Chapter 10 – Distant Early Warning
Opening her tear-filled eyes into reality, Yuna gasped for breath. Her eyes darted around the cabin. Looking over across from her, Rikku lay snugly in her bed. To her other side, Paine lay on her side, the covers draped over her body. The sun had yet to glimmer of a new day; night still cast its darkness across the room. Yuna rubbed her eyes, which stung from being puffy from her tears. She got out of bed and walked downstairs and down the hallway. Yuna stumbled half-asleep into the elevator and took it up onto the deck.
Still confused by what to make of such a heartbreaking nightmare, she curled up, trying to calm herself. Fed up with being tormented by these cruel images that invaded her sleep, Yuna buried her face into her knees. Not knowing the identity of that woman aggravated her the most. Clamping her eyes shut hard, she attempted to remember the woman's face. She appeared so familiar as if Yuna had known her for a thousand years. Try as Yuna might, only a blurry memory of the woman remained in her mind. Who was she?
Yuna slammed both her fists onto the deck. The clanging of flesh against metal blasted over the roar of the engines. She called out into the night, demanding to know who could this woman be. Why did she flood Yuna with so much anger, sadness, and fear—the anxiety and misery Yuna held inside herself already oppressed her enough. The weight of it all consumed her. In what felt like an eternity, Yuna regained her composure. With heavy breaths, she pushed this mysterious woman out of her head.
Breathe in: she is not you.
Breathe out: you are not her.
She repeated these phrases until she felt too tired to think and too exhausted to sleep. Lying down on the cold, steel deck, she gazed up at the stars. Her face lost any expression and her mind cleared. She quietly stared off into space. Her eyes felt heavy as stone, but she feared closing them lest sleep might catapult her back into a nightmare. Her scattered thoughts returned to the woman with the long, brown hair. She kept wondering why this woman seemed to know and need Yuna. Could this woman be a reflection of herself?
As sporadic thoughts fired through Yuna's semi-lucid state, dawn rose from the horizon. The sun spread its light onto the Celsius. A single bird chirped as it flew around the airship. Yuna sighed, giving up on dwelling on her dream. She found no point in continuing the insanity. Returning inside the ship, Yuna made her way to the bridge. On the bridge, Buddy readied himself for the day, already up bright and early. She entered, surprised to find someone else awake this early in the morning.
"Good morning, Buddy," she greeted, stepping down off the bridge's platform. "You're certainly up early."
Buddy turned his head around to see who was talking to him. "Hey Yuna, morning. I didn't expect anyone to be awake this early either."
"Couldn't sleep I guess," she said with a melancholy chuckle.
"Well, since you're here, I guess I can tell you about why I'm out of bed so stinkin' early," he griped.
Yuna approached his console. On his screen displayed a map of sphere signal locations. They seemed to be color-coded: either blue, orange, or red.
"I compiled this map from data Shinra gave me," Buddy explained. "These are all sphere locations."
Yuna nodded her head and asked, "What do the colors mean?"
Buddy beamed. "I'm glad you asked. The colors are for how dangerous these locations are. Blue means they aren't very dangerous, like Moonflow here. Orange means there is some hostility in the area, like Kilika, or there are some nasty fiends, such as in the Calm Lands. And finally, red means that there are a lot of risks involved, like that sphere in Bevelle."
"Wow," expressed Yuna pleasantly. "You've put a lot of work into this. Thank you."
"Hey, no problem. This is also a good visual way of explaining to Brother why racing off to a certain area might not be such a good idea," he said.
"What do you mean I need a visual explanation?" shouted a voice from behind.
The angry face of Brother peered at Buddy. He stomped his way down from the platform and to them, snorting and shaking his fists like he burned with fire.
"He was only joking Brother," Yuna remarked, attempting to quell his little fit of rage.
"Joking, there is no joke here. Just an under-appreciated Brother is all," he retorted while pouting.
Buddy chuckled. "Underappreciated? Just who was it that ate the most cake last night, and then went to bed first?"
"I was quite hungry," Brother exclaimed while twitching out. "And all the sugar made me quite tired . . . fyed, fro ys E aqbmyehehk socamv rana!"
Yuna and Buddy laughed hysterically at the sight of Brother's temper tantrum. When Brother finally realized he only worsened his situation, he slumped into his driver's seat. Soon Paine and Rikku entered the bridge together. A slice of toast stuck half out of Rikku's mouth, dropping crumbs all over the floor.
"Since it seems we are all here, let us go uniform hunting again," declared Brother, to the interest of no one.
He mumbled something asinine in Al Bhed and once again delivered his orders, "Ahem! As I said since we are all here—"
"Yeah, yeah, we hear you. Where are we going to look now?" grouched Paine, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Um, I do not know," Brother whimpered, looking over at Buddy.
