Yuna sat in the ruins of the Zanarkand blitzball stadium staring at a sphere. It had all started with this, hadn't it? Not this sphere exactly, but a sphere nonetheless. Rikku had found a sphere with an image that might have been Tidus. One sphere had led to another, and another still until finally the spheres were second tier to the real problem. Not that it had stopped her from picking them up along the way. Every time she saw a sphere, no matter if it was related to Vagnagun or not, she gathered what she could and kept what she had no desire to sell. Then it was so much a habit that she' couldn't not pick up a sphere when she saw one. It was nearly an addiction that she well and truly valued in her life. A distraction from the mundane.

Her communicator buzzed on the stone seat beside her. Tidus was calling her. It seemed like he called her every five minutes. Never mind that they lived together, trapped in a single room hut on an island village or cooped up in an apartment in Luca. Yuna paused at her mental musings. Trapped? Did she really feel trapped in that hut? Only three years past she'd been delighted at the idea of living a normal life with a man who loved her. She also thought she'd be dead by the end of her pilgrimage. Dead and gone and Sin would come back in ten years time. Two years were spent mourning Tidus before she began the search. Mourning and wandering the village lost and without purpose and changing her very appearance. Two years of trying to find something she was good at and wanted to do. Then it came to her, clinging to a sphere Rikku had found.

She wasn't good at keeping house or cooking and she was absolute rubbish at weaving and pottery. Fishing and hunting were far from exciting and Blitzball, while fun, wasn't what she wanted in life. She wanted to explore. Explore and adventure and hunt for treasure and piece together the history of her world. The world she'd based so much of her life on and the foundation of her beliefs was something she'd lived for. That was the important part, wasn't it? Living.

Yuna looked down at the sphere in her hands once more.

It always starts with a sphere. This sphere, so ancient and decrepit that she'd wondered if it would even play. It had though. It had played and the foundations of her world, already shaking and newly built, crumbled once again. She considered chucking it out into the pool in the center of the stadium but such an act wouldn't erase what she'd seen or keep another sphere hunter from finding it. It wouldn't destroy the fact that those events Had happened...Yuna let out a shaking sigh. She couldn't do this alone. She couldn't make the choice to reveal this...This to anyone without help.

Her communicator stopped buzzing and Yuna picked it up before it could start again. She needed Dona and Issaru to help her with this. This was an issue for summoners because it concerned the Fayth.

~!~

"Thank you for meeting with me," she rose to greet her fellow summoners. She hadn't left the Zanarkand Ruins and she'd taken only four phone calls while she waited for the two in front of her now. A call from Rikku and uncle Cid, a call from Paine, and a call from Lulu.

"Dare I ask Why you've dragged us to this monkey infested pile of rubble?" Dona asked. Her clothes were showing proof that she'd taken up her rod once more and fought her way through to the stadium. However, they were less revealing this time around than they had been a year past. Her kimono was now covering her midsection where her child was growing while Barthello beamed proudly.

"I'm sure Lady Yuna wouldn't rouse us from our beds without reason, Lady Dona." Issaru was showing wear as well. Dirt and grime covered his formerly pristine robes, less in number now than they were before and shorter. They went no further than mid calf and his wide belt was slimmer, more like Auron's in size and function. He and Maroda been following the Kinderguardians if rumor held any truth at all. Protecting the little brother who'd been so dedicated to him before.

"It's about a sphere I've found." Yuna looked at the two summoners and their guardians. "I'm not entirely sure what to do about the information it contains. I'm not even sure I want to show it. In fact, I don't want to, but I have to."

She moved forward and set the sphere down upon the portable player.

~!~

The lab was clean and mild in temperature. Stark white walls were glaring in the fluorescent light and the cold steel beds stood out like sore thumbs. Men and women in white coats were milling about the room with clip boards and strange devices. One stood out more than the others, taller and obviously in charge of the situation. He wasn't an unattractive man. Quite the opposite in fact. Dark hair hung loose to his jawline, clean and healthy against fair skin and the barest dusting of stubble. He wasn't dressed like the others either. Something between a mage the the doctors surrounding him.

"Seventh, sixteen, ninty-three." He spoke. His voice was clear, highly educated, and resounding throughout the room. "Now beginning the process of aeon creation."

"FAYTH resin has been prepared Dr. Valentine," a young woman responded. She didn't look to unlike Lenne or Yuna herself. Dark brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, wrapped with a bright yellow ribbon to keep it in place. Blues and deep grays peeked out from beneath her lab coat and she nearly floated through the room.

"Thank you, Dr. Crescent. As we all know, these units won't be usable for some time. Likewise, if any volunteer wishes to retreat from the process, we will escort them to the exits without fuss."

The staff surrounding him made a sound of agreement before a young woman walked into the room. She was slender and blonde with a kind smile and excitement in her eyes. She walked up to Dr. Valentine and began to loosen the robe on her form. She was completely bare beneath the silk save for the thin chains of gold wrapped around her waist and hanging from her neck.

"Are you sure that's what you wish to wear into the FAYTH?" the doctor asked.

"Quite sure," she spoke. Her voice was enchanting.

"Very well. The creation of the Aeon will commence once you've stepped into the chamber." The doctor escorted her to a tall tube of greenish glass. "You have the deepest gratitude of the ShinRa Company for your contribution."

"I just want to live forever," the woman laughed. "What better way?"

