Title: Danse Macabre Undone

Author: Gatecrasher12

Word Count: 8404

Genre: Action/Romance/Drama/General

Game: Final Fantasy 10-2

Published Date: 6-7-10

Author's Note: My it's been a while! Sorry for the slow update, but I had a case of the dreaded writer's block syndrome. But I got over it well enough after watching a certain new 'end-of-the-world' movie called 2012, good movie that one too. I recommend watching it if you haven't seen it, it got me thinking and I finally managed to squeeze out some writing mojo. LOL! Anyway, enjoy!

oO0Oo

Chapter Six: End for The Saved World

oO0Oo

'It's me again… -sigh- Why? Why is it when we finally managed to obtain peace after so long, something must happen to ruin it? Why can't people like Seymour ever be content with peace and lay quietly in their graves. What does he get out of tormenting the living this way? I can't understand him, and I don't think I ever will.'

The port town of Kilika Island was as warm and welcoming as it ever was since its reconstruction. The Youth League and New Yevon no longer divided the island between themselves and now shared the isle peacefully. The rambunctious younger children of the small islet were at play, getting into all forms of innocent and not-so-innocent mischief, while the older ones were busy learning the trade of their parents or caring for their siblings. The younger adults worked the day away in their respective crafts; fishing, cloth weaving, building, or making and selling marketable merchandise. The older, less hardy elderly spent their time reminiscing about the 'good old days' of their youth, weaving stories of adventure and fantasy for the imaginative youths who would listen, gossiping and complaining about 'kids these days' or their families and neighbors were up to among friends, or making use of their retirement by simply relaxing. It was nearing noon and the island natives were at their busiest handling the many visiting tourists roaming around the island. The already bustling community had grown in the last few months, experiencing its first baby boom in many centuries and having a horde of off-landers move in, and was well on its way to becoming a small harbor town of a little more than one hundred rather than a tiny port village of a two dozen. Kilika was beginning to grow so large in fact that the village leader commissioned contractors to build more new lodgings and a schoolhouse along the sandy beaches and further inland toward the jungle to accommodate the multiplying masses, the small inn was to be renovated into a larger one for traveler, new shops lined the port market, and even a new tavern was built for dock workers and landed sailors. There were even two ships specially built to cater to up to one hundred tourist traveling between Besaid, Kilika, and Luca as part of a vacation cruise. Kilika was beginning to look more and more like a budding island resort with each passing week than ever.

Wakka walked around the small port taking in its colorful and happy atmosphere with a melancholy expression, Lulu at his side, Vidina was left on the Celsius in Buddy's care, with the Gullwings walked ahead of them, making their way to the temple hastily while trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. All around he could see, hear, and practically feel the merriment of the people in the warm tropical air as they went about their daily business. He sighed, "Why does he wanna ruin dis?" he asked, watching a small group of children playing Blitzball and other water games in the shallows of the island beach waters. "I mean, we got an Eternal Calm, ya, and everyone's finally happy, so wha's the point of it?" he hissed petulantly.

Lulu looked to her husband and shook her head. "Seymour is a being of selfish lust. He wants nothing more than the ultimate power in his grasp. Even though he is dead I have no doubt it, he will to destroy the happiness and futures of countless innocent people to get it."

"It's jus' not fair. We put our blood, sweat, an' tears into da Eternal Calm and for what? All our hard work is gonna be blown outta da water any day now!" He hissed lowly as his son's face then came to mind. The new born babe was not even half a year old and the happy future he had planned for his baby boy was all but shot to hell. "…I wanted Vidina to grow up wit'out da shadow of SIN hang'en over him like we did."

Yuna nodded sadly and said, "That's why we must move fast to try to contain the problem before it gets too big." Then she thought to herself, 'And if what Shuyin and Lenne said was true, the damage may already be too extensive to really save anything.'

The group of ex-Guardians and Sphere Hunters were now just passing through the village gates and into Kilika forest. Yuna, who was leading the group, had noticed the suspiciously extra guards from both the Youth League and New Yevon positioned on the road, looking as if ready to stop anyone's advance through the wild jungle. As they entered the jungle it was decided they would take the rarely used and unknown shortcut through the treetops. The group bypassed the guards and the fiend infested roads and trails as, traversing the tropical forest faster, cutting the half-hour hike in almost half. Yuna then looked down at the path and saw a group of civilians and fresh looking temple acolytes flanked by armed rangers and strikers from the Youth League and New Yevon being escorted to town and mentally had to wonder, 'What's going on?'

"I met that half Guado once," Paine suddenly began, he fist clenched, everyone looked at the stoic warrior.

"You did, when?" Rikku turned, skillfully walking backwards on a tree branch as she looked at the older woman.

Pain blinked slowly. "It was before that terrible first mission with the Crimson Squad at Mushroom Rock Road. Whenever he spoke to us, his words made him come off as this grand loving and inspiring leader, but I didn't trust him. It was the way he looked at everyone, like we were all his band of insignificant playthings, like we were replaceable dolls made for his amusement."