"Well, I do remember a Hypello or two back in Guadosalam mentioning something about there being some LeBlanc goons in Bikanel. Why don't we go check there?" suggested Shinra, spinning his chair around.
Brother and Buddy shrugged at each other. Yuna approved of the idea to return to Bikanel. She wanted to do some more digging while there knowing it would be an adequate distraction for herself. Rikku appreciated returning to a familiar place. Paine grumbled about the heat. Buddy shrugged his shoulders. Counting the votes, Brother nodded to himself and turned the Celsius to fly to the west. After some hours of flying over the crystal blue ocean, the tan colors of Bikanel came into view. Finding a flat spot among the dunes, the Celsius landed. The Gullwings left the ship and walked to the Machine Faction's encampment, hoping to find a good clue. Of course, Nhadala immediately begged for Yuna to go digging. After a nudge in the side by Rikku, she politely turned down the offer.
"Sorry I can't help," she apologized, internalizing her disappointment. "We were wondering if you've seen anyone from LeBlanc's syndicate around."
Nhadala thought to herself for a moment. "Oh, that's right! Some weird people were snooping around the Oasis earlier today. Could you go check it out for me? They might be LeBlanc's people."
Yuna nodded. "Sure, we'll check it out."
Into the sweltering desert, the Gullwings trekked. Fiery heat from the sun burned their reddened skin. Paine traipsed a few steps behind Yuna and Rikku, continually wiping beads of sweat from her face. Pilot had dropped off the girls only a short distance from the Oasis. By the time they approached it, they could make out two clumsy-looking figures prancing about. Their clothes were pink and purple, with the all too familiar LeBlanc logo plastered on them.
"Awesome, they really are LeBlanc's goons!" exclaimed an overjoyed Rikku.
"What in Spira could they be doing all the way out here?" wondered Yuna.
Paine grabbed Yuna by the shoulder. "Who cares? Let's just steal those uniforms and get out of this furnace!"
Yuna nodded and motioned for Rikku to hide behind a palm tree. The two goons paid no attention to their surroundings, as they were too preoccupied with digging in the sand. Rikku leaped from behind a palm tree and tackled one of the goons to the ground. Yuna and Paine pounced on the other one, wrestling her to the ground. In short order, the two goons sprinted away into the desert in skimpy attire.
"Ha! That was too easy!" shouted a victorious Rikku.
"Who'd figure it would be this easy?" chuckled a smug Paine. "Leblanc needs to hire better help."
The triumphant trio returned proudly to the Celsius, bearing two tacky uniforms as their trophies. Wasting no time, the Gullwings set a course for Leblanc's home base in Guadosalam. Yuna lorded over the stolen uniforms, the taste of spheres ripe in her mouth. Her smug disposition quickly faded when she put on one of LeBlanc's stuffy uniforms. She had no choice but to deal with the discomfort. Leading her friends into the city, Yuna approached LeBlanc's mansion. Stopped by two stalky-looking guards, Yuna hesitated to say anything. The girls stood in front of them, looking and feeling silly.
"What're you doing here?" one of the guarding goons asked.
"Reporting for duty!" they exclaimed in tandem.
"Uh, sure, okay. Keep up the enthusiasm, I guess?" the other goon said, not sure what to make of them.
Upon entering the château, Yuna strolled around the entrance hall. It always surprised her how similar Leblanc kept the decor here. While Leblanc herself seemed harmless outside of her mischief, the stench of Seymour still lingered in the walls. His devious expression appeared in her mind every time she set foot in these halls. A pair of voices speaking from the back of the room redirected her attention. The girls tiptoed in, careful not to make a sound, even though they were in uniform.
"Argh! These door panels never seem to work right," grumbled Logos.
"I told LeBlanc we shouldn't use cheap parts from that Shinra Corporation," barked Ormi.
Logos and Ormi continued to complain back and forth to each other. Logos eventually turned around, spotting the girls clumped together in the corner.
"You there," he began, startling the girls.
"Um, yes sir?" Yuna bumbled out, following with a bad salute.
"Figure out how to fix this. I'm tired of messing with the stupid thing. We need to go check on how LeBlanc's doing," Logos commanded, to the relief of the girls.
"Huh? What's wrong with LeBlanc?" asked Rikku.
"The Boss is all depressed because Nooj has disappeared," explained Ormi, gesturing his arms in distress.
"Yes, the Boss is truly obsessed with this Nooj character. I'm fearful that at this rate, she may quit sphere hunting altogether!" Logos exclaimed.
"Man, that must be hard on you guys," comforted Rikku, somewhat sarcastically.
"If only she knew," Logos sighed again, clenching his head.
Ormi and Logos then left the room, leaving the girls to enact their deviance. They had the same problem figuring out how to operate the control panel as Ormi and Logos had. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Rikku leaned up against the back wall.
