Felix rolled over and groaned. He felt like he slept on a rock; a glance behind him confirmed his suspicion. Christ, of all the places to pass out. He stretched his sore and aching arms. His legs were no better, and his stomach felt like it was on fire. He did enjoy the day after a good workout – just not when he needed to walkback. Felix stood up and stretched again, trying to coax some life back into his limbs. He buckled his belt around his waist and staggered down the hill.

Yuna stepped out from the treeline, a blue staff topped with an ornate gold disc in her hands. "Felix?"

"The hell are you doing up here?"

She looked at her muddy boots. "I came to apologize. I didn't realize how much I'd offended you until Wakka said you didn't come back to the village last night."

"Last night?" Felix looked over his shoulder at the horizon. The sun hovered only an inch above the taut blue line. "How long was I–" He figured it out himself, and shook his head. 'Bout half a day, at least. Felix rubbed at his aching wrist. "I needed to burn off some frustration, anyway." A lot of frustration, actually. And some rage. And just a little anxiety.

"Still."

He smiled. "Apology accepted, boss."

Yuna inclined her head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little sore."

"Want a potion?"

Felix shook his head. "Don't need one."

"Here," Yuna insisted. She pressed a small vial into his hands. "It's a long way back to the village, and I can't carry you."

He dropped it into one of his pockets. "I don't need magic to help me deal with sore muscles," he said.

"As you will." Looking rather tired, Yuna leaned on her staff. "Are you ready to come back?"

Felix shrugged. "Sure. This way, right?" He asked, pointing at a waterfall just beyond the trees.

"If you want to take the scenic route."

A smirk found its way onto Felix's face. "Think you can handle it?"

"Maybe I should show you some self-defense stuff," he said, pushing a low branch out of the way. They'd been walking – climbing, rather, given the aggressive terrain – for a little over ten minutes, by Felix's guess, and their conversation somehow wandered from Blitzball and chocobos to martial arts. Dunno how that happened.

"Felix," Yuna groaned, "I think I know how to defend myself."

The corners of Felix's mouth lifted in a sadistic grin. "You sure about that?"

"Yes!" Yuna protested. "I can hold my own!"

Felix shook his head. "Pushing Rikku off you don't count, Yuna. The guys who came after you aren't playing nice."

She crossed her arms. "Are you going to show me how to shoot or something?"

"That what you wanna learn?"

Yuna smiled. "If you can teach me. Rikku always said she would, but-"

"Point taken." He pulled the pistol from its holster and walked to Yuna's side. "Hold it like this," Felix said, drawing a bead on a tree that needed to die. "Put the front sight on what you wanna kill, and squeeze the trigger." The machina barked, and Yuna flinched. A spray of splinters let Felix know that yes, he could hit something fifteen yards away. Shit, even Alec could hit that!

Stabbing regret.

"Can I try?"

A preoccupied Felix handed Yuna the pistol. "Careful."

Yuna held the gun away from her body with stiff arms, blatant apprehension on her face. She closed one eye and pressed the trigger back. The recoil tore the gun from Yuna's hands and dropped it to the ground, much to her chagrin and Felix's amusement. "Sorry!"

"Relax," Felix laughed. "Hold the gun tighter, and don't look so goddamn afraid!"

"I can't help it," she pleaded. "These things are dangerous!"

"Yeah? So's who you're shootin' at."

She winced.

"Yeah, I said 'who'. That tree ain't gonna hurt you, but someone with another gun will." Felix bent, picked up the pistol, and handed it to Yuna. "Again."

She pointed it at the same tree, held it in the same awkward fashion, and pulled the trigger. The distinctive whine of a ricochet echoed from the woods, and Felix laughed again. "Yeah," he said, "that mountain deserved to die."

Yuna flushed.

Felix pulled a cigarette from his pack and waggled it between his fingers. I think I've seen kids in basic do better than this. "Try hitting the target this time."

Another bang, another miss.

Felix sighed and removed the pistol from Yuna's shaking hands. He leveled it and broke the trigger over twice; a perfect pair of holes appeared in the tree trunk. "See? Not so hard."

"Easy for you to say!" Yuna protested.