She stepped into the chamber and the door was closed behind her. Thick goo poured down on her from above moments later and screams echoed throughout the room. Her body was changing, wings ripping from her back as the sluggish liquid destroyed her body. It was slow and quick all at once as the woman fell apart in the bottom of the chamber. Her remains began to float up to the top of the liquid and moments later, Valentine and three others cast a spell of some sort. Brilliant light flashed through the room as the spell was cast.

The sphere went dark for the briefest moments before showing the same room. The chamber was laying horizontal and two men were slicing the top of it off with a saw. The woman's body was showing, angelic wings covering her modesty while her mouth seemed to sing. A single hand rest against her throat as though it were trying to hold her voice in. There were no doctors inside of the room and the bright lights were dimmer now.

"Has the boss decided on a name for this one yet?" One of the men asked.

"Apparently he's torn between Siren and Lorelei. Bloody butcher he is..."

"Hey now, this is bein' recorded Ifrit. You don't watch your tone and you'll be thrown into the vat next."

"What would I do Gene?" Ifrit asked him. "He's already got one for each element. Honestly "

"For the Zodiac," Gene answered. "Not the elements. Lorelei isn't even in the zodiac he still turned his mistress into an Aeon, didn't he?"

~!~

Yuna sat down on the bleachers once more, noticing that Dona had taken a seat already. Issaru was leaning against a handrail and their guardians were in varying states of shock and awe. Barthello was sitting on the ground beside his wife's feet and Pace, poor child, was shaking at the edge of the steps. A a small puddle of bile rest by his feet where it hadn't gone all the way over the ledge.

"We can't let the rest of Spira know." Dona wiped her hands on her skirt and looked out across the broken down stadium. "We can't."

"Agreed," Issaru moved forward and took the sphere. "This can not see the light of day."

"We can't just leave it here either," Yuna shook her head. "Anyone might find it."

"The temples." Barthello's voice echoed out. "We can take them to the temples, or toss them out into the farplane."

"That won't work," Issaru shook his head. "One of the girls in Macalania tried and it ended up on display for the whole town to see."

"We can't just destroy them either," Yuna sighed. The others looked at her with shock. "You know there's more out there. This was the record of one, there's enough for each zodiac, so at least twelve more."

"At least."

They sat there a while longer, each wondering what they could do. They couldn't hide this for long if they didn't track the spheres down. For Yuna that meant traveling alone. Rikku would demand her people know and Paine would tell Nooj everything. The whole thing would be catastrophic at it's mildest if he found out. The war between New Yevon and the Youth League would start up again and not even the Machine Faction would stay neutral. Not unless Rikku ordered them to back out. Which she wouldn't if it meant the AlBhed people had a chance at reclaiming some part of Spira for themselves.

"I'll hide them." Dona stood shakily. "There's a small island off of Kilika, it's considered taboo to set foot upon it." Barthello nodded in agreement with her. "If you ever need to rest we will house you. Kilika has some of the more in depth records outside of Bevelle Temple. I'll look into those as well."

"I've fallen out of favor with Bevelle," Issaru admitted. "I'd be no use in researching. But I have explored Zanarkand more than most. I could help you here." Maroda nodded in agreement while Pacce shook his head to the negative. "Pacce, I wouldn't ask you to resume your guardian duties if you didn't want to."

"I could use some help around the house," Dona came over. "The child will come in perhaps four months and Barthello is wanting when it comes to house work."

This made things easier for Issaru and Maroda, she knew. It made things easier for her as well. She didn't have to carry the burden alone now. She didn't have to dig alone through endless piles of ancient writings and texts for answers to questions she couldn't find. It wasn't her choice alone to hide this from the people. At least for now. Once everything had been settled and figured out, Yuna would bring the idea up again. If it wasn't too horrible. She felt bad enough that Pacce was to be forever scarred by this.

They were all scarred by this.

"Lady Yuna." Maroda was coming over to her. Pacce was holding tight to Barthello's hand while Dona walked in front of them and Issaru was staring off into the distance. "I was wondering if you could tell us where you found the sphere."

Yuna nodded and rose from her place. She'd found the sphere deep in the more residential areas of Zanarkand. She assumed they were residential at least. Given the contents of the film they could have been anything. She led Issaru and Maroda out of the stadium and off towards the western half of the city.

"If you don't mind my asking, why were you here Lady Yuna?"

"I needed some time to think," she answered Issaru. "I know, it's hypocritical of me to come here after everything I said before."

"Not at all Lady Yuna. If anyone has the right to be here, it's you."

"I was wondering what to do. So much of my life, of all our lives, was based on coming here. I couldn't think of a better place to think about the beginning than the end." Yuna made a right along the road, towards Abelar Court and down hill from the stadium. The fiends around here weren't so aggressive as the ones closer to the temple. "I was going through the houses, studying their lives in hopes of finding some sort of sign for myself."

Yuna headed towards the manor at the end of the road and drew her gun. The streets were free of monsters, but that house always seemed to have something in it. Something was always popping out of a closet or out from under the floor boards. She hadn't been strong enough to go deeper into the manor before, but with help she might be able to this time around. Maroda and Issaru both had their weapons out; She was happy that Issaru had taken a gun for himself, even if he did still have his rod as a primary weapon.

