Spiral of Chaos by Akaelalee

Chapter #1 - Chapters 1 - 5

Chapter 1 Dawn opened her window, wincing as it squeaked. She froze, staring at her closed door as if expecting her sister to come running in at any moment. She slipped out of the window, clambering inartistically down the side of the house. Dropping to the ground, she smiled to herself, dusting off her skin-tight jeans and straightening her low-cut top. She took one last look at her window before sauntering across the road. Janice was waiting on the other side of the road, dressed in a mini skirt and crop top. “You made it. Thought you weren’t going to show.” “My sister’s been super weird since Mom went to New York. She’s, like, watching me every second.” “Major bummer,” the other girl sympathised. “You okay to hit the Bronze?” Dawn tossed her long brown hair. “No problem.” ………………………………………………. Buffy yawned as she walked through the house. She’d been doing housework all day. Joyce had gone (was “left”) two days ago for some big gallery thing in New York and she wasn’t coming back for a week. Dawn’s response to this was to be extra annoying. “Dawn, turn your music down!” Buffy yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Her only answer to this was an energetic guitar solo. She shook her head in defeat and stomped up the stairs. “Dawn, I’m going out.” She went into her room and changed out of her housework clothes into more slayery type attire: a pair of black leather pants, a string belt, a purple tie-dyed shirt with long sleeves that flared at her elbows. She grabbed her stake and a black leather jacket, tied a long, purple scarf around her neck and stalked out of the room. “Dawn! I thought I told you to turn that music down. Dawn!” She flung her sister’s bedroom door open to find the room empty and the wind coming through the open window, fluttering paper around. She stared into the room, green eyes wide in disbelief. ………………………………………………. “Bloody hell, you stupid blue-haired poofter. You can’t do that!” Spike sat in a tattered-looking leather armchair in front of his television, holding a game controller. “I’ll give you a bloody ‘lance of atrophy’, you ponce.” He frantically mashed the buttons, causing a bright, blue light to flare out of the screen. “Hey!” He looked annoyed. “I just summoned her, you can’t unsummon my...” “Spike!” “Balls!” He hit the ‘pause’ button, shaking his head. “What do you want?” He came face-to-face with a pissed off slayer. “Can’t you tell I’m busy?” Buffy looked past him. “Uh huh, because God knows naked blue women are of the important.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute. She’s not naked.” He held his hands up. “That’s not… It’s a computer game.” “The point is, Dawn’s gone. I need you to help find her.” A look of worry came over Spike’s face. He reached behind him for his coat. “Nibblet’s gone? Do you think something’s happened?” Buffy sighed. “I don’t know. It’s like, Mom’s been gone for two whole days and already I’ve screwed up.” Spike wanted more than anything to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, to gently run his hands over the worry lines on her face and to take her in his arms and make her feel alright. He knew how ludicrous this was - and how dangerous. Instead, he pulled his coat on. “It’ll be okay, I’ll help you find her.” ………………………………………………. In a darkened room a cloaked figure grinned maliciously to himself. “I call upon Arkhon, darkest dreams reveal. Open the doorway and deliver the warrior to a place of fantasy, a place of death.” The figure felt the power rush through him as candle flames shot into the air. Suddenly, he frowned. “Wait a minute. ‘Fantasy’?” he reread the ancient text, a worried look on his face. He sat back. “Damn.” ………………………………………………. “Just a minute pet. I need to put shoes on.” Buffy realised he was wearing only socks and wrinkled her nose. “Well, hurry,” she said as she walked over to the PlayStation, looking it over. “Hey, how do you turn this thing off?” “Hold up! Don’t touch that!” Spike said, “I’m about to beat the snot out of Seymour.” “Uh huh.” Buffy sounded sceptical. “What, you can’t be violent in real life so you have to play video games?” As he pulled on his Docs, he noticed a strange glow coming from the screen. “Hey, I told you to leave that,” he turned in time to see Buffy as she was sucked backwards, stretching and glowing, until the room was bathed in light. He ran towards the screen in shock. As he approached the television he felt a strange force pulling at his upper torso while his legs and feet remained firmly planted on the floor of his crypt. He felt as though he were being stretched in two. He hissed in pain, as it grew stronger and stronger, before the whole world went black. Chapter 2 Spike groaned, turning in his sleep. A fly landed on his cheek and he waved his hand to get rid of it. He tried to get comfortable but the sand in his bed was slowly seeping into his clothing, making him feel itchy and uncomfortable. Wait a minute, Spike, he thought. Sand in my bed? He opened his eyes and blinding sunlight filled his vision. He cursed, holding his coat over his head and looking around for a place to hide away from the burning sun. He scanned around him. He was in a vast desert with nothing to see but sand. A signpost was barely visible off in the distance, but there wasn't much in the way of shelter. He was going to burn up alive here in the desert. It was then that he realised he wasn’t burning. He tentatively pulled the coat from over his head, waiting for his flesh to catch on fire, for the flames to engulf his body, but they didn’t. He waited a minute, staring at his own flesh as though it were alien. Finally he let out an exultant sound of joy. He was cured! Somehow, he was no longer a vampire. He thought of everything he could do now, how he could go for walks in the park. He sucked in his cheeks thoughtfully. He probably no longer had the chip either and that meant he could finally punch Xander out. And maybe... maybe he could tell Buffy what had been haunting him for the last few weeks, what had tugged at his insides, bleeding him dry and making him feel like he was bloody burning alive from the inside. Buffy. Where was she? He ran towards one of the signs, eyes searching for her in the sand. “Buffy!!" he called. He stared at the sign as though it had offended him. He was about to kick it when the writing caught his eye. “What..?” He stared at it. ‘Hud vyn du ku,’ the sign said. Spike shook his head. It must be some kind of demonic script. He and Buffy had probably been sucked into a hell dimension. He wished he knew where she was. He decided to walk in the direction the sign pointed. Wherever he was headed it couldn’t be worse than where he was now. ………………………………………………. Buffy groaned, her eyes fluttering open. She frowned. The last thing she could remember? Spikes crypt! Spike did this. She felt a surge of anger and sorrow. Sitting up, she realised she was in a house of some kind. Woven rugs covered the floor. Her jacket and scarf hung on the wall. She stood up, taking her stuff from the hook. She could hear voices outside. “You really think she’s from Zanarkand?” a deep, womanly voice came through the door in a disapproving tone. “I… I don’t know, but she appeared out of nowhere, and the pyreflies... I don’t know why, but I have a feeling about her,” a soft, voice answered. “And anyway, I can’t just leave her here at Djose.” Buffy shook her head, annoyed. She could only understand half of what they were saying. Djose? Pyreflies? “I’ll go check to see if she’s awake,” the second girl said. As the door began to open, Buffy prepared herself for battle. A girl walked into the room in a long purple pleated skirt, a white halter-necked top and a ridiculously large yellow bow on her back. She looked like a giant birthday present. Buffy cautiously dropped her fighting stance. Upon seeing her awake the other girl looked slightly startled. “Oh, hello. I am the summoner, Yuna, from the isle of Besaid.” “Uh, wha...? Oh, I’m Buffy, from... California. Um, ‘summoner?’ Huh?” “Oh. As a summoner, it is my sacred duty to protect Spira from Sin.” “Wow, this whole ‘sacred duty’ thing gets shared around a lot these days.” “Yuna, we have to go,” a Hawaiian-sounding accent floated in through the door. Buffy looked questioningly at Yuna. “Hey.” The worst hair that Buffy had ever, EVER seen came through the door, literally followed by the head attached. Buffy’s eyes widened and she stared at the strange spectacle before her. Yellow chaps covered blue-black board shorts and a strange... well, it could be described as a shirt. Maybe. The clothes may have been considered only unusual if not for the hair. Standing four inches high in the front in the shape of an orange wave, with the rest of it spiked up. The sight itself would have given Cordelia an aneurism. “Are we ready to go?” he asked. Yuna turned. “She only just woke up. I don’t know if she’s strong enough yet.” “ Yeah, and all this said as though I weren’t even here ,” Buffy commented to herself. To her surprise, Yuna turned around, a horrified look on her face and bowed in apology. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to… I am sorry.” “Whoa,” Buffy shook her head. “I didn’t mean for it to be a big thing. I was just saying... Never mind. Where are we supposed to be going?” “Forgive me. I did not ask you. We are currently in the Djose Temple Inn. We are going to the Moonflow and from there, we go to Guadosalam. I thought ... I wanted to ask you to come with us because when you appeared I thought that you must be from Zanarkand.” Buffy realised that with all the weird, she had forgotten about Sunnydale, about Dawn, and about Spike. “Spike. Do you know who he is?” Yuna seemed to consider this question. She held her arms, clad in flowing, floor length material, out to the side. “I am afraid I do not know him. Perhaps someone in Guadosalam will?” Buffy chewed her lip. “Okay, I’ll go with you to this Gaudysammy place. It’s not like I know anyone else here." Yuna looked delighted. “We must leave at once. I delayed our departure to make sure you were okay.” “Ah, it's no biggie,” Buffy waved the situation away. “I've been through worse. Though once I get my hands on Spike...” She left her plans for what to do with the vampire hanging in the air. “Why are we wasting time?” a gruff voice asked. “We must leave as soon as possible.” “We are coming,” Yuna called. Buffy followed her out of the bedroom and found herself in the strangest building she’d ever been in. The shop was painted in a variety of colours, filled with strange bottles and unique weapons. A glowing orb sat in one corner. Buffy ran her fingers longingly over the weapons, her breath catching when one of the swords caught her eye. It was finer than the others. The blade was only three-inches across and was silver in colour, its black grip set with an ornate silver cross. She looked at it in awe. Yuna came up behind her, startling her. “Oh, for…” “Hey, no more forgive-me-ness, got it?” Buffy looked at the other girl, realising that her eyes were two different colours. “Fo--. Okay.” She bowed. Buffy cast a regretful look at the sword, turning to leave. “Would you like it?” Yuna asked. “Huh?” Buffy had no idea what the girl was on about. “This sword. You looked like... If you want it I will get it for you.” “Oh, no. I could never... It would cost...” “Don’t worry,” Yuna said. She picked the sword up from the shelf, placing it on the counter. A minute later she handed the sword to Buffy with a slight bow. Disturbed by the noise, one of the native animals of the area, began doing laps around the counter. No one else seemed to notice. Buffy’s jaw dropped. It was small, with a body like a squirrel and a face like a kitten, “That is soo cute!” Buffy exclaimed. A tall man, clad in red, turned grumpily to her. Most of his face was concealed by a very high collar and dark glasses. “We have wasted enough time!” Buffy had the feeling that he expected her to bow the way that Yuna did. She caught herself and looked miffed. “Sorry,” she said, just as grumpily. She walked out of the inn, daylight falling on her. She closed her eyes, basking in the warmth, when she opened them again, she gasped. A large demon was looming over her, ferocious yellow eyes staring out of a blue, furred face. She looked wildly around, wondering why no one else had noticed it. A woman in a black dress came towards her, gliding over the ground like a princess, her head held high. She turned to place a disapproving look at Buffy. “I see we have picked up another one,” she stated. Yuna cleared her throat. “Everyone! Everybody, this is Buffy," she introduced Buffy to those gathered around. She motioned towards the graceful woman in black. “This is Lulu, and he," she pointed to the strangely dressed man with the bad hair, "is Wakka. This is Sir Auron,” she nodded towards the grumpy red-clad man “and he is Kimahri.” To Buffy’s surprise, Yuna pointed to the large, blue-furred creature. “He is a Ronso.” She explained, in an abstract answer to Buffy’s unspoken question. “Oh, okay.” “Oh!” Yuna exclaimed. “Where did Tidus go?” “Heh!” A boy came running out of the inn, long spiky blond hair waving wildly in the breeze. “Wait up!” Yuna turned, “And this is Tidus.” “Oh. Er, hey” he said, giving her a questioning look. “I’m Buffy,” she said, offering her hand. “Come along,” Auron said. “Enough time wasted.” ………………………………………………. Spike stopped in front of yet another sign. After wandering around for several hours, he was getting bloody tired and pissed off with whatever hell god had sucked him into this dimension. 'Home ec haynpo' “Bloody hell!” Spike announced, delivering a kick to the sign. It flew out of the ground, landing several metres off in the distance. He stared in the direction the sign had gone and saw a dark shape off in the horizon. He walked towards it eagerly. Buffy might be there, or Dawn. Dawn had mysteriously vanished only a short time before he and Buffy were sucked into this other world, so it stood to reason that she must have been brought here too. Spike’s face was beginning to burn. He had forgotten that the sun had that effect on humans. He grinned to himself as he thought about it. He was human... He grimaced at the thought of actually living in a place like this, although he had seen a few animals off in the distance that had run away whenever he approached. He couldn’t imagine how they could survive in this desert. Slowly, a city began to loom in front of him, looking like a strange, mismatched collection of tin cans stacked on top of each other. Though it looked like chaos, the vibe it exuded was peaceful. Strange beasts pulled brightly coloured machines, strange figures waved their arms and shouted to each other, and bright flags waved in the hot desert breeze. Spike stood on the rise above the city, looking down at the movement below. Suddenly, he was hit in the back with what felt like a taser and he blacked out. ………………………………………………. Buffy’s head was spinning. Everything that had happened, it was too strange. Vampires she could deal with; she’d just defeated Dracula. The Dracula. She was coping with the constant personality clashes between she and Riley. True, sometimes by crying herself to sleep, but she was dealing. So why couldn’t she look after her kid sister for one week? And now she was in this screwed up place. She shook her head. Maybe... Her thoughts were cut short as a giant demon plunged onto the path in front of them. It resembled a giant flower, huge vine-like tentacles thrashed in the air and from its upturned mouth exuded a stench worse than anything she’d ever smelled… even the roasty toasty mayor. Clasping her sword in her hand, she prepared herself for a big fight. Auron, Yuna and Lulu, however, calmly stepped forward as though this were nothing new to them. As the giant plant demon thrashed its tentacles and spat a viscous liquid at them, they dodged and attacked. Buffy plunged her sword into its springy flesh. Auron viciously slashed at it, taking a large chunk out of its side as it oozed green blood everywhere. Lulu raised her arms and to Buffy’s great surprise, a ball of fire shot towards it, engulfing it in a flame that it tried to slap out with its tentacles. It shot forward with a viny limb, slapping Buffy in the side and leaving her winded. Auron grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the beast as Yuna calmly spun her staff in circles. Buffy watched, entranced, as a flicker of flame fell from the bottom of the staff, spreading across the ground in a great cross. She tried to step forward but Auron held her back as suddenly, the earth seemed to erupt and Yuna was thrown high into the air by what looked like a meteor. Straining her eyes to see, Buffy realised that another demon, with large horns on its’ head and flame hanging, like tassels from its’ limbs, had taken hold of the girl as it too fell to the ground. Yuna, however, seemed unafraid and the great, red furred beast gently put her on the ground, turning towards the writhing, spitting plant. What followed was so strange that Buffy could scarcely believe it. At a word from Yuna, the new demon attacked the plant with its claws and fiery breath. The plant finally shuddered, falling on its side and dissolving into a pillar of shining orbs which rose in the air where they seemed to disappear. “Wha...? What was that?” Buffy gasped. “That,” Lulu answered, stepping forward, “...was a fiend, a soul of the dead that stays on in this world. They are angry at the living and so attack us. There will be plenty more on the way. If you cannot handle it, I’m sure the rest of us can protect you.” “Cannot handle..? Wait a minute. I can so kick their asses.” “She does have potential as a warrior,” Auron said, taking his long, slow strides forward. “I’m sure that given practise, she would make an acceptable guardian.” Buffy was furious. They wouldn’t last two seconds against the Master, Adam, or any of the other monsters she had gone up against. “Given pract…? I fight dead things all the time!” She shook her head, frustrated. “Please,” Yuna stepped forward, shadowed by the looming demon. “Do not argue. I’m sure we all want the same thing... to defeat Sin. I would like... I would like Buffy to come along with us. Maybe, maybe not as my guardian, but as a companion.” The boy called Tidus stepped forward. “You… You’re not from Zanarkand, are you?” Buffy shook her head. “Listen, I don’t know where this Zanarkand place is. I just want to get home and find my sister.” Tidus nodded. “Yeah, I just wanna get home too." He had a faraway look in his eyes and Buffy decided not to question it. He sort of reminded her of Will in a strange way. They both had the same bubbly attitude, although he was a little over the top, swinging his giant sword around and cheering whenever someone said something he approved of. Yuna was standing a short distance away from the red demon. As Buffy watched, Yuna held her staff and the demon vanished in a puff of smoke. Buffy blinked. “I assume you are as clueless as Tidus,” Lulu said evenly, noticing Buffy. “Yuna is a Summoner. She is one of the few who can defeat Sin.” “What’s this sin business? You keep saying it and it makes zero sense.” “Sin is a great evil that was brought upon us a thousand years ago. It ravages villages and kills many people. No one is safe so long as Sin remains. A Summoner's sacred duty is to travel from temple to temple, praying at each, all the way to Zanarkand where they will receive the final Aeon and defeat Sin," Lulu explained. Tidus’ answer to this was a loud whoop while everyone else stood in an uncomfortable silence. Yuna looked as if she wanted to change the subject. “Okay, so Sin is, like, a big demon. Got it. And Yuna can kill it. But what is an Aeon?” “Ifrit, the fire demon you just saw, he is one Aeon. They are powerful beings, brought forth by summoners.” Lulu continued. “Okay, so we go to a bunch of temples, collect Aeons and fight Sin,” Buffy nodded. “It... it sounds kinda simple. Why hasn’t anyone else done it?” “My father, Lord Braska, he defeated Sin. Ten years ago,” Yuna looked sad. Auron stepped forward. “We have talked enough for now, we must continue.” Buffy noticed Tidus giving the tall man strange looks. “Wow, he’s, like, super grouch, isn’t he?” Buffy said. “Yeah, he’s always been like that,” Tidus said, suddenly getting an exultant grin on his face. “Let’s go get Sin!” Buffy was left with major confusion. That kid was weird . She shrugged it off. Nobody else around here was exactly normal. “He-ey!” Wakka called. “You comin’?” Chapter 3 “Ow. Oww!” Spike groaned as he sat up, looking around. He was in a small, steel room, with a glowing computer monitor set into the wall, and strange symbols all around it. He stood up, examining the room he was in. A sudden creaking made him spin around. The door began to open and he frowned to himself. A strange man came walking into the room. His yellow blonde hair was cut short and was obscured by a pair of goggles. His clothes were predominately yellow and when he spoke he sounded like he’d just walked straight out of a cowboy movie. Spike had a nagging feeling that he recognised him but this thought was overcome by the realisation that the man wasn’t a demon. The man handed him a glass of water. Spike found himself strangely thirsty. Must be a side affect of being human, he thought. “I’m sorry about my men. They usually act that way around Yevon spies.” Spike stopped swallowing his water and breathed it in instead. This led to a fit of coughing. “What?” “They thought you must be a Yevon spy, what with those weird clothes you’re wearing. They searched through your clothes and you had no Yevon symbols, so, here I am.” Spike grabbed the man by the throat, pushing him against the wall. “I’ve had a bad day,” he said. “So talk slowly. Who are you?” He released the man who proceeded to rub his neck, giving Spike a sideways look. “I’m Cid, the leader of the Al Behd. Who’re you?” Spike burst into a short bark of laugh. “You stupid wanker. You expect me to believe that load of bollocks?” Cid stared at Spike as though he’d grown tentacles. “So, you’re the Al Behd, this place I’m in would be called Spira, right? And summoners are running around the land trying to defeat Sin?” Cid nodded his head. “Yeah, that’s right.” Spike laughed, then shook his head. “And I suppose Little Bit’s a summoner and the slayer grew blue fur and became a Ronso?” He shook his platinum blonde head again. “I can’t believe it.” Cid regarded Spike, unsure. “Listen, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, kid but...” He was worried about this kid. He seemed to be crazy as a shoopuff rider but with Rikku gone, he could do with the help. He shook his head, finally deciding what to do. “Well, you don’t look to me like a Yevon spy. Tell ya what, if you help out you can stay here with us. We can feed you and give you a place to live, maybe some real clothes.” “You can bloody well keep away from my clothes,” was Spike’s short response. “Okay, well, if you can help out, you can stay.” “Help out with what exactly?” Spike asked, still not believing what the other guy said. He may as well play along for now. He could keep an eye out for Buffy and Dawn and until then... “Do you know anything about machina?” Cid asked. Spikes eyes lit up. “Machina?” He drew his packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, realising that he’d left his lighter on the table. “Yeah, I’d say I know a thing or two about them.” ………………………………………………. Dawn stood in front of her house, staring at her window. It had been easier to climb out of than it would be to get back in. She tried to climb back up the side of the house, failing miserably. In the end she sighed and tried the front door. It was unlocked. She really, really hoped Buffy was still patrolling or in her bedroom or something, but a sinking feeling of dread that wasn’t attributed to the three beers told her otherwise. Nevertheless, she snuck stealthily into the house and up the stairs, wincing as one of them squeaked. She pulled open her bedroom door to find her bedroom askew. She sighed, shaking her head, so Buffy knew she had gone. Now she’d tell Mom and Dawn would be grounded for, like, forever. She squeezed her eyes closed. Why didn’t anybody understand? If they didn’t treat her like a dog on a leash maybe she wouldn’t need to sneak out of the house. “Buffy, I know that you know. You can come out of hiding now,” she called, resigned. “Buffy, you don’t have to be such a cow. Buffy?” Dawn opened the door, expecting to find her sister, arms crossed, in front of her door, but she was met with nothing. “Buffy?” No way Buffy would have gone patrolling now, maybe she was out looking for Dawn. She decided to go to bed and deal with her sister in the morning. ………………………………………………. In his room the magician went over all his books. Where had he gone wrong and what had he done? He sat back, tired. “We’ll deal with this in the morning,” he decided. ………………………………………………. Buffy groaned, stretching her legs. They’d been walking through the forest for over an hour and after her initial shock over the first fiend, she had proven her skills as a warrior, although according to Lulu, ‘Physical strength alone isn’t enough, you need to develop skills, special abilities.’ She walked next to the giant blue Kimahri. Apparently he was from a race called ‘Ronso’, which were like big blue kitties that stood like humans. Buffy heard a chirping noise. She looked around, curiously and saw nothing. Then her eye caught on a struggle in the bushes. She ran over to investigate. “Would you like to rest?” Lulu asked in a condescending tone, looking over her bare shoulder. The collar of her dress was off-the-shoulder and lined with fur. “No, I’ll just be two secs,” Buffy answered, annoyed. She pulled leaves apart to find one of the strange furry creatures from the inn in a tussle with a wasp-shaped fiend. Buffy swung her sword at it, missing it but scaring it away nonetheless. The furry creature, which resembled a kitten and a squirrel combined, ran over to the slayer, up onto her shoulder. Buffy ran to catch up with the group who were stopped at the edge of the path. As Buffy approached, Kimahri made room for her. Before them was the most beautiful lake she had ever seen. The water was reflective and covered in purple lilies. The strange, translucent shining orbs hovered low over the flowers, flying in lazy circles. “The Moonflow,” Lulu explained. “The pyreflies are attracted to the moon lilies. At night, the whole river glows.” Yuna stared at it, a strange longing in her eyes. “Hey, I have an idea…” Tidus began. “We’re not staying until nightfall,” Auron cut him off gruffly. Tidus’ face fell like a kicked puppy. Suddenly growing bright again, he waved his arm emphatically. “Alright then. Once Sin is dead we’ll all come back here.” Buffy thought it sounded really nice. If she hadn’t been so worried about Dawn and her friends she would love nothing more than to stay here, day and night. Maybe Riley could come too. The idea was nice but, she knew, impractical. She had a sacred duty. To save the world, unless all evil decided to retire. She realised that the silence around her had gotten heavy. The look on Yuna’s face reflected that of Buffy’s. Lulu finally broke the silence. “Yuna, dear, we should...” “Yes, I’m sorry.” Lulu fell in step beside Yuna in an almost comforting way. Buffy shook her head, confused. She felt like she had missed something. She followed the others along the bank of the Moonflow until they came to a clearing. What Buffy saw there shocked her. “Whoa oh!” Tidus stared, eyes wide. Then a look came over his face, like a boy with a new toy. In front of them stood what appeared to be an elephant. It had a long, fishlike tail and a rolled-up, skinnier nose as well as very small ears. Beyond that, it was definitely an elephant. It had a large basket-like device on its back, shaped like a gondola and a thick, white scar on its leg. Auron took Tidus aside to talk to him, pointing at the strange creature as he spoke. “What-- What is it?” Buffy asked in surprise. “Ohh, it’s a shoopuf,” Yuna answered, looking awed. “I... I’ve only ever been on one once before” Buffy stared. “Been on...?” “The shoopuf will take us across the moonflow, to the north bank,” Lulu explained. “And from there, we go to Guadosalam,” Yuna smiled. “Boarding Shoopuf, ” a strange voice said. “Shummonner Yuna and her Guardiansh, ze shoopuf ish ready to go. ” They walked up the stairs onto a platform, then boarded a wide, open elevator. “Hey, if machina are forbidden, why are they using this?” Tidus asked. “Machina?” Buffy queried. “Machina are machines,” Wakka answered, “and we only use the machina approved by Yevon. Yevon tells us which machina are good and which are bad.” Buffy wrinkled her nose. “They sound just like the Watcher’s Counsil.” “So, what kind of machina can’t you use?” Tidus continued. “Remember ‘Operation Mi’ihen’? That kind,” Wakka answered. To clarify, he added, “This machina is used for peace and to help the people of Yevon. Machina that kill, they’re all bad news.” Wakka waved his hand in front of his nose as if warding away a bad smell. Buffy thought about it. If people really banned all machines used to kill, there wouldn’t be so many problems. Sure, there would be vampires and people would have knives ‘n stuff, but if there were no guns, no nukes. She was startled as the Machi-- elevator , she mentally corrected herself--came to a halt. Boarding the shoopuf was fairly simple, like boarding a boat. She settled into one of the seats, it was a lot like a gondola. The seats were covered in thick cushions and there were curtains at the sides. As they sat there, most of them talked amongst themselves. Buffy was mildly interested in the conversations about some old city that had fallen into the river. She and Kimahri sat in silence as the small creature she had named Kirrel- kitten squirrel- slept soundly on her lap. Yuna stood up, staring over the edge of the shoopuf into the water, Buffy looked out across the Moonflow, then everything went chaotic. Two men in swimsuits and goggles dove out of the water, snatching Yuna and diving back under with her. Before Buffy knew it, Wakka and Tidus jumped in after her. The shoopuf continued its slow swim through the water. Buffy bit her lip for a second before taking Kirrel off her lap and removing her jacket, preparing to dive in too. Auron grabbed her arm. “They can manage,” he said. Buffy stared at the offending hand. “Listen,” she tossed her hair, hands on her hips. “I don’t know who you think you are but I’ve never been good at taking orders, not from my watcher and certainly not from you.” She grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly as she removed it from her arm. “A girl is in trouble. Don’t you understand that? I need to help her.” As she said this Tidus came gasping to the surface, Yunas’ limp body in his arms. She coughed, opening her eyes, and he helped her back up onto the shoopuf. Wakka and Tidus then climbed up onto the shoopuf where Tidus proceeded to shake like a dog. Auron looked at Buffy as though she were a child throwing a tantrum. He suddenly broke into a small smile, disarming her. “It would seem I am not in control of everything, but I would like you to know that I am personally glad to have you protecting Yuna,” Auron said quietly to her, as everyone fussed over the summoner in question. Buffy was left feeling confused. She shook her head and moved Kirrel out of her chair as the blue-finned driver called up to them. “Ish everyshing okay?” ………………………………………………. Spike stood in the engine room of their newest find. He tightened the screw on the fan when, to his surprise, it came on. He jumped back, shocked. “Bloody hell!” he yelled, furious. To his horror, his face shifted, reflecting his mood. He froze. “What? But-- I’m human. But, Buffy…” He felt a wave of sorrow wash over him, threatening to drive him into the ground and leave him destroyed and defeated. He shook his head, his vamp face melting away, and he replaced the sorrow with anger, ascending the ladder into the control room. The Al Behd known as Brother sat at the controls, flicking buttons. He looked up when Spike came in. “Un, Rammu oui, ruf yna oui tuehk?” Spike was picking up the basic gist of the language with surprising speed. It had only been a day and he could mostly make out what people were saying. “How am I doing? I was doing fine,” he answered, sucking in his cheeks. “What are you doing here?” “I’m testing the engine,” Brother answered in Al Behd. “Really. Now tell me, where was I working.” “Weren’t you…? Fixing the engine fan,” Brother remembered, smiling. “You bloody stupid ponce! If I was in the engine and you were working the engine, what the bloody hell did you think was going to happen to me?” The best thing about Al Behd was that the developers of the actual game, Final Fantasy, had based Al Behd on the English language. It was more a cipher than a language so if you knew a word, it also existed in Al Behd. Brother was contemplating what Spike said, a deep and thoughtful look on his face. He contemplated for about a minute, almost seeming to count in his head. “Oh!” he said suddenly. “The engine could hurt you. You shouldn’t be down there while I’m working it.” Spike opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. The kid made Xander look like Einstein. He shook his head. “I need to find Cid.” Chapter 4 Buffy looked around when they reached the north bank. Most of the surrounding area was dense tree cover. She came off the shoopuf, looking around. Kimahri was standing, arms crossed in front of his large, blue chest. Buffy realised that Yuna was in a sheltered area, surrounded by people. “Hello, miss,” a voice said. “Can I offer you any of my valuable merchandise?” Buffy turned to see a strange little man, a little smaller than she, with a huge pack on his back. “Uh, sorry. I don’t have any money,” she offered, wondering what he could be wanting her to buy. “You’re with the summoner’s party, aren’t you?” “Umm, yes,” Buffy was distracted by a giant Ronso she could see through the trees. If she thought Kimahri was tall, this Ronso made Kimahri look like a doll. She walked over to Tidus. “Who are they?” she asked. “Who?” He turned to look. “Oh, those are two other Ronso, Biran and Yenki. They had an argument with Kimahri back in Luca. Wonder what they’re doing here?” Buffy yawned, stretching. She really wanted a hot shower, clean clothes and a long sleep, not to mention food. Yuna came back to where Tidus was. Everyone gathered around. “Okay, everyone. It isn’t far to Guadosalam now. We should get there before nightfall.” They all turned and headed down a long path between the trees. After sitting on the shoopuf, Buffy’s legs had recovered from the major tiredness and she was happy to walk anywhere as long as the result was food and a shower. “Kimahri!” a voice bellowed from up ahead. Buffy realised that the two Ronso she had seen before were blocking the path. Kimahri calmly walked up to them, staring up at their faces. “Come to fight Kimahri?” he asked. Buffy was somewhat shocked. It was the first time she had heard him speak. “Come to warn Kimahri,” the bulkier one answered. “Summoners go missing,” the skinny one added. “Poor Kimahri, first lose his horn, then lose his summoner,” the large one said. The skinny one began scratching his arse. “Hornless, hornless,” he said before they both laughed and walked of into the trees. “Shelinda said something about summoners going missing,” Lulu said, looking concerned. “Wow.” Buffy said. Everyone turned to look at her. “Oh, nothing important ‘wow’. It’s just, those guys really have no life. They’re, like, Harmony meets a Fyarl demon.” Lulu pursed violet lips, turning back to the others. “Let’s keep moving.” They came out of the forest walking along the banks of the Moonflow where Wakka informed the group that the path turned back into the forest farther up. Buffy had no idea how he knew this. Yuna stopped for a moment, staring out across the Moonflow. Tidus didn’t realise and kept walking. Buffy stared up the path after him, shrugged, and turned back to the group. Yuna turned to smile at the group and they all headed in the direction Tidus had gone. “So, how come you don’t talk?” Buffy asked. “I mean, it’s not like I want you to go super revealy on me. It’s just, how did you end up with Yuna? I mean not ‘with’ with. I mean as her--” “Guardian,” Kimahri filled in. “Ten years ago I was asked by dying man. ‘Protect Yuna, take her to Isle of Besaid.’ I have looked after her since.” “Oh,” Buffy was silent. “How--” She was cut off as the group came to a halt. At the edge of the path, where it wound back into the forest, was a girl. She was about Dawn’s age, wearing the smallest green shorts and an orange sleeveless top. Her orange-blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail and sat on top of her head. Her eyes seemed to be forest green, though there was something strange about them that Buffy couldn’t quite place. “Hi, I’m Rikku” he announced. Lulu looked at Yuna and something seemed to pass between them. “Uh, Rikku saved my life. She’s an Al Be--” Tidus cut himself off short and looked guilty. Yuna cleared her throat. “Um, I would like to talk to Rikku for a minute.” To Buffy’s surprise, as Wakka stepped forward, Rikku held her hand up, jigging from side to side. “Girls only. Boys, please wait over there.” Buffy blinked several times trying to work out what was going on. A minute later, Yuna and Lulu came back and Yuna spoke haltingly, “Uh, I would like Rikku to join me, to become my guardian.” All the males stood there looking shocked. “Um, sorry if I’m all backwardsy around here, but what is a guardian,” Buffy asked. “Guardians are those solemnly sworn to protect the summoners, until the end.” “A summoner must trust a guardian with her life,” Yuna added, hesitantly. “That’s why my guardians are all my friends.” Buffy nodded, thinking of Xander, Willow, Giles and maybe even Anya. They all fit that description. This place--Spira, Tidus had called it--it wasn’t so different from Sunnydale. Lost in thought, Buffy was unprepared for what came next. “…and I would like to ask you, Buffy, to join me as my guardian too. You… you don’t have to, but I would like you to come with me to Zanarkand.” Buffy realised that she wasn’t the only one surprised by this. Lulu, Wakka and even Tidus looked on in shock. Auron looked smug, as though he’d had something to do with this and Rikku… Buffy looked at the small, blonde girl. Well, she just looked vague. “Buffy?” Yuna looked apologetic. “Oh!” Buffy remembered that Yuna was waiting for an answer. Well, she seemed to be stuck here and this small, very strange group of people were the only ones Buffy knew. She took in a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll come with you to…” she searched the air for the word. “Zanarkand,” Tidus offered. “Yeah, just call me 1-800-Dial-a-Slayer,” Buffy added, strangely enthusiastic about the idea. Maybe because it wasn’t her having to save the world for once. Maybe it was because, in some deep part of her, she envied her friends their roles. She envied the way they dove into the work, no binding ‘destiny’ thing, nothing. They just wanted to help. She had always wanted that choice. Not so that she could run away from the slayer biz, but because she wanted to be a Scooby, a ‘Guardian’. And now she was. Lulu turned to Wakka. “I’m afraid I do not understand half the things she says.” Auron was talking to Rikku. “Look at me.” Rikku raised her head, eyes closed. “Open your eyes.” The girl opened one eye. Auron stared at her for a second. “Are you sure?” Rikku nodded. “Okay.” Buffy frowned. “Well, that was like super ‘huh?’” Wakka clapped his oversized hands. “Alright, we’re goin’ then?” “Alright,” Yuna said happily. ………………………………………………. Spike walked into the hallway and spotted Cid who was fixing wires in the wall. He looked up at Spike as he came up the slope. “Hey, it’s my resident Yevonite.” Cid said, laughing. “What can I do for you?” Spike looked back towards the control room. “Well, your son just tried to cut me into messes, but that’s not why I’m here.” Cid looked concerned at the mention of Brother. “Listen, I’m a... a special race called ‘vampire’.” Cid wrinkled his nose in thought. “Never heard of ‘em. They anything like Guado?” Spike thought about this. He remembered that the Guado were avid Yevon worshippers and ended up attacking Home, but they were the only way he could think of out of this one. “Yeah, vampires are a bit like Guado, except we don’t worship Yevon.” He ran his hand awkwardly through platinum blonde hair. “So why’re you telling me this?” “Us vampires need to drink…” Spike considered what he was doing but it was too late to back out now. Besides, now that he knew he was still a vampire, he needed blood and he couldn’t attack the Al Behd. Buffy… His eyes stung with tears over the thought of Buffy. He pursed his lips. He was in this now; he may as well continue. “Vampires need to drink blood to survive.” Cid thought about this. “You mean... human blood?” Spike put on what he hoped was a horrified face. “Oh, no,” he said, wincing at how phony he sounded. “We only drink animal blood. It’s very bad to kill a human.” Cid sniffed. “Alright then. When we finish up here, I can show you where the butchers are. We can get you some Ayishim blood down there.” Spike was considering what an Ayishim might be when he heard a huge crash coming from the engine room. “Uh, thanks, got to go,” he turned and left. Cid stood by the wall, a mess of wires in his hand. “Blood?” He pulled a face, then continued on with his work. Spike stopped just inside the engine room. Brother was there clutching his head, an assortment of tools were spread all over the floor. “What have you done now?” Spike growled. Brother rubbed his head, groaning, and muttered something Spike couldn’t decipher “Dra puq vamm eh dra crua bey.” “Right,” Spike answered in English. “This would be easy without you, but as it is, I’d rather go a few with the slayer. A super strength slayer. While I’m wearing a bloody cross.” “E’s cunno, e’mm lmayh ib.” “Bloody right, you’ll clean up,” Spike answered. A dismal look crossed Brother’s face , which reminded the vampire of Dawn. A pang of sorrow washed over him. Dawn and Buffy… the Watcher even. He missed bloody Sunnyhell. He never would have thought it, but there it was. “Hey, I’ll help you clean up, but then you get out of here and let me work, you hear?” Spike glared at him while Brother nodded. “Alright.” Chapter 5 Buffy stopped inside the entrance to Guadosalam. To her shock, she was suddenly two storeys above ground on a wide branch-like path which ran downwards, leading to several doors and eventually to the ground. Lulu took charge at this point. “This way.” She led them to an inn, similar to the one Buffy woke up in earlier. A few minutes later, she was relaxing in a hot bath. The door suddenly opened and a strange woman came into the room. She was obviously not human, though she was definitely female. She bowed to the shocked slayer as she came in, picked up Buffy’s clothes and walked out. “Hey!” Buffy called. “Wait, I don’t have any other clothes! Wait! Come back!” She looked around the room, no longer enjoying the feeling of the warm water healing the bruises of the day. The woman came walking back in, placing a thick towel and several items of clothing on the clothes peg before leaving again. Buffy sighed, leaning back in the tub. A few minutes later, cleaned and refreshed, Buffy pulled herself out of the tub, wringing water out of her golden blonde hair. She would have stayed longer but she could have sworn she heard a loud and pointed ‘hmmf’ outside the door. She grabbed the towel off the hook and her eyes fell on the ‘clothes’. A long white skirt with a waist-high slit hung from a thick black belt. It wasn’t just a slit, Buffy realised, putting it on. It was a three-inch wide section that left her right leg exposed at the slightest movement. This was accompanied by a pair of tight black shorts. A tiny lavender halter neck midriff top came with a long white coat, with one button just above her stomach. The coat had some sort of thick grey fur around the neck and at the ends of the arms. Kirrel sat on a chair, scrubbing its face intently with tiny white paws. Buffy laughed. “They can’t be that bad.” She put on the clothes, laughing at her reflection. The look wasn’t terrible and at least she fit right in now. She grimaced as every movement exposed a bare stretch of leg. She tentatively stepped out of the bathroom, finding the other two girls dressed similarly, with Rikku in a much shorter skirt and Yuna in a flowing skirt with no slit at all. Lulu walked into the room wearing a long black off-the-shoulder dress. It was a surprise. Buffy had gotten used to the strange dress Lulu had been wearing. The entire front of her other dress, from just below the waist to the floor, was comprised entirely of belts, crisscrossing one another and not doing a good job of hiding her stockinged legs. The dress she now wore was made from cotton or something similar, whereas her other dress had been leather with floral patterns at the end of each large, open sleeve. Lulu sat at the small table, her hair still in its many braids pulled into a knot at the top and hanging down to around her knees. The knot was impaled with six different chopsticks. The Guado that had stolen her clothes came walking out with a large platter of fruit, nuts and bread. Buffy’s stomach rumbled when she saw the food. Buffy sank onto the bed. It represented something to her like a sanctuary; she could have normal Buffy sleep and Buffy dreams no matter where she was. She closed her eyes and the last thought that flashed through her mind was, I wonder how the Scoobies are? … “Oh Buffy, the Buffster of Buffland. I bid you hello,” a voice called out cheerfully, stepping through the front door. “He means hello,” Anya called up. “He’s just cheerful because we--” “Anya? Xander?” a sleepy voice asked. “Dawn?” Xander looked surprised. “Shouldn’t you be going to school, the place of education and learning goodness?” Dawn frowned. “I thought Buffy would wake me. I was out kinda late last night and I thought… I wonder why she didn’t. Buffy?” Dawn padded off into the kitchen, coming back out a moment later looking puzzled. “You should check upstairs,” Xander said, beginning to get worried. “Okay,” Dawn said meekly. Trust Xander to be calm in a situation like this. She’d seen from the look in his eyes that he totally understood why she’d been out late. She stepped into Buffy’s room, looking inside in shock. The bed was unused, the clothes Buffy had been wearing yesterday lay discarded near the door. Dawn ran downstairs. “Buffy… She didn’t come home.” Xander’s eyes widened. “I’ll go get Giles and Willow.” “You should ask Spike,” Anya said, matter-of-factly. “He can track her down.” “Ahn, it’s full daylight. He would...” A thoughtful look came over Xanders face. “Oh, I like it. Let’s go ask him.” Anya ignored him. “Should we go ask Riley?” “No!” Dawn waved her hands. Xander frowned curiously at her. “No, umm, Buffy and Riley aren’t really speaking at the moment. People think I don’t know this stuff but I know.” Dawn remembered the problem at hand. “So, we shouldn’t ask him now. Giles can find her though, right?” … Spike sat back in his chair. He had been provided with an apartment, given blood, and now he sat in his chair looking absently at the large blue screen showing rematches of the day’s blitzball games. He didn’t mind playing a bit of blitzball, although the two hundred or so games he was supposed to play was bloody ridiculous, but he had no interest in sitting around. He looked around. His room didn’t have anything of great interest in it: an information console sat in one corner, glowing with a blue light like everything else around Spira. He pursed his lips. He hated that he was here and not out looking for Buffy and Dawn. Sitting around in his little room was only making things worse. It was like he was truly trapped and as the minutes dragged by, the walls became closer and closer and Buffy and Dawn slipped further away. Spike cursed to himself. “There’s not much point sitting around here, hey, Spike?” he said to himself, getting out of the chair. He grabbed his coat and stopped to push the button for the door. It opened upwards with a slight creaking and the vampire stepped out into one of the long halls of Home. It was incredible where a vampire’s sense of smell could get you , Spike reflected, over his glass of some obscure alcoholic liquid. After only half hour of wandering, his nose had picked up the scent of liquor. Minutes later, he was handing over borrowed ‘Gil’- the currency throughout Spira- and downing glass after glass. He stared at the yellowish/brown liquid before sucking in his cheeks and swallowing it. He managed to find his way back to his room where he lay down on the small bed and dreamed of Sunnydale. … Willow sat on the floor of the Summers’ house, surrounded by candles and a map in front of her. She sprinkled some powder on the map, chanting as she did. Anya was talking. “I saw someone killed by an Iimah demon before. It wasn’t pretty.” “Anya,” Xander said. “We’re hoping to find her not dead.” Giles was cleaning his glasses and looked up. “Yes, well, it would be preferable.” Willow frowned. Giles noticed this. “What is it?” “Umm, I… Well, it’s Buffy. She doesn’t... Well, the spell says she doesn’t exist.” Xander raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t exist as in...” A note of panic filled his voice. “Not dead. She simply doesn’t exist. It’s like she--” she stopped, shaking her head. “What?” Xander asked, his eyes full of concern. “Like she what?” “Like she’s in a different world,” Willow looked at the ground. “Good Lord,” Giles said. “I second that,” Xander offered. “Will she be okay? I mean, she’s not... dead. We can get her back, can’t we?” Dawn looked on the verge of tears. Tara looked at Willow, then back to Dawn. “Of course we can Dawnie. We’ll just have to work out where she went. Then we can get her back.” “…and which spell was used. If you don’t use the same spell it won’t work,” Anya added, receiving a glare from Willow. “So you see, we’ll get her back. It’s okay,” Tara reached to put a comforting hand on Dawn’s shoulder. “I can’t... I can’t be here with all of you. Just leave me alone!” Dawn shrugged off Tara’s hand, running up the stairs and slamming the door. Tara looked apologetically at Willow, then the others. “I didn’t mean… I hope she’s okay.” “But who would have done it? Why? And, who has that much power? Temporal folds are powerful spells and hard to control,” Willow said, remembering a run-in she’d once had with her vampire self. … Ethan Rayne poured himself a cup of tea, looking over the spell books. He shrugged. The slayer was gone. It didn’t matter where. He just had to make sure she didn’t come back and since he was the only one who could, it wasn’t a problem. He grinned in satisfaction. With the slayer gone, Ripper wouldn’t be staying for long. With Ripper out of the way, Sunnydale would be his. He chuckled at the thought of the chaos he could wreak using the enormous seat of energy that Sunnydale was seated on. He sipped his tea, chuckling. tbc

Chapter #2 - Chapters 6 - 10

Chapter 6   Chapter 6   Buffy yawned, stretching luxuriously, she could hear a faint thumping in the distance, like thunder. “Dawn…” She opened her eyes, disappointed to see the strange inn. “Hey Kirrel, so much for this being a dream.” She walked over to the small mirror, staring at her hair, bed hair and she had no brush. The door open and Lulu came in. “I thought you were still asleep.” She noticed Buffy’s problem. “Here, let me.” With great expertise she pulled Buffy’s hair into a high ponytail, something like Rikku’s, leaving the fringe out, then upon procuring another chopstick, seemingly from nowhere she flicked the hair, sticking two chopsticks into it. Buffy looked in the mirror, her hair was in a messy bun, two chopsticks coming out of it. “Er, thanks.” “It is no matter, come, they are serving breakfast.” Buffy came out to find Tidus, dressed and ready to go, shovelling food into his mouth, she wrinkled her nose up. “Eww.” “He is somewhat uncouth.” Lulu replied. He stopped eating to cough for a minute before continuing on. Buffy was given a bowl of cereal and dry fruit, along with bread, jams and herbal tea. Buffy was happy to eat the cerial and bread but she steered around the herbal tea. Yuna excused herself, coming back, moments later, in her normal clothing. Buffy pushed her chair back, heading to the bathroom. Her clothes, along with Lulu’s and Rikku’s were laid out, waiting. Gratefully Buffy pulled on her clothes, folding the others and taking them back out into the dining area. Rikku came walking out, rubbing her eyes sleepily and yawning loudly. She saw Buffy and frowned, then proceeded to make some incomprehensible noises, sitting down at the table and beginning to pig out. “Everyone, today we go to the Farplane.” Yuna announced. Buffy frowned wasn’t that.. “Hey, isn’t that where the dead go?” Tidus asked, looking as confused as she was. “Yes, here in Guadosalam we can visit those who have been sent to the farplane.” “You mean, talking to the dead?” Buffy wasn’t sure about this, she talked to the dead too often as it was. “Exactly.” Yuna nodded. “Oh.” Buffy remembered the clothes. “Oh, who do I give these to?” Yuna smiled. “Well, normally you would put them in your bag but as we are going to be here for a while today the Guado have offered to wash them for us. “Wait, you own these?” Rikku nodded. “Yeah, like, every inn sells them, we bought yours yesterday, brand new!” Buffy was taken aback. “Oh.” Yuna’s eyes widened. “If you don’t like them we can give them back…” “Oh, no. No, they’re great- really. I just didn’t know..” Auron came walking out into the room. “Are we going?” “Don’t you eat?” Buffy asked, offering him a bowl of dried fruit. “I woke up on time.” Was his gruff answer. …   “Hey, hand me the spanner, no, not that one, the spanner shaped one.” “Here you go.” Brother gave Spike the requested instrument and the vampire went back down the hatch. “Okay.” Spike said. “Now try it.” Brother sat at the control panel, pressing a group of buttons, the engine roared to life, the floor shaking beneath them. “Ed fungc!” Brother proclaimed. “Yes it does.” Spike answered, his other problems momentarily forgotten and his face covered in a childlike enthusiasm. “What say we go for drinks?”   …   The walk to the Farplane took about fifteen minutes, now Buffy stood on the steps that led up to what looked like something from Stargate. “Coming?” Lulu asked, walking up the stairs. “Uh, yeah.” Buffy shook her head, she may as well. Kirrel stayed with Rikku and Auron who had chosen to wait outside. She stepped through the strange door onto a round section of rock, about the size of her house. She walked to the edge to look over and was shocked by what she saw, miles below ran fields of flowers, everywhere she looked the glowing orbs known as ‘pyreflies’ danced around. A gushing waterfall finished off the scenery, while a full moon glowed in the sky. As Buffy watched Wakka walked to the edge and a boy, identical to Tidus with short, red hair appeared, wearing identical clothes to Wakka. Buffy frowned in thought, turning to see Kimahri standing guard. “Why don’t you try calling someone.” Lulu asked, startling Buffy. “Oh, I, I don’t know..” “All you need to do is think of them and they will appear, come.” Lulu led Buffy to the edge, try it.” Buffy thought of who she would call, maybe Kendra? She looked up, startled, to see Kendra appear before her, arms crossed in front of her chest. “See.” Lulu said. “It’s easy.” Thinking about Kendra led to thoughts of Drusilla and, suddenly, Buffy found herself thinking of Spike, to her surprise someone appeared in front of her. Dressed in Victorian style clothing, with the look of a dreamer and golden curls covering his head, his eyes were a sparkling blue that went deeper than colour, it was as though, by looking into them, you would see the heart, the soul of everything and the poetry of life. Buffy found herself staring in wonder at this apparition, then her eyes widened with a sudden realisation. Under the golden curls and soft smile was a face that Buffy recognised, high cheekbones gave way to hollow cheeks, stretched across with skin that was usually ivory white. “Spike!” She said, strangely she felt none of the emotions she had predicted she would in her daydreams of when she next saw him. Instead of bitter anger and loathing, instead of a lust for his death, a desperate need to see his ashes scattered on the wind, she felt a strong relief. Here was part of her normal, everyday life and she gratefully welcomed its’ presence. The figure in front of her shifted uncomfortably. “Well, well, I suppose I am.” “Huh?” Buffy had a blank look on her face. “Oh, forgive me, my name is William, I am , in essence, he who you call Spike.” “William? I don’t `get it, why are you here.” “I wished to converse with you.” “Uh, huh.. ‘Converse’ away.” Buffy waved her hand. “You have been sent here against your will, have you not?” “Well, yeah..” “It is as I thought, Spike, too, has been. It is imperative that the two of you are reunited.” “Wait! You’re saying Spike didn’t send me here?” William shook his head. “No, no. He was sent here just as you  were, he believes both you and Dawn to be imprisoned here as he is. In this he is mistaken, Dawn is safe, with Mr Giles.” Buffy looked relived, looking around at the scenery. ”You know, imprisoned is a strong word, it’s more like a compulsory holiday..” “I see, then what I have to tell you will carry no great weight.” “Wait, you have something to tell me, about how to get home?” Her eyes lit up. “Not a means so much as a course. You cannot return home unless you are reunited with Spike.” “Wow, so if I find Spike, I can get home?”  “You will be on your way home. With Spike by your side you will be given the light to find the way, but only inside yourself will you find the path to follow.” “Alright, so I find Spike and I can get home. Where is he? I haven’t exactly seen him around.” “He is in a place called Bikanel.” William answered. “Though beyond that I cannot help you.” “I see, well, thanks..” “Yes, it would seem my time is running short.” “Oh, okay, well, see ya.” William seemed to fade, suddenly blinking back to reality. “One more thing, if I may, Buffy, there are times when it is better to follow that which you know inside yourself to be true, logic notwithstanding and regardless of that which those around you may deem to be untrue. To hold strong against those who mean the most to you requires more courage and strength than to stand against all the armies of hell.” With this he faded, leaving a surprised Buffy blinking into the air.   …   “So, you wanna take her for a test drive?” Spike asked Brother as they sat at the bar. “I think we’re gonna have to.” An unfamiliar voice answered. Spike turned around to see a warm and friendly face, head covered with yellow hair, standing behind him. Spike frowned. “I’m Keyakku.” He said in answer to Spikes’ unspoken question. Spike frowned, Keyakku, he knew that name, from where? “Father says you helped fix the airship.” “Yeah.” Spike said. “So, do you want to come with us?” “Where to?” Spike frowned. “Macalania, some summoner is going through there soon, we’re going to save her as well.” “Macalania? Why not.” Spike answered.   Chapter 7   Buffy met up with Auron and Rikku outside of the Farplane, Kirrel came running, happily, over to her, jumping onto her shoulder and rubbing affectionately against her. “Are you ready?” Auron asked. “Yes.” Yuna answered, bowing. “Well, let’s go.” They walked out of the Farplane, walking in silence back towards the inn, each of them thinking about what they had just seen. “Excuse me.” A wheezy old voice interrupted. Auron ‘hmphed’ loudly. “What is it?” Yuna asked. “Maester Seymour requested to speak with you at once.” Buffy frowned, Seymour? She’d heard that name somewhere recently, where? “Doesn’t the Maester know we are in a hurry?” Auron asked sternly. A little too sternly- Buffy thought- for concern over the pilgrimage. “Yes, it will not take too long.” The old Guado answered. He led them into a large manor, staircases led upwards to a balcony high above the floor. Large portraits lined the walls next to the stairs. Buffy frowned, looking at the pictures. Most of the were more Guado, they all looked the same to Buffy- and they all looked like something she  would slay without thought back home. She walked halfway up the stairs to the right, where Lulu and Wakka were looking at the pictures. She frowned, suddenly noticing one she hadn’t seen before he had pale white skin and blue hair that stuck out all over in weird shapes. “Who.. who are they?” She asked. “They are the past leaders of the Guado.” Lulu answered. “Maester Seymour looks different though, ya?” Wakka turned to look at Buffy. “Yeah, he looks kinda wonky.” Buffy answered, frowning. “Don’t you know, Maester Jyscal wed a human woman. Maester Seymour is only half Guado.” Buffy turned in time to see Tidus nearly get hit in the face with a door as it opened downstairs. The old Guado made a shuddering noise before he spoke. “This way please.” Buffy followed Wakka through the door, Tidus coming through last. She found herself in a large room, a huge table of fruit in the middle of the room. In the ceiling were three, strange, blue orbs, a string hanging from them and swinging like a pendulum. “I will go inform lord Seymour, please wait here” Rikku, though she had eaten breakfast only a couple of hours beforehand, was shovelling in the fruit at an incredible speed. Lulu stood by the table, delicately picking at them while Wakka and Auron leant against the wall. Yuna stood by a table to the side of the room, laid out with cheeses and breads, Kimahri stood about a metre away, golden eyes scanning the room. Kirrel made a strange, chirping noise when he saw the table- Buffy had decided to call it ‘he’ for now- and now he sat on the table with a large peach in his tiny, white paws, chewing madly. Tidus was walking, agitatedly, around the room, he came to Buffy and stopped in front of her as if expecting something. “So, what do you think about all this?” He asked, clutching his big, blue, sword like a lifeboat. “I don’t know.” Buffy said. “I’ve only been here nearly two days. I gotta say, I have major wigginess vibes coming from this place.” “Yeah, tell me about it.” Tidus ran his hand through his hair. “So, what’s your deal, you don’t seem like the others. You’re not from around here?” Tidus looked sad. “I’m from Zanarkand.” “Hey, that’s where we’re going, right?” “Yeah, but.. The Zanarkand I come from is, like, one thousand years in the past. I was brought here- by Sin.” “By, Sin? The thing we’re going to fight. The thing Yuna’s father killed and yet, somehow, it’s still here. And where is Yuna’s father anyway, he killed it once, why can’t he kill it again?” Tidus put his hands behind his head. “Yeah, Sin kinda, comes back. They kill it and bring the ‘calm’ and then it comes back, like- ten years later.” “Oh.” “And I don’t know what happened to Yuna’s old man, he killed Sin, I know that. But no-one talks about him after that. I know he’s dead though, Yuna was talking to him on the Farplane.” “Truly it is good to have guests again.” Buffy was startled as the Guado re-entered the room. “Since Lord Jyscal passed away these halls have been too quiet.” Yuna bowed. “The death of Lord Jyscal was a great loss for all of Spira.” “Lord Jyscal, that’s this ‘Seymour’ guy’s father, right?” Buffy asked, her head beginning to ache with all these names. If only Giles was here, he was more the name rememberer. He did the research, she did the killing. And Willow, Willow would make this place a whole lot cheerier, she had the ability to make you feel alright no matter what. Plus, Buffy thought, Willow would just about kill to spend half hour with Lulu. Lulu was into the dark arts big time- summoning anything from fire to lightning, pools of acid and spearing shards of ice. And Xander… Xander would love to be here for the sole purpose of making bad jokes about everyone and everything they came in contact with. Buffy’s thoughts were shattered by the Guado. He seemed to be halfway through saying something. “…But now a new leader, lord Seymour, has come before us. Lord Seymour is the child of a Guado and a human he will be the tie that binds our two races together but that is not all I think he will surely become the shining star that lights the way for all the peoples of Spira.” Buffy almost felt like applauding, this whole thing seemed to be a big setup, a show of power. Almost as though this ‘Seymour’ had set it up, sure enough a voice floated into the room, a silky voice, high pitched for a man. Buffy heard the voice and her ‘Spidey senses’ went crazy, every part of her was saying that there was something wrong here- no good could come out of this. “That is enough, Tromell.” The person belonging to the voice walked into the room, his ‘hair’ looked more like an elaborate headdress, his clothes were ridiculous, making Wakka’s attire look good. A long- well, Buffy could only describe it as a dress- covered most of him, although for some reason it was open at the front, revealing his unreasonably hairy stomach. The sleeves were long and puffy, the whole thing looked like it was made of a quilt. She noticed that one hand finished with blue claws, the other with fingernails. His mouth pulled into a Cheshire cat type smile, the lips thin and evil looking. “Must I always endure such praise?” He walked into the room, standing under the three spheres, he bowed low, bringing his hands together in a ball shape in front of him, something Buffy had seen a lot of people do, but this guy, he seemed to almost make a mockery of it. “Welcome.” He said. “You.. wanted to see me?” Yuna asked, looking concerned. “Please make yourselves at home, there’s no rush.” “Please keep this short, Yuna must rush.” For once Buffy was grateful to have Auron there, his gruff answers aimed at this man were engineered to be forceful while worded politely. “Pardon me.” Seymour said. “It has been a long time since I had guests, Lady Yuna, this way.” Buffy shook her head, who was he to order Yuna around like a dog, she was the chosen one, and from what Buffy could pick up Seymour was nothing but a priest, there to guide Yuna.” Everyone stepped forwards, coming to stand with the strange man under the spheres, Buffy heard a singing and then a bright light flashed and she closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes she seemed to be standing in a void, the singing was louder, under her feet something shimmered, a field of stars appearing all around her, as though she were in space. Small, brightly coloured comets whirled past her face and she found herself making sounds of amazement like those around her. Her thoughts of the beauty of this place were cut of short when Seymour stepped forward, beside Yuna, reminding the slayer of his presence. “This sphere is a reconstruction created from the thoughts of the dead that wander the Farplane.” As he spoke the scenery changed and they were standing above a city, it could have been New York except for the giant walls of water that seemed to be held in midair, somehow defying gravity. Tidus frowned, staring across the city as they flew over it. Much of the city was built into the ocean itself, buildings standing in the water and on boats. The scene shifted again, almost like a dream and now they stood on a road, lights flashing everywhere, people hurrying by. Buffy felt almost at home, but Tidus.. “Zanarkand!” Tidus gasped. Buffy remembered him talking about Zanarkand, so this was it? No wonder he seemed nearly normal -in a really blonde way- this city was kinda like her world. “Correct, Zanarkand, as it looked one thousand years ago.” Buffy could hear a loudspeaker in the background. “The Blitzball stadium is experiencing difficulties, we advise that this area remain off limits until further notice. ” Seymour continued speaking. “She once lived in this metropolis.” Buffy heard Auron ‘humph’ loudly. Yuna turned to Seymour. “She who?” Buffy blinked as they suddenly appeared in a room, sitting on the bed was what appeared to be a naked woman, blue hair zigzagging in pieces like Seymour’s though falling down her back, not sitting over her head. Yuna gasped. “Lady Yunalesca.” Buffy realised that the woman in question was wearing a tiny bikini, suitable -Buffy thought- for a city with so much water. Seymour nodded. “She was the first person to defeat Sin and save the world from it’s ravages and you have inherited her name.” Buffy frowned, she could feel him leading somewhere, though she couldn’t understand what showing them all this scantily clad summoner was going to do. Yuna spoke softly. “It was my father who named me..” “Lord Braska was entrusting you with a great task he wanted you to face Sin as Lady Yunalesca did.” Buffy shook her head, what was with this guy? Just ‘cause her dad named her that didn’t mean anything. If her father had called her ‘Joan’ it wouldn’t mean he wanted her to lead an army and be burnt at the stake… “However,” Seymour continued. “Lady Yunalesca did not save the world alone..” A clashing noise was heard entering the room and a man, dressed in golden plate armour, entered and Buffy worked out what Seymour wanted. “To defeat the undefeatable Sin it took an unbreakable bond of love, the kind that binds two hearts together for eternity.” He did the weird bowing thing again. Buffy opened her mouth to say something when the flashy light thing happened again and they reappeared in the room, Seymour whispering in Yuna’s ear. Buffy shook her head, this wasn’t her business. Yuna suddenly gasped, then, making strange noises,  Yuna walked over to a table, grabbing a glass of water in both hands and gulping it down, she held her hand in front of her face, then ran over to where her guardians were standing. Rikku looked at the distressed summoner. “Wow, your face is beet red.” Buffy shook her head. “He didn’t, did he, ask you..” Yuna nodded at Buffy, grateful that she had worked it out. At the confused looks on the others faces Yuna clarified. “He, he, asked me to marry him!” Wakka looked shocked. “You serious?” Auron frowned, obviously displeased. “You know what Yuna must do.” “Of course..” The way he spoke so quickly gave Buffy the impression of a prepared speech. “Lady Yuna, no, all summoners are charged with bringing peace to Spira. But this means more than just defeating Sin she must ease the suffering of all Spira she must be a leader for the people.” Buffy had a nagging feeling that the Maester was using a play on words, as though he were saying what Yuna wanted to hear yet at the same time the truth lay somewhere in those twisted words. “I proposed to Lady Yuna as a master of Yevon.” Auron grunted. “Spira is no playhouse. A moments diversion may amuse an audience but it changes nothing.” Seymour gave him a dirty look. “Even so the actors must play their parts. There’s no need to answer right away, please, think it over.” Auron took over, seeming to wrap the party under protective wings. “We will do so then. We leave” Seymour kept his smiling face, though his eyes had a flame in them, showing his displeasure at Auron’s interference. He seemed smug at getting in the last word, as they left the room. “Lady Yuna. I await your favourable reply.” Buffy looked at Tidus who seemed to want to say something, Auron gave him a ‘let’s go’ look and headed after all the others. “Why are you still here, sir.” Buffy spun around to stare at Seymour, all sense of a friendly host was gone, malice sat openly on his face, he covered it a moment later, lowering his lashes. Buffy had the feeling that he’d just struck at Auron’s weak point. “I beg your pardon we Guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane.” Tidus walked over and began sniffing Auron like some kind of dog. “Tidus, cut it out.” Buffy said as Auron shoved him away. The three of them left the room in silence, gathering around Yuna who sat on the ground outside, where Lulu spoke. “Yuna, the high summoners daughter, Seymour, the leader of the Guado, married in the name of Yevon, overcoming the barriers of race… It would give Spira something cheery to talk about for a change.” Wakka screwed up his nose, waving his hand in front of his face. “Sounds just like a passing daydream, like Auron says.” Tidus shook his head, gesturing wildly with his arms. “Come on, lets just get on with the pilgrimage I mean, Marriage?” Rikku surprised Buffy, thumping Tidus on the shoulder. “Hmm, jealous?” “What, no way! We gotta defeat sin, romance can wait.” Wakka looked torn. “He sure picked a fine time to lay this one on us.” “Maybe it is a fine time.” Tidus looked at Yuna as though she’d gone nuts. “You serious?” “If my getting married would help Spira… If it would make people happy… If I can do that for people… Maybe I should do what I can. I never imagined doing anything like this but I wont answer till I know what's right.” Buffy sat on the ground, taking Yuna’s hands in her own, the summoner looked up at her. “Listen, Yuna. I know you respect Seymour, and I know Spira means a lot to you but.. Those things Seymour said, he said them on purpose.” Yuna looked confused. “You are a summoner, you have been chosen to help Spira, right? He must know that as a summoner you would do anything to make people’s lives better, but.. Not this, Yuna. Don’t do this. People get married for a bunch of reasons but.. Unless you love him- I mean really love him.. Marriage is too big. My parents got married, but, later, they didn’t love each other anymore and- yes the wedding made people happy- but afterwards, when they left each other, it just made people sad again. As the chosen one it is your duty to save lives. If you save the lives of all these people, they can get married, they can have their own little children and just think, how happy would that make them? I know it’s hard, Seymour really struck at a weak point, but.. God! You can’t just be dangled like a puppet for people. And, Yuna, when you find someone you do love you can marry them and just think how happy that would make everyone, Lu’ said that the overcoming of race and.. Yada yada, but a happier story is you overcoming all odds and finding someone you really love, I know it would make me happier.” Buffy looked up for the first time, away from Yuna’s green and blue eyes, filled with emotion, she looked at those around her, Rikku looked entranced, absently scratching the side of her face. Tidus and Wakka looked relieved and Lulu just looked decided. Yuna, suddenly looked up, directly at Buffy. “I remember, when I was only seven years old, in Bevelle that day. My father had just defeated Sin and the whole town was out on the streets, everyone seemed so happy. If I defeat Sin, that will make people happy.” She looked at her friends. “I am a summoner I must fight and defeat Sin.” Auron nodded, seeming to understand what she meant. “Like Braska before you?” “Mm.” Yuna agreed. “Let us return to the Inn to collect our belongings then I will take my answer to Lord Seymour.”   