Something came crashing through the tree line, and Felix whirled. Wakka and Lulu broke through the foliage, a bladed ball and a doll under their respective arms. Felix lowered his handgun. "Goddammit," he sighed, "you scared the piss out of me."

"What in the Fayth is going on?" Lulu demanded.

"Target practice," Felix said, grinning. "The target is practicing living, and Yuna is practicing missing."

Next to him, Felix could almost hear the blood rush to Yuna's face.

Lulu looked from the damaged tree to Felix and back again. "Yuna, are you okay?"

"Yes. Felix was just showing me how to shoot."

"Brudda," Wakka panted, "you gave us all a heart attack. We thought – well, you know."

"Sorry to make you run all this way," Felix said. He paused and studied Lulu's doll. The miniature knight, replete with armor, looked like it had an onion for a head. "The hell's she carrying that thing for?"

"Huh?"

"The doll. What good is that?"

Lulu narrowed her eyes and strode forward. "I usually don't demonstrate for someone like you," she said, "but it's about time somebody showed you how things work in Spira." She set the doll on the ground and raised both hands above her head. Her crimson eyes closed, and Felix swore he saw a hint of a smile appear on Lulu's face. The doll-

"Jesus Christ!"

The doll whirled about in a circle, and Lulu whipped her hands down.

A massive explosion splintered the very unlucky tree into charred fragments. Just as quickly as it happened, the flames died away, leaving only shattered timber as evidence of their passing.

Yuna clapped.

Wakka beamed.

Lulu took a bow, sweeping her arms low to scoop her doll back up.

Felix blinked. "What the fuck just happened?"

Lulu brushed a piece of bark from her doll. The contempt in the glare she sent Felix just managed to mask a hint of pride. "Flare."

Another stunned blink.

Wakka stepped forward and put a hand on Felix's shoulder. "Lu's a black mage, Brudda."

"Once again," Felix repeated, "what just happened?"

"Black magic," Yuna explained. "Remember when I healed you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that was white magic. When Lulu lit your-"

"Yeah, we kinda went over this already, but-"

Lulu sighed. "Then why do you need to ask?"

"Listen," Felix snapped. "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Yuna, so you can take your exploding doll and sti-"

Yuna stamped her foot. "That's it!" She yelled, glaring at Felix and Lulu. "I don't care whether or not you like each other, but you will get along! Now, you are both my Guardians, and I expect far more from both of you than this… this immaturity!"

Felix crossed his arms. "Yuna, I-"

She shot him an angry glare.

He fell silent, but didn't change his posture.

"Lulu."

The black mage nodded.

Yuna looked from one angry guardian to the other. "I don't expect anything other than a professional respect between you two. Can you handle that?"

Felix slid his pistol back into its holster. "Whatever you say, boss."

"As you wish," Lulu managed. Her glare at Felix lessened neither in intensity nor in vehemence.

Wakka sighed. "Just so long as we can keep Yuna safe, ya?"

"Damn right."

Lulu turned. "I will be in town, if I'm needed."

"I'll be right there, Lu." Wakka looked back at Felix, started to say something, then decided against it. He crunched through the foliage after his frosty wife.

Felix, sighing, bent and picked up a smoldering piece of wood. He touched to his cigarette and took a deep breath, letting the bitter smoke ease away his feelings of frustration.

Yuna coughed.

"Bother you?"

"I don't like the smell much," Yuna admitted.

He grinned. "You'll get used to it." The pistol flipped toward Yuna, and she caught it with an awkward effort.

"Hey! I wasn't ready! And that's dangerous!"

"Oops." Felix's grin widened. "Ready to start again?"

Yuna nodded, and Felix stepped behind her.

"Hey," she protested. "You're gonna make me nervous!"

Felix took the cigarette from his mouth and reached around Yuna to support the gun, her small hands held between his. "You ain't dropping my gun again," he chuckled. He lowered his head until it was on the same plane as hers. "Got a sight picture?" Her hands were soft, and he made sure not to clamp the gun in his paws as tight as usual. Felix tried his best not to be distracted by the girl against him. It took a considerable effort to keep his focus on the tree downrange, and not let soft hair or a firm ass take him elsewhere. Yuna didn't seem to object to his positioning; whether or not she actually mindedtook second place to Felix keeping his gun intact.

