((I have NO idea why I even wrote this. I was bored in class one day and just started writing this because I had recently played Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 after borrowing it for a week. I doubt a lot of people willl like it, but hey, this was just something I started from daydreaming and all that. Hope you DO like it, even if it's just a little bit. Please post comments and stuff, too.))

Chapter 1: Awakening

Danielle groaned, slowly forcing her eyes open but squinting them shut against the sun overhead. She turned over on her stomach, pushing herself to her feet and nearly losing her balance from the shifting sand underfoot. She steadied herself and looked around, dazed.

She was on a small beach with a pier and a few small huts. No one was in sight, but it looked like a group of people had just been here judging from the footprints. Danielle shook her head, trying to clear the fog that had settled itself in her mind so she could figure out where she was. This was a stark contrast from the underground city of Ehn'gha she had been fighting in moments before. But how had she got here? Where was here?

Off to the right was a pathway leading away from the beach. She took a step towards it when her foot nudged something hard. Danielle crouched down, picking up the pieces of her shattered sword. Flashes from the battle shot through her mind as she stood up once more, holding the remnants of the blade in her hand.

A dark power had been growing in the Guardian City, so she had gone to investigate. Her sister Alexandra had protested strongly, saying that Danielle had only been out of the hospital a few weeks and shouldn't be straining herself so much. She had been seriously injured and just recovered from the wounds she had received in that battle that was eternally seared into her memory. Reassuring her sister that she would be careful and wouldn't be gone long at all, she had entered the ancestral Roivas mansion and made her way down into the ancient city beneath it.

It had been a trap. A powerful man had ambushed her in the heart of the city, using dark arts to fight her. She had given it her all, but in the end, the man had shattered her weapon and opened a dark gateway. He had ranted on about sin and darkness, and there was something otherworldly about him. The power he used wasn't that of the Ancients. It was something even stronger.

The darkness that had surrounded her when she was sent through the gateway had overwhelmed her senses, and she wasn't able to hold onto consciousness for long. Now she was here on a beach in a place far different from her home or anything she had ever been to. Her best chances for finding out where she was at were to find anybody who lived here. Hopefully, a town or something was nearby, and she could get some information from there.

Sighing, Danielle undid her sword scabbard on her back and put the two halves of the blade inside, recalling how she had come across the sword. She had seen an apparition of sorts when she entered Ehn'gha, and it had lead her through the winding pathways to it. There was a power hidden deep inside of it, but she highly doubted she would ever be able to call on it. And now with it being broken, that power was gone. "A gift from a spirit of that dead city," she whispered. "But why did it lead me to the sword? Why did it want me to have it so bad if I ended up breaking it in battle?" Danielle sighed heavily once more, carrying the scabbard in one hand as she looked towards the path. She had better get a move on, or her questions would never be answered.

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"Now this was unexpected," Danielle muttered, looking around at the small village she had entered. It was so old fashioned that she felt like she had gone a few hundred years in the past. "Or a little over a thousand maybe. Where the heck am I?" She walked forward, noticing the curious glances from people all around. In her dark blue jeans, black T-shirt, and navy blue tennis shoes, she really stuck out.

Danielle made her way to the largest structure, a temple. There was a strange power coming from inside of it, but it wasn't like the dark power she had felt in Ehn'gha or anything. It actually seemed comforting, and something inside of her wanted her to go to it. Curious, she stepped inside.

The first things to catch her eyes were the four large statues. No one was inside at the moment, but voices drifted out from the chambers on either side of a set of stairs. The power she felt came from somewhere beyond the door at the top of the steps.

I know I probably shouldn't do this, but I have to see what that source of that power is. I can feel it calling out to me...

Danielle checked to make sure no one was watching her as she crept up the stairs and through the door, finding herself now in a labyrinth of sorts. Obviously, it had been rigged with numerous puzzles involving spheres, and someone had been through just before her. She walked through it, looking around in awe. What kind of place was this? Never before had she seen or heard of anything like this.

Voices drifted through the corridors, along with the sounds of footsteps on stone. Danielle hid in a dark alcove, hiding before someone saw her. She peered around the wall, watching as a group of people came out of the room.