"Lady Yuna, can I ask you something?" Issaru was watching as Maroda pushed the front door open. The Guardian had insisted upon taking up his mantle this one last time.

"Of course." She raised her gun as Maroda moved forward into the front room of the manor.

"Do you still practice with your staff?" Issaru's robes had been hiked up to reveal the pants he wore beneath. Wide legged and calf length, they made it easier for him to move, just as Yuna's old skirt had worked better with high slits on either side.

"Sometimes," Yuna admitted. "Though not as often as I once did. It's easier to use a gun, a bit safer too, but I find that it's easier to separate myself from the title of High Summoner. I can just be Yuna."

"Perhaps we can just be fighting for our lives?" Maroda suggested.

A large creature was staring down at them from the ceiling, clinging to the chandelier's remains as it swayed to and fro. None of those in the room had seen anything like it in all of their travels. Considering how far some had travelled this was quite something. The creature dropped from it's place, claws flashing in the dim light as it slashed at them. It looked half man, half axe, and entirely too mean. Luckily most things died if you shot them in the head. This creature was no exception. The three moved closer to it, trying to figure out what it could be.

"Perhaps its something from days past," Issaru suggested. "I never deviated from the stadium, and the AlBhed who tried to explore often had to be lifted out. You are certainly something, Lady Yuna."

"I've been terrified to come in here alone," Yuna laughed. Her laugh turned into a smile, mischievous and full of adventure. "Shall we keep going?"

They did. Though they didn't have to go very far to find an office of sorts. An office, or a study room, possibly a library, it was all used for the same purpose in the end. There were a few loose papers floating around, the top-most faded by time while the ones beneath were filled with equations and notations. It wasn't until Maroda tried to pull a book from the shelf that they found anything useful. A sphere began to roll out from behind the book and Maroda had to rush to catch the artifact. The book split when it hit the carpet, cut up pages fluttered out while a chunk of iron fell from what remained of the book.

"Way to go Maroda," Issaru teased as he picked the book up. "You destroyed the best part of the series."

Issaru held the cover up for them to see and Yuna couldn't control the giggles that erupted. Maroda groaned in disgust before she started quoting lines from the 'novel'. It was almost sad that one of the stories to survive through the centuries was such a terrible one. 'Loveless' was something all children had to learn in school, usually around age fourteen, and it was by far the most dreaded assignment anyone had ever thought up. Technically it was the synopsis of a six volume series you ended up reading throughout the rest of your schooling; sadly it was the best written part of the series.

"That's not even a real sentence!" Maroda ended up shouting at the summoners. "It's like saying there's a best part of hell."

"It's an example of the most ancient and revered literature," Yuna gasped in mock horror.

"It's terrible," Issaru tossed the cover aside. "Perhaps we should see if the sphere my brother found is more put together."

"If it even plays," Maroda set the sphere on the desk. He looked around for some sort of player before finding something truly archaic. "Lady Yuna, did you bring your player by any chance?"

"I did," Yuna brought the player forth. She unfolded the wire frame and set it upon the sphere before adjusting the settings before hitting play.

The room filled with the images it had recorded centuries ago. They were back in the lab, watching as a different aeon was set onto a gurney and wheeled out by the same doctors as before. The party moved forward, still recorded by something steadier than a human hand that adjusted it's angle as they moved, floating above or further back or zooming in so close that the female doctor waved it away in annoyance. The corridor they were in now was clean steel, without decoration or color, it felt lifeless and cold compared to the halls every summoner had grown up in. Silent and stern faced they continued until they reached a set of doors. The doors slid open with a cold hiss and they wheeled through into the much smaller room just beyond. It wasn't an elevator, but it was a conveyance of some sort.

The screen flickered and suddenly they were on a veranda, the aeon being inspected by a man in an abundance of silks and jewels. The king they'd mentioned in the first sphere was standing before them now. He was old and frail, shaking in the breeze that came in off of the ocean behind him. The two doctors were off to the side, the man sitting at a small table with a cup of something in his hands. He looked older now, too tired of doing the experiments he'd been ordered to do. The woman looked entirely disinterested in the whole thing. Both were dressed differently now. More modestly and with less color in their lives.

"Very good, very good," the frail old king hummed. "Was this...who was this?"

"Your son," the woman replied. She still had zero interest in the situation. "Balerion, he decided to lead a coup, if you'll recall."

"I recall," the old king waved his hand. "Always something of a devil child, that one. Takes after his mother...where is she again?"

"You had your fourth wife consecrated three weeks ago," the woman spoke again. "She's joined her sisters in Remora, in their temple."

"Mm, that's right. I'm on my..."

"Sixth wife," the male doctor finally spoke up. "Your sixth wife, and you have only one heir left, your grandson, Ar-Pharazȏn. Your brothers didn't survive conversion and your only daughter has fled to Virgon Temple. King Zanar, you must stop converting so many at once, the system can't handle it and the people are preparing to rebel."

The video cut out leaving two summoners and a guardian very worried for Doctor Valentine. He was long dead, they all three knew this, but it was the way he died they were concerned for. Did he escape the obviously mad king's wrath, or had he become that which he'd created and come to hate?

"If we find the laboratory, we could probably find a way to get to the palace where the king was." Maroda was leaning against the remains or a chair. "If we found the Lab, we could probably find a map to tell us where everything was."

"It might be down in the basement," Yuna suggested. "It's a rather large house, and I saw a stairway leading down when we came in."