Lulu agreed with the sword mistress. "His natural charisma made it easy for him to mislead and control the unsuspecting or weak willed." she added, thinking of the former Measters of Old Yevon and the Guado race. She then looked ahead disapprovingly at the young Al-Bhed of the group, "And Rikku, turn around before you fall and break something." she admonished. The blond teen immediately obeyed, and not a moment too soon as the shortcut suddenly dropped off over a landing of the stairway, somewhere halfway up to the temple.

Jumping down, the group of five quickly hiked their way up the remaining flights of stairs. They made it to the temple several minutes later. The sacred House of Ifrit had long been repaired and purified after the fiend invasion and the hallowed beast's possession. …However, at current, the temple looked more like a small fortress as it was unusually littered with a score of defenders and soldiers from both Youth League and New Yevon each, all of which were armed with swords and guns alike. The two factions weren't fighting each other as they were prior, nor did they seem hostile towards one another, but they did appear rather restless and anxious. It almost seemed as if they were expecting to fight a battle.

There was a small army of Machina Rangers and Soldiers were standing side by side in mostly erect positions in stand-by mode along the temple's perimeter along with four large Mech weapons, two YAC-13's were floating stationary between two League Troopers and a Yevon Guard each at the top of the stairs while a YAU-28 and a YSLS-99 alongside League Warriors and Yevon's Finest flamethrowers were guarding the temple's door. There were very few civilians around, all were evacuated to the town, and the ones who were present were the temple attendants collecting and stowing away important scrolls, tomes, and such for safe keeping or important members of Kilika's growing government; the village's leader, council members, and sheriff.

Looking at the scene left Yuna with a sinking feeling. Steeling herself, the resumed Summoner walked forward into the temple square and stopped a passing by female senior acolyte with a slight tug to her sleeve. "Excuse, what's happening here?"

The aspiring priestess stop to look at Yuna. Upon recognizing the brunette as the High Summoner, she gave the retired Sphere Hunter the traditional Prayer Bow before answering, "M'lady, I am not very sure what is happening, but just a few hours ago, Lady Dona came up to the temple with a group of Youth League members. She demanded an audience with the head priest and just an hour or so ago the temple defenders and the League members began to barricade this sanctuary."

Yuna looked at the machina and hummed thoughtfully. "Hmmm, where is Lady Dona now?"

"In the temple, my Lady. I believe she and Sir Barthello have entered the Cloister of Trials."

Yuna nodded in gratitude. "Thank you." She bowed before continuing on her way towards the temple, the others trailing quickly behind her.

The group was just making their way inside the house of worship when a sudden, low rumbling echoed through the air that was quickly followed by the ground beginning to shake violently. Off in the jungle below, flocks of exotic and colorful birds rose high into the air in fright. Along the beaches larger than normal waves, almost the size of storm waves, were crashing sporadically on the shores and village. The very ground beneath their feet quaked for several long moments as small cracks, some several yards long and some only a few feet long and just as deep or deeper, were appearing all over the island as if the it was being stretched thin and beginning to rip in half.

"What's going on!" Rikku cried out over the thunderous rumbling before she lost her balance and fell backwards into Paine's arms as Wakka grabbed onto both Yuna and Lulu. The group and everyone else at the temple were either screaming in fear and confusion or dropping down close to the ground to keep themselves from falling over like the stationary YAU-28 and the YSLS-99. When the shaking finally stopped, the group slowly stood, wearily looking around. "…What was THAT?"

"Earthquake…" Paine answered simply.

"Is it normal for Kilika to have earthquakes?" Paine gave the blond such a glare that it told everyone who noticed she thought Rikku must have been some kind of airhead for asking a question with such an obvious answer. Geologically, Kilika, being too far south, was nowhere near a strong enough fault line to cause a quake like that. Rikku was subdued by the look and muttered, "Okay, okay, stupid question…"

"Lets go, everyone," Yuna said as took off in a light jog into the temple, "we have to move."

'I can feel it… the atmosphere around temple of the Ifrit feel polluted … and it's getting stronger. I can only guess the other temples are also permeating with an evil aura. They are the closest direct link to the Farplane outside Guadosalam after all.

Also, that earthquake wasn't normal… the world, Spira, I have a bad feeling that it's about to start collapsing. Whatever the Fayth are doing, I hope they do it soon before it's too late. '

"Wait for us, Yuna!" Wakka called as he took Lulu's hands and pulled her along, Rikku and Paine following close behind.

oO0Oo

Barthello looked down at Dona's unconscious and feverish form, cradling her close to his mostly chest as he made a near mad dash back through the Cloister of Trials. He was just stepping off the stone lift when he nearly ran headlong into the Gullwings, of all people, and two of Yuna's former Guardians, the Black Mage Lulu and the retired Blitzer Wakka.

"Lady Yuna!" he exclaimed as she gasped at the sight of Dona's prone body.

"Barthello, what happened?" Rikku asked as Paine came forward to examine Dona, Yuna at her side.

The usually passionate gentle giant of a human man looked so downtrodden and miserable it wrenched at one's heart. "I don't know," He started, "we had come because Dona had sensed a foul presence in the air and wished to try to consult the Fayth. I just was waiting for Dona outside the Camber of The Fayth when she come out and collapsed." Barthello's breath hitched in a suspiciously sobbing way. "This has never happened before… Dona…DONA! WAKE UP!" he suddenly bellowed painfully loud with worry.

