Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or any of its characters. I only own my character, Danaya. The following OCs belong to the following people. Any of my plot similar to anyone else's is simply pure coincidence.
Alisa, Taehyr - Xedina Fairlady
Rhys - Teamplaya101
Analise - MemoriesoftheForgottenGuardian
Xanxus - Big K Studios
Iyana - Roseria Sylvester
Sargent - AcidRain14
Hey, guys! It's been a little less than a month since I've last updated, so I just want to say I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter! I just want to take this time to thank any of the readers that have been reading ^^ I'm pretty sure I don't have a lot of readers LOL but I just want to say thank to those who have stuck by me even though I am such a bad updater XD Please continue to look out for more chapters as I have some more planned for this story! ^^
Danaya's POV:
The creaking of beds woke me up, and I groaned and stretched. The guys slept in one room while the girls slept in another. I shared a bed with Alisa while Taehyr and Iyana shared, too. "Danaya, good thing you're waking up. Let's go. Xanxus cooked us breakfast already in the airship," Taehyr explained. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Alisa and Iyana had already woken up as well. We fixed the beds, grabbed our stuff, and went out of the lower level. Leblanc, Ormi, and Logos were standing near the front door.
I turned to Leblanc and said, "Thank you, Leblanc for letting us stay the night." Leblanc smiled a little.
"It's all right, loves. Have a safe journey. We'll try to find out more on this Mirage woman." Leblanc replied. I nodded and left the Chateau, meeting up with the guys in the airship. Sargent had already devoured his food while waiting for us. Uncle Rhys was still eating, so we joined him.
"So where to now, Danaya?" Uncle Rhys asked me. I looked up at the ceiling of the Cascade and pondered on that for a while. *Where should we go? I think the only reasonable place would be to check up on Bevelle.* I nodded my head; Bevelle it is.
I answered, "We should go to Bevelle and check up on things. Paine is probably having a handful of things to do, and she might need some help. After that, let's backtrack over to Mushroom Rock Road and check on the Youth League." Everyone nodded, agreeing with my idea. After finishing the eggs, hash browns, and sausages Xanxus cooked us, we all did our own thing as Iyana set course for Bevelle. She said it would take us about an hour because of the really bad thunders in Thunder Plains. I fingered my necklace as I went in the elevator to go on the deck. I was surprised to find Uncle Rhys sitting on the deck, talking to Auntie Rikku through the communicator.
"I miss you…" I heard Auntie Rikku say. Uncle Rhys chuckled.
"I miss you, too, Rikku. I have to go. I love you." Uncle Rhys replied.
"Love you too! Stay safe!" Auntie Rikku exclaimed.
After Uncle Rhys shut off his communicator, without turning, he said, "You can come closer, Danaya." I smiled softly; he knew I was here all along. I walked over to my uncle and sat down next to him. "You're worrying about Vidina, aren't you?...-chuckle- Don't look at me like that. You're like a book: easy to read." Uncle Rhys continued on. He sighed and placed his arm around me, giving me a huge bear hug. I hugged Uncle Rhys back. "You and Alisa really are siblings. I can tell when both of you need a hug. This happened earlier to Alisa. Let me guess, your parents?" I nodded, burying my head in his chest. "I know, Danaya…I know…You sent them, and they're in the Farplane now. They'll be fine. What you can do is avenge them, and remember that they risked their lives for Spira, too." I let go of Uncle Rhys and nodded.
"Yes, Uncle Rhys. Thank you." I said softly as I stood up and looked up at the morning sky. Without saying anything more, I headed on inside and leaned against Iyana's chair. "Did you tell Paine we were visiting her?"
Iyana answered, "Yeah, I had Taehyr and Alisa contact her. She said that we might not like what we see in Bevelle, so brace yourselves." I didn't answer back as I made my way over to my sister and Taehyr, who were both trying to kill time by watching the spheres the group and I had made a year back. They were watching a particular one where Vidina and I had gone swimming in Besaid Beach on a date, and this one was secretly recorded without us knowing. When the group showed us the sphere, I remembered that Vidina wanted to kill Xanxus and Sargent so badly. Alisa noticed I was behind Taehyr and her, so she began to tease me.
"Geez, Naya. Ya think a couple would get some privacy, huh?" Alisa asked. I laughed and nodded my head, totally agreeing with her. Taehyr simply stuck her tongue out at us because she was one of the masterminds behind this as well.
"We're arriving soon!" Iyana exclaimed. "YO, POPS! GET INSIDE!" Iyana shouted to Uncle Rhys as she pulled up the camera screen for the deck.
We heard Uncle Rhys mumble, "Wow, so much for being your father." That sent fits of laughter out to the entire room. Xanxus, Sargent, and Uncle Rhys came in looking clueless. Even Analise was laughing inside my head. Iyana landed the airship successfully by the huge walkway. When we got down from the airship, the scene wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. Priests and Monks were running around everywhere. Soldiers were talking amongst each other, and Priestesses were panicking. Paine was talking to one of the monks, but then she noticed us. It seemed like she had a relieved face when she walked up to us.
