Rikku lover's site

Announcements

WE GOT A BACKGROUND!

thanks to Jaryd Towlson on MySpace and Thomas' MySpace Editor V6! also, now comcast dosn't suck, 'cuz it can TSBD text files and crap. so, YAY!

also, thanks to cursors4-u.com for the awesome sexy-cute Rikku cursor!

This site is made by Matt Tavares and W.C. Stacy to show out love for Rikku. but because Matt is amish at this point in time until he goes to Vegas on the vacay coming soon ^^ well, anyway, the importaint thing is Rikku is VERY importaint in our lives and this site. E MUJA OUI, RIKKU! AJAH MATT!


for a few weeks, this will be the site where I'll have my Fanfic posted, it's still in progress, so enjoy!


1. PART ONE:
DELORS MEET GULLWINGS

There are some things in life we took for granted.
I took life.
I may have been unwise, but I created a portal....
....into a world of wonder.
....a giant fantasy.

I was working for the Delors, a group of highly governmental people, trying to put order into our world.
They gave up, and tried to take over another one.
....with this, I created a portal, to another dimension, even though the Protectors of the Way told us not to, Leader and I led a force into the world we found, to colonize it....
After contemplating, we decided to go into this world as a new group of people, different from the others....
....always ready to take it over....
From the people we came across we saw all different customs, beliefs, and inventions, and adapted some of the things we saw into our lives.
But our goal was to take over the world we fell in love with....
....and so I escaped the Delors, for hope to save this world from annexation....

So I brought my friend Matt over from the Current, so he could help me save this world of which we new so little about....


And, I found the love of my life the day I almost lost it....


11:37 PM 5/21/4146 CURRENT TO PLANE TIME, WITHIN 15 KILOMETRES OF BESAID ISLAND, TRAVELLING ON DELORS ATLAS-SERIES AIRSHIP ENDEVOUR

I had just located Matt, and he came with me through the portal willingly. Matt is a skilled Stealth assassin, with little weakness. He was a good friend and colleague to me the whole duration of our lives, but something made him turn against me.

As soon as we got through the portal, he began twitching and muttering words, but I could not understand him. He suddenly jumped on me and started wrestling the controls out of my hands! An atlas airship doesn’t have autopilot, and is totally dependant of its pilot to give it accurate information. I was fighting off a stealth with Tourette’s syndrome, so I had no control and plunged Endevour into the sea!

I woke up, looking around. Matt, I, and a couple pieces of Endevour were washed up on a beach.... Besaid, I thought to myself. It was morning, about 8:00 AM.

Unluckily for me, Matt also came to. He must have been bitten by something or maybe the trip through the portal messed him up, I don't know what, but he was still spazing out. I walked up to see if he was alright. Bad idea.

He came to, looked at me with a temper red eyed stare, and screamed "YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ME?"

"wha-" he struck at me with his sword, and missed.
I ran for my life. Against a stealth I'm lifeless, I thought to myself.
"Well, I guess I have nothing to lose!" I said to myself, not knowing that one girl would change this thought I had.

I ran off to find a weapon. All I had with me were a sharp edge crystal and a sphere Protector Munt gave me before my quest. I needed a two handed weapon, like a sword, or -
"A rod!" I spotted a heavy iron rod from the wreckage of my once beautiful Endevour, but I needed this rod to protect me from death. I ran back to the Stealth, ready to knock some sense into him.

And so I fought my best since the Delors were destroying the Alchemy Unionists, but I still didn't stand a chance of incapacitating Matt from striking at me again. I had to block is sword strikes one.... by.... one....

Then, a lively voice called out. "Hey, what're you two doing over here????"
I searched around me for the source of this voice, and found it: a beautiful young girl, Al Bhed I assumed, with flowing, beautiful blonde hair, and big, dazzling green eyes that had mystifying swirls in them. I had thought that there was not such thing as love at first sight. But, I was wrong. I stared at her....
WHAM! Matt took my rod and slammed me, almost breaking my left arm and ribs! “Uhhh, OW?” She ran over to us, took the staff out of my grip, smacked Matt on the back of the head with it, and he was out cold.
"Hey, thanks! He was really trying to kil-"
But she slammed me on the head with the rod. All I remember was looking into those beautiful, green eyes....


"....they will wake up soon, what should we do with them?"
"I donno, they were really going at it. Maybe we can have them on our sphere hunting team?"
"No, they'll be trying to kill each other over some chocobo feathers or maybe you, Rikku."
"I think they are friendly, though. They both have the same pendant, this globe...."
“It’s a Delor globe, Rikku. Can we really trust them?”
“Paine, if you really are that mad that this delayed your trip to Besaid, I can bring you tonight. But we need to figure out where they came from….”


4:00 PM, 5/23/4146, AL BHED AIRSHIP CELCIUS, TRAVELLING OVER OCEAN ON UNMARKED LOCATION.

I wake up.... in an airship cabin. Did I have a dream? Was the Endevour still intac-
"Aaaahhhh.... I shee the newcomer hash awakendshed, hmmmmm?"

Wha- who-.... A HYPELLO???? WHERE AM I????
"Where....?" I stammered.... I was at a lack of words.... or clean words, for that matter, to say to the hypello. Hypello are creepy....
"Yesh? Can I get you shome breakfasht?"
"No. first tell me where I can meet the captain of this airship, I would like to speak to them personally."
"Aaaahhhhh..... hesh in the biiiidge!"

I went into the elevator module. It was here where I found one of the first differences in models between this and the Atlas-series. Atlases have no elevator modules, but a set of stairs leading to an observation deck leading to the bridge. This had an elevator module. Now how to find the bridge....

I finally got there after going to the engine room to the cabin and to the engine room once more, and walked in.

And I was amazed. The control room was huge! Usually the Atlases had bridges half this size. I looked around....
....and saw her....
....she approached me.
"Hey, how're you doing? You’ve been sleeping for a while! How’s your head?"
She was real! I was not dreaming! This beautiful figure that stood before me was her! Wow. Was she amazing looking. The ambiance in the room matched her warm welcoming expression. She was magical, I'll tell you that. She amazed me.

"Who-wha-whe-whe-why-who.... uh?" I couldn't talk.
"Uh, what?"
"Could I ask of how I may address you?" I said, slowly.
"Oh! I'm Rikku! Nice to mee'cha!"
a cheerful and spunky name for an energetic girl. Perfect.
"And I am.... W.C., the pleasure is all mine."
I shook her hand, she smiled, and this is where my knees gave out. I hit the deck, out of breath.
"Are you alright?" she said.
I have little memory, but I think the next three minutes went like this:
"You need to get to bed and get some more sleep"
"You’re pretty...."
"Uh-"
"I'm serious, you're gorgeous...."
"Uh...heh...thanks!"
"Can I kiss you?"
"Oui really need bedrest."
"Yes, we can have a nice time sleeping together"
"No! I meant you!"
"But I'll be so lonely! Can’t you stay with me?"
"Um, let's bring you to bed."
"Wow. You’re strong!"
"Thanks!"
"Well, you're the best. E MUJA OUI!"
And I slept.


"Yo! Craig! Get up!"
Wh- huh? Was that a dream? I was back in the cabin, was it Endevo- no, I was awake. I could feel my bruised arm and sides, as well as the two bumps were I was knocked out and fell on the floor.
"Are you really that tired? Get UP!"
"I'sa up, I'sa up!"
"You should see some of the people here. Have you met-?"
"Rikku? Yes, yes I have." I smiled at the thought of her....
"She’s HOTT! And between us, I think she likes me...."
"Oh really? I think she likes ME!" I knew neither one of our statements was true, we had all just met.
He was just about to pounce on me when she walked out.
"do you always fight each other? It’s getting pretty old."
"Oh, hi Rikku! How’re you doing?" we asked simultaneously. "You look very nice this morning."
"Uh-heh- thanks"
We stare at her....
"I'm going to.... practice my dance moves.... now...."
"Okay" we said meekly.
"Yyyyeeaaahhhh.... just excuse me...."
"Okay"
I walked upstairs to the loft to talk to Matt in private.
"Matt, what're we going to do? We need to save Spira from the Delors of the New World Order's forces! We can't hang around here forever! What do we do?"
"we can ask her if the Gullwings can help us!"
"Gullwings?"
"Yes, Brother's spherehunting team!"
"Wai-who-?"
"You haven’t met anyone yet?" he asked, with a strange look.
"Ummm.... no?"
"Wow. Rikku needs to show you around."


We looked down at Rikku from the loft. She was indeed dancing. This made my mind wander.... into a dream/premonition of us dancing....
....and getting married.
"Craig?"
"Yeah?"
"What will we do? You’re the leader of the Rebel Delors, but we have no idea where any of the others are! Most of them probably reenlisted in the annexation forces!"
This thought made me cringe.
I needed to ask Rikku something....

"Rikku?"
"Yeah?"
It was night, and she was sleeping in the bed next to mine. She said she "wanted to make sure I was alright". Now all I needed to do is ask her....
"Have you heard of the Delors?"
She looked at me with a look of sadness in her eyes. She knew.
"Yes. They took.... they took...."
She started to cry. What did we do???? What happened?
"What happened?"
"They took Brother and Shinra captive just last month. I have been a wreck since. Buddy can't find them, so we think it's.... too late."
It struck me. It was Annexation Operation Bikanel. we took control of the sandy island of Bikanel just last month, to "help" the people by driving the fiends out and uncovering the buried machine city and making industries and buildings for people to live in. the only thing is, Leader made the decision to enslave the families and make them try to kill all the fiends or be killed. We exiled several people to work in a mine in a remote location in the northern land, looking for weapons....
"Have you tried up north?" I said.
"Why?"
"If I know the Delors, they were probably put into labour mines in Zanarkand. The only one they established is up there."
She stared at me quizzically....
"How do you know this?"
"I was.... once part of them. I rebelled against the Delors after I was forced to take part in.... that horrible operation...."
"YOU did this to us????"
"I made a rebellion! I hate the Delors! I was hoping you would join the Rebel Delors!"
She started to get teary eyed again. She walked over to me and said "why....?" I got up and stood beside her and whispered "because it was wrong." she suddenly hugged me. It wasn't a love hug; it was a hug just for her comfort.


"....on the dawn they are waiting, they know to take time, they will emerge triumphant, but will they show mercy in time...."

I woke the next morning to see Rikku was still hugging me. She was so peaceful.
It was then that I decided: I need to find her friend and brother.
"Rikku, your brother and Shinra will come back soon, I promise. I will see to that personally."

