Chapter 21: Sapphires and Diamonds

The desolate, lightning-lit gloom of the Thunder Plains abruptly ended, transforming into a narrow path surrounded by a huge forest made entirely of blue crystal trees. "This place looks like something out of a fantasy novel!" Charlie thought to herself, trailing behind as she absently watched Rikku jump for joy and run after the others. "Whatever this place is, it's definitely not natural!"

"That's because it isn't, remember?" said the snide little voice. "None of this is natural, because all of this is a game…or have you forgotten that little detail?"

Chagrined, she paused, realizing that what the voice said was true. "I have been forgetting that…but this is more than a game now, despite what went on before! I keep forgetting that it's supposed to be a game, because I never actually played the game before, nor have I watched anyone else play it. Hell…even if it was just a game, this place and these people are real now. They care, fight, bleed…and die…just like anyone back home. You know what? Even if this IS just supposed to be a game, that doesn't matter...at least not to me, not anymore. These people are my friends, and I'm going to help them, come hell or high water!"

"Friends, huh? Are you sure about that? I mean, I bet you'd like to be more than 'just friends' with Auron…"

"SHUT UP! I DO NOT feel that way about him! It was just a reaction to all the adrenaline I got from the fight, nothing more!"

The little voice laughed, "All right, I'll leave you alone about that…for now. You'd just better hope that your 'friendship' doesn't land them in the same boat as Marcus…"

Finally, Charlie's conscience left her alone, and her thoughts drifted to her concern for Yuna. Before her worries could completely capture her attention, Auron walked out ahead of her and stopped. "You're worried about Yuna," he said.

"What the hell…did he just read my mind?" Charlie blinked for a moment, and then realized Auron was staring at her, waiting for an answer. "She's my friend, Auron! Of course I'm worried! What the hell is she thinking, marrying that creep?"

"The simplest answer would be…in exchange for agreeing to marry him…she hopes to negotiate with Seymour."

"What could she possibly hope to negotiate with that guy?"

"I wonder," Auron trailed off thoughtfully.

"And she wants to do this all by herself?" Charlie was incredulous.

"She's strong, but Seymour is the better negotiator."

"Can't we do something about it?"

Auron shook his head. "Yuna wants it this way."

"What? Doesn't she trust us?"

"On the contrary…she doesn't want us caught up in whatever she's planning."

Charlie hung her head. "I thought so. It doesn't make me feel any better though. I just wish she'd tell us what's going on!"

"That's the way she is. She's naïve, serious to a fault, and doesn't ask for help."

Just then, they rounded the corner and saw the rest of the group waiting for them. Charlie noticed the look of determination in Yuna's eyes, and sighed, "I guess you're right."

"Yuna's easy to read," Auron chuckled, walking away. Then he paused, and said, "But hard to guard. Stand by her, always."

Charlie stared at the older guardian's back as he left her to rejoin the group, thinking, "Yuna is my friend. People can say whatever they like about me, but I stand by my friends, no matter what! If she really wants to marry Seymour, that's fine, but if he even puts a single TOE wrong, he's going to choke to death on those handlebars of his as I cram them down his throat!" She stopped and blinked. "Good God, when did I become such a violent person?"

Finally, she shook herself out of her thoughts and caught up with the others at the nearby Life Spring. "Slowpokes!" Rikku teased, her green eyes sparkling merrily.

"Sorry about that," Charlie sheepishly replied. "Anyway, shouldn't we be going?"

…

The seven of them carefully threaded their way through the narrow, twisting paths of the crystal forest, and fought various fiends along the way. The strangest and most colorful of the fiends in the forest, however, was actually a hodgepodge of various animals: three-headed, with a lion, a bull, and an eagle's head all resting on its massive shoulders, hoofed feet like a cow's, and a huge yellow snake for a tail. "What in the name of all things cute and fluffy is that?" Charlie yelped when the ill-assorted beast came into view.

"A Chimera," Lulu explained. "It's strong both physically and magically, so we need to be careful."

The Chimera let out a peculiar noise that sounded like a roar, a screech, and a bellow all rolled into one, and suddenly dropped to all fours. The great yellow serpent-tail reared up, fixed the group with a baleful stare, and hissed loudly, calling down several bolts of lightning in an attempt to strike down everyone at once. Fortunately, Yuna managed to nullify most of the attacks with a defensive spell, but it did not help Rikku, who was upset at having to deal with yet more lightning. "That's it!" she screamed angrily, reaching into her belt pouch and pulling out a small round object that looked eerily familiar to Charlie.

"Uh…Rikku? That wouldn't happen to be a grenade, would it?"

