Hello everyone, here's the tenth chapter of ET for you.

This chapter was a big pain for me to write, not necessarily because it wouldn't write itself but because my mind wouldn't except it as good enough to post for a week. So I had to spend a week constantly going back to fix up bits of it. And the thing is it wasn't that bad to begin with, it probably just had a lot of words that didn't need to be in there, and knowing me there's quite likely still heaps in there and I just got use to it. Also many grammatical mistakes, can't forget me and my grammatical mistakes, I'm infamous for them to my sister. Can't say I'm as bad as Kalicy-darling or anything, but I shouldn't bee as bad as I am.

Also secondly thanks for the review Onimimi, I love getting them off you, and everyone else who reviews. They truly make my day.

But anyway, on with the chapter, I really hope you like it and it isn't quite as full of useless words as I think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, Square Enix does.

Help

Coming to, Aaia was struck with the sense of being shaken. She opened her eyes. Hope was calling her name, but until now she hadn't been able to hear. Shaking her arms to signal him to let go, he backed off to allow her to sit up. Sitting now, she rubbed her head, pained by the hit she had taken. Serah was not there, that much she knew. She frowned and looked to Hope, feeling a great stab of anxiety in her chest.

He shook his head, "Whoever knocked you out took her." He answered sounded as sad and worried as he looked.

Blowing out a sigh Aaia moved into a kneeling position, her frown becoming more pronounced she said, "It was the blonde woman wasn't it?"

"Huh," Hope hummed, "How'd you know that?"

"I felt it before she knocked me out remember; she has a very distinctive presence. It was unmistakably her; I just didn't react quickly enough." Aaia explained, disheartened.

Seeing her depressed demeanour, Hope tried to cheer her up despite the miserable situation. Giving her a shadow of a smile he told her, "Come on, it's not your fault this happened, there was nothing either of us could do to stop it."

Her facial expression unchanging Aaia mumbled more to herself than anything, "That is what you say." And got up seemingly intent on moving on.

Frowning when he saw how little an effect his words had on her, Hope was late to react to her change in position. Blinking his eyes at her he asked," Where are you going?"

"On." Was her indistinct answer.

Getting up himself, Hope was struck with a pang of worry and quickly asked, "Hey you don't mean to-"

"No!" Aaia cut him off in an instant, her voice filled with an emotion other than sadness, "I failed to protect Serah but that in no way means I'm going to give up saving her. But we must keep moving. The blonde woman can move much faster than we have the luxury to, plus she knows these lands better than us. She'll get ahead to the Valhallan's main base of operations here faster than we can catch up to her, so simply following after her is useless. Our best chances of saving Serah are meeting up with one or two of my people of this side and getting their help in saving her."

Silenced, Hope nodded his head. Looking up to Aaia he apologised, "Sorry for almost saying that you weren't going to help her, I'm just-"

"Scared for her." Aaia finished for him twisting her head around so she was looking in his direction.

Hope nodded.

Aaia gave him a little smile to show she got it, "Don't, people have told me worse when their scared, but thanks for apologising. You know I'd never abandon you two, I'm only here to protect you." Letting the smiling slip from her lips Aaia motioned for him to follow her with a nod of her head, "Now come on, it's still a long way until we're safe, if that woman's alright with coming in here then I know of others who will do the same."

Following her, Hope thought of the Black haired man who had questioned him relentlessly and chuckled a little at Aaia's words, "I think I've met a few." he muttered.

"You probably have." Aaia remarked as the two of them made their way to eventual safety, and if all went well, Serah's as well.

…:…

The world was dark where Serah was. She sat in a small stone cell somewhere in the bowels of where she was being held. The only light came from a small opening at the top of the cell on the back wall. Seeing how earth could be seem at the bottom of the opening it led Serah to believe she was somewhat underground. But exactly where she was she didn't know. Her captor had bound her limbs and covered her eyes while they travelled here but did not do her the luxury of knocking her unconscious. So she was completely aware of herself for the entire journey. In time of course that journey had to end. And after a couple hours spent in the woman's captivity they came upon this place, a base of sorts Serah guessed, and when the blindfold was finally removed she was in this cell. Apart from that, there was nothing more to tell apart from all the voices she heard as they were taking her down here.

It was strange perhaps but the men she heard, for that was what they were, addressed the woman in a way that was mixed with fear, admiration, and the weirdest of all, disgust. Disgust so complete that the polite and formal words they used to address her seemed the most wrong thing in the world.