"Perhaps..." Issaru began to kick through the pages that were scattered on the floor, looking for the iron piece that had fallen from the book. "Ah-ha, a strange key, but a key none the less."

It was rather strange. Were it not for the odd teeth along one side it would have been a perfect square and completely ignorable. The three of them had however noticed that Dr. Valentine had used such a square to get from one place to another. Issaru pocketed the item within the many folds of his robes and the trio set off after setting their newly found sphere in Yuna's bag. ShinRa had developed a method for storing spheres that functioned much like an egg carton, but shrank the sphere down to a size much smaller than normal. No bigger than a large marble, they rest within the padded conveyance, allowing Yuna and the others to fight off the fiends waiting down in the basement.

There were many. Stronger than the Axe-man in the front room or the canids that had been roaming the halls, these were a sort of Chimera. Smaller than the ones they were used to but quicker and far more aggressive than the lumbering beasts of Macalania Forest. It took the three of them much longer than they expected to defeat the Minimera -as Yuna called it- and when Maroda called for a short break to heal up none of them argued. The basement was dark and dank, the walls covered in rust and muck. Yuna was afraid of what it might be made up from; splatters of the rust colored stains were answer enough in themselves. Still they pressed on, spells at the ready and weapons in hand.

The laboratory doors must have been cut through by something, because they had been sealed tight at the top and bottom and a ring of rough and blackened steel was the only way in. It was wide enough for Yuna and Maroda to both walk through into the dark room. Their flashlights weren't strong enough to penetrate the darkness completely but after some fiddling around they managed to get something to turn on and brighten the room. Not too bright or they would have seen an entire wall painted with the ancient bloodstains. all they saw was the pile of decrepit human shapes laying at the bottom. King Zanar's men or those of his opposers? Yuna couldn't say. Instead, she sought out the door at the back of the lab and ignored the endless cages and capsules lining the walls. Each had it's own lump of blackened flesh inside, save one. This one was missing both capsule and the machine it had been hooked up to.

"Lady Yuna," Maroda waved her over. He and Issaru were standing by the door at the far back of the too large room. She went over to them, pausing slightly when the air shifted around her. Turning back to the far wall she reached for her guns and began running to where the others were.

"Hurry," she called before turning to the now shifting bodies. One of them broke free and hissed, nothing more than a skeleton held together by black skin and twisted pyreflies. It was followed by three others, all as dark and wicked as the first. They were moving fast and Issaru was having trouble getting the key into the slot.

Yuna fired three shots into the nearest one, missing it's head the first time before hitting it in the neck and sending it's head flying. Maroda was not so lucky in his attacks, for the boney creatures were fast despite their age. When Yuna shot the head from the last one, Issaru shouted in success; a lucky thing as three more were crawling from the pile and two smaller ones slumping out of their cages. She couldn't run through just yet though. One of the Boneys had dropped a sphere and she Needed to grab it before they left. Yuna's finger curled around the sphere just before a skeleton hand grabbed her. The fiend's head erupted into a cloud of dust and shards above her and a rough hand was pulling her backwards. Issaru was shooting with her while his staff held the door open.

"Hurry," Maroda called to her. Issaru was shooting over Yuna's shoulder as she dashed through the small gap. Issaru jerked his weapon from between the doors and they slammed shut on one of the faster creatures. A boney canid was trying to claw it's way towards them, jaws snapping until Yuna shot it into a cloud of pyreflies.

"I worry for what we shall find next," Issaru leaned against a wall. They were in the small compartment from the sphere and it was awaiting command. Even though he worried, the summoner looked at the panel of buttons and pressed the one with an elaborate seal. The conveyance didn't move. Her pressed it again, and again, and just as the other two began to truly worry, he remembered his iron key and pressed it into the panel. He hit the Seal Button again and they were moving.

"Ever on," Maroda adjusted his grip on the sword. The transport was actually pretty roomy. "Are we in an elevator?"

"Uhm...I don't think so," Yuna shook her head. "Why?"

"I just wondered if it could be called an elevator if it moved from side to side." Maroda had started leaning against the wall, but faint light could be seen on the other side, so now he was trying to peer through the once window.

"I feel like we might be going down," Issaru said. He was standing where the gurney had been. There was a faint ring of energy on the floor; an imprint of what had once been there. "Not dramatically, but certainly down."

The ride was turning out to be a long one. In fact, they were speeding up just a bit before remaining at a steady pace. It gave them time to discuss the particulars of Elevators and moving sidewalks. It gave Issaru just a bit more time to keep on about Yuna's lack of practice with a staff. She still practiced almost every day thank you very much!

"I simply don't believe it," Issaru smiled. "Never, did we ever fight staff to staff."

"And never did you win a single fight between the two of us," Yuna countered. "You and I were both trained in our staves from childhood. There's no way either of us could forget to use the staff as a weapon."

They agreed to fight once more when the breeched the surface and returned home. For now there was wok to be done. Foes to fell. Secrets to keep.

The car slowed and burst forth from the darkness to zoom along a rail hundreds of feet up from the cliffs and jungles below. Curving around and revealing dingy and grime covered walls to be made entirely of glass and hardly protective against the foes they'd left behind. Not that it mattered now. Now there was the beauty of a city long forgotten and the palace they raced towards wth every minute. When they finally stopped it was at the highes point of the still noble tower. The tower was dirty and crumbling in certain places, but there was no mistaking it for the self same in the sphere they'd watched before. The balcony where Yuna wandered had been paced by the same mad king Zanar.

