Hello my lovely readers.

Oh my, it's been so long since I've updated (I think). I'm so sorry for that!

I was going to make this chapter longer, but then I thought it'd be better for you guys to read it so you know I'm not on hiatus or something. I know this chapter might seem boring... I am a boring person... sniffle...

Annnyways, while I was writing this- no, actually... Whenever I write, I always listen to music to inspire myself, as most authors usually do. So, I added some chapter themes that you can listen too, to know what music I was listening to while I was writing.

I haven't edited this chapter at all, so there might be some mistakes. Sorry!

Enjoy reading! ^^

I do not own Lord of the Ring or Final Fantasy X. They go to their respective owners. I do, however, own the original characters (Valina, Felix, Ian and Kiku) and the twisted plot.

I might have used some of the lines from the movie/book of Lord of the Rings. Any that seem recognisable by the reader, please understand that I do not own the certain quotes and they, again, go to their respective owner(s).

Chapter Seven - Visions of Home

Chapter Theme(s):
Calm Before The Storm - Final Fantasy X OST [Before Weathertop]
Hymn Of Fayth - Final Fantasy X OST [During Valina's Dream]
Phantoms - Final Fantasy X OST [During Valina's Dream]

Morning could not come any sooner for Valina. Once the wisps of orange and yellow peeked out from the horizon, Strider, Valina and the hobbits began to pack and move. Strider told her little of their plans, but she recognised the route they were heading. They strayed from the original road and headed within the wilds, but the general direction was certain. They were heading east, to Rivendell... Atleast, she hoped she was correct in that assumption. She was never good at directions nor maps.

They ate a simple meal at the inn first. She had ordered a bowl of broth, but because they had awoken so early, the food came out not as good because of the cook's tiredness. It turned out lumpy with bits of soggy bread soaking up the liquid like a sponge and it tasted far too salty. Still, she didn't complain. She was starved from last night and she had to make sure she was prepared for the rest of the journey.

Lucky enough for her, Strider's cloak and her change of dry clothes had prevented her from getting a really bad chill. She still had the tendency to cough a bit and sniffle once or twice, but it didn't hinder her too much on their walk.

Strider bought a pleasant little pony to aid them on their travels. Sam got to name him Bill. He was adorable and sweet, always making soft noises and huffs for their attention. Sam was as fond to Bill as Bill was to apples. The pony was alright when it came to walking along rocky roads so she let Sam take care of him for she had no absolute experience with them.

The hobbits and herself clambered up the hills and trails of the forest while Strider, much like his name, just strode across the rocks with ease. He was a ranger after all and she never doubted he had experience with the wilds. In fact, with the way he strode confidently, he seemed to have little doubts about himself. Maybe I'm just thinking too much... She thought tiredly as she gently urged Pippin to keep going.

"We are going to Rivendell, are we not?" She whispered to the ranger once she had caught up to him.

He glanced at her once before focusing infront of him once again. "You have been there before?"

"Just once. It is a beautiful place and not what I am used to. You have been there too?"

"Aye."

Aye? What does that mean? But she still nodded and gave him a small, nervous smile. He was so much taller than her and his strides were long and quick compared to her's. The hobbits weren't doing well either. They were so much shorter and trying to catch up to both of them must have been tolling on them, especially since they had no shoes. But Merry had assured her that hobbit folk never wore shoes and that their feet were as tough as any hide.

She slowed down once again, not that she was any faster, and walked alongside Frodo and Pippin. "How are you feeling?" She gave them her usual benevolent smile and Pippin returned it with a much brighter one.

"The weather is lovely."

She looked up at the azure sky and noticed that there was not a cloud in sight. Indeed, the weather was lovely and the subtle breeze was welcoming. However, it was strange to note that while they were being chased by black riders and rushing to an Elven city. "It is beautiful. I just hope it will last this long, it seems we will be walking for quite a long time." She told him.

Pippin looked at her with shock, his eyes bulging and mouth wide open like a fish gasping for air. "We aren't going to take a few moments of rest?"

"I... I am not so sure..." She said.

He looked at her with new determination and she suddenly had a bad feeling. She should not have let the words slip past her lips. Pippin rushed forward to Strider and talked rather loudly about meal times for hobbits. He just shook his head and dismissed them as he continued up the path with them following behind, although Pippin seemed rather distraught with it.

"Frodo, are you alright?" She whispered. Sam was keeping a close eye on Frodo as he never left him alone, but sometimes she wondered if it was a bit overbearing. There were times when she felt that way, no matter how grateful she was to have guardians looking after her.

"Yes. I am fine, do not worry about me." He gave her an unconvincing smile. Nonetheless, she nodded and placed her hand upon his shoulder.

"If you need anything at all. Please tell me. I promised both Gandalf and Bilbo I would take care of you... I cannot break any promises." She really couldn't. It had happened so many times to her before that she could not bear the face if she should inflict the same pain to Gandalf and Bilbo of hope being whisked away like the wind robbing the light of a candle.