Almost as if answering the man the heavily tanned woman began to thrash, mutter and mumble disjointedly rapidly. Barthello held his love more firmly so he wild bucking would not force him to drop her. Words such as 'Core', 'War', 'Collapsing', 'Fading', 'Time', and 'Extinction' where some of the few words the group managed to catch before she began to scream as a wretched nightmare trapped her mind within its horrors.

"DONA, WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU? PLEASE WAKE UP!"

"She's going into shock and becoming delirious! Quick, Yuna, cast Esuna on her!" Paine practically ordered, knowing the ex-Summoner's White Magic far exceeded anyone else's in the group.

"Right!" The brunette nodded as she pressed a glowing white hand to Dona's damp forehead. The white healing glow of Esuna spread from Yuna into Dona, enveloping the other ex-Summoner's body with a gentle cool-warm breeze and a soothing light before sinking into Dona's body. The dark skinned woman calmed almost instantly, the plagued dreams and fever fading under Esuna's all ailment healing light, causing everyone to release the held breaths they had not realized they had.

"We need to get her to a room. She needs to rest." Lulu stated. "Yuna, Rikku, Paine, you three go on ahead. Wakka and I will stay behind to help Dana."

'I hope Dona will be alright.' Yuna nodded before she, Rikku and Paine stepped determinedly onto the lift. "Careful down d'here, ya? We'll be here if you need us!" he called as the life began to descend.

"Just leave it to us!" came Rikku's replay, waving her arms as they disappeared from sight into the Trials.

oO0Oo

Kimahri's golden eyes shot open as he moved from his meditating seat. The mountain, after nearly three hours of near silence, all the noise the mountain seemed able too make were pathetic moans and occasionally suffered whimpers, and no answers finally spoke the words he needed to hear. Instead of speaking in its normally feminine, but strong, gravelly resounds of a hundred voices whispering, it sounded alarmingly sickly and raspy as if it was not used to talking at all.'Spira. Chaos. Crumbling. Falling. Death'it had said before it croaked in an even smaller whisper so low Kimahri nearly missed it: 'Halfling. SIN. Yevon. Aeon. Fayth. Summoner. Time'before it went silent again. Despite the one word sentences, Kimahri was able to decipher the meaning behind most of them instantly.

Dark times were ahead and growing near.

The blue man-lion stood quickly in alarm, picking up his celestial weapon and griping it tightly, his usually stoic face pulling down taut in a grim frown and narrow eyes. Kimahri quickly exited him home, which was a cave that sat on an elevated plateau with wide stairs than immediately drawing every waiting Ronso eye. He gave his village and the people who lived in it a slow sweep, looking at everything around him, several simply made large huts of stone, Macalanian Ever-pine wood, and fiend pelts and cave homes, the large fire pit at the center of the village like in Besaid, the great statues of ancient Elders and smaller statues of great and honorable warriors of old that were carved directly into the stone walls protecting the village, and the only two paths in and out of the village, one heading down to the mountain gates and the other leading up to the hot springs.

"…Kimahri?" The short, broken horned Ronso turned to see his mate, Nhalia, standing up awkwardly from her seat and make her way towards him, Lian and Ayde trailing close behind.

All the Ronso once again gave him their attention, but instead of patient wondering, they now looked at him in distressed anxiety. Kimahri squared his shoulders and looked at his people with a set jaw and grave eyes before speaking, "Ronso brothers and sisters, Kimahri speak to mountain, mountain finally answer back. Mountain tell Kimahri of grave danger, tell of Ronso Bane. Guado Betrayer refuses eternal rest, hurt Spira from Farplane. Dark Guado halfling try to bring back SIN, try to destroy all life on Spira. Sacred Gagazet part of Spira, Spira's pain, mountain's pain. Mountain's pain, Ronso's pain." he told them. Many of the youths' hearts stirred with fiery hatred at the mere mention of Seymour and his still undying ambition. An outcry of all the Ronso voices rose up as one cohesive illegible sound and echoed off the stone faces surrounding them Kimahri, hearing his peoples' yelling words and having enough of it, raised a clawed hand and silence settled over the Ronso. "Kimahri hear Ronso words, Ronso defend sacred home when time comes! Fayth and Aeons fight in Farplane, Ronso and Summoners will fight too!" he pronounced.

Loud roars from the mostly young and thinned race resounded as the thought of battling a thought long gone foe set their blood to boil, many of them with the once receding desire for attaining some form of vengeance rallied now that it finally seemed come back within reach. Kimahri looked at his people with mixed emotions. He and his people had been on the road to recovery, learning to let go of their hatred of the Guado, only to fall back into the temptation and longing to spill enemy blood. The only difference was that instead of going into all out war with the whole race of equally small numbers, they were focusing their destructive intent on the one who actually preformed the massacre three years ago. The one who was endangering the world again.