And, I am a Delor, so a Delor doesn’t make empty promises.

"Matt, we need to go to the Mountain we came out of in the portal."
"Oh! Can you find it on a map?"
"Yes."
"Just ask Buddy!"
So I did.
"So, you think we can save them?"
Buddy was a strange person, always at ease, and seemed to be susceptible to great money loss. I wouldn't trust him with a high-speed airship. But that's not my business.
"Yes, I need to find the location on this map...."
I found it, plotted the points, and yelled to Buddy: "right here!"
"Okay, never been in that area of Zanarkand but okay."
And it took off.
Now I need to go there.... but Matt and I need a team....
"I'll join! I'll also see if Paine can join!"
"Thanks, Rikku."
Okay, we have a stealth, a Thief, a Warrior, and a Delor's Fighter all on one team. Cool.
"Hmmm.... we need a party name...."
"Paine and I are already part of a team called the Gullwings...."
I decided to ditch my Delor's roots and join their team.
"So, who's the Captain?" I asked.
"Brother’s not here, so Buddy!"
Great. Just freakin' great. I agree to throw my life and Gil away.
"YO! KID! HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY THE TEAM FROM PROPHIT????"
"Well, I get half, and you four can split the other half...."
Oh, great.
"You give them that treatment?"
"They don't do this for money."
"Well, I demand faring it out to a sixths ratio, one sixth for each of us and one sixth to the airship. That way it's fair."
"WHAT???? AND THROW AWAY MY GIL TO YOU KIDS????"
"That’s exactly what I thought when I enlisted with you."
“Oh, come on boys, the money all goes to the Gullwings!” Rikku said.
Okay, it’s only temporary. I'll be off later. I don't need money; I only need to stop the forces.


LARGLY IN DENIAL

I am annoyed. Truly annoyed. Like, REALLY ANNOYED. Matt has been a little obnoxious, about his stealth skills and how he’s good in battle, trying to impress Rikku, but he has been failing. It was an extreme case of brownnosing. I just help her out here and there, like the other day she was trying to fix a problem in the onboard computer, so I went over and helped her out. “It’s just a glitch,” I reassured her. And it was, and after twenty minutes of teamwork, we fixed it.
“Wow, you’re really good with your hands,” she told me.
“Thanks,” I must have seemed a little embarrassed, because she walked over to me and…. Well, slipped her hand on my back to a spot where I only succeeded in becoming violently embarrassed. She started laughing, as I started to and Buddy yelled over, “is there something wrong, guys?” Rikku just yelled over,” no, we’re just having a little fun!” as she dragged me to the corridor to the elevator module.
“Who- wha?” what was she doing?
She then said to me: “listen, I was thinking of letting you join the Gullwings, but buddy won’t warm up to the idea, and neither will brother. I was thinking of bringing you to Besaid after this trip, and dropping you there and picking up Paine and Yuna, but I would feel a bit guilty just leaving you there, and-“ there was a silence…. “Listen, I know you seem a bit flushed when I speak frankly, but I kinda…. Sorta….”
“Ummm, like Matt and I?” I said, with a little laugh. As if a girl with her looks would fall for a Red Guard.
“Yeah, I think Matt’s kinda good looking, but his personality needs a bit of a makeover. But you have the looks and the charm and- whoops, sorry, almost went a little far there! But uh-“
I looked at her a little awkwardly and she flushed. I was at the same level of embarrassment. “So, umm, W.C….”
“Please, Rikku, call me Craig. That’s how my good friends refer to me.” I smiled at her, and bowed my head. “Thank you for your offer, to hire me. But I need to find another airship to salvage and find the rest of the blue rebels. But I will never forget you, even after I leave. But first, I made you an honourable promise, and I will fulfill my duties to you.”
She jumped up and hugged me! What a moment. “Awww thanks! Even if you talk too much, you are a sweet, loving man!”

And that is when I seriously thought of having Rikku and the Gullwings help the Rebel Delors. She would keep me going. I was sure.

“OKAY! LET’S KICK SOME ANNEXATIONER BUTT!!!!” I yelled to the team. Rikku said: “well, first, we need to get a coupla people.”

“ON TO WHEREVER THESE PEEPS ARE!” I shouted.

Matt rolled his eyes. “Besaid, ya dolt.”

ON TO BESAID!

We landed at the beach I had a few memories at, as it was the third place headed up by Bikanel and Zanarkand that I visited in Spira when I first came here. I loved this island and its people. I had met the High Summoner Yuna a month ago here. It was a beautiful island. We approached the village, a quaint little place with huts surrounding a temple, of which is a mystery to me, surrounded by a retaining wall. “Ahhh, what a great day,” I said. I look around, looking for familiar faces. There were nameless faces, and a lot of people who would rather cause harm on themselves than come in contact with a Delor here. “Well, here we are in the village, but where are Yuna and Paine…?” Rikku said.

WAI- WHAT? SHE KNEW THE HIGH SUMMONER???? SHE KNEW SUMMONER YUNA. SHE KNEW THE SAVIOR YUNA. TOURMENTOUR SIN FELL TO THE AMAZEMENT OF THIS WOMAN, AND RIKKU KNEW HER???? THE DELORS ATTENDED ONE OF HER CONCERTS AND IT MADE LEADER SMILE. SHE WORKS WONDERS.

“Rikku… you… know the Summoner? How?”
She looked at me with a smile and said: “we’re cousins. She’s also a part of my spherehunting team.”
“Well did you know her before she destroyed sin?”
“Yes, I helped her as a matter of fact!”
It was at this moment that I felt like bowing to her beautiful body right there. She risked her life for the people that I was now protecting from annexation. “I…. want to thank you…. It means a lot to everyone, it even impacted the Current.”
She looked at me with a weird look and punched me on the shoulder friendly like. “It’s not like I already got that treatment” she said with a laugh. “I thought it was the right thing to do, and it’s kinda a way of getting back for all he did to us!”
“So, where are they?” Matt said. “Oh, they should be at the temple, they said they would meet us there last I talked to them on the comsphere. So I assume…”
“RIKKU!!!!” I heard a yell from the temple. The Summoner herself was in our presence! As a studier of cultures and a specialist of Spiran culture, I greeted her with the prayer of Yevon. She looked at me with one eyebrow raised and said: “well, you picked up a New Yevon follower?” Rikku looked at me with that look again and said “New Yevon…?” I quickly blurted out “oh, well, I just thought as a Summoner she needed a proper greeting…. Uh…. HEY! I’m a Delor from the Current, so you can’t blame me!”

Things weren’t looking too good.

“A…. Delor?” she said looking at me.
“A Blue Rebel, Yunie! He wants to help us get Brother and Shinra! He also said that we can help him kill the Delors plans! It’s just like old days, Yunie!” well, she looked at me uncomfortably and said: “when you came here, we brought you in willingly. But, you and your Delors attacked the village and almost killed Lulu’s baby…. I cannot….”

“Yuna, I’ve changed my title from Red Guard to Master Rebel! I AM A TOURMENTOUR TO THE DELORS! I hate the Delors and what they did to you!” this caught the attention of a black mage and a blitzball player in the temple. They walked over to Matt and I and the Blitzer said: “Yuna, Rikku, are these Bloody Militants trying to warp you into joining the Delors cause, ‘cuz I can easily ‘escort’ them out.
“No!” they both said, but it was too late, he attacked. With FORCE! Knocked Matt down in a single hit! “Ahh, you jock bastard, you think you can take on a Red Guard? Well, have fun in the farplane!” and with that I struck him with my staff. WHAM! But he wasn’t down! He missed me with another blitz attack, and I used my overdrive: RAIL DRIVER. He was down. “Who’s next?” I said to the group of people who came to support the Blitzer. “Wait, CRAIG!” Rikku yelled. “YOU’RE ATTACKING WAKKA! STOP!” “And this person wants me dead? He has been punished, and he lies at my feet. So be it if….” Oh, god! I was acting as a Red Guardsman! Our creed was still in my veins! “Oh, god. How unorthodox of me! Forgive me, my lady. Please. Oh, god.” Phoenix downs, phoenix downs, WHERE ARE THEY???? I needed to revive this warrior of who fell at my misplaced feet to my unforgiving and wrong attack. I revived him and offered all my money as an apology. “I…. lost my temper, sir. Please, forgive my attack. I am still under the…. Curse.
“Eh, what’s your problem, ya?”
“I lost it…. Oh, no, I can’t show how much I am sorry…. Please….”
The islanders just started surrounding Matt and me….
“Run,” he whispered into my ear. And we ran. We jumped out of the crowd and ran out of the village. “And, without thinking, I used my radio. “Delor Redguard W.C. Stacy calling in for dispatch of Deathstryke AD to Besaid isle for endangerment of Delor Plans. Emergency code 4860090367720038 Alpha Delta Romeo. Please respond.
“Dispatching now, ETA thirty seconds, evacuate all Annexers, Stacy!” oh, god, what have I done? “RIKKU! YUNA! ALL VILLAGERS WHO DON’T WANT TO DIE! GET TO THE BEACHES! THE Delors ARE STRIKING THE VILLAGE!!!! RUN!!!!” And did we run. We got to the beach just in time to watch AD roar over the horizon and out came the dreaded machine from the belly of the airship. HROOM! A huge dome encased the southern half of the island as a small ball of energy came from the machine and after summing up all its power, and the sphere exploded, destroying everything in the containment dome in less than sixteen seconds. The entire southern half was destroyed. All because of my fury and my denial.

FORGIVENESS

“I am sorry.” I said to the assembled team, Rikku, Yuna, Paine. “My actions…”
“Were violent and unnecessarily destructive. Now the village is destroyed, all your doing.” Paine was feeling unforgiving.
“I no longer want to disgrace you all with my presence. I am going back to the hell I belong in. I walked out to the deck…. “Craig!” Rikku yelled to me. “I am no longer disserving of life. Thank you for your patience. I need to…. Jump now.” I responded.
“NO!” she yelled. “You want me to live?” I said.
“Yes…. It’s hard to explain…. It’s like you help me…. Somehow…. It’s like an indescribable love I have for you, I-“
“Wait, you…. Love me even after all I did to you guys?” “Well, was it you personally? No, so that and the fact I am attracted to you tell me I should be with you instead of Gippal.”
“Wait, Gippal, as in the Delor supplier Gippal? You actually like a supporter?” support him and you support the Delors!”
“Wait, what? She said.
“Oh, god, no time to explain. Let’s go to Bikanel and I’ll show you what I mean.”
“CRAIG! Before I forget, I forgive you no matter what! And Yuna will forgive you soon. Paine isn’t that type, but she doesn’t matter. Now let’s go! So uh- ERRRGH! WHY WON’T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME RIGHT NOW????”

