Disclaimer: Square-Enix Incorporated owns all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include. All other materials, such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera, all belong to Zeshin-kun.

Author's Note: Last time, Yuna was returned to the group, but with cautious words shared by Areth to Tidus. The entire time, he showed them Shuyin's worst in life, the brutal murder of Trista, despite that Trista having been only a clone. In the past, Areth showed several moments to the group of Shuyin doing wrong before becoming an unsent and picking those incidents to question the group's trust of him. Following Seymour's defeat, it seemed that everyone had built a solid team together, understanding that Shuyin was the Shuyin of the past and not the unsent Shuyin they still had to deal with. Will Areth's meddling foul that team unity?

To my reviewers:

Spira: The Eternal Discord

Chapter 32: Brawn Over Brains

Rikku

Nobody knew what I was thinking after Omega Ruins. I knew having Yunie back should have made me extremely happy, but we didn't actually get Yunie back. Areth led us to him, to that awful place to trick us with Yunie being the only thing he knew would get us to go. That meanie, and then he was able to get Paine injured, too. I don't know what happened between the blitzing wonder before we showed up, but from what Shuyin told me, it wasn't anything good. And Shuyin… the things he told me… I just didn't want to think about it anymore, but I knew he needed me now more than ever to keep the fight going. I couldn't give in.

"We need to get Yuna and Paine somewhere safe." He began saying, leaning against the rocky wall of Mount Gagazet while he looked at his other half tending to them.

"Where? Where do you expect us to go?" He screamed in response.

We only just found out a short while ago, right after leaving the ruins that the Celsius was out of commission. After Bevelle and our fight against Major Numerus, our airship took on too much damage. Brother and Buddy made some quick repairs to it enough so we could get here to save Yunie, but that was all she had left in her. At present, we were totally stranded. Brother was still working with Buddy on the engines, but it didn't look good. It seemed as though our mission was going to be a failure if we couldn't get to any of the possible target sites quickly enough, but that didn't stop me.

"Vydran!" I screamed into one of the comspheres, "Fa haat yh yencreb huf! Ujan!"

He moaned something weird and low and growlie that I couldn't really make out, but that was fine since I had more in my bag, "E's cunno, E druikrd E raynt socamv cyo UJAN!"

Vydran fell over in his chair and woke up completely after that, coming to the comsphere and shouting something else that was weird and droolie, but then added, "Right, I gotcha! I'ma comin'! Thunder Plains, right? That's the signal I've got here. Nothin' doin', I'll be there in ten!"

Of course, Vydran knew that ten from him meant, "Ugyo, pa rana eh veja sehidac. E muja oui, vydran. Poa poa."

When I got back to our makeshift campsite just outside the airship, I found Shuyin and Paine gone. His other half was still tending to Yunie so I decided I'd ask him what happened while I was gone getting us a ride.

"Well, after Paine woke up, she just grabbed Shuyin and they went off to the other side of the Celsius. I'm not really sure what they're doing back there, but I thought I'd rather not interrupt." He said.

"How's Yunie?" I said, changing the subject.

"I think she's just exhausted. Some time to rest should be fine, but I shouldn't have let it happen."

To be honest, there was nothing I could find wrong with my cous except that she was definitely going to wake up traumatized from being possessed. From what Shuyin told me, he wanted Areth to carry on with his plan and set up those two to be on that path. Areth had no intention of hurting Yunie because he was trying to get us to fight against Shuyin. Why, he didn't know yet, but that's why he wanted to let Areth win a few times. There was something he was waiting for that he hoped was going to both solve all of this and let Spira rest in peace.

After a while, they returned and I found out that Paine wanted to discuss the Trista incident that Areth had shown them. Actually, Shuyin was more than ready for that and, even though he had separated us into two groups to roam around the ruins, Shuyin really took me to the surface of one of the last surviving areas of the old Omega City that was built over the Omega Mines that we called the ruins. He told me that it was here where his dark side took over for a moment and he viciously killed Trista. He had told me that he lost it because of Kirin. That was the night when Areth betrayed him and revealed that Trista was also a traitor. Jurama, Kirin's boyfriend, died from them and Kirin was really hurt by it. He said he was going to do everything in his power to save me from repeating Kirin's fate, but he needed Areth to succeed first. Apparently, he needed those two to know about that, too.

"That's where we stand." He told Paine, going to check on Yunie.

"So, is that still you, or did Dark Shuyin inherit that from you?"