"I think so."

He moved the web of his hands out of the slide's path. "Shoot."

The recoil knocked the ash from his cigarette and elicited a squeak of surprise from Yuna, a noise that Felix found oddly arousing.

She lowered the gun. "Did I hit it?"

Felix squinted at the tree. He'd been too preoccupied to notice a spray of bark, but spied a telltale hole in the tree after a moment. "Nice shot," he said. "Killed it." A grin that probably seemed somewhat maniacal, given his close proximity to Yuna, spread across his face. "Do it again."

She shifted her weight in front of him, and he adjusted his position accordingly. Another bang, another squeak, and Felix slid farther back to keep Yuna from feeling just what effect that goddamn noise had on him.

The responsibility for his rapid and semi-unprompted response rested solely with the distinct lack of sexual activity in his life, and he knew it. Philandering seemed an attractive alternative after a few weeks, but he'd been celibate for a fucking month and a half. The fact that he found his employer sexually attractive was odd enough in and of itself. She's my boss, Felix reminded himself. I should not want to bend my boss over furniture.

"You okay?"

Shit. She felt me move back. "Yeah, sorry. Just a little stiff." In more ways than one.

Yuna smirked at the tree through the sights. "Side effect of getting old?"

"Not quite."

Another gunshot, another spray of bark.

"Getting good," Felix admitted. He stepped away from Yuna with more than a little reluctance, and took a seat against a rock. "And I'm not old."

She turned her smirk to him. "You don't look young."

"Just how old do you think I am?"

Yuna thought for a moment. "Um, thirty-five?"

He broke into a coughing fit, a side effect of attempting to smoke, breathe, and laugh at the same time. "What makes you say that?"

Yuna set the pistol on the ground and walked over to Felix. "You just seem older, that's all."

Felix took another drag off the cigarette and blew the smoke at the sky. "Jesus."

"Who?"

"Nobody," he chuckled. "Damn."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, no, I ain't your age," Felix admitted, "but thirty-five?"

"I didn't mean to upset you," she said.

Felix laughed. "So you've been thinking of me as a 'father figure'? Shit, I don't think I'm ready for that." He didn't know why he asked that question, or what answer he wanted.

"No."

"Good. 'Cause I sure as hell don't wanna be that guy just yet. Ain't old enough, compared to you." Of course, drinking and combat and nicotine tend to make you look just a little bit older than you actually are

Yuna smiled. "Felix?"

He took another puff. "Yeah?"

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-one."

"Really?"

Felix laughed. "Yes, really! That's what, ten years on you?"

"Eleven!"

"Eleven," he said, "sue me. Point stands that I ain't old enough to be a father figure for you."

"Of course not."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you patronizing me?"

Yuna grinned. "Of course not." She frowned and withdrew a sphere from inside her sash. "Yes?" She asked it.

Lulu's icy, tinny voice came over the sphere. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm here, Lulu."

"It's time for the Sending, Yuna. They've brought them to the dock. We're still in town, but we'll try to be back in time."

Yuna's green and blue eyes flicked to the ground. "Yes," she said, her voice almost a whisper, "I'll be there shortly."

Felix raised his eyebrow again as he and Yuna crunched through the foliage. "Sending?"

Since Yuna's rushed explanation left much to be desired, Felix decided the Sending had something to do with a massive crowd of sweaty people standing on a dock. The wood underneath his feet creaked in protest, and he felt uneasy. One fat bastard'll send this thing crashin' down.

His eyes flashed back and forth as Felix tried to make some sense of what was going on in front of him. Thatched caskets of some sort floated just under the shimmering surface of the water, their feathered heads adorned with a symbol he didn't recognize. A number of torches burned around the beach, as the sun hung halfway below the horizon. He couldn't make out Yuna. Felix tugged at the long-sleeved shirt his employer requested he wear – "Nothing personal," she said, "but it's best if you cover your markings for this."

Wonder what that's all about.

The commotion near the shore indicated that Felix was about to find out.