Creasing her face in thought, Serah decided to drop the topic for now. At this moment she should be putting greater emphasis on her own troubles, not the standing the woman who took her here maintained among the men. Not that she wasn't really interested in it; but she needed to take the time to assess her own situation.

She guessed it would have had to be a few hours since she was taken, dark light showered in from the opening in the cell wall to signal it was now night. She couldn't summon much more deductions other than that. She didn't know how to get out of here, or what could be done to get her out. She didn't know what had happened to Hope and Aaia after she had been taken, but she prayed for their safety. The bad thing was that there was no way to be ascertained that was even a possibility, for all she knew they could be in this place with her. It surprised how she felt it with so much conviction, but with Aaia knocked out she didn't feel like the two of them had an ounce of safety in these surrounding lands. And if her worries were true and they hadn't managed to get to safety then all she felt was hopelessness. She was no match for those who held her, getting to ground level was impossible, escape was delusional rubbish.

Blowing out a sigh she rested against the back wall. She felt so tired now, the most she could do was sleep.

…:…

When Serah woke next it was much later, and she was no longer alone. Outside her cell stood a man, the shadows of the hallway outside her cell hid his face but she had a feeling that he might be a very handsome man. Though the vibes he radiated made her feel uneasy. Whoever he was, it wasn't safe for her to be near him.

Stepping forward he grabbed the bars of her cell. Serah could now see that his face was twisted up into a gleeful smile, but his eyes were still obscured by the darkness.

"Serah, right?" He asked, but the sound of his voice gave her the impression that he already sure of the answer.

Nevertheless she nodded, not very sure if he could see the movement in the darkness.

Seemingly he did, and the smile widened. "I was hoping so, because if our little pet had brought to us the wrong person we would have had to reprimand it severely, and it never takes well to such actions. Likes to bite back unfortunately, it's a nasty flaw in its demeanour. But not one that affects it too bad, seeing as it hardly ever fails us nowadays. Frequent punishments taught it that."

Serah flinched instinctively at his words. Despite how she had been treated by her captor Serah almost wished she wasn't saying what she was, "By pet," she started, "You don't mean the blonde woman who took me here do you?" Even though she already knew it, she dreaded the answer.

The man laughed, a chilling sound, "Why of course, who do you think I'm talking about? We have others like her of course, but none of them have the intensity, destructive power or finesse as great as hers. There's hardly any other we'd trust to capture you, trust me I know, the others failed."

Swallowing over a lump in her throat as the man's aura was starting to get the best of her, Serah said more than asked, "The others you talk of, is the black haired man. I met one of them."

The man gave her a nod, "Quite so, he's back in our custody now after his failure at the hands of that Black haired WENCH! But he seems rather intent of behaving like a rabid dog and isn't listening to his masters, but punishment will fix that in time."

Fighting down her disgust at the way the man was addressing his own kind like animals Serah figured out quickly that he applied the previous term 'wench' to Aaia, and grew curious as to what had happened to make him direct his hate towards her so vividly, apart from the obvious.

Looking up at him again, something in her told her that any question about Aaia wouldn't be answered and more than likely only anger him, so she turned to the one sure question she had left. Preparing herself for his answer, she asked timidly, "Who is 'us'?"

Raising his eyebrow at her, the man's smile grew again, "I was wondering when you'd pick up on that. 'Us' is me, and the Untundra. Of course he can't come down here to talk to you for he is otherwise indisposed and doesn't have time for such talk, but I don't mind it." He halted with another pull on his grin, "I like talking to the prisoners, I can say whatever I want. Besides," he breathed leaning his face up against the bars so that its features were finally revealed to Serah, "Your life is forfeit. You are in our hands now, and it's the Untundra's orders that you are to die."

Serah drew in a great breath as she was filled dread as she looked upon the man blissful face. 'Die' was the word that resounded in her head as she took in his black hair with the slightest of purple tints to it. 'He'd said 'die' was her only thought as she took in his sharp angled face, handsome but a little too wide in the jaw . The dread ate away at her as she looked at his straight and firm teeth that reminded her all too much of fangs as the dismal light gleamed across them in the darkness.

Then the man laughed, laughed like what he said was actually funny. Laughed like he hadn't told someone they were going to die. Told someone whose friends and family had no idea if they were still alive. Laughed as he spoke of cutting off what little hope they may still hold for her.