"Lady Yuna," Issaru called her away from the ledge.

"What did you find?" She asked. Maroda was still wandering around the room, broadsword drawn and eyes open.

"A madman's ramblings at first," Issaru handed her a diary. "But also this."

A map. Not a big map, in fact it seemed to be a map of the palace itself, but the bright red trail leading through it had ben scribbled in by a child, not a mad king. It went around this room, in and out of others, twisting and backtracking until finally it found it's mark.

"Do you think we should follow the map, or head straight for the treasure?" Issaru asked. His staff was out and he looked quite ready to use it.

"Let's follow the map. We'll be able to explore the area a bit more, and it would be some well deserved fun after the laboratory."

"Our ideas of fun are very different," Issaru smiled at her. He called to Maroda but the lone guardian didn't come over. His head hardly even moved. The summoners glanced at one another before hurrying over to see what had transfixed him so.

He stood before a fallen painting, half destroyed by sun and exposure, the other half covered in layer of grit and mold. No matter how damaged they could still see the faces staring out at them. The image of King Zanar sitting upon his throne. Powerful and with only the slightest hint of madness while his sons stood on either side of him. One behind each shoulder, grown and proud, and the youngest standing by his knees. A woman without a face sat on his right, only the lightest hint of her hand and her bright red dress remaining after a thousand years. The face that looked out at her wasn't one she'd seen before, but those eyes were. The eyes of Yunalesca. The first high summoner, her namesake. Her ancestor.

"Bevelle saw the opportunity to attack and took it." Maroda was still staring at the man in the painting. "They must have found out about his instability, about the rebellions starting, that's how the hundred year war between Bevelle and Zanarkand started."

"A hundred year war. The aeons he created were used to fight against them. And in the end it took Sin."

Yuna understood now why Maroda had ben staring at the painting for so long. This was the entire reason for their existence.

"We've decided to follow a child's map and explore the palace further," Issaru spoke up. "With luck, we can find a hospitable room to camp out in." He smiled at the two of them. "I may have caught a slight bug for exploring tombs while following Pacce."

"I'm in no rush to go back through the labs either," Maroda laughed. If either man noticed Yuna's silence they didn't mention it. Neither had come face to face with Yunalesca so they couldn't well see the relation between Zanar and the woman. But certainly they had read the records...no. There was no record of Zanar in Bevelle. Any that existed would be hidden away or buried beneath centuries of more banal information. This secret would remain between summoners until the day they died, or until the aeons withered away once more.

She shook it from her mind as they wandered through the palace. Yadanoki Tower and this place were very similar. The colors and the vaulted ceilings were one and the same and the windows, what remained of them, carried the same blue green glass. The map led them into what could have been a nursery once upon a time. Elaborately crafted cradles remained standing though covered in rust, priceless gemstones glinting in the afternoon sun. Little stone figurines had been left on the shelves, knocked over or broken.

"Where does our scribbled path lead us?" Issaru asked her.

"Oh, it takes us..." Yuna trailed off and went to the corner of the room where the map instructed them to go. Resting in a small nook was a very strange little doll that reminded Yuna of the al Bhed and one of Rikku's old toys. A paddle doll.

"Should we take her with us?" Maroda asked.

"I think so," Yuna nodded. She picked up the doll very gently, marveling at the small differences between this and the one her cousin owned. This was a work of art. Gold plated and embossed with hundreds of little images and colorful lacquer. The room held no other wonders within, only the wistful memory of a happy childhood.

The next room was back the way they'd come, past the King's office and into what appeared to be a little storage room. To the library after that and digging past great tomes they'd read when time wasn't so dreadfully short. Perhaps this room should be their camp. When she suggested it to the boys they agreed. It was easily defendable and held many things to occupy their time. Not a single a pyrefly floated within nor was there any moisture or mold to cause them discomfort. Careful to arrange a marker and start setting up camp, the trio moved on to the next room. Then to the next doll. Each was becoming more defined, more in tune with water and the oceans which ruled so much of Spiran life. Finally, after visiting the King's office for a second time, they were led into a large courtyard with a clear pool in it's center.

"Why do I feel like we're about to fight something?" Maroda asked. He'd readied his sword and Issaru had loosed his rod and a small pistol Yuna hadn't seen before. Apparently he'd seen the logic too.

"Because our journey has been too peaceful." Yuna walked closer to the edge of the pool where the map had claimed the treasure lay.

Her reflecion stare back at her. Features crystal clear and two perfect blue eyes staring back.

"Get back!" Yuna cried as she jumped away from the rising copy. The brown locks turned golden as she rose from the pool. King Zanar's mistress stood before them with two perfect golden wings erupting from her shoulders. The smile on her face was unnaturally pleasant and the light in her eyes was excited. Excitement over other living creatures or something to fight one couldn't say. Not until she lunged forward with claws extended. Her target was Yuna and though Maroda attempted to block the lunge, he could do no more than strike at the woman as Yuna's twin pistols erupted. She bounded back from them and gave all three an even look as golden locks fell short of covering her breasts.