Yuna stepped along the beach until she reached the water, at which point she slipped out of her boots and regarded her staff. She let out a long breath, and stepped into the-

Wait a second! Is she walking on water?

Sure enough, Yuna stood for a moment on the surface of the water before striding forward with unmistakable purpose. She sighed as she reached the center of the casket circle, and began to spin her staff in a graceful rhythm. The sleeve-like garments she wore on her forearms fluttered in the air as she danced, their movements becoming faster as Yuna increased the tempo. The world fell silent. Even the birds, it seemed to Felix, stopped their calling.

The flames of the torches turned from orange to an electric blue.

Next to him, a young couple slid to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. The woman stretched her hand out, as though trying to seize hold of Yuna's distant fluttering skirt.

Felix's mind struggled to find explanations for Yuna walking – dancing, he corrected himselfon the surface of the water, for the sudden change in torch color, and for the goddamn icy knot in his stomach. He couldn't find any. Still, his eyes locked on the spiraling woman in front of him for a reason other than her bizarre location and backdrop. Something kept him watching, some hidden instinct that kept his rapt attention fixed on Yuna as her spins reached a climax.

"Mary," Felix breathed, "mother of God."

A geyser of water shot up and carried Yuna into the air as she continued to spin, her staff circled her body as she waved it in smooth motions. Small balls of energy floated out of the water – out of the caskets? – and orbited her. Felix's hand dropped to his holster, and his thumb tapped the snap. He recognized those orbs of light, alright.

Felix, his eerie focus broken by acute discomfort, let his eyes wander over the mourning crowd. They stood, kneeled, or squatted in various stages of weeping, save for the two nonchalant men at his end of the dock. One of them scratched at his red-jacketed chest, and Felix's eyes slid back to the spiraling figure in front of hi-

The silver slide of the pistol flashed in the conflicting illumination of the orange sunset and blue torchlight.

The gunman pulled his weapon clear of his jacket.

Time went into slow motion.

Felix yanked his pistol free and spun to face the men only a few yards to his right. He fired twice without aiming. His first shot went wide into the ocean, but the second crumpled a jacketed assailant. The second man jerked wildly at his jacket.

"DROP IT!"

The man smiled and revealed a set of straight, white teeth. "Here."

A round, metallic object clattered to the dock at the man's feet.

Felix didn't have time to turn away. The explosion ripped through the wooden dock and sent searing, razor-sharp fragments of steel hissing past Felix's ear and into his body. Pain shot through his right side, and he pitched to the deck. Felix peered past a crimson curtain at the beach, where he saw three more red-jacketed soldiers burst from the treeline.

He pushed himself to his knee and took aim. His gun barked, and geysers of sand shot up around the gunmen. They scattered. Long tongues of flame spat from the barrels of assault rifles as the attackers returned fire. He sprinted down the dock and slammed into a small hut, ignoring the screaming pain shooting up and down his side. Gotta get these fuckers quick!

He popped out from cover and opened fire. The men didn't stand all that far away, but Felix couldn't aim with blood in his eyes. His shots missed, and what felt like a white-hot knife stuck into his arm. "Shit!"

Someone grabbed the back of his pants and yanked him behind cover. Wedge held his long, hooked sword at his side, the blade resting in the sand. "Hey! You still alive?"

Felix grinned. "Fuckin' A." He probed the crater in his arm with his finger and snarled through clenched teeth, the pain made stars dance in front of his eyes. Nothing felt broken. He ripped a tattered sleeve from his shirt and wiped the blood from his eyes before cinching it above the hole in his arm. Felix grunted and flexed his forearm. The makeshift tourniquet held. He pulled the magazine out of his pistol and gave it a quick check. "Seven," he grunted, his teeth still clenched.

Wedge pulled the point of his sword from the sand and held the blade off to one side, like a tennis player receiving a serve. "On you."

Felix stood and leaned out. "You get right."

"Got it."

He leapt from the hut and shuffled to the side, his finger working the trigger as fast as he could. One of the men went down hard, and blood sprayed from ragged craters as the bullets tore through his body. Felix drew his next bead, but a glinting blur tore through his vision. A jacketed man screamed in agony as he dropped to his knees, Wedge's huge sword jammed up to the hilt in his craw. Felix sprinted forward, his feet digging into the soft sand, and fired again. The shot went wide.