"What are you guys talking about?" The blitz ace asked, clueless as usual.

"It's what I was telling you before. Areth's playing all of you against me so that he can weaken our forces like he did with my friends in the past. That's what he's good at. He'll work into you, make you trust him, and then when your doubt is great enough, that's when he'll drop the bomb and add to the wounds he's already inflicted." Shuyin explained.

"We already accept what you've done, Shuyin. Areth can try, but we'll use his own tactics against him this time!" I shouted.

"That's what I'm hoping to do. Paine's already figured that out. She just wanted to clarify how much of me was reliable. Right now, I'm only worried about his ultimate goal. It's almost impossible he'd hold on as an unsent over just our rivalry. He wanted me dead. He got it. There must be something more to him now, but we're only going to find that out after he's defeated. Just like he did back then, his true motives are only revealed once he's accepted a final stage. For now, he's building to it, which means we're just going to have to play along."

"How long do you think he's going to play around? I'm not getting any younger." Paine grunted, crossing her arms.

"Actually, I think we should focus more on the other issue at hand. If Areth's going to pull old tricks, we have time to deal with him. That's my point."

I decided to help out, "So we'll finish off the shadow while Areth's too busy playing reruns!"

"Then, he'll have nothing left to use against us and we'll squash the rodent wherever he chooses to hide." Shuyin said, clenching his fist tight.

"Heya, did somebody call for some air support?" A loud voice boomed from the sky.

Looking at my watch, I nodded happily that about five minutes had passed and waved up at the Fahrenheit looming above. As it landed, the dirt around the Thunder Plains began to lift, flying all over the place and getting in my hair. Whining a protest, I started hopping toward them and frowned as the ship's rear hatch opened for us to board. As soon as I got inside, I started storming to get to my Vydran's appointed pilot and sock him a good one, but the blitz ace beat me inside, getting Yunie to the med bay on the jiffy.

Even with that, I kept on my approach, but as soon as we all got to the bridge, I was ambush tackled by a kid still in his Bikanel garb. Before he even said a single word, I knew exactly who it had to be and was thrilled to have him back on the team.

"Shinra! Taking a break from the desert campaign, are ya?" I happily greeted, petting the boy genius on his cloaked head.

"Guess even a kid can't stay away too long." He told me, hugging me close.

"I'm sure any growing boy would be happy to see Cid's girl in that getup, if you know what I mean." The familiar annoying voice of Gippal mused.

Vydran didn't like that and glared daggers into the celebrity Al Bhed who could only wave his hands awkwardly to take back his bad joke. I decided to plunk him deeper into his hole and leaned right into him, putting my arms on his shoulder and giving him a look. I was close enough to smell the beads of sweat coming down his neck and, before long, the pirate dashed off back to the engine room.

"Actually, we got a signal just before getting here." Vydran said once we were all situated.

"Where was it and can you pinpoint its source?" Shuyin asked, going over to the main screens.

"Sensors detect the anomaly situated around Kilika Island, but besides that, nothing other than energy readings indicating a cluster of pyreflies." One of the officers on deck told him.

"Keep your eyes out for a visual and call me when you have it." He said, immediately leaving for, what I could guess had to be, the deck.

"Ruf vyn yna fa vnus Kilika?" I asked the pilot.

"Fa'mm pa uh ybbnuylr fedreh dra ruin!"

"Knayd!" I cheered, turning to make my way to the deck with Shuyin until I remembered my own duties.

"Rikku?" Paine asked me curiously, "Weren't you on your way somewhere?"

"Maybe Cid's girl is having second thoughts." A gruff voice said, announcing itself with that mean joke at my expense.

"No, if we're going to Kilika, there's no reason for Areth to go to Kilika. Shuyin and Areth never dealt with each other there, which means it's the other one. If he's going there, he must be looking for more Aeon power. We'll have to be ready for Fire-type magic and probably think about the jungle he'll have to burn with us in it." I said while ignoring Nooj, but I wasn't really sure if anything I was saying would work; after all, I was trying to sound wiser than I really was.

"Whoa, Rikku's got her strategy down!" The blitz ace stammered, telling me my words did the trick.

"Actually, she really has." Dr. P joined in, going over to the monitors to scan the field maps of Kilika Island, "Yea, the jungle between the temple and the village, that's a perfect spot for Ifrit to strike. We should be ready for that."

I had them all distracted with the oncoming battle, well, except one little smarty, "Can I ask Rikku something?"

"What is it?"