Horrified she barely registered the man's words as he began to walk off laughing to himself, "We'll kill ya when the Untundra is no longer busy. Don't worry you'll be kept in that cell nice and far away from all who could save you. I'd like to see that black haired WENCH! -break her way into here!"

Hearing the last note of his laughter die off the reality of her situation began to crush down on her. Serah fought to breathe as the walls closed in around her, and she began to cry.

…:…

Hours had passed since Serah had been taken, and night had come and gone. Hope still followed along behind Aaia as she led them out of this seemingly endless forest. The conversation was kept to a minimum.

The thought of how she was acting pertaining to certain aspects of their travel had Hope curious. Silence was of the essence, making just a little too much sound as he walked was a no-no. Unfortunately for him, their views regarding what too much sound was were very different. Military training and all and he couldn't keep up with Aaia orders. That's what made it so interesting to him. He'd been in the military for years and she still beat him. Her every movement was practiced and purposeful. Convert and deathly silent. In fact she moved more in a military fashion than most actual soldiers he knew, himself included. Though he wouldn't say it to her it put him off a little seeing as he was an officer and all.

Staring at her now, praying he didn't break a stick under foot while his attention was diverted, he saw that she was a ball of curiosity. It made him wonder if there would ever come a day when he'd figure her out.

…:…

More time passed and the sun rose higher in the sky when they finally made it out of the forest that dominated the landscape. The land they came out into wasn't too different much to Hope's dismay, seeing as he was getting thoroughly sick of forests just about now. The place was loosely plastered with clutters of trees and vegetation spaced in infrequent intervals. There were also long grasses sticking up out of the ground here and there. And at the horizon one could see the outline of a greater forest area spanning as far as the eye could see.

Halting here Aaia said one of her first speaking pieces of the day, "By nightfall I'd like to try and reach that forest area, or as near to it as we can get."

The childish side of him wanted to complain about all the forests but Hope shut it down easily. Though he may be sick of them, the forest afforded much greater safety than here, practically out in the open due to all the empty space.

He nodded his head at her proposal, "Yeah."

A certain note in his reply made Aaia turn to him, "Getting bored of the forests are we?"

Hope cringed; he thought he had hidden that from his voice. "Yeaah, sort of."

Shrugging her shoulders Aaia replied, "In your case I don't blame you, but if I could see I don't think I would tire of them." Holding her hands behind her back, she started to walk forward once more.

Raising his eyebrows at her answer Hope started after her, "How come?" He asked.

"Because this is the first time I've ever been in them." Aaia answered honestly.

Taken by surprise Hope burst out, "Wha? Have you even been close to one then?"

"Nope." Aaia responded with a shake of her head, "Never even been remotely near them."

Hope shook his head in blatant surprise, "Where in the world did you live?" He mumbled in disbelief

"The city." Aaia joked sarcastically.

Quieting down and following along behind her Hope couldn't mind but think that joke and all, there had been some truth in Aaia's words. But what was that truth, whatever it may be, was beyond him.

…:…

Once nightfall came the two of them had barely managed to get to the edge of the forested area by the time the sun set. Though they decided to go in a little deeper so they had better security during the night. Not much talk went on between them afterwards and they quickly settled into to their well-practiced roles of sleeper and watcher.

Laying down on his back ready to go to sleep, many thoughts bombarded Hope mind, stopping him from dropping off to sleep just yet. Aaia was as always in the past few days, his minds favourite subject. But he put all his questions about her on the back shelf for now. Because what he was worried about right now was Serah. Whether she was safe, in any possible way. Alive even, would be good enough for him, seeing as he had no idea what might have happened to her after she was captured. It gave him a bad feeling to remember how much emphasis Aaia had put on the Valhallans wanting them dead, so he prayed with all he had that she was alright. If anything happened to her while he could have done something to prevent it, he didn't think he'd ever be able to look their friends in the eyes again, especially Snow. He frowned sadly then he thought about how hard the man must be taking all of this, if word of his disappearance wasn't enough, he had to deal with his wife going missing right afterwards. It was sad to think about; and it made him wonder how the rest of them were taking it too. But he had no way of knowing.

Sighing quietly he tried to put these thoughts to the back of his mind so he could get some sleep. If he didn't do so as soon as he could he'd find Aaia's watch ending all too soon.

