Final Fantasy X and PlayStation are owned by Square Enix and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Final Fantasy X storyline (such as Rayne and Marcus) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

(Lies, Lies, and More Lies)

When Rayne's eyes snapped open again, she found herself still in Spira. It was dark out and she was wrapped tightly in a blanket, and considering she was still surrounded by tall grass, she assumed she was still on the Mi'ihen Highroad. But where had the blanket come from?

She moved to sit up, but stopped and clutched her head tightly when she was assaulted by a powerful headache

"Well, well, well, looks like sleeping beauty decided to wake up!"

Ignoring her headache, Rayne sat up abruptly and turned to face Jecht, who was sitting across from her and leaning casually against an old piece of building, a fire separating them.

"Hey, princess." He grinned roguishly, making her eyes widen.

"Jecht!" They both turned to the angry voice that came from the angry mouth on the angry face of an angry Auron, who was glaring at Jecht. "Enough."

Jecht rolled his eyes and growled, "Just having a little fun, grouchy. She knows I was just kidding, right?"

When he looked at her, Rayne began to stutter, her eye twitching, "Y-yes, of c-course."

He turned back to Auron, "See?"

Auron, though, didn't buy it, and snapped, "Quit screwing around, Jecht! And you," Rayne trembled when he turned to focus his steely eyes on her, "Who are you?"

When she opened her mouth to answer, all that came out was a strangled "Uhh", and then her mouth closed and her jaw locked, leaving her to stare hopelessly at the now glaring guardian.

"Auron, please refrain from frightening her too much." Rayne turned again to see Braska emerging from the grass beside Jecht. He turned to her and smiled, "Hello, miss. I am Braska, and this is Jecht," Jecht gave a small wave and wide smile, "and Auron." Auron just grunted, but Braska ignored him, "We do not mean you any harm, even though the way these two act may tell you otherwise. Who are you?"

"I—" Her voice hitched in her throat, but she pushed passed that by coughing lightly and continuing, "My name is Rayne."

Braska smiled, "Well, Miss Rayne, I'd like to thank you for saving me from that fiend earlier, and I'm also happy to see you well. I was afraid that Bahamut hadn't gotten to you in time."

"Bahamut? You mean the dragon?" Braska nodded.

"Yes. The dragon was the Bevellian fayth, the aeon Bahamut."

Rayne nodded, a bit surprised that the boy in purple was a huge and powerful dragon. 'He's also the reason I'm here. Stupid dragon-boy.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud bout of laughter, and everyone looked at Jecht as if he had gone mad. He only laughed harder and looked at Rayne, "I got a question for ya, Rayne. What in Spira were you thinking when you threw that rock at that fiend?"

"Uhh," Rayne scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously, "Hehe, I wasn't really thinking at all. I just… couldn't sit back at watch as Lord Braska was eaten. Um, is it alright if I ask a question?"

Jecht laughed again, "Ya just did, kid, but go ahead anyway."

"Uh… yes, well, we are on the Mi'ihen Highroad, correct?"

Jecht and Braska nodded while Auron remained stoic. Rayne ignore this and continued.

"How far are we from Luca?"

"Hmm," Braska looked back to the road, "If you were to start at daybreak tomorrow, and you take into consideration all of the possible fiend encounters, you could very well reach Luca by midday. And now, may I ask you a question, Miss Rayne?"

"If you would please stop calling me 'Miss', Lord Braska. It makes me… uncomfortable."

All of the men blinked at her response, but Braska and Jecht laughed anyway, Braska continuing his thought, "Very well, Rayne. But, back to my question, are you traveling the Highroad alone?"

Rayne only thought about her answer for a millisecond, her mind having already planned out the pros and cons of her answer.

"No, I was with my twin brother, Michael, but we were separated when a fiend attacked us. He was protecting me, you see, and I'm not very good at using any kind of weapon. While he was fighting the fiend in front of us, another came around the side. Michael told me to run, and I complied only so I wouldn't get in the way. I got lost running, and I haven't been able to find him since."