The slide locked back.

The last assailant lashed out with the butt of his rifle and caught Felix in the stomach. He stepped forward and ate a knee to the groin. Felix grabbed his doubled-over opponent with his good arm and delivered another shattering knee to the face. He clenched his fist around a clump of blonde hair and yanked the head back, exposing a tanned throat. Felix smashed it with his fist, the pain that shot up his arm produced an equally vicious snarl of rage. The man flopped on the ground, gargling and clawing at the air.

Drenched in a mixture of blood and sweat, Felix slid his knife out and scanned for another attacker. Something rustled behind him, and he spun.

He barely managed to block a razor-edged claw with his knife. Behind the claw grinned a blonde man with green eyes.

Crazed, swirling, green eyes.

Felix pulled his blade free and punched, his attacker easily ducking under the blow. The claw came whistling upward, and Felix just managed to avoid being castrated. Felix stabbed at the bare, muscular torso before him. The blade hit home both times, and blood issued from the pair of neat incisions.

The man swung the claw again, but his movements seemed slower. Felix drew his knife across his attacker's arm at the elbow. The weight of the claw snapped the tendon-less arm downward like a dry twig. The knife continued its cut, and Felix plunged it into the man's ribcage under the armpit. He finished by sticking the knife into the side of the man's neck and cranking it from ear to ear like a can opener.

Warm blood spurted onto Felix's arm as his lifeless opponent folded to the sand.

"Diesel!"

He turned. Wedge stood, his bloody sword in his hands. "Yeah?"

"We got 'em."

Felix looked down at the disfigured corpse in front of him, then at the jungle. Another knot formed in his stomach. "Where the fuck's Yuna?"

A soft voice spoke out. "I'm right here." He spun around. Crouched behind an overturned canoe, Yuna held her knees tightly to her chin. Her clamped eyes and her wet and reddened face provided the distinct evidence of recent crying, as did Yuna's cracked voice. "Is everyone else okay?"

He let out a sigh of relief. "Scared the shit out of me," Felix said. "Yeah, the only one's dead are the bastards with guns."

"Not quite," Wedge called, a tinge of sadness in his voice. "They took some with them."

Yuna flinched.

Felix squatted down. "You hurt?"

She shook her head. Her eyes remained closed.

"Sure?"

Yuna nodded. "I'm… I'm fine."

He noticed a splotch of red and a tear on one of her sleeves, and grabbed her arm. The sharp intake of breath that resulted tipped Felix off to Yuna's lie. "Like hell," he said. He cut her sleeve off. A deep gash marred her skin, the blood around the edges congealed and purple. He reached into his pocket for a potion, but found only a shattered tube. Ah, shit. Felix tore a long strip off the discarded sleeve and tied it around Yuna's wound. She winced. "Get one of those potions soon's you can, you hear me?" He paused, then wiped away his bloody handprints with the sleeve. "Hey, hear me?"

She nodded again.

Felix stood and limped toward the huts.

"Diesel." Wedge tossed a small, pale green vial to him. "Drink that."

"Potion?"

"Yeah. You're pretty beat up."

He contemplated the bottle for a moment, then walked back to Yuna. Felix pressed the potion into her shaking hands. "Drink some of that."

Wedge sounded irritated. "Diesel, you're the one with-"

Felix turned around. "Protecting her is my job. Don't tell me how to do it." He looked back at Yuna. "Take a sip, Yuna. You need to close that cut up."

She fumbled with the cork for a moment, until Felix reached forward. "Here." He popped the cork out of the potion's neck. "Take a drink."

Yuna lifted the vial to her lips and tried to drink, but her shaking spilled most of the liquid down her chin. She flushed and looked away.

Felix sighed and held the vial to Yuna's mouth as she sipped the few drops of potion left. She murmured her thanks to Felix. Yuna's green and blue eyes fluttered, fixed on Felix, then shut.

"She gonna be okay?"

"Yuna's fine; just a cut arm. Don't think she can walk, though," Felix added. The girl in front of him looked like hell, plain and simple, and his blood-covered visage couldn't have helped her cope with another assassination attempt.