Instead of answering, the Al Bhed chucked the grenade at the Chimera's tail, which stopped its frenzied spell casting in favor of attacking and devouring the little bomb. The subsequent explosion blew off most of the offending appendage and sprayed a great deal of greenish-white blood all over the place. The mixed-up fiend reared up, all three heads shrieking in agony, and then its eagle head opened its beak and sprayed everyone with a jet of water with the force of a fire hose, knocking them to the ground. Kimahri managed to get to his feet just as the Chimera charged, and then retaliated with his own burst of water, bowling the fiend over and giving the rest of the group time to recover.

Wakka was the next one to get up, and he slammed his blitzball into the monster's lion face, knocking it off balance long enough for Charlie to rush in and stab it in the stomach with her sword. Unfortunately, the blade became stuck, and she had to abandon it, or risk the enraged fiend tearing her to shreds. "Why won't this thing just die already?" she yelled, casting a weak Fire spell at it since it still had her sword in its gut.

Ignoring the spell, the Chimera let out a furious bellow and charged forward yet again, batting Wakka out of the way and nearly trampling Yuna, when suddenly, Lulu stepped forward, her red eyes flashing brightly, and shouted, "Thundara!"

A bolt of lightning much larger than anything the Chimera could produce fell from the sky like the wrath of the almighty and struck the mismatched monster. It screamed again and twitched violently as the electricity surged through its body, and then Auron stepped up and cut off its middle head with an almost casual air. As the dead fiend keeled over sideways, the swordsman grabbed the Brotherhood's hilt with his free hand and wrenched it free of its prison in the slowly disintegrating Chimera. "Here," he said bluntly, turning and handing the sword to Charlie. "See that you don't lose it again."

Charlie took the weapon, but did not respond to the guardian's brusque tone. Instead, she concentrated her efforts on cleaning the disgustingly hued blood off the blade before putting it away. Finally, she turned back to Auron and coolly said, "Shouldn't we get going, Oh Fearless Leader?"

Before he could answer, Barthello came around the corner, running as if his pants were on fire. "Hey!" he shouted, stopping to pant heavily once he reached the group. "You…have you seen Dona?"

"Dona? No, the last time we saw her was back at Djose Temple," Charlie replied.

"What's up?" Wakka asked.

The hulking guardian turned to the blitzer and said, "We got separated on the way here." Suddenly, a hint of panic appeared in his expression, and he yelled, "Damn it all! I've got to find her!"

"Well, I guess I owe myself fifty bucks," Charlie inwardly sighed. "I just knew this muscle-bound gladiator wannabe would lose her…of course, that might actually be a good thing…"

"Calm down," Auron said, composed as always.

Barthello gave the swordsman a look as if he had just fallen from space. "But if anything happens to her…"

"Running around in a panic is not going to help," Auron told him. "Right now, you have to keep cool and search."

"But…"

"Guard your emotions, then guard your summoner."

Auron's piercing gaze held Barthello's squinty, yet slightly vacant one as the wheels in the brutish guardian's head slowly began to turn. After what felt like an eternity, Barthello calmed down, and in a serious tone, said, "You're right."

"Shall we search?" Auron asked.

Barthello shook his head. "No, I've taken up enough of your time. Thank you, Sir Auron."

Then the hulking guardian performed the prayer, while Auron looked faintly embarrassed, and then ran off into the cool blue shadows of the crystal forest. As he disappeared into the woods, Rikku ran to the front of the group and watched him depart, an odd, slightly sly look on her face. "What's up?" Wakka asked, confused by her odd behavior.

"Oh, I just wanted to wish him good luck," the Al Bhed nonchalantly replied.

The seven of them departed again, and as they walked, Charlie sidled up to Auron and said, "I saw that, and I thought that was really sweet of you."

"What are you talking about?" he replied, not looking at her.

"Your offer to help your little fanboy find Dona!" she grinned. "That was so sweet I could have poured it on my pancakes!"

Auron sighed disgustedly, and although his collar hid most of it, Charlie could tell he was blushing. "You aren't as cold as you think you are, are you, Mr. I-Act-Like-I-Don't-Give-a-Damn?"

…

Several hours later, after some odd encounters that included a musical birdman who offered to let them chase magic butterflies, the party finally made it to the other side of the woods. They started to exit the forest, when suddenly Auron halted the group. "Wait. It is here…somewhere."

"What's here?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Something you should see," he replied, drawing his sword and walking up to a path blocked by a massive crystalline branch.

"But Sir Auron…" Yuna protested, letting her voice trail off.

"It won't take long," he promised.

Auron hacked and slashed his way through the tree, opening the path with several well-placed strikes. "Well, aren't you a regular Paul Bunyan…" Charlie thought sarcastically, not wanting to admit that Auron's little display impressed her. "Only you're a hundred times shorter and don't have a blue ox following you around."

