That sense of impending calamity was abundant in the air. The Grand Maester Mika felt it; as did the other Maesters of Yevon. Their brows were heavy with fear and worry and were soaked entirely with perspiration.

Such a tragedy has not taken place for half a millennium,

Naturally, outside of the sacred temple of Bevelle, the streets were restless with people jeering and screaming with joy.

'Sin is gone!'

'Praise Yevon; he sent a champion to our aid, and He vanquished Sin!'

"Fools!" Maester Wen Kinoc shouted suddenly. He could no longer hold in his frustration and anger towards those who were ignorant. "He has not saved us; but merely sentenced all of us to death!" Uncharacteristically, he began to stifle a sob. "Sin is never defeated. Even when His armor is pierced by mortal hands, he will merely find a new one." The other Maesters looked at the balding man with sympathetic looks; all except for Maester Seymour Guado, who feigned the look of dread but is truthfully indifferent about the whole situation. "That armor which is made of spiteful spirits is what He seeks; the very same armor that nearly destroyed Spira five centuries ago."

Maester Kelk Ronso interrupted then. "Do not speak of such things. Heresy is what you are uttering; and these proud ears of the Ronso Tribe do not want to hear them."

"'Tis true," Seymour concurred. "We do not speak of that calamity no more; it is prohibited." Maester Mika nodded at this statement. One of his ancestors during that time had documented what most would've called The Holocaust; and what he had read still shook him to the core. "However; just because we're not speaking of it, doesn't mean we're not thinking about it."

"He's right…" Mika said. "The Hour of Judgment is about to be upon us." He looked around, attempting to make eye contact with everyone in that room. "Let us not sit here and be melancholy. The incubation of Yu Yevon unto his new shell would take a year; and till then, let us pray that another Champion would rise and smite the accursed armor that is Odin."

-

Far off the shores of Besaid Island and further beyond the lands of Dream Zanarkand, a submerged shrine began to glow ominously. A haunting laugh could be heard in those hallowed corridors, as the Curse of Yevon continues.

-

Chapter II

Awakening

-

In the dark cold recess of his mind, a cheerful yet melancholy voice echoed endlessly.

'What's in a name?'

Naruto, shrouded by a bleak emptiness that could only be his own psyche, looked around with eagerness but saw no one. Could it have been his imagination? He was not sure.

He has been here for what seem like days, and even the slightest sound other than his sobbing was bound to get his attention.

He stood up, or what he thought was what he is doing, and pondered. That sounded like…

'…that which we call a rose by any other name would sound as sweet…'

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted suddenly. There was no denying it. That voice was in fact hers.

A transparent image appeared before him then. It was a girl, and a petite one at that. Clad in a large white sweater and black shorts, the girl ran towards him before stopping in front of him. She knelt down on one knee for a moment and then stood straight up; a newly acquired rose was flittering about in both hands.

'…doff thy name, and for that name, which is no part of thee, take all myself!' she finished proudly.

The dark setting shattered into fragments and cascaded downward, as though it was made of glass, and revealed a forest coated in blue ice; not that it mattered.

Naruto stood transfixed on the image of Hinata, who held out the rose to him now with her head bowed. Though several strands of blue hair obscured her face, a deep scarlet could easily be seen.

At that moment, a peculiar feeling deep within him awakened. It was indescribable, yet it made his heart clench in anticipation. Somehow… this feeling… it was… familiar… and… and… nostalgic.

It astounded him to the point in which he gasped out, "Hinata!" in a low whisper. He stretched his hand out then, in an attempt to touch the thorn less stem that Hinata held onto tightly.

That was proved to be his undoing.

Just as he touched the stem did Hinata shatter into fragments and fell loosely on the dirt.

As each fragment cascaded down to the earth, Naruto felt his heart withering away, piece by piece. It wasn't until all the fragments were on the ground did Naruto howled in terror.

He fell to his knees and closed his eyes and opened them a minute later, fresh tears clawing their way out.

A bloody carcass of a woman was now sprawled out in front of him. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes; as well as a large bust to boot. Impaled in the center of her chest was a large sword, which was nearly as long and broad as she was.

The reflection that was cast off one side of the blade caught his eye.

Who he saw in the reflection was unknown to him. The only traits that he saw that was remotely similar to his were the reflection's muddled blonde hair and deep sea blue eyes.

Suddenly, as though a spirit possessed his body, Naruto looked down at his hands.