ON TO BIKANEL!

As we land I jump out to find Gippal. “WHERE IS THAT COLLABORATOR????” I yelled ferociously. It’s time to hurt him!

I spotted him as he walked over to Rikku. “Hey, how ya doin, hon? I was just about to call you over. And these are your friends? Interesting kids. And he’s a Delor?”
“A rebel, Gip.” She said “and what’s this about you supplying Delors with Machines???? You BIG MEANIE!” she socked him HARD in the face! “DOWN WITH THE DELOR COLABORATORS, GIP! UP WITH THE REBELS!”
“GO RIKKU!” I yelled. “WHOOP HIM GOOD!”
He was trying to calm her. “Whoa! Hon, I get good money from them!”
“THAT DOESN’T MATTER! NOW WHERE’S BROTHER AND SHINRA????”
“WHOA HON! The leader said they were at Zanarkand! Go there! Please, stop it! You hurt!”
“We’re through, Gip! I gotta new man, and he’s a rebel!” she put her arm around me and kissed my cheek. “Uhhh-“ I was feeling weak, and happy, and confused all at the same time. It was a wonderful feeling, best in the world. “Your man? I just, uh, heheh-“ Gippal was looking at me with an angry eye. “You took Rikku away from me? And you rebel against the forces of greatness? You’re gonna go down!”
“Oh, really?” I said.
WHAM! And he was on the desert ground cold.
“Hm.” I said.
Then another Machine faction member came out, Nhadala, as I remember, because Leader has a thing for her. She threw a hammer at me, missed, and screamed: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
“Ahhh, I just cut off sixty percent of the Annexationer’s power and weapons,” I said. “and do you care to become a collaborator, too?” I said.

“YOU almost killed Leader Gippal! That’s a feat?”
“Yes, the bloody supporting bastard,” I said.
“You want to die, now, Rebel?”
“No, I’ll pass,” I said.
“YOU AND GIP SUCK!” Rikku yelled.

A FUN MISSION


Well, we’re here in Zanarkand, but not being after a strange experience. We couldn’t land in Zanarkand, too many people, so we dropped at Mount Gagazet. Rikku found one of her “special spots” in a cove at a hot spring. She dragged me there as the rest of the team was talking to the Ronso leader. She got… ehem, undressed right in front of me…. “Whoa.” I stare at her body with wide eyes. Whoa, was right. Just whoa. That is a body a man would kill to see. She shoved me into the spring and undressed me! “Wha-“ I said softly. She was giggling as I was looking strangely at her. “So, wanna get busy?” I was out of breath. “Err-uh-““well, let’s start!”

well, I’m not gonna give the dirty details, as great a fifteen minutes it was, so let’s skip to after. We walked up to meet the team at the entrance to Zanarkand. They were looking at us with our hair wet and our expressions far out. “Hot springs?” Yuna asked. “Well, they’re hotter than they were before now!” Rikku replied. “Whoa….” My wide eyed stare made Matt jealous, I could tell. “Oh, I suppose you want to rub it in my face?” I just looked over at my colleague and shook my head. “heh-hehehehehe-eh” I said with my eyes still huge. He just walked away. Paine looked at Rikku with a mad look and just walked off.


AN UNFORGIVING PAST

And I looked upon the ruins of this ancient city, thinking about memories I had from my growing up… and I flashed back….

“Craig! Craig! Hurry! We’re gonna be late for the machine!” I was reliving my past. It was in Laurentia, with me and my friend Sean when we were seven. Matt was there, too; my guardians in chief had found Matt near the portal experiment area; it was always a mystery of his origin. But it was that fateful day that the first Doomstryke project, the thing that started the Deathstryke project. We were curious children back then, and this huge laser was very interesting to us. We had no idea of the Delors/NUSA plans for a project to “put the Alliance on top of the order of things” by becoming a threat to the other countries. This, of course, was not accepted by the other alliance members, so the two countries banded together to make the project.

“They’re starting it up! Hurry! Where’s Sam?”
“Matt, you’re too exited. Calm yourself!” my younger voice peeped. “Sam’ll be here in a minute!”
“Well, it better happen soon, ‘cuz my mom and pop are bringing me to Hazzard to meet my relatives. And I don’t wanna miss that!”
“Oh, you and your CSA, Sean.” Matt said.
“Okay, what did I miss, Craig?” Sam came out of the cleric’s office. He was the leader of our group a black mage’s apprentice, as I was the brains, and a white mage’s apprentice. Matt was the stealth and Sean was the strength. We were a good team, and we could protect the town, we thought, better than the guards assigned. And we were the only ones who knew the inside scoop about what was really going on! Well, we sold it to another guy in a team for about eighty Ocane, but we got money for a secret! Ahh, how naïve youth was back then. But we were about to suffer a horrible and painful loss.

“They’re powering up!” Matt yelled.
The beam had let out a horrible belch of light, the brightest light I ever saw. With a huge HROOM a dome encased the entirety of Laurentia and a sphere of light came out of the beam. After absorbing the energy from inside the dome, it was about ready to implode. The streets were in panic. And the light ball fell.
“Oh, god.” I said.
And an explosion of white encased my view, and I was back in the ruins of Zanarkand. “Hurry up, Craig! We need to find them!” Rikku yelled to me. I yelled over to her. “RIKKU! Hey, just a question: what happened back there?”
“OH! The springs! That was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah, that was great,” I said dreamily.
“Well, when we get over with this mission I’ll give you a little reward….” She said, smiling. “Well, let’s make this a BIG SUCCESS!” I said.
We ran into the ruins, in search….

After two hours, we were in the middle of the ruins with no idea where we were. I was looking for that red flag with the- “BLUE GLOBES AT TWELVE O’CLOCK!” sure enough, in the middle of the ruins was the Delorian banner waving above the annexation symbol, a globe half shaded partially eclipsing a moon on a blue flag. We were at tangent zero in northern Spira. My home for two weeks. And now we attack. But this would be much easier with Endevour with us…. Matt snuck in, and after two minutes, front guard was neutralized. We snuck in and- there! I gestured at the Al Bhed kid in the corner. “Shinra!” Rikku exclaimed. The kid ran to Rikku and hugged her. “it’s great to see you, Rikku! How’s the Gullwings computer standing up?”
“Oh, we’re having a few problems, nothing you can’t work out.”
“RIKKU! Dryhg oui vun cyjehk IC! ed'c knayd du caa oui!”

“Hello, Delor Stacy.” It was the voice of….
“PROTECTOR MUNT!” I yelled. “How’s everything? Come with us!”
“I need to get out of this place. Please, I will PAY!”
And so we started out, but the- oh, god. It was a PDS-16X fighter plane! “LOOK OUT!” and we battled it.
The beginning line-up was Rikku, Shinra and I. “HEY! KID! Work this handheld and try to dispatch the nearest Machine! I’ll use mine and this battle will be easy!”
“You gotta say please,” he said.
“Please. Okay, you got it, let’s go!” we dispatched, and two big bosses came out and destroyed it with a beam! “Good work, kid.”

Back on the airship, Shinra, Rikku, And Brother were talking.

"cu, ruf yna drehkc rumtehk ib?" Shinra said.
"kuut, E sad y luibma uv getc paydehk aylr udran uh Besaid paylr, yht drao'na kuhhy ryja ic ramb napam ykyehcd dra Delors. E drehg E vamm eh muja fedr uha uv dras, druikr" Rikku said.
"cu fryd ec fedr dra Delor muggehk get ujan drana? Ra'c geht uv cdnyhka." Brother said.
“ I take those little “strange” comments personally, Brother. I know Al Bhed.”
"ugyo, bnuja ed." Brother said.
"E ys, ys E hud? oui lyhhud sycg ouin lussahdc fedr myhkiyka, so vneaht. Ymcu, ypuid ouin cecdan...." and I told him of Rikku and I’s relationship.

“RIKKU!!!! YOU ARE MY SISTER, AND YOU BREAK UP WITH GIPPAL FOR THIS WRECK???? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING????”
“WELL, HE HAS EMOTIONAL CAPACITY! AND IS SMART, UNLIKE GIP! HE ALSO LISTENS TO ME, UNLIKE GIP! HE ALSO HATES Delors, UNLIKE GIP!!!! NOW I NEED TO GIVE CRAIG HIS REWARD FOR A JOB WELL DONE!!!! C’MON, CRAIG!”

“what about me?” Matt said meekly.


THIS IS NOT MY STORY

Although I am telling it, this is not my story. It is Rikku’s story. I am just a side story; my life is not a contribution to her. She has her own life. This is her story. She has gone through a lot in her life, and has been a lonely daughter to Cid and mistreated by almost everyone. She is my friend, and we love each other. I am just speaking of our venture into life together. She has so much to talk about, and she helps us in so many ways. She is a beauty, and a love. And her story starts now.