Everyone followed the now clear path, which led them to a dead-end at a spring beneath one of the forest's larger trees. "Hey, this is pretty and all, but why are we here?" Charlie demanded. "We've got plenty of water, so it's not like we needed to stop."

"This is what spheres are made of," Auron explained. "It absorbs and preserves people's memories."

Suddenly, something oozed out of the spring, and floated into the air. It looked like a large blue cell, only with a tear-shaped stone in the center instead of a nucleus. "What is that?" Wakka asked, pulling out his blitzball as the pulsing sphere floated closer.

"Fiends are also attracted to these places," Auron replied, drawing his own weapon.

The battle began, but it quickly became apparent that physical attacks were useless against the fiend's gelatinous body, since any wound inflicted vanished almost instantly. To make matters worse, the big blob retaliated to every single attack by casting Blizzard on the group. "Damn it! How the hell are we supposed to hurt this thing if it just keeps healing itself after every attack?" Charlie snarled after seeing yet another of its wounds disappear.

"Lu! Use your magic on this thing!" Wakka yelled as the gel unleashed another Blizzard attack on the party.

Before the mage could cast a spell, however, the fiend launched itself into the air, took the form of a huge block, and fell on her, Wakka, and Rikku, smashing them into the ground. "Oh shit!" "Yuna! Are they okay?" Charlie asked, staring at the unmoving forms of her friends.

"They will be," the summoner replied, feverishly casting Cure spells on them.

"Charlie, pay attention!" Auron barked, pulling her out of the way just as a long blue tentacle shot past.

"Thanks,' she absently replied, studying the floating fiend. "Physical attacks aren't working, but we still don't know what magic will do, since it knocked Lulu out before she could do anything…but I have a little magic, so maybe I can do something! I just hope the damn thing is weak against Fire, since that's the only spell I can cast!" With that plan in mind, Charlie pointed at the blob, summoned up her power, and shouted, "Fire!"

A small tongue of flame burst into life, then exploded into an inferno as it crawled across the fiend's amorphous body as if it were made of gasoline. The monstrous creature thrashed in soundless agony, and then lashed out with another tentacle as the flames died down. Unfortunately, Charlie didn't get out of the way in time, and the tendril wrapped around her waist, hauled her skyward, shook her violently, and then flung her into Kimahri. "Bastard!" she spat, rolling off the slightly squashed Ronso. "Sorry about that, big guy!"

Kimahri grunted, got to his feet, and pointed at the fiend, which glowed brightly for a moment, before turning back to normal and attacking again. "Charlie, can you still use your magic?" Auron asked, barely evading the blob as it took on the form of a narrow block and tried to crush him. When the young woman gave him a curious look, he said, "Your Fire spell hurt it last time, so try it again!"

"Right, Chief!" Charlie turned to the gel and used her pathetic spell again, but this time, the fiend did not react at all. "Why the hell didn't it work?"

"It must have the ability to change elemental weaknesses every time something strikes it with magic!" Lulu exclaimed, finally rejoining the battle. "Now all we need to do is discover what its new weakness is."

Just then, Rikku and Wakka rejoined the battle, giving Charlie, Auron, and Kimahri time to retreat and catch their breath. The Al Bhed nimbly skipped forward, deftly evading a tentacle that tried to grab her ankle, and lashed out with the clawed knuckles she wore on her right hand. The attack did not inflict much damage, but it did cause the fiend to respond by casting a spell. Instead of clouds of ice, this time, the blob rained thunderbolts down on the group. "I hate lightning!" Rikku complained as she backed out of range.

"Watera!" Lulu cried, a dark blue aura appearing around her as she raised her hands to the sky.

In response to her call, a pillar of water erupted from the spring with the force of a geyser, causing the gel to writhe in silent agony once again. After the spell's effects faded, the fiend shifted elements yet again, but before anyone could attack, it launched itself into the air, took on the form of the narrow block, and smashed Auron just as he tried to strike it with his sword. Then it stretched itself out into a pair of thin tentacles and spun around in a circle, pulling everyone's feet out from under them. Charlie swore profusely and tried to get to her feet, but saw the blob's wide block form hovering over her head, and shut her eyes and cringed against the unavoidable impending blow. "Oh hell…"

That blow never came. Surprised, the young guardian opened her eyes and gaped as she saw Ifrit standing over her and Lulu, holding the fiend back with just his brute strength. The aeon roared, the sound of a wildfire evident in its voice, and gave the two women a look they had no trouble reading. "Get out of the way!" Lulu and Charlie wasted no time in scrambling to safety, as the creature's block form melted and actually tried to engulf Ifrit! The demon fought back, however, tearing great chunks of goo out of its body with his huge claws.