He barely took a step away from his door, closer to his people and opened his mouth to address his tribe again when the mountain suddenly gave a booming, screeching wail. All the Ronso on or near the mountain, whether they were able to hear the spirit of their home or not before, all could hear it now with perfect clarity. The horrid sound of agony made them try block their sensitive ears as they were sent many to their knees and cry out their own pain.

The mountain then suddenly strong jolt.

Animals and fiends alike that lived on the peaks of Gagazet were suddenly driven by their instincts of flight and abandoned their dens and boroughs, seeking shelter elsewhere as they caved in. There was a great rumbling as the rocky earth split and tore as the ground shifted, sinking and rising in some places, and opening in wide fissures and chasms all over the mountain and from those chasms came sudden bursts of hot steam and searing geysers of sulfur enriched water. Boulders the size of Hovers rolled down the crag in a random tumble, bringing with them a wave of heavy snow powerful enough to crush anything caught by it. The path of crossing bridges of snow covered rock high above broke and fell apart. Unbeknownst to all for the time being, the flouting ruins that sat atop the snow capped mountain had not been spared as its anchor below it shook, the looser stone gave way and broke off and was now strewed and littered across the higher ridges like parts of a felled castle of toy blocks. The higher foothills where the Ronso lived were left mostly unharmed save for a few large cracks in the ground, a few small rocks and heaps of snow that had been knocked off the wall of the higher hills, and many delicate or unfastened objects that had fallen on the ground. One of the cave homes of the small village looked a little collapsed, but not to the point of being uninhabitable, and three of the huts had fallen over or were in need of new roofs as the rubble and snow had landed on them.

Several Ronso whom had fallen over were slowly raising to their feet warily as mother clutched their cubs close protectively. Kimahri used his Spirit Lance, he had not let it go, to help him stand. The mountain's tortured screams had died down to pained, shuttering whimpers. Kimahri's normally rigid form drooped as his heart wretched and twisted helplessly, wishing he could somehow sooth the spirit of his home, to take away its pain, as he was forced to listen and look upon the proud stone of Gagazet. If someone were to personify the mountain's appearance, they would say it was like seeing a proud woman-mother after enduring a severe whipping by a cruel hand.

Kimahri slowly stood, helping Nhalia, Lian and Ayde up along, having instinctively thrown himself over the three in an effort to protect them against anything that fell atop them with his own body.

"Elder hurt?" Lian asked, concerned. Ayde silently eyed his leader critically, looking for injuries.

The Elder Ronso was busily attending to Nhalia and their unborn young as he answered, "Kimahri unharmed.

"… Elder!" came a nearly drowned out yell.

Kimahri's ear flicked to the right, hearing his title being called over the low din of his kin, before turning in that direction. Near the back of the slowly quieting and parting crowd came a hulking, distressed looking male. From the way he dressed and by the long bow and battle axe strapped to his back and hip, Kimahri knew he was one of the Rangers who periodically patrolled the mountain paths and kept the Fiend population at a minimum. It was strange, however, that instead of entering the village from the trail, he appeared before everyone by way of Teleport Pad. Ronso Rangers were dedicated warriors and worked meticulously when they patrolled the tails and paths with admirable dogging diligence, only using the Pads when in haste back to the village during emergencies. What's more, he had in his arms a large lumpy something bundled up in a thick brown sleeping blanket and a small cream and brown colored monkey native to the area around the Zanarkand Ruins wrapped around his neck, clutching his short blue body fur and crooning lowly down at the brown bundle.

"Ranger Corrik…" Kimahri greeted. He made it a point to know the names of all his people after being made Elder. "What do you carry in your arms?"

Corrik jogged right up the Elder and laid his burden out at Kimahri's feet. "Corrik was out on patrol through cave paths when I found little human hurt, attacked by fiends." he explained in a gruff voice all Ronso males had, before pulling back the folds of the blanket, revealing a face Kimahri had met all of three times but memorized none the less.

"Summoner Isaaru…" The Elder Ronso kneeled down to examine the injured human, he was in poor shape, sporting many bruises and several deep cuts. He breathing was markedly shallow and short, he may have broken ribs and who knows what else. Kimahri turned and called out to his mate, "Quickly, Nhalia! You know White Magic Arts, he is in need of healing." Nhalia hastily waddled over as fast as her bulging belly would allow, helped by the brothers Lian and Ayde, and kneeled down to examine her newest patient.

"Summoner spoke to Corrik before passing out," the ranger continued, "Says he has seen Bane of Ronso revive to become Fayth for Final Aeon."

Kimahri's head snapped up to stare at Corrik's face, looking for any deceit or uncertainties but only seeing truth and sureness. The smaller, older Ronso snarled fiercely before standing. "Kimahri must speak to Yuna, must warn her." he said as flatly as possible. He turned to the children hovering at Nhalia's sides, "Lian, Ayde, find CommSphere at the Gates and bring it to Kimahri." he told the two children who quickly dashed off.

"Nhalia can help little human Summoner," she stated, standing with Kimahri's assistance. "But we must bring him inside. Cold mountain air not good for frail human body, only makes him sick worse."