Chapter 8      “Lady Summoner, you’re clothes are ready.” The Guado said as they entered the inn, she handed them neatly folded piles of clothes which Wakka stashed in a surprisingly small bag and slung it over his back. “Thankyou for your kindness.” Yuna bowed. “It was a small thing, I wish you luck on your journey.” The Guado bowed low. “Thankyou.” Yuna left. They headed back towards the manor when they ran into a green clad girl. “Shelinda?” Yuna said, bowing. “Lady Yuna.” The girl bowed back. “Where are you going?” “We are going to speak with Lord Seymour.” Yuna answered. “Oh.” Shelinda looked concerned. “But Maester Seymour just left to go to Macalania Temple.” “Oh!” Yuna held her hand in front of her mouth. “Are you sure?” “Why, yes. Is something wrong?” “Oh, no. We shall have to go to Macalania Temple.” “He sure left in a hurry.” Wakka observed. “Perhaps he did not expect Yuna’s answer so soon.” Lulu said. “Well.” Shelinda answered. “I will be going to Macalania myself, shortly.” Lulu pointed. “It is this way.” She led them through a tunnel and they came out on a huge, wide plain. Buffy stared, green eyes wide with wonder and fear. She had never seen anything so scary, never even conceived it as possible- well, finding out about what her mother and Giles did under the influence of those chocolates, that kinda came close. Thunder sounded and Lightning arced down towards the black, rocky, plain, rain sliced through the air at random intervals and a permanent smell of ozone filled the air. As lightning arced out of the sky Rikku squealed, falling to her knees. “Uh, I think I left something back in Guadosalam.”       “Nice knowing you.” Auron answered. “Alright, fine, I’ll go.” A peal of thunder shot through the air and she squealed again. “Let’s go.” Auron said. The journey across the thunder plains was nerve wracking, the  entire plain was dotted with lightning rod towers, designed to draw the lightning towards them, they had to stay close to the towers without getting close enough to be affected by the lightning that hit the towers. Every time an arc of lightning came out of the blackened sky Rikku would scream which only made things worse. Finally, half way across the thunder plains Rikku stopped, a strange, haunted sounding laugh coming from her. “Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.” Everyone turned around, Rikku fell to her knees. “Eh heh heh eh eh heh.” “Heh heh heh heh?” Tidus said. “Your freaking me out!” Buffy knelt down, staring into Rikkus eyes and noticing, for the first time, the way a black spiral ran through them, from the outside to the centre. “Well.” Buffy said. “She’s either scared crazy or doing it for attention, my sister does it all the time.” Thoughts of Dawn flooded her, worry coming back in truckloads, she knew Dawn was ‘safe’ but probably worried sick not knowing where Buffy was. She stood up and to her surprise Rikku crawled across the ground, latching onto Tidus’ leg. “I wanna go home I hate lightning I hate thunder lets go rest over there, please?” Buffy frowned. “Rikku, get up.” The other girl made a whimpering noise. Auron stepped forward. “This storm never stops better to cross quickly.” Buffy, too, was anxious every time the lightning arced out of the sky, but as Auron said, the sooner they crossed it the sooner  they were out. “I know but.. just for a little while?”   Auron turned and left, the others following him. Buffy put a comforting arm around the girls shoulder. “Come on Da.. Rikku, the sooner we get out of here the sooner you never have to worry about lightning again. “Oooh.” They approached the building, a lightning rod tower with an inn at the base, Rikku broke free of Buffy, standing in the doorway. “Pretty please, just a few minutes?” “Ignore her.” Auron said, continuing to walk. “I’m scared of lightning let’s rest please pretty please?” “I swear, she acts just like my sister.” “How old is your sister?” Lulu asked. “Fourteen, my Mom’s away for the week so I’m supposed to be watching her, somehow I ended up here.” “I’m too young to die.” Rikku wailed as they continued to walk. “It is evident that you are a warrior.” Auron observed. “Where do you come from?” “It’s not exactly where I come from, it’s who I am, I am the Slayer, the ‘chosen one’ a bit like Yuna. I have to save the world and protect the innocent, it’s a whole big thing. But mostly I just kill demons, vampires, zombies.” The faces of those around were blank. “You know- dead stuff.” She frowned, looking at Auron. “I mean, not all dead things, some dead people are perfectly nice. I had a boyfriend once, a vampire, well, he used to be nice and now- there’s Spike. Well, he’s mostly nice, a bit annoying but perfectly harmless…” Her talking was interrupted as Rikku called out in one last attempt. “You’re mean, cruel your moms would be ashamed of you…Are you having fun doing this to me.” Auron sighed. “Fine, we rest she’s worse than the storm.” Buffy raised her eyebrows, Auron giving in to a fifteen year old girl? She grinned.   An hour later they escorted an apprehensive Rikku back outside and continued on. In next to no time they reached the edge of the thunder plains, as it gave way to a huge, dense forest, thick with giant trees- and crystals. Buffy looked in wonder as they entered the forest, Rikku breathed a sigh of relief. The forest was comprised of long paths which gave way to thick branches and roots, as wide as a road which they often had to walk up, their path snaked through the trees, up and down, often they were attacked by fiends breathing frosty air or summoning small blizzards. These were soon dealt with and they continued on their way. Soon they reached the edge of the forest, icy air blew out at them, Buffy was glad for her jacket and watched in horror as Rikku walked out across the snow in her shorts. “Rikku.” Buffy ran up to her as she began to shiver. “Here, wear this.” She fished her white coat out of Wakka’s bag, putting it on Rikku, it covered her arms and provided some shelter around her legs. Yuna stood there, teeth chattering, as she cast a spell over each person. The spell, she told them, was actually designed to prevent them from being hurt by fire magic, but it created a small whirlwind of flame around each of them which warmed them slightly. “This way.” Auron pointed. Yuna ran on ahead, looking at the icy landscape, she stepped onto a wide sheet of ice, perfect- Buffy thought- for skating on, as she was thinking this Rikku gasped. “Oh no!” Buffy ran to the edge of the ice to see men in what looked like scuba gear, wearing goggles like the ones Rikku wore on her head. They were dressed mostly in yellow and either drove snowmobiles or ran along the ice carrying guns. “I thought you said there were no guns in this world?” Buffy asked as they ran to surround Yuna. “The Al Behd!” Wakka spat. Someone stood on a ledge, high above, his chest bare but for a large blue tattoo. “Rikku.” He called out. “Tuhd ehdanvana un oui kad drec.” Rikku shook her head. Buffy spun around, the Al Behd were surrounding her as it began to snow. Through the snow she could see that not all the Al Behd wore yellow, some were dressed in blue, some in green, red and even purple and one of them was completely dressed in black. “Ouin bnaleuic magic yht Aeons yna icamacc.” As he said this a huge machine, like a tank, drove over the snow, something zipped around through the air like a wasp. Tidus turned to rikku. “Translation?” “He's going to use an anti magic field on us.” Rikku answered, distressed. The machine came rolling towards them. “Where do I aim?” Wakka called. “Aim for the flying thing.” Rikku answered. “If you knock it down Yuna can summon.” “Okay.” He hurled a large, blue and white ball at the wasp thing, the ball smacked into it, damaging a propeller and causing it to list slightly. “I can get it.” Buffy said, confidently. She ran at the machine, using it to jump off, she leapt into the air and delivered her best knock out, slayer kick, to the device, shattering it and knocking off it’s propellor. She landed like a cat, the machine falling out of the sky with her. “Yuna, summon.” She called. Yuna nodded, holding her staff before her as a circle of light appeared underneath her. She flicked the staff sideways, pointing it into the air as lightning shot from it, as Buffy watched a mirror appeared in midair. She stared at it as it shattered, a horse diving through the glass and landing on the ground. Lightning sparkled off it’s fur and Buffy realised it had a huge horn on it’s head. “A unicorn?” The creature shot towards the machine, digging its’ horn into it as the machine shot round after round of bullets at it, one lot imbedded deep into the unicorns side and blood began to drip onto the snow, disappearing with a sparkle as it hit the icy surface. The unicorn suddenly neighed, rearing up and shooting a blast of lightning at the machine, disabling its’ wiring and leaving it a useless lump on the snow. Almost without thinking Buffy leaped on the machine, ripping off the hatch and pulling a terrified looking ‘Al Behd’ out and holding him up by the throat. “It works like this.” She said calmly. “Either you leave Yuna, me and all my friends alone or I snap this guys neck.” The bare chested one made hand signals and all the Al Behd ran off, where? Buffy had no idea, but as long as they were gone… Buffy dropped the one she was holding off the vehicle, he fell to the snow, scrambling to his feet and running off. “Rikku E femm damm vydran!” The, now angry looking, tattooed man roared. “E ys dra guardian uv yuna, oui caa, Yuna ec cyva! Fa femm kiynt ran, cra ec cyva!” Rikku answered, waving her hands. “Oui tu drec ymuha cecdan.” “I told him I was a guardian well, I guess I had to really.” “How come u speak Al Behd?” Wakka asked. “Why?” Buffy shook her head. “Where I come from the answer to this question would be ‘duh’.” Rikku lowered her head. “Because I’m Al Behd and that was my brother.” Wakka stared at everyone else. “You knew?” Everyone nodded. Buffy put her hand up. “I didn’t ‘know’ I worked it out.” “Why didn’t u tell me?” “We knew you’d be upset.” Lulu answered. Wakka groaned. “This is great, I cant believe I’ve been travelling with an Al Behd, a heathen.” Rikku shook her head emphatically. “you’re wrong, we have nothing against Yevon.” “God!” Buffy announced. “That’s what this is about, she’s a different race and religion to you? Can I say ‘get over it’ enough? I can’t believe I’m travelling with a racist prick!” Buffy folded her arms in front of her chest. “But.. the Al Behd use the forbidden machina. You know what that means, Sin was born because people used machina.” “I don’t know why your Sin was born, but we have ‘machina’ in our world and there’s no Sin. Do you know what most people use it for? In hospitals, to help sick people get better, we have cars to get us from one place to another, this walking business, really sucks. Of course, I can’t drive but that’s what friends are for.. Oh, and, entertainment, Seymour wouldn’t have been able to pull off that ‘it’ll make people happy’ crap if you had television, or computer games, even the vampires have computer games- Spike..” Buffy frowned, her mind going into overdrive.   “Hey, just leave it.” Spike said, “I’m about to beat the snot out of Seymour.” “Uh huh.” Buffy sounded sceptical. “What, you can’t be violent in real life so you have to play video games?”   Buffy stared at Wakka, a look of horror on her face, she shook her head, top lip beginning to curl upwards. “No way, it’s impossible...” She stared at the people around her. “I can’t believe it.” Wakka looked incredibly sorry, he thought the look on Buffy’s face was attributed to his reaction to the Al Behd. “Hey, I’m sorry, you’re right, I was a big jerk. I just, I can’t stand the fact that the Al Behd defy Yevon like dat.” Auron called out. “Rikku.” The girl ran over to where he was playing with one of the snowmobiles. “Will this move?” Yuna walked over to Buffy, looking concerned. “Are you, are you alright?” Buffy bit her bottom lip. “Yeah, I.. I’m fine.” “Kimahri think not.” The Ronso said, frowning at Buffy. “Slayer sad?” “No, really, I’ll be fine.” “Kimahri hopes.” Wakka looked upset. “W-we’re not using that are we? Wait- sir  Auron isn’t Al Behd too is he?” Tidus waved his hands. “Come on Wakka, you just said you were sorry.” “Okay, alright, I just hope Yevon will forgive us.” “Let’s go!” Tidus said, pumping his fist in the air.   Chapter 9     Spike boarded the airship, he grinned to himself, thinking, by the time he found Buffy he’d be able to add ‘saving damsels in distress’ to his resume. Of course he knew whichever summoner he was ‘rescuing’ probably wouldn’t appreciate his efforts but she’d be safer for it. “Ready to go.” Brother said flicking controls. “Ready.” Keyakku added. “Everything’s good down here.” Spike added, pulling himself out of the engine hatch and lighting up a cigarette with an oversized lighter. The airship took off, hanging, precariously in the air. It then began to move, sliding freely through the sky and taking on a grace like a swan on water. The Al Behd back in Home waved as they flew over. The flight to Macalania took very little time, they landed a little way off so they could catch her unawares, snowmobiles were brought out of the airship and Spike was glad for his coat as Brother, who had no shirt on, began to shiver. They didn’t need to wait long before the summoner came into view and when she did Spike had to bite his lip to stop himself from groaning, it was Yuna. He knew this part of the game too well, Tromell would come to take her to Seymour, the Al Behd would attack while Tromell took Yuna off, Yuna would break free and beat the snot out of the Al Behd, Spike didn’t want to be around when that happened, he looked up as the snow began to fall. Yuna came walking out onto the ice, Spike frowned when Tromell didn’t arrive. “What’s taking so bloody long?” He whispered to herself. Keyakku looked at him, surprised. “We have to wait for her to come further out.” The snow wasn‘t so heavy that Spike couldn’t make out the shapes of her guardians. Keyakku could see her guardians too. “Seven guardians?” Keyakku said in surprise. “Yeah.” Spike said. “This is gonna be fun.” He began to think, remembering her guardians, there was Lulu, he remembered her easy enough, Tidus, Wakka and Auron. Rikku was probably the weakest of the lot, and there was Kimahri. Spike frowned, thinking them over. Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, Auron, Rikku and Kimahri, that was six, he didn’t think he was forgetting any. “Keyakku, she only has six guardians.”  “No, she definitely has seven.” ”Spike, I think there’s a leak in the coolant.” A voice called from behind him “I’ll be there in a minute.” He stared out across the snow one last time before he remembered Oaka, the salesman who followed them from place to place, he was probably with them. He did come out of Macalania woods with them. …   “Whoa!” “I’ll see your ‘whoa’ and raise you a holy cow!” Buffy said to Tidus. As they walked along a narrow ledge made completely of ice the Macalania Temple loomed up before them. And it didn’t just go upwards, looking over the edge Buffy could see the base of the temple went down into the ice far below them, it resembled some sort of palace more than a temple. The icy path led into a wide door, the building itself was enormous and lavishly decorated, going higher in the air than Buffy cared to look whilst walking along a narrow piece of ice suspended in midair. Her and Tidus stopped to admire the place, Buffy had never seen anything like it. Well, she’d seen the palace in Disneyland, she’d seen giant palaces at ice shows, made of coloured ice but none of these things compared to the feeling this place gave off, it was more than size and looks, it was a feeling. This place seemed as though it came before time and would continue long after, the same way it went through the ice and high into the sky, but it didn’t look crumbly, it was- perfect. As they approached the door they saw a priest, standing in front of the door. When Tidus and Buffy arrived the others began to walk into the temple. Rikku ran in first, the priest held up his hand. “Halt, the likes of her are not permitted in this hallowed place.” Auron kept his voice level. “She is a guardian.” He said. The priest looked outraged under his very high collar, Buffy sniffed, Auron pulled off that look way better. “An Al Behd, a guardian? Preposterous!” Buffy wanted to yell, some things about this world were perfect but other things.. Like this constant racism. Rikku, however, remained calm. “I’ve decided to be Yuna’s guardian now and that is all I want.” Auron began to walk up the stairs. “And that’s all one needs to become a guardian.” The priest shook his head. “Very well.” Everyone ran into the temple, Buffy came second last, followed by Tidus. As they entered the temple they were stopped by Tromell, he gave them a long and slow speech about his thanks and gratitude and hopes for the future, yada yada, boredom, boredom, she was surprised that Yuna took this all the time, Buffy would have ordered them to leave her alone. She looked past the guardians, looking for Yuna, she wasn’t there, Buffy’s eyes widened in panic. “Another Guado took her away the moment we arrived.” Lulu told her. Buffy frowned. “I should have been keeping a closer eye, I really suck at this, first Dawn, now Yuna.” “It is okay, you will learn given time.” Buffy didn’t know whether to feel insulted or uplifted. “…And so I thank you again and ask that you make yourselves comfortable.” Buffy watched as he did the funny bow, it looked even more ridiculous on him because Guado’s arms were hugely long. Tidus went to look at the group of musicians playing in the temple while Buffy, more out of curiosity than anything tried out the weird bowing thing. She laughed at the thought of the look on Giles’ face if she acted Spiran when she got back, she silently vowed to try it to see what happened. “It goes like this..” Lulu said. “Huh?” “Watch.” Lulu slowly stepped back with one foot, holding her arms to the side, she made cups with her hands and brought them together, elbows still out to the side, in front of her chest, so that they made a shape like a ball. Buffy watched and nodded, executing a neat bow. “It’s called the ‘prayer’.” Lulu explained. “Oh, thankyou. I didn’t need to know it, I was just..” “You do not have to know it- that’s true- however learning to fit in would not be a terrible thing, you have a unique personality, however some situations require a little more tact.” “Oh, Lady Yuna’s guardians.” A voice came from behind them. Lulu turned. “Forgive me.” Shelinda said to Buffy. “I do not believe we have met..” “Oh.” Buffy shot a worried glance at Lulu who gave an almost imperceptible nod. Buffy turned back to the girl, doing the ‘prayer’ back. “My name is Buffy.” She said, in what she hoped sounded like the same way Yuna talked. “It is an honour to meet you Lady Buffy.” Shelinda answered. “I.. I wish you luck in your pilgrimage.” “Where is Yuna.” Lulu asked. “Oh, I believe she went to the Cloister of Trials with Maester Seymour.” “Thankyou.” Lulu inclined her head. As Shelinda left Buffy turned back to Lulu. “See, that was uber embarrassing.” “I thought you did it very nicely, come, let us go to the Cloister of trials.” Kimahri heard her and began to head up the stairs, Auron and the others following suit. The priest blocked their way. Suddenly a voice was heard from downstairs. “Lord Jyscal!” A girl came running out of a room. “I was cleaning and I found a sphere under some cushions.” Auron walked in the room first, they all crowded in. Out of a small, blue sphere came the figure of a Guado. “Listen carefully, what I am about to tell you is the unclouded truth about my son, Seymour. His heart is closed, even to me, a Maester of Yevon, but I can feel flames of darkness burning in his heart. He is using Yevon, the Guado and even the summoners. If he is not stopped he will surely bring destruction and chaos to Spira.I will leave this world soon, killed by my own son. But I do not fault him. Because I was not wise enough he has suffered, and become twisted. I could not protect him and his mother from the world and its’ cruelty. I will accept death as punishment for my deeds. But whoever is watching this.. I implore you to stop Seymour, stop my son. Auron grunted. “Wonderful.” Rikku frowned. “Will Yuna be alright?” “Without us, no.” “Let’s go kick his ass.” Buffy said, happily. Now that she no longer wanted to slay Spike she required some violence to keep her going. “Perhaps.” Lulu said. “Though possibly with a little more discretion, hmm?” “Where you all goin?” Wakka asked in a panic. “Come on Wakka, the guys evil.” Buffy pointed out. “He’s bad news.” Tidus added. “But.. but, he’s a Maester.” Lulu intervened. “Let’s at least hear him out.” “This can’t be happenin.’ Ohh.” Wakka groaned. Buffy ran out into the main room as the priest tried to block the way. Kimahri’s answer to this was to pick him up bodily and toss him down the stairs like a beany baby. As Buffy walked past the priest grabbed her leg. “That Ronso, he.. Bevelle will here about this.” “Could I care less?” Buffy kicked his hand, continuing up the stairs.   They ran through an icy tunnel, coming out into a round room with stairs at one end. “Seymour!” Tidus yelled, running into the room. “Please be silent. Lady Yuna prays to the fayth.” “Make me.” Was Tidus’ answer. “You’re heading for a hell of a fight.” Buffy added, clutching her sword. “By the way, what’s with the clothes, and the hair. I mean talk about ‘individual’ you look like you’ve thrown on every item in your grandmothers closet. And can you say ‘wax.’ If you’re gonna walk around with your stomach hanging out- never a good look I might add- at least apply some wax so the rest of the world doesn’t want to hurl every time they see you. And really, what’s with the bow, it’s cute on Yuna, on  you.. well, I don’t wanna go there but I know what my frien... what Spike would call you and it’s not friendly.” Buffy felt pleased with herself, she thought she had successfully channelled Cordelia. Seymour headed down the stairs, giving them the death stare, suddenly the door at the top opened and Yuna stumbled out. “Yuna!” Tidus yelled. Yuna noticed her guardians looking like they were going to kill Seymour. “But why..?” “We saw a sphere Jyscal had, a recording.” Auron put the full force of his disapproving gaze on Seymour. “You killed him.” “What of it?” Seymour answered. Yuna gasped, her hand in front of her face, as Buffy watched her face hardened and Yuna looked like an avenging angel, a slight wind came through, blowing Yuna’s hair out and ruffling her skirt and arm things. “You.” Yuna stared. “Yes?” Seymour asked. “I..I shall have to stop you!” Seymour turned. “I see, you’re going to punish me then?” “Eww.” Buffy said. “Talk about wording something badly, that’s wrong on every level.” Seymour stared at her strangely before turning his eyes back to Yuna. He held out his hand to her, she stared at it for a second, stepping back.. “What a pity.” Murder was in Seymours eyes. Buffy pulled Yuna behind her as Auron and Tidus stepped in front. “Ah, of course. ‘protect the summoner even at the cost of one’s life’ the code of the guardian, how admirable.” He stuck his arm into the air, the two Guado either side of him stepping forward. “Well, if you’re offering your lives I will have to take them.” “Maester Seymour, these people may be my guardians but they are also my friends, I will not stand by and watch them be hurt.” Yuna held her staff up. “I will fight you too.” “All right!” Tidus exclaimed. Buffy pulled her sword out of its’ sheath, slashing at Seymour,  to her surprise one of the Guado stepped in the way, putting off her balance and taking the blow on its’ armoured arm. At this time Tidus slashed at the other Guado, ripping a gaping hole from it’s chest to its’ hip. Instead of dying it simply healed itself magically. In a second the room was full of flying fireballs, electricity and ice. Buffy gasped as a shard of ice erupted from the ground beneath her feet, using reflexes and strength that only a slayer has she leapt from the ground, spinning through the air and delivering a kick to the Guado’s head. Obviously unused to this form of combat the Guado fell, unconscious to the ground and she rammed her sword deep into its’ chest. At this moment Tidus, Kimahri and Auron slashed at the other Guado simultaneously. It too didn’t get up. “Seymour!” Tidus called. “You coward, you can’t hide behind them any more, watcha gonna do?” Seymour smiled unpleasantly, raising his arm as a dark mist seemed to fill the room, a dark pattern appeared on the floor as the room shook. “Tidus!” Buffy called. The room groaned and a creature appeared, it was the most disgusting creature she had ever seen, chained and bound with only one eye exposed. It appeared to be wearing a straightjacket and as it appeared it let out a moan of torment beyond Buffy’s imagining. Yuna stepped forwards, staff in hand. She stood before the massive creature, staff clasped in front of her chest, suddenly she held the staff towards the ground as red symbols began to glow, spinning around and shooting upwards, where they joined a shape appeared, flying downwards and taking the form of a giant bird, it spread its’ wings as it approached the ground, landing beside Yuna and purring as it nuzzled her hand. It was obviously a supernatural creature, back home Buffy would have slain it the minute she saw it, but now.. It was beautiful and gave off an air of peace. Buffy began to think, in Spira it was almost like, it didn’t matter what kind of creature you were, you could be a priest and evil, or a giant demon bird and be good. She shook her head, it couldn’t be this way everywhere, certainly not back in Sunnydale, could it? As she watched the bird flapped into the air, dodging what appeared to be a laser beam, shooting from the eye of the giant creature. The bird then swooped down, digging claws into its’ flesh, raking a large chunk from it. The beast that Seymour gloatingly called Anima writhed in pain, roaring and shooting another laser beam which grazed the birds wing, causing it to fly awkwardly. Yuna’s Aeon flew upwards, staring down Anima, it made a circular motion with its’ head, a circle of light appearing before it, light seemed to come from its’ beak, intensified by the circle in front of it, the light then shot in four beams towards Anima, greatly weakening it. Even as it struggled to remain upright it shot a laser beam straight through the birds chest and it fell to the ground, dissolving into pyreflies as it hit the ground. Yuna gasped, seeming to deflate. Almost without thinking Buffy jumped in front of Yuna as Anima shot a laser towards her. “Buffy!” Yuna called, half stepping forwards, Buffy didn’t hear anything, the pain in her side where a large chunk of her was missing was nothing to the pressure that seemed to be trying to escape from her, it was almost.. Tidus, Lulu and Kimahri seemed to sink into the ground as Buffy seemed to grow, she remembered this feeling. When she’d fought Adam her friends had mixed their power with hers, essentially turning her into a super slayer, this is what was happening now. Her eyes glowed and, as Anima shot at her with another laser, Buffy waved her hand, waving his attack away. She stepped forward, leaping into the air she placed a kick into his chest, where her foot met flesh ice seemed to sprout like a weed, weaving its’ way into his body, causing him to roar in pain, his writhing caused him to break free of his straightjacket. Buffy ignored his flailing arms, jumping almost weightlessly from the ground, landing on his giant shoulder, almost two storeys from the ground, she grabbed his head from behind, twisting sharply. His neck snapped and he slumped forward as Buffy jumped lightly back to the ground. He dissolved the way the bird did and Buffy was suddenly left, collapsed, on the ground, all the extra power gone from  her body and her side hurting. Rikku pulled her towards her, casting a spell much like the one the Guado were casting before. Her side began to super heal, flesh knitting back together and she found she could stand without pain, she turned to see Tidus, Lulu and Yuna standing in front of Seymour as he called out through the room. “That power that defeated Anima, it will be mine!” Bull, Buffy thought, she stepped forward to help but Auron placed a hand on her shoulder. “Your part of this is done, Yuna must do this.” “Why?” Buffy asked. “Your power is diminished.” Auron answered. “And this is Yuna’s story.” As Tidus attacked Seymour the Maester cast a spell, deflecting his attack, he glared at Lulu as she threw a ball of fire at him. Buffy watched all this in silence, it wasn’t until Yuna summoned again that she gasped. Ice flew out of the sky in chunks, imbedding in the ground and something floated from the sky amidst sparkling lights. As it reached the ground it threw its’ arm out, smashing the ice and that’s when Buffy gasped.     “Can’t you tell I’m busy?” Buffy looked past him. “Uh huh, because god knows naked blue women are of the important.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute, she’s not naked.” He held his hands up. “That’s not.. it’s a computer game.”     In front of her stood the woman from Spikes television, down to the last icicle, long, blue, dreadlocked hair, pale blue skin, a tiny little bikini with a string hanging down from the back like a tail. Buffy shook her head. Her suspicions were true, it was like she’d been sucked into a computer game- which made her sound like a science fiction nut or a character out of one of Xander’s comic books. She suddenly felt angry, if Spike knew where they were why wasn’t he looking for her. She glared at the ground, looking up sharply when she heard gasps of shock. Seymour collapsed to the ground, talking even to his last breath. Buffy stood up, pulling away from her thoughts- she had know she was in another world, now she knew which one- she walked over to where the others were standing, Seymour lay on the ground, motionless. “Yuna, send him.” Auron said, gruffly.” “Okay.” Yuna answered. “Um.” Buffy said. “Send him?” Lulu turned to her. “She is going to guide his soul to the Farplane.” “Oh.” Buffy frowned, watching as Yuna stepped back, clutching her staff, just then a large roup of Guado burst into the room. “Get away from him.” Tromell groaned. “But he needs to be sent.” Yuna answered. “You are traitors, infidels.” Tromell said. “Seize them!” “Yuna, come.” Auron pushed Yuna back into the icy tunnel they came in through, they raced along, coming out into the temple where they all raced out through the door and along the icy ledge. Buffy couldn’t look behind her as they ran for fear of falling off the narrow, slippery ledge. She was amazed that the others could run along it, it was taking all of her slayer agility and years as a cheerleader to remain on the thin piece of ice. They came out on the ice where they had been attacked by the Al Behd, Buffy’s breath was coming in short gasps, icy mist hung around her face as she breathed. She turned around and saw two Guado, running out after them. Buffy pushed her hanging fringe back, angrily. Usually she was against the killing of anything with a soul but these guys were really starting to piss her off. They held their hands out and something jumped from the ice. Buffy rolled her eyes. It stood about twice the height of a man, covered in thick, coarse fur, it had an ape like face and grunted as it approached. “Great, the abominable snowman.” Buffy groaned. Lulu stepped forward, summoning a pool of fire underneath it which erupted like lava. It grunted, stepping back, then ran forward, ramming it’s fists into Auron, throwing him through the air. Buffy ran towards it, sword in front of her, she rammed the sword into its’ throat, causing bright red blood to gush all over the ice. It roared, stomping its’ feet and making a funny, cracking noise. Buffy frowned, cracking noise? As she thought this the ice gave way beneath her feet and she fell through the air for what felt like forever.   Chapter 10   “Oww.” Buffy anounced, pushing herself to her feet. She was standing knee deep in freezing water in what appeared to be ancient ruins. She washed the blood off her sword, sheathing it and beginning to look around. She could hear a singing, the same as the song she had heard back in Guadosalam. She walked through a pile of rubble, finding herself face to face with Rikku. “Oh, do you think Yunie’ll be okay.” Rikku asked. Buffy looked in the direction Rikku was looking, Yuna lay on a piece of timber, the remnants of some old building. Her usually ivory white skin was bluish in colour.   Buffy looked around, remembering that Wakka had all their spare clothes in his bag, she ran over to him, he was shaking his head and moaning, Buffy snatched the bag off him as Tidus approached. “I have to help Yuna, can you deal with him?” Buffy said. “Yuna’s hurt?” Tidus’ eyes were full of concern. “She’ll be fine just.. Wakka.” She turned and ran back to where Yuna lay. She pulled Aurons long, black coat from the bag, laying it over Yuna as she lay on the platform. “Come on.” Buffy said. The blue tinge slowly faded away and Yuna’s eyes fluttered open. “Yuna!” Tidus called, running over. Buffy looked at the summoner as she sat up, pulling Auron’s coat over what she was wearing. Auron came walking over, Buffy realised that the black coat was identical to the one he wore during the day with long, open sleeves and a piece of material around the middle to hold it on. Buffy listened to the singing in the background, it was repetitive and slow. Lulu spoke. “We are under the ice, aren’t we, that’s the base of the temple over there.” Buffy looked in the direction Lulu pointed, the base of the temple was there and the singing seemed to be coming from it. “What’s that singing?” Buffy asked. “That is the hymn of the Fayth. It is Yevons gift to us, the Fayth sings and it lifts the hearts of the faithful.” As Buffy listened the singing stopped, no-one else seemed to have noticed, the ground suddenly shook and Rikku called out. “The singing, it stopped.” “What’s that!” Wakka yelled as the ground shook harder. “Sin!” Tidus yelled. “Watch out, the toxin!” Lulu said warningly. Huh? Buffy thought, Toxin? The ground gave another heave and Buffy blacked out.   Buffy turned in her sleep, a faint buzzing noise could be heard in the background, she rolled over and reached for her pillow, it wasn’t there. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around, she appeared to be in the desert, though how she got there she didn’t know. She was asleep at the base of some sand dunes, she stood up, rubbing her eyes. Off in the distance she could hear a faint buzzing, almost like machina, she shook her head. Why would there be machina in the desert. She decided to look for the others, walking between the dunes she looked around, there didn’t appear to be any life or water either. She came around a corner to see Kimahri trying to walk up a sand dune, he kept slipping down and trying again. “Kimahri!” She called, running over to him. “What’s wrong.” “Kimahri lose Yuna.” He answered, dismally. Buffy shook her head. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.” After walking around for ten minutes they located Lulu, Tidus, Wakka and Auron. Rikku and Yuna were nowhere to be seen. They continued walking between the sand dunes, seeing a pile of rubble in the distance. Kimahri sniffed. “Rikku this way.” They walked over to the rubble and found Rikku, she was examining a blue monitor. “Rikku!” Tidus called, she looked up, waving. “I think I know where we are.” She explained as they approached. “Where?” Buffy asked. “Well..” Rikku stubbed the toe of her boot into the sand. “It’s kinda a secret and, well, I need you all to promise not to tell anyone.” Buffy looked at Wakka’s face, a look flitted across it, one she had seen so many times before on Xander’s. Wakka was a lot like Xander, not that either of them were bad people, just very set in their ideas, often making them seem pigheaded. She knew, as she would have with Xander that he was going to argue the point to death.. She glanced at the sky, if they stood around much longer they were going to bake, and the longer they stood around the less chance they had of finding Yuna again. “Wakka..” Buffy said, glaring at him. Wakka took one look at Buffy’s face and his arguments slipped away, he held his hands out defensively. “I promise, ya.” “Okay, we’re on an island owned by the Al Behd, our Home is here, it isn’t far and I can lead you all there.” “We need to find Yuna.” Auron pointed out. “Well, if the Al Behd found her, that’s where she’ll be.” Rikku said. “Take us there.” Auron answered. After walking for over half hour Rikku pointed to a sand dune. “Right over there.”   Rikku reached the top of the sand dune and stopped short, holding her head in her hands. “Aahhh!” She cried. Buffy ran up the hill as Tidus yelled “What?”, stopping short at the sight before her, a giant city sprung out of the ground, the buildings at strange angles, resembling a tussock of grass but the strange architecture of the city wasn’t the problem, the giant bird creatures were flying around the city, fire sprung out of the walls and people were running everywhere, calling in a strange language. Rikku raced down the slope, Buffy ran after her, as they reached the bottom they saw fiends running everywhere. Rikku stared in shock, how could this be happening? She stared in fright as a fiend jumped out of nowhere, attacking her brother, Keyakku, she couldn’t get to him through the chaos. “Keyakku!” She yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Keyakku!” She watched in horror as the fiend knocked him to the ground, ready to finish him off. At that moment a black clad leg swung through the air, connecting with the side of the fiends head. An Al Behd that Rikku had never met helped Keyakku to his feet. Rikku waved her hand at them, Keyakku waved back. Rikku looked around, Buffy was battling fiends away from some children as they huddled in the corner, Rikku raced through the mess to where her brother was. “Keyakku, what happened?” The Al Behd that had helped her brother frowned, Rikku stared at him as he seemed to sniff her. “Hey..” “The Guado.” Keyakku cut him off. “They attacked Home, everything is chaotic.” “Hey, Rikku, can you believe the Guado?” “Vydran!” Rikku gasped as her father, Cid came out of nowhere, looking furious. “Everyone here has to get to the airship. Come on Keyakku, Spike, let’s go.”   Buffy stabbed with her sword one last time, the fiend dissolving into pyreflies, she pulled the frightened children to their feet, spinning as she felt the ‘danger’ tingle at the back of her neck, the area, however, was clear of fiends. She frowned, herding the children towards where Rikku was waving her over. “Hey, where’re the others.” “Right behind you Buffy.” Tidus called cheerfully, running up. “We must decide on a course of action.” Auron said. “The summoners sanctum.” Rikku said, drawing blank looks from everyone. “The what?” Buffy asked, blinking. “This way.” Rikku headed off at a jog, into the burning building. As Buffy ran through the place she looked around. The place was huge and carefully put together. They came out on a set of stairs and looked around, Wakka shook his head. “This place done for?” Rikku hung her head, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re right, you're right, Wakka we Al Behd weren’t always like this our island was destroyed by Sin we al Behd were scattered, spread to all corners of the earth my father united us, he brought all the Al Behd together again. He told us if we put our minds to it and work together we can make a new Home for ourselves. We worked hard, we had our Home again.” Wakka shook his head. “Damn the Guado what are they thinking?” Buffy ducked as an explosion sounded. “We’d better go.” Rikku nodded. “This way.”   “Rikku.” Tidus called, stopping to catch his breath. “No time, we have to get going.” “what is the summoners sanctum?” “The summoners sanctum is where we keep the summoners, we keep them safe there.” “You kidnapped them!” Wakka said, more a statement than a question.  “I know it’s against the teachings and all that..” Rikku started. “I get why you did it, but..” “Well, I sure don’t get it, Wakka. They might get hurt on their pilgrimage so you kidnap them? I mean, if the summoners don’t do their job, then who will beat Sin?” Buffy gasped to herself, the whole time, a curtain of sadness had been in the air, everywhere they went, they acted happy but.. The looks Yuna got, Buffy remembered when she found out she was going to die fighting the master, she knew what it felt like, she realised that Yuna wasn’t going to defeat Sin and eat cake. Puppies and bunnies weren’t in her future. Somehow, Yuna knew she was going to die. “Tidus, shut up.” Buffy said. Tidus turned to her. “Don’t you see, Buffy, we all want to protect Yuna, the Al Behd want to protect Summoners, I know but Guardians are there for that. If guardians do their job well, summoners will be safe!” An explosion sounded behind them, filling the room with a bright flash of light and a smell like burning rubber. “Right. Right!?” Another explosion sounded as if emphasising Tidus’ desperate tone, Buffy shook her head, as he tried not to believe what his every instinct was screaming at him, and for some reason, in that moment, Buffy thought about Spike. She didn’t know why, it was completely crazy but recently when she had finished a fight with Riley she would sometimes go patrolling with Spike to calm her nerves. It was at these times that she saw in the vampire the qualities that she seemed to be missing in Riley. She had told herself that it was the stress, she had even reasoned that some part of Spike must be good and it was her minds way of searching, in futile, for his good properties. But the look on Tidus’ face now was one she had seen, flickering across the blonde vampires features recently, a look she hadn’t been able to place until now. It was sorrow, mixed with something that made the slayer sick, and yet strangely comforted, love. In some crazy way she realised that something had changed in Spike, something good- granted unendingly disturbing and never EVER going to happen- but the fact that Spike could feel it, that it etched it’s way across his face the way it was on Tidus now, it told Buffy that he was something more than the beast she knew him for. Her mind snapped back to the present, to the look of sorrow on Lulus face, the worry she had seen so often on Wakkas, the gut wrenching pain she saw in Tidus’ deep, blue eyes and the tears Rikku tried to blink back. Kimahri stepped forward, long, determined steps showing his emotion where his lion-like face seemed blank. “It’s quiet, Kimahri goes now.” Buffy nodded. “Yeah, we should find Yuna, maybe.. maybe if we can find her we can help her.. maybe.” The look on Lulu’s face told Buffy that this wasn’t likely but with a purpose matching that of the Ronso Buffy turned and headed down the stairs, the purple scarf blowing in the hot breeze. “Yuna, please be here!” Rikku called as they walked into the huge, room. “Hello again.” A woman said, walking over to them. Buffy frowned. She’d seen some strange clothes on Spira, some she didn’t mind, some she hated, but these.. up until now she hadn’t seen anything truly skanky. “Dona.” Tidus said in the same tone of voice one would say ‘plague.’ “Wait there until we have performed the sending.” She said, walking away. The room was littered with the bodies of dead Al Behd “They died protecting us, its not much, the least we can do is give them a proper sending.” A young man said as he walked over. Buffy frowned. “They’re both summoners?” Tidus nodded as a little kid came running over. “What’s sacrificed? the Al Behd said summoners were being sacrificed, that they shouldn’t have to do the pilgrimage.” Tidus shook his head, Buffy wondered why, surely by now he knew.. “Why couldn’t the Al Behd trust the guardians to protect the summoners, the Al Behd had no right stopping the pilgrimage.” “The pilgrimages have to stop!” Rikku called, desperation in her voice. “If they don’t and they get to Zanarkand they might defeat Sin, Yunie could but then she’d.. Yunie’ll die you know, you know don’t you?” Tidus shook his head, he didn’t want to know, he couldn’t know.. “Summoners journey to get the final Aeon, Yuna told you didn’t she? With the final aeon she could defeat sin, but then.. but then.. It will kill Yunie too. Even if it kills Sin it’ll kill her too.” Tidus’ eyes widened with shock, fiends he could have faced, for Yuna he would find a way around anything, but the final Aeon, the one thing that could defeat Sin. He shook his head, they really were sending Yuna to die. He remembered on the way to Macalania temple, he had been riding with Rikku and she’d said that Yuna was sacrificing herself. He didn’t understand at the time, he had thought- no, he had known -that as long as he and the others were protecting her nothing could happen. “Was I the only one that didn’t know?” He looked at them all reproachfully, turning to grab Rikku by the shoulders. “Tell me why, why were you hiding it?” Buffy grabbed him, pulling him away from the other girl before he broke her, he tried to push out of Buffy’s grip, as she held his arm behind his back, but she was too strong. A sob escaped his throat. “Why didn’t I know?” He almost whispered. “We weren’t hiding it..” Wakka began. “It was just.. too hard to say.” Lulu finished. “Lulu! How could you, how could you isn’t she like a sister to you? I thought you were family! Why didn’t you do something, Wakka!?” “Don’t you think we tried to stop her she follows.. her heart” Lulu’s red eyes filled with emotion, sorrow and pride made a strange combination, playing across her face. “Yuna she knew what she was doing when she chose to become a summoner, to face Sin, ya, Yuna knew.” “But Wakka that’s just totally wrong!” Rikku called. “Summoners shouldn’t have to sacrifice themselves just so the rest of Spira can be happy, right?” She turned to Buffy. Buffy frowned, thinking of what she would do to protect the people she loved. “Rikku, I.. I fight evil every day, okay? And I.. I would do anything if it meant that the people I loved, my friends, my family, were safe. I would die for them. I have died for them once.” Isaaru, the male summoner nodded in agreement. “But that is our choice. We all live in fear of sin, you know that a world without Sin that is the dream of all yevon’s children and we will use that power even if it means our lives.” As he spoke Aeons filled the room, coming to rest on the ash covered floor. Tidus groaned, turning to Valefor, the giant bird that had helped Buffy defeat Anima. “And I’ve been telling Yuna ‘lets go to Zanarkand, let’s defeat Sin, I told her all the things.. we could, we could and the whole time, she’d just smile.” He stopped beating his wings on the muscle bound chest of the Aeon, sinking to his knees on the ground. In a gesture so heartbreaking that Buffy’s breath caught in her throat, Valefor placed his large wings around the distraught boy, rubbing his softly feathered cheek on him and purring gently. Tidus rose to his feet. “I can’t let her die, I’ll find her!” Valefor looked pleased with himself as Tidus found his feet again, flapping into the air he disappeared, the other Aeons all disappeared in much the same way and the two summoners followed the group as Rikku led them out of the room and across a huge bridge, following the direction  the children had gone in. They stopped outside of what appeared to be some sort of spaceship, Rikku looked around as though she were saying goodbye, then they ran through the door. Cid stood at the control sphere as they ran into the ship. “Hu desa! Ku ku ku!” Buffy blinked, not understanding a word he said. “Draa sehidac mawd” The guy from Macalania with the big tattoo called. Cid called to the Al Behd. “Rinno rinno, oui ryja uha sehida” “Where’s Yuna?” Tidus yelled at him, Buffy blinked in surprise, the guy was fairly big, built much more strongly than Tidus. “Ajanouha un puynt?” Cid called in the strange language. “Ajanouha ymeja.” Someone else called back. “I said where is she! Answer me, answer me, damn you!” Tidus yelled. “What’ll you do when you find her eh?” Cid said, suddenly speaking English. “I.. I didn’t know anything about what a summoner is supposed to do, and I told her all those things without even knowing. I’ve gotta tell her.. I’ve got to tell her I’m sorry!” “That’s it, you’re gonna tell her you’re sorry?” Cid’s voice was heavy with sarcasm and bitterness. “And then you just drag her to Zanarkand and make her fight Sin? You’re all the same, let the summoner die so we can live in peace!” Buffy stared as Cid hurled Tidus over his shoulder. “I’m not gonna let Yuna die!” Tidus jumped to his feet, dusting himself off. “Hah, words, show me action.” Buffy realised with a start that Cid was testing Tidus. “I’m telling you she wont die!” Tidus yelled at the bald man. “Boy, don’t forget those words, cos if you do… I’m, gonna make you regret it.” “I won’t.” Tidus said. “Uhla fa kad dra ahkeha nabund fa lyh ku.” One of the Al Behd said. “Huh?’ Buffy asked Rikku, tired of not understanding what was being said. “Once we get the engine report we can go.” The blonde girl answered. “Ymm naydo du ku.” A voice stated, coming out of a hatch, Buffy turned to see the Al Behd who had spoke as he stood up and turned to look at the group waiting on the bridge. They both seemed to freeze in time. Spike looked- and Buffy laughed at the possibility- but he looked as though he would cry . She stared at him, her face completely white. “Spike.” “Buffy?” They both spoke at the same time. The thoughts rolled round and round in Spike’s head, she was here, he had found her, she was here and alive and Buffy. He lost everything in that moment, nothing was important and he collapsed to his knees, heedless of anything but the beautiful, fierce goddess , the golden warrior who’s light outshone the sun of any world. tbc

Chapter #3 - Chapters 11 - 15

Chapter 11   “Spike!” Buffy called, alarmed. For no good reason the vampire had collapsed to the ground. Spike returned to the present, every part of his being sang with the knowledge that Buffy was alive and well and right here before him. “Buffy, where’s Dawn, have you seen her?” “Dawn’s fine- well, she’s safe, she’s back at home, in Sunnydale.” At this point Auron re-entered the room and began arguing with Cid.Buffy turned to cast an anxious glance at the two of them. “Don’t worry.” Spike reassured her, standing up. “They’ll be fine.” Buffy turned around, back to Spike and put the full force of her gaze on him. “You would know, wouldn’t you? It is your game, right, the one I saw back in your crypt?” Spike nodded. “Seems to be.” “Okay, I’m only going to ask you this once, did you put me here.” Spike looked as though he’d been slapped. “No. Buffy, I didn’t..” “Okay, Spike, I’ll believe you.” Spike frowned, that was funny, usually she’d just punch him in the nose and ask again. And when she’d seen him, when she said ‘Spike’, it wasn’t in a voice full of fury, disgust or any of the other emotions that she usually said his name in, it was as though she was relieved to see him. He shook his head, it was crazy, he was still holding on to a thread of hope, a tiny chance that one day she might see past what he was and give a damn about who he was. “Okay, we need to find Yuna, do you know where she is?” “Uh, let me think for a sec, I only just worked out when in the game we are. Yuna..” He sucked his cheeks in, in concentration. Buffy looked away, not because he was a vampire, not because he was a fiend, but because a brief thought had flashed across her mind in that moment- wow, look how blue his eyes are. “Oh!” Spike said, interrupting Buffy’s attempts to squish her thoughts. “Bevelle, the Guado, they stole Yuna and took her to Bevelle where she was forced to marry Seymour!” Buffy frowned. “But.. Seymour’s dead?” “Yeah..” He looked as though he was about to explain but she shook her head, she killed plenty of things that were dead, they’d killed Seymour, they could kill him again. She shook her head. “We’re wasting time, so.. Yuna’s in Beville?” “Bevelle.” “I have to tell the others..” “Whoa.” Spike grabbed her arm. “What, are you a guardian now?” She raised burning green eyes to his blue ones. “Yes, I am, and I need to help Yuna.” Spike was taken aback, his slayer, a guardian? It was a funny thought and somehow it all fit. She went to tell Rikku and he stopped her again. “Wait, Slayer, you can’t just tell them you know where she is, they’ll think you’re in league with those bleedin’ Guado.” Buffy chewed her lip. “But..” “I’m not gonna let any Yevon laws or harebrained teachings send my little niece to her death!” Cid announced, up until now Buffy had been ignoring the argument but she turned as he said this. “What.. Niece?” Buffy frowned, that explained a lot. Spike nodded. “Yuna’s mother was Cid’s sister.” “Oh, well.. I have to tell them..” “Vydran, e vuiht ran!” “Huh?” “They found her.” Spike said. “Yuna?” Buffy ran over to the sphere, she saw Yuna, her hair pulled up a lot like Buffy’s and Rikku’s, she was dressed in a backless, white dress, small white wings on her back and feathers lining the bottom part of her dress as it parted, in the centre, just above her knees, sitting on the ground like a cloak as she walked. She was covered in a shimmering, see through veil and Buffy glared as a blue haired being she had come to hate came into view. The scene disappeared leaving a room full of shocked faces. “Where was that!?” Tidus asked, hotly. “The Palace of St Bevelle, heart of Yevon.” Spike snorted in contempt as Lulu said this. Yevon? He shook his head and began searching his clothes for smokes, he knew all about Yevon. Tidus pumped his fist in the air. “Gramps, let’s move.” “Easy, kiddo.” Cid said. “Bevelle’s defences are top notch. “Oh we can kick all their asses.” Buffy said, coming to stand beside him. “Yeah, Yuna’s there, so we go get her, and that’s all.” Tidus added. Cid looked like he was about to agree when Rikku stepped forward, shaking her head. “What’s Seymour doing alive, didn’t we take care of him in Macalania.” “He’s dead.” Auron answered, shifting his weight. “ His attachment to this world has kept him here.” Buffy had an urge to ask him. ‘Like you?’ She didn’t though and contented herself with giving Auron a knowing look. “Okay, full speed ahead!” Cid called. “So.” Buffy turned to Spike. “What have you been doing since we got here?” “See this ship?” Spike asked, waving his hands around. “Getting it ready to go.” “Okay, how come you know how to speak Al Behd?” “I know how to speak lots of languages.” He frowned. “Damn, I left them at Home.” “Left what?” “Nothing. Well, languages.. I can speak all sorts, French, Latin, Ancient Sumerian, several demon dialects, oh, and I can speak English, which is more than I can say for you bloody Americans.” Buffy looked shocked, Spike let out a soft chuckle. “Whoa!” Brother called. “What?” Buffy answered. “Look.” Wakka pointed. Buffy looked out of the window, something large was flying beside them, with a lizard shaped body and translucent wings, it was obviously a dragon. “The great Wyrm Evrae, guardian of Bevelle.” Lulu explained. “That’s it, all they have to guard the place is a worm?” Buffy stared out of the window. Auron stepped forward. “It is not the dragon king- still, do not underestimate it’s power.” “Get up on deck, we’re gonna fight that thing.” Cid called. “Buffy, c’mon.” Rikku called, stopping in the doorway and waving. Buffy turned to Spike, half bowing as she left, at loss for anything to say. “Wait, Buffy, I’m coming!” Spike called. “Hold your chocobos, son.” Cid called to Spike. “I have no time.” Buffy answered, turning before she left. “What?” Spike turned to Cid, annoyance clearly showing in his sapphire eyes. Cid looked fierce as he stared at Spike, then his face visibly softened. “You look after my girls, look after yourself as well. I’m proud to call you an Al Behd, and, uh..” He cleared his throat. “If you ever decide you want to stay, I’d be glad to call you my son as well.” Spike didn’t know what to say, a few months back, before he got this sodding chip he would have ripped Cid’s throat out as soon as talk to him. At that moment he realised something, everything had changed, forever. He was never going to be the same again, nothing was. It wasn’t the chip, it wasn’t Buffy, it wasn’t his sudden trip to Spira that no-one could have predicted, it went deeper than any one thing. It was a culmination of everything that had happened, the roller coaster of events and emotions that he’d been travelling for months and now he had gotten off the roller coaster to find he was nowhere near where he had started and he never wanted to be there again. “Watcha standin’ around for, get on up there and fight that worm!” Cid roared. Spike stepped sedately out of the door, into the hall and, suddenly, he found himself running, towards so much, running towards the battle, running towards Buffy, running towards the future. “Hey!” He called as the hatch opened and everyone piled onto the lift. He raced, jumping up onto it. “Wait! Spike, it’s sunlight up there..” “Don’t worry, luv.” “But, Spike.” “The sun here is the nice, non-lethal type, you’ll see.”   “Hey.” Cid called through the loudspeaker as they arrived on deck, wind buffeting their faces, blowing their clothes around and whipping their hair over their faces. “This is the quickest thing in the air, so if you want me to move it just gimme a yell and I’m right on it.” Spike ran over to the edge of the deck as the giant creature noticed them and flew over to where they were standing. It arched its’ long, muscled neck aver the deck, noxious breath and sharp teeth hanging over the lot of them. Buffy and Auron jumped towards its’ head from either side, both stabbing towards it’s neck. Buffy felt a feeling of satisfaction as her sword plunged into its’ flesh, claws and tail flailing. As she pulled back, however, she realised that it was an Aeon, the blood that fell from its’ neck wounds shimmered as it hit the deck, disappearing into twinkly light. The dragon began to writhe around, lashing out with it’s long claws and breathing poisonous breath all over them. As Buffy swept her sword at it’s side it lashed out with a claw, slashing Lulu open completely. “Lulu!” Buffy screamed, racing over to where the black mage lay, motionless on the deck. She was stopped as Evrae swept it’s tail towards her, nearly knocking her off her feet. “Lulu!” She jumped to her feet but Kimahri got there first, he reached into his pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a shimmering feather. She frowned as he dropped the feather over Lulu, it floated down and she was, suddenly, engulfed in a blinding, white light. Evrae chose this moment to try to bite Buffy’s head off, she ducked, plunging upwards with her sword. “Buffy, get down.” After fighting demons with Spike Buffy knew better than to question him when he said this, she hit the deck as a spray of bullets shot over her head, filling the great Wyrm with lead. Buffy jumped up, looking at Spike, up until this moment he’d been delivering kicks and punches to it. She was distracted as she saw Lulu stepping forward to deliver the finishing stroke, a shard of ice that severed its’ head from it’s body. “Lulu.. But, how?” Buffy stared at her as she casually dusted herself off, everything about her- even her dress- intact. “But..” “Pheonix down.” Spike told her, staring at the pyrelfies as they filled the sky. “You haven’t had to use it yet? What about potions?” “Um, I don’t think so..” Buffy thought about the shining, healing light that they occasionally created. “Maybe.. So ‘pheonix down’ brings people..” “Back from the dead? Yeah.” “So, why don’t they use it on everyone in Spira?” Auron stepped forward. “Pheonix down only works on those who have just died, and only if they were killed fighting for a just cause.” “So.. Why didn’t someone use one on you, I mean, I assume you were fighting for a just cause?” Auron was quite visibly taken aback, he stared at the Slayer as though she had grown horns, this reaction very quickly vanished and he took her arm, leading her away from the others, though Spike followed. “You knew?” “Oh, come on, ‘why are you still here, Sir’ Seymour speaks shit a lot of the time but.. obvious much? If Tidus wasn’t so blonde he’d know too.” “I would..” Auron cleared his throat. “I would prefer if this remained confidential..” “Yeah, I know, no biggie, you’re not the only dead guy around here.” Buffy looked past him at Spike, the sun shone through the clouds, playing on his white blonde curls, his blue eyes exposed his soul to the world- thoughts, Buffy mentally corrected herself, it exposed his thoughts, she felt a wave of sadness as she thought this, she had forgotten that he had no soul. But as she watched a look played across his face and she recognised it, she’d last seen this look in Guadosalam, on the Farplane. It was the look of a poet, a dreamer, a man in love and any of the other many things that made up William. Chapter 12   “Buffy?” Spike looked at her, concerned.   “Spike..” Buffy shook her head, she couldn’t- wouldn’t think anything like that about Spike, even if he wasn’t a vampire, she worked with him, there would be all kinds of weird and bad in that situation. She tried to shut off her thoughts, it was almost impossible.   “Bevelle’s in sight!” Cid announced, “We can’t land so we’re gonna have to try for something a little more fun.”   Moments later buffy was holding a thick piece of cable, she stared at it. “Fun?”   “In the game they had to slide down on their feet.” Spike said, trying to offer some comfort. Buffy only groaned more.   She felt a shudder through the ship as Cid shot two, six inch thick cables towards the bridge, far below. Buffy watched as Auron jumped from the edge of the ship.   “It’s alright for him.” Buffy pouted.   “C’mon, slayer, you’re not scared?” Spike said, a mocking look on his face.   She groaned again, walking over to the edge.   “If I die I’m haunting you .” She said, jumping off, as she fell towards the cable below she flipped her own piece of cable over it, hanging on as she slid downwards. Half way down it became fun, she leapt off as she approached the ground.   She turned to run up the stairs to where Yuna stood, only to find fifteen guns pointed at her face.   “Uh, great.”   They battled their way towards the top of the stairs where a fat guy in a yellow dress waved his arms, yelling. “This has gone far enough.”   Yuna pulled a staff from behind her dress, holding it in front of her.   “You would play at marriage for the chance to send me, your resolve is admirable, perfect to make you my lovely wife.”   Yuna glared at him, beginning the sending.   “Stop.” An old, withered looking man hobbled over to them. “Do you not value your friends lives, your actions determine their fate, protect them or throw them away. The choice is yours.” Buffy would have yelled at her just to send him but guns were pointed at her from all angles and they were all reaching the point of exhaustion.   Yuna dropped her staff, it clattered down the steps to land at Tidus’ feet.   Seymour stepped forward, placing both hands on Yuna’s shoulders, he leant down, kissing her. Buffy looked around, Tidus was glaring at the Maester, Rikku was waving her hands around, making squeaking noises, Buffy watched as Yuna’s hands tightened into fists. Seymour stood up, pulling Yuna towards him, with a sneer on his already ugly face he spoke. “Kill them.” Yuna gasped, breaking free of his grip. “Stop!” Everyone looked up at her. Let them go, or else.” She stepped backwards towards the edge of the building.   Seymour waved his hands and the guns were taken off them. They raced up the stairs. Yuna stepped back again. “Leave now, please. Don’t worry, go.”   Seymour stepped forward. “This is foolish, if you fall you’ll die.’   Yuna looked straight past the ugly Guado-man, straight at Tidus. “Don’t worry, I can fly. Believe.” She then turned and jumped off the building, Everyone stared over the edge, she was surrounded by symbols and light, she lifted her arms and out of the sky a shape shot towards her. She landed softly on the upturned stomach of Valefor as feathers floated through the air. Rikku suddenly yelled. “Cover your eyes.” Buffy and the others did and Rikku threw something onto the ground, as all the guards and guests moaned they raced down the stairs.   “What was that?” Wakka asked.   “An Al Behd flashbomb.” Rikku answered.   Tidus growled in Kimahri’s grip. “Lemme go, I have to go help Yuna.”   “Yuna said go- we go.” Kimahri growled back.   “Where’d Yunie go?” Rikku asked.   “I think she flew away.” Buffy said, searching the sky for any sign of the summoner.   “Bevelle palace temple, Yuna go to one place only.” Kimahri said.   “The chamber of the Fayth.” Tidus said.   “Bloody brilliant bunch, the lot of them.” Spike commented sarcastically about the guardians- excepting Kimahri.    ‘Ieyui nobomeno Renimiri yojuyogo Hasate kanae Kutamae ’   They could hear the singing as they entered the chamber of the fayth. Tidus ran over to the heavy stone door, shaped like an inverted teardrop, trying to lift it from the bottom.   Buffy looked at Kimahri, something passed between them and they grabbed the door from either side, lifting it with relative ease. As they stepped inside crystal fans pulled away, allowing them through into the chamber.   Tidus and Buffy stared at the strange, translucent boy as he floated above what appeared to be a large, amber floor.   “What is that?” Tidus said.   “That is the fayth.” Auron came through behind them as Kimahri waited outside. “Imprisoned in stone long ago by Yevon rites. The dead should be allowed to rest.”   As they watched the boy flew towards flying inside her. She collapsed to the ground. “Yuna!” Tidus ran over to her, cradling her in his arms. “Yuna..”   He picked her up, the white tail of her dress hanging down to the ground.   “Don’t come out here!” Rikku called as they stepped through the door.   “It’s a little late now, don’t you think?” Buffy said.   The room was full of people with guns, Maester Kinoc, the man in the flowy dress smiled smugly.   “You are to stand trial.” He announced.   Auron let out a small, dry laugh. “I expect it will be a fair trial?”   “Of course it will.” Kinoc said with a smile as sweet as arsenic.   They were herded off into a huge courtroom, Seymour stood high up on a balcony to one side, Kinoc on another, A large Ronso stood before them.   Seymour seemed to look directly at Buffy, an unpleasant smile playing across his face. “The high court of Yevon is now in session, The sacred offices of this court seek nothing but absolute truth in Yevons name. To those on trial, believe in Yevon and speak only the truth.” Lulu turned to Tidus and Buffy. “Maester Kelk Ronso.”   The Ronso kept talking. “Summoner Yuna. You have sworn to protect the people of Yevon, true?”   Yuna stood by herdelf on a tiny platform in the centre of the room. “Yes.”   “Then, consider: You have inflicted dire injury upon Maester Seymour Guado…”   Buffy couldn’t suppress an Auron-like ‘hmph’ at this, the Ronso either didn’t hear her or ignored her.   “..conspired with the Al Behd and joined in their insurrection.  These are traitorous and unforgivable crimes that disturb the order of Yevon. Tell this court what possessed you to participate in such violence.”   “Your Grace… The real traitor is Maester Seymour! He killed his father Jyscal with his own hands!”   Kelk looked like he had actually been hit, he stepped back. “What is this!”   Seymour offered him a sugary smile, then, with a sickly sweetness he answered. “Hmm? Hadn’t you heard?”   Buffy was shocked, he didn’t even protest his innocence.   Yuna continued. “Not only that… Maester Seymour is already dead!”   Lulu held her hands out. “It is a summoners sacred duty to send the souls of the departed to the Farplane! Yuna was only doing her job as a summoner!”   “Grand Maester Mika… Please, send Seymour now!” Yuna pleaded.   Mika stepped forward, Kelk standing back. “Send the unsent to where they belong?”   “Yes.”   Mika let out an unpleasant laugh and Buffy had a sinking feeling.   “Maester?” Yuna asked.   “Send the dead… hmm? You would have to send me, too.”   Wakka blanched. “What!”   Seymour turned to them. “Grand Maester Mika is an invaluable leader, even in death he is invaluable to Spira.”   “Enlightened rule by the dead is favourable to the misguided failures of the living.” Kinoc added. Buffy frowned, was there anyone left in Spira with a pulse?   “Life is but a passing dream but the death that follows is eternal.” Seymour said.   “Men die. Beasts Die. Trees die. Even continents perish. Only the power of death truly commands in Spira. Resisting it’s power is futile.” Mika said in a croaking voice.   “But what of Sin? I am a summoner, my lord, like my father before me! I am on a pilgrimage to stop the death that Sin brings. Are you… Are you telling me that, too is futile? Grand Maester Mika, I am not alone! All the people who have opposed Sin… Their battles, their sacrafices—were they all in vain?”   “ Not in vain. No matter how many summoners give their lives Sin cannot be truly defeated. The rebirth cannot be stopped.Yet the courage of those who fight gives the people hope. There is nothing futile in the life and death of a summoner.” Mika spoke as though this little speech was rehearsed.   Auron shifted his weight. “Never futile.. but never ending.”   “Indeed that is the essence of Yevon”.   “Lord Mika!” Yuna said, shocked.   Mika ignored her, droning on. “Yevon is embodied by eternal, unchanging continuity, summoner.”   “No, that can’t be right!”   “Those who question these truths-- they are traitors!”   “Lord Mika!” She repeated as they were suddenly seized.   Buffy was bored, she was swinging, alone in a large cage, suspended by chain from the ceiling. Yuna was also in a cage by herself. Kimahri and Spike were locked in together as were Rikku and Tidus. Wakka was locked by himself while Auron and Lulu sat in silence.   Tidus let out a ridiculously long groaning noise, his voice echoing around the room. Buffy felt acute sympathy for those with greater than human hearing, both of whom were suspended metres away from her, a little further down.   “Buffy?” Spike called up.   “Spike. I’m gonna kill that Seymour again, and I really hope he comes back ‘cause I wanna kill him a third time as well.” Buffy smashed her fist into the side of the cage.   “It’s alright, pet, they’re going to drop us into a big hallway full of fiends, I think we’re supposed to wither up and die or somethin’.”   “But..”   “Don’t worry.” Spike reassured her.   “Get me outta here, I want out now, you hear me?” Tidus’ voice was really getting irritating. Auron spoke from a nearby cage. “You waste your breath.”   Tidus sank to the ground, his voice quieter, though Auron could still hear him. “Man, I hope Yuna’s okay.”   “She’s strong, she’ll make it.”   “She’ll make it? What, so she can die?” His voice rose so that Buffy, once again, could hear him. “Why is it, everything in Spira seems to revolve around people dying?”   “Ahh, the spiral of death.” Auron answered.   Buffy thought this was a stupid answer and the two of them continued talking so that Buffy couldn’t hear them.   She sat by the side of the cage nearest Spike, to her surprise the vampire spoke.   “So, what do you reckon your watcher would do?”   “Huh?”   “Now, here in Bevelle, what do you think he would have done? Or.. Oh, Red, what would she have done?”   “Oh, she probly would have turned them all into newts or something, she’s getting pretty good with the magicks, you know. She’s pretty close to getting Amy fixed up”    “Amy?”   “Oh, Amy the rat, she used to be kind of a friend of ours, she turned herself into a rat when Will, me and her were being burnt at the stake by Hansel and Gretel.”   Spikes eyebrows shot up and Buffy grinned. Spike shook his head.   “Sunnydale, you never can guess what the bloody Hellmouth’s gonna spit out at you next.”   “Hey, it’s like a slogan, we can do an advertisy thing on T.V and that can be our slogan.”   Footsteps interrupted them, they turned to the bridge below, Kinoc walked in front of the cages and stopped.   “Come out, your sentences have been decided.”   “Sentence? Don’t you mean execution?” Auron asked.   Buffy’s eyes widened. “Execution?”   “Really, now, what person would execute a dear friend?”   Very levelly and without any hesitation Auron answered. “You would.”   Kinoc chuckled, waving his hands as people began hauling the cages to the bridge and unloading the occupants at gun point.   Buffy stared as everyone was unloaded and the men with guns began to herd them off. “Buffy.” Spike called, trying to break free. “Buffy!!”   “Relax, Al Behd, Seymour has spared her alone, it was decided that she was led astray, under the influence of Sin’s toxin.   “NO! Buffy!”   He turned, ramming his fist into one of their noses, waiting for the sharp stab of pain in his head, nothing. He grinned, kneeing the guard in the stomach. The other guards turned and took aim, they shot one bullet straight through his right ribcage and one into his stomach. He doubled over in pain and they shot him with a tazer to be sure, they then dragged him along the bridge, out of Buffy’s sight.   Buffy slammed her fists against the side of the cage. “Let me out, let me out! Spike!”   Spike was dropped into a long, dark tunnel. He stared off through the hallways, each identical and unending, and smelling strongly of off fish. He ran his hand through his hair. What was going on, why had Seymour kept Buffy? Spike knew that it couldn’t be for any reason that was good.   He winced thinking about the things Seymour could be wanting her for, he shook his head, as soon as he got out of here he would rescue her.   As he walked he left a long trail of blood on the ground behind him. He often found himself at the entrance to the damper part of the Via Purifico but he preferred to stay dry. Fiends kept making the mistake of jumping out at him until they became quite comical- they jumped, he snapped their necks or ripped them open, glad for their presence, for the release of tension. “Oh, hello.” He turned around, Lulu stood in a small alcove, waiting for Yuna to turn up. He frowned. “You know, if you went looking you’d be more likely to find her.” “Perhaps, but she is here now,, so we no longer have to bother ourselves with that.” Spike turned and Yuna walked into the room.   “Lulu..”   Lulu placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright.”   “Oh, Spike.. I am sorry about Buffy, maybe.. We can go back for her, after we escape. I could not.. I could not continue my pilgrimage until I knew she was safe.”   Spike was relieved, it obviously showed on his face. “And, you will be joining me too, yes? As my guardian. Cid sent you- didn’t he.”   “He cares about you a lot, pet. And I wanted to come, to protect Buffy.”   “You love her, don’t you?” Yuna said. “She cares about you as well.”   Lulu nodded. “After she saw your brother in Guadosalam, she’s been desperate to find you ever since.” ”My brother?” Spike frowned, he didn’t have a sodding brother, unless.. “My.. brother- William?”   “Yes, that was he, let us go find the others.” Lulu said.   Spike sniffed the air. “This way.”   Having found Kimahri and Auron they wandered around, eventually the soft, blue lights gave way to harsher red ones.   “Lady Yuna, so it is you.” Isaaru stepped out of the shadows as they entered a small room. “Why are you here?” Yuna asked.   “We rode the airship to the Calm Lands, then came to Bevelle. Maester Kinoc summoned us and ordered us to ‘deal with the traitors’.”   “You will fight us?” Auron asked.   “The temples orders are law. Even if you are Lord Braksa’s flesh and blood… You’re a traitor!” “His guardians.. I don’t see them.” Lulu stated.   “Maroda and Pacce are not here. I will do this unhappy deed myself. Forgive me, Lady Yuna.” Isaaru summoned his Aeons, one by one, Ifrit, Valefor and finally the newest Aeon, the one Yuna herself had only just received, the dragon king, Bahamut.   Yuna had very firmly told her guardians ‘no’ when they asked to help, she summoned Shiva, the icy blue goddess, who dodged and struck, defeating Isaaru’s Aeons and knocking the summoner himself to the ground.   “Stay away!” Isaaru shouted as Yuna approached .   “Yuna, let’s go.” Lulu said, stepping forward.   “There’s a way to the surface, up ahead.” Isaaru said.   Yuna bowed deeply.   “Come on, pet, no need to bow to the backstabbing poofter, let’s get out of here and save Buffy. Who knows what Seymour’s doing to her.”   “He is correct, we should hurry.” Auron said.   As Spike left the room he heard Auron walk over to Isaaru and clearly say. “Your pilgrimage is over.”   He smirked, stupid treacherous ponce of a summoner..   “Yunie!” Rikku called as She pulled herself out of the water near the exit. “You’re alright? We were so worried, it’s good to have you back. Oh, Spike, you’re still here.”   “Oh, Spike will be staying with us, to Zanarkand.”   “Great to have you on board.” Rikku announced jubilantly.   Tidus was in the middle of working up to say something when they heard the footsteps. They turned, Seymour, Kinoc and several Guado guards approached.   When they were fairly close Seymour stopped, turning. Kinocs body slumped to the floor as the guard holding it let go.   “Kinoc!” Auron said.   “Why you.”   Spike frowned, didn’t they all hate him..? Ah well.   “What have you done with Buffy?” He yelled.   “Ahh, Buffy. That is her name? She is quite safe.”   “You.. You killed Kinoc.” Lulu was almost disbelieving.   “I have saved him.” Seymour answered cryptically. Spike vaguely recalled what came next. “He was a man who craved power and great power he had but he feared losing it. Trembling at unseen enemies he spent his days scheming petty schemes. Chased by his fears, never knowing rest. You see.. now he has no worries, he has been granted sleep eternal. Death is a sweet slumber all the pain of life is gently swept away, ahh, yes. So you see, if all life in Spira were to end all suffering would end, don’t you see?”   “You stupid, spineless, blue haired ponce. Do you actually listen to what you say?” Spike was mad for more reasons than one. “You open your mouth, crap falls out and you expect everyone to lap it up. ‘Death is a sweet slumber’ I’m not bloody sleeping, how about you? You’re worse than my bloody grandsire.”   “You do not understand.” Seymour answered Spike. “You are naught but a boy with his toys, you would never understand eternity. Pay no heed to him, Yuna, come with me to Zanarkand, the lost city of the dead, with death by our sides we can save Spira once and for all and for that.. I will take your strength from you, Yuna, your life and become the next sin. Together we will destroy Spira, we will save it.”   “I’m with Spike.” Tidus announced. “You’re totally nuts!”   Kimahri ran forward, plunging his long lance into Seymour’s chest, Seymour looked down at him.   “Unpleasant… Very well. I will give you your death, you seem to want it so.”   He raised his hand and the guards surrounding him and Maester Kinoc dissolved into pyreflies, filling Seymour’s body and making a big flash of light. When the light cleared Seymour had changed, he had become what seemed to be a great big, silver fairy. His dress had become blue, his hair had grown really long and turned into big stone wings either side of his body and some of it still hung like hair down past his ankles which floated above the ground.   Kimahri turned and yelled. “Run, protect Yuna.”   “Bloody hell I will.” Spike announced, running over to Kimahri’s side.   “Go.” Auron said to the others.   “No way, I’m fighting.” Tidus yelled, Aurons answer was to pull out his large and pointy sword, placing it at Tidus’ neck. “I said go.” Auron almost growled.   Spike suddenly heard a shout behind him. “Hey, Kimahri, leave some for us!” He turned to see Yuna and Tidus running towards them. Wakka soon followed, then Rikku. Auron and Lulu appeared to confer, Lulu running after them and Auron eventually following.   Seymour floated in the air, a gloating look on his face, a small creature floating before him. Without waiting for the others Spike leapt forwards, planting on the creature a kick strong enough to crush a ribcage or knock a mans head completely from his body. It seemed to writhe around, then it dug its’ long tail into Seymour and seemed to suck his energy, healing itself. Lulu shot a spear of ice towards Seymour, impaling him through the chest, he grunted. “Do you think that is enough to stop me?”   “We’re gonna kill you, Seymour!”   “How about you fight more and talk less, boy.” Spike said, sick of Tidus’ constant noise. They lashed at Seymour, Kimahri swinging his scythe with deadly accuracy, Auron hacking with his sword, Spike kicking, Yuna whacking him with her staff and Rikkku throwing the occasional grenade at him in between slashes of her ninja claws.   “Hey, watch out.” Wakka called, hurling a large, spiked ball at Seymours face, his answer to this was to hurl a lightning bolt at Lulu.   Lulu cried out, growing suddenly silent, a dark purple mist seemed to surround her and a wind blew her braids around. Small crackles of electricity shot from her and her red eyes seemed to shoot sparks. Spike stared at her for a second, then back to Seymour.   A wave of fire seemed to fall on the Guado and his little parasite, rolling and hissing until they were completely obscured, it raged for nearly a minute, fading away and leaving Lulu looking spent.   Seymour collapsed downwards, his feet nearly touching the ground, he raised his white, marble head and glared at the black mage.   Just as it seemed he was about to gloat his small parasitic friend reached up from the charcoal black ground, stabbing into Seymour with its’ tail. Seymour shuddered, falling to the ground. “Run!” Auron announced.   “Come on, we will rescue Buffy after we escape.” Lulu told spike.   “Hey, if we hide in the city we can sneak back into the castle.” Rikku offered.   “It is a good idea, though impractical.” Lulu motioned to the city, far below the bridge. “It would undoubtedly be a fatal fall.”   “No problem.” Rikku answered, pulling out a small machina from the pouch on her belt. “Come on.” She quickly wrapped a hook around the balcony, jumping from the edge. “Grab it and hold on.” She yelled up as she began to fall.   Auron jumped over, grabbing the cable. They each leapt over, Spike went last and they fell towards the brightly lit city, red in the light of the setting sun. Chapter 13   Seymour rose shakily to his feet, straightening his robe and fixing his hair. He stared across the bridge, they had escaped into Macalania by now.. He would catch up with them later, after he regained his strength and claimed his new Aeon.   …   From deep within the temple a constant metallic banging noise sounded. The source of which was locked in a small, metal room, her foot repetitively swinging into the metal wall. A large dint had been worn in it already, she didn’t stop as the door opened and Seymour stepped in. “Please stop this noise my dear, your attempts are futile, the walls are far too thick, you will only hurt yourself.” I’ve never been the self-harm type, first time for everything though.” Buffy answered, her foot still swinging. “My dear..” Seymour took one step too many towards her. She spun around, her foot lashing out and pinning him against the wall by his throat. “I don’t know what world you think you’re in but I would never be your ‘dear.’ My god could you be more disgusting. You are nothing but a thing.. I’ve worked something out, thanks to you. Alive or dead, souled or otherwise, it doesn’t matter, what matters is who you are, and you are a disgusting, slimy, self centred thing .” Seymour  waved his hands. “I see, it is a pity, I thought you would be amiable after I spared you.” Buffy removed her leg from his throat, planting a solid kick in his stomach before he left, still talking away to himself. …   “You allowed them to escape?” Mika droned. “Allowed was little part of it, they escaped by themselves.” “What do you plan to do now?” “With my new Aeon I shall seize the Summoner, Yuna at Mt Gagazet, take her to Zanarkand and defeat Sin.” “As for the Fayth, is everything prepared?” Mika asked. “The ceremony will begin at midnight.” Seymour smiled.   …   “He must be keeping her in the palace.” Spike ranted as they wandered through the streets. “We just need to find out where.” “And then what, the High Bridge is the only way out for us.” Lulu pointed out. “Whoa.” Wakka stopped. “What is it?” Auron asked. “That wasn’t here last time I was in Bevelle.” Wakka pointed to a large dome, newly built and shining in the lights of the city. “It would appear to be a ‘chamber of the fayth’, though why, I cannot understand..” Lulu said Spike stared at the dome as though it were a giant cross, bearing down on him. “We have to get up there.” Spike said. “You don’t think.. He wouldn’t try to make Buffy.. a fayth?” Yuna asked. “Seymour do anything, worse it is- more likely he do.” “You are probably correct.” Lulu said. “But how do we get up there.” “More important, how do we get off there, unless we sprout sodding wings we can’t get from there to the High Bridge anyway.” Spike stared at the bridge. “Oh!” Yuna held her hand in front of her mouth. “What’s that, pet?” “Wings, to fly? I can.. I could see..  Maybe I could do it.” “You mean, summon?” Wakka asked. “Yes.” “Let’s do it.” Tidus said, pumping his fist into the air. “It may work.” Lulu said. “We’ll have to split into two groups. One on the High Bridge and one on the dome.” Rikku said. “We can climb the cable back onto the High Bridge.” Wakka said. “Yes, so, Yunie, Spike and I will climb to the top of the dome while you climb onto the bridge.” Rikku grinned with excitement. “Can you do it?” “No problem!” Tidus said, jubilantly. “Let’s get moving.” Auron said. …   Buffy stared at the floor, she was soo bored. She almost wished she was at college, listening to one of Professor Welsh’s dead boring lectures. She, suddenly, sat down, ashamed as she felt tears welling up in her eyes, she was the slayer, she was Yuna’s guardian, she wouldn’t cry. Her mind began to go off on tangents and for once she didn’t stop it. When she killed Seymour.. She bit her bottom lip. Execution? Auron had mentioned execution, that meant, they might be.. She shook her head, they couldn’t be dead, Spike said they would be fine. Spike. She tried to shove away this feeling she was having, that she needed Spike there. Why? His strength, his humour, he was the last link she had to her home, none of it fit, it went deeper than that. She needed Spike there. “Because I love him.” This thought popped into her head, surprising her and throwing her off guard. But she didn’t question it, she knew, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing she loved Spike and this revelation gave her strength, it gave her hope. She would see Spike again, and with him Yuna, Kimahri, Lulu and all the others.   …   “I have contacted the Watchers council, several covens, some demons, I even tried to find Spike, but it would appear that he, too, is missing.” “He probably got sick of Sunnydale, every time he pops up his no good, ugly, silicon chipped head he gets it kicked in by the slayer. He probably packed himself up and moved.” Xander said. “Well, Spike’s whereabouts notwithstanding, we do still have the problem of Buffy missing.” The phone rang. “I’ll get it.” Dawn said, picking up the phone. “Summers house.. Who? Really? What…? No, no that’s not true, you.. you…” Dawn tried to slam the phone back onto the receiver but she missed, running up the stairs. Willow picked up the phone. “Um, who is this.”   “You’re kidding, maybe they made a mistake, or maybe Faith..” “Faith is fine.” Giles said, tiredly. “Another slayer. Like, a whole new slayer. Doesn’t that mean..” Tara looked searchingly at Willow. “Well, it’s a mistake, Will said she wasn’t dead, right Will?” Willows face perked up. “That’s right, I’ve done a worldwide ‘dead Buffy’ search and came up with nothing.” “Well, the most likely possibility is still the other world theory.” Giles said.  “I told you.” Anya said, between mouthfuls of cookies that she’d found in the pantry. “That still leaves us with the problem of ‘which one’.” Willow said dismally. …   Buffy looked up as the door creaked open. Several warrior monks filed into the room. She stood up as Seymour walked in. “You will come with us now.” Seymour said. “Thanks, but..” As she spoke they threw a handful of dust at her, she coughed, trying to stand up straight, but she felt so sleepy..   She opened her eyes, life coming back to her foggy brain. She was lying in a shallow dish, about twice her height in diameter, on a pile of satin sheets, surrounded by ornate swords, she reached out to touch one and realised they were embedded in the stone floor. She looked up as the fuzzy image of Seymour stepped into view. “How long to go?” “Not long, my Lord.” A whiney voice answered. …   “Have you got it?” Rikku asked. “Hold on.” Spike answered, lifting one of the panels of stone from the domed roof, placing it next to him. He looked inside. Just as he had thought, Buffy lay, motionless in what appeared to be the area a fayth was encased in. He poked his head into the hole, trying to wake her, though he figured no-one could hear him over the chanting.       “Buffy!” Spike yelled. “Spike?” Buffy said weakly, looking up into the ceiling of the chamber, one of the panels had been pulled aside and Spike stared down at her. He leapt down into the shallow bowl, beside Buffy, the four guards rushed towards him, bayonets raised. Spike ducked a blow, snapping the offending man’s neck in two. He then turned to another, tearing his throat out, grabbing the bayonet from the floor he impaled the other two, one after the other, through the heart. “Leave this holy place, dark creature.” Mika intoned, waving a symbol of Yevon at Spike. “I haven’t been called that in a good few days.” Spike commented, planting his foot in Seymour’s chin as he tried to drag the, now unconscious, Buffy out of the room. “yna oui lusehk?” Rikku called down. “Wicd y cal.” Spike called back. “He’ll be here in a second.” Rikku translated for Yuna, waiting on the domed roof, shivering in the cool night air. Spike planted another kick into Seymour’s chest, the Maester stumbled backwards, falling over. Spike pulled a small grenade from his pocket. “Goodnight.” Spike commented, throwing it at Seymour and scooping Buffy up in his arms. He jumped through the opening in the roof, twelve feet from the floor. “Whoa.” Rikku grabbed his arm as his balance wavered slightly. “Are, are you okay?” Yuna asked as Spike appeared. “I’m fine, let’s go.” He knew that as soon as the sleeping gas cleared the guards would be swarming all over the place like ants on a carcass. Yuna clasped her hands together, a light shining around her. As Spike watched the clouds, high above, parted and an enormous dark shape shot out of them. The great dragon swooped past them as they stood there. “Bahamut, king of Dragons, hear my prayer.” Yuna intoned. “It’s coming back!” Rikku announced. The dragon came to a stop in front of them, massive beats of it’s powerful wings keeping it in the air. Yuna held a hand out to it’s massive head and something passed between them. “Come along.” Yuna said, climbing onto his broad shoulders. Rikku leapt onto him, followed by Spike. A massive disk spun over their heads, seemingly a part of him. He swept through the air, coming to land on the High Bridge, where they had fought Seymour. Once they were all standing safely on the bridge Bahamut leapt into the air again, shooting back up through the clouds and out of sight. As they raced along the bridge towards Macalania Woods Buffy opened her eyes. “Spike..?” “I’m here, pet, I’m always here.” Buffy pulled herself closer to his chest, burying her head against him. “Spike.. I love you.” Something pulled inside Spike, a sharp pain of longing and joy. Tears stung his eyes and he was full of words, full of so many things he wanted to say, to tell her forever. The poet within him sung with joy and the song reached through every part of his body. All these words inside him struggled with one another, desperate to be said first. He leant down, placing a kiss on the top of Buffy’s head, contenting himself with a few small words. “I love you too.”   Chapter 14    “Spike.” Auron beckoned him over. “Do you know where Yuna’s gone.” Spike sniffed the air. “That way.” He pointed. Auron walked over to where Tidus was standing. He said something to him and then pushed him towards the exit to their campsite. “Spike.” Buffy sat on the leafy forest floor, she had finished her dinner and was redoing her hair. “What’s wrong, luv?” Spike asked. “Oh, nothing, its just, can we walk?” “Sure, I think I know a place we can go.” He led her out of the campsite, turning right. The path was well lit, light from the moon and the stars shining on the crystal that littered the forest. They walked right past the exit from the woods to High Bridge, a guard had been posted there and was sleeping under a tree. Scattered throughout the place were large, glowing orange orbs, like giant flowers, emitting a pulsing light. The soft, blue glow of the forest took away the harshness that existed throughout the day and everything painful and confusing melted away, giving the place a dreamlike quality. Buffy held onto Spikes arm with both hands, her head leaning on him as she walked. They came out on a ledge above the forest floor, the strange pathway/branches came up from the ledge. Buffy looked past the branch and stifled a gasp. A different kind of pathway shimmered in midair, reaching down to the ledge. It looked as though it had been woven from starlight, it flowed and sparkled, however when they stepped on it, it was perfectly solid. They followed the path up through the trees, often it crossed directly above or below the other path, however it had no fiends on it. This high in the air the trees seemed to be made of crystal, the giant flower/orbs were larger and surrounded by delicate looking crystals. They followed the path high into the air as it came out over a wide, open part of the forest, the ground was a long way down and the view was spectacular. “Just a little further, pet.” Spike assured her as she stopped to admire the landscape. They came to another giant flower and the shimmering path turned sharply downhill, they walked through the trees and Spike stopped in front of some branches, he ducked underneath them, Buffy following and led her into the most beautiful place she had ever seen. Spike stepped onto what had looked like a pool, interlaced with roots, however it was as solid as the ground, she walked over several more of these, coming out into a wide, open area. It was dotted with small crystals and a large crystal tree wove it’s way up from the back. Behind it a small, shimmering waterfall fell towards the solid surface which seemed to flow like water beneath the surface. Buffy sat down on a low branch, Spike came to sit beside her, shivering slightly. “You’re cold?” She asked, incredulous. “It’s nothing.” Spike answered, seeking her lips with his, she was happy with this change of topic, but she pulled away a moment later. “Spike, what is it?” He sighed, toying with her hair. “Back in Home I was feeding off animal blood but since I left.. Something’s changed, Buffy, I can’t.. I can’t just feed off humans anymore, I know you’d hate it if I did.” “Oh.” Buffy had all but forgotten that Spike was a vampire. “Spike, you’re stupid.” Spike was taken aback, he looked slightly hurt. “You should have said something….” Her face creased into a frown as she searched for a solution. There must be something they could do…all she knew was this vampire, this man meant the world to her, she would do anything for him, if she could. Then she realised she was pretty stupid to, of course there was something she could do… “You can feed off me.” She offered. Spike was startled, blue eyes widened and he actually stood up. “Buffy..” His voice was filled with emotion. “I couldn’t, not that. I love you, Buffy and I never want to hurt you.” “Oh, how much could it hurt, I’ve been hacked, slashed and shot at with a big gun, not to mention crispy fried by an Anima laser.” Her slight joking tone diminished, her voice becoming serious. “Spike, you need to do this, a vampire without blood is like.. A thing without.. another thing that the first thing needs or it won’t be a thing..” he shook her head, impatient with herself. “Oh, you know..” She stood up, turning her face up to his. “Spike, do this.. for me.” He battled within himself. More than anything he wanted to bite her, to feed off her, to feel her become truly part of him. His entire being ached with a longing to be closer to her, an inch away was too much and when they touched it was as though he was pouring himself into her, as though he would fade away to nothing becoming only Buffy, as though she was drinking him dry and he wanted her too. More than that, he needed her to. “Buffy..” He realised he was sitting back on the branch. “Spike, no more arguments. Okay.” He felt his face change, sharp fangs touching his bottom lip.   As he leant towards her she seemed to ache, she realised that she wanted him to bite her, more than anything she wanted it, to feel his lips pressed against her neck, to feel herself falling into him, her heart pounded as though it was trying to escape.   His fingers gently brushed her exposed throat, he could smell her, more intoxicating than any alcohol, more addictive than any drug. He could hear her heart speed up, see the tiny movement of her neck, feel her love for him, speaking louder than any word s as it poured from her, consuming him. He gently brushed his fingers across her neck, dipping his head and gently biting. His teeth parted flesh and every sense he owned seemed to reach towards her. Sight, scents, he was deaf to anything that was not Buffy. As he pulled his fangs from her neck he latched on, lips pressed lightly onto her delicate flesh, tongue massaging gently.   She could have remained in that moment forever, she wanted to, everything she had ever known slipped away . S he was no longer the slayer, from Sunnydale, brought to Spira and protecting a summoner . S he was Buffy and she was Spike’s and the world dropped out from under them, leaving them suspended in a place without time that needed no reason, it just needed to go on.   “Buffy?” A noise broke through into her world, she looked up into Spike’s blue eyes, burning with emotion. “Are you okay, luv?” “I’m fine, I’m more than fine, I’m.. Spike, never, ever leave me- ever, okay?” “I never want to leave you, pet.” He pulled the chopsticks from her hair, allowing it to fall freely down her shoulders. He ran his hands through her hair. “Spike, I never want to go, I want to stay here, always.” “Right here? “I can’t get back, I know that, and.. It’s good, I’ve been the slayer, longer than anyone else has, there is nothing for me back home and I just want to be here with you. We could.. If you wanted.. could we.. build a house on the bank of the Moonflow. It’s really- pretty.” “I know, Buffy. We can, I will. We can do it.” Buffy suppressed a nervous giggle. “I almost don’t want to finish the pilgrimage in case something happens..” “Hush, luv, nothing will happen, I promise. You’ll get your house on the Moonflow, you’ll get anything you want.” Buffy smiled, running her fingers down his cheeks. “Right now.. I just want you, Spike.” …   “Oh.” Yuna walked back into camp, hand in hand with Tidus. “Where are Buffy and Spike?” “They.. went for a walk.” Lulu answered. “Should we look for them, perhaps something happened.” “I think we should give them some time alone.” Lulu answered, fixing Yuna with a pointed look as the summoner let go of Tidus’ hand. “If they are not back by morning we will search for them then.”   As Spike and Buffy walked past the Bevelle entrance the guard was waking up, the sun was beginning to lighten the sky and Buffy could hear a strange chirping noise in the trees. As they neared the campsite they heard the sounds of people waking up. Auron, of course, was awake, surprisingly he didn’t give them a disapproving look as they walked in. Rikku was asleep in a tree high above and Tidus and Yuna were sleeping next to each other near a tree stump. Buffy looked around, the chirping noise was here too. At this moment Lulu walked into the campsite, clothed and ready to go.   It didn’t take everyone else too much longer to awaken and get ready and in surprisingly little time they were nearing the end of the forest, which led to a place known as the ‘Calm Lands’. Buffy frowned, finally stopping. “Is anything wrong?” Lulu asked. “I keep hearing this chirping noise. It almost sounds like..” Buffy shook her head, she’d lost Kirrel when they fell through the ice, it couldn’t be him. “Almost sounds like what, pet?” Spike asked. “Oh, it kinda sounds like this creature I picked up near the Moonflow, I named him Kirrel. But I lost him on the lake..” At the sound of his name Kirrel chirped again, poking his little white nose out of the bushes. He gave a questioning chirp. Buffy stared, surprised. “Kirrel?” He tentatively walked towards her, stopping to sniff her leg. “I think it’s him.” Buffy said. As Spike watched it finished sniffing her and raced up onto her shoulder. “Can we go yet?” An impatient voice asked. Buffy looked up, startled. She realised they were waiting for her. “It is a good sign.” Lulu said. They reached a narrow, rocky ledge leading up to a hill, surrounded by rocks on both sides, they walked up the hill, coming to the top they looked around. A huge, green plain stretched out on both sides, the sea was visible off in the distance and rocks and cliffs jutted out into the sea. “The calm lands.” Lulu explained. “long ago the high summoners fought Sin here. The road ends here, beyond there are no towns, no villages, only these plains.” “many summoners stray from their path and lose their way here.” Auron added. To Buffy’s surprise Yuna collapsed backwards onto the grass, long, flowy arm things spread out beside her, she stared up at the sky, breathing deeply. “I’ve always known where to go.” Tidus walked over to her, offering his hand to help her up. “I..  won’t let you die. I’ll find a way, somehow.” She sat up, staring into his eyes, she took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. They stared out across the plains, stretching for miles below them. Buffy realised that countless numbers of summoners must have walked these plains, must have stood here on this hill and looked down, realising that this was it. This is where it began and ended for them. Silently she swore that she, too would put an end to it for good.       Chapter 15  They turned left, walking at a strangely leisurely pace; they walked down a hill for about half hour, finally getting to the bottom. Buffy turned around to face the Calm Lands and gasped. A herd of giant chickens were running around. They had bright yellow feathers and huge beaks. “Oh my god, what are they?” She gasped. “Chocobos.” Lulu answered. “Yum.” Buffy said. Every single person in the group stopped and stared at her. “What’s that you say again?” Wakka said, not believing his ears. “Well, you do eat them, don’t you? Look at the drumsticks on them!” Lulu coughed quietly, Yuna held her hand in front of her mouth, looking thoughtful as though trying to work out if Buffy was joking. Spike was stifling laughter. Kimahri was looking at the chocobo’s as though considering eating them. The chocobo’s themselves were pecking in the grass, each of them about as tall as Auron. They looked up as though feeling the hungry stares coming from Buffy and the Ronso. They made a funny ‘Kweh’ noise, picking up their giant legs and running away. At around midday they saw a building, not far off. Between them and it was a large bowl shaped indent in the ground. As they walked down the saw a woman standing there. At first Buffy thought she was a pole. She was standing completely motionless, dressed in a long, green dress. As they approached, though, she looked up. “Ah, summoner Yuna, quite the traitor these days.” Yuna didn’t know what to say as the woman began to laugh quietly. “Pay little heed to what the Maesters have to say, a summoners duty is to kill Sin, not to Yevon. Remember that.” Yuna bowed deeply. “I will.” “So, do you think you can do it?” “I.. I don’t know, but.. I can try.” “You have spirit. But it takes more than that to defeat Sin. How about an Aeon duel?” Yuna chewed her bottom lip. “Okay.” The guardians walked a little way back up the side of the bowl, sitting on the lush, green grass. As they watched the woman summoned Shiva, Yuna stepped back, summoning Ifrit. As Buffy watched they hurled icicles and fireballs at one another. Dodging and ducking, snapping and kicking until, finally Shiva fell to the ground. She seemed to turn into crystal, fading away. The pole-woman held up her hand. “Stop, that is enough.” Yuna bowed deeply, dismissing her Aeon and turning to the woman. “Your power matches your resolve. I think you just may be able to defeat Sin. Farewell, Summoner Yuna, if you need to train any more find me at the hidden temple.” Yuna watched as the woman walked out of the bowl. The guardians stood up, walking down to join Yuna. “Let’s go.” Yuna said, walking towards the building.   They entered what appeared to be a motel. It was definitely Al Behd, there were a couple of buildings and a storefront. “Let’s stop here for the night.” Yuna said. “But it is still daylight, do you not think we should continue while we can?” Auron said, more an order than a question. Buffy turned on him. “What is this? ‘Let’s get Yuna dead as quick as possible?’ We got little or no sleep last night, all of us. And yes- I am aware that this was because you all came to rescue me but the point is- what difference does it make if we stop a couple of hours earlier and sleep in a room instead of on the ground. I’m soo over your ‘hurry up, let’s go’ crap. I understand that you want to defeat Sin but we’re not just playing some game.” She walked right up to him, hissing the words in his face. “Yuna will probably die, none of us want her to but that is the reality, some or all of us may die as well, these are probably the last days of Yuna’s life, just because yours is over doesn’t mean you have to hurry up and end hers.” Kimahri turned his head as she said this, everyone else was pretending to be somewhere else and they couldn’t hear her but Spike and Kimahri had brilliant hearing. Buffy wondered why he hardly reacted, even he would normally have said something, she shook her head, giving Auron a fierce stare. “Fine, I see no problem with us resting.” Auron said. Everyone turned around, someone was coming up behind them. He appeared to be a Yevon monk. Buffy prepared herself for battle. Lulu stepped forwards. “Father Zuuk.” Buffy frowned, Lulu knew him? “Long time no see.” The monk answered. “You are Yuna?” Yuna nodded. “You don’t look like Maester Kinoc’s murderer.” Zuuk said. “What you say?” Wakka asked outraged. “That is the hugest load of bull…” Buffy began. Yuna interrupted, stepping forward. “Please, tell us what has happened.” “Maester Mika just issued a personal order, you know. It said you and your guardians murdered Maester Kinoc, desecrated part of the palace and fled. We are to kill you on sight, or so it says.” “What of Bevelle?” Auron asked. “Things are calm on the surface, but the depths are turbulent. After the death of Maester Kinoc, Kelk Ronso left Yevon.” “Convenient.” Auron grunted. “Getting around will be easier with Yevon in disarray.”  “But be careful my friends, you have been branded enemies of Yevon. You should avoid temples for the time being.” “Thankyou Father Zuuk, for your warning.” Yuna bowed. “Father, you came all the way here just to tell us this?” Lulu asked. “To tell the truth I was a little curious to see this summoner you are guarding. I hope her pilgrimage goes well, for your sake too.” “Thankyou, Father.” Lulu bowed her head. “I must be off, I shall pray for all of you.” He said, performing the prayer. “Who was that?” Tidus asked as the man walked away. “Until half a year ago he was a summoner.” Lulu answered. “Wakka and I were his guardians.” “It was kind of a short pilgrimage.” Wakka added. “He gave up half way. Here, on this plain. Now he’s a monk at the Bevelle temple.” Buffy looked around, at loss for anything to say. “Oh, hey, while we’re here we can get our clothes washed.” She offered. “That’s a good idea.” Wakka said, giving her his bag. He took out his other clothes and walked off with them. Buffy looked down at the bag. “Great, I’m clothes duty person.” She looked around. “Hey, everyone come get your other clothes.” They rummaged in the bag, pulling out their things. Spike gave her a funny look. “Other clothes? We have other clothes? Nobody bloody bothered to tell me that.” Buffy scratched the side of her face, realising with shock that she’d accidentally picked that habit up from Rikku. “Um, you don’t have other clothes. Um, c’mon.” She walked over to the counter. “Hi, do you have clothes, for him.” She turned to point at Spike and found he was right behind her. “But nothing poofy.” Spike added. “No dresses, funny colours, poncey sleeves. Just.. normal clothes.” The Al Behd went into the building behind her, coming out a few moments later with a crimson top, very much like a normal short sleeved button up shirt, however it only buttoned to about halfway down the chest and it didn’t have a collar, the material was light but looked very durable and black, leather pants. Buffy smiled. “They’re good, I’ll take them.” She handed over some Gil she’d picked up along the way, handing the bundle to Spike. “Go, get changed.”   Buffy bundled everyone’s clothes up, except Spike’s coat which he put back on, she handed them to the Al Behd who took them and walked off into the building. “So, what to do now?” Buffy mused, everyone was off doing their own thing, Spike was talking to an Al Behd, he came walking back to where Tidus was. “Cid says to tell you that they’ve taken a salvage crew back to Home, they’re going to catch up with us when they’re done, and you’d better look after Yuna, or else.” Tidus gulped, somehow the message was scarier coming from Spike than anyone else, he wandered off to look for the summoner in question. “Buffy?” Spike came up behind her. She turned around. “Spike, Do you.. let’s go for a walk.” He looked around. “Where to?” “I saw the sea from up there.” She pointed back at the mountain they’d come from. “Maybe we could go there.” “Uh, well..” He looked regretful. “The sea’s at the bottom of a cliff. But there’s a nice view.” “Oh, okay.” Buffy took his hand, it was silly, she knew, but she felt.. reborn, almost. She wanted to do cute things like swimming in the ocean, watching the sunset. Things she never would have wanted to do with Riley. It was as though every bad relationship she’d had over the years washed away and she was left without the usual wariness that usually came with the word ‘boyfriend’. “Let’s go sit and watch the sea.” Spike looked down at Buffy, at the slayer, at his slayer. He would have gone anywhere with her, done anything. He planted a kiss on top of her head. “It sounds good to me, luv.” …   Ethan gave a nasty smile to the assembled demons. Tyralla demons, usually shy, darting away the minute they saw someone. They fed off baby animals and scavenged the remains of other demons. Now they were his. With a little magick and a lot of persuasion he had them built into a small army, nearly thirty in total. They were to help him take over Sunnydale, then become his minions, serving him forever. …   Giles frowned as he read the newspaper. “What’s wrong, anything on..” Xander trailed off, casting a glance towards Dawn who sat in the kitchen, her back to them. “No, no. Nothing like that…It’s just. Peculiar.” “Okay, peculiar five heads and three tails or peculiar Mary-Kate and Ashley are coming to .Sunnydale?” He thought about this for a second. “Please let it be the second.” “Um.. no, no. There are just, well it appears there have been some rather unusual incidents around town, they don’t appear to be related.”  Xander looked over Giles’ shoulder. He frowned, they were some pretty strange headlines. ‘Backyard collapses’ ‘Sunnydale tyres on the missing list’ ‘Power shortages attributed to severed cables’- the list went on. Something caught Giles’ eye. ‘Monkey’s ransack administrative buildings’. “Monkeys?” Xander asked. “It certainly seems unusual.” Giles said. “Perhaps we could talk with some of the witnesses.”   “Yes, I saw the whole thing.” The lady said as they sat in her living room. “Coffee?” “Um, no, thankyou. Ahem, could you describe these monkeys?” Giles asked. “Well, they were about the size of a ten year old child. They had very large ears, kind of torn I thought. They had no tails which seemed odd but they hung from the building just like those ones on T.V. They had funny squashed up faces and their fur..” She trailed off, looking guilty. “Yes, their fur?” Giles asked. “Their fur was blue.”   “Here we go.” Xander said. “Tyralla demon.” Giles looked at the book. “That can’t be correct, granted they fit the description but that someone would call forth a multitudinous number of these demons is unlikely.” “Why?” Xander asked. “Well, they are merely scavengers, it would explain the strange happenings around town, however their behaviour is unprecedented. They shy away from humans as much as possible.” “But, they like the graffiti on walls, holes in your garden thing?” Xander asked. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact, they do. They appreciate chaos, they are often called the soldiers of the chaos god..” Giles’ voice trailed off. “G-man?” “I believe I know who called them. And how many times do I have to ask you to please not call me that!” tbc