In its attempt to swallow the aeon however, the fiend spread itself too thin to protect its core and Ifrit managed to catch the tear-shaped object in his mouth and slowly crushed it. Without the core, the rest of the creature twitched violently, releasing the demon from its grip before melting and disintegrating into pyreflies, leaving behind nothing but an old sphere. Charlie picked up the object, let out a huge sigh of relief, and said, "That was too close for comfort! Thanks, Yuna!"

The summoner smiled modestly as she sent the triumphant aeon away, and then she and the rest of the group gathered around to look at the sphere. "Whoa, this is old!" Wakka exclaimed, his eyes widening as he examined it. "Don't know if you can play it back."

"Jecht left it here ten years ago," Auron said, drawing surprised gasps from everyone. "Play it back."

Charlie gave the swordsman a doubtful look, but did as told and pushed the little button at the sphere's base. It lit up, and after a brief moment of static, an all-too familiar voice rang out, saying, "What are you taking?"

"Hey, that's sounds like Auron, only younger and…more arrogant," Charlie thought, not taking her eyes off the image.

Suddenly, another voice, one that sounded cocky and brash, replied, "Well, you said it was gonna be a long trip!" The image on the sphere shifted, as if someone was using it like a video camera, and stopped on what could only be Braska and Auron as they walked away from a huge temple. "We'll be seeing a lot of neat things, right?" Jecht continued, "So I thought I'd record it all in this…to show to my wife and kid, you know."

Charlie gaped at the image of Auron from ten years past, thinking, "My God, he must have had every woman in wherever they are constantly chasing him! I'm willing to bet he was as much a sanctimonious jackass as he was pretty, though."

"This is no pleasure cruise!" Young Auron snapped, glaring at Jecht.

"Looks like I was right."

"Hey, Braska," Jecht called, ignoring the conceited guardian's remark and turning the camera to the summoner. "Ain't this supposed to be a grand occasion? Where are all the cheering fans, the crying women?"

"This is it," Braska replied, turning around. "Too many goodbyes…people think twice about leaving."

"He sounded really kind, but so sad. Poor man…"

"Hmm…If you say so. Well, it better be a lot more colorful when we come back. A parade for Braska, vanquisher of Sin!"

Braska laughed, and then shook his head. "We should go. Day will break soon."

The image faded to black, as if the camera was turned off, and then brightened again, showing everyone the image of Jecht and Auron in a frozen landscape, standing far apart as if reluctant to go near one another. Braska, apparently in charge of the sphere camera, said, "Auron, could you stand closer to him?"

Young Auron gave the summoner a look that clearly said he would rather die, but nodded, sighed, and after a long moment, walked over to Jecht and stood next to him under a brilliantly colored banner that read "Lake Macalania". "Good, that should do it," Braska called, signaling that they could separate.

"What's the matter?" Jecht taunted, giving Auron a roguish grin. "Afraid I might bite?"

"Jecht…" the swordsman groaned in exasperation.

"Braska!" Jecht shouted, cutting off whatever Auron was about to say. "You should take one, too! It'd make a great gift for little Yuna!"

"I suppose…" Braska trailed off.

Just then, Auron stepped forward and said, "Lord Braska…we shouldn't be wasting our time like this!"

"What's the hurry, man?" Jecht demanded, obviously knowing that the question would only further aggravate the straitlaced guardian.

Auron turned around, and while the group could not actually see it, Charlene was quite sure he had just given Jecht "The Look". "Let me tell you what the hurry is!"

"Auron!" Braska called, turning off the sphere in his rush to separate what had to be an impending fight.

"I bet those two nearly drove Braska out of his mind!" Charlie inwardly sighed, rolling her eyes. "They probably did nothing but bicker and fight during the whole trip!"

She shook her head in disgust, and started to turn the sphere off, but then Rikku said, "Hey, I think there's more."

The sphere lit up again, and this time, a view of the tree and the spring appeared. Jecht stood before it, an uncharacteristic somber look on his face as he gazed at the camera. "Hey. If you're sitting there, watching this…it means you're stuck in Spira, like me," he said, startling Charlie. Before she could say or think anything, however, he continued to speak. "You might not know when you'll get back home, but you'd better not be crying! Although…I guess I'd understand. But you know what? There's a time when you have to stop crying and move on. You'll be fine. Remember, you're my son, and…well, uh…" He shifted uncomfortably, then got up and walked toward the sphere camera. "Never mind. I'm not good at these things." The sphere darkened briefly, and then brightened again on an unhindered view of the spring. "Anyways…I believe in you. Be good. Goodbye."

