Tidus stood up slowly with his hand on the hilt of his sword. He heard steady breathing behind a weak pillar. He creeped up behind the weak pillar and kicked it down.
A man jumped out from behind the pillar and pointed his gun at Tidus.
"Don't make any sudden movements!" The man said in his gruff voice, pointing his machina gun at Tidus. He wore dark goggles and had short jet-black hair. The man was definitely an Al Bhed.
Tidus backed away slowly and dropped his sword. A young Al Bhed girl creeped out from behind a pillar. She seemed quite unusual for an Al Bhed girl. Her goggles were pushed up into her long cherry hair, revealing her green spiral eyes. She wore a long top and shorts and had belts with pockets for many different items.
"Hey! You're Al Bhed!" Tidus said cheerfully. The man pointed the gun to his head and demanded something in Al Bhed.
"I don't understand you!" Tidus yelled repeatedly as the man continued to interrogate him in a language he could never understand. The girl came closer to him.
"Where is she?" She asked.
"Rikku!" Tidus yelled. The man moved his gun closer to Tidus' forehead, eyeing him closely. "She's over there!"
The Al Bhed girl nodded and went to Rikku. She mumbled something as she took an Al Bhed potion from an item bag that hung loosely at the back pocket of her shorts.
Tidus groaned a little and reached for Rikku. He didn't want them near her. The Al Bhed man pushed his machina gun into Tidus' cheek.
"Keep this up and I'll end you!" The man said, his voice stricter.
"Why couldn't you speak English from the start?" Tidus complained. "Who are you anyway?"
"I'm Wen, a member of the Al Bhed Specials Squad." The man said proudly. "And she's Kinah, my daughter. She's the youngest member of the Al Bhed Specials."
Tidus looked at Wen with disbelief. The Al Bhed Specials was a group that consisted of only the most skilled Al Bhed in Spira and Rikku ran the group.
"How old is she?" Tidus asked.
"She just turned fifteen." Wen said proudly. "And she's already skilled in using Al Bhed items, tools and machina."
Tidus observed Kinah. She sat on the floor comfortably, mixing and pouring Al Bhed potions on Rikku's wounds. Rikku twitched a little as she began to regain consciousness.
The Al Bhed man sighed in relief and Tidus rushed over to Rikku's side as he lowered his machina gun. Rikku seemed confused and said nothing.
"She is a little startled." Kinah said. "What happened to her?"
Tidus explained what had happened and told her about the dark aeon. Kinah didn't seem very surprised. She simply nodded and proceeded to explain Rikku's injuries.
"If I person survives an attack like that from a dark aeon, their health will randomly go from okay to dangerously bad." Kinah said. "It won't happen often but there is a chance of it killing her when it does."
"Can you cure her?" Tidus asked, pleading on Rikku's behalf.
"There is white magic for it." Kinah said. "But only summoners know how to do it."
Tidus' heart sank. He knew that no summoner would want to heal an Al Bhed and by now, everyone must have heard about what happened in Besaid.
"We are going to get out of here and take you and Rikku to Home." Kinah said. She told Rikku something in Al Bhed and helped her stand up.
"The exit is that way!" Wen said, pointing at the far end of the hallway. "It's quite a distance from here."
"How did you guys get in here?" Rikku asked, a little suspicious of them. Even though they were part of her team, she was aware that there were those who envied her as the leader.
"We dug our way in from Macalania Woods." Kinah said. "We must hurry before the monks discover the hole near the entrance."
Kinah showed Rikku her necklace that was hidden in her top. It was a silver oval with Al Bhed writing. Only the Al Bhed Specials had them.
"You must be the new member, Kinah." Rikku said cheerfully. "When you wear the Special, wear it with pride and let the world see it."
Wen and Kinah nodded and readjusted their necklaces. The surface glowed a shiny emerald and looked like the eyes of an Al Bhed.
"Okay then!" Rikku said. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Tidus smiled and let their fingers interlock as they ran through together.
*o*o*o*
It had been two days since Tidus and Rikku were sent to their death. Yuna had left for Guadosalam early in the morning with Guado escorts and arrived a day later in the evening. Wherever she went, people gave her gifts and by the time she finally reached Guadosalam she had more items and luggage than the escorts could carry.