Corrik picked up Isaaru as Nhalia led him to the her and the Elder's home. Kimahri stayed behind to wait for Lian and Ayde to return and to rally his people for a battle that would no doubt come soon.

oO0Oo

The Celsius' engines rumbled with loud ferocity over the soft sounds of splashing water as it flew over the shimmering ocean waves at high speed, leaving a long tail of dazzling blue flames dancing in mid-air in its wake. It was well into the afternoon, almost evening actually as the sun began its slow fall into retirement for the day, the bright blue sky began to slowly darken to blue-violet while the horizon showed first signs of coloring yellow-orange as orange, pink, and violet lightly tinged the white clouds. The lapping, clapping sea below sparkled and gleamed as its spraying waves mimicked darker adaptations of the heavenly colors above it. The evening was boasting potential for a very picturesque tropical sunset that nobody aboard the flying ship paid any heed to.

The interior held a solemn air about it, the crew and its passengers were all mostly silent, preferring not to break the hush as they went over their new knowledge of current happenings. Their successful trip to Kilika Temple was bittersweet at best. Yuna had received Ifrit almost immediately with no problems. The Fayth of the fiery beast, however, had sent her off with instructions to hurry in all haste to Zanarkand and to stop for nothing but the temples. He had explained that Seymour had been successful in becoming the new Final Aeon, and by proxy, SIN's dark Fayth. When questioned how he was able to accomplish the feat, Ifrit informed her that a second party, namely Yunalesca, had helped. While dead, not all of Yunalesca's talents in the Summoning Arts and Fayth/Aeon creation were yet to be beyond her power, however, he and his brethren had managed to interfere with the actual resurrection and Summoning of the beast, slowing it down and giving her precious little more time to prepare and reach Zanarkand.

With this knowledge churning in mind, Yuna found herself sitting at the cabin bar between Paine and Wakka sipping some fruity non-alcoholic concoction of Darling's while Lulu and Rikku sat at one of the tables doing their best at distracting a restless Vidina. The infant child amazingly seemed to have picked up on the heavy atmosphere around him and it was making him irritable. A new recently cultivated genre of laid-back music Buddy had taken a liking to called the Blues filter through the air from the stereo, offsetting the room's occupants' silence, as the lights had been dimmed down, making the neon colored lights that decorated the room seem brighter, the sunset outside more pronounced, and the room in general mellow.

The older man was swirling a small glass of some kind of strong orange-brown colored cocktail that Barkeep made for him in a brooding manner, drinking very little of it. He had the urge to drink himself into a stupor, but resisted with his wife and son in such close proximity. For Wakka, too many things had been going wrong too fast with the world lately and his vision of a happy family living a happy life had been ground down to fine powder and blown away like dust in the wind. Paine forced her mind to focus most of her attention on reading a newly released mystery-thriller book that had been published earlier in the year; most written texts before the Eternal Calm had been of the teachings and/or history of Yevon (according to the more uptight Yevonite priests and nuns, the fictional written works were nothing but wasteful fairy-tales that were too unrealistic, most having nothing to do with Yevon or SIN, and reading too many squandered peoples' time frivolously when they could be praying at the temples).

The near silence was suddenly broken when the ship suddenly shook with a case of air turbulence. Barkeep and Darling jumped faster than anyone had ever seen the Hypello couple move to the wall behind the bar where the bottles of liquor were stored, trying to save them from shaking off the shelves and shattering on the floor. The humans in the Cabin cried out in surprise, Vidina crying the loudest in fear. When the Celsius settled the ship's intercom sounded and Buddy's disembodied voice floated into the room. BEEP "Uh… sorry about that guys, that was Brother… we're coming over Luca now… You might want to come to the Bridge and see this."

There was then the sound of wrestling, follow immediately by Buddy's protesting and Brother's shrieking voice, "IT'S DISASTERIFFIC! GULLWINGS, NABUND XIELGLO!" BEEP!

The group of five looked at each other and wasted no more time as they stood up and hurriedly left the Cabin. The five made their way to the Bridge in record time. "What's wrong?" Yuna asked as she noticed Buddy had ousted Brother from the pilot's seat and had set the flying vessel on autopilot. The tattooed man was pacing around the bridge, twitching with a wreck of nerves and muttering rapidly in almost unintelligible Al Bhed. Shinra also seemed jittery in a way that told one he was intensely concerned and confused as any child his age would be after seeing something traumatic. Buddy was more composed yet no less upset than his shipmates.

"YUNA!" Brother had made to pounce on the girl, mostly appearing to genuinely be in need of friendly consoling, but a little under that, his swirling green eyes held a small hint of a deviousness gleam that Rikku immediately picked up on and caused her pretty face to pinch in distaste. 'Incestuous, perverted moron!' she thought to herself.

The older Al Bhed's spring was foiled as Rikku's booted foot suddenly stuck out in front of his feet, causing the older of Cid's kids to trip up and fall flat on his face to the floor, just inches short of Yuna.