The recording finished, the sphere shut down, and Charlie looked up and said, "Wow, he sounded pretty serious there at the end." "I could almost swear that he was talking to me in that sphere, except that I don't cry, and I'm definitely not his son!"

"He was serious," Auron replied, snapping her out of her reverie. "Jecht had already accepted his fate."

"Fate?"

"Jecht…he…he was always talking about going home, to Zanarkand. That's why he took all those pictures: to show them to his son when he returned. But as he journeyed with us and came to understand Braska's resolve…it happened gradually, but Jecht changed. He decided he would join Braska in his fight against Sin."

Charlie gaped for a long moment in stunned disbelief, partly because of Jecht's decision, and partly because the explanation was the longest series of words to come out of Auron's mouth in all the time she knew him. Finally, she shook her head and asked, "Why did he give up on going home?"

"It was his decision," Auron simply replied.

"It was his decision…just as it was mine, back in Guadosalam, when the purple kid gave me the chance to go home. He stayed to help Braska, just as I decided to stay and help Yuna. We may not be related, but I guess we really ARE connected, at least in this. I mean, I want to go home, but I want to help my friends more." Charlie looked up at Yuna, who was a little teary-eyed at seeing a living image of her father again, and said, "Okay, let's go."

Everyone turned and left, but when Charlie moved to follow them, Auron stopped her. "Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"Jecht…loved Tidus."

"I know," she sighed, hanging her head. "Back during Operation Mi'ihen, when I chased after Sin, I saw him…I saw Jecht. He didn't say anything to me, not in words, but I saw an image of Tidus, and I felt his sadness. He loved his son, and I got the feeling that he never told him so."

Auron nodded. "He didn't know how to express it, he said."

"Yeah…" Charlie felt an echo of that alien sorrow wash over her, but shook it off. "Damn it, this just really depressed the hell out of me!" She looked up at Auron, who started to walk away, and said, "Hey, wait!" When he stopped and turned around, she asked, "Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?" he asked, giving her a suspicious look.

"Walking around with a stick up your ass for all those years…" she grinned. "Did it hurt?"

…

Some time later, the seven of them finally exited the crystal forest and arrived in the frozen wilderness they first saw in the image from the old sphere. Nearby stood one of Rin's Travel Agencies, and standing outside it were a grumbling O'aka, Clasko, and the surviving chocobo. "Hi there," the Chocobo Knight said, turning around to look at Charlie. "Would you look at this? They always leave me behind." Suddenly, the chocobo let out a loud wark, and nudged at him. "Oh, you want me to scratch you?" he asked, turning and rubbing the chocobo's throat. The friendly bird chirped contentedly, and Clasko ended the caresses and patted it on the neck. "There. Good boy!"

"How in the world did you do that?" Charlie wanted to know, amazed at the knight's talent.

"I've always been able to tell how chocobos feel," Clasko replied. "Maybe I'd be a better chocobo breeder than Chocobo Knight, huh? Hey, what job do you see me doing?"

"I think you'd make a great chocobo breeder!" Charlie told him.

"Yeah! I think so too! You know, I just might give it a try."

"Well good luck with that! I know you can do it!"

With that, Charlene left Clasko to his own devices, and ran to catch up to the gang as they started down the icy path to the temple. Along the way, they ran into Tromell, who had apparently been waiting for them. "Lady Yuna, we've been expecting you," he beamed, looking for all the world like Yuna had decided to marry him instead of Seymour. "We were surprised you decided to come so soon…pleasantly surprised, of course. Lord Seymour sends his apologies for having left without notice."

"Oh yeah? Well 'Lord' Seymour can take his apologies and shove them up his…"

"It's quite all right," Yuna replied, interrupting Charlie's train of thought. The summoner then gave the elderly Guado a troubled look and said, "I have one question, if I may, sir."

"My lady?"

"I want to keep journeying, even if I marry. Do you think that Maester Seymour would let me?"

"But of course, my lady," Tromell reassured her. "Lord Seymour wishes nothing else, I'm sure."

Satisfied with that answer, Yuna turned to the group, nodded, and then turned to join Tromell. "Goodbye," she told them, sounding almost as if she expected to never see them again.

"Well…" Tromell began, looking mildly uncomfortable, "We must follow Guado tradition. I'll have to ask you to wait here a little while longer. I'll send someone to escort you."

"Escort? You mean kill us all, don't you? This isn't right!"

Yuna started to walk away, but then she stopped and gave her guardians a doubtful look. "I…"

"We're all with you," Auron told her, cutting off whatever apology she was about to make. "Do as you will."

"Thank you."

Yuna walked away with Tromell, and as everyone watched her depart, Charlie suddenly waved her hands in the air and shouted, "Yuna!"