"Bevelle is in chaos, as you can tell." she informed us. "Ever since I brought news that Baralai…had passed, everyone's been running around and not knowing what to do." Paine sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I can handle things here, so don't worry about me. If you're going to check things out, just make sure you don't disturb anyone." Paine warned us. We all nodded and decided to meet back at the airship in two hours. All of us split up into groups, and I went with Taehyr. Iyana & Sargent went together, Xanxus & Alisa paired up (Xanxus insisted), and Uncle Rhys went alone. Taehyr and I decided to scope out the inside of the temple. When we got in there, monks were running around with panicked faces.
Taehyr whispered to me, "Geez, there sure is a lot of commotion in here." Unknowingly to her, Taehyr was walking right onto the lift that goes down to the Cloister of Trials.
"Taehyr!" I exclaimed as I tried to pull her off the lift. I had no choice but to jump onto the lift with here. "Ohh we're so screwed." I mumbled.
Taehyr noted, "Wait, Danaya. Doesn't this lift usually go up? So someone must've gone to the operating panel and switched it to go down. Maybe Uncle Rhys is down here?" This was only the second time we've gone down here, and it would be Taehyr's and Alisa's first time. The first time we went down here, Analise… As for Uncle Rhys, I don't know. Surprisingly, when Taehyr and I got down, we found Uncle Rhys and everyone else.
"What are you all doing down here? Alisa?" I asked, worried that my sister had gotten hurt. Everyone shrugged, and we all found out everyone came here just to explore. I facepalmed, and we all explored the Cloister of Trials. I ended up walking beside Xanxus after Analise had told me something. "Hey, Xanxus…" I called out to him. Xanxus looked down at me. "Analise says hi." I finished off. Xanxus chuckled and patted my head.
Xanxus asked, "Tell her I said hi back, okay? And tell her that I love her." I made a disgusted face and stuck out my tongue as I relayed the message to Analise. Analise chuckled and quieted down after that.
"Kids..let's go back up. Let New Yevon deal with their issues. We have to check up on the other places." Uncle Rhys suggested. I looked around at everyone to see if they were in agreement, but I noticed we were missing one other person.
"Alisa?" I called out. My voice only echoed as there was no reply. "ALISA?" I shouted even louder. Still no answer. "Did anyone see where she went?" I asked. Everyone shook their head. My heart began to beat faster as I made it to the lift that brought people to the Chamber of the Fayth. "We all can't fit on at once! I'm going ahead!" I shouted frantically as I made it onto the lift first.
"Go ahead, we'll follow!" Xanxus' rough voice exclaimed as I was being transported to the Chamber. Once I got there, I searched around for Alisa, but she was nowhere to be seen. The door to the Fayth was open, so I went in and looked down at the hole. I clutched my necklace and stared down. Everyone had caught up with me, and I heard a groan from Sargent.
Iyana murmured, "Don't tell me…" Uncle Rhys clamped his hand on my shoulder and turned me. He looked me in the eye.
Uncle Rhys questioned, "Have you guys gone down the hole before?" I nodded my head, and he trusted my decision. Based on him asking us to lead the way, I knew he hadn't been further than this. I wanted Vidina to hold my hand like the first time we had gone down this hole, but I knew it just couldn't happen. I deeply inhaled, and then I jumped into the hole. Air rushed all around me as I prepared to land properly, hoping I wouldn't land on my side like the last time. Once I landed, I didn't wait for the others as I continued to call out Alisa's name. There still was no answer, but then I heard a shriek coming down from below the huge platform in the center. *She's in the maze!*
I wasn't afraid of sliding on the chain this time because I had nothing to think about but my sister being in danger. As I ran through the maze, I didn't find Alisa anywhere. *Danaya…I can sense her. She's in the place where we fought Anastasia.* Analise informed me. I nodded and continued to run through the maze. After stepping on all the blocks and remembering the pattern we did during the first time, I finally arrived at the long walkway. Through the open entrance, I could see Alisa defending herself from a Guardian Beast. Her sword was up in a defensive position as she was almost clawed by the Beast.
Not letting another second pass by, I took out my sword and ran at the Guardian Beast full force. "Mental Break!" I shouted as I struck it down. I powered up my sword a second after and shouted, "Power Break!" The two continuous attacks confused the Beast for a moment, so I rushed to Alisa and helped her up. She picked up her sword as I asked, "What happened?" Alisa didn't have time to answer as I could hear the Guardian Beast getting up. "Damn…" I cursed. "Alisa! Go stay over by the walkway!"
"No! I can fight too!" Alisa defended herself. I looked her straight in the eyes.
"Go over there!"
"Why won't you let me fight? I KNOW HOW." Alisa shouted at me. "I'm not a little girl anymore!" Tears sprung my eyes. My eyes went stone hard.