"…This is not the time for your Chocobo playing around, Brother, Rikku! Take a look outside..." the Navigator practically ordered, ignoring the brother and sister duo as he pointed out the windshield. The group shuffled forward and together as one gasped as one in shocked distress. "I know… it's bad…"

'Bad' hadn't even begun to describe what the group was seeing in that moment. Outside and many feet below the Celsius, the waterfront city of Luca came into view. The city, once a small metropolitan of entertainment and trade between the southern islands and the mainland, had become a disaster zone. The harbor, stadium, and theater had mostly sunken into the water along with what ever house or shop on the sea front, the cobblestone streets were riddled with long cracks and splits, most of the taller buildings had toppled over completely or just broke in rough halves, several of the massive balloons that decorated the Lucan skies were missing, and clouds of dark smoke billowed into the air as fires raged. But what was the most horrific sight of all was the large, fathomlessly deep fissure that had opened up in the ground and split the small city into two. It started from at least three miles out at sea and stretched deep into the inlands, running almost parallel with the Mi'ihen High Road. Flying over the fissure the crew and guests on the Celsius could see the multiple buildings that had fallen into and the water from the sea pouring into the trench like a massive waterfall. While the ship wasn't near enough to the ground for anyone below to notice them, because of the multitude of Pyreflies swarming high around the sky the group could tell even without seeing the actual number of bodies littering the ground that many lives had been lost this day, of that there was no doubt in anybody's mind onboard the Celsius.

"W-what happened…?" Rikku asked, he voice faltering.

"…This must have been the epicenter of the earthquake we felt back in Kilika." Paine answered in a subdued tone.

Wakka turned to Brother and said, "Brudda, land da ship! We gotta help dem, ya?"

The blond Al Bhed nodded and made to move for the controls when a hand with black painted fingernails suddenly shot out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "No… continue flying to Djose."

"Lu?" Wakka was confused and upset that Lulu of all people would reject the idea of helping and rescuing the wounded people in need down below. He was not the only one either. Yuna, Rikku, and Buddy looked torn between decisions, Paine's face was like a blank slat, Brother was a stressed out mess, and nobody could tell what Shinra was thinking due to his hooded mask. "But, why not?"

Lulu let Brother go and readjusted Vidina in her arms before speaking again, "We do not have the time." Her scarlet eyes held Wakka's unflinchingly with and unrelenting will.

"She's right," Paine spoke before turning away from the window and walking over to the Sphere Oscillo-finder's holographic map, staring at the hovering ball of bright colors. She heaved a bitter sigh and said, "We just don't have time on our side. You know what Ifrit said, the Fayth are just barely slowing down SIN's revival to give us a chance." Paine then turned to look at her companions. "We have no choice but to keep going."

Silence between the group hung heavily in the air for several moments as everyone contemplated the situation. It was then a call on Shinra's CommSphere Network came through, catching everyone's attention. The small boy genius jogged over to his terminal and typed in his access code for the CommSphere. "I'm getting a call from Gagazet." Shinra announced. "I'll patch it through now." A window on Shinra's monitor screen opened and staring at them was a very tense looking Kimahri.

"Yo, Kimahri! Long time no see, ya?" Wakka greeted for everyone, subdued but trying to seem lively for his friend's sake.

Kimahri nodded in agreement, immediately noticing the anxiety in his human friends but not calling them on it. The visible tension in the Ronso's form did not fade. "Kimahri happy to see Wakka and Lulu again with Vidina cub, but this not social call. Kimahri must speak with Yuna now, I have urgent message."

"I here, Kimahri." Yuna said. "What's wrong?"

The Elder Ronso gave a heavy, breathy sigh before saying, "Kimahri call to warn Yuna. Seymour Guado has returned as Fayth of Final Aeon."

"We know," Yuna informed. "The Fayth has already told me."

Kimahri nodded at this. "Summoner Isaaru come to tribe village hurt, told of Seymour returning. Ronso youth know this and are preparing to travel to sacred city to battle Ronso Bane, Kimahri can not stop them like before. Many sudden fiend attacks on Gagazet, mountain dieing. Kimahri feel Spira in pain… Kimahri worried about future."

If Yuna could, she reach over to the older lion-man and hug him, they both needed the comfort. "I'm also going to Zanarkand, Kimahri, the Fayth are allowing me to summon the Aeons again, so I'm going to fight Seymour one more time. I promise this time he'll never come back to hurt us again." she spoke with great strength of resolve.

The Ronso stared at his High Summoner for a moment and nodded. "Kimahri too go to Zanarkand, wait for Yuna. Fight by Yuna's side again."

Yuna nodded before Kimahri disconnected the link and Shinra's screen blanked.

'I know when I'll look back on this day, I can easily say that the decision I made was the hardest ever made in my life. I felt sick to my stomach. Oh, how I wished things were different.'

"…Full speed to Djose, Brother." Yuna announced softly, her head bowed down so that the fringe of her hair shielded her eyes.

'Does my decision to not help Luca make me a bad person? To force myself to ignore so many innocent lives that could be saved? I wonder what you would have done, what you would have said… if only you were here? I hope I made the right choice.'

All heads and eyes turned to Yuna in surprise. "… Yuna, are you sure?" Buddy asked. The young retired Sphere Hunter and veteran Summoner gave a hesitant affirming nod.

"T-then we make for Djose…" Brother said and he sat himself back down in the pilot's chair. "Gullwings, du oui'na cdydeuhc." Slowly the other crewmembers complied.