When the summoner stopped in the middle of an open ice field and turned around, she put her fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle, just as she had back in Luca. "Yes ma'am!" Yuna shouted back, smiling and waving.

Suddenly, Rikku let out a loud gasp, and shouted, "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?" Charlie demanded, whipping around just in time to see several large snowmobiles seemingly appear out of nowhere.

"Al Bhed!" Wakka cried, spitting the name out like a curse as he pulled out his blitzball and ran down the hill to aid Tromell and Yuna, just as the machina and their riders reached them.

Everyone else quickly followed the blitzer's lead, and rushed to the aid of their summoner as the snowmobiles came to a stop and the Al Bhed jumped off. "Stand back," Auron said, interposing himself between Yuna and one of the marauding commandoes.

"Thank you!" Tromell cried as he tried to lead Yuna to safety. Suddenly, the summoner wrenched herself free of the Guado's grip, and ran back to aid the others, much to his dismay. "Lady Yuna!"

The Al Bhed encircled the group, apparently ready to fight, and as Charlie drew the Brotherhood, she looked the nearest raider in the eye and, in rather accented Al Bhed, growled, "E tu hud drehg cu, pycdynt!" (I do not think so, bastard!)

This drew startled looks from both the raider and Rikku, who raised an eyebrow and said, "Wow! You've been practicing, huh?"

"You bet!" Charlie grinned. "You think he understood me?"

Rikku nodded, then turned her attention back to the other Al Bhed. However, all the fight seemed to drain out of the attacking squadron, and they quickly turned and ran away. Just when everyone thought the fight was over, however, a man Charlie recognized as the tattooed leader of the salvage crew appeared on top of the hill, glared down at the group, and yelled something she could not completely understand to Rikku. "Don't…something…or you get this?" The young woman did not have to wonder long, though, because a massive, tank-like machina-cannon rolled up the hill to join the mohawk-wearing moron. "Gee, talk about overcompensating!" she growled, rolling her eyes as the machine performed an odd display, showing enough guns to supply a small army.

The tattooed man laughed coldly, and then made a statement about magic and aeons Charlie did not quite understand. "Oh, no!" Rikku wailed, looking worried.

"What the hell did he say?"

"He's gonna use an anti-magic field on us!" the Al Bhed replied.

"Kad dras!" Tattoo-Boy shouted, as the cannon rolled down onto the ice field.

When the monstrous machina finally came to a stop, a small hatch above the main gun opened, and a much smaller machina launched into the air and hovered over the area. "Yunie, Lulu! That flying machina is blocking your magic and aeons, so just stand back and let us handle this, okay?" Rikku told them as she tossed a grenade at the cannon.

Neither the summoner nor the mage liked the idea, but they nodded and stepped back as the others assaulted various points of the machina. "Wakka, hurry up and break the drone so we can help out!" Lulu yelled, irritated at having to stand on the sidelines.

Before the blitzer could respond, however, the bottom half of the cannon opened up, revealing all the smaller guns it displayed earlier, and fired them on the group in a frenzy, forcing everyone to drop to the ground or risk getting shot full of holes. "Damn that was close!" Charlie shouted, clambering to her feet as the machina finally stopped firing and resorted to ramming attacks. "How the hell am I supposed to fight something that uses machine guns? I don't have the kind of strength Kimahri and Auron have, so my sword is virtually useless, and as long as 'Robo-Gnat' is flying around, I can't use magic! Boy, I sure could use an idea right about now…"

Just then, Wakka managed to knock the flying drone out of the air, lifting the anti-magic field on the area, allowing Lulu to join the fight and Yuna to heal the wounded. Unfortunately, it also allowed the giant cannon to use a new trick, since there now was a light pulsing on the end of its main gun. Then another light lit up, followed by a third, and a high-pitched whine rang through the icy air as something inside the machina powered up. "Everyone, look out!" Rikku screamed, as the fourth and final light lit up.

Suddenly, Charlie felt a lurch, as if the world just shifted six inches to the right, as the cannon fired an enormous beam of searing red energy at the group. The ray struck the ice and exploded, its impact knocking everyone off their feet. When the dust finally cleared and Charlie could see again, no one else was moving, as far as she could tell. "You…you son of a BITCH!" she shrieked, flinging herself at the machina and scrambling up its side, out of the reach of its formidable arsenal.

Once she made it to the top, the enraged girl hacked away at the paneling, which was less heavily armored than the bottom half of the machine, until the metal finally gave way, and then she reached inside and ripped out as many wires as she could find. Just then, the nearby hatch opened, and an Al Bhed climbed out and yelled, "Rao! Fryd tu oui drehg oui yna tuehk? Cdub dryd!" (Hey! What do you think you are doing? Stop that!)