Yuna was taken straight to the Guadosalam mansion when she arrived. When she was finally alone she paced around in deep though. Yuna was still unsure if she made the right decision about joining Seymour's team . She felt a little uneasy about being all the way in Guadosalam without her guardians. She eventually snapped out of her deep thoughts and entered the dining room of Seymour's Guadosalam mansion.
The large table was dressed in fine linen and laden with food. The only time she had ever seen that much food was the celebration night of her becoming a summoner.
At the table was Dona, Isaaru, Belgamini, Seymour and Symble, a summoner from Bevelle unknown to the other summoners. She was much younger than Yuna and wore her long brunette hair in a braid down her back. Symble's spiral eyes reminded Yuna of Rikku, only hers were blue.
"Welcome, Lady Yuna." Seymour said."Please, sit."
Seymour said a few words and made a toast before they started eating. During the course of dinner, he explained everything.
Seymour's vision was to create a team of powerful summoners who could combine the power of their most powerful aeons to defeat Sin without the use of the final summoning. Seymour completely excluded guardians from their team and because of that, the energy in the room was pure, heavy and unmixed. They all could feel it.
It was hard to say who was the most powerful summoner. They all had powerful aeons and skills.
Dona's strongest aeon was Ifrit and she was highly skilled in fire attacks and magic. Isaaru's strongest aeon was Ixion and his lightning spells and attacks were stronger than everyone else. Yuna's strongest aeon was Valefor and her white magic was the best in Spira. Seymour's strongest aeon was Anima so his dark magic was extremely powerful.
"And you, Symble?" Isaaru asked in his usual friendly tone, trying to get a word out of her. She hadn't said anything since she walked in.
"Bahamut." Symble said, her voice low and steady. "I can increase the power of any magic."
Yuna was surprised at that but said nothing and kept a fixed expression. Yuna had heard about the ability to increase magic skills. It was rumoured that users of the ability became more powerful from absorbing the lives and energy from people. Only high temple members and summoners had heard about it. Yuna was sure that Dona, Isaaru and Belgamini knew about it. Maybe they also said nothing about it at the time to avoid drama with their new friend.
*o*o*o*
After dinner, the Guado servants led them to their separate rooms. Yuna closed the heavy wooden. Her mind darted to her suitcase which was left open and empty. She checked the wardrobe and found that her clothes were packed away neatly with some of the spheres she took with her. When she checked the spheres one of them was missing.
In her suitcase, she had hidden a sphere that Tidus sent her the day of his exile. Every night, Yuna watched it before she slept:
"Yuna, I don't have much time. I know you don't believe me but it's the truth! What happened was completely out of my control and it wasn't Rikku's fault either! It was the Al Bhed drinks! What happened between me and Rikku meant nothing to me! Yuna I- "
The sphere went dark and all she could hear afterwards were monks yelling.
Yuna was trying to use her white magic to read the thoughts and emotions he had on that day. It was something summoners could do if the person or people in the sphere were still alive. Yuna struggled to and even though she succeeded a lot more the second time, she didn't understand. His thoughts were completely different from his feelings.
Yuna was in her room searching her suitcase frantically. Every nook and cranny was empty. Everything was packed away and even her staff was placed in a special glass case.
She searched the wardrobe thoroughly and but was still no sign of Tidus' sphere.
"Looking for this?" Seymour asked, entering the room and holding the sphere. Yuna strut over to him and snatched it out of his hands.
"I would appreciate if you and your Guado respect my belongings." Yuna said, firmly.
"Why choose to spare the life of the man who betrayed you?" Seymour asked. Yuna said nothing and refused to make any more eye contact. Seymour had taken the sphere and read the energy within it while it was with him. He stared at her in silence for a moment waiting for her response.
"You felt the energy. You know he is alive. You know how he feels and what he thinks but you do not know the truth." Seymour said. Yuna remained quiet. "I know the truth. Would you like to know it too?"
"I am a summoner just like you. I can figure it out by myself." Yuna replied coldly. Seymour nodded and turned around.
"Wait!" Yuna called. He stopped. "What does it all mean?"