"If Dark Shuyin is going to use the pyreflies of the Ifrit faith, won't he construct something that won't share its element anyway? I've been looking over the most recent battle data and it shows that each time Dark Shuyin creates a fiend from an Aeon base, he usually takes away its elemental properties. Actually, it would be advisable for him to do so since the elemental affinities of those Aeons would only give us an advantage with their corresponding weakn…" Shinra kept rambling on before I covered his mouth to stop him.

"Well, for your information, when he was using Valefor, the Major Numerus fiend had an ability call Clione that made big swirling vortexes of energy pop up out of nowhere so it might not have the elemental bits, but it still has the attacks." I told him.

"Is there something more you're not sayi…"

"Well, if you know so much, why don't you let them know what I'm really thinking, huh?"

"I'm just a kid." He said, shaking his head, "But I am interested in that Clione thing. I'm going to go look up the records on him."

Putting a hand up to my forehead and letting loose a sigh, I turned back to the rest of them who had already turned away from me, concentrating on what I had said. After deciding on a good enough workaround regardless of the shadow's advantage in using Kilika to summon an Ifrit variation, they started wondering about certain other things.

"Hey, all this time we've been here yet I think we keep missing one person." Paine noted, looking around.

"Baralai's been through a lot." Nooj explained, "After that last incident in Bevelle, Baralai got wise to what was really going on. All the sightings of a blonde attacking various points of Spira, we were able to steal ahead and confiscate the records, but that, that was too big. There was nothing we could do to cover it up."

"What's he plan to do?" Paine asked, "I can't imagine him sitting in the ruins preparing rebuilding plans."

"He's on the warpath." Nooj said, putting his hand up to his eyebrows, "Last I heard, he was fortifying the defenses around Vegnagun and adding more seals to the Den of Woe."

"Does he really think more cement will stop him from getting those pyreflies and more men will stop him from regaining Vegnagun?" Paine asked.

"No, but those are just the first steps. He's gone more suicidal than I was before. If we don't end this or get some results fast, I'm not sure we'll be able to continue with this mission unabated. We may just have another front to deal with."

I interrupted then, "We'll have to have a result then. After the shadow is defeated, we can show Baralai that the person he wants so bad is gone and he'll just have to focus on Areth instead. If we can get him to help us, everybody will be going after Areth in the end and that unsent'll have no place to hide!"

Again shock greeted me. Everybody was so surprised that I was coming up with the plans this time, it really made me sigh for either Yunie to get better or Shuyin to come down. Still, Yunie's boy came to my side for her and said that it was a good plan, but I knew there had to be that one other reason he'd want the shadow put down so bad. Like Shuyin wanted, first we beat his dark side, then every gun would be turned on Areth and it'd be over quick. I just hoped everything the guy predicted was really going to happen because if it didn't, I didn't want to lose him, too.

We figured out that the shadow was doing all this not because he was trying to kill him. He wanted our Shuyin to remember everything that made him do what he did as the shadow. The shadow needed our Shuyin to be whole, but we didn't know exactly why he'd need him. I was sure some of them were thinking that a physical body was what he needed before when using Vegnagun. What better body for him to possess than his own? I was sure somebody was thinking that because that's what I thought, too.

"Dark Shuyin sighted!" The navigator announced, signaling Shuyin right away before I could slow him down.

From the HUD at the front of the Fahrenheit, all of us watched helplessly as our Shuyin dove down from the deck straight for him. Rushing to the screen, I called out for him, but I knew that wasn't going to do anything. With everybody else in tow, we made a quick sprint to the deck, the Fahrenheit's design much more awkward for fast access to the top hatch than the Celsius'. The pilot descended for Kilika as we made it out and we held on, watching as Shuyin blocked the shadow's fiery Force Rain, using the steady stream of energy to lower himself safely to the ground. As soon as it was safe, all of us also let go of the ship and dropped to his side, readying our weapons against the unsent.

"Nice to have you around, deathseeker." Shuyin said, winking at Nooj.

"Anytime to shower you with munitions."

"Fahrenheit's going to be useless here with all the trees." Gippal noted, whipping out his Grinder.

"It's fine. We already know what we have to do." Paine explained, lifting her sword in attack.