He grabbed her by an ankle and dragged her away from the hole, but it was already too late. Fortunately, the main cannon simply shut down, instead of exploding, which was a possibility that had not occurred to Charlie when she first climbed atop the machine. "I suppose I should have thought that through, but no time to worry about that now!" she thought, kicking the enraged Al Bhed in the head. She continued kicking at her attacker, all the while shouting, "Let me go! Let me go!" "Uh…damn…what was it again?" "Mad sa ku!"

"Fro? Zicd palyica oui ghuf cusa Al Bhed?" he snarled, refusing to let go, "E drehg hud!" (Why? Just because you know some Al Bhed? I think not!)

"I didn't understand a word you just said, but fine then!"

With that, Charlie rolled off the side of the malfunctioning machina, taking the man, who she guessed was the pilot, with her. The two of them hit the ice, somehow managing not to break anything except for his grip on her leg. The guardian managed to recover her sword, get to her feet, and point it at her attacker. "Tysh eteud guardian!" he spat, glaring up at her. (Damn idiot guardian!)

The young woman sighed and stepped back, giving the pilot room to get up. "Look," she sighed disgustedly. "Your stupid machine's busted, so just get the hell out of here already!" When he gave her an uncomprehending and suspicious look, she waved the Brotherhood at him and shouted, "KU!" (GO!)

Charlene watched the Al Bhed turn and run up the hill, and turned around just in time to see everyone else get to their feet. "Oh thank God you guys are okay!"

"Yeah, that was pretty close!" Wakka agreed, giving her a "Freak Show" look. "What were you thinking, climbing that thing like that?"

"I don't know…" she sighed. "I just figured it'd shut down if I ripped out enough wires, and…"

Suddenly, the machina jerked, and returned to life, causing the two of them to back away in alarm, just as the tattooed man reappeared on top of the hill with a small black box in his hand. "Vuumc!" he shouted, waving the box in the air. "E pnuikrd y nameda eh lyca uv yh asankahlo!" (Fools! I brought a remote in case of an emergency!)

"He's got a remote!" Rikku translated in dismay.

"Does it actually work?" Lulu was curious.

"Uh…I'm not really sure."

Apparently, it did work, but all the device did was make the machina move, so the only attack it could use was the ramming one from earlier. After narrowly evading a couple of attacks however, Yuna decided that she had had enough, and raised her staff to the sky. In response to her silent call, a series of lightning bolts rained down around her, and then struck the end of her rod, causing it to glow like a beacon. Then she swung it around, and the bolt launched itself into the empty air, creating a shining sigil that opened a brilliant white hole in the middle of nothing. The summoner pulled on her staff, and then a great golden horn appeared, followed by its owner, a magnificent black and silver unicorn which burst through the opening with a sound of shattering glass before trotting to a stop next to its caller. "Holy hell, is that the aeon Yuna got from Djose?" Charlie asked, staring at the amazing creature.

"Yes, that is Ixion," Auron replied.

"Thor's Hammer!" Yuna commanded, pointing at the swiftly approaching machina.

The unicorn reared up on its hind legs, its horn shining brightly for a brief moment before unleashing a huge thunderbolt that lifted the cannon into the air in a scintillating ball of blue-white electricity. The half-busted machine continued to float, suspended on a string of lightning, until finally, Ixion sent another burst of energy sailing up the link, causing a huge, blinding explosion. When the light and sound faded, only a few smoldering pieces of metal remained as evidence of the machina's existence. The tattooed Al Bhed at the top of the hill stared at the wreckage in stunned disbelief as Tromell and Yuna walked away again, and then glared down at Rikku and yelled, "E femm damm Vydran!" (I will tell Father!)

Rikku looked up at him and made a long reply about Yuna and a guardian, and finally, the tattooed man turned and ran away. "I told him I was a guardian," she explained, turning to face the group. "Well, guess I had to, really."

"How come you speak Al Bhed?" Wakka asked, not understanding. "Why?"

He then turned to look at Charlie and Lulu, who said nothing as Rikku softly replied, "Because I'm Al Bhed, and that…was my brother."

"You knew?" he asked, looking back at the other two women, who nodded silently. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We knew you'd be upset," Lulu replied.

Wakka turned back to Rikku and scowled at her. "This is just great. I can't believe I've been traveling with an Al Bhed! A heathen!"

"You're wrong!" Rikku shouted. "We have nothing against Yevon!"

"But you Al Bhed use the forbidden machina! You know what that means? Sin was born because people used machina!"

"You got proof? Show me proof!"

"It's in Yevon's teachings!" the furious blitzer snapped. "Not that you'd know!"