"This is gonna take all—ah!" she bellowed.
The wall began to turn, revealing a secret passageway. Rikku fell down the stairway that lay behind, thumping down a half-dozen stone steps.
"Are you alright, Rikku?" questioned Yuna, running after her cousin.
"Ow, my head."
"Your head's thick enough. Let's go find that sphere," said Paine, removing the helmet of her uniform. "But first let's change into something more comfortable, not to mention stylish."
Rikku and Yuna wholeheartedly agreed and ditched the tacky uniforms. Heading through the underground chamber, they approached what seemed to be a bedroom. Yuna turned the knob, finding it unlocked to her surprise She led them inside, and they started searching for the pilfered sphere segment throughout the room. Paine looked in a chest near the door but just found an empty bottle. Rikku checked under the bed, but only found some magazines.
"Hey look, Yunie. It's Summoners Gone Wild! Maybe you should be in this!" teased Rikku, flashing the magazine's centerfold at Yuna.
"Very funny—hey, put that away! Of all the . . ." growled Yuna once she realized what the magazine's contents contained.
She went back to hunting for the sphere fragment, peeking into a dresser drawer. In the top drawer, she found a large cloth wrapped up in a ball. Carefully unwinding it, she discovered half of a sphere fragment inside. Letting out a soft giggle, she turned around and display its contents.
"Here it is, our sphere piece!" she cried happily.
Suddenly, a disgruntled voice sounded from the doorway. "You know, it isn't nice to scour through other people's rooms."
An angry Logos stood leaning against the doorway, with Ormi trotting up next to him. Paine reached back for her sword.
"There's no need to be hasty. We aren't here to fight," Logos said, putting up his hands in front of him.
Yuna turned to face Logos, holding out a broken half-sphere.
"What's on this?" she asked sternly.
"We're not sure ourselves. We haven't taken a look yet," he responded decisively.
"Too busy lookin' at this?" chimed in a cheeky Rikku, waving Logos' magazine around.
He darted over and grabbed the magazine out of her hands, "I don't know what you're talking about. Ormi, give Yuna the other part of the sphere. We'll watch it together."
Ormi bumbled across the room and handed Yuna the other side of the sphere. She clasped the two halves together and began playing the contents hidden inside. An image of a man in a cage appeared from the sphere. The image, fuzzy and distorted, showed the signs of ages of degradation. Yuna gazed with full intent at the image of the man. Could it be him, she thought in her mind. The man argued with a guard of some sort. The guard wondered why Zanarkand wouldn't stop this war. Slamming his fists on the cage wall, the man shouted at the guard, blaming Bevelle for the transgression between the feuding cities. Still yelling, he went on to tell the guard that it would be over all too soon. Then he turned around and his mood instantly turned melancholy. He whimpered something inaudible, and sat down in the cage, curling up into a ball until the picture faded away.
"It's amazing what Bevelle is hiding under their streets, isn't it loves?" boomed a familiar voice out of nowhere.
"Boss, you're done sulking? I mean, you're feeling better!" stammered Ormi, hopping up and down joyously.
LeBlanc nodded. "Well, I got to thinking. If my Noojie-Woojie is out searching for spheres, he's going to need my help."
"Right Boss," Logos agreed, smiling half heartily.
LeBlanc turned to the Gullwings. "I don't know about you girls, but I certainly don't want those nutty Yevonites to have a machina like Vegnagun sitting in their basement."
"No one wants that," Paine replied. "So how do you suppose we go about liberating them of that burden?"
An evil smile crawled across LeBlanc's lips. "Easy love, we hit them head-on."
Rikku winced. "You sure?"
However, it was too late for anyone to react. LeBlanc, with Logos and Ormi in tow, raced out of the room and were on their way out of her château.
"We'll meet you on that airship of yours," yelled LeBlanc, so kindly inviting herself. "Then we'll talk about battle plans!"
Paine looked at Rikku, and Rikku looked at Yuna. Yuna just looked like a hovercraft just struck her. Releasing a collective sigh, the Gullwings strolled back to the Celsius. Paine argued for a moment about backing out of LeBlanc's crazy idea. She stopped quickly when she realized Yuna reinforced Leblanc's support. Having just gone to the underground in Bevelle, she argued that they would need more numbers.
Aboard the Celsius, Brother fumed at LeBlanc for handing out orders to him. Logos told him to shut up and get ready for takeoff. Brother, having all he could take, darted around the bridge shouting explicit remarks in Al Bhed about Logos' mother—something to the tune of a metal pipe, a dark hole, and a fat Hypello. All the while, Shinra held his ears tight, blocking out Brother's wild profanity. The girls entered and Brother jumped for joy, begging Yuna to kick LeBlanc off the airship.