I spherechanged to Psycher and hid behind the others. I knew this battle was going to need me, but not in a straight fight. Our two blonde swordsmen raised their weapons and started us off. They charged right into the shadow, but he turned into pyreflies, spreading himself into the trees. Paine and Nooj circled wide and Gippal began cutting down a few with his weapon. Meanwhile, I saw smoke coming from behind the dense leaves. In my mind, that had to have meant the temple, which meant that the shadow knew we were going to guess at a wildfire and run scenarios that way. Shuyin turned and nodded to me, which told me he knew what was going on, too. Using my teleporting ability, I got myself past the distractions and investigated the temple.

"What? But that's not…" I said surprised, looking at what was there on the steps.

I had initially assumed that the shadow was really going after the temple's priests or some innocent visitors like he had done with Besaid Temple. It was supposed to be his old tactic to lure our Shuyin into worrying about them and losing focus on the fight. Maybe he had learned from failing then that Shuyin was ready to face him completely and even understood that nothing else was going to work toward saving bystanders other than direct combat. Still, if the shadow realized this, what was his idea this time? All that was burning on the temple steps was a few large logs and tipped over lanterns, nothing that could harm the temple itself. Also, there was enough distance from the main entrance for those at the temple to deal with it just like any old accidental fire.

"Shuyin, are you receiving?" I said into my communicator.

"Go ahead, Rikku. What's the status of the temple? Have you cleared out the hostages?" Shuyin replied.

"There aren't any hostages! The fire's a ruse. The temple staff are already putting it out."

Shuyin's growl from the other end showed me that he wasn't ready for it either, "Come inside the forest. We'll deal with the shadow then."

Soaring into the trees, I saw that the shadow was still using his normal swordplay, cutting at the branches and using his acrobatics instead of doing anything Ifrit-ty. When I got to the clearing he created, I saw that Paine was on the ground, pinned down by lots of branches and Gippal was helping her out. Nooj and Shuyin were engaging him to set the stage for the blitz ace hiding in the tree behind him. As soon as I was in range, I switched to Samurai dressphere and threw some fireworks at his feet. The shadow faded back into pyreflies again and knocked his stalker from the trees, grabbing hold of him with the pyreflies and hurling him into Nooj as Shuyin dodged. Shuyin spherechanged to Black Mage and shot them one by one with his lower level spells until it reformed.

"Stand and fight." He told him.

"I didn't come here to rough it out with you like animals… Although, since you seem to like stampeding in like a mad bull, I ought to oblige." The shadow said, forming a blanket of flame around him.

As we all expected, he combined himself with Ifrit. A claw punctured the sheet of fire that kept him from being seen and ripped it away like a curtain. The shadow now had Ifrit's large claws, his jaw also aligned with large teeth too great for his mouth to conceal. His hair grew longer like a mane, lit ablaze at the tips, patches of the same kind of hair also covering the backs of his hands, and reached out from his shirt. The curtain of fire was still in his claw until he flicked it to the side, the flames reaching around us really fast and separating us from the others.

Snarling like a wild beast with his normal blue eyes glowing an angry blue, he roared, "FIGHT ME!"

Shuyin signaled me to stay close, but not to attack and went into the fray. Without even taking three steps forward, the shadow was already on him, claws catching his sword and throwing him back. Shuyin recovered in the air, flipping around and planting his feet into the ground before leaping and slicing down at the shadow. But, being Ifrit, the shadow used its Meteor Strike to throw a volley at him, forcing him to deal with them first. While he was defending himself, the shadow was able to flip up and tackle him back at the ground, swinging a claw down as soon as Shuyin landed. Reacting swiftly, Shuyin spherechanged to Samurai and initiated his Reversal maneuver, knocking the baddie back. Getting up, he motioned for me to come, now that he knew more about how to fight against it.

"What's the plan?" I asked him.

"Flank." He told me, circling left as I nodded and circled right.

Shuyin cast Hayate and told me to do likewise, seeing as the Ifrit in the shadow was giving him heightened speed. With the boost, we were able to avoid the wild charges our enemy kept using on us. It also helped with the Meteor Strikes. The problem was that Hayate was temporary and we were still using up our own stamina to keep going while the shadow had Aeon power, making his assaults effortless. After a few more boosts from Nonpareil, No Fear, and a few more Hayates, we were running short. Also, since he kept dodging us just as much as we were dodging him, our supplies were exhausted. I spent the last of my Sparklers keeping it off me while I was trying to get another Nonpareil going, but he just dodged that and my next strike, throwing a Fira-irradiated claw at me to take away my Protect and Shell spells. Without those helping my defense and the last bits of my speed drained, I wasn't going to hold out much longer. At first, I hid that fact from him well enough to make him go after Shuyin instead while I looked for an Ether or Elixir, but his menacing eyes eventually found me looking and charged at me full speed.

