Chapter 44 – Mysteries and Reunions


Paine learned one essential lesson from the Al Bhed. It was never to go anywhere in the desert without wearing a mask and goggles. At any given moment, Bikanel belched heaps of sand into her face. Becoming increasingly aggravated by the constant losing battle against the desert, she gave in. Donning a pair of oversized, vermilion goggles and a beige mask that pressed against her cheeks too tightly, she walked down the ramp of the Celsius. Today she would ride out to the temple in the hopes of uncovering a way to make the mysterious spheres functional again.

The roaring engines of ol' Sally tore up a tremendous cloud of sand around Paine. Even with the face equipment on, the brittle specks of sand still slipped through the tiny gaps. She coughed as her eyes began to water from the granules scratching at her. Quickly she adjusted her goggles, smashing them as tightly against her face as possible without cutting off circulation. Once her eyes stopped tearing, she hopped aboard the rusty hovercraft. Anxiously she examined its structure and found herself wondering if they were going to make it to the camp in one piece.

Glancing over at her new companion, Lenne, put her at some ease. She had no gesture of worry in her posture, and she climbed onboard with no hesitation. Paine noticed the same with Nhadala, Nomma, and Keppel. Thinking to herself, she couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she was more afraid of a hovercraft than leaving to the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers. She knew they were reliable, except maybe for Keppel. She felt unsure of him still. They were all a far cry from the Gullwings.

It would have been nice to have at least one of the Gullwings accompany her, but they were busy examining the spheres. Shinra furiously worked, running every test he knew to determine how to reactivate them. Buddy spent most of the time amazed at the lights show that emanated from the lab on the Celsius. Brother paced around the lab frantically distraught, hoping Shinra wouldn't accidentally blow anything up.

"How far away is this temple?" Paine asked loudly to Nhadala, trying to funnel her voice with her hands.

"A couple of hours away," she replied in a shout. "So enjoy the scenery!"

Paine rolled her eyes, although nobody could see them due to all the sand blasting against her goggles. She fully understood what a bland and desolate landscape awaited her from digging for Nhadala previously. To her surprise, the sky presented a magnificent sunrise over the rolling dunes of the desert. The orangish skyline highlighted the tan-colored ground which surrounded her more impressively than her memory had let on. Though once the sun had risen, and the heat began to sizzle the environment, she lost her affinity for the desert again.

She recalled Yuna confiding to her that while she much preferred the sandy beaches of Besaid over the sandy dunes of Bikanel, she still felt some sense of affinity to the desert. They rolled like the waves of the ocean around Besaid. Perhaps because she was half Al Bhed, Yuna pondered out loud to Paine, that she felt some connection to the desert. Having no answer for her, Paine merely smirked and shrugged her shoulders. These ephemeral memories of Yuna reminded Paine just how much she missed her friend.

Beyond her reminiscing, the ride quickly became bumpy and boring. Paine sat, thumping up and down in her seat, glancing every so often across at Lenne. Every time Paine stole a peek at the strange woman, she felt a tinge of dismay. Although she wondered what kind of person lay beneath the dark cloak and heavy clothing, it seemed to be neither Yuna nor a thousand-year-old ghost. She wrestled with her silly feelings about this Lenne. After a while, she finally gathered the courage to speak, or rather yell, to her.

"How can you stand the dullness of the desert?"

Lenne looked around, reflecting for a second. "Well, sometimes bland is better than the chaos that most of Spira goes through!"

"I suppose your right, but it still gets on my nerves!" she laughed back.

Lenne nodded. "I certainly can understand why!"

"How long have you been out here digging?"

"Good question," replied Lenne. "Not that long I guess. Only a couple of weeks now."

Shocked by the short amount of time, Paine felt compelled to press further. "What did you do before coming to Bikanel? Bevelle offers so much to do."

"That's true, it does. I, uh, was a singer."

"A singer?" Paine's fingers tapped faster against her legs.

"Among other things."

"Do you ever sing for all the Al Bhed out here?"

Lenne giggled. "No, not at all. It's too hard to sing with this bulky mask on."

"I can only imagine. Singing is not my strong suit."

Lenne relaxed in her seat. "Oh? Yeah, you seem more of the percussion type."

"That's right. How'd you guess?"

Pausing for a second, Lenne rubbed her arm. "I must have good intuition."

Paine narrowed her eyes on Lenne through her goggles. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you plan on getting from out of all this digging?"

"Get? Oh, to be alone really! It's nice to have some seclusion and privacy."

Underneath her goggles, Paine curled her eyebrows in confusion. "But surely with all your digging companions around you can't get much alone time."