"Shock?"

"Nah. Not yet, anyway." He thought for a moment. "Do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Carry Yuna back to the village."

Wedge raised an eyebrow.

Felix pointed to himself. "She'll go into shock for sure if I get this shit all over her."

The Crusader nodded. "Least I can do. What're you gonna do?"

Felix ignored the question, his eyes fixated on corpses on the dock. From this distance, he could vaguely make out fluttering strands of blonde hair. That grenade had more than one name written on it. He pressed Yuna's torn sleeve to his arm and winced. "I'll head back in a minute."

He tore the end of the gauze with his teeth and sighed. At this rate, I'll go through half the bandages in Spira. Felix's entire body ached, and his right ear rang from the grenade explosion. Images of the attack continued to play in his mind as a boxer- and bandage-clad Felix lay in his bed. He could still see the faces of the men he killed, yes, but he'd grown used to those ghosts long ago. The ones that bothered him were those of the innocent – of the men and women who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He tugged at the bandage binding the gauze-stuffed hole in his forearm and winced. There were no more potions in the village – Felix insisted the few remaining be used on the other wounded – and so the Curlex in his medkit took their place. He had a headache from the pain, and the sake on the nightstand didn't do much to take the edge off. Damn weak Spiran booze.

The usual guilt nagged at him. What if I'd reacted faster? He went over and over the moments in his mind, from the instant his gun came out to being carried into his tent by two Crusaders when he couldn't walk any farther. Felix came to the same conclusion as usual: it wouldn't have mattered how fast I reacted. They would have died either way.

Excuses never provided any comfort, nor closure.

Felix's mind wandered back to the root of today's problem: Yuna's Sending. He still didn't understand quite what it was, but watching her dance made his entire body break out in a cold sweat. Those orbs of light from Brazil had something to do with it, he knew, but what?

A voice at the entrance to his tent held the possibility of an answer. "Felix."

He pulled the sheets over his damaged body. "Come in."

Lulu ducked under the flap and sat down on the shelf opposing Felix's bunk. "How are you doing?"

"Beat straight to hell," Felix admitted. "Where's Yuna?"

"In her tent. Wakka and Wedge are outside."

Felix raised an eyebrow. "Outside mine or hers?"

"Yours."

A flash of anger welled up in him. "You tell Wedge to get his ass over to Yuna's and-"

"She'll be fine, Felix." In the darkness, he couldn't tell whether Lulu was smiling at him or studying him. The feeling in his gut leaned toward the latter. "No small thanks to you."

"Wedge saved my ass; thank him."

Lulu clasped her hands. "I owe you an apology."

"Yeah." He looked up at the ceiling and tried to pull back the curtain of amicability from Lulu's voice. Behind it, Felix half expected to find a gun leveled at him. "Doesn't matter."

She sighed. "You're hard to figure out, you know that?"

"I try."

Wedge stuck his head into the tent. "Hey, Diesel, there's someone here to see you."

"Send 'im in."

Wedge grinned. "Her."

Yuna stepped into the tent, her purple skirt and white halter replaced by a clean white dress. "Are you… feeling okay?"

"You should be asleep," Felix said.

"So should you," Wedge interjected.

"Go do your job, jackass." Felix turned his attention back to Yuna. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and winced again. "Take a seat," he said, leaning his weight onto the leg that didn't feel like giving out as he stood.

She shook her head. "I'm fine, Felix."

Thanks. He lowered himself back down. "Need something?"

"No, but I think you might." Yuna walked to the side of Felix's bed and extended her hands over his body. She concentrated for a moment, and her palms glowed an eerie white. Felix felt a bizarre sensation wash over him. Unlike the soft buzzing of a potion, whatever Yuna just did felt like a bucket of cool water dumped over his entire body. The pain down his side and in his arm dissipated, and the dull ache in his head vanished as well. A bulge formed in the wrapping on his arm. Felix pulled the bandage away, and almost didn't believe what he saw.

The wound left no trace of its passing, save for the lump of dark red gauze that plopped to the ground. "Guess that's white magic," he said, rubbing his former gunshot wound. Wish we had that back in Iraq.

