Yuna looked around them. All of the torches were lit, and the souls were gone.

Some things were better off not seeing. They tried to refrain themselves from looking too much, but sometimes their curiosity was too strong and they would shoot a glance left or right, only to see rest of bodies and unidentifiable but equally horrifying things scattered on the ground.

- "Good thinking, Tidus." Nooj said, impressed by his idea.

- "Guys! I think it's that way!" Lucil called, already far up ahead.

- "No time to waste, let's go!"

In case he hadn't before, now the enemy certainly knew they were here. But at least the pyreflies were gone for now. One problem was fixed, but they still had two others to worry about. Finding their friends. And killing Bonecrave.