HER STORY

“Hello, guys!” I said that morning. I had been on the Celsius for about a month now. I was helping them on there spherehunting, because the Delors were quiet for the past few weeks. I was a Gullwing, and proud. I walked over to Shinra.
“Eh, Shinra, what’re you doing?” I asked
“You and Matt need a Garment Grid. I’m making a couple right now.”
A what?
“Sorry, I’m stumped. What was that?”
“A garment grid, so you can change character class!”
Wow, not a bad idea.
“The only trouble is that I need to make a Delor Dressphere, though. That will prove to be tricky. First, I’ll need a sample of your clothing.”
I took a loose thread from my Delors silk jacket. “Is this fine?” I said.
“Perfect. Now I’ll put it on the scanner…. Now I need a sample of your magic. Direct it to this….” He took out a flying little machine and it zoomed in front of me. “Don’t worry about hurting him, just cast.”
I summed up my power and directed my spells, the usual, black magic, white magic, then the Delor’s spells.
“LEADER’S WRATH!”
The little machine almost exploded from my strike.
“LIGHTNINGSTRIKE! FIRESTRIKE! WATERSTRIKE! ICESTRIKE!”
Almost killed the poor little thing. And so curga helped him up, and I cast Befriend. He came right to me and joined my cause! And I made him go against me by casting confuse on him, and I cast Low luck on him, then I remembered I had one spell left.
“Deathstrike” I said sombrely.
The little machine and I fell to the ground, both KO’d.
I was revived by Buddy and an impressed set of Gullwings.
“Whoa” Shinra was impressed. “That was awesome.”
“Wow! You’re skilled!” Rikku said.
“You would make a great team member!” said Yuna.
“I’m pretty impressed, kid,” said Paine.
“COOL!” said Brother.
“Show off,” Matt said hypocritically.
“And now all I need is what weapons you can use….”
“Oh, we Delors use Staffs, Rods, and Hand blades, and sometimes short swords as primary weapons and throwing sticks and knives as secondary weapons. And throwing stars are of use to us. We also have a little weakness…. Randomizing spells, lightning spells, lowluck spells, confusion, and swap really mess us up.”
“Okay, process almost complete. Now can I just ask you something….”
“HOSTILE IN RANGE!” Buddy yelled. What? I looked out the window. “It’s Deathstryke AD.” I said, calmly. “This is not good. We need to get out of here at full speed. GUN IT!”
“But I don’t want to hurt the engines!” Brother said.
“IT’S BETTER THAN BEING VAPOURIZED!” I yelled.
“NO! I won’t go.” Brother said stubbornly.
“OH, COME ON MAN!” I yelled as I shoved Brother off the controls and kicked it up to high speed. But I heard a familiar unforgiving bass sound. HROOM. We were in the blast concentration containment field. And we were hopeless.

“Let’s enjoy our last few moments together,” I said sombrely to the team. “We won’t make it.”
“Wait, I’m getting a transmission….”
A screen crackled to life on the bridge dome. I saw one of the most fearsome faces to a Spiran that ever was; Leader Tistov.
“MASTER CAPTAIN STACY! I DEMAND THE RELEASE OF PROTECTOR MUNT AND YOURSELF OR YOUR PRECIOUS AIRSHIP WILL BE ASHEN!”
“NEVER!” I yelled. And I switched on my radio to make a rebel distress call.
“Napam eh tecdnacc! napam eh tecdnacc! Yd 300 semac vnus napam pyca! Tecbydlr yhde taydrcdnega vmaad!”

Sure enough, a fleet of forty rebel airships came to my call. All had their weapons charging. But the Deathstrike beam came out, and sucked all power out of the Celsius into its own mass. HAREEEOUGMMM! There was a hole in the blast containment dome! We dropped out of the dome and power was back to the engines! We blasted out as the sphere released its energy, but it was uncontained! A blast that could be heard for thousands of miles emanated from the machine as the blast destroyed everything within four hundred miles of itself, including the AD itself. Everything was toast, but luckily it was far out to sea. The Celsius landed at Besaid twenty minutes later. We got out and looked out to sea at the cloud engulfing the horizon. “I have an idea.” I said. I swam out into the water and under. Rikku followed close by. After searching we found it…. Endevour.

SALVAGE PROJECT, AND A REBEL REBEL

We ran up to shore and jumped for joy! “YAHAAA! IT’S ENDEVOUR! YESS!” we yelled. “Now all we need to do is get the salvage ship!” Rikku exclaimed. WE FOUND IT!

After the salvage, I boarded Endevour, a huge airship twice the size of Celsius. It was still airtight, but my office had a little water leak. It was okay!!!! We had us an Endevour!

Endeavour’s first mission was to time space the southern half of Besaid so it would be back! Time space warps things so events like the Deathstryke damage never even happened. But this mission happened while everyone but Matt and I were asleep. We rebuilt in a matter of minutes, and in the morning, we did not tell anyone what had happened that night. We just picked up and left.

It was not for a month that we ever saw Rikku again. We were busy rounding up the Rebels when we landed in Luca. The entire fleet was landed on the fields of the Mi’hen Highroads when I came down the steps. Our fleet is now five hundred, with four thousand rebels. We were rallying at Luca for support of our cause. I came down the steps to the gracious city, when I heard her voice….
“CRAIG!” she called.
“RIKKU!” I ran up and hugged her. We must have been like that for five minutes, before she said “what did you run off like that for?”
“Well, I helped you, you helped me, and I thought our deal was done, so I went on to save Spira!” I said.
“And that’s worth abandoning your girlfriend for?” she kissed me. “Well, we got a lot to catch up on! Let’s go to the café!” we got there, and she told me about the three new spheres they found, one with the Annexation forces surrendering to the Rebels (they found this sphere in one of Rin’s travel shops, surprisingly) and how my garment grid is finished. I told her about the surrender at Bikanel and how Gippal is now hiding, and we laughed at that. But then…. One of my squad leaders, Sergeant Venue, walked up to us.
“Captain Stacy, we’re getting word that Master Stealth Matthew has gone to the side of the Delors. He said on a comsphere that he had his girl taken away by the rebels and that they would pay for their deceit,” she said. “What? We lost Matt?”
“I’m afraid so, Captain.”
“Rikku, Matt’s….”
“THE JERK!” she yelled.
We ran over to the rest of the Gullwings, and told them the news.
“Well, this will prove to be a problem,” Paine wasn’t happy.
I then remembered the DNA test I took….
“Paine, I have to tell you something,” I said to her.
“Well, life’s full of surprises,” she said sarcastically.
“After analyzing both your body makeups, I found that you and Matt are….”
“Siblings,” Shinra finished my sentence. “I found it out, too”
“What? We are…?”
“Yes.”

She ran back to the airship. “Well, she didn’t take it well. So where’s Yuna?”
“She’s back at Besaid; they were amazed that the island was completely fixed!” Rikku replied.
“Well, say hello to her for me.” I said.
“Wooo, I think Craig likes Yunie! He’s blushing!”
“NO I DON’T! Rikku! I fell in love with you, not Yuna!”
“I think you’re a playa! You want us both! Wooo, I’m telling Yunie!”
“GAAAH! RIKKU! NO! GURH-“
Everyone in the café was looking at us. “HEY, GUYS! CRAIG LIKES YUNIE AND ME! HE WANTS US!” I sank into my chair and hit my head. “Rikku, please stop?” I said. “Don’t lie, Craig, you think she’s got it goin’ on, too!”
“um, maybe?” I said, meekly.
“I KNEW IT! YOU LIKE HER TOO! HAHAHAA!!!!”
“CDUB ED! CU FRYD?” I yelled.
“ed ec veha, E drehg cra ec rudd duu!” she said.
“Wow. Just, wow.” I said. “Well, we need some help, Rikku. Know anyone?”
“Well, there’s always…. No, nevermind.”
“Who?”
“The LeBlanc Syndicate,” she said “they’re not exactly the best people, but they’re interesting….”
“NO! I HATE THAT…. WORD I SHOULDN’T SAY!” I yelled. LeBlanc is the next female Hitler, I swear. I hate her.
“Well, ya need some help, and they’re powerful, so why not them?”
“I just…. Think they’re immoral.”
“If ya think about it, so are you and me!” she said with a smile.
“Their ways are just…. Wrong. We’re just a young couple; of course we’re not gonna be saints about it!”
“But if we don’t start up again, we’re gonna be moral, so let’s check into the inn!” She said.

**FUN NIGHT**

But, something wasn’t quite right….
“mmmm, oh yeah.”
“Wait, stop, I think I heard something outside….”
“Ohh, ‘cmon back into bed, I was having fun!”
“There it is again! Haromph! Haromph! Doesn’t sound good.”
“Just get back into bed, please?”
“No, this isn’t good, really!”
“Okay, let’s get dressed. But I was having Fun!”
“Okay, I’ll look out the window to see if there is anything wrong, if there isn’t, then we’ll get back to what we were doing.”
“hehehe, come on back, see, there isn’t anything. Now where were we?”
“Alright, we’ll check tomorrow then. And to answer your question, we were…. HERE!”
“AHHH! YEAH! THERE! MMMM!”

A voice interrupted us from down on the street.
“CAPTAIN! THE FLEET IS UNDER ATTACK!” Sgt. Venue was yelling to me.
“VENUE! I’LL BE RIGHT DOWN!” I ran down as fast as I could, so worried that I didn’t hear what Rikku said. “Your clo-. “ I ran out the door. “WHERE, SARGENT?”
“Uh, Captain, you’re uh, uniform isn’t really passing inspection, uh, sir….”
“Tell me about it,” Rikku said.
“I don’t care! WHAT IS THE STATUS REPORT?”
“Um, bare, scared, and fun to look at for us girls,” Rikku said. It was now that I realized I wasn’t wearing much of anything. Correction: I wasn’t wearing anything. “oh, erm, excuse me.” I ran back into the inn, became decent, and ran out to the giggling girls. “I liked your uniform before, it passed my inspection!” Rikku said in between laughs. Miss Venue wasn’t holding back. “well, you’d knock some of the troops down if you ran out there with that on, what was that, a Birth Uniform?”
“It puts a new meaning to Fatigues!” Rikku laughed.
“You really show the world that strippers can be dangerous!” a giggling Venue said.
“COMPANY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, LAUGH LATER. FOR NOW WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR FLEET. VENUE, RADIO IN TO TELL THE AIRSHIPS TO FIRE AT WILL, AND TRY TO GET THE BATTLE AWAY FROM LUCA AND OUT TO SEA. NOW LET’S MOVE!”
“Relax nudie! The Delors worst weapon is a mortar cannon right now, so we’re okay. You and your girlfriend can get back to whatever you were doing, sir. I’m sure you’ll be having more fun than I will tonight.”

I looked at Rikku, she looked at me, and we darted back into the inn, ready to have ‘fun’ again.


THE NIGHT OF MISFORTUNE

Rikku, If you are reading this, I want to tell you something. I will always love you. I have looked into your eyes moment after moment, always wondering how you do it. You calm me, comfort me, love me, and bless me with just a glance. If I die in your arms, I will enjoy that death. I will not have died uncomfortably. But away from my death, that won’t be for a while. I realized how dangerous my job was that night, because an airship with a family living in it went into the sea and blew up. I could imagine if that were Celsius…. But away from that now.

The damage was not severe; the battle ended in less than twenty minutes. Enough time for us to get our ‘fun’ in. We were ready that morning to go to the Mi’hen Highroad, but Rikku was hesitant. “What’s up, hon?” I asked her. “Uhh, I better bring us back to the Celsius; wouldn’t it be better to go that way?”
“Well, I got to bring you to the Endevour to bring you to the Rebels Base, and Brother doesn’t know where it is. Also, we need to go to Endevour to get the-“
“PLEASE?” she said.
“You gotta make it hard for me, don’t you,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll go.”