They were soaked in blood.

A scream tore through his throat then.

"Hinata!"

-

Annoyed… no, irritated, Rikku rose from her chair and delivered a swift blow to his head, resulting in a clearly confused child waking up. At first he couldn't see much of anything, but fortunately or unfortunately, his eyes began to focus on a single outline of a female. Tragic; him being on a bed half her height and she standing up, his line of view was naturally centered on her chest.

Her loud accusation of "Pervert!" could be heard throughout the main hull.

She grabbed him by the gruff of the neck and shook him. "Who the hell do you think you are!" It wasn't until she saw the physician standing by the door did she realize what she was doing. Simply put, she got embarrassed, dropped the blue faced boy back unto the bed with a loud thump, and proceeded to put both hands behind her head.

"Sorry!" she said with nonchalance. She glanced back towards Naruto and looked away. "…Though it isn't my fault to begin with!"

"How is it his fault?" the physician asked, while looking at the awakened child. He was strangely quiet; albeit, he was glaring at the girl with a reasonable amount of force.

"Well…" Rikku was caught off guard on this one. Finding her tongue, she began to give a pretty dumb excuse. "Well… he… wouldn't stop…" She paused, realizing how stupid she would sound if she completed the sentence.

"'He wouldn't stop?' what?" he inquired.

She blushed. "…repeating the word 'sunset'…"

Leave it up to a blond to make up an excuse to hurt a blond.

Both males in the room decided to snap their jaws shut and say nothing.

-

"I'm glad she's gone," Naruto said solemnly, watching the blonde girl stride out of the sliding door.

"You and I both," voiced the physician. They both laughed at this comment, before resuming the mandatory checkup.

"Umm… can you tell me where I am?" he questioned. It was not very often that you went from a cliff, to an oasis, and finally to a medical room without your own consent.

The older male looked at him and answered, "Off the coast of Mushroom Rock Road; you're currently onboard The Grand Machina Ship, Excalibur." He went towards the desk next to him and pulled up a file. "According to this, we found you in an oasis near the deserted part of the mountains."

Naruto nodded, but still had some questions lingering in his head. "How far are we from the Fire Country?"

The physician cocked his head in confusion.

"You know, in the Eastern Continent?"

Giving the boy a sympathetic look, the physician responded: "Dear boy, I fear that you must've suffered a head injury."

"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked, a dark feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

A new voice entered the scene just then. "Because boy, there is no goddamn 'Eastern Continent' or 'Fire Country' in Spira." Naruto looked towards the entrance and saw several people standing there; the earlier girl included. His eyes focused on the one who spoke. He was a large bald man wearing a strange jumpsuit. " Cid's the name." He strutted over towards Naruto's bed and offered a hand. The latter person looked reluctant to shake it. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you to, brat." Before he knew what was going on, Naruto found himself being grabbed by the gruff of the neck, again.

"Hey… wait!" the physician began, but immediately shut up after Cid shot him a glare.

"See here brat," Cid began, returning the glare the smaller child was giving off. "You better give me the respect I deserve, or you'll be swimming with only one leg towards the mainland." Tossing Naruto back onto his bed, he continued. "Boy, even though you are the Champion who slain Sin, I can still knock you out; got it?"

Naruto looked as though someone slammed a mallet on his head.

"I did what, exactly?" he asked.

Cid gave him a cross look.

"Don't play dumb with me." Cid looked at the dumbfounded face, before coming to a highly unlikely conclusion. "You're not kidding around, are you?" A bark-like laugh escaped from his throat when Naruto nodded. "Well, I'll be damned. Kid, you're famous around here, and you don't even know it!"

"What did I do?" Naruto questioned which led to everyone attempting to not snicker.

"You slew Sin!" Cid shouted. "And you did it without the Final Aeon! Boy, you're a champion among us Al Bhed!" He motioned to everyone in that room. His smirk grew when he continued. "And, to those retarded Yevonites, you're the bane to humanity! What delicious irony." A smile of pure ecstasy appeared on his face, before it was wiped away. "Anyways, kid; any enemy to Yevon is a friend to us… mostly."

Thousands of questions began to pop into his mind, and before he could ask them, Cid snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, he felt something crash onto his lap.

"Your sword."

Naruto looked down.

He gasped in horror.

Not because it was the same sword he saw in his dream; but it was because he saw his reflection.

The scars on his cheeks weren't there.

-

END

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