Chapter #4 - Chapters 16 - 20

Chapter 16     Buffy walked into a hallway, lit with a blue glow, the hall seemed to go on forever, lined with doors. She opened one of the doors, walking into chamber of the fayth. She walked around the outside of the amber where the fayth lay, she looked down through the amber to where the body was preserved, for all time. She frowned, the fayth was large and grotesque, demonic horns sprouted from its’ head, its’ face disfigured and pulled into a snarl. Buffy knelt on the edge of the amber, hands folded in her lap. She heard the hymn of the fayth in the background, opening her eyes she saw three men on the other side  of the chamber, singing the hymn, the demon rose, translucent from the stone, floating before her. She raised her head boldly, closing her eyes as the demon flew towards her, into her chest, filling her mind and body. A shape emerged in front of her, dark skin and dreadlocked hair. A light suddenly appeared and Buffy realised it was the first slayer. The first slayer looked at her, her head on the side. “Hello, sister. Now we are one.” The light grew brighter, forcing her eyes closed. Her eyes shot open, she stumbled to her feet, walking out of the chamber unsteadily. Outside of the chamber Giles, Xander, Willow, Tara, Dawn and Anya waited in the kitchen. “She’s done it.” Willow said excitedly, grinning exuberantly. “Yes, yes, well it would seem she has exceeded our previous expectations.” Giles said, his robe swishing around his feet as he walked over to help her into the kitchen. “Now we can send her to die, right?” Anya asked, taking the cookies out of the pantry. “Hey, I was saving those for myself..” Buffy began, trailing off. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. You won’t be needing them.” Anya said. “All slayers die once they get to Sunnydale.” “She’s right.” Xander said, snagging a biscuit. “Maybe if you weren’t boinking the evil undead we could forgive you. But some things are just no-goes.” “And you forgot to study for Psych.” Willow added. “See what I mean, you have to stop what your doing.” Xander said. “Mmm, these are good.” “Yes, it’s a shame Dawn can’t eat them.” Anya said. “Don’t worry Dawny, we’ll tell you how they taste. Do you think she understands the concept of ‘taste’?” She asked, turning back to Buffy and Giles. “Well, I assume she does.” Tara said. “It would make sense, she’s made from Buffy and Buffy can taste.” Buffy frowned, turning to her little sister, she was glowing with a vibrant green light, her features hidden by the light.” “Dawny? Are you okay?” “I’m fine, why does everyone treat me like I’m a little kid?” Buffy looked around, someone was knocking at the door. “I’ll get it.” “No. Don’t.” Xander said. “You really shouldn’t, you know it’s wrong. I’ll tell Mom.” “But, I want to.” “Buffy, there’s some things you want that you just can’t have.” Giles said. “There’s no need to be upset. He’s fine out there.” “I.. I’m not sure..” Buffy’s top lip curled up as she spoke, the way it did when she was upset. She looked out the window, the white/blue energy shot, crackling out of the sky. “What if he gets hit?” “Buffy, he’s evil.” Xander said. “Besides, imagine what the kids would be like.” He pulled a face. “I.. I’m gonna go up to bed.” Buffy said. She walked up the stairs, back into the hallway. She walked down past several doors. Looking in one she saw Anya, walking through the rain, long white dress trailing in the muddy street. Another door showed Jonathan, sitting at a table with two other guys, as they laughed giant buzz saws crashed through the place, destroying everything. In another door she saw an Incan temple, inside an ancient woman waited, holding a large, red axe thing, she turned to Buffy as she looked in. Her eyes were solid white and unseeing. Buffy leapt back, closing the door. She kept walking, suddenly a door caught her eye, she stepped  through it. The little boy she’d seen in the chamber of the fayth in Bevelle stood there. “Hello again, Buffy.” “Um, hello.” “Remember his advice, things will only change if you make them.” “I’ll.. try to remember.” “Good, I want to give you this, later when its’ mouth is closed this will open a new door. Both of you will return with both of them.” He handed her a small, silver ring. “Huh.” “Honey?” Buffy turned at the familiar voice. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you. Maybe you should get back, you don’t want to sleep in again. “You’ve always have been grumpy in the mornings.” “Mom?” “Yes dear?” “Do you think..” “Oh, don’t worry about that now, off you go, have fun.”   “Buffy, Buffy?” “Hmm..” “Wake up pet.” Buffy opened her eyes to find Spike looking at her in concern. “You okay?” “Huh, oh, I’m fine.” She frowned, remembering her dream. She shrugged it off, burying her head in Spike’s chest. “We have to get up, luv.” “Ugh.” She sat up, sleepily, rubbing her eyes.   She came out to breakfast and her eyes widened in surprise. Platters of cold meat and large eggs, along with thick, crusty fruit toast sat on the table. Milk and juice sat in jugs and cereal in bowls. “Huh, I didn’t think they ate meat.” She said, glad for it.   Breakfast was over all too soon and they began walking. To her surprise she saw another chocobo, this one, however, had a saddle and a rider on its’ back. “Lady summoner.” The rider said. “You are to walk to Gagazet?” “Yes.” Yuna answered. “Gagazet?” Buffy asked. “Sacred Mt Gagazet, Kimahri home.” “Really?” Tidus asked. “Maybe you’ll see your family?” “Kimahri has no family. But Kimahri not alone.” “Well, if you are to get there by nightfall I can lend you some chocobos, of course you can only take them as far as the bridge. If you let them go they’ll come back to me within a day.” “You would let us?” Yuna asked. “Of course. Come along, the stable is this way.” “Ride a chocobo?” Buffy asked, skeptically. “Of course.” Rikku answered, “That’s what they’re there for.”   Buffy stared at the chocobo she was to ride, it stared back,  a rope came over its’ beak like reigns, the saddle was tiny and very light, she wasn’t surprised to see Lulu jump on, side-saddle. Kirrel chirped, jumping onto its’ back and hopping up and down. “Need a leg up, slayer.” Spike asked, his eyes shining with mirth. She poked her tongue at him. Eyeing the bird. “Here goes.” She jumped up into the saddle, it closed it’s wings over her legs. “Let’s go.” Yuna said. “Whoo hoo.” Tidus yelled. “Humph.” Auron commented.   “Let’s rest.” Rikku said, the sun was falling towards the horizon and they hadn’t stopped for lunch. “I need food.” Tidus added. “If you’d woken up earlier you could have had a larger breakfast.” Auron told him. Buffy’s legs were tired, the chocobo had fairly easy movement, but holding on with her legs had become painful after a while, even with slayer strength. “The bridge isn’t far.” Lulu said. “We can rest then.”   They dismounted from the chocobos, Buffy reached up to give hers’ a pat on the beak, it made a trilling noise, rubbing its’ head against her. Kirrel sat on her shoulder, licking himself clean. They walked along a pass between two mountains, coming out near a gorge, a bridge crossed the narrow gorge. Kirrel sniffed the air, seeming agitated. “What’s up, Kirrel?” Buffy asked. “Halt.” A voice said, as two Guado stepped from behind a rock on the other side of the bridge. “Summons from Lord Seymour, come with us.” The lead Guado said. Yuna stepped forward. “We have nothing to discuss with Maester Seymour. The guardians all stepped forward, Tidus waved his hand. “Yeah, so out of our way.” “Lord Seymour’s commands must be obeyed. You will come.” “I warn you.” The other Guado said. “The Maester doesn’t need you alive.” They felt vibrations through the ground, heard great footsteps in the gorge below, a giant robot climbed up, out of the hole, standing like a human, covered in large guns. The symbol of Yevon was engraved on it’s leg plates. “Yuna, look out.” Wakka called, jumping forward and hurling his spikey ball at it, the spikes made slight indents in its’ surface. “I will take it from here.” Lulu announced, summoning a giant bolt of lighting, which crackled around its’ surface and made it writhe backwards. Rikku jumped forwards,  secretive grin on her face, she waved her hand, aiming it at the robot and a crackle of electricity surrounded it, dissipating a moment later. “Very well done.” Lulu commented as the slow moving creature lunged towards them, bladed arms swinging, she dodged but Auron wasn’t so quick, he received a clawed fist through his chest. Yuna ran over, healing him with magick. “Yuna, come back.” Buffy shouted, racing after the summoner who had put herself in the path of danger. The robot lunged towards Yuna, Buffy raced forward, stabbing its’ shell with her sword and planting kicks and punches all over it, denting it still more. The creature swung around, knocking Buffy to the ground. Spike raced over as it went to stomp on her, kicking it and knocking it to the ground. Lulu walked over to Buffy, handing her a crystal. “You use this, focus on it and it will allow you to cast fire on the machina. Whilst you and Rikku use fire on it I shall use ice. The sudden change in temperature should cause it to fall apart.” Buffy stared at the gem. Magick? She was unsure. Rikku ran over to her as the giant robot rocked around in an attempt to get up. “C’mon, it’s no biggie, here, I’ll help you. Okay, focus on the gem.” Buffy focused, to her surprise a flicker of fire appeared before her. “The gem stores fire magick, it only needs to be released.” Rikku explained. “So, focus the fire on the robot.”   Spike threw a potion over the injured Kimahri, turning around to see Buffy, standing next to Rikku, a reddish glow surrounding her. As he watched fire shot from her hands, engulfing the robot. Rikku and Buffy kept the robot under extreme heat until it was red hot. They stepped back and Lulu raised her arms. First a shard of ice came up beneath it, piercing the molten metal. Then ice completely surrounded it, shattering and destroying the robot at the same time.   Lulu stepped back, breathing deeply. Yuna turned to see the Guado running off into the Calm Lands. “Come.” Lulu said. “Gagazet is not far off.”     Chapter 17   They crossed another bridge, entering a cave. Icy air whipped downwards from it’s entrance. The cave wasn’t very long, five minutes later they saw an opening at the top, almost perfectly round, the evening light shining down on them. They stepped out of the cave, snow fell softly as they walked. The ground was hard and bare of any vegetation, all the rocks were the colour of iron. Ten pairs of giant posts, like the remnants of some ancient temple, lined the side of the road as they ascended it’s steep slope. When they came to the end of them they saw one last pair, further up, topped by a crossbeam. Kimahri stopped, sniffing the air, he turned as a large, yellow furred Ronso dropped from the sky to his right. He hit the ground, staring at them fiercely. They were so intent upon watching him that they didn’t see a wizened old Ronso walking up behind him. They, suddenly, noticed him, Kirrel buried himself in Buffy’s hair. “Summoner Yuna and guardians.” He said, Yenke came walking up beside him. “Leave here at once.” They looked around in shock, the mountains on both sides of the path were littered with Ronso, standing tall and proud, as Spike looked at them Buffy suddenly noticed his face go rigid. “What’s wrong?” “Uh, nothing..” He looked pointedly at the old Ronso as he continued to speak. “Gagazet is Ronso land. The sacred mountain will not bear the footsteps of infidels.” The yellow furred Ronso growled at them. “Enemy of Yevon is enemy of Ronso. Leave, traitors.” Buffy suddenly recognised him as Biran, the Ronso who had come to taunt/warn them near the Moonflow. Buffy was worried that they may be forced into combat. Yuna took a stand. “I have cast aside Yevon, I follow the temple no more.” The old Ronso, in the garb of a Yevon monk waved his paw. “Then you will die by those words.” “So be it.” Yuna said. “Yevon has warped the teachings and betrayed us all.” “Nuthin but a bunch of low down tricksters, eh.” Wakka added. Tidus waved his hand in the air. “Yeah yeah.” Rikku then copied him. “They’re a bunch of narcissistic, murderous poofters.” Spike added, glaring at the two blondes as they continued to wave their hands in unison. “And they’re hypocrites.” Buffy added. “And badly dressed.” Biran and the yellow furred Yenke fell into fighting position. “Blasphemers.” Biran growled. Kimahri ran forward, angrily, standing with a puffed out chest before him, his face, and broken horn aimed at the other Ronso’s face. Buffy would have found it amusing under different circumstances, Kimahri, who was taller than Auron even, only came up to the chest of the other Ronso who towered over him, a foot long horn on his forehead. “A summoner and her guardians..” The old Ronso, Kelk said musingly. “Lord Kelk Ronso, if I may..” Lulu started. “Have you not also turned your back on Bevelle?” “But still you guard Gagazet as a Ronso, not a Maester.” Auron added. “Yuna is much the same.” The old Ronso made a growling noise, saying something Buffy couldn’t catch. “Let Biran rend them asunder!” Yenke laughed, talking in his normal, dorky voice. “No escape, not one.” “No, we will not flee.” Yuna said, shaking her head stubbornly. “We will fight and continue on.” “You have been labelled a traitor but still you would fight Sin?” Kelk asked. “Lost to the temple, hated by the people, yet you continue your pilgriamage? Everything lost, what do you fight for?” “I fight for Spira.” Yuna answered, a strength seeming to pour from her, filling everything around her.  “The people long for the calm, I can give it to them. It’s all I can give. Defeating Sin, ending pain.. This I can do.” The green eyed old Ronso shook his head slowly. “Even sacrificing yourself?” He turned, taking several steps away, he stopped and spoke. “Ronso. Let them pass. Summoner Yuna, your will is stronger than steel, tempered steel that even the mightiest Ronso could not hope to bend. Yuna, we bow to your will, now go, the sacred heights of Gagazet  welcome you.” “We thank you.” Yuna bowed. “Though.. We would like to spend one night, with your permission?” She bowed again. “To recover all our strength and go on in the morning.” “Ronso home, Yuna home. Summoner Yuna and guardians sleep where Ronso sleep, eat what Ronso eat. Be clothed to face the coldest peaks of the sacred mountain.” “Thankyou.” Yuna bowed again.   They were led to cave like dwellings, heavy doors, covered in pelts swung open to let them in. Inside was a large room, the floor was lined with more furs and it was very warm inside. The Ronso gave them long cloaks, made of leather, the fur still left on, the fur was worn on the inside and the outside was deep blue like Kimahri’s fur. Kimahri didn’t require a cloak, his Ronso fur was made especially for these conditions. Buffy didn’t know if she was imagining it but he seemed fluffier than when they got there. Spike sniffed his cloak when it was given to him. “Ayishim.” He snorted. “Who, what?” Buffy asked. “While I was living with the Al Behd I was feeding off Ayishim blood. They’re like big slow cows, longer fur though.” “Oh” They were brought their meal, what appeared to be chicken, normal sized chicken, not giant. Buffy piled her plate up with it, sitting next to Spike as she ate, he, too, ate some, he seemed to like food. He nodded his head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had this.” “You never go to Kentucky?” Buffy asked. “It’s been a while since they stopped selling Bunny at Kentucky, pet.” Buffy’s entire face dropped, she stared at her plate as though it were lambs brains. “Bunny? As in, hoppity, white, fluffy bunny rabbits?” Her green eyes were wide. “Yeah, or, you know, the Spiran version of it anyway.” “Oooh.” She looked sick. “What’s wrong with that, pet?” “What’s wrong..? they’re bunny’s, people don’t eat bunnies.. and, they’re cute. You don’t eat cute things..” “I dunno, luv.” He gave her a sly look, she grinned, Bunny forgotten. “We should get as much sleep as possible.” Lulu said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”   The next day they started up the mountain slope, after a ten minute walk they heard a loud voice call out. “Halt.” “Haven’t you bothered us enough?” Tidus whined. “Summoner may pass, guardians may pass, Kimahri not pass!” Biran said. “Kimahri shame Ronso brothers, Kimahri forget his birth.” “Forget his people, forget his mountain. Little Ronso! Weakling Ronso!” Yenke added. “Mountain hate the weak, hate the small. If you will climb…” “Then I must prove my strength.” Kimahri finished. “Think you will win?” Biran jeered. “You not forget who took your horn, never forget.” “Kimahri never beat brother, Biran, never win.” Yenke added. “This time I win.” Kimahri said, stepping forward. “I will win!” “Let me at him.” Buffy said, Spike gently grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. “Why you..” Tidus ran forward to attack the two Ronso, Kimahri held out his hand, stopping him. “This some kind of Ronso thing?” Tidus asked. “Kimahri problem.” Kimahri answered. What followed next was the most dazzling display of Samurai skills she had ever seen, accompanied by magic and the occasional annoying taunt from Yenke. The kicks and jumps, dodges and strikes they performed were breathtaking, Kimahri was obviously swifter, dodging many of their blows and raining upon them countless of his own until both Biran and Yenke called out their surrender. “Strong is Kimahri.” Biran said. “Biran is happy.” He rose, unsteadily to his feet, making his way up the mountain path. He stopped after several steps, yelling into the sky, his booming voice echoing around their ears. “Sacred Mount Gagazet! I honour the name of strong warrior who defeats Biran. Remember always, Gagazet, that name is Kimahri!” “Mountain knows Kimahri strong.” Yenke told them. “Kimahri may pass.” “Summoner!” Biran called. “We Ronso will stop pursuers from temple.” “Truly?” Yuna asked. “Penance for breaking Kimahri’s horn, long ago. ”  “We crush enemies following behind.” “Kimahri crush enemies standing before.” Kimahri answered. “You are most fortunate, summoner.” “I thank you.” She said, bowing. “Ronso will shine your statue brightest.” Yenke said. Yuna looked sad. “Thankyou. But I fear that no-one will make a statue for a traitor such as I am.” Biran turned around. “Then Ronso will make.” “With grand horn on head.” Yenke added. “That… would be wonderful.” Yuna smiled, bowing, blinking tears from her eyes. Biran and Yenke left, Yuna stood for a moment, then they walked up the steep mountain path too, coming out on a fairly flat part. They heard a noise to their left. Biran was standing on a ledge high above. “Summoner Yuna!” He called. “What is it this time?” Tidus asked, rudely. In answer Biran began to sing. “Ieyui.” Ronso appeared one by one from all around them, joining the hymn of the fayth. Their mighty voices echoed across the mountainside, a tribute to Yuna. Buffy smiled, her memory went back to high school, the prom. When she received her ‘class protector’ award, the only acknowledgement she had ever received for her duties as slayer. As the song finished and the Ronso moved aside to let them pass she followed the guardians, head held high.   The path up higher was colder, unprotected by high, rocky walls. The wind whipped past at incredible speeds, throwing snow into their faces, if not for the warm, hooded cloaks they would have frozen to death with no need to worry about the fiery fiends that kept jumping out at them, attempting to engulf them in searing flame. They came upon a large object, poking out of the ground. “These mark the graves of summoners and guardians who have perished up here.” Lulu said. Spike turned around, seeming agitated. “Spike, what’s wrong?” Buffy said. He cleared his throat and spoke. “We have to go back. Now.” “Heh heh, scared?” Tidus asked. “No.” ”We have no time for this, we must get to Zanarkand.” Auron said. “Trust me, we have to go back down the mountain now . We can climb it again, that’s fine but we really need to go.” “I don’t understand.” Rikku said, flapping her arms in front of her. “The Ronso are in danger.” “How do you know that?” Lulu asked. “It’s um, a premonition, I get them sometimes, not often so don’t expect another but I know if we don’t get down this sodding mountain as fast as we can go all the Ronso are screwed.” “Kimahri trust. Ronso Strong, some things stronger.” Kimahri turned and headed back. “I.. The Ronso are important to me, I too will return.” Yuna said, running after her. “Yunie, wait. I’m coming with you.” “Hey, don’t go without me.” Tidus ran after her. “If you are wrong you are going to regret it.” Auron said. “Settle down, gramps, no need to get your knickers in a twist.” Spike said, wondering what Auron thought he was going to do, anyway. “If you are correct. I pray we are on time.” Lulu said. Buffy turned to Spike, he said one word. “Seymour.”     Chapter 18   Yuna ran down the mountainside as fast as she could go. What greeted her eyes as she reached the bottom was terrible. Seymour was walking up the mountain path, already Yenke and a few other Ronso lay dead in on the icy ground. Seymour looked surprised as Yuna came into view. The Ronso were lined up, waiting to attack him once at a time. Yuna shook her head, Ronso pride, they refused to outnumber him, it would have got them killed this time if not for Spike. “Lady Yuna, it is a pleasure.” “Yuna.” Lulu said. Yuna raised her hands, ready to send him. Seymour looked past Yuna, chuckling. Kimahri turned, seeing Yenke’s still body on the ground. “No.” Seymour chuckled, looking at Yuna. “You could end the suffering of this Ronso, of all these Ronso.” “I don’t understand you!” Yuna yelled. “Allow Kimahri to die and release him from his pain. Spira.. is a land of suffering and sorrow, caught in a spiral of death. To destroy- to heal Spira- I will become Sin. Yes, with your help. Come with me, Yuna.” Tidus jumped in front of Yuna, Seymour sneered. “Once I have become the next Sin your father will be freed again.” Tidus’ face went white, he glared at Seymour. Buffy frowned, his father? She looked at the others, they seemed as confused as she was, except for Auron and Kimahri. “What do you know!” Tidus yelled, running towards Seymour. “Save some for Kimahri.” The Ronso yelled. Seymour rose into the air, startling Buffy. “Pitiful mortal. Your hope ends here and your meaningless existence with it!” Seymour cried as he let out a bright, white light. When the light cleared he floated in the mountain path, looking like a strange bug creature,  created from intricately carved marble, marble tentacles hanging down from it. His face, also marble was at the front of the creature, above the arms that sat underneath it and beneath the handles of the two swords above it. The battle, Buffy assumed, would have been long and difficult with just the guardians, but as Buffy, Spike, Auron, Kimahri, Tidus, Yuna, Rikku and Lulu attacked the giant creature so too did every one of the Ronso. It would be remembered by the Ronso as the only war ever fought on Gagazet’s sacred slopes. Slowly they hacked the tentacles off the creature, ripping off chunks of marble, arms and claws but still the attacks came. White hot energy like solar flares regularly burst out of the ground and even Buffy, on one occasion found herself a sickly green colour on account of his lance, imbued with a poison that turned people into zombies. Yuna stepped forward and Buffy noticed that her face was hard. Not just determined, it was as though she had become stronger, she stood like stone before Seymour, raising her arms, summoning the fire demon, Ifrit. The giant demon snarled at Seymour as he opened his mouth to speak, it breathed a column of fire at him, pushing him high into the air by the force of the flames, he then reached down, with 6 inch claws, tearing a chunk of rock from the icy ground and hurling it at Seymour. Seymour shuddered, disappearing in a column of pyrelfies. “And stay up there!” Tidus shouted. Rikku ran over to Spike, staring at him. “What are you doing?” He asked, annoyed. “Wow! You really knew? Ooh.” Rikku exclaimed. Buffy walked over to him, taking his hands. “You really saved them all.” She smiled. He pulled her close to him, stopping with a cheeky grin. “Can’t have the bunny population getting out of hand now, can we.” She pulled away, giving him a mock glare. He grinned back but his face soon became serious again. “Listen, I saved the Ronso, true but that’s it. I don’t have a bloody clue what happens now.” “Oh..” Buffy bit her lip. “It doesn’t matter, between us all we’ll save Yunie.. Yuna even if   it means kicking the Final Aeon’s ass!” “That’s my girl.” Spike smiled. “Everybody.. We’re going now.” “Sir Spike..” Kelk said. “You are good man. Ronso never forget what you did for us. Anything you want, you ask. Lady Yuna and guardians.. Thankful we are you came. Ronso children hear your stories, Ronso singers sing your songs. Go now, we have kept you long enough.” The climb to the top of the mountain seemed to take less time the second go. All too soon they found themselves standing high on the snow covered peaks. Rikku stopped, turning to Buffy and Tidus. “Zanarkand’s on the other side you know..” ”I know.” Tidus answered. “Yunie’ll get the Final Aeon, you know… I, still haven’t thought of anything.” “Buffy did.” Spike commented. “Yeah, we kick it’s final butt until it goes away.” Buffy said with an emphatic nod. “Yeah!” Tidus exclaimed, pumping his fist. Buffy and Spike stared at him then back at each other, they both shrugged and continued on. “Wow.” Yuna said as she disappeared around the corner. Buffy frowned, ‘wow’ wasn’t usually a word Yuna used. She followed the Summoner and gasped. The rock beside the path was imbedded with human bodies, sending off a blue, misty light. On the other side of the path was a pool, a waterfall feeding into it. A spiral of water stood over twelve feet high, spinning from the too-blue water. “Wh..What are those?” wakka asked. “Those are Fayth.” Yuna said in an awed voice. She walked over to the rock, gasping quietly, they all turned to look at her. “A summoning! Someone is using these Fayth! Someone is drawing energy from all of them.” “This many?” Rikku asked. “Who wields power on this scale and what could they be calling?” Lulu asked. Rikku ran over to Auron. “Hey, you know something, don’t you? Spill the beans.” “Look not to others for knowledge, this is your journey too.” “Yunie might die, you know?” Rikku called out. “No… Auron’s right.” Tidus said, “Auron’s right?” Buffy asked, incredulous. “How is withholding information from us and giving us fortune cookie advice to our benefit. Do you even want to help Yuna, do you want to beat Sin?” Auron chuckled. “You arrogant bastard! What’s your prob..” She was cut off as Tidus fell into a faint on the ground.  Everyone crowded around him, begging him to wake up, he lay there, unconscious for nearly five minutes, suddenly waking up. “Are you alright?” Yuna asked as he jumped to his feet. He sat down again. “Hey! We were so worried about you.” Rikku said. Spike raised his hand. “Except me.” “You okay?” Lulu asked. “I…I’m okay.” “What happened?” Yuna asked. “Nothing… I blacked out and I was dreaming. You called me… and I woke up.” He stood up, stretching. “Nothing like a good nap!” “Oh yeah?” Buffy punched him in the shoulder, Slayer strength and all. “Oww!” He rubbed his shoulder, looking at her resentfully. “That was one  of the most irritating, badly timed comments I’ve ever heard. You even beat Xander’s record.” “Who..?” Buffy glared at him. “Oh, right, I’ll shut up.” They entered a cave, a strange, greenish glow lit it with an eerie light. The fiends in the cave were large, leaping from the darkness at fairly regular intervals. The ceiling of the cave dripped water and it was a lot warmer inside than it had been outside. They walked up the sloping tunnel, turning left and going down hill. They came to a subterranean pool of water, under the water brightly coloured rocks shone. The water was crystal clear and a tunnel could be seen under the water at the back of the cave. “Looks like we got a job to do, ya?” Wakka said, standing in front of the water. Buffy knelt down, dipping her finger in the icy water. “Ugh.” “What is it?” Yuna asked, concerned. “It’s cold.” “This lake is created from the water which runs through the roof of these caves. This water comes from the melted snow which falls on the top.” Auron said. Buffy pulled a face. Rikku, Tidus and Wakka stood on the waters edge. “Maybe, we should wait here, the three of you can go on ahead and see if it is the right direction. Though, if it gets dangerous, pull out quick.” Lulu said. “Right.” Wakka said. “Be careful, okay?” Yuna said. Tidus nodded, diving into the water. “Spike.” Buffy said as they waited on the edge of the water. “Yes, pet?” “When all this is over, what then?” “What do you mean?” “Well, Sin, it comes back every ten years, right, even when it gets killed so if we defeat Sin, we’ll just have to fight it again later anyway. It’s like the story of my life, kill a vampire, another raises.. no offense.” “None taken.” “I killed the Master, stopped that apocalypse, we were all songs and dances then, bam, Acathla. I got rid of him..” “With my help.” “Yeah, so he’s dead, I’m like, yay and then the Mayor decides to turn into a big snake and kill us all. It’s like no matter how hard I hit evil it just turns around and hits back. Does it ever end?” Spike looked at his Slayer, she sat there, fierce and hurting, looking to him for answers and he hated himself because he couldn’t give her any. He wrapped his arms around her, she accepted that as an answer. “Hey.” Wakka climbed out of the water, surprisingly his hair still stood up. “There was nuthin’ much there. Just a switch.”  “Did you activate it?” Lulu asked as though she really thought he hadn’t. “Of course we did!” Tidus jumped out of the water, shaking himself like a dog. “Where to now?” Lulu asked. Auron pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. “That way.” He pointed up the slope they had walked down. They walked back up, coming to the top. A set of stairs, ancient looking and decayed now stood where they hadn’t before, the party ascended the stairs, the tunnel went left and right from the top of the stairs. The group decided to turn left, Buffy’s legs were beginning to burn with all the uphilliness, they reached a crest in the hill, coming to another pool. This time, with no discussion, Rikku, Wakka and Tidus dove right in. They heard a rumbling, to their left rocks were growing out of the wall as though someone were pushing them. They formed a pathway, leading high into the ceiling. Wakka, Rikku and Tidus came swimming back.  “Did it work?” Rikku asked, jigging from foot to foot. Buffy pointed at the pathway. “Oooh!” Rikku remarked. They walked up the pathway, as they reached the top Auron spoke. “They’ll be upon us soon. She has sent fiends to test our Summoners strength.” “Who is ‘she’?” Yuna asked. “Yunalesca.” Auron answered. “Lady Yunalesca?” Yuna seemed thrilled. “In Zanarkand she awaits the arrival of the strongest.” “She.. is still alive?” Yuna was confused. “As much as Mika and Seymour.” Auron answered. “I see.” “Lost your nerve?” Auron asked. “No. Nothing frightens me now.” “Braska would be proud.” “Then I must not let him down.” They reached the top of the cave, white sunlight came through from the exit. They were nearly there, Zanarkand, where, one way or another, their journey was going to end. After this everything would change, for all of them. Yuna would be a Summoner no more and Buffy would no longer be a guardian. With no purpose, no grand, save-the-world, type plan, she would just be Buffy, in Spira, a strange world she would learn to live in and she would not be learning alone. Spike seemed to read her thoughts, reaching out he took her hand and together they walked out into the sunlight.     