We got up to the plateau in time to meet Lucille, captain of our Ally the Chocobo Knights. “Hello, Captain Stacy!” she greeted me with a smile. “And a warm greeting to you, too, Captain Lucille,” I said. She then looked at Rikku at my side and said “don’t you have your duties to make up for?”
“Hmm? What duties?” she said innocently. “I haven’t any duties to my knowledge.”
“OH! Yes, give me that treatment. I wasn’t born yesterday, you delinquent. Now GET MOVING!”
I looked at Rikku, who had a pained look, and she said to me “it was a little accident, okay? I was just trying to catch a chocobo when…. Alright, I’ll get going. Where do you need me?”
“At the cages. They need cleaning. Now GO!” commanded the captain.
“May I ask what that was all about?” I asked “Oh, she made a problem for us with this little Machina malfunction a while back. She’s been doing service ever since.”
“a mistake, I presume?” I said.
“yes, what of it?”
“Well, let her go, it’s not like you can’t take care of your own problems. “RIKKU! LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!” I yelled to her.
“WHAT? So you’re going to assume my authority?” Lucille yelled.
“I need her help, but if you want to make her work, then fine! Let Spira be annexed! It’s not like you’re going to be affected!” I yelled. She looked at me and said “you’re not going to like the result of this argument. I will not help a rebel who lets a person off duty just because she has a pretty face.” She SAID that to ME?
“Excuse me? She is the only hope for our plans to work, and she will be excused from duty now.”
“I will NOT!” she yelled.
“Well, I’ll have to make you!” I slid my hand down the shaft of my staff, in my battle position. She took out a sword and I struck her with all my force. “You…. Will PAY for this!” she yelled. She ran off and I went over to Rikku. “We’re leaving,” I said.
“Um, I guess so!”
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
“OKAY! WE’LL GO!”
We went over to Endevour and boarded. “Wow, this is really cool!” Rikku exclaimed. “I love how you cleaned up!”
“Also, I made a room just for us!” I said.
“I’ll like it here!” she replied.
I then saw it: out in Luca, the Celsius was being attacked by a Delor warship! “RIKKU! CRAIG! FA'NA IHTAN YDDYLG! RAMB!” the radio cracked and went silent. I ran over to see what was happening. The warship had a Deathstryke device on it and was powering up! “BROTHER, GET OUT OF THERE!” I started up the Endevour and rushed down to the scene. “Do you think we can get it?” Rikku said.
“Okay, set the cannon. On the warship, NOW!” I yelled to the weapon control crew.
“Powering up,” said one of the officers.
“Now, where’s the gunner?” I yelled.
“He’s been…. Incapacitated.”
“RIKKU! Can you aim this thing?”
“Well, uhh, I’d need to-“
“NO TIME NOW! WE NEED TO SAVE THE GULLWINGS!”
“Okay, now, I can do this. I need to save them. C’mon….” Rikku wasn’t too overjoyed.
“FIRE GIRL! YOU’VE GOT IT ON TARGET!”
“OKAY!”
The beam missed and almost hit Celsius. “What’re you trying to hit, the imaginary fiend in the water?”
“I MISSED! SO WHAT?” she yelled.
Then the Celsius pulled up just in time we flew out of there at full speed, well, Celsius’ full speed, and missed the annihilation of the Deathstryke. It instead turned around and aimed towards-
“Luca.”
We watched the containment dome envelop the city….
“WE’RE GOING BACK! DESTROY THAT SHIP!”
This time Rikku fired and-
“Oh yeah! Direct hit!”
The dome collapsed and vanished. Luca was saved!!!!

THE CURRENT

I am bringing Rikku to Deloria, or more realistically, the Current. Matt is already back, I suspect, and Sean would like to see Spira.
“Rikku, I would like to bring you somewhere,” I said one day in the lounge on Endevour. The Celsius was right behind us. “It’s where I used to live. It’s Deloria, a brave little country in the Current. You’d love it there. Do you want to go?”
“WOOO! A trip! Let’s go!”
“You have no objection?”
“Nope!”
Wow, that was a surprise! Wanting to go to Deloria? Wow…. No Spiran in the right mind would want to go to Deloria. And she wanted to? Wow.
“BROTHER! THIS IS CRAIG! Rikku wants to go to The Current! You follow?
“Brother here. Will she be alright?”
“sure. You wanna go?”
“OH, NO! ME? NEVER.”
“then do any of the Gullwings want to go?”
“well, Paine, Yuna and Shinra want to- HEY! Yuna! What? You…. Please don’t! I BEG YOU! STAY WITH ME YUNA!”
I heard her voice on the transmission. “please, I just want to go to see Deloria firsthand, it will be interesting.”
“OHHH, ARRGH!”
“so is that a yes, Brother?” I asked.
“yes, Craig” Yuna said.
“OOOHHH! WE’RE GOING TO DELORIA?” I heard Shinra’s exited voice. “this’ll be interesting!”
“okay, we’ll land in the Calm Lands. We’ll pick you up there.”

Four hours later we were at the portal outskirts. We needed to race into there without anyone noticing. We succeeded, but we have a couple of bullet holes in the wings from it.
As we were passing through the portal, the Spiran part of the group seemed to have a bit of a headache. Strangely, I started twitching myself. “ooohhhgh, what’s going on?” an unpleasant Rikku said.
“a little bug we haven’t worked out. It’ll be over when we get out of the portal.” I had a bit of a hand spasm and the airship went off course, but quickly I corrected myself. Still, the entire crew noticed. THWOOM! And we were out of the portal. The dawn skyline of Del Rio, Deloria invited us. “wow. It’s huge!” Rikku said as a reaction to our city-state. “Wow, it looks like that city in one of our spheres we found!” Shinra said. Wait. What?
“what sphere?” I asked.
“this one,” he threw a recording sphere to me. I looked at it. It was indeed Del Rio! But what was the person saying?”

“but, what about the risks? Testing here will destroy the entire project, and the city. We need to find somewhere else!”
“through this portal, there lies the world of which we will take over before we take the Current. It’s called…. Spira. We will test here.”
“WHAT? But my son and daughter are there! What’s going to happen to her?”
“the leader’s logic is impeccable, and whoever gets this sphere will get the warning. Now throw it through.”

“and that’s where the transmission ends,” Shinra observed.
This was….
“It’s my father, Waltei and-“
“my dad, Cid,” Rikku said. “we found it in a chest in Bevelle. We can find our dads here, I think!”
“let’s look in the capital tower first!” I said. We landed at the tower, as the bell struck six. The capital district was the liveliest. Cars zooming in and out everywhere. People playing music in the streets, it was my home. I was here. And Rikku was full of wonder, looking at the huge towers with awe. She was mouthing wows all over the street. “Welcome to Del Rio, hon. Land of the good Delors.” I looked around, and she hugged me right there. No words were said, we just stood there. Then Protector Munt walked out of the building. “Welcome home, Captain!” he yelled out to me. Then he said to Rikku: “please accept my thanks to you for housing me on Celsius. I greatly appreciate it. Now we need to get you to a room. AHA! I have a suite open for you! Follow me!”
We took Munt’s lead, as he brought us into the huge room in the hotel across from the tower. It had several rooms and a work are with a computer for Shinra to do his work, as well as an office and everything. I walked over to Shinra and asked him: “is this everything you need?” He replied. “It’ll do. I just need to unpack. Just a sec….” He pulled his mask off to reveal a face very similar to Sean’s when he was that old. His hair was a bit unkept, and his eyes were a bright blue. “I’ve never seen you with your mask off,” I said, shocked. “well, I’ve never seen you without sunglasses on the bridge of your nose,” he said.
“well, I only take these off for one reason,” I said.
“oh really, why?”
“because they can get annoying,” I said. “is there anything else you need?”
“Well, for one, this computer is all in Ceti.”
“oh, that will prove to be a problem. Don’t you know everything?”
“I’m just a kid,” he said.
“okay, I’ll teach you. First the vowels. This little character that looks like a ‘t’, that’s called ‘weo’. It makes a ‘wuh’ sound. This one here? That’s ‘eh’, pronounced ‘ah’, it’s a long A. that one there? That’s Lĕ, and it’s equivalent to ‘L’. and that one that looks like Lĕ without the swoosh, that’s Tĕ, pronounced….”

“Rikku, hey, hon? Are you asleep?” It was late night, and Shinra and I were thinking of going to what used to be Matt and I’s favourite bar, the Litteau Pub. Rikku got up. “what is it?” she enquired. “Shinra and I want to bring you somewhere. We think you’ll enjoy it.”

We walked down the street to the old tavern, with its brick walls and its old doors. The tavern was erected in 4081, 115 years ago. It was a place that showed the past of Deloria and the Delors, from when the Delors were founded in 1981 to when the country was founded in 2052, to now, 4198. I led them inside where I ordered up three 200 proof Mint Liqueurs, a big product of Deloria. Because moderate consumption age limit in Deloria is only fourteen, we could drink legally. “okay, bottoms up!” as we had our first mug of the blue alcohol (it was of course diluted with kegwash, the water that they washed out the excess mint leaves from the press they use to ground the mint with, this is non- alcoholic but still has the mint taste) Four hours later, though, we had our fill. We were drunk out of our minds, laughing and cheering, having a great old time. I realize now how dumb I was. Shinra was out of it, Rikku was all over the place, and I was on the floor when we walked back into the hotel to find Paine standing there with an angry face.
“Eh, Paine? What’s eatin’ ya?” I asked.
“Where were you three?”
“What does it matter to you?” Shinra said.
“We were havin’ more fun than you! Jealous, huh?” Rikku said.
“Well, you had us worried. And you,” Paine pointed to me, “should not be bringing them off. I don’t trust you.”
“OH! C’mon, Paine, I can’t go out with my boyfriend? That’s silly! Craig, come with me. We need to have a little more fun!”
“coming!” I yelled.
“Yuna, we need to straighten them out.” Paine said.
“let her have her fun, she has someone now. Don’t spoil it for her. She’s got him, and she’s happy. This isn’t your story, Paine, it’s theirs, they are the couple.”


