Carmina's POV:

I woke up to Oneechan waking me up, saying it was time to go. I fixed my hair and went outside with her. "Morning everyone!" I shouted happily, but squeaked as thunder crackled again. Collin took my hand and we ran ahead of everyone else, going on the bridge.

"You ok?" he asked. I nodded, and we waited for everyone else to catch up. Once they did, we all continued on to the Moonflow. As we walked, we encountered an Ochu.

"Oh! Oneechan and I got this!" I shouted. Oneechan smirked and nodded as she whipped her scythe around. I spun my staff and we started to attack it, the others watching us. I cast Firaga on the Ochu, and it shrieked. It hit me on the side and I groaned as I fell on the ground. "I'm all right!" I exclaimed as I got back up again. Oneechan turned to me.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked. I nodded and smiled.

"Yup yup!" I replied as I got into position. We had perfected this move a while ago, and now it was time to test it out.

"What are you two doing?" Auron asked.

"Watch!" we both exclaimed as Oneechan held her staff sideways. I started running towards it and used it as a lift to jump. I jumped high in the air, then Oneechan ran sideways on a rock and jumped up. I stepped on the palms of her hands as she dropped down and grabbed her scythe as I plunged both of our weapons into the Ochu. With the impact, the Ochu shrieked and exploded into pyre flies. I fell on the ground, but Deneo and Collin helped me up.

"That was amazing. Good job, ya?" Wakka commented. I giggled and Oneechan nodded. We continued on, encountering easy monsters. Along the way, we spotted Biran and Yenke bullying that person!

"Look! One of Kimahri's friends. Looks just like him!" Biran exclaimed.

"What?" Tidus asked.

Biran continued, "Both follow summoners on all fours! Hornless goatlings!" Oneechan and I snarled.

"Hornless! Hornless!" Yenke chanted, and they laughed.

"Hey shut up!" Oneechan, Tidus, and I shouted. Kimahri put a hand on mine and Oneechan's shoulders.

"Ronso deal with Ronso problems ya?" Wakka told us as Kimahri argued with Biran and Yenke. We sighed.

Kita-nee and I replied, "We know. We know." After Biran and Yenke walked away, we continued on our way. Once we got to the Moonflow, I could hear Tidus let out a "Whoa." I smiled widely as I watched all the pyreflies float upwards.

"They really are pretty..." I could hear Kita-nee mutter. All of a sudden, I felt weight on my shoulder and turned my head slightly to see Collin resting his arm on it.

"Wonderful, huh?" Collin asked me. I nodded.

"This is the Moonflow." Lulu said.

"These are moonlilies! They say that clouds of pyreflies gather here when night falls." Yuna explained. Deneo appeared on my other side.

"The entire river glows, like a sea of stars." Lulu continued on.

"Really? Hey, I got a great idea!" Tidus exclaimed.

"We're not waiting 'till nightfall." Auron commanded.

"Then once we beat Sin, we're coming back." Tidus answered.

Kita-nee started, "But..." I nudged her in the side and let out a fake smile to Tidus.

"Sure will!" I exclaimed. Oneechan looked at me questioningly, so I just looked at her with a sad face. I didn't want to think about what would happen later on. That's later. Once we were ready, we got on the shoopuf and crossed the Moonflow.

Kita's POV:

I was just watching the moonflow pass by when i heard Wakka start talking.

"Hey, take a look." Wakka said.

"Whoa..." Mina and Tidus said.

"A sunken city!" Mina said excitedly.

"A machina city- a thousand years old! They built this city on top of bridges across the river." Wakka said.
"But the weight of the city caused the bridges to collapse, and it all sank to the bottom." Lulu said matter of factly.

"Right. It's a good lesson." Wakka said.
"A lesson?" Mina said
"Yeah. Why build a city over a river, ya?"

"Uhm... because it made it easier to get to water?" I said silently.