"Rikku!" Shuyin called out, motioning for me to duck.

After I did so, I saw that he used Dismissal on his odachi and threw it into the shadow's back, causing him to flinch and drop behind me. Turning around, I quickly readied my katana for a Zantetsu, but he recovered really fast and deflected the sword away before tackling me to the ground, his huge claws pinning me to the grass. While he attacked, I struggled and managed to free one arm, but that only ended up helping him when he went down to bite me. I had to hold him back with my free hand, but that let him use his free claw to swipe away at my armor, tearing it away and leaving me defenseless.

"Let her GO!" I heard Shuyin scream, knowing he really had only one option left.

"What you gonna do about it?"

Shuyin had a dressphere on his Garment Grid that was probably the best match for this guy, but just as I figured it out by then, I knew he had to have figured it out, too. The shadow was luring Shuyin to spherechanging into Berserker, the dressphere that he couldn't control before. If he used it, he would definitely beat the shadow, but if he couldn't control the dressphere like last time, he'd just as likely kill me, too. I knew he didn't want to chance it, but I was at the end of my rope either way.

"Shuyin, just do it! Better one of us making it out than neither of us!" I screamed, his claw raising to slice me apart.

"As soon as I get him clear, you run, got it?" He shouted, getting his Garment Grid ready.

"I believe in you, Shuyin. You haven't failed me yet." I said as calmly as I could to remind him of Kirin and shed him of his doubts.

With a terrifying howl, Shuyin stormed in and jumped on the shadow, biting him all over and scratching every time his grip loosened. But even with that, the shadow managed to knock him away, lifting me up with a claw to my back, holding me up in front of him. When Shuyin recovered, I could see how much he was struggling with it, but one thing was for sure…

"What's the matter? Anger getting the better of you?"

"Ri…kku…" Shuyin growled, his eye giving out a slight wink before he went back on his haunches.

Popping up my hip, I managed to get my Garment Grid out and kicked it right on my Thief Dressphere. The light from my spherechange caused the shadow to flinch and, when I was fully changed, my speed and flexibility let me wiggle out of his grasp and kick him in the face for good measure, using the momentum I got from it to leap away just in time for Shuyin to gore him to the ground and start slashing and biting at him. The two of them rolled around for a while, but with Berserker only abilities like Hurt and Cripple, even Ifrit's feral power couldn't hold up against it. Even when the shadow flung Shuyin away and pulled together, an instant Mad Rush toppled him over again.

"You…" He tried to tell Shuyin.

Without letting him finish, Shuyin flip-kicked an Eject ability at the shadow, launching him away, his pyreflies releasing those of the Ifrit fayth. Landing, he turned and said, "Button it."

"Shuyin, are you alright?" I asked.

Turning to me with a snarl, he lowered back onto his haunches and leaped into me, tackling me to the ground. With a growl, he moved his face closer to mine, his hot breath grumbling lowly, "I'm fine, how about you?"

Taking the opportunity to lick my cheek, he popped off and reverted back to his normal form. I got up and wiped the drool from my face and gave him a pout as the rest of the team rejoined us.

"What just happened?" Gippal asked, scratching his head.

"Only one more to go." Shuyin said, looking at me.

"Where do you think he'll go?"

"Where else? Where do you go when you're out of options?"

"Home."

"Zanarkand." Shuyin breathed.

Translations from Al Bhed:

Vydran, Fa haat yh yencreb huf! Ujan! –

Father, We need an airship now! Over!

E's cunno, E druikrd E raynt socamv cyo UJAN! –

I'm sorry, I thought I heard myself say OVER!

Ugyo, pa rana eh veja sehidac. E muja oui, vydran. Poa poa. –

Okay, be here in five minutes. I love you, father. Bye bye.

Ruf vyn yna fa vnus Kilika?

How far are we from Kilika?

Fa'mm pa uh ybbnuylr fedreh dra ruin!

We'll be on approach within the hour!

Knayd!

Great!

Author's Note: It seems as though we're missing out. Just what is it that Rikku and Shuyin know about the situation? What do they hope to do with that knowledge to help them in the battles to come? Are they on the right track? Also, it seems Shuyin's getting much more comfortable using his new Garment Grid. The power he received when he first used the Black Mage dressphere was enticing enough; just what else does he have to look forward to? And does he crave that power?