Lenne shook her head. "Well, it's more a feeling of being disconnected. There's too much strife in Spira anymore. To be honest, if I didn't get away from it all I think I'd die!"

Paine froze in her rickety seat. Those last words struck a chord deep in her heart. She understood despair and all the turmoil it caused. After Yuna died, she knew all too well the sorrow and grief it created for all of the remaining Gullwings. To hear someone else say words so similar terrified her. Not only that, the calm, unsettled composure with which Lenne spoke disturbed Paine even further. She wanted to ask what the source of all that pain was, but her lips quivered against her mask too much to speak.

For the remainder of the voyage, Paine sat hushed, tapping her fingers on her leg. The more she talked with Lenne, the more unsettled she felt. In a way, she felt guilty about it. Lenne seemed like a kind and considerate person, much like Yuna. Paine couldn't stand to digest the words with which Lenne spoke. Paine realized that she had not healed yet. Her wounds from Yuna's death dug too deep into her.

As a large structure appeared on the horizon, Paine felt fortunate that the ride across the desert would be ending soon. Coming up to the excavation site, she noticed some sprawling machinery as well as some makeshift tents. Then she pharaonic stone wall with an entranceway.

"Is that the temple?" she asked Nhadala, her mind refocused on the mission.

"Yeah," she replied gleefully."Most of it's underground. It's a gigantic complex. It took us over a full week to unearth all the rooms."

"No kidding? What do you think went on there?"

Nhadala pointed to Nomma. "Ask him. He's an expert on historical stuff."

Nomma chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I read a lot of books."

"That's 'bout right. Head in the clouds or a book," snickered Keppel, smacking his friend on the arm.

He pushed him back laughing. "Don't mind the village idiot. Anyway, I am not totally sure what this temple was used for."

"Do you have any ideas?" Paine probed.

"Of course! From what I could gather, it was built sometime in the last millennium. How or why Yevon did it baffles me. Although there is one area we haven't gotten to yet."

Pilot halted the hovercraft. The temple loomed over them, its shadow casting foreboding darkness over the hovercraft. To Paine's eyes, it didn't look as grand as a typical Yevon temple. Worn away by centuries of wind-blasted sand, most of the glyphs and symbols could hardly be made out.

"Everyone out," ordered Nhadala while leaping off of the hovercraft.

Taking out their equipment, the group of excavators ventured into the temple. The building held a musty scent, its air stagnant for many long years buried beneath the desert. The long, stretching corridors were pitch black, save for the light from the flashlights everyone held. Most of the rooms were empty, except for some dust and debris. To Paine, this was every bit as uninviting as the underground in Bevelle.

Nhadala pointed to an oblong room. "We'll go here first."

A towering, altar-like structure rested in the middle of the stretched ovular space. A giant engraving, carved into the stone, hung above the altar. Shining her flashlight onto it, Paine squinted to make out the carvings. The enormous stone slab showed a circular pattern with a pyramid in the center. From it, numerous wavy lines sprawled outward toward the edges.

Nhadala glanced over at Paine and smiled. "You look as confused as I did."

"It certainly is strange," Paine smirked. "Any idea of what it's supposed to mean?"

"Nope," she answered. "It's a mystery."

"Great, just what we need more of."

Lenne interjected, "You know, to me, those lines seem like pyreflies."

Paine scratched her head. "Well, I guess they could be. Still doesn't make any sense though."

"Right, anyway," sighed Nhadala as she began to walk from the room. "I'll show you the place where we can't enter yet."

Coming to a stairwell, they stepped down a narrow, twisted stairway. Though only a level lower, the temperature dropped considerably in the temple. Paine shivered as she began to see her breath crystalize in the frigid air. Strangely the brisk air seemed more fresh than the level above. Coming to a thick pair of stone doors twice as tall as Paine, she stopped to examine them.

"Here's where we get stuck," Nhadala explained, gesturing to the door with her hand.

Paine jerked on the handle of one of the doors, but it didn't budge. She then gave it a shove with her shoulder, but it didn't shift an inch. With a grunt, she scoffed at the doors. After a few kicks, she determined that more brute force than she could muster would be necessary to open them. In a dazzling array, she drew her glowing sword. With a magnificent swing, she sliced at the doors, only to be repelled by their might. Stumbling to the ground, Paine looked up to see a glowing jade glyph appear on the doors.

Nhadala laughed. "We tried that already. We had about the same luck."

Paine embarrassingly picked herself off the ground. "Thanks for warning me."