"We'll arrive at Djose at dawn." Buddy informed. "Be ready for an early start."

Yuna pivoted around on her heel and briskly walked out of the bridge without another word, refusing to make even eye contact with anyone. All within the room could tell she was beside herself with her verdict.

"Yuna?" Wakka took a step to follow her, but the hand of Lulu on his shoulder stopped him.

"…She needs time. Let her be." was all the Black Mage told him before leaving for their shared quarters to attend to their child's needs.

Wakka grunted and kicked at the metal ground in frustration before heading back to the cabin where he left his drink on the bar, Paine following not far behind, planning to disregard his earlier notions of not getting drunk. He was going to throw himself into a mind numbing haze for the night, consequences be damned.

oO0Oo

Many miles away from the Celsius to the north-east, anchored down in semi-shallow seawaters half a mile away from the ancient Omega Ruins, was a fleet of nine ships of varying sizes. These were not the typical ships that sailed the blue Spiran oceans. These vessels were machina ships meant for long exploration missions and aquatic Fiend extermination as well as a sign of re-modernizing of naval military prowess after a thousand years retro-stagnation.

At current, the troupe of ships were on the final legs of their first exploration expedition. It was something the captain of the fleet were eagerly awaiting. 'Captain Elma… ha! It's weird, but it has a nice ring to it.' Elma, former Chocobo Knight lieutenant of the Crusaders and now a high ranking officer of the Youth League thought giddily to herself as she stood on the deck of the main ship of the fleet watching the night stars flicker into view while nursing a warm mug of herbal tea. It was well into the Autumn season and the days were becoming increasingly short and the nights long and chilled as winter neared.

Elma reached up to tighten the collar of her naval uniform coat when a cold breeze blew by. "I've come a long way from being just a simple soldier… To think the Meyvn would trust me with something this big." she said, white puffs of her breath floating out from her lips, before taking a long sip of her steaming tea.

The S.S. Leviathan was a sea vassal that was capable of doing almost anything on Spiran waters. The water craft was the largest and fastest ever made, the first of its kind really, a larger water bourn version of the air ship called Fahrenheit. Designed by the pre-SIN civilizations, built by the Al Bhed, fitted by the Youth League, christened by New Yevon, and manned by all three, it doubled as both a heavily fortified cargo ship and the most powerful of all naval ships, making it a veritable floating fortress. Only two months ago it and its fleet set sail on their maiden voyage out on the open sea. The Leviathan served as a physical sign of unity since peace treaties between the three world powers. Flanking the Leviathan at its portside and starboard were a pair of Sirens, smaller but long ships built to serve as artillery support. At the Leviathan's front and rear flanks were four Mateus', ships that were slightly shorter, much wider, and armed with torpedoes as well as more armored than the Sirens. At the direct head and end of the procession or ships were a pair of Aquarius', radically different in design -they looked like giant machina gun bullets with mechanical fins- and smaller than all other seven ships, they were actually capable of both floating and sinking under the waves, it was meant more for covert recon and speed as well as underwater battle.

Elma's ears perked as she heard slightly clumsy, heavy footfalls of boots on metal as an ensign, young and barely experienced by the looks of it, approached her from behind, stopping a body's length from her at attention and saluting her respectfully stiffly. "Captain!" Elma's body went ridged in a show of authority as she returned the salute.

"At ease ensign. Now what do you need?"

The young sailor took a moment to clear his throat and said, "I came to report the happenings on the researchers."

The female swordsman blinked and almost sighed in relief, but not quite yet. She had ordered two guard teams and a group of researchers to the island to study the ruin, as per orders, three days ago, they had reported in at 01900 as of yesterday and missed their morning check-in. She had begun to get very worried. "What's the status with the teams on the island?"

"Ma'am, it's not going too good. Exploration on the surface went well enough, but actual progress moving into the underground tunnels to the ruins themselves is going slow dew to heavy fiend interference. Some serious injuries, but no casualties yet. They're also running low on supplies and the armor equipment is wearing down and breaking. There aren't many of them, but the beasts are more powerful than we estimated here than anywhere else we've been to… "

Elma looked at the young ensign when she heard him trail off. "…And?" she prompted.

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?" he asked and at her curious nod, continued, "It's a bit strange, the report I mean. It said the fiends have been attacking nonstop, unprovoked, not surprising since its in their nature, but they were all in a frenzy, killing their own kind even. All the flying fiends Intel reported living here, have all abandoned the island. It's crazy, but it almost sounds like the fiends are frightened."