A NEW DAY

We had gone to the Plains of Honour. At this very spot, four hundred years ago, the city of Ketune stood here. But it was buried because of the disgrace it showed upon the Delors. They trampled the city and abducted its children into working for the Delors. So the citizens neglected the city and the new Delors were so ashamed of what their ancestors did that they buried the entire city. And twenty years ago, on these plains, the first rebels led by Captain Leive, were killed by the early Annexation forces. No rebel survived to tell the tale, although it is rumoured that one survived. This event was known as Leive’s Massacre. The Rebellion started with Leive’s Campaign, and ended with the massacre. I told the team that the rebels goal was to not only liberate Spira, but to get vengeance for Leive’s sake.
“It is said that Matt is of relation to Leive, but Shinra and I found this untrue. So, it is-“
“CRAIG! IT’S YOU!” it was a voice emanating from the hill….
“Sean?”
“YES, YOU DOLT!” he yelled.
“SEAN!” I yelled. It was him!
I introduced him to the team, and he took up a particular liking for Yuna. “Well, hello there miss,” He said, looking into her eyes, “aren’t you pretty?” Yuna laughed a bit. Rikku then walked over to Yuna and whispered something into her ear, and made her blush. She looked over at me, and blushed violently. “is this true?” she asked me. “what? Is what true?” I asked. Rikku came over and whispered into my ear. “I told her what you said about her last night!” I have no recollection of anything that happened if we were talking about Yuna, so I said, “I donno. What did I say?”
“You said that she was hot!” Rikku yelled.
“uhhh, erm….” I was at a loss for words.
“okay, then, anyway….”
We went to the airship and I asked Sean about his life and so on. He has been living in Doska, the country to our east. He has been doing some work for the Delors, and has no idea that Doomstryke went on to Spira as Deathstryke. He has some information on where my father is, and what he’s up to. “he’s making one of these dohickeys, the planes like this that can take off without a runway….”
“An airship?” I asked, completely surprised he forgot about his past.
“YEAH! And he was with this bald guy, with the most outlandish clothing…. What was his name…. CID! Yeah, he was Cid.”
“You have been in Doska way too long,” I said.
“Hey, that has nothing to do with it! I was at the pub!”
“Okay, Sean, go in the back room and get some rest. You need it. NO! NOT THERE! THAT’S A CLOSET! Okay, next door. THAT’S IT! Go on in!”
“Well, that wad dumb,” Shinra said.
“But he was informational,” Paine said. “But where is this airport?”
After some thought, I remembered. “THE OUTSKIRTS OF MENEUX!” Meneux, Deloria was a large port city that made almost all of the worlds Mint Liqueur. Meneux was dad’s favourite city when I knew him, and probably still is (big surprise). So we set out for Meneux, to the south of us.

AS WE STARE INTO EACH OTHER’S EYES

My eyes were always a mystery to me. When I am calm, I have warm jade green eyes. When I am showing any emotion, the centres of the eye near the pupil turn hazel while the outside ring remains jade. But when I am near my father, my eyes turn a cold steel grey, almost violent looking. I looked into the eyes of my colleagues. Rikku has her swirling bright green eyes, Paine has reddish eyes, Yuna, she has one green eye similar to Rikku’s and one blue eye, and Shinra had bluish eyes with the swirls in them, of course. Sean has warm golden-hazel eyes like I had before I looked straight into the light generated by Doomstryke. The mutation is a mystery to everyone I know, and I was yet to find anyone else with the same eyes. I always wore my sunglasses right up to my eyes when I was in the Current as to not be identified by anyone from Laurentia, which I did not want to happen. But in Spira I wore my sunglasses low on my nose and occasionally pulled them off at night. It is not out of shame, but for my life to be protected.

AN UNFIT FATHER

Waltei Andrewskiewictz was a funloving, happy man with a doer’s personality. He was an expert mechanic, and had an array of machines he made in the basement under the townhouse we lived in in Laurentia, NUSA. The basement was actually an intricate array of passages that eventually led to an underground laboratory/machine shop 100 feet beneath the road in front of our building. But when fire broke out, the neighbourhood was engulfed and a large arena took its place. I was the sole survivor of the South Sector 4-6 fire, and I was moved to my new parent’s home in Centre Laurentia, or Centre Sector A-1. There I met Matt, Sean, and Samuel. They were my friends even after we all moved to Deloria after the city of Laurentia was completely obliterated by Doomstryke 1. Samuel almost didn’t make it, but we were all all right. Laurentia is the Current’s equivalent to Spira’s Zanarkand, only Laurentia was destroyed not by beast, but by undisciplined and irresponsible men’s need for notoriety. Even though father died in the fire, his soul was recalled by Delor Tigris and Scholar Munt, who are now Tormentor Tigris for his mass killings and Protector Munt for his wisdom, even if he is a bit sly. But I never got to talk to dad after that; he ran off. It was rumoured that he married the descendant of Delor Andrea and Delor Flash, but she disappeared at least twenty years ago. It was also rumoured that he, along with Rikku’s father, Cid, invented the airship that could carry the Deathstryke and all of its fuel.


We went to Meneux looking for Cid and Waltei, when I thought I saw a familiar group. “oh, god.”
“What, what is it?” Shinra replied.
“DAMN! LEBLANC IS TOURMENTING THE CURRENT, TOO?” I yelled.
But then I saw who was with them….
“Matt? Sam?”


PART TWO

THE LAURENTIA FOUR

The group that became the Laurentia Four began with the destruction of Laurentia. The group that assembled was Samuel, a black mage, Matthew, a stealthy kid, Sean, an Irish kid with a cool sword, and I, a White Mage because my adopted parents wanted me to have white magic skills. I am happy I did study it, though. It’s quite useful.

Anyway, Sam and Matt were battling the Syndicate and not doing well. They seemed to be delusional; I have never seen them fight this badly. You’d think that a black mage and a fighter with the dark blade would be good at ripping apart the Syndicate, but they actually were bad at it. We ran up to the scene.

“well, I guess you want to fight them, huh? Good luck!” LeBlanc said to Yunie as they ran off.
Sam’s eyes were red under the shadows of his hat, signifying that he wasn’t quite there. His gloved hands were glowing with energy and looking at us. “well, this won’t end well,” I said.
Sam cast Thundaga at Paine, Shinra and Sean, while Matt took me out in one swipe of his dark blade. Maybe they weren’t as bad as I thought. Yuna and Rikku were the only ones who were conscious.


“RIKKU! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN’T MAKE A HEALING GRENADE?”
“It was worth a try!”
“How can I tell you this, ummm, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE!”
“okay, please! We need to revive Craig! Now all we need to do is….”


I jolted up to see Rikku at my side and Matt at the end of the bed. We were on the Celsius, with Sam sitting at the couch on the loft. I looked at him; I hadn’t seen him in four years. Sam was in his traditional black mages robes as usual, and his face was not visible, but you could see his white eyes. I looked at Rikku, and said “well, hello.” She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Shinra walked up to me and handed me a grid with small spheres emblazoned with symbols for different occupations. Thief, Black Mage, White Mage, gunner, gun mage, and a Delors’ sphere. “This is your sphere grid. I’ve owed you this for a while….”

I looked at Matt, he looked at me. “Matt,” I said, “you were with the Annexers. Were you still faithful to the Delors?”
“yes, and I got some dirt on what they’re gonna do!”
I smiled at him. “Thanks, Matt.”

Rikku looked at me with a look of passion in her eyes. I knew that she was thinking about something, though. “what’s wrong?” I asked her. “Oh, nothing.” She kissed my cheek and got into the bed next to mine. we drifted off….


“Rikku, I have something to ask you. I, uh, but, because, and, so, er-“
“What do you want to ask me, Craig?”
“I always- uh,”
“oh, come on! Please tell me?”
“Rikku, I love you. I will always love you. I want to ask you to, to….”

SUNRISE

“GET UP! Rise and shine Craig!”
“ugh…. What’s up?”
“you gotta get up!”
“uh, why?”
“look at this!”
The sunrise on the seas was a remarkable sight. The colours….
“it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she said.
“Yes, almost as beautiful as you.”
She looked at me, I looked at her.
“Rikku, I want you to have this pendant.” I gave her my Delor’s globe. “It’s just for you to remember me by. Even if I go, I will always be in your protection.”
Rikku looked at me and put it on. It started glowing bright blue. “wha- huh? What just happened?” I asked.
She looked at it and said “I donno.”
It’s a mystery to all of us to this day what really happened with the globe. Rikku was aligned with me now, though. And that dream….

Matt was down in the bridge by the time I got there. He was looking at me, with his regular ‘hey I think you’re strange, go away’ look. I looked at him and said “you are…. Different.”
He smiled at me and just said “no hard feelings, right?”
I went over to him. “you are-“
“A BIG MEANIE!” Rikku yelled. She walked over to him, took the pike out of my hands, and held it up to him in a threatening manner. He cringed at the sight of my staff. “BUT RIKKU! I WAS SPYING ON THEM!” he yelled.
“Well, if you were spying, cough up the info,” I was getting impatient.
“well, there is more than one DeathStryke AD now….”

“Rikku, can we get to Bikanel now?” I asked.
“well, first we need to get through the portal and-“
“YOU MEAN BROTHER DROVE CELSIUS THROUGH THE PORTAL?” I said, it was unbelievable.
“yeah, of course he’s gonna save his future brother in law!”
“wha-?”
“you heard me!” she said.
“are you saying…?”
“Yup!”
“uhhh, ummm…. OKAY! LET’S FIND WALTEI AND CID!” I changed the subject. Sam walked up. “Hmm, if we went to Meneux, we’d have a problem….”
“what is that, Sam?” I asked.
“Well, there is anti aircraft artillery all over the outskirts of the city, and we’d have to land in the fields outside of Meneux forest, and I sort of…. Bewitched the trees in that forest, so we’re going to have a problem.”
“YOU IDIOT!” Sean yelled.
“Well, we’re just gonna have to barge in and get through the forest!” Rikku yelled.
“Very good Idea,” Said a sarcastic Paine to Sam.
“Okay, Let’s have the guys go and get through the forest, and-“ brother started.
“OH! C’mon, brother! Give us girls a chance to have some fun!” Rikku said.
“I jus- well, Yuna- GAAH!” Brother yelled. He then walked over to Sean and said “I have my eyes on you.”