The next morning Hope and Aaia were back up and moving further inland. This time much to Hope's relief, Aaia seemed a lot less tightly wound. Watching her mood for a while longer he made a note of it. "You seem livelier today."

Giving him a brief look, Aaia shrugged, "This place is safe, I feel that here."

"Safe how?" Hope asked.

Aaia shook her head, "I'm not sure, I'll guess we'll see."

Taking that for an answer Hope went silent. If she didn't have the answer he might as well let the course of the day reveal it for him.

Though it didn't happen quite as he thought it would.

A little while after noon he began to feel eyes on him, but since Aaia didn't react he put it to being some animal hiding in the bushes.

But then it just kept continuing.

And continuing.

And continuing.

And continuing

And continuing.

And you guessed it, continuing.

Eventually driven mad by the small irritating sensation of unknown eyes watching him from somewhere in the world he turned to Aaia and asked her exasperated, "Okay I know you can feel that, who in the hell is watching us?"

To his surprise, she laughed. And like, really laughed, to the point that she was bent over double in a failing attempt to rein herself in. Wiping tears from her eyes, she looked up to him, "Oh that's just a stalking idiot. I realised she was watching us earlier but then just pretended not to notice to drive her insane. Except then she figured out what I was doing, so she just started to wholly stare at you to drive you mad because she got bored with just stalking me. And of course when I realised what she was doing I just sort of joined in to see how long you could hold out."

Staring at her like she'd said the weirdest thing in the world, Hope nodded his head slowly, "Uh huh." He wasn't sure what parts of her explanation he should take seriously. But like it always was with Aaia, even that part was decided for him, in the strangest way possible.

He turned his head to the side so he could scan the area for the culprit but found himself face to face with a woman with messy blonde hair tied into a loose ponytail hanging from a tree branch by her legs. She was stroking her chin as if thinking deeply, but turning to him and giving him a wink she destroyed that look with the words, "Isn't she a little freak? I didn't even do anything and she realised that. Little freak indeed." Nodding her head like she'd said something meaningful she unhooked her legs from the tree and landed on her feet. Her words, while mean sounding to Hope were revealed to be by the smile on Aaia's face and the way they made her giggle, an affectionate term. Obviously, these two knew each other.

Recovering from his shock, Hope took the time to take in the woman's form. She was slim and had all-black attire, from black boots that rose to her calves, too short black shorts and a belt. As well as a black sleeveless button up blouse that showed off a little too much of her sizable cleavage. She looked to be about forty and wore on her arm a black band, trimming with godly white feathers not unlike the ones on Aaia's crystal earrings.

Summoning his words finally he asked her, "Who are-"

"Who am I you ask?" She said cutting him off, "Doesn't matter. I've got more important things to tell you than that."

"You know where Serah is then?" Aaia asked her without a seconds notice, drawing Hope's attention.

The woman made a funny shape with her lips and replied, "No, but I think whoever told me this information did."

"What is it then, is Serah safe, what can we do to help her?" Hope burst out.

In response, the woman smiled, "Oh you don't have to do anything to help her, someone's already there to do that for you."

…:…

The sound of something hitting the ground woke Serah up. Looking around, a figure caught her eyes standing in front of the bars. She instinctively flinched when she thought it might be the man from before, but it wasn't, it was a girl. She stood leaning over the bars, her shoulder length curly black hair falling to her front, and her altered Pulsian military uniform still visible in the dark. The nameless girl smiled at her, her grey eyes twinkling.

"Want help?"

And done, hope you liked it.

You know the one thing that 's bothering me with this story, Aaia keeps trying to make herself this really serious character, when she's a bloody crazy person. It's why I liked the last bit with the blonde woman, showcases some of her insanity. Anyone who feels my pain with characters trying to change their personality on you, it's not very nice is it, especially when there as important as Aaia. The thing is though, she'd still crazy in my head, but she just doesn't write down that way and it's very annoying. At the very least I pray it fixes itself up in future chapters.

Also, may I ask, but why did I notice as I was putting the authors notes on here that my sister wrote 'Nya' at the bottom of the page while she was proof reading this? It's a nice question, considering I don't see what Nya had to do with this chapter in it's I entirety. Meowing has nothing to do with ET Serah! Gave me a laugh though.

As always, please review, I'll love you for it.

~Claire