Chapter 19   They stepped outside the caves, the golden glow of sunset fell upon them, not the harsh, midday sun that Buffy had initially expected. They were on a cliff, high in the air, wisps of cloud, the colour of blood hung in the sky. Rikku ran out of the cave, turning to the others. “Hey! Can’t we rest a little.” Buffy knew the Al Behd girl wasn’t tired, didn’t need to rest. She was holding on to the shred of hope that she may think of a way to help Yuna. “No need.” Auron stepped forward. “We reach the summit soon.” “I know, that’s why I want to stop for a bit.” She turned around, kneeling down on the ground. “Soon means that.. there’s not much time left.” “Rikku..” Yuna stepped forward. “Fine, I’ll think on the way.” She stood up. They walked further along and they got their first look at the place they had travelled all this way to get to. The end of the road. It was surprisingly beautiful. The buildings were crumbling and bleached white by the sun. A heavy mist sat on the ground, making the buildings look as if they were sitting on some sort of cloud, stained the colour of roses in the evening light. Pyreflies floated around he buildings, dancing through the air and a lone gull glided out across the sea, into the horizon. Rikku broke the silence. “Yuna, I say no. if we go down there then you’ll…” Yuna turned to her. “Rikku you are a true friend and I thank you but I must go.. down... to Zanarkand.” “I’m not saying you shouldn’t go but.. can’t we think about it some more. There’s got to be some way we can save you.” “My whole life I’ve thought about this moment.” Yuna said. “Yunie…” There were tears in Rikku’s voice. Yuna suddenly ran forward, hugging Rikku. Something shining and blue falling from her the things around her arms. “Thank you, Rikku. Thank you for everything.” Buffy reached forward, picking the sphere up off the ground and looking it over, she slid it into the pocket of her jacket. “Don’t say that, Yunie, it’s not over yet.” “Tell Cid, thankyou.” Yuna told her cousin. “No..” Rikku answered. “You can tell him yourself.” “Please…” Yuna said pleadingly. “Yuna, don’t say that because.. we’re gonna see each other again. Okay?” “Kimahri, let’s go.” Yuna said, disentangling herself from Rikku’s arms. Tidus walked over to Buffy. “Wha.. what is that?” “Dunno, Yuna dropped it.” “It’s a sphere.” Spike answered. “Like the one..” He stopped short. “Have you found any of these, Tidus?” “A couple, my old man was in them. It’s like, even when he’s gone he can’t leave me alone.” “Wow, you really don’t get on with your dad?” Buffy commented. “Yeah, I guess. There should be a little button on it.” Buffy pulled the sphere out of her pocket, she found the button and pressed it. It was as though they were suddenly I another place, like when Seymour had shown them Yunalesca. The sea could be heard very strongly in the background. Yuna’s voice cold be heard. “Sir Auron. Kimahri told me… when my father wanted me taken from Bevelle to Besaid.. It was you who told Kimahri, right?” the scenery was clearer now, an inn could be seen, Lulu standing before it, arms crossed, a chocobo stood behind the fence. “I had always wanted to meet you, someday.” Yuna’s voice continued as the inn door opened and Wakka walked out. “I am truly glad that I had that chance. Having you as a guardian was so great an honour, I don’t know how to thank you. Perhaps, if I defeat Sin, that will be my thanks to you… That’s what I’ll do. I will challenge Sin, I will defeat Sin, If you are all there watching this, then I guess Sin is already gone. And so am I, I suppose.”  Lulu turned and walked back into the inn, Buffy got the feeling she couldn’t hear Yuna. “Anyway, I just wanted to say; Sir Auron, I thank you.” The door closed behind Lulu as Yuna spoke. “Kimahri… Do you remember the first day we met? I was only seven. My father had defeated Sin and all Bevelle was celebrating. Everyone was saying what a hero my father was. I was so happy.” As Buffy watched Wakka ran off, to near where the chocobo stood, sitting down on the ground and staring off across the wide plain of grass. It wasn’t the Calm Lands, Buffy knew she hadn’t seen this place. “But when night came, it occurred to me. My father had defeated Sin and now he was dead. Now I was all alone. I couldn’t sleep so I wandered into the town, away from the celebrating crowds. I stood on the bridge in Bevelle where my father and I had parted. Standing there, alone, I could see the fields where he had fought Sin. Then you appeared Kimahri.” As Yuna said this Kimahri himself walked into view, his usual long strides taking him behind the inn and out of sight. “You said you were looking for the daughter of Braska, remember? At first I was so scared. Until I realised what a gentle person you are.” The sound of her laughter could be heard in the background. “you weren’t used to talking to children. When I told you that I was Braska’s daughter… you said you would take me as far from Bevelle as you could. That it was the wish of a man facing death. I think… I cried then. Because that was when I knew my father was dead… and I would never see him again. You just held me, without saying a word. I cried after we got to Besaid, too. When you tried to go after leaving me in the care of the temple… I held onto you crying ‘don’t go, don’t go!’ And you listened, Kimahri, you stayed. Kimahri thankyou, thankyou so much. And I’ve always liked your broken horn.” Buffy smiled, she liked Kimahri’s broken horn too, it suited him. The scenery changed, pulling away, floating into the air, overlooking the inn, the sun shining brightly just above the horizon, hanging over some ruins, standing in the sea. “Wakka, Lulu: I’ll never forget my days spent with you, growing up in Besaid. We always played together, us and Chappu.” Buffy frowned, Chappu? “Chappu was Wakka’s brother.” Spike explained quietly as they stood, high above the inn and watched Auron walk over near to where Wakka still sat. “That’s why I was always so happy, I think. And when you refused to let me become a Summoner and I did it anyway.. I’m sorry. I’ve always wanted to apologise. You know, when you tried to stop me then-really, I was happy. I could tell you really cared about me. You were like my big brother and sister. No.. I think you really were my big brother and sister. What else… I love watching you play blitzball, Wakka. I even love it when you scold me, Lulu! Really!” The scene changed again and the sphere could be seen, held in Yuna’s hands. “I guess that leaves the newest guardian, Tidus, you are.. I am… well, um- I’m glad… I ‘m glad that we met. We haven’t know each other long, but… It’s funny..” The sphere showed Tidus walking out of the inn. “So, this is what it feels like. It’s a much more wonderful feeling than anything I had ever imagined. Wonderful.. but it hurts, sometimes. I wonder. I.. I just want to say, thankyou for everything maybe, maybe that’s why it hurts when I think about us never being together again at all. I’m afraid, no I shouldn’t say that, I’ll do that part over. Um…” “Watcha up to..” Tidus’ voice asked. Yuna put the sphere back in her sleeve and everything faded away. “Oh.” Buffy said. “I.. we should catch up.” Tidus answered. “We’re wasting time, let’s go.” Spike said in a feigned deep voice, Buffy laughed. They reached the summit and began a swift descent. The path was steep and narrow, leading down into the mist. When they reached the bottom the others were waiting. They ceremoniously placed their weapons into or onto the ground, setting up camp. Everyone sat around the roaring fire, recounting all the happenings of their journey. Not just from when they left their island, Besaid. But before that. When they were growing up. When Wakka’s brother, Lulu’s boyfriend, Chappu went away to fight sin, taking with him the same sword that Tidus now carried. When Rikku was a girl and first learnt she had a cousin. For her it was like finding she had a sister. “I always wanted to meet you, I thought.. how much fun we could have, you know..?” They each spoke, it was as though words were to come between them and what they were about to do. Even Buffy talked, they learnt about Sunnydale, about Willow and Xander, her little sister, Dawn. The countless battles she’d fought against evil. When Spike’s turn came to speak he firmly shook his head. “I’m not really the soul-revealing type, luv.” He’d told Buffy. Buffy ‘persuaded’ him that he was now, so eventually Spike spoke too. He spoke of his mother, his time growing up, studying, falling in love, of words beginning to form in him as the poet was created. He felt foolish talking about this stuff to these people. He was different now anyway, that was decades ago, or was it.. He looked at Buffy and the words flowed through him as strong as ever and he knew that he hadn’t changed. Love would always guide him, rule him, he remembered a speech he’d given to Buffy, years ago. ‘Love isn’t brains, children, it’s blood, blood screaming inside you to work its’ will, I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it.’ The sun slowly went down and their stories were all out, each had said all they could and a silence fell upon the group. Buffy looked around, at Wakka, the strange man with bad hair who Buffy had never taken the time to get to know but somehow she already knew him. She’d seen his heart, she knew his strengths and weaknesses, his joys and sorrows. She looked at Lulu, the black mage who she almost looked up to as much she did her watcher. She looked at Rikku, the little girl who struggled so hard to hold her world together, the Al Behd, their Home and her cousin Yuna, she tried so hard to make everything work out. Kimahri sat there, his silence showing his emotions more than his blue furred, lionlike face. He gave off an aura of gentleness and protection that made Buffy feel that if she was ever sad or lonely she could run to him and he would make it all better. In a strange way he reminded her of her mother. Auron.. Auron annoyed her, he almost reminded her of a father figure, trying to control her, at her age that was just annoying. But in a way, if he left, she’d really miss him, she enjoyed how much he annoyed her. Tidus.. he was irritating too, but in a different way, like a cross between Dawn and Xander at their most annoying! He was also confident, persistent and very much in love with Yuna. All these things made him good in Buffy’s eyes. She looked at the Summoner , sitting there by the fire as the sun melted and the stars blinked to life overhead, knowing that this was probably the last night she would ever see. Buffy felt a link with Yuna, they were kindred spirits, chosen ones, and they would do anything to stop evil. Lastly Buffy looked at Spike, her gaze remained there for a long time, she knew she could stay there forever. His white blonde hair curled messily over his head. His shining blue eyes took in everything and told her so much. Tidus tried to start a conversation up again. “What about that time.. we, uh.. anybody?” Yuna stood up. “That is enough.. I think, for now.” She walked over to where the weapons were, pulling her staff out of the ground. Everyone else stood up, silence screaming through the empty place, they then stepped back onto the broken road. “Oh!” Rikku said as they came around a building and had a clear view of their destination. Far off in the distance stood a great stadium of some kind, crumbled like everything else in this place. But above the stadium, in fact throughout Zanarkand, were pyreflies. The closer they came to the stadium the more pyrelies there were. “It looks like the Farplane, ya?” Wakka said. “Close.” Auron answered. When they reached the stadium someone was waiting for them. “Hello, Summoner , welcome to Zanrakand.” He said. “Your eyes, child, let me see the journey you have taken.” He looked into Yuna’s eyes, clearing his throat. “Very good, I will go inform Lady Yunalesca of your arrival.” With that he disappeared into a pillar of pyreflies. The inside of the stadium was dangerous, if the fiends didn’t get you the crumbling floor would. As they walked along they heard a noise behind them, they turned, startled, a young woman stood behind them. “Lady Yocun, I would gladly give my life for Spira, it is the highest honour for any guardian.” “Wha.. what’s that!” Wakka asked. “This dome, filled with pyreflies acts as a giant sphere. The memories of the dead are trapped here.” Auron explained. The woman faded, replaced by a child of about six. He had blue hair, sticking up awfully in places and he was crying. “Mommy, I don’t want you to become a Fayth.” ”It’s the only choice, my dear. Use me to defeat Sin, only then will the people of Spira accept you.” “I don’t care, I only need you, Mommy.” He sobbed, fading away. “Was that..” Wakka began. “Seymour.” Lulu answered. They delicately made their way to the chamber of the Fayth.  “Yuna, we’re here.” Lulu said. “Yes.” Yuna stood on a platform in the centre of the wide room, the symbol of Yevon shone brightly on it and it began to descend. A moment later Yuna came back up. “Everybody, quick!” They took the platform down into the chamber. “This isn’t a Fayth, it’s just an empty statue.” Yuna said. As she spoke the dead man appeared behind her, walking through a shimmering blue doorway in what had been the wall. “That statue lost its’ power as a Fayth long ago. It is Lord Zaon, the first Fayth of the final summoning. What you see before you is all that remains of him. Lord Zaon is.. his soul is gone.” “Gone!?” Wakka ran over to him. “You mean, there is no Final Aeon?” Rikku asked. “But fear not.” The man said. “Lady Yunalesca will show you the path. The Final Aeon will be yours” Buffy had super wiggy feelings about this whole thing. “The summoner and the Final Aeon will join powers. Go to her now. Inside the Lady awaits.” Yuna turned to walk through door. “Yuna, wait!” Tidus called. Auron stepped forward. “Auron, you knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” “Yes.” Auron answered. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Rikku asked. “If I had told you the truth, would that really have stopped you from coming?” Auron asked. “Yuna?” Kimahri said. “I’m not going back.” Yuna said. “Kimahri knows.” He answered. Buffy stepped forward. “Yuna..” Yuna turned around. “Hey, I’m not trying to be all soap opera’y here, but I’ll come with you. None of us want you to go, but I understand, why you have to. I accept that you have to do this. But I’m coming with you.” Yuna’s eyes sparkled with tears. “Buffy.. I, I never got the chance to thank you.. and.. I’m sorry, thankyou. And thankyou too, Sir Spike. I.. I’m happy that Cid had you come.” Kimahri stepped forward. “Kimahri go first. Yuna is safe, Kimahri protect.” Kimahri then Yuna walked through. Buffy and Spike followed, Auron, Rikku and the others followed them.   Chapter 20 They entered what appeared to be a cathedral hall it had a high, domed ceiling, a balcony on the far wall above a great door, large pillars and columns , tapestries and statues decorated the place. “Someone’s coming.” Rikku gasped. Kimahri crossed his arms before his chest, ready to meet the intruder. “Lady Yunalesca.” Yuna said. Yunalesca walked into the room, her blue hair sticking out at strange angles and reminding Buffy of Seymour. She shuddered, turning back to Yunalesca. She stepped through the large door, walking daintily to the top of the steps. “Welcome to Zanarkand.” She did the prayer. “I congratulate you, Summoner, you have completed your pilgrimage.” She raised first her left hand then her right. “I will now bestow you with that which you seek. The final summoning will be yours.” She lowered her arms, looking intently at Yuna, she gestured with one arm. “Now, choose.” Yuna was taken aback and she was not the only one. Buffy felt a deep dread welling up in her as the scantily clad, dead woman walked down the stairs. “You must choose the one whom I will change to become the Fayth of the Final Summoning.” “Bloody hell!” Spike exclaimed. “You dead, Spiran types really have a problem with wanting to turn people into Fayths.” ”I do not want to, I must, it is the way it is done, there must be a bond between Chosen and Summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies; the bond between husband and wife, mother and child or between friends. If that bond is strong enough its’ light will conquer Sin. A thousand years ago I chose my husband, Zaon, as my fayth. Our bond was true and I obtained the Final Aeon. There is nothing to fear. You will soon be freed of worry and pain. For once you call forth the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate and final liberation.” “Okay, that’s it, this is too creepy, she’s just like Seymour.” Buffy said. “I apologise, Lady guardian, if the truth upsets you, you must have known when you began where this path would take you.” She turned back to Yuna. “Your father, Braska, chose this path.” She stepped back and an image appeared before them. A young man with a ponytail who could only be Auron waved his hand. “It is not too late! Let us turn back!” A man dressed in what looked like many oversized flower petals turned. “If I turn back who will defeat Sin? Would you have some other summoner and his guardians go through this?” “But…my lord, there must be another way!” Auron pleaded. Buffy wondered why Auron seemed to have aged, dead as he was, while Yunalesca, over one thousand, still looked about twenty. The deeply tanned man with his scarred back to them spoke. “This is the only way we got now!” He unfolded his arms, placing his hands on his hips. “Make me the fayth. I been doing some thinking. My dream is back in the other Zanarkand. I wanted to make that runt into a star blitz player. Show him the view from the top, you know. But now I know there’s no way home for me. I’m never gonna see him again, my dream’s never gonna come true. So make me the fayth. I’ll fight Sin with you, Braska. Then maybe my life will have meaning, you know?” “Don’t do this, Jecht!” Auron cried. Jecht? Buffy remembered, Jecht was.. Tidus’ father. She turned to see what he was thinking his face was set with a stony indifference, and it was as if he had rehearsed the look too many times. “If you live…” The phantom Auron continued. “there may be another way! We’ll think of something, I know!” “Believe me, I’ve thought this through.” Jecht answered. “Besides, ain’t getting’ any younger, I may as well make myself useful.” “Jecht..” Braska said, turning. “What, you’re not gonna try to stop me too?” “Sorry.. I mean, thank you.” Braska said. “Braska still has to fight Sin, Auron.” Jecht said, putting his hands on Braska’s shoulders. “Guard him well, make sure he gets there.” Auron lowered his head. “Well, let’s go.” Jecht began to walk towards the stairs, Braska following. “Lord Braska, Jecht!” Auron turned. “What do you want now?” Jecht asked, turning to face Auron, he had a giant ‘J’ tattooed on his chest. “Sin always comes back.” Auron said. “It comes back after the Calm every time! The cycle will continue and your deaths will mean nothing!” “But there’s always a chance it won’t come back this time.” Braska answered. “It’s worth trying.” “I understand what you’re saying, Auron. I’ll find a way to break the cycle.” “You have a plan?” Auron asked. “Jecht?” Braska said. “Trust me, I’ll think of something.” As they walked through the door above, the memory of Auron collapsed to his knees. Auron walked over to where the memory of him sat, he pulled out his giant sword and started hacking the air where the other Auron was. “Auron! Buffy said sternly, walking over and grabbing his arm. “Quit it. You’ll need all your energy later.” Auron turned to her, back to the group, shaking his head. “And.. the cycle went on.” “We’ll break it!” Tidus said. “But how?” Wakka stepped forward. “What, you got a plan now?” Lulu stepped forward. “If one of us had to become a Fayth, I volunteer.” “Me too, Yuna.” Wakka answered. “That still won’t change anything, you know, you’d bring the Calm, and then what, that still won’t break the cycle.” Tidus reasoned. “Listen, you want to defeat Sin and keep Yuna alive, you don’t want Sin to come back ya, that’s just not gonna happen, brudda, you know?” “If you want everything you’ll end up with nothing.” Lulu added. “But I want everything!” Tidus whined. “Now you’re being childish.” Wakka said. “I give up, so what would an adult do then? They know they can just throw away a summoner and then do whatever they like. You’re right I might not even have a chance but no way am I gonna just stand here and let Yuna go, and what Auron said about there being a way, I think it’s true.” “You’ll think of something? ” Rikku said. “Yes. I’ll go ask Yunalesca. She’s got to know something.” “You, really think she’ll help you?” Rikku asked, scratching her head. “I don’t know, but I have to try.. This is my story it’ll go the way I want it or I’ll end it here.” Yuna shook her head. “What you said about it being your story, well it’s my story too, you know.. It would be so easy to just let my fate carry me away, following the same path my whole life through.. but I can’t- what I do I do with no regrets.” She stepped forward, walking up the stairs and through the door at the top. “Yuna.” Buffy ran after her. They came out on a balcony, the night air was biting and the stars shone in the sky. Yunalesca walked up broken stairs on the other side of the balcony. “Have you chosen the one to become your Fayth? Who will it be?” “Might I ask something first?” Yuna said. “Will Sin come back even should I use the Final Summoning to defeat it?” “Sin is eternal.” Yunalesca answered. “Every Aeon that defeats Sin becomes Sin in its’ place… And thus is Sin reborn.” “So that’s why Jecht became Sin..” Tidus mused. “Sin is an inevitable part of Spira’s destiny. It is never-ending.”                      Buffy looked sad. “I thought so..” ”Never-ending?” Wakka asked. “But.. but… if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back, ya? Someday it’ll be gone, ya?” “Will humanity ever attain such purity?” “This.. this cannot be!” Lulu said, angrily. The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It’s been our only hope all these years..” “Hope is.. comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it may be.” Yunalesca answered. “No!” Tidus yelled, as he did a memory was stirred up, before them a younger Auron appeared. “No!” He cried. “Where is the sense in all this? Braska believed in Yevons teachings and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!” The memory Yunalesca spoke. “They chose to die, because they had hope.” Young Auron cried out, lunging towards Yunalesca with his sword, she held up her hand, deflecting him and flinging him through the air, his sword embedded in the ground. “Yevons teachings and the final summoning give the people of Spira hope. Without hope they would drown in their sorrow. Now choose, who will be the fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira’s hope?” “No-one. I would have gladly died, I live for the people of Spira and would have gladly died for them but no more. the final summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away!” “No it is our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give that hope to the people so they would forget sorrow.” “Wrong my father my.. father wanted to make Spira’s sorrow go away, not just cover it up with lies.” “Sorrow cannot be abolished, it is meaningless to try.” Yunalesca answered. “My father.. I loved him so I will live with my sorrow, I will live my own life, I will defeat sorrow in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong, I don’t know when it will be but someday I will conquer it and I will do it without.. false hope.” Yuna answered. “Poor creature you would throw away hope, it is better to die in hope than to live in sorrow, let me be your liberator.” As she spoke her hair began to flow out behind her as if some breeze were pulling it back, it darkened, becoming a strange, headdress that flowed down her back, seeming to fall into the ground. Auron spoke “Now this is it now is the time to choose die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories, your fate is in your hands.” “Yuna needs Kimahri. Kimahri protect Yuna.” Kimahri answered. “Well I'm fighting!” Rikku announced, pumping her fist in the air and jigging. “I can’t believe we’re gonna fight Lady Yunalesca! Gimme a break!” Wakka complained. “You can always run.” Lulu answered. “Hah! I’d never forgive myself, no way, not if I ran away now. Even in death ya!” “My thoughts exactly.” Lulu smiled. “Yuna! This is our story! now let’s see this thing through together!” Tidus yelled. “Overdramatic, much?” Buffy said. “Let them be, luv, they enjoy all this ‘do or die’ hero talk.” “Yeah, I dunno, this ‘my story- your story stuff’s beginning to get on my nerves..” ”Look out!” Rikku called as Yunalesca attacked. Yuna quickly summoned Bahamut, the great dragon fell upon Yunalesca, ripping her wide open, as he stood back, triumphant she fell to the ground, suddenly the headdress that fell down into the ground emerged from the crumbled floor. She rose high into the air, the headdress forming into a giant pillar, stinking of rotten flesh. From the ground underneath them, giant worms shot upwards, tearing chunks from their legs. Yuna waved her hands and a small wind seemed to float around all of them, lifting them from the ground and out of the reach of the worms. Bahamut leapt into the air, great wings pumping and sending Buffy floating into Auron as he held onto a banister. Bahamut leapt at the giant pillar with Yunalesca sitting on top of it. He raked at it with giant claws even as tentacles shot out of it, wrapping around him. He roared loudly and, as a tentacle shot directly through his throat, he gave one last lunge with his claws, ripping the pillar apart. Yunalesca collapsed to the ground. “Okay, way gross!” Buffy commented, grimacing at a large, bleeding hole in her leg. “Here, let me..” Lulu threw a potion over her, the familiar sparkling lights danced over her flesh, knitting it together. Buffy felt herself gently touch the ground. She tried to shake off the floating sensation, walking towards where Yunalesca lay. “So, she’s dead, right.. She’s not gonna come after us, or anything?” As Yuna opened her mouth to answer, Yunalesca answered for her, in a flash of green light she changed, becoming a giant, disembodied head. A long, lashing tongue shot out, knocking Buffy off her feet then slamming down on top of her. Buffy cried out in pain as she felt ribs smashing. She choked, feeling, suddenly, short of breath. “Buffy!” Spike yelled, his voice hoarse,  he ran towards her, only to be knocked over by the giant tongue, a light danced around him, becoming darker until he was completely immersed in the black light. He grinned with near exuberance, he felt strong, powerful, he broke from the light, racing towards the grotesquely large head. Those looking on were astounded by what had happened, he seemed to have grown. His fingers becoming claws. His face, too, had changed, distorted. His forehead was large and bumpy and long fangs hung over his bottom lip. Buffy looked up, gasping for breath as Yuna ran over, mending her ribs and dragging her a safe distance away. Spike had gone grr-face but there was something more to it. His hands.. and his eyes, instead of their normal yellow they glowed red. Not demonically red but as if a fire had been lit inside him and was showing in his eyes. “Wha.. what’s happening?” “It is an overdrive. A trance that warriors go into under certain circumstances.” Lulu answered. “If you remember, you yourself went through one whilst fighting Anima.” Buffy remembered. At the time she had let it slip from her mind with all the fighting and running away. It had been like the spell her friends had cast to help her fight Adam. She stared as Spike tore flesh away from Yunalesca’s giant skull, a dark energy crackling around him. “It is said,” Lulu continued. “That when a soul, no matter how primative, is placed under enough pressure, its’ true power erupts within the being, a pure, undiluted power.” “Oh, I see..” Buffy trailed off. “But, Spike.. he doesn’t have a soul.” Lulu gave her a sideways look. “Everyone has a soul, it is what gives them thought, hope, dispair, love and hate all come from the soul. Having a soul does not mean you have to be good. Seymour, too, has a soul. But there is no creature, living or dead that does not possess a soul. That is the essence of a summoning, the soul of the Fayth, called by the summoner.” “But.. I.. everyone- back in my world, everyone said.. vampires don’t have souls.” “I am unaware of what a ‘vampire’ is, however, perhaps the people in your world consider a soul to be something different. A conscience is often mistaken in song and literature as a ‘soul’.” Lulu jerked backwards as a chunk of Yunalesca flew towards her. “But surely you do not believe that Spike is without a soul. It is evident that he possesses one.” She waved her hand towards him as Yunalesca fell to the ground, fading and turning back into herself. “Fools.” Yunalesca croaked. “If I die, so too does Spira’s hope.” She collapsed to one knee. “Zaon, forgive me, Spira’s hope is gone..” With that she collapsed into a pillar of pyrelfies, floating upwards into the lightening sky. Spike collapsed, exhausted to the ground. “Spike!” Buffy ran over to him. “Buffy, you’re okay.” He looked truly relieved. “I.. I think I killed her.” Buffy knelt down, throwing her arms around him. “Well. What shall we do now?” Lulu asked, breaking the silence. “We’ll have to think of another way to defeat Sin.” Tidus said. “It won’t be easy.” Auron cautioned. “We can do it!” Rikku said, confidently. “Let’s.. Let us leave this place.” Yuna said. “Yes, let’s.” Lulu answered. Outside the early morning air blew gently around them. Crisp and fresh with the promise of new hope, the promise of life. They heard a roaring noise, turning towards the sea Buffy stopped in shock. A gigantic creature, grey like rotting flesh, floated in the water. It was about the size of a small town. Buffy had never imagined that anything of its’ size could possibly exist. “Sin.” Lulu explained. Buffy was surprised, strangely Sin seemed less evil-attacky than she’d expected, it turned and began too swim out to sea, as it did Buffy saw the airship, flying towards them, it flew directly past Sin, landing in the ruins. As the airship took to the air Buffy looked out of the window at the sunrise. She breathed deeply. She had never taken the time to notice how every sunrise was different from the last, the wisps of cloud took on more spectacular colours, the sun seemed to shine with more hope. She could see ten thousand sunrises and still she wouldn’t grow tired of them. She turned, next to her Spike, too stared out of the window, a look on his face that matched her own. She took his hand, leaning against him and they watched the sun rise. tbc

Chapter #5 - Chapters 20 - 23

Chapter 21   They returned to the engine room after breakfast, Auron spoke first.   “We must formulate a new course of action.”   “Let’s go kick his ugly ass.” Buffy suggested, shrugging.   “If we rush this we will fail.” Auron said.   Buffy gave Auron a patented Slayer glare. “Okay then, ‘humphie’ what do you have in mind?” Auron lowered his head. Kimahri stepped forward and spoke.   “Yevon’s teachings.”   “The teachings won’t help us fight Sin.” Yuna interrupted.   “No answer in the teachings, answers lie outside. Must know both sides to find answer.”   “Both sides…” Yuna contemplated this.   “Mika knows much, find him, make him talk.”   “That’s it!” Tidus yelled. “Kimahri, you rock!”   Buffy balled her hands into fists, looking down at them. “Make him talk, you said?”   Spike was surprised, it wasn’t like his slayer to be so intent on violence towards humans- even evil bastards.   Cid was setting co-ordinates on the airship, Wakka and Rikku were talking excitedly, Lulu standing near them, arms crossed.   “Hey guys.” Wakka called out. “I just had a great idea.”   “It was my idea.” Rikku argued. “Let me tell them!”   “It’s like this, ya.” Wakka continued.   “I just thought..” Rikku jumped in front of him.   “The Hymn is the key.” Lulu said.   “The Hymn?” Tidus asked     “Sir Jecht likes the Hymn of the Fayyh, correct?”   “Yeah.” Tidus answered.   “That’s why he was listening to it in Macalania.” Rikku announced, as though having solved a particularly difficult riddle.   “Sin, violence incarnate, listening peacefully.” Lulu mused. “If we attack Sin head on we stand little chance of winning, however if he is weakened by the hymn.”   “Yeah.” Wakka said.   “Yeah, it could really work.” Rikku said.   “But first we get to bash Mika, right?” Buffy asked.   “It would seem the correct course of action, pacifying him alone will not be enough. We need to be able to defeat him.” The dark sorceress purred.   “Okay, so we talk to Mika and then find Sin?” Buffy summed up.   “It is an acceptable plan.” Auron said, walking out of the room.   They all spilt up, walking off to various parts of the ship, Spike followed Buffy as she found a place near the window and stared out.   The scenery beneath them was beautiful, all of it untamed wilderness, forests and fields, dotted with ancient ruins and the occasional settlement.   The ship began to slow and Bevelle came into view, Buffy shuddered, remembering what had happened last time they were there.   Spike noticed. “Buffy, you alright, pet?”   “I’m fine.” Buffy answered.   Spike put his arm around her. “It’s gonna be okay, luv.”   “Yeah, I know.”   “That’s my brave girl.” He pulled her close, she rested her head on him. Suddeny she pulled back, her nose wrinkled.   “What.”   “Your coat smells.”   “It does not.” He looked offended.   “Yes it does.” She answered.   He took it off, sniffing it. It did have an overworn smell to it, he opened his mouth but whatever answer he had was lost as Cid called over the speaker.   “Get your lazy behinds back on deck.”   They landed in the calm lands, near Macalania woods, the walk through the forest, to Bevelle was uneventful and silent, each engrossed in their own thoughts. Kirrel ran around, catching butterflies and plucking berries from bushes, they soon reached the Highbridge.   “Infidel!” The guards at the gate to the temple announced as they approached. They raised their guns, pointing them at Yuna’s party.   “One, two, three..” Buffy began to count the members of their group. “That’s ‘infidels’- plural.”   “You’ll regret showing your face here, we’ll strike you down in the name of Yevon.” They answered, annoyed.   “Blah, blah, blah.” Tidus commented.   “If they want a fight let’s give ‘em one!” Rikku announced.   “Prepare to charge!” One of the guards said.   “Stop!” They heard a female voice call out.   The guards lowered their weapons as Shelinda, the girl Buffy had met in Macalania, ran towards them.   “Captain?” One of the soldiers asked.   “Lady Yuna is not to be harmed.” Shelinda said. “She’s no traitor, that is an evil rumour spread by the Al Behd!”   “What!” Rikku asked angrily.   Spike glowered at the newcomer.   “Maester Mika himself told me.” Shelinda continued.   “Then, what are we to do?” The guard asked.   “Stand down!” Rikku ordered.   “As she says.” Shelinda agreed.   The guards walked back to their post.   “What was that about evil Al Behd?” Rikku asked.   “I… Truly I do not understand it myself.” Shelinda answered. “All Yevon seems to be in a state of confusion. Why, yesterday they called me out of the blue and made me captain of the guard!”   “Short on Believers?” Auron said.   “Yes, the chaos in the temples is worse than I’d imagined.” Shelinda answered. “It’s horrible and all the priests do is blame each other. I worry what will become of Yevon. But no! I must be the rock that stands against the swirling tides, right?” Shelinda looked at Yuna as she said this. “Lady Yuna, I must tell you, your courage has become a great inspiration to me.” Tidus interrupted. “Yeah, that’s great but we came here to see Maester Mika, is he here?”   “Yes, I shall arrange an audience.” Shelinda answered. “Please wait in the courtroom.”   “Hey!” Rikku called after her. “Hey, wait! What was all that about the Al Behd lying and stuff?”   “Simple.” Auron answered, Rikku turned to look at him. “Yuna has become Mika’s only hope.”   “Oh… Okay.” Rikku said.   “Just what does he think he can get away with?” Lulu enquired, one hand on her hip, the other scratching her head.   “Let’s just get this over with, this place gives me the super wiggins.” Buffy said.   “Yes, let’s.” Yuna agreed.     “Why are you here?” Mika asked, standing on the balcony, overlooking the city. “You must go and defeat Sin quickly! You have obtained the Final Aeon from Yunalesca, have you not?”   “Well, we did meet her.” Tidus said.   “We fought and defeated her.” Yuna said.   “What!” Mika turned, shocked.   “Summoners and guardians will be sacrificed for the Final Summoning no more.” Auron said.   “You have profaned and subverted a thousand year old tradition.” He complained.   “Ah, I do that a lot.” Buffy said dismissively.   