"Yes, of course." He told her sincerely.

The answer was good enough for her and when she focused on the path ahead, she had realised that Strider was nowhere in sight. "Strider?" She called out, but a blur of red was thrown at them and Merry caught it easily. However, Pippin was hit on the head with it and it bounced onto the ground. An apple?

Strider emerged from the trees and bushes with a couple of apples in his hands. He passed one to Sam and Frodo. As he passed one to her, she heard his voice. "You should pay more attention." His tone was soft and sounded rather paitent.

An embarassed rise of red emerged on her cheeks and she nodded dumbly. "Y-Yes." How can I be so careless? I must focus! She kept scolding herself mentally. She looked up and was shocked to see him with a raised eyebrow.

"You do not need to be so harsh on yourself."

"You can read my mind?" She blurted out. She had heard from Gandalf that there were some elves that could do that sort of thing and she was so amazed by it. No one in Spira could ever do that. She was also horrofied because she thought of it as an invasion of privacy... But he's human, atleast, I think he is... His hair covered his ears so she could not see if they had a delicate tip.

A corner of his lips tugged upwards, "Nay. Your thoughts are on your face. It is very easy to read."

"I... see..." She finished lamely. "Sorry."

He gave her that odd look again, but continued on his way as the leader. The hobbits and Valina hurried to follow him with munched apples in hands.

Atleast we did no running... Valina thought as they made camp for the night. Earlier in the day, Strider had told the hobbits of them going to Rivendell. It made them into a bundle of excitement and they walked with a new vigour. Unfortunely, they didn't seem to know that Rivendell was atleast three days away. Their excitement begun trickling away until they were just trudging along, forcing their feet up.

Her legs hurt, but she did not complain. It seemed unfair to do so, when the hobbits seemed to be worse. Bill rested far from them, but close enough to see the light of the fire dance upon his lovely chestnut hair. She walked over to him and gave him a much deserved pat on the head and scratched him gently behind his ear. He made that funny whinny noise again as she did so. "Are you tired?" She whispered in Spirian. "Your feet must hurt from walking so much with our packs. I'm sorry. You're a very good and handsome pony, you know?"

It was nice to speak her native language... To let it's musical words slip past her lips like water. It was nice to feel less restricted too. However, she knew that she should never speak her language among the others because it wasn't suppose to exist in Middle Earth. Many things in Spira didn't exist in Middle Earth and that was slighly overwhelming for her. There weren't many things that made her feel particulary... attached to Middle Earth.

"Eat." A bowl was held towards her.

"Oh... Um... Thank you..." She said to Aragorn.

Sam's stew smelled lovely. She could smell some distinct aroma of herbs and some type of gamey animal mixed within it. Valina looked to the left of her and in the far bushes, she saw some type of bloody mess and fur... Something white and furry... With long, petal-shaped ears... "Freshly cooked rabbit." The plump hobbit informed them with rosy cheeks.

Rabbit? What is a rabbit? "I... see..." She said simply as she sat down.

Strider came to sit down a few moments later with his bowl of soup and a thoughtful look. He took a while before actually eating and even so, he remained silent. "Are..." Her voice was so soft that it did not penetrate his thoughts like how she intended. "Are you feeling fine?" She tried again, this time loud enough to catch his attention.

"Forgive me, my lady. I was deep in thought." He said. "Is there something you need?"

His gray eyes were still rather strange to her. She wondered if he would react the same if he saw her eyes (after all, she still wore her cloak). The hobbits readily accepted her and was only slightly fascinated for a few days before switching their curiousity to something else. "I was just asking if you are fine. The night before, I did not know if you fell asleep as I did by mistake."

"Aye, I did sleep."

Her eyes widened. "Yet you woke before me!"

"Indeed." His lips curved into a small smile... or was it a smirk? "It is not you, my lady. It is just a habit of mine."

"But that is still hard to do. You should sleep first and I will keep watch."

He thought over the decision and ended up giving her a nod. He has a lot to think about... She thought, smiling sadly. I have a lot to remember- to wish for... They fell into silence with the hobbits murmurring to eachother. The silence wasn't very comfortable and was a little bit more on the awkward side. She had the thought to ask for more information about himself, but that gave him the chance to discover more about her. If she had no secret, she'd gladly tell him of her home... But she remembered what Gandalf had told her. She had to keep her birthplace hidden until Gandalf found it was ready for her to tell.

"I-I'm sorry."

He glanced at her, his placid expression replaced with one of a frown. "What for?"

Valina was nervous again and her hands played around with her cloak. "I'm not very good at... talking... At keeping a conversation going."

He smiled, a genuine smile of mirth. It made the knot within her stomach losen considerably. "Then forgive me, I face the same problem. Perhaps if we started off with something small? Like where you have travelled?"