"The doors must be sealed with some kind of magic," Nomma explained, pointing to the glyph.

After a few seconds, the glyph vanished from existence. Paine grumbled under her breath and sheathed her sword. Scrutinizing the doors more intently, she saw no indication of how to remove the seal, nor what might be beyond them. Running her hand against its surface offered no help either.

"This is a real puzzle," she whispered to herself.

Further down the corridor was the room where Nhadala's spheres were discovered. Fourteen pedestals were lined up in two rows across the room.

"Is that where you found the broken spheres?" asked Paine.

Nomma nodded. "Yep, they were all cozy in here."

"Cozy is right. They were a real pain to pry out," complained Keppel.

Paine asked, "Was there anything else in here?"

Keppel shook his head. "Most of this place is empty."

Paine brushed her hand through her silvery hair. Letting out a sigh, she wondered what good she could do. Her only hope resided with Shinra and his puzzle-solving skills. Unable to provide any more help, Paine returned with the rest of the group back to the surface. The midday sun hung overhead by the time they exited the temple. Paine could feel her stomach rumbling. Keppel and Nomma brought out the container of what the Al Bhed called food. Although it didn't look appetizing, Paine's taste buds would have to suffer, as her gurgling stomach needed grub.

An unbearable heat poured down on Paine, a stark contrast from the nippy depths of the temple. While the bright sunlight caused Paine to squint, she appreciated returning to the light. Spending too much time in a desolate Yevon temple spooked her out. Thoughts of Bevelle crept into her mind. Three times did she battle beneath the streets of the city, in one of Spira's most horrid secrets. She also thought of the battles in Besaid, Kilika, Djose, and Macalania. The conflict in those temples chipped away at her friend, breaking her down piece by piece. Perhaps that was why she related Yuna so much with Lenne—the strife surrounding Yuna proved to be too much.

Although reserved and soft-spoken, Lenne seemed to have a determined spirit in her voice. How casually she spoke of loneliness and unhappiness reminded Paine of how Yuna must have felt. After she thought she pushed Garik to his death, Yuna could hardly function. A part of her never healed from the tragedy of that day. The bags under her eyes were always darkened, and her presence no longer held the same light.

When Lenne said she had to get away or else she'd die made sense to Paine once she thought about it. If Yuna had stopped all this madness with sphere hunting, fighting Kinoc, and returning Tidus to the world, she probably would have been alright. Each time Paine tried to persuade Yuna to go home to Besaid, it always came out feeble. She would kick herself afterward for not being more forceful. She regretted not doing more to protect Yuna.

Just like Tidus, Yuna would never come back, she thought. When left to her thoughts, Paine wrestled with grief and regret. Just as the hurtful memories of the Crimson Squad haunted her thoughts, so did Yuna's death.

A quaking rumble interrupted her lunch. The sand in the dunes shook with fury. Everyone darted their heads around, searching for what could be causing such a disturbance. In the distance, a swarm of fiends stampeded across the desert. Nhadala lunged over to her backpack.

"Come in home base! This is Nhadala, come in!" she yelled into a headset she pulled out.

"Yes, Nhadala? We are under attack!" crackled a reply.

"What's your status?"

"Fiends are coming! We are under—"

A final fizzle of static burst from the radio before it fell silent. Nhadala screamed into her headset a few times, but nobody answered her pleas. She motioned for Pilot to start the hovercraft. Everyone jumped in, and they sped back to the base. The army of fiends had scattered into two groups, neither of which headed toward the base. When the camp appeared over the dunes, Nhadala immediately brought out her binoculars, spying on dozens of fiends attacking her workers.

Paine held on tightly to anything she could in the hovercraft as they zoomed across the sand at maximum velocity. The machine vibrated violently, and smoke poured out of the engine. She feared the rickety hovercraft would explode at any moment. The craft sped into the camp, clouds of sand blowing high into the air behind them. Paine spotted fiends attacking the Celsius. Brother and Buddy desperately tried to shoo them off the deck.

"Kad uvv so creb! Oui'na clnydlrehk dra byehd!" Brother screamed, waving a broom handle at the fiends.

One of the fiends, a long centipede-looking monster, roared at Brother, who all but jumped out of his skin. Nearly following on his back, he retracted his offensive stance and slowly stepped back. Noticing his dilemma, Paine leaped off of the still-moving hovercraft and onto the Celsius. In one blinding motion, she unsheathed her sword and swung a gigantic arc at the fiend, cleaving it in half.

"Paine? You made it just in time!" huffed Brother, happy to see her back.