Elma nodded at hearing this. "I heard the High Summoner Lady Yuna and her former Guardians had discovered this place a while back and cleared out most of the fiends as well as Omega itself, so I'm not too concerned about the decreased fiend population. It makes our job easier. But the part about fiends abandoning their perceived territory, however, is a new one to me… hmm, didn't know fiends could get scared." she muttered into her cup. "Alright, your orders are to hail Mateus One and tell its commanding officer to deploy a mixed back up team; I want a gun, two swords, a Black, and two Whites who can perform either Esuna, Curaga, or Life spells. The first team only had one White Mage covering their ass. The researchers and their guard teams will definitely need the extra help. Make sure to equip them with status ailment proof armor that's anti-elemental or has auto abilities like SOS Shell and SOS Protect. Pack enough rations and emergency First-Aid kits, Potions, Elixirs, Phoenix Downs and the like, for all teams."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"I want team three on that island in the next thirty minutes. Dismissed!" The ensign saluted again before marching off briskly. Elma watched the aspiring sailor soldier leave before finishing the last sips of her drink. Her dark eyes wondered over to the long chain of islands. The darkness of the night made the islands seem more foreboding and perilous than in the daylight hours. The longer the woman League member stared at the mountainous islands the more aware of a chill she felt that had nothing to do with the cold race up her spine. "Why do I suddenly have this ominous feeling something bad is going to happen?" Elma asked the thin air. She shook her head at the ridiculous, yet nagging thought. "It's probably just the ruins. I think I'll head down to the mess hall, maybe some dinner will help me settle down." With that Alma turned and headed below deck, not realizing that her ill-omened prediction was well founded.

oO0Oo

Gippal stared at the computer screen in front of him through his one blurry eye as many algorithms about the newly planed machines he and the rest of his faction were working on streamed across the monitor. After the success of the Leviathan machina ship and its fleet, the Al-Bhed and the other races of the world were slowly trying to rebuild Spira back to its former glory before the Machina Wars and Yevon's summoning of SIN. Gippal knew it would take years beyond his time to get Spira out of the rut Yu Yevon had put it in, but the young Al-Bhed leader was in it for the long haul.

The one-eyed blond yawned widely. It was getting to be late and his coffee supply was beginning to run low, he had already gone through a pack of vitamins, and he was two bars short of his hidden stash of Kilikan Sea Salt Taffy. Gippal decided to call it for the night as he saved his work and shut down his computer. He pushed back away from his desk, rubbing the sting of lack of sleep from his eye and stood. The blond stretched, feeling stiff joints pop in relief, and walked out the spare room next to the Cloister of Trials that served as both his bedroom and lab and into the antechamber of the Djose Temple. By the way the temple had grown so quiet compared to the usual noise of the day, Gippal knew he was the only one still up; it was nearly mid-night after all.

He kept walking until he was outside in the cool autumn air. The young Al-Bhed leader was less than half a step out the door when he noticed something tacked to it. It was a note on parchment and pinned to the ornate door by a small dagger. His green eye narrowed in annoyance, already having an idea who did that. Gippal moodily snatched the note and dagger from the door, it read in old Yevon script:

Leave the Hallowed Temple now, heathens, or we shall strike you down! Your cursed machina will cast Spira back into the time of SIN! Yevon let fly your deceitful, ill-begotten kind away into the lowest depths of Hell!

Anonymous

Gippal sighed heavily through his nose, trying to stay unruffled, as one hand crushed the note and the other pocketed the dagger. 'Damned fools, they hound me everywhere! Those Old Yevon traditionalist are a bunch of idiots!' the blond's thoughts raged as he tossed the crumpled note over his shoulder, disinterested. 'Machina didn't create SIN, that batty old coot, Yu Yevon, created SIN.' Gippal thrust his hands roughly into the pockets of his overalls as he sat himself down on a nearby crate. "Stupid bastards are must want to ruin everything and start a war. I'm gonna have to talk to Baralai about this soon if this keeps up."

These anonymous warnings and death threats had been appearing everywhere he went for several weeks now and it was really starting to become irksome. Of course he was fairly sure who was sending these letters. Some of his more… secret, underground sources had been whispering lately about some dangerous rumors. Something about some kind of group of Yevonite extremists forming, looking to discredit the Praetor, remove the Meyvn, and silence him while trying to re-establish the previous ways of Yevon and their worldly order. Gippal scoffed at the notion.

"Geez, this leader gig can be a real pain in the ass sometimes." Gippal muttered to himself as he tiredly rubbed the back of his neck. He was exhausted from a full day's work but at the same time all the coffee and sugar he ate and drank earlier was still in his system and kept him awake. He then steered his mind away from all his recent dark thoughts as his lone eye wandered up toward the infinite and mysterious heavenly bodies of stars. He always liked looking at them, they were so lively, yet calming, and each one glowed with their own pure innocent light in the dark, reminding him greatly of his little lover. Gippal had to laugh lightly at the comparison as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees and chin resting in his palms.

The one eyed blond's easy contentment suddenly vanished when he heard movement to his left. Body tensing ever so subtly, Gippal turned enough to see a small and odd assembly of sixty or so different fiends that inhabit Mushroom Rock Road making their way towards the Temple at a fairly impressive pace.

"…Well, ain't this some kind of shit?" Gippal muttered dangerously as he stood and reached into his pocket, pulling out a simple looking device with several buttons and a small and a small screen. It was a remote control he made a while back to activate the alarm mechanism around the Temple in case of attack or intruders. The fiends hadn't reached the motion sensors yet, but it didn't matter now.

…And to think, Rikku was the one who made him install one after they became official together. "Thank you, Princess." he mumbled before pressing the little red button.

Djose Temple woke late that night to the sound of the alarms and rushed to meet the incoming threat.