Mika shook his fist. “Fools, infants, do you realise what you’ve done? You’ve taken away the only means of calming Sin.”   “Hey, maybe that’s not the only way, we think we’ve got another.” Tidus said.   “Why… Preposterous, there is no other way!”   “The grand Maester running away?” Auron asked.   “Spira has lost its’ only hope, destruction is inevitable. Yu Yevon’s spiral of death will consume us all. I have no desire to watch Spira die.”   “It won’t die.” Yuna answered.   “Who is this Yu Yevon guy?” Tidus asked.   “Lady Yunalesca also mentioned him.” Lulu said.   “Wait, gramps, who’s Yu Yevon!” Rikku asked.   “He who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armour. An armour called Sin. Clad in it Yu Yevon is invincible. And the only thing that could have pierced that armour you have destroyed! Nothing can stop it now.” He raised his arms in the air, beginning to glow, pyreflies floated upwards as he faded away.   “Disappear on us will ya? Rotten son of a shoopuf!” Wakka said.   “That was unexpected.” Spike said, surprised, Buffy put her arm around his waist.   “Well I didn’t expect for us to be attacked by a dead hooker with silicon implants and a g-string bikini. Life’s full of surprises.”   He looked down at her, then grinned. “Have I told you that I love you, slayer?”   “Maybe once, better tell me again in case I forget.” Buffy answered.   “A thousand times.” Spike said, his voice filled with passion.   Shelinda ran towards them. “Where, where is the grand Maester?”   “He, um…” Yuna began.   “He’s not here yet. How long must we wait?” Auron said.   “That’s odd, I’ll go look for His Grace.”   “I think he left his grace in his underwear drawer, with his looks and his brain.” Buffy said dryly under her breath, to her surprise Kimahri’s blue muzzle pulled into a reluctant smile.   A flicker of colour in the air nearby caught Buffy’s attention. A figure she recognised floated in the air.   “It’s you.” Tidus said to Bahamut’s Fayth.   “Come, to my room.” The Fayth answered.   “Okay.” Yuna said.   Wakka, Lulu, Auron and Rikku turned to look at them. “Who you talking to?” Wakka asked.   “Oh, uh, no-one.” Tudus answered.   “I must go see the Fayth.” Yuna told Auron.   “I see.” Was his only response.   They waited, impatiently outside the chamber of the Fayth for Yuna and Tidus to return.   Tidus came down the stairs, turning back towards the chamber to where Yuna came walking out.   “I..” They turned, seeing Shelinda run in. “I’m afraid the Grand Maester is nowhere to be found!”   “S’okay we were just leaving.” Tidus said.   “Oh… I see.” She looked downcast.   “Hey!” Rikku announced. “Maybe you could help us, with the Hymn.”   “Hey, good idea!” Tidus said.   Rikku continued. “It’s like, we need you to tell as many people as you can.”   “What should I tell them?” Shelinda asked.   “A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth. When they hear it we need everyone to sing along!”   “Everyone in Spira.” Wakka said.   “I’m not sure I understand.” Shelinda held her head in one hand, puzzled.   “You don’t have to, just tell everyone.” Rikku ordered her.   “A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth? So.. when they hear it, everyone should sing along, correct?”   “If they do we might be able to defeat Sin!” Tidus answered.   “Truly?”   “Yes!” Yuna answered.   “That’s wonderful, you can count on me, I shall tell all of Spira!”   When she left Buffy turned to the others. “No offence, but, there’s only one of her, how many people is she supposed to be able to tell, and how many are going to listen to her.”   Auron ‘humphed’ a wry grin on his face.   “She is very… insistent.” Lulu said.   “And persistent, also.” Auron added.   They left Bevelle, heading back to the airship, Tidus and Yuna insisted that they had all that they needed to defeat Sin. They flew the ship to an inn, near what Buffy was told was the ‘Mi’ihen highroad.”   Buffy recognised the place from the sphere Yuna had dropped, it was afternoon and they gave all of their clothing- including, much to his dismay, Spikes Coat- into the care of the receptionist. As they were so close to the sea Buffy bought herself a black, high-cut string bikini and sheer sarong in sapphire blue. To her surprise, as she sat on the warm sand looking out over the sea, Spike walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist, taking it off to reveal his absence of clothing and diving into the water. To her horror she felt a her cheeks warm and redden at the sight, luckily the vampire was underwater at the time, she giggled softly to herself, laying her sarong gently on the sand and jumped in after him.   The sun glided across the sky, falling behind the distant ruins in the sea and Buffy found herself, on the starlit beach, lying sleepily on Spike’s chest. She heard the door to the inn open, she turned around, curiously and saw the figures of Tidus and Yuna slipping off into the darkness, she smiled warmly, if the world could remain this way forever it would be perfect. She snuggled contentedly back into Spike’s bare chest and didn’t even feel him pick her up and carry her back into the darkened inn. Chapter 22   “Okay, I’ve done some insane things in my time, but this is nuts.” Buffy pointed out.   “I… It will work. It must work.” Yuna said.   “Yeah, no problem.” Tidus enthused.   “Kinda gives meaning to ‘into the belly of the beast’, right luv?” Spike grinned.   “Yeah, let’s just hope we get out of its belly afterwards.” Buffy said darkly.   Buffy wore her Sunnydale clothing, the purple top, leather pants and string belt. She also wore a long, black coat of a very light material which flowed in the breeze. Apparently jackets weren’t the fashion here. She packed her jacket, along with the other clothes she had with her, into a bag, boarding the airship and placing the bag with everyone else’s belongings. She then left the airship and sat by the road. She cleaned and sharpened her sword and performed some practise shots with the crossbow she had just bought. It was surprising how much Gil fiends carried around with them and Buffy was regularly given donations by the people they met. As such Buffy had a small stash of Gil with her and she’d blown most of it that morning on the crossbow.   “Buffy.” Buffy turned, Lulu stood behind her.   “Uh, yes?”   “May I?” Lulu motioned to the crossbow.   “Sure.” Buffy handed the weapon over to the black mage.   “If you wish I can teach you to enchant the weapon.” Lulu said.   “How.” “Here.” Lulu showed Buffy some of the small gems. She placed them on the crossbow, they flashed with light, adhering to it. “You need only to focus, the way you did on the Calm Lands and you can call the elements to your aid.”   “Um, thankyou.” Buffy looked down at her weapon, firing off a couple of electrically charged shots.   “Very good, you have an aptitude for magic as well as combat, if you would apply yourself you could be very good at it.”   “Uh, thanks.”   “Everyone, boarding the ship!” Rikku announced, running down the ramp and waving her arms energetically.   Buffy boarded the ship, Spike began talking with some of the Al Behd so she walked off through some of the halls. To her surprise she heard a muffled sniffling coming from behind one of the doors. She opened it a crack, peeking in. She muffled a gasp as she saw Tidus, sitting on a couch, his hands clasped together and his face taught with holding back emotion. She frowned severely, Tidus didn’t have any negative emotions she knew of, what could it be..? She leant on the door too hard and it opened, Tidus looked up in surprise. “I was.. looking for you.” She lied.   Tidus ran his hand through his dishevelled hair. “Yeah?”   “No, I heard you and came to see what’s wrong.” Buffy conceded.   “Oh.” He looked down. “Uh, nothing.”   “What is it?”   “It’s… ah, I don’t really wanna talk about it.”   “Okay.” Buffy said. “But… If you go into battle with this and screw up, it will be your fault.”   “I…”   Buffy waited, trying to look patient.   “When we face Sin, when we kill him, when that happens… I’ll die too.”   “Okay, I’m officially confused.”   “Sin… Sin calls on the Fayth, he makes them dream.”   “Yeah.” Buffy said, prodding him to continue.   “What they dream… It’s more like a summoning… They dream of Zanarkand, my Zanarkand, before it was destroyed by Sin. They dream of it and it sorta becomes real. Well… I’m one of their dreams.”   Buffy’s eyes widened, disbelieving. “What?”   “The Fayth dreamed me into being, they… summoned me kinda. And when, when we kill Sin they will stop dreaming, stop summoning and I… I will fade.”   Buffy had little to say to this. “Tidus… I’m sorry.”   “It’s not a big deal. I just wish… I wish Yuna and I had more time together, you know?”   Tears sprung to Buffy’s eyes and she blinked to banish them. “Well, we’ll tell the others, we can stop this, they don’t need to kill Sin. I… We don’t have to.”   Tidus grabbed her arm. “No, you can’t tell anyone.” ”What, why?”   “Yuna… All of Spira, they need Sin gone, I- I have seen what Sin can do and I can’t let that happen. We have to kill Sin!”   “Okay.” Buffy said, reluctantly.   “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”   “I promise.” Buffy said, solemnly.   They heard footsteps coming up the hall. Spike poked his head in through the door. “Is this a private matter?”   “Nah, he’s having pre-battle jitters.” Buffy said, slapping the boy on the back. “I had to give him the pep talk thing.”   “Ah, well, we’re kinda ready to go. You’ll wanna come to the bridge for this.”   Buffy followed Spike to the bridge. Cid was standing by the control panel, a demented looking grin on his face.   “The final showdown with Sin! I say let’s get this show on the road!” He announced.   He set the coordinates for where Sin was supposed to be, stepping back from the panel and turning to the group. “Well, this is it, eh?”   “Yu Yevon’s hiding somewhere inside Sin, and we’re gonna find him.” Tidus said, confidently.   “Well that sounds pretty simple.” Cid said doubtfully.   Tidus laughed at the man. “Simple is the way you like it, right?”   “You got that right!” Cid agreed.   Rikku sat at a control, she turned around. “Pops, I’m countin’ on ya!”   “Right, got you covered.” He answered, walking over to a computer on the wall.   He pressed some buttons and the hymn of the Fayth came forth from the ship’s loudspeakers. It vibrated throughout the ship and Yuna held her hand up to her chest, a dreamy look on her face.   “How’s that?” Cid asked.   “Right on!” Rikku answered.   “A singing ship in the sky…” Lulu mused.   “I hope everyone got the message.” Wakka said, worried.   Suddenly Brother called out. “Sin!”   “Alright we’re going in!” Tidus exclaimed.   “How we gonna get inside?” Wakka asked.   “The easy way, how else.” Tidus answered.   “Figures.” Rikku said.   “Well, let’s go.” Lulu told them.   As they ran from the room Cid called after them. “Hey, how d’ya plan on getting inside.” Tidus turned. “If we can’t get in through the mouth, we’ll rip open a new one, you with me?”   Cid gave a demented cowboy laugh. “Now that’s what I call a plan!”   Buffy lost the rest of their conversation as she followed the others up onto the deck, moments later Tidus joined them, they were approaching Sin, its slug like body was clearly visible, looming in front of them.   “I can hear the song!” Rikku proclaimed.”   Buffy listened, the Airship’s speakers had stopped and from far below she could hear it, the notes of the Hymn wafting up to them.   “Yes, I can hear the Hymn too.” Lulu said.   “They listened to us!” Tidus said triumphantly. “We won’t let them down.” He turned to Yuna, pulling the blue sphere out of his pocket. “Yuna, you don’t need this anymore, right?”   Yuna gasped, making strange inaudible noises.   “Right?” Tidus asked again.   Yuna nodded and he threw the sphere off the edge of the airship. The ship rumbled, throwing them off balance.   “Hey, guys? Guys? That’s not good, ya?”   Sin summoned a glowing ball around him, the ship seemed to be drawn towards him almost as though he had created a gravitational well. Everyone on the airship fell to their knees as the rumbling increased. Suddenly Sin shot the energy from around himself in various directions, creating enormous holes in the earth, the sea and rent the sky. They pulled themselves, unsteadily to their feet, looking around.   Buffy stared at the sky, it was like something from a nightmare, she knew what she was seeing couldn’t be real. It was as though someone had carved a perfect circle out of the sky and the earth. The clouds still floated in the sky with an enormous semi circle carved out of them, the trees, ground and even the sea were carved in the same manner, an enormous hole was missing from the world, like a tunnel and Buffy could look through the tunnel far off into the distance. Rikku made sounds of astonishment, which suddenly turned to sounds of despair. The waves which had been parted in a ‘Prince of Egypt’ way were suddenly falling in on themselves causing and enormous wall of water to race along the tunnel Sin had created, coming directly towards the airship. The earth itself began to collapse and the wall of water was joined by flying rocks and fiery debris.   They raced towards the door which lead back inside the ship, hoping to take cover near it, Spike grabbed Buffy, throwing himself protectively over her, his coat flying around her like wings in the hot breeze. The airship was pelted with rocks, some the size of basketballs. What had once been the branch of a pine tree flew through the air, impaling the wall three feet to the right of Spike, Buffy stared at it, eyes wide and tried not to imagine what would have happened had that hit her vampire.   The rumbling stopped and the apprehensive party stood up on wobbling legs. They came face to face with Sin. “Damn you old man.” Tidus said, true hatred in his voice.   “Hey, I saw something shine at the base of Sin’s arm!” Cid called over the speakers. “I reckon it’s a weak spot.”   “That or the remains of the last dragon slayer.” Buffy said fatalistically.   Brother said something in a panicked voice over the speaker.   “Translation?” Buffy asked.   “We’re being pulled by Sin.” Spike answered.   “Everyone, back inside!” Cid ordered.   “Duu myda! Ed lusac!” Brother yelled.   Buffy fired off enchanted crossbow bolts into the putrid grey flesh, Lulu threw bolts of lightning while Rikku hurled explosives. Spike pulled a gun from under his coat and Buffy was vaguely aware that a giant bird took to the air, raking Sin’s underarm with its claws. Wakka hurled his large, spiked ball at it while Kimahri used the gems to hurl firebolts at it. Tidus and Auron looked aggravated, incapable of landing a blow at this distance, to Buffy’s surprise pieces of him peeled off each time they hit him, falling towards the ground and slowly eating away at the arm joint. Cid called out. “Here goes! Everyone, hold onto something!”   Sin was apparently too worn out to fight back after his Moses impression, Cid aimed the ship’s missiles, firing them at the arm. As the people on deck watched the arm detached itself from the body, falling down towards the ground, Buffy hoped there was no-one beneath them.   “Alright!” Cid called out. “Everyone look sharp, time to hit the other side!” The ship lurched into action, flying beneath Sin and emerging over the other side with a clear shot of his arm, as they attacked it tried to turn, reminding Buffy of a beached whale. Its clumsy efforts to evade their attack were futile and the second arm began to plummet towards the ground.   “Yeehaw, where next!” Cid called.   “Ed ec ujan.” Brother said.   “Fryd? Fa ryja uhmo pakih!” Cid answered.   “What are they saying?” Buffy asked. Spike listened to Brothers answer.   “The guns are overheated, they can’t fire on him any more.”   “Dang it! All right, back inside, time for another plan!” Cid called.   “No, we’re going in!” Tidus called back. “Every blitzer knows, when you got the ball, you gotta score!”   “I wonder if Sir Jecht is in pain.” Yuna said.   “Let’s just get this over with, the fayth said they’d help us, right?” Tidus said.   “It bothers me, the way they said that.” Yuna answered. “I mean they’ve been fighting alongside us this whole time but now they say they’ll help?”   “I guess so.” Tidus said.   “Wait!” Yuna called out. “Sin is reborn when Yu Yevon merges with an aeon, isn’t that right?”   Buffy hadn’t heard about this and so said nothing.   Tidus nodded. “If I summon an Aeon.” Yuna continued. “Yu Yevon will join with it. But at first it will be small, won’t it?”   “Yeah…” Tidus nodded again. “Then we might be able to defeat it without the final summoning.”   “I don’t know, what if Yu Yevon jumps again?”   “Then we’ll take it down again!” Tidus said.   “We’ll fight him ‘till there’s no place left to run!”   “I never thought it would come down to this.”   “Yeah, I know. Hey, the Fayth, they’re tired of this whole thing too. Let’s let them rest.”   Buffy threw Tidus a look which he pointedly ignored.   “The Fayth said.” Yuna began. “It’s pointless to keep dreaming. The dream will disappear, he said. What did he mean? And, what is it that Yu Yevon is summoning from within Sin?”   “The dream of the Fayth.” Tidus answered.   “You won’t… Go away, will you?” Yuna asked. Buffy’s eyebrows shot up.    “Hey, something’s happening to Sin!” Rikku suddenly called out.   Sin seemed to collapse downwards, the airship followed, as they broke through the clouds they saw Sin hovering above the highest tower in Bevelle, giant shining wings came from its back.   “Let’s go!” Tidus yelled.   “Okay, take us up flush to the mouth!” Cid yelled at Brother. “No mistakes or I’ll tear out that mop you call hair.”   Buffy shuddered, she much preferred the ‘no mistakes or I’ll cut your allowance’ threat.   Kimahri walked over to Buffy, placing a large paw on her shoulder. “Slayer Buffy. You worry.”   “Uh, no. I don’t think so.” Buffy looked confused.   “When you fight, evil come back?”   “Oh, that.. yeah, it kinda sucks.”   “No worry.” Kimahri told her, shaking his head solemnly. “Stand against evil. Already won.”   He gave her a very solemn look and walked over to the edge of the ship as they came, once again, face to face with Sin.   As Sin pulled them closer and closer they rained upon him blow after blow, slowly his mouth opened and as the ship lurched violently from side to side they were sucked into its gaping mouth.   When Buffy’s eyes adjusted to the dim light she looked around. She had been half expecting a Pinocchio type situation, trapped inside his stomach but instead the airship was landing on solid, misty ground.   The ground was crisscrossed by paths, all heading in the same general direction, they began to follow one of them.   The mist soon gave way to higher ground, they rounded a corner and gasped. There in front of them was what appeared to be a crystal statue of Seymour, dressed like a fairy.   “Lady Yuna, we meet again.” He said.   “Shut up, Seymour.” Buffy called. “We’re so gonna kick your ugly ass to death, so just..”   “You do not understand, no mere mortal can defeat me.” He said smugly.   “That so?” Spike asked, leaping over his crystal head he then jumped up and wrapped his arms around Seymour’s throat. “Sorry you big poofter, I aint mortal. Yuna, send him!” He called out. Yuna nodded, stepping forward.   Seymour opened his mouth to say something and Spike stuck his thumbs in the Maester’s eyes. In the middle of considering how disgusting this was he found himself sprawled on the ground. Seymour was gone- for good.   “Way to go, Spike!” Tidus called.   “Yeah!” Rikku pumped her fist in the air, dancing on the spot.   They continued to walk for what seemed like forever, eventually ending up in what appeared to be Macalania Woods. Rikku saw a crystal on the ground.   “Oooh.” She went to pick it up but as she touched it they were all pulled upwards, landing on a round platform. At the other end of the platform a man stood with his back to them, though Buffy would recognise that back anywhere, crisscrossed with deep scars.   “You’re late, Auron.” The figure said.   “I know.” Auron answered.   He turned around and waved to Tidus. “Hey.” ”Hi.” Tidus said.   “Hah! You got tall but you’re all bones!” Jecht laughed. “You eating right, boy?” He lowered his head to eye level with Tidus. “You’ve really grown.” “Yeah, but you’re still bigger.” Tidus pointed out.   “Well, I am Sin, you know.”   “That’s, not funny!” Tidus said angrily.   Jecht laughed as though he thought it was. “Well, then… I mean… You know.” He began rubbing his neck as though it was sore. “Let’s end this.”   “Dad.” Tidus said.   “Yeah?” Jecht asked.   “I hate you!” Tidus said fiercely.   Jecht gave a small, dry laugh. “I know, I know. You know what you have to do.”   Tidus looked up. “Yeah.”   “I.. I can’t hear the Hymn so well anymore.” Jecht pointed out. “Pretty soon I’m gonna be Sin, completely. I’m glad you’re here now. One thing though… When it starts I won’t be myself anymore. I won’t be able to hold myself back. I’m sorry.”   “That’s enough!” Tidus yelled. “Let’s finish this, okay?”   Jecht crossed his arms. “You’re right.”   He turned, walking slowly away. He suddenly turned back to them, crossing his arms in front of his chest, a white light formed in his hands and he raised them above his head, the light flashed out of his chest and he began to walk backwards off the platform, Tidus suddenly broke off, running towards him, Buffy crash tackled him to the ground. “What are you doing you idiot!” She demanded.   “I..” As he said this a light flashed below, lighting up Zanarkand, a giant ‘J’, Jecht’s symbol appeared above the city, composed of floating rocks and burning fiercely. A giant hand grabbed the edge where Jecht had fallen off, pulling a monstrous creature into the air. It was vaguely humanoid in shape with clawed hands, feathers, scales and coarse hair. A giant J was emblazoned on its chest where Jecht had his ‘J’ tattoo. It lashed out with claws, fiery attacks and laser beams.   They attacked back just as fiercely and, suddenly, he roared. The ‘J’ floating behind him burst into even more flames as a light poured from the Aeon/Jecht’s chest. To Buffy’s horror he pulled an immense sword from his own chest, ready to cut them all down at once. He swung the sword and they leapt or ducked, only Kimahri was wounded, his stomach slashed open as he tried to jump backwards.   “Kimahri!” Yuna raced over to heal him.   Buffy felt something go through her, something both strange and familiar. Spike, Lulu and Kimahri fell to the floor as their power became one with Buffy. This time Buffy accepted, almost welcomed the alien power that filled her body, Lulu’s black magic crackled around her. Deep within she felt a pool of strength so deep and powerful whilst still warm and caring- she knew that strength, that poetry could belong to only one person.   She walked calmly up to Jecht, her slayer abilities mixed with the sheer power of Kimahri launched her through the air, she planted her foot into Jecht’s head, snapping it around backwards even though it was the same size as her. She then took a floating step from his shoulder down to his arm where she calmly broke it in half, the sword falling onto the platform below and imbedding deeply into it.   She leapt again, gathered her strength, and smashed her hand through Jecht’s stone hard ribcage, ripping out the pulsating light within. The crystal-like heart seemed to shatter, dissolving into the air as the giant Aeon dissolved into pyreflies, The motionless form of Jecht falling to the ground.   “Dad!” Tidus ran over to him, if Buffy wasn’t falling over from sudden fatigue she would have been surprised as Jecht moved.   “You’re gonna cry, you always cry, see you’re crying.” He said.   “I hate you dad!” Tidus sniffed.   “Save it for later.” Jecht said.   “Right we’ve got a job to do, don’t we?”   Buffy slowly pulled herself to her feet, head throbbing and spinning.   “Good, that’s right, you are my son after all.” Jecht told Tidus.   “You now for the first time I’m glad, to have you as my... Father.”   “Heh.” Jecht said.   “Sir Jecht, I should…” Yuna began.   “No, Yuna, there’s no time! Yuna, you know what to do! The aeons!”   Before them Bahamut’s Fayth appeared. “We Aeons.” He echoed.   “Call them!”   “Call us!”   “Yes.” Yuna said as Jecht fell to the floor, disappearing into a column of pyreflies.”   “Here it comes!” Lulu called.   Here what comes? Buffy thought to herself. She looked up, a small black and red, glowing shape flew downwards, hitting the hilt of the sword and causing a blinding flash of light.   They all found themselves lying on the ground, all around them, metallic and echoing the Hymn of the Fayth could be heard.   They held their hands over their ears, trying to diminish the brain numbing noise, Tidus leapt to his feet. “Yuna!” He called over the racket. Yuna nodded and a second later an immense rumbling could be heard as the Aeon, Bahamut, flew down through the sky, landing on the ground. As he did so the black and red shape flew down, sinking into him and taking control of his body. Either side of him floated two pillars, made up of various blocks, rotating madly.   Bahamut roared in anger. “Kill me!” He called, struggling within himself to hold back. The battle was short and fierce, as he dissolved Yuna’s face was fraught with sorrow and pain. Buffy had never considered how close to these incredible creatures the summoners really were.   Yuna bit her lip, summoning Shiva, the beautiful ice goddess lasted about as long as Bahamut. Shiva was followed by Ixion, the silvery unicorn, crackling with electricity, Ifrit, the fire demon and finally Valefor, the gentle bird, warped and twisted, taken over by Yu Yevon.   Buffy had burns, frostbite, bad hair- due to the electrical charge thrown at her by Ixion- as well as slashes, cuts and bruises. She realised that she wasn’t the only one. Everyone was wounded in some way or another, Yuna tried desperately to heal everyone as Valefor lay, dying, on the ground.   The red and black Yu Yevon rose into the air, instead of waiting for another Aeon to be called it span around   And this was when Buffy got the largest surprise she’d had since arriving in Spira. “A tick? The fierce, evil, rampaging monster that has ravaged your lands for over a thousand years is an overgrown tick!”   It really was a tick, everyone stood there in silence, regarding it sceptically. Tidus took this opportunity to talk. “Everyone this is the last time we fight together okay? What I’m trying to say is after we beat Yu Yevon I’ll disappear.”   “What are you talking about?” Lulu asked as though he’d gone insane.   “I'm saying goodbye.” Tidus said.   “Not now!” Rikku pleaded.   “I know it’s selfish but this is my story!” Tidus exclaimed.   “I still don’t get that kid.” Buffy told Spike.   Without his ‘armour’ Yu Yevon was incredibly weak. They hit him a few times with various weapons and spells before he began to shimmer. Buffy expected him to turn into something big and hairy but instead he floated upwards, the pillars either side of him stopped spinning then came crashing together.   There was an immense flash of light and they felt themselves falling, they fell for what seemed like forever, Buffy was sure they were going to hit the ground and die but she felt a pulling as though she were in an elevator which was slowing down. The misty ground became visible beneath their feet and they landed very lightly not far from the airship.   The airship took off as the group raced through the ship to get back up on deck. As the airship burst from Sin they came out onto the deck.   A sky, filled with stars, shone overhead, the air was crisp and pure if a little thin, a faint light lit up everything as Yuna began to perform what would become known as the Last Sending.   It wasn’t the last Sending that would ever be performed but it was the last time she would be sending the souls of those who had died because of Sin. It was the ultimate Sending, the sending that would end Sendings. The Sending of Sin.   All over Spira, deep within the temples in the Chamber of the Fayth, the round resting places of the Fayth were changing as the Fayth themselves were sent the elaborate coffins which housed them lost all colour, becoming nothing more than grey stone carvings. Now the Fayth would sing no more.   High on the airship, battered by the cold winds, the fierce battles and her own emotions Buffy clung to Spike.   Yuna danced, spinning and twirling, each movement coaxing the dead on to the next world, she span back towards the group and stopped, a surprised look on her face.   Behind the group Auron stood there, pyreflies dancing off him.   “Don’t stop.” He ordered.   “But I…”   “It’s all right.” He said, walking through the group, he stopped next to Kimahri, thumping him on the chest. He then walked past them all. “It’s been long enough.”   He put his sword over his shoulder, turning to the group. “This is your world now.”   With that he dissolved, the pyreflies floating upwards.   Yuna continued her dance, in the sky around her the Aeons floated upwards. Suddenly Sin exploded into Pyrelfies, lighting up the sky like daytime, the glow subsided until everything was bathed in a soft, golden light.   Far up on the peaks of Mount Gagazet the pillar of blue water began to collapse, in each of the tiniest drops were faces, as the water sparkled out of existence so too did the faces.   Tidus looked down at his hands, through them he could see the deck. The final sorrow hit him and he knew, he turned to where Yuna was completing her Sending. She was beautiful, her dark hair shone in the golden light, with every movement she made he fell in love with her a little more and it ripped his heart out that now, after all this, he had to leave her. But he knew he had to be strong. He hadn’t always been good, honest, faithful or brave, he hadn’t always been able to swing a sword or catch a ball, these things didn’t matter anymore though, all these things he left behind. Now he had to be strong, for Yuna.   She turned, staring in shock at Tidus, through Tidus. She shook here head hard, hair falling messily and the long earring she wore pulling on her earlobe. “No.” If she denied it, maybe it would go away.   No matter how he tried Tidus looked pained. “Yuna I have to go.”   Yuna shook her head again.   “I’m sorry I couldn’t show you Zanarkand. Goodbye.”   Rikku couldn’t bear it anymore. “Were gonna see you again?” she called out, maybe she was too young, she didn’t understand it. After everything was finally perfect, Yunie was safe and very much in love, sin was dead, why was he leaving them, how?   Tidus walked past them, towards the edge of the ship.   “Yuna!” Kimahri called out as she ran towards Tidus, arms outstretched, as she ran through him, landing face down on the deck.   He looked around, the pyrelfies floated upwards, each one calling to him, he knew he couldn’t stay here, he wouldn’t fade away in front of his friends. Yuna got to her feet, her back was still to him.   “I love you.” She said in a voice barely more audible than a whisper. He turned, his heart filled beyond bursting point, he walked over to her, placing his arms around her, her hair blowing into his face, he then took a step forward, walking through her, he stopped, one last time before running and jumping off the deck.   Somewhere, with Braska and Auron, his father waited for him. CHAPTER 23    “The.. the, pillock.” The expletive falling from Giles mouth without thought.   “You found him?” Willow asked.   “Here.” Giles showed her a map. “He’s been here in Sunnydale the entire time.”   “So, why are we still here, we find him, hit him and make him bring Buffy back.” Xander said, grabbing a jacket.   “Well, we should… I mean, Buffy… back here. We need her.” Willow said.   “Yes, yes, well, let’s not rush off too quickly.” Giles said. “Ethan is a very powerful sorcerer, one simply does not just walk in and say…”   “Ripper?” A surprised voice came from the Summers’ door. “I thought you would have gone back to England by now… I mean..”   “Get him.” Xander said, they raced to the door as he turned to run, he tripped over several of his demon minions who scattered, leaving him sprawled on the grass.     “Ripper, Rupert old pal, maybe we should think this through… Ow!” He yelled as Xander maliciously tightened the ropes.   “I mean this kind of spell could go horribly wrong, you don’t want the young lass trapped in a demon dimension for eternity.”   “You listen to me you bloody git, you’re going to bring her back and you’re going to do it now!”   “Alright, alright, you couldn’t.. loosen the ropes, could you?”   Giles glowered at him and he flinched, beginning to intone. “I call Arkhon..”   …………   Buffy and spike stood near the pier, not far from the Blitzball stadium in the large and colourful city of Luca. The entire town was done up with ribbons, balloons and entertainers, all of Spira was celebrating.   Buffy smiled at Spike, he was dressed in loose fitting, black pants similar to those Auron wore, a heavy black silk top, shot through with silver threads like pyreflies against the night sky. It was fitted to his shape, with a high collar and buttons down the front, stopping half way down the shirt. His coat was safe aboard the airship, he had locked it in small box to protect it from any unfortunate mishaps. He was guarding it closely, he wasn’t going to be the one spending eternity in this place without his coat.   Far off, at the edge of the pier stood Yuna. As they watched she put her fingers in her mouth again, letting out a piercing whistle over the empty sea, her only answer was the cry of gulls. Buffy watched the girl, she had asked Lulu before about the whistling. Was it a Spiran tradition? Lulu had been as clueless as Buffy and they could only watch as she stood, whistling over the sea.   Lulu walked up to them. “She is still..?”   Buffy nodded. “I wish… I wish we could give her more time. Do you want me to..?”   “No, I shall do this.” Lulu walked up the pier to where the summoner stood.   “Yuna, it’s time…”   Yuna turned, giving one last glance at the sea as if it were to suddenly deliver to her the one thing she wanted most. She then turned, resigned, and followed Lulu back to where Buffy and Spike waited.   The walk to the Blitzball stadium was conducted in silence. The streets were surprisingly empty, whereas earlier they had been impossible to walk through, as full as they were with people.   They emerged high up in a balcony seat, near the top of the stadium. Kimahri stood far to the right, with Rikku next to him then Wakka, Lulu, Buffy and Spike.   Buffy looked like a native. Her white dress was halter necked, coming down the front like Yuna’s shirt, it crossed over in the front and the skirt hung underneath that, long, white and flowing with a slit up to her hip. Around her waist she wore a thick, electric blue belt and in her right ear was a long earring like Yuna’s, blue stone beads and a tassel. The earring was surprisingly light. She wore a necklace of blue and silver beads and attached to the back of her dress, from the neck were flowing pieces of gauzy white material which attached to small, silver bangles around her wrists, hanging down and looking like butterfly wings when she moved. Rikku had told her she looked like an angel and Spike had been all too ready to agree.   Yuna stood, alone, near the edge of the balcony while thousands of people looked expectantly at her. Buffy couldn’t imagine being in that position, the whole world was literally watching her.   “Everyone.” The crowd silenced as Yuna spoke. “Everyone here has lost something precious. Everyone here has lost homes, dreams and friends. Everybody, now Sin is finally dead, now Spira is ours again.”   This statement was met by wild cheering and applause, when it died down Yuna continued.   “Now, working together we can make new homes for ourselves, and new dreams. Although I know the journey will be hard we have lots of time, together we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, let us start out today.”   The crowd, touched by her words and inspired by her strength gave a quiet applause. Buffy squeezed Spike’s hand and he smiled gently down at her.   “Just one more thing; the people and friends we have lost…”   She lowered her head for a moment before saying quietly; “and the dreams that have faded.” She blinked, memories flooding back to her.   “Never forget them.”   The crowd cheered again, some threw confetti, some embraced each other. Buffy looked up at Spike, whether she was caught up in the moment or the sapphire depths of his eyes drew her in she found herself drawn to him. They kissed, long and hard, their eyes closed and they became aware of only each other as everything else melted into insignificance.   They finally broke from the kiss, looking up at where Giles, Willow, Anya, Xander, Tara and Dawn stared at them, their shocked faces, chalk white.   THE END Read the sequel 'Revolution of Tranquility'