MENEUX ORDEAL

We landed at the fields of Meneux outside Meneux forest. Since Meneux is a huge city surrounded by a forest surrounded by a giant field, Meneux is far away from any other cities in Deloria, and thus it’s completely dependant on its port.
Sam looked at the forest and asked a simple question. “Why do we live?” he asked. “It’s a pointless concept if you really think about it. We’re born, we go through pain, mysery, happiness, love, heartbreak, curiosity, limit, sadness, and a broad array of emotion. And then it’s such a delicate thing that it is taken away from us, and our minds are left in the hearts of others, as we pass into oblivion. Why go through all the trouble to make something that is just going to be destroyed?”
Paine looked at Sam and asked “why do you question these things?”
“I just… want to know about these things.”

We advanced into the forest and looked around. It was a seemingly normal forest, but- WHAM! A tree came down in our path and made a creaking noise. “well, that was startling,” I said. EROOOK! The tree stood itself up again! “SAM! WHAT DO WE DO?”
“well, I think you have to hit it,” he replied. How informational.
The tree cast firaga at Paine as Yuna got a scan on it and Shinra got a magic test. “It’s got 400 HP, so it’s easy to kill,” Yuna said. Shinra gave us the results of his scan. “It’s mostly Fire magic, and it collapses on you as a physical attack. If you cast blizzard at it maybe-“
Sam cast Blizzard Fury at it and it fell. “that was easy.”

It was like this for the next few hours, battling trees. We were in the middle of the forest when Sam finally said something about our early teenage years. “remember when we were fifteen and we came up with the idea for lifeflies?”
I remembered. Lifeflies were when we condensed our thoughts and bodies into a small floating sphere, that looked exactly like a pyrefly. The only difference was colour (I was Blue, Sam was black, Sean was green, Matt was red). We could move about without being noticed. And we had full control. “well, let’s go into that mode!”
Sam and I held up our staffs together and cast the dark screen. We all passed through it and we were in lifeflies. Rikku was yellow, and Shinra was bright green, but I had trouble defining Paine from Sam and Yuna from me as we were the same colour. We went through the forest and went back into our original state.
“THAT WAS COOL!” Rikku and Shinra both yelled simultaneously. But we weren’t in the clear yet….
I saw Cid come out from the gates to Meneux, and he yelled over “WELL! If it isn’t Andrewskiewictz’s kid and my daughter sitting pretty as a couple! I knew you would meet someday, just not so late!” Rikku and I simultaneously blushed at this. He went over to us. “So, how can I be of service?”
“do you know where Waltei is?” I asked.
“referring to your old man by his first name? them’s fightin’ words!”
“just tell him where he is, dad!” Rikku yelled.
“well, he’s at the tavern. Predictable of you Andrewskiewictz if you ask me.”
“Thanks for your help, sir,” I interrupted. Not that I didn’t take lightly to someone pointing out the truth in my father.
“now hold ON a sec, there! How’s about I join your team and I can get a free ride to Spira?”
“ugh, okay, dad,” Rikku said. “yeah, my pops isn’t the best in the world. I’m sure yours’ is better,” she whispered to me.
Heh.

“OI! TENDER! ANOTHER MINTY FROTH TO ME, EH?” Waltei was always one to rack up a bar bill the size of his arm. “Waltei, I want to give you something,” I said. I hit him with my staff and left.

“So we went through all the trouble for that,” Paine said. Cid was on the airship catching up with brother, and Rikku was embarrassed by him. I went up to her and asked if I could talk to her in private.
“Rikku,” I said on the deck to her. “I want to ask you something….”
“yes?”
“why are you ashamed of Cid?”
“he’s not a good dad. He never really payed attention to me….”
“well, don’t be. I fell in love with you, and that’s worth everything in the world.”
“awww, you’re soo sweet! Come on into the cabin with me, I have a surprise….”

“RIKKU! You fell for an Andrewskiewictz? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!” Cid yelled. “I wanted you to marry that Gippal kid, and you go and fall for Waltei’s offspring. HOW DARE YOU!”
“DAD! I FELL FOR HIM BECAUSE HE’S A SWEET AND LOVING MAN, AND HE’D GIVE THE WORLD FOR ME!” a truth…. “THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS, AND I LOVE HIM!” she swerved around and kissed me. I almost fell into her arms. Now Cid wasn’t too happy about this, and he hit me on the shoulder and I fell over. “See? He’s weak as scrap!” I cast Thundaga at him. “but strong in magic as Sam,” I said.

BUDDIES

“WAIT! LAND IT HERE!” We were over Files’ Archipelago. It was where my little buddy was! We landed and I yelled out. AZEN! AZEN AZUL! Suddenly the flying little Manta ray came over to me. “CRAIG!” he yelled. Rikku looked at Azen and yelled “OOOHHH! HE’S SOO CUTE!” and squeezed him. “Whoa, who’s the pretty blonde, Craig?” Azen asked.
“This is Rikku,” I said.
“Well, nice to meet you, Rikku!” Azen liked her already.
Azen is a little Chibi Manta Ray, but being from Files’ he was endowed with the ability to fly in the air as if in water. I rescued him from some pilots when I was thirteen and I taught him how to speak and he learned how to cast magic. We became special friends but I had to leave him at Files’ because the RedGuard was going to hurt him. But now we were reunited at last!

Shinra got a good conversation going with Azen, as Rikku brought me into the cabin for her surprise. Azen has a little bit of a nosy persona and went into the cabin as we were… having fun.

“hmmm, yeah.”
“I love you Rikku.”
“WELL WELL WELL! It looks as if you two are in waaay over your heads and age!” yelled Azen.
“GAAAH! GET OUT AZEN!”
“this is just like old times….” He started.

Azen is a bit…. Dumb.

SUNDOWN IN DEL RIO

Later, we were speeding along in the Celsius when I realized….
“ENDEVOUR!”
“Don’t worry, its back in a cave in Besaid,” reassured Yuna.
I sighed heavily. If I lost Endevour- wait. That’s it! “WE CAN HAVE THE REBEL BASE IN THE BESAID CAVES! IT’S FOOLPROOF!”
“Good Idea,” said Paine.
Sam was lying on a bed in the cabin when Rikku and I walked in. he said “you know, you two make a great couple. But I always wondered about the point of dating. One of you will die and leave the other starved for affection. I don’t want to see any of you in pain. You just look so good together…. Too good.”
“you’re strange,” Matt said.
“do you realize that nobody loves you, Matt?” Sam replied.
We were going to land outside Del Rio when it became dark. Shinra was on his computer, taking readings of the area. It was calm.

It was another hot night in Del Rio. Rikku and I were laying on the deck of the airship landed in Del Rio commons. We were enjoying drinks and talking and laughing and having a great time. But then she fumbled with the strings of her top and looked at me with that cute innocence look. Her flimsy top slipped off as she took off her scarf and wrapped it around both our hips and tied it. We kissed in the crescent moon. It was a magical night. Having her body against mine was better than any feeling I’ve ever had. She slipped my coat off and zipped down my undershirt. I gave myself entirely to her. The necklace I gave her had started to glow a soft warm blue again. Another mystery.
“It does that whenever I go near you, Sam, or Matt. It’s weird,” she said.
I looked at her. “I have no idea where that pendant came from. I got it from my adopted sister when she left for Descesa a couple years ago. She said ‘from whom you get a silver ring, the pieces fall into place. There you will find visions of the future.’ It’s just another mystery.”
“wait. Visions from the past… find the pieces… into place… this is a Delor’s globe! But not any Delors globe! It’s a sphere core! This activates a sphere when you put each of the latitude and longitude lines in!”
I looked at her. ‘You…. You found it out?” I jumped up and let out a whoop! But I fell back down, as I was still tied to her. But the knot….
“oops,” she said. “it’s a little tight. Let me get my top back on-“ it fell off the side of the airship. “CRUD!” she exclaimed. “this is just greeeat,” I said. She was fumbling with her grid. She changed into Delor sphere, or tried to at least. But our coats were tangled and I was still tied tight to her. “ugh, why does this have to happen now?” Rikku got the pocketcom out of her Delor coat and dialled in a code. “Yunie! We need a little help up on the deck! Make sure nobody else comes up. HURRY!” Yuna came up and looked at us tied tight together. “Rikku, you always get yourself into trouble like this,” she said. “can you untie us?” Rikku asked. She went down to untie the knot in her scarf. “hmm, pretty tight.” “I tried to change dresspheres, but the scarf wouldn’t go!” Yuna finally untied the scarf and I got up…. But so did Rikku. “So, what’s up?” She looked down at the straps tying her coat and my inner shirt, and they were tangled with each other. So basically now we were attached to each other by the front. “you got to change into thief, Rikku,” Yuna said. She hesitated, and changed back into thief. But her top was still over the side, even though we were untied from each other. Yuna started laughing, as did I. Rikku was starting to do a little dance, and Matt came up. “Yuna we foun- whoa….” Matt was looking at Rikku with a stare. I jumped over the side and got her top. “thanks, Craig.”

THE BATTLE FOR THE PENDANT

We went into the bridge and saw that we had company. Azen was next to Buddy talking to him.
“Don’t you ever get tempted to just…. You know.”
“what?”
“You’ve got three cute young girls running laps around you and you never make a move on them. You don’t even say, ‘hey, cutie, want somma me?’ It’s just…. Er…. Are you gay?”
“WHAT?”
“being a ray I can hit on them, but I can’t date them. But you’re taking yourself for granted. I just- oh, hi Craig! Were you hitting it off with Rikku again?”
I looked at our guests with a bit of a blush. Cid and a couple other Al Bhed were looking at me and talking.
"Fru ec dryd?"
"y get so tyikrdan vamm eh muja fedr. ra ec hud naymmo dra doba dryd E fuimt mega ran synnoehk."
"yht dra nyo?"
"Rec vneaht dryd fa belgat ib y frema pylg yd yh ecmyht."
"ouin tyikrdan ec jano.... yddnyldeja."
"tuh'd ajah drehg ypuid ed."