Her mouth opened and a sound came forth. Sharp and grating to Yuna's senses, as though steel were screaming in the heat of a forge and some great machine were about to explode. it caused Issaru to clutch his staff and bend double as he undoubtedly heard the same sound. Maroda did not have sch a reaction. He turned away from the woman and raised his sword against Yuna and Issaru. The siren backed away and sit delicately on the edge of the pool, smiling at the blood about to spill.

"He is a better fighter than I," Issaru leapt back from his brother's blade.

The High summoner switched quickly into the Warrior dressphere, fighting the inkling and remnants of memory that came with the change, and quickly stepped between Maroda and Issaru.

"Take her out," Yuna called to the eldest. Maroda wasn't fighting as well as some of those she'd encountered, but his beserk nature had made him stronger. It also made him more reckless and less adept at catching obvious traps. As Issaru got closer to and egan fighting with the Siren his brother began to pay even less attention to Yuna, choosing instead to try and push past her in order to save the blonde. When he'd pushed past Yuna and exposed his back, the high summoner took a note from a friend and lammed the hilt of her sword into the back of Maroda's neck. He crumpled to the ground and the Siren let out another shriek as Issaru dominated their fight.

She fell to one knee and snarled at Issaru before transforming into a bright blue gem and hhovering midair.

"She's all yours," Yuna gestured for Issaru to take it. The man did and the pact between aeon and summoner was complete. "She was tougher than my first aeon."

"I have no doubt in my mind that many men were unable to conquer her." Issaru turned the gem over in his hands. "Unlucky for her. I am not so easily swayed by a lovely young woman."

"Baralai is single again," Yuna teased. "I know you've always liked him."

"Liked to look. He's far from what I seek in a partner." The two summoners bent to collect Maroda and dragged him back to the library. Night was falling and they needed to bunk down in case things got messy. Although...Before they moved to far out of the garden, Yuna spotted another strange paddle doll. Like the others, it was pointing in the direction of the next room. They would see about it tomorrow.

The night passed easily if one ignored Maroda's complaints about being knocked unconscious and the lack of a real fire to warm themselves by. There was no need for a fire, neither for light nor warmth. The palace was balmy and pleasant even in the darkest of night. A darkness that did not fall for the large crystals in the ceiling had absorbed the light of the day and shone gently down upon the travelers. It seemed an eternal twilight as they took turns at watch. Not until the fingers of dawn began to creep slowly across the sky and through the great pillars of stone did they realize time had moved at all.

Yuna was ready to investigate the remaining doll right away. So much so that she nearly pushed the other two into action the moment their eyes opened.

"Lady Yuna, were this any other place I would tell you to go, that we would catch up," Issaru stopped her from pacing through the library. "It is hardly morning and we are tired from yesterday's battles. Sit. Eat something. Whatever it is has waited over a thousand years, a few more minutes will not hurt."

Yuna waited, but she did not sit down. Instead she began to flip through the pages of a book left unshelved. A choice she came to regret as she read through it's leaves. It told of every single aeon made by the mad king in his attempt to rule the Spiral. He would be better than his ancestors and the tombs of heroes would tremble. His scientists an aeons would surely prove more useful than the preserved flesh of the Last Hope.

The one in my office is the most damning of all. His eyes remaing ever closed. Ever oblivious of my great power. He'll remain in slumber for all eternity, useless, cold,a mere memory of days long past.

Yuna thought back to how the doll had been pointing. Back tot he mad King's office. The hgih summoner paid no mind to the other two and their meal. She went directly the the king's room and began searching for the slumbering hero. All around the room she looked. Beside the fireplace, the desk, investigating every pillar between herself and the bolcony. Under rugs and on the ceiling. Nothing. Yuna scowled at the closed door that brought them here and almost kicked at the painting of the king and his family.

It was such a large painting. Why would he keep something so large and damning in his sight? Hadn't he killed every one of them? Dd he feel no guilt to look at them every day, staring down with such disinterest and oblivious to his insanity? She blinked at it before moving closer. It was the only item in the room that hadn't fallen or tilted. The only one encrusted with gems and golden sigils.

"The dolls." Yuna looked over the painting and noted that each member of the family wore the same doll shaped brooch at their neck, even the now faded queen. Little golden idols that could be turned before clicking back into place afte a few seconds passed.

"Lady Yuna," Issaru chided as he and Maroda came intot he room. "What are you doing?"

"Where's the map?" Yuna asked him in return. "I have an idea."

Each room on the map corresponded with the brooch of each family member. Fluttering through her memory to how each doll had been placed and the postion of each, her hands flew across the puzzle. Finally she turned the queen's. A loud click and the grinding of gears sounded through the room and Yuna felt excitement pulsing through her veins. Be it another battle, a sickening secret, or merely a treasure, she was ready.

The room's interior was lit with the same crystals as had been in the library though these grew brighter with every ounce of sunlight that came in from the outside. Finally the room behind the painting seemed to be as bright as the calm land fields in summer. At the very end of the room was a large glass tank. It was not grimey. It was not cracked or broken. It was filled with some green liquid and a black figure that pulled at Yuna to come closer. Almost as if a spell had been cast. Yuna walked towards it with purpose, ignoring her companions as they warned her and let out small oaths to see a man flosting inside of the solution.

A small word was blinking on the steel beneath the tank. Release. Yuna slammed the heel of her palm down onto the button and stepped back when the tank began to drain.