"Because I don't want to lose you too." I stated with a venomous tone. That got Alisa to shut up as she looked down at the ground. I turned around just in time to be clawed in the face by the Beast. I could feel my cheek starting to drip blood as I struggled to get back up. I raised my sword in the air and shouted, "Holy!" I used Holy about three times before consuming an Ether and charging up my sword. "Shining Darkness!" A new attack I had developed in my spare time at Besaid. A ball of energy had formed at the tip of my sword, and I released it high up to the ceiling. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, ten shining rays of light and ten glimmering rays of darkness stabbed the Guardian Beast. The rays disappeared as the Guardian Beast became weaker. "Danaya! Duck!" I heard Uncle Rhys call out. I turned around and ducked just in time to see about twenty Fire arrows whiz past my head and stab the beast.
"So, we're stabbing huh? Let's go, Xanxus!" Sargent shouted as they both fired up their bullets, literally. Both Xanxus and Sargent continuously shot the Guardian Beast while Iyana and Taehyr went at the Guardian Beast with their wrench and scythes surrounded by flames. They struck the Guardian Beast down, and it blew up into pyreflies. When they finished the fiend off, Iyana and Taehyr cheered and jumped up. However, they stopped cheering when they felt the awkward atmosphere between Alisa and me.
Uncle Rhys looked at the both of us and inquired, "What happened?" I didn't answer as I trudged out of the room and to the lift that brought you back up to the surface of Bevelle. I could hear everyone calling my name, but Uncle Rhys told them to stop. "Let her go. Alisa, what's going on?" I heard Uncle Rhys ask Alisa. When I got back up to the temple, I changed my facial expression from angry to calm to keep up my image. I knew they wouldn't leave without me, so to blow off some steam, I went to one of Bevelle's empty airship docks. There was a wooden bridge that led outwards to the water. I sat down and looked at my reflection over the edge.
"She doesn't understand. I can't lose her, too." I whispered. I heard footsteps behind me, so I fixed my facial expression and turned around with a smile.
My Uncle Rhys stood in front of me with his arms crossed and his eyes slanted. "Cut the crap smile. I know you're faking, Danaya." *Ouch…harsh…* I dropped the smile just like he wanted and put on a frown instead. Uncle Rhys sat down beside me. "I understand, Danaya. You want to protect Alisa because you just lost your parents. Everyone lost something yesterday. But think about it, Alisa's 15. When you were her age, you already were off doing things on your own. When you went on a journey to find Yuna and Tidus, you could've left the job to the others. However, you decided to lead and do it on your own. Now don't you think that Alisa, even though she's your little sister, deserves to fight as well? Trust her." Uncle Rhys finished his lecture and stood up. He placed his hand out for me to grab. I sat there for a while, soaking in his words.
I took my uncle's hand and pulled myself up. "I guess you're right…" I mumbled as I scratched the side of my cheek. My uncle smiled and placed his arm around me as we headed back to the airship. Once we went inside to the Bridge, everyone stopped talking and turned to us. I looked at Alisa, who was staring at me as well. I guess I had a very apologetic look on my face because Alisa smiled slightly and opened her arms. We both hugged and silently forgave each other. "Sorry, sis…you understand though, right?" I muttered. Alisa nodded.
"Yeah, I understand you." she replied. We let go of each other, and I turned to the others.
"Okay, does Paine know we're leaving?" I asked.
Xanxus answered, "Yeah, we talked to her earlier while Rhys went after you. She said that she'll contact us if there are any problems. She also said she's trying to research Mirage, but she hasn't had any luck so far."
Iyana asked, "So, where to now, Danaya?" I thought about it for a moment. We checked up on Bevelle, so it would only be reasonable to check on Youth League. However….my mind was also thinking of going to Calm Lands. "Danaya?" Iyana called out my name again.
"Let's go to Mushroom Rock Road to check up on the Youth League. After that, we can take a break and have some fun in the Calm Lands." I decided as I looked at everyone. They all nodded, showing their agreement.
"Sounds good to me." Sargent commented as he sat down in the chair and rested his arms behind his back. Iyana jumped into her pilot's seat and started up the airship.
"We'll be there in two hours, tops! We're going to need to cross the Thunder Plains again, so it'll take a little." Iyana announced. Once the announcement was made, everyone went to go do their own thing. I decided to spend some time with Sargent as he urged me to go train with him up on the deck. The two of us made our way up there, only to be accompanied by everyone else. As I walked to one side of the deck and pulled out my sword, my mouth formed a little smirk.
I pointed out, "Looks like this'll be more of a show than a sparring session." There was one thing significant about our group. No matter how many battles we've been through, we always found some time and fun in training with each other. Sargent smirked and agreed with me as he brought out his enormous gun and readied it with play bullets. Sargent created a type of bullet called a play bullet, which he used when we would train and spar so no one would get hurt. Play bullets are basically plastic bullets that weigh as much as a regular bullet, so it'll shoot the same distance. Uncle Rhys, Alisa, Taehyr, and Xanxus sat on the sidelines, waiting for the first move to be made. I'm pretty sure Iyana had pulled up the camera and was listening & slightly watching while she drove. Getting impatient, Sargent shot some bullets as the show began.