“where did these people come from?” I asked Brother.
“They’re from the town. They came here a while back and want to come home to Spira.”
“okay.”
I went up to the stairwell at the back of the bridge. “ EVERYONE, RIKKU AND I HAVE A NEW MISSION FOR THE GULLWINGS! WE NEED TO FIND THE PIECES TO THE PENDANT THAT SHE’S WEARING AND PUT THEM TOGETHER TO ACTIVATE A SPHERE. NOW WE NEED TO FIND THE PIECES!”
It was then that Sam, Matt, and Sean each held up a shiny piece of metal. Sam had a + shape, Matt had a = shape, and Sean had a () shape. All the latitude and longitude symbols. “and you… never told me?” I said.
They looked at me. Sam broke the silence. “We were told by Brittany to never tell you where the pieces were. She said you can’t… see the sphere.”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to duel you for them!”
Rikku ran up. “I’ll help!”
Yuna ran up, too. “This’ll be fun!”
Paine…. She came up too? “It’s for a sphere.”
And finally, Shinra and Azen. “time to kick some ass,” they said simultaneously.
And first we battle Sean.
He swung at me with his sword and missed. Rikku stole some phoenix downs. Paine did an energy break, and I cast Thunder. Sean cast haste on himself. Paine Switched with Azen who cast Tidal Wave at him. Sean then cured himself and Matt joined him. Matt took out his dark blade and struck Azen within minutes of death. Azen switched with Yuna who did a scan on the both of them. “Matt’s immune to all status ailments,” She said. “and Sean is resistant to fire.” I threw my staff into the air and did a raildrive on them. Sean was knocked out and Sam ran out. Matt revived Sean and Sam cast slow on us. It missed me, as I am too immune to status ailments. I cast Mega haste on the team and Matt struck Yuna, also within just minutes of death. She switched up with Shinra, who threw me a sphere. “change into all your dresspheres and then change into this one,” he said. He cast Flare at our enemies. I changed into white mage. Rikku stole Matt’s last potion. Shinra healed us all and I changed into black mage, and Rikku stole some of Sam’s MP. Then Shinra switched with Paine and she struck Sean only to be struck again by him and fall. I changed into gunner. Rikku revived Paine and she switched with a healed Yuna. Yuna scanned Sam and said: “He’s about to do the group’s special move!” I changed into gun mage. FINALLY! All my paths lit up with a blue lustre. Sean began to run around us, faster and faster and faster. Matt jumped up and began swinging his sword in circles. Then we all were in a huge blue orb and Matt began cutting us up, as Sean stole all our items! Then Sam sucked up half of our HP and MP and cast all four elements at their highest form. “THUNDAGA! WATERGA! BLIZZAGA! FIRAGA!” and I was the only one left standing. So I changed into that special sphere that Shinra gave to me. Then I was in a tornado of darkness. I came out of it in some Mage’s robes and a black mage’s hat. Fingers of twisted metal formed a staircase that I climbed. At the top I was in control of two amorphous blobs of mercury to my left and right. One smashed atop Sam, and the other encased Matt in a statue. The guns on the front of my pedestal shot Sean, and they were all within striking distance of losing. Sean fell to another smack of the left blob and Sam…. Used a mega phoenix and revived the group! They did their special move again and I was the only one left. I went back into Delor sphere, revived Paine, and cast Deathstrike at them, sucking life out of all three of them and Paine. I was the only one left standing. “How’s that for ya?” I asked as I revived Rikku.

Sean got up and looked at us. “You have my piece, now.” He threw me the metal curves that I put into the ring hanging on Rikku’s neck. The ring glowed blue, then green. “There. You want the other two?” he cast life on them. “Now you have to battle them!”

Matt healed us with our hi potions. We then attacked Matt vigorously with all our overdrives. He fell, and Sam cast ultima at us. It missed Rikku, but I was almost gone. She switched with Yuna, and I switched with Azen. Yuna found that Sam had a weakness to water. Azen looked at Yuna. Yuna looked at Azen. Azen cast Tidal wave at Sam and Matt. Both, gone.

“You have my piece,” Matt said. He threw over the two bars. I placed them into the globe, which glowed blue, then green, then red. “And now, your final battle is with…. SAM! As he cast life and curaga at him. He got up, and went into Ultimate mode. His eyes that normally glow blue-white were glowing red. He threw us into the firey column and burned us to a crisp. Yuna was almost gone, and Azen was on the ground. Yuna scanned the ultimate mage and came up with the reading…. “he’s impenetrable,” she said. “nothing will work. Immune to all the elements, death, life, status ailments, all magic, physical attacks…. We would need an army.”
“Calling a draw, pansies?” Matt said.
“knew you’d give up!” Sean said.
“I will enjoy this,” Sam said.
“WAIT!” Paine said.
“What?” Sam was interested.
“I’ll…. I’ll give myself to you if you go back from ultimate mode. You can do anything to me, I won’t protest.”
Sam was interested. He put Paine on a chain and laughed. The chain slowly sucked into the earth with her at the end of it. She was screaming, protesting at the end of the chain. “NOOOO!!!!” Sam looked down at her and laughed. “See you in Hell.” He changed back into mage mode as Paine disappeared into the earth, screaming. “PAINE!” Yuna yelled. Now It was just Yuna and I. I did the rail drive on Sam, and Yuna did a silence bullet on him. He was now completely dependant on his staff. He smacked Yuna, and attached the chain…. “NO!” I yelled and quickly destroyed the chain. Sam fell down….

We won. Sam threw us the cross and the pendant was complete. It glowed blue, green, red, and black. The globe was as good looking as ever. But Paine-
“Is she gone?” Yuna asked.
“She can be brought back,” I said.

The trouble with Sam is that he has extreme powers, but often uses them for both sides of the fight. He can’t use them for good without using them for himself.

“We need to get the sphere from Brittany,” Sam said. “She can also bring Paine back. But we need to find her.”
“Here is my clue,” Matt held out a sphere.
“Mine,” Sean said.
“I have mine.” Sam said.
“Huh?” I asked.
“let’s watch them.” Sean said. “Craig, hold out your pendant.”
I took the necklace from Rikku and the spheres glowed the same colour respective to their owners. Sean’s was first. I saw Brittany, she was holding her staff and looking at the holder of the sphere. She was saying something….
“If you are to cross the bridge of repentance over the river of sorrow, you will find the secret in a cave.”
Matt’s….
“You will never see it, or touch it, without the middle. Then it’s visible to anyone.”
Sam’s….
“A great flood of memories will come, and you will find the single thought.”
There was more.
“I hope you and Rikku have a good wedding and life, Craig.”

The spheres….
“Wow….” We were all speechless.
“the bridge of repent….” Said Sam
“Over the river of sorrow….” Said Matt
“Secret in a cave with no middle….” Sean said
“a flood of memories…. THE SPHERE IS IN CENTREAL LAURENTIA!” Rikku exclaimed.

How she knew…. I love her. LOVE HER!

THE BROKEN HEART OF LAURENTIA

We were in Laurentia by daybreak. It was a city that I never wanted to see. It was the Current’s Zanarkand, only more dark and evil. Nothing lived among its ruins. It was a dreadful place. A place of sorrow. And strangely…. A place of dark beauty. There were mysteries beyond what we could imagine. And-

We were alone.

It was just Rikku, Matt, Sam and I suddenly. Then ahead of us-
It was a young man, strange looking…. And very familiar. With him were three girls. All familiar….
“Rikku,” I said.
“Rikko,” said one of the girls….
We ducked behind a pillar in our path.
“What is it, Chrisse?” Rikko said
“ I thought I saw…. Nevermind.” Chrisse said.
“I hate this place. It’s…. cold.”
“Do you realize that nobody cares, Mayane?”
“Sam, you are not a good person.”
They left, and I got up.
“Weird.”
We finally got to the site of where the arena was, and I found a place where the floor was caving in…. where the entrance to Dad’s lab was. We went in….
“Hi, Craig, how are you?” I heard a voice….
“Brittany, I’m fine. I wanted to know about the sphere….”
“I see Rikku solved the riddle for you. I wanted to give this to you but…. It’s not something you’d want….”
“I want to see it anyway. I’m ready, Brittany.”
“Nope! I need to see you fight for it! Give me all you’ve got!”
“Alright! Let’s go!”
She went into ultimate mode. So did Sam.
They were casting at each other as I gave Rikku some pointers. “Rikku, now that Sam made us some Ultimate spheres, let’s give them a try. I went into Ultimate mode and struck Brittany with a element rod. Rikku went into ultimate mode and did an HP pilfer. Brittany was out of ultimate mode, and we decided to give her a break. We went into regular mode, and Matt struck her. Sam came out and Rikku replaced Sean in our special group move. Sam brought us all up in the orb, Rikku ran around her, stole all her items, and Matt sliced her. Then Sam did the elements. It was my job to finish it. I was to suck the HP and MP out of her and give it to the group. She fell and we triumphed. But she got back up, and threw a flare into the air. Two machina started ripping us to shreds. I cast Thundaga at them and they fell. Brittany got up, gave us the sphere, and joined our cause. We went back to the airship, and to our discovery.

THE FUTURE AND A PROPOSAL

The sphere was dull grey. Rikku put the pendant into it and we saw it glow bright blue, green, red, black, yellow, and then blue. We watched it….

“But, if I am in the Life Forest without the portal, I’ll never see her again!”
“thus is the price for saving her soul and yours.”
“I am here…. And never to see my love again? I saved Spira and died…. She tried to bring me back, and I come here instead of the Farplane?”
“yes, you are to find your friends here. I am here to watch over you, help you with weapons, and guide you. You will find out the mystery of this forest and leave it only then….”

“It’s…. me,” I said.
“Yes, a recording from the future, two years into the future to be exact,” Brittany broke to me.
Rikku looked at me. “Don’t die, please? I love you.”
“It is…. The future’s decision, not yours, not mine, not Craig’s, but time’s.”
“But now we need to destroy Deathstryke,” I said. “Rikku, if this is true, I need to ask you something. It’s-“
“What?”
I want- will you- uh, what I wanted to say-“
“What?”
“Will you…. Will you….”
“Will I what?”
“Ugh, why can’t I say it?”
“Are you proposing?”
“Y-hmm-ye-ugh. YES!”
“Say it with me, now. Rikku…. Will….You…. Marry…. Me.”
“Marry, will you Rikku me? Imean, Rikkuwillyoumarryme- UGH!”
“Slowly…. Make it romantic!”
“Rikku, will you marry me?” I asked.
“Yes, I will! Yes!”
“YESSS!” I yelled.
I gave her the complete pendant. She put it on. It started glowing white.
“It was never supposed to do that!” Brittany said.
That, now, is the true mystery.

THE END OF THE SECOND PART OF THE JOURNEY

“Brittany, Sam sent Paine to hell. Can you help us bring her back?”
“ooohhh, I KNEW SAM WOULD DO THIS! GRR!”
“of course you did, you’re a sage,” Sam said.
She brought her back in the snap of her fingers.
“thank you, sis,” I said.
She wanted to come with us to the airship. She was looking for her own husband, Jason, and then we were to go back to Spira.

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