"Lady Yuna, you have gotten us into more trouble in the last two days than you have in the last two years," Maroda scolded as he took a step forward. His sword glinted in the strange light and she could hear Issaru cock his little pistol. Yuna ignored it and went up to the tank, pulling on the small handle at the side to free the man within. There was still liquid pooling around his feet and though it had been many years since he'd seen another human, she culdn't leave him to sit in the wet and the cold.

The remaining liquid spilled out across the console and her shoes as she climbed up to kneel beside the man. Bright blonde hair was plastered against his head, though it was beginning to stick in all directions. His black vest and pants were sopping and heavy against a well muscled form.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly. She didn't dare touch him. Not yet. "We found you in here and decided to free you."

"You found him and you decided to free him." Maroda's voice wasn't pleased.

"I suppose that's true," she tried not to laugh. She bent slightly to see the man's face. "Can you understand me?" The man let out an affirmative sound. "You've been here for a while. Do you need help standing?"

There were a few more sounds as the man pushed himself to kneeling. His arms were shaking lightly and he was leaning heavily to one side. Yuna offered him her hand and set one foot firmly back onto the consoles beneath. He couldn't take her hand without tilting dangerously and when she placed her hand over his, he did not fight it.

"Here we go," she whispered to him calmly. "Let's try to sit upright. Hm?"

He was heavier than she imagined but after a moment of his shaking weight and her own sheer willpower he was leaning with his back against the tank. Dear aeons, he was handsome. An aquiline nose rest over a very tempting mouth and for the barest second Yuna wondered if it was okay to feel such a thing for a man barely awake and aware of his surroundings. If it was okay to feel something when her own relationship had just barely ended and they were still dividing possessions. Then his eyes opened and she'd never been so transfixed before.

Cloud opened his eyes to find two staring back at him in compelte wonder. Two different eyes in the same face. It was her voice that had been in his ears as the fog lifted. A fog that replayed events he'd never experienced and memories he couldn't forget. People and faces, friends and strangers going around on loop until gravity returned and he found himself waking to the sound of her voice. A woman who'd decided to free him from his prison.

"Lady Yuna, shall I ask Siren if you've been charmed?" A man's voice asked from behind her. The one in blue.

"Oh hush," Yuna turned to scowl at him. Then her attention was back to Cloud and he felt thankful for it. "My name is Yuna, that's Issaru and his brother Maroda. We're...well, I odn't really know what we are anymore."

"Guardians of Spira," the other man offered. Maroda.

"I suppose so," Yuna nodded. She extended her hand once more and the feel of her skin on his was welcome. He'd not touched another human since...he couldn't remember. He had only memories of being with others. Not of when he'd last seen them or of when he'd been awake. "When you're ready, we can move forward."

Time would move forward no matter what he did. No matter where he was. She was waiting for him though. She was pushing him to sit up and wake up because the world was still here. He'd done his duty and the world was still here. The title of hero was his and the new peace he'd fought for was just at the other end of the hall.

"Cloud." His tongue felt heavy in his mouth and his mouth too full of saliva. Her attention became even more focused and the men behind her held their weapons even more firmly. "My name, is Cloud."

"He's one of the ancient people," Maroda said as Yuna helped Cloud to moved. "Who knows how many centuries he's been in there."

"Centuries?" Cloud asked slowly. His speech stumbled and stuttered out of a mouth long unused. "How?"

"We don't know either," Yuna apologized to the man. "We only found this place yesterday. Careful, it's a slope."

The man was careful as he slid across the floor of the chamber, pausing for a moment to pull a needle from his arm before pushing his legs over the edge and down to the console Yuna stood on. His grip on her hand was firm after too many years; he would have left bruises were he holding so tight at his full strength. Even so, she held onto his hand and wrapped her arm around his shoulders as they climbed down. Issaru and Maroda were down on the floor, the elder taking Cloud's other hand and guiding him forward. When Yuna fell under Cloud's full weight, Maroda took her place.

"Perhaps a cure, or haste will aide us my lady," Maroda suggested.

"Or harm," Yuna shook her head. "I can't believe that he'd have been kept in something harmful." She paused as they began to escape the now darkening room. "Then again, I hadn't believed such madness might be real."

"We'll settle down in the garden. Some sun will help him, just as it helps everyone." Issaru's word's made the final choice for them. "Siren insists she was the only living creature in the palace."

"Really? Because this guy looks a little bit alive."

"She couldn't sense him," Issaru defended. "Apparently she has a sixth sense about males hanging about."

"Perfect match then," Maroda smiled. "Alright. If this place is so empty, maybe we can set up something more than just a base camp. Maybe even find a place to get an airlift out." He caught Cloud when the man stumbled. "I dunno about you, but I'm not going to that lab again."

"Lab?" Cloud gasped out. He stumbled yet again, this time aggressive or ready to run.

"It's okay," Yuna turned and moved towards him. The boys were fighting to hold him still. "Cloud, it's okay. It's empty. Only the undead are there. It's okay." Yuna waved the boys off, taking Cloud's weight and helping him to stay upright. "Cloud, look at me. It's alright. We're not going to any labs or dealing with any madmen. They're dead now." She waited until his bright blue eyes focused on her. Until he processed her words. "I promise. No labs. No madmen."