Nodding quickly, she glimpsed around. More fiends climbed up the hull of the ship. Shinra shot at as many as he could with his blaster rifle. Around the camp, many of the Al Bhed were in hand-to-hand combat with the invaders. Paine could hear blood-curdling screams sounding in all directions. With all her fury, she slid down the ship and started hacking away at any fiend still moving. A battle royale consumed the camp with smoldering buildings on fire from the fiend's rampage.

A snarling fiend advanced toward her, Lenne stood with her back flat against a wall. Masked by its tall shadow, the beastly double-headed creature took a swing with its enormous tail. Nimbly she hopped over it but got hit by its slapping arm. Her body smashed against a stack of crates behind her, sending them crashing to the ground. She let out a terrifying yelp. Leaning its head back, the fiend gathered an icy blue ball of energy into its mouth. Readying to unleash its wintery force, it burst from within in a thundering eruption.

Still woozy from the hit she took, Lenne glimpsed a trio of shadowy figures standing behind where the fiend once was. Paine leaped off the Celsius and engaged the fiends below. Nomma and Keppel, with heavy artillery in hand, repelled a wave of incoming fiends with a hailstorm of bullets. Pilot used the hovercraft to ram a remaining lien of fiends away. Picking up an injured Al Bhed digger, Paine carried him towards the Celsius. She handed the man over to Brother.

"Take this guy. I'm going back into the fight," she ordered, her eyes burning with irritation.

Noticing her battle rage in full gear, Brother simply nodded and took the man away. Redrawing her sword, Paine sprinted to the last area which still had fiends. Keppel swatted with his gun at two approaching fiends. She witnessed one of their slimy hands impacting Keppel, sending him flying backward onto the sandy ground.

With a pained shriek, she fired a series of dark arcane orbs from her body, obliterating one of the fiends. It had little effect on the other fiend. The creature diverted its attention to Paine, charging at her with haste. Rapidly it pounced at her, causing her to stumble on some debris behind her. Losing her footing, she dropped her sword and smacked her head into a bank of sand.

The fiend pounded its fist into the ground directly by her head. An explosion to its side tore off one of its arms. Screaming hideously, it turned to see who attacked it. Before it stood a short Al Bhed girl shaking a pointy, curved blade. Sticking her tongue out, Rikku launched herself into the air, swiping with a series of slashes against the beast's flesh with her blades. A line of shots rang out from its other side. Blowing a hole straight through the fiend, another tall, sharply-defined Al Bhed man stood, smirking at his accomplishment.

"Are you alright, Paine?" asked a very familiar voice.

Looking up, Paine squinted her eyes. "Nooj? Is that you?"

He smiled. "Of course it is. Looks like you took a nice bump on the head."

Rikku ran over to her friend. "Hey, long time no see! Did ya miss me?"

Nooj shook his head at Gippal, who responded with a sigh and shrug of his own. No matter how many life-threatening missions she could go through, Paine thought, Rikku never expressed a serious attitude. She lovingly hugged Paine. Amazed that Rikku of all people came to her rescue, Paine grappled tightly onto her before giving her an abrasive noogie.

Nooj and Gippal started to chuckle but quickly trailed off after surveying the carnage around him. Trails of smoke trickled out of piles of oily debris, and the remnants of ravaged tents and hovercraft spread across the encampment. A half-dozen Al Bhed diggers appeared seriously injured. Limping towards them, Nhadala waved to Paine.

"You alright?" she asked, with a bitter tone to her voice.

Paine nodded, then glimpsed blood trickling down Nhadala's leg. "Hey, you're the one who's injured. You should—"

"I'm fine," she scoffed and continued checking on the other injured diggers. "I need to take care of my workers first."

Understanding her resolve drove her enough to keep her going, Paine tipped her head at Nhadala. Standing up, she headed for the Celsius. On top stood Brother and Shinra, examining the damage done to the ship. Buddy paced down on the ground, helping the wounded with the ship's first aid supplies.

Lenne lay propped up against the hull of the Celsius near the ramp. As soon as she noticed, Paine rushed over to see if Lenne had endured a serious injury. She saw Buddy assisting another Al Bhed worker to apply bandages to her right ankle and left hand. Kneeling down, she waited for Buddy to finish before speaking.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Paine asked.

Lenne smiled and put her injured hand on Paine's arm. "Don't worry about me. It's nothing I haven't endured before. Just stay by my side, please."

Taken aback by her request, Paine hesitated to give a response. The tight grip of Lenne's injured hand stopped any impulse Paine had to leave. If Lenne desired comfort, then Paine would give her comfort.