She was content with that. She told him all about travelling with Gandalf. How they went past mountains, moved through forests and weaved their ways in and around cities. He didn't ask any personal questions, just like how she had hoped. He, in turn, told her his adventures as a ranger. She was happy with this conversation. It was a little distant and the silences could be long as they thought of certain topics and how to respond to each other... Atleast they were both good listeners.

A few more days passed, yet she did not know how many more days should they travel to reach Rivendell. Her body seemed to adjust back to the ways of travelling and the aches in her legs were nothing but dull throbs. The hobbits were enduring it well too as they were now walking in line with her and Strider most of the time.

Dusk masked the skies and they ended up taking rest at the Weathertop. It was large and crumbling in some bits of the tower. It reminded her of the large lightning rods in the Thunder Plains back on Spira. The plains never ceased the rolling thunders and deadly flashes of lightning. Thus, Spirians tried to make the plains safer by creating large towers made of metal that would attract the lightning towards them rather than strike randomly on the ground. However, there was still a large and dangerous chance that lightning would strike someone, so many people were injured among the plains. She had to dodge atleast five strikes of lightning while walking through the plains and her friends had an even harder time than her!

"Stay here and watch over the hobbits. I will scout ahead." Strider said.

She nodded. "Be careful."

He glanced at her once before continuing on his way. Maybe that was a bit of a silly thing to say... She thought. After all, he was a ranger and far more experienced in the wilds than her. Maybe it was her that needed to be careful. No, I know I need to be careful... Focus, Valina, focus.

They rested in a corridor which was once surrounded by the stone walls. However, a fair bit of the wall was crumbled so there was a reasonable open space that let the night air to chill them. Once they placed their bags upon the ground, Frodo had laid down and fell into what seemed like a fitful sleep. She sat down and realised that once her legs stopped moving, she could feel weariness crush her. Her gaze became half-lidded as she tried to fight off sleep.

She yielded and the darkness overcame her.

"Su...on...er..."

The faint echo of trickling water and crystals could be heard in her own dreams.

"Sum...on...er..."

The sounds were so familiar and she could feel the cold against her skin.

"Summoner..."

She opened her eyes and found the blurry sight of a familiar hue of blue and white. The sound of crystals dangling and chiming against the breeze was much more clearer.

"Summoner..."

The voice kept calling for her, but it was so quiet because of the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. The scene was of trees encased in crystals. Her breath caused clouds of mist and the light shattered into shards of rainbows that glazed over the transparent thin sheets of crystals and ice. Up ahead was a lake that would have been still if not for the ripples caused by droplets from high above in the trees. She could hear the hymn of fayth sung by her people. Spirians.

Valina gingerly got up, her mismatched eyes roaming as she walked forward in awe. She let her hand smoothly glide over the surface of the trees she passed in the clearing. "Macalancia Woods..." She whispered almost breathlessly. "Home... Spira..." She leaned her forehead against the trunk of a tree. Cold... Calming... Home...

The Summoner broke away from the strange spiritual feeling she got from it and continued down the path towards the lake before crouching down at it's shore. She carefully placed the tip of her finger upon the surface and watched as the ripples formed. Her own reflection distorted from the disturbance.

"Fear..."

"Sin..."

"Daughter of Braska..."

"Duty..."

"I cannot find my way back to Spira... Why am I here?" She murmured with a sad sigh.

She could not fathom why she was suddenly sent to Middle Earth. She wondered if the Fayth did not want her to complete her pilgrimage. Maybe that was what was frustrating her... She was so close. A few more steps through Zanarkand and she could have made it.

"Summoner..."

She shook her head, feeling rather empty and she felt as if her dream was now taunting her. It was making question float across her mind. The feeling of home sickness was lit and burned within her heart, no longer smothered embers.

"Awaken!"

Valina bolted up, sucking in air harshly as a gasp. Her mind tuned back to her surroundings and she realised that there was a commotion amongst the hobbits. In the middle of the group, she could spot tounges of fire stretching and weaving it's way against the chilly air. But something just didn't feel right.

And when she heard that familiar screech...

She knew exactly why.

Dear Diary,

I was doing my usual business as a maid of the inn in the Calm Lands. But, as I wandered outside for my break, I heard a bunch of women gossiping. They said that a Summoner has disappeared from Zanarkand and her Guardians were frantically trying to find her. I wondered if it was true. I wondered if another flicker of hope had been estinguished in Spira? I pray to Yu Yveon it's not true. Perhaps, those no good scoundrels have stolen her away! I hope the people of Yveon give those Al-Bhed what they deserve!

Cayne.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I'll start the next chapter right away... If the procrastinator devil doesn't get to me first...

Oh and thank you so much for all the reviews/favourites/subscribers for this story. I absolutely love you guys for giving me inspiration ^^.

Have a nice day!

-Lolimochi.