Yuna nodded. "Do you feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks." Felix scratched his chin. "Sure you don't need anything?"

"Yes." Yuna's lips lifted in a tired smile. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Thank you." She ducked back under the flap after wishing Felix and Lulu a good night.

"Lulu."

"Yes?"

"What was that dance for, today?"

Lulu sighed. "The Sending helps guide the souls of the deceased to the Farplane."

"Souls? You mean those lights?"

"Yes. Those are pyreflies – the physical manifestation of a dead person's life force. If they are not sent to the Farplane, the pyreflies come together and become a fiend."

"Wakka said something about fiends a few days ago." Felix paused. "If you killed one of these fiends," he asked, "would pyreflies be released?"

Lulu frowned. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity," he lied. So those things in Brazil were from Spira? How did that happen, and what's it mean? Why are the Al-Bhed gunning for Yuna? Jesus, too many questions, too little booze. "So the Sending."

"As a Summoner, one of Yuna's duties is to ensure the safe passage of as many pyreflies as she can."

Felix lay quiet for a long while. "She dances for death, huh?"

"That's a macabre way to put it, but yes."

"Rough life."

"Yuna chose it with full knowledge of what it meant."

Felix looked out the open tent flap at the shrinking, white-clad figure. "She's a tough girl," he said. "A real tough girl."

"She has to be."

"Ain't that the way?" He mused. Felix took a cigarette from the pack on the shelf and held it out to Lulu. "Mind?"

She shook her head and lit the cigarette. "It's time for me to leave, anyway. Riko can't sleep without at least one of us there."

"Night."

"Goodnight."

Felix placed the cigarette in his mouth and, by its glow, studied the roof of his silent tent. Spira was full of questions to which it did not have enough answers. Just when things began to make sense, something else threw a huge-ass wrench into the machine. Least nobody else has any better idea than me, this time.

The Al-Bhed tried to kill Yuna again, that much Felix knew for certain. "Nobody else has those eyes," she'd said. There was no mistaking the crazed, swirling green gaze of the man with the claw; nor was there a way to mistake the grenades and machina used in the attack. He recalled his earlier distrust of the young Al-Bhed named Rikku and grunted. If she had anything to do with this, I'm taking her for a swim.

Something else bothered him as he stared at the ceiling. As his mind played back over the evening, Felix recalled the icy knot that formed in his stomach when he realized he didn't know where Yuna was. During the limp back to the village, he brushed it off as an adrenaline-hyped response. It's my job to protect her, so it only makes sense that I'd be worried when I didn't know if she was in one piece, right?

Right?

He looked through his open tent flap at the roaring bonfire in the village center and wondered.

"Thought I'd find you here, syda."

A weathered man spoke without turning. "You have news."

The younger man walked forward and stood beside him, looking out over the railing at a desert skyline aglow with the fires of the city. Moonlight glinted off the endless dunes stretching to the undulated horizon. He sighed. "Always news with you, syda," he lamented. "Can't we have a normal conversation for once?"

"You know as well as I how important it is that we succeed."

"Yeah, I know. Still, I don't like it."

The older man raised a blonde eyebrow. "Does that matter?"

"Nah." He scratched at the blonde stubble on his chin. "I just don't like it, s'all."

"Do you object to our situation?"

A grin. "Not any more than you, syda."

"May I count that as a 'yes'?"

"Fuck if I care." The younger man stared out at the city for a long moment.

"What is it you do not like, then?"

"Why don't we just send a message, syda?"

"To whom?"

Another maniacal grin. "To them."

The older man's lips twitched in what could possibly be counted as a form of a smile. "What kind of message?"

Madness flashed behind swirling green eyes. "Payback's a bitch."

"Surely you are not suggesting we-"

"Calm, syda. We won't be turning on anybody just yet."

"What is your plan, then?"

The younger man drummed his fingers on the railing. "We're gonna stick a real chocobo down their pants this time, syda."

A/N: Well, you asked for plot. Pull down on your safety restraints and stow all personal belongings in the bag in front of you, 'cause this roller coaster is settin' off. Stay tuned!