Fortunately, it looked like Braska bought her lie, and even if Jecht looked a bit suspicious and Auron wasn't convinced at all, Braska's opinion was the only one that mattered, seeing as he was the Summoner and his Guardians would follow him, no matter what.

"Do you think he would go to Luca?"

Rayne nodded to Braska, relieved he believed her. "Yeah, he said that if we were separated that we were both to head towards Luca, so he'll be there."

And that was where Rayne began to royally screw over her lie, because, of course, Michael wasn't going to be in Luca. Hell, he wasn't even in Spira. Of course, she didn't think ahead about the consequences of her actions until she heard Jecht say, "Well, if I'm right about where Braska is headed with this, then you're coming with us tomorrow, kid."

Braska turned and nodded to Jecht, and only Auron saw the look of horror on Rayne's face.

"With you…" Once again, no one but Auron noticed her, and he sighed heavily. She looked at him with wide eyes and he nodded, only succeeding in making her eyes grow wider.

"Um…" She glanced at Jecht and Braska, who appeared to be in a conversation about something, and then turned back to Auron, dropping her voice slightly, "If they ask, could you tell them I'll be back in a moment?"

He studied her for a moment before nodding and turning to look into the fire. Rayne looked at the three men one final time before she stood and walked out of the clearing and into the tall grass. She walked for quite a bit and soon the firelight had vanished and the voices had faded. Sure that she was alone, she spread her feet, braced herself, and screamed.

"BAHAMUT, GET DOWN HERE AND TAKE ME HOME RIGHT NOW!!!" When she received no reply, she continued, "THIS IS SO NOT FRIKKEN FUNNY, YOU… YOU… FAYTH!!! I HONESTLY DON'T GET WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO LEARN FROM GETTING EATEN BY FIENDS, BUT I SURE AS HELL AM GOING TO LEARN HOW TO USE SOME KIND OF WEAPON SO THAT THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU I CAN SHOVE IT UP YOUR—"

Sorry, but I gotta cut it off there, for the sake of not getting too vulgar. But, beyond that, I can tell you this; Rayne spent a good ten minutes swearing at the sky, hoping Bahamut would hear, and most of what she said was so scathing even the toughest of the nearby fiends ran in the opposite direction.

When she was done, her voice was scratchy and sore, and her leg and arm muscles were sore from all of the clenching she had done. She stood her ground and panted for ten minutes before turning back the way she came and walking back to the camp, smoothing out her hair and clothes.

Wait… her… clothes! She looked down at herself and turned three shades of red when she realized she was wearing her pajamas! Fortunately, it consisted of a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of loose blue pants and a pair of thick socks, but it definitely wasn't something she wanted to continue wearing while she walked around Luca. 'I'm going to have to remedy that… somehow…'

Sooner than she expected, she had gotten back to the camp and walked in silently, expecting all of the men to be asleep. So, as a result of her unpreparedness, she jumped a good three feet in the air when she heard a cough. She turned slowly to face the men, and sweatdropped when she saw all three of them sitting across the fire staring at her with raised brows.

"So, kid," Jecht began after a few moments, "Care to tell us who you were yelling at?"

"Uh hehe. You, um, heard… that?"

Braska shook his head, "I'm sure that there are people in Bevelle who heard that, Rayne. Though we aren't exactly sure what you said…"

Rayne nearly sighed with relief, but then began to stumble around for a plausible explanation. 'I saw a spider' wasn't acceptable, and she wasn't sure if she could pull off Tourette's, so she tried something else, building off of her already tangled lie.

"I…urm… I was mad… at my brother, for… being stupid enough to not… accept the help that some of the others back home offered when they heard that we were going… out of town on an… outing."

Now that time, not even Braska bought the lie. First off, she had paused one too many times. Second, she had looked everywhere but at them while she was thinking. Third, her right cheek had a rather amusing muscle spasm whenever she paused.

Rayne noticed the skepticism in their faces and, being unprepared to answer any of their ensuing questions, lay on her side of the fire and wrapped the blanket they had lent her around herself.

"Well, goodnight!" Her voice was almost a little too bright, but the men mumbled a hesitant response anyway and turned in, Auron agreeing to take the first watch in order to keep a scrutinizing eye on their temporary company.