There were two girls: one with brown hair and white and blue robes, and the other had black hair with a black dress-like robe. A large creature with dark blue fur came next, along with two men. The first man had orange hair and wore a yellow outfit with a blue headband. The other had blondish hair and wore a brighter yellow outfit than the first that covered more of his body. They were talking about something called an "aeon", and the girl with brown hair seemed slightly distracted. She fell behind a bit, then stopped for a second and looked around behind her. Danielle sidled back against the wall, shutting her eyes and hoping she hadn't been spotted.

"What's the matter, Yuna?" one of the men asked.

"It's… Nothing. I just thought someone was watching us," a soft female voice replied. Danielle peered around the corner once more, hidden in shadows as she looked at the group once more. The brown-haired girl was still turned in her direction, and her eyes looked around the room. What surprised Danielle was that one eye was blue and the other was green. Sighing softly, she followed her companions towards the exit of the maze.

Way too close, Danielle thought to herself, stepping out from her hiding place. She looked into the room the group had just left, the power she had felt at the entrance to the temple increasing as she stepped towards a single stone door. It rose upward as she approached, revealing a smaller room beyond. Danielle walked inside, her gaze attracted to a dome of glass on the floor. It covered the statue of a massive winged beast. She stared in awe, not noticing the ghostly figure that had appeared above it until it spoke her name. Danielle looked up, startled. "Who… Who are you?"

"I am the fayth of this temple. I reside in this statue, awaiting summoners so that I may lend them my aid and allow them to use the winged aeon, Valefor. You, Roivas, are one of those summoners."

Danielle shook her head. "No way! I have no idea where I even am, and you want me to be a 'summoner'? I don't even know what that is!"

The fayth's continued to speak, its expression never changing. "All will be revealed in time. Spira needs you, warrior of the light. It is in your blood to fight the darkness. Now, let your sleeping powers awaken. Valefor shall aid you." The spirit flew into Danielle before she could reply, and she collapsed to her hands and knees. Gasping, her eyes widened at the strange power she now felt inside.

"A summoner…? What does it mean…?" She slowly controlled her breathing and staggered to her feet, staring down at her gloved hands. She was trapped in a strange world, along, and told that she was needed in the fight against darkness. What was next?

Shaking her head, Danielle started towards the exit, stumbling a bit from the exhaustion she now felt after the fayth had entered her. She knew nothing about this world, and if she was going to find out any info, she would have to come up with a plan. No one would believe her story, so she had to think of something else. "Man, this can't be good at all," she whispered, creeping out of the empty temple.

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A group of people were gathered outside around a circle of dirt. The same five people she had seen before were there, and the brown-haired girl one of the guys had called Yuna was in the middle. Danielle walked down the steps, entering the crowd to get a better look. "I wonder who that girl is?" she whispered to herself.

"She is Yuna, daughter of High Summoner Braska," a lady beside her answered. Startles, Danielle looked at the lady, realizing it was one of Yuna's companions. She hadn't expected anyone to be able to hear her over the excited whispers of the people around them. "I've never seen you on Besaid Island before. What's your name?"

"Danielle. And yeah, I'm not from here." Danielle thought for a second before continuing on. "Not really sure how I got here, or where I'm from."

Way to go, she thought to herself. Act like you have no memory. Real smooth, idiot.

"I see… I am Lulu, one of Lady Yuna's guardians." She fell silent as Yuna began to perform some sort of ritual. A green symbol appeared on the ground, and four spheres of light shot into the clouds overhead. A giant bird-like creature then shot down, landing on the ground in front of Yuna. She gently strokes its face, and Lulu smiled gently. The smile fell away as she looked back at Danielle. "So, you have no memory of the past, correct?" Danielle nodded. "What all of Spira do you remember? Anything?"

Danielle shook her head. "Only my name, and that's all."

Lulu frowned slightly. "We will be traveling to Luca after we visit the temple in Kilika. Perhaps someone there may recognize you. I know the chances are slim, but it is worth the try…" She nodded over to the blond-haired man. "Tidus is another person like you. He doesn't remember where he's from due to Sin's toxin. Wakka told me he said he played for the Zanarkand Abes at first, but that's impossible. The city is a ruin. No one plays blitzball there anymore."

Danielle raised an eyebrow, confused. Zanarkand? What the heck was that? "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lulu sighed, shaking her head. "I'll explain it to you. We'll stay here in Besaid for the night before setting out for Kilika. You may want to get to know the others, even if we won't be traveling together for long."

Danielle nodded. "It sounds good to me." She watched as the crowds dispersed, wondering, not for the first time, what the heck she had gotten herself into.