He calmed and forced himself to stand upright. He wasn't very tall compared to Yuna, but enough that she could rest her head upon his shoulder. Taller than Tidus for sure. Keeping her arm under him and holding his hand as she'd done before, they walked slowly towards the garden. Maroda shut the secret room off and Issaru went to see about any heroes in the library. Perhaps there was some record or clue about Cloud in there.

Maroda took a bit more convincing to leave them be. He was a guardian and his duty was to protect a summoner.

"Then Cloud will be my guardian," Yuna scowled. The blonde was seated upon the desolate seat of the mad king, sunlight flickering in from the balcony as he built up his strength for another trek through the palace. "Go and serve your summoner. After all, he has an aeon again and I do not."

Maroda was about to argue but his brother's exclamation drew him away. It was an excited sound, not a panicked one, and even if it had benn, Yuna would not leave the injured man behind her alone. She would search through this room and leave the brothers to their own hunt.

"If I were absolutly insane and turning my family into summons, where would I put my diary?"

"In a hidden drawer." Cloud's voice answered her silent question and she turned to see he was watching her. His eyes were glowing. Motorcycle blue and focused on her with far more awareness than he'd had only moments before. "Whenever we had to find Hojo's things, there was always a hidden drawer, or hidden safe."

"Alright," Yuna nodded. "The last time I encountered someone so cruel he was less secretive about...well. He just didn't care." She began looking over the mantle of the fireplace, searching for any oddities or crannies in which one might hide something. She did find many did things; coins, little children's trinkets, even a sphere. Whenever she turned away from one place to look in another, she could see Cloud turning papers over on the desk or opening drawers. He had placed the trinkets he found in the same pile she'd placed hers.

"found something."

It was a statement spoken in stereo and each looked interested in what the other found. She hurried back to his side and he leaned forward to open the book he'd found. The first page seemed to pick up from another book, and when Yuna opened hers she discovered it was the beginning. Yuna was far more excited about the puzzle than Cloud was and sat on the edge of the desk to look at the two articles side by side.

"So paranoid he wrote everything in two books," Cloud frowned. "I don't know what it says though. I can only make out a little bit."

"Oh, I suppose time would make a difference. It's written in High Zanarkand, a language only a few people can really read these days." Yuna read through the first paragraph, eyes flitting from the first page over to the second so she might complete her sentences. "He's excited to have taken the throne from his brother Zanar the seventh. He's just changed his name from Titus." She leaned back for a moment. "It goes on, his wife might be barren. The war with Wu is coming to an end. The north eastern continent has finally sunk into the ocean." She flipped through a few more pages until she found what she was looking for. "Here, 'the Keys of Heroes were given unto me by the Record Keeper Tyro. Claimed in sleep by Acolytes, these warriors are the weapon that will keep our realm from falling into discourse. The Golden is to remain by my side always, Tryo claims. He showed the Golden to me after coronation, claiming he would keep any harm from befalling the king. If such words are true, how then was I able to dispose of my brother?'" Yuna's lips pursed as she flipped to the next pages. "What a horrible man. Oh! It's a picture of you." She turned the two books to show cloud a detailed sketch of himself suspended in the tube that had once held him. All around the base were figures in robes, checking macchina and prayer before him.

"Kidnapped while I was in bed," Cloud scowled at it. For a moment she thought he might strike it away from him as Tidus had done so many times in the past. He merely turned his head and looked out across the verdant jungles below. "I never thanked you for waking me up."

"I wonder if leaving you asleep may have been kinder."

"No. I'm glad to be awake. Now I can figure out what happened to me and my friends."

Yuna tried to keep her smile up. She could only imagine what it would be like to leave your entire life behind. "My old love encountered much the same when he came here. He wasn't kept in sleep though. He was a dream of the aeons made flesh. Except now he's different."

"What was his name?" Cloud asked from his seat. He was leaning to his left, and attempting to toe his sodden boots off.

"Tidus." She knew he'd stopped to look up at her. "I know they saw his face in the sphere. In the painting. They havent' said anythign yet but if we go back and Tidus begins to act strangely they Issaru and Maroda may try to do something about it."

"You don't want that to happen." Cloud's skin was looking healthier and his hir was dry now. Feathering into a hundred directions and swaying in the breeze.

"Issaru and Maroda, their brother Pacce, fellow summoner Dona and her husband Barthello are the only people who know of this journey. My guardians have no idea where I am, or what I'm doing. If I'd shown them the sphere then the world would be back at war, but I can't simply let this lie undisturbed. Not when so much suffering will happen."

"Tell me the secret you're talking about. If I'm supposed to be your guardian, like Maroda and Barthello, then I should know too."

Yuna hadn't expected him to use that but sharing the responsibility made this easier. Knowing that someone besides the last two summoners and their guardians was there to help made the burden of such a dreadful secret no longer hers alone.

"Sounds like Shinra," Cloud scowled as the tale wound to a close.

"My cousin has nothing to do with this," Yuna shook her head. "The clan has only just begun to have a voice in the senate." Cloud gave her a curious look and she realized the error. "You mean a different Shinra."

"ShinRa electric company used to experiment on people in order to keep their power. They kept secrets and nearly destroyed the world because of those secrets. I can remember always finding something else they'd left behind." Cloud looked down at the diaries on the table and the sketch of himself surrounded by acolytes. "I understand why you've kept this a secret from the rest of the world. It's not something you can easily share."

"Spira has long held a blief system. One group's problems are taken care of by