"Sorry Brother, we kind of need them. We're going back to Bevelle," she explained.
"What? You can't be serious, Yuna!" he shrieked. "Why do we need these hooligans here anyway?"
Yuna pointed sternly at Brother. "Look, Brother, I'll explain later, I promise. Just get us to Bevelle."
"Okay, Yuna, but I do this only for you," he whimpered, turning back to his big chair.
The bickering between LeBlanc and Brother didn't stop. With her head pounding, Yuna decided to relieve herself and spend the rest of the trip below in the cabin. Plopping herself down on her bed, Yuna relished the silence with nobody else present. She closed her eyes, only to rest them. Almost as quickly as she laid down, she fell asleep. Images began forming in the recesses of her mind.
Just outside Bevelle, in what appeared to be the Macalania Forest, Yuna stood. A cloud of swirling grey fog hovered around her legs. Glancing around the woods, she searched for Guado refugees but saw no one. Cupping a hand up to her ear, she listened for people speaking or milling about but heard no one. Calling out for anyone to hear her, her voice made no sound. Nor did the gasp that followed. Yuna clapped her hands together, but no sound emanated from her hands.
The world around her began to spin, blurring into a grey-tinted marshmallow swirl. Falling to her knees, Yuna grasped her head. Her stomach tossed inside her as the world spun out of control. Cutting through nausea and discombobulation, a whistle echoed. In an instant, the spinning halted and the world stood still. The whistle's call lingered in the air. Yuna carefully raised her head, trying to regain her senses.
In the far distance, she witnessed an impossible reality—Tidus running towards the path to Bevelle. Yuna called out to him, but he did not acknowledge her. Not to be left behind, she raced after him. A guard outside the city limits commanded her to stop, but she didn't hesitate. The forest blurred into the long approach to New Yevon's headquarters. Down a long, drawn-out corridor, she ran as fast as she could to the gate of the temple. Phasing into existence, a large machina hovered in front of her.
It wielded twin cannons, a sizzling groan roaring from them. She drew out her pistols and began firing at the machina. Emptying all her bullets, the machina fell to the ground with a deafening crash. She reloaded her guns as she stepped over the smoldering remains of metal and oil. An aura of raw determination boiled from her body.
The gate opened, and a guard ran out, taking a potshot at Yuna. She dodged and clenched her guns tightly in indignation. She became overwhelmed with fury. In cold blood, she shot the guard twice in the skull, splattering red blood on the gate behind him. She darted into the temple, still running full tilt. The hallway inside the temple seemed endless. In the far distance, she spotted Tidus, who stood as all but a tiny glint at the end of a void of darkness. Reaching out with her hand, Yuna called to Tidus, "Please don't go!"
In that instant, the space between the two lovers pinched together, folding the darkness in on itself. She found herself nestled beside Tidus. A cavernous room encircled them, devoid of color or warmth. Searching around, Yuna spotted a gigantic hole in the wall with pyreflies swarming out from it. She had not the time to analyze it, once the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the room.
A dozen guards marched into the room, rifles aimed at them. Yuna looked over at Tidus, tears running down her cheeks. She turned to him for one last embrace. Shots rang out, hitting Tidus for what seemed to be an innumerable amount of times. The impact knocked him off the platform they stood on. Yuna ran to the edge, screaming as she watched his body fall into the black abyss.
Yuna shrieked as she hit the floor. Regaining her senses, she realized that she had only fallen out of bed. Grabbing the pillow from off the floor, she crawled back up onto the bed. She smothered her face into her pillow, muffling her horrid moaning and crying. The nightmares haunted her worse than before. Each one progressively ate into her soul that much more. Feeling so dark, so abysmal—they seemed not to be her own, yet she knew them to be so close.
Brother's voice sounded over the intercom; they had reached Bevelle. The Gullwings and LeBlanc walked to the long corridor leading up to the gate of the New Yevon's Headquarters. Yuna's hands trembled, her dream still vivid in her memory. Paine noted that she still wasn't sure how they were going to take out Vegnagun.
"You got any ideas, LeBlanc?" Paine asked, standing arms folded.
"Of course! We attack the Yevonites head-on and destroy Vegnagun. There's no reason to beat around the bush," she replied boldly, to the delight of her two lackeys.
Yuna nodded as well. "Sounds as good as any plan. We need to take care of this menace before it could hurt Spira."
A large crash shook them out of their planning. The sight of Yevonite guards and a monstrous machina rapidly approaching them garnered all of their attention.
"You, stop there!" one of the guards yelled. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, you guys have got the front. See ya later, loves!" LeBlanc declared, turning tail along with Logos and Ormi.
Rikku grabbed her head. "Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me!"
"We've got no choice now," spoke Paine, pointing her sword at the Yevon guards. Let's attack!"