"That's not good enough!" Rikku retorted. "Yevon says this, Yevon says that! Can't you think for yourself?"

"Well, then you tell me! Where did Sin come from, huh?" he demanded, quickly changing tactics.

The Al Bhed paused for a long moment, and finally stammered, "I…I don't know!"

"You badmouth Yevon and that's all you can come up with?" Wakka sneered, looking as if he might hit her.

"But…that doesn't mean you should do whatever they say without thinking!" Rikku protested. "Nothing will ever change that way!"

"Nothing has to change!"

"You want Sin to keep coming back? There might be a way to stop it you know!"

"Sin will be gone once we atone for our past mistakes!"

"When? How?"

"If we keep faith in Yevon's teachings, it will be gone one day!" the blitzer stubbornly replied.

"Why do I even bother?" Rikku whispered, staring down at her shoes as her eyes filled with tears.

"Rikku, will this move?" Auron suddenly asked, walking over to one of the abandoned snowmobiles.

The Al Bhed turned and quickly started repairing it, as Wakka looked on in disbelief and anger. "We're not using that, are we?" he demanded. "Wait…Sir Auron isn't Al Bhed too, is he?"

"Wakka, just shut up!" Charlie yelled, heartily sick of his attitude. The blitzer gave her a look as if she had just slapped him, but before he could say anything, she quickly cut him off. "You really are an idiot, you know! You got along fine with Rikku before this, but now that you know she's an Al Bhed, you treat her as if she's personally responsible for every misfortune that ever happened to anyone, anywhere, in the entire history of the goddamn universe! Look, I don't know much about Spira, or Yevon, or the Al Bhed, but Rikku is still a good person, no matter her upbringing! Rikku is just Rikku, and you have no right to act like she's personally responsible for the death of your brother! Sin killed him, not the Al Bhed!"

Wakka gaped at her for a long moment, and then yelled, "What about you, Charlie? I heard you speaking Al Bhed just before the fight started! You're one of them too, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not! I got some books on the language from Rin, because I don't have a problem with the Al Bhed, and happen to enjoy learning new things! If that happens to offend your delicate sensibilities, then that's just too damn bad!"

The blitzer then turned to Lulu, who just looked at him and said, "Just think of this as an opportunity to learn more about the Al Bhed."

"Ha!"

With that, Wakka stormed off, swearing under his breath. Already regretting some of the things she said, Charlie started to follow him, but then Auron stopped her. "Let him go," he told her. "Give him time to think."

"I'm sorry," Rikku said as she finished her repairs on the snowmobiles.

"You've done nothing to apologize for," Lulu reassured her.

Charlie walked over to another of the vehicles, climbed on, and said, "Well, I guess we should hurry up and get out of here before we freeze to death."

"You sure you know how to drive one of these?" Rikku asked.

"If Kimahri can drive one, it can't be that hard!" she replied as the Ronso flipped over another of the abandoned machina, climbed aboard, and rode off by himself.

…

A little while later, Charlie and Lulu, riding together on a snowmobile, made their way through the icy canyon path leading to Macalania Temple. "Charlie…don't you think you were a little hard on Wakka?" the mage asked.

"I know I was," she sighed. "I shouldn't have dragged his brother into this, but he just made me so mad! Rikku saved my life back when I first came to Spira, so I guess I'm a little biased in her favor." They rode on in silence a while longer, and then Charlie said, "Say, Lulu, what do you think of Rikku?"

"She's…fun to be with."

"That's it?"

"Well, I can tell she's not a bad person."

"Exactly!" Charlie agreed. "But Wakka's so damn hardheaded…he and Rikku got along so well, but now that he knows she's an Al Bhed he's just going to act like she carries a disease or something, all because she doesn't believe the same things he does! You'd think that with something like Sin running around, people would stop fighting over stupid things like race and concentrate their efforts on getting rid of it! Does anyone even know what the hell that damn thing really is?"

"There's no need to know, so no one asks," Lulu replied. "You run or you fight; that's really all you can do. There's no sense brooding over it."

"But…don't you ever wonder about it? I know you said there was a war in the distant past, but what could the people back then have done that was so bad?"

"You really come from a world where there is no Sin, like you say," the mage replied, more to herself than to Charlie.

"This isn't right! No one tries to figure out another way to do things? No, they just let Yevon do all the thinking for them, and Yevon apparently doesn't encourage individual thought…that's why they let the Al Bhed and the Crusaders have Operation Mi'ihen! It was a neat little way to take care of the 'heathens' and the 'traitors' in one fell swoop! As long as the people are compliant and want easy answers and a scapegoat handed to them on a silver platter, Yevon can get away with whatever it wants and no one will tell them otherwise…too bad no one would believe me if I told them this."