"Nope, that's not why. They just wanted to prove they could defy the laws of nature!"
"I'm not so sure about that." I said.
"Yevon has taught us: When humans have power, they seek to use it. If you don't stop them, they go too far, ya?"
"Yeah, but don't you use machina too? Like the stadium and stuff, right?" Tidus said.
"Yevon, it decides... which machina we may use, and which we may not." Lula said.
"So what kind of machina may we not use, then?" Mina said.
"Remember Operation Mi'ihen? That kind." Wakka said matter of factly.
"Or war will rage again." I said.
"War?" Mina said curiously.

"More than a thousand years ago... Mankind waged war using machina to kill!" Yuna said.

"They kept building more and more powerful machina." ( 2 guesses ya?)

"They made weapons so powerful... It was thought they could destroy the entire world." Lula said.
"The people feared that Spira would be destroyed." I said.
"But the war did not stop" Wakka said sighing.
"Wh-What happened then?" Mina stuttered out.
"Sin came, and it destroyed the cities and their machina." Yuna said.
"The war ended... and our reward... was Sin." Lulu said sadly.
"So, Sin's our punishment for lettin' things get out of hand, eh?" Wakka sighed.
"That's rough." Mina and Tidus said.

"Yeah, it is." Wakka said.
"But, it's not like the machina are bad." Mina said.
"Only as bad as their users." I said sadly.
"It's because of people like the Al Bhed screwin' everything up!" Wakka shouted.

I could hear a loud rumbling noise. It was driving me mad!

"Whatsh could thatsh be?" The driver said.

All of us stood up to look over the sides.

"Sit down!" Auron shouted

"Sorry..." We all mumbled.

Suddenly a blond al-bhed jumped onto the ship and just as he was about to grab Yuna, i stood up and shoved him off the Shoopuff but he grabbed onto my shirt just as he fell over the side.

(Carmina's POV)

When the Al Bhed guy grabbed Oneechan and fell, I gasped. "Oneechan!" I screamed as I instantly jumped into the water, totally forgetting I couldn't swim.

As I dove into the water, I kept sinking down and down until I got to the machina with Oneechan in it! I saw her struggling and pounding on the glass.

Just as I was about ready to cast a magic spell, someone pulled me from behind the shirt and I tried to get out of their grip. I saw Wakka, Tidus, and Deneo swim past me to go fight the machina. Tidus looked at me and winked before turning back and slashing the monster with his sword. Collin was the one who grabbed my shirt and pulled me back up.

"Carmina!" Yuna exclaimed as she helped Collin and me get back on the Shoopuf. I gasped for air and gripped my staff tightly until my knuckles turned white. I shivered as Yuna hugged me for warmth. Collin looked about ready to yell at me, but Lulu beat him to it.

"Are you crazy?" Lulu scolded me roughly. "You could have drowned and it would cause us more obstacles on Yuna's pilgrimage."

"Lulu!" Yuna said softly. I looked down at my lap with my eyes downcast.

I simply replied, "You don't understand." That caused everyone aboard the Shoopuf to look at me. "Kita-neechan is very important to me. When her mom adopted me, I had never felt so loved before. Kita-neechan was the sister I never had. Sure she was a bit cold and distant, but…..she's still my sister. I would have died for her. I would do anything to make sure she was safe." I paused, some tears coming out of my eyes. "Kita-neechan….she's very important to me. And even if she hated me, I'd still love her. No matter how stubborn, dense, or stupid she is. I want her to be safe and to never suffer." This made everyone go silent. I put on a sad smile as I looked up.

"Carmina…." Collin called my name worriedly.

"Now you understand." I told them all as I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them with my head down. When I heard a splash, I looked up with worried eyes and saw Kita-neechan climbing up the shoopuf.

"Neechan!" I screamed as I helped her up and hugged her tightly. I started crying. "Please don't do it again. Please. Please." I begged her as I sobbed into her chest. I felt her patting my back.

"It's all right. I'm here." she said softly. We stayed in that position for a while, before pulling away and returning back to our seats. The shoopuf continued to move and I blocked out everyone talking. I was having a small panic attack on the inside, what with Oneechan being ok and all.

Someone said, "-armina? Carmina?" I flinched and raised my head up to see Collin waving a hand in my face.

"You all right ya? You looked a bit out of it." Wakka told me. I nodded with a small smile as I heard the Hypello say we arrived.

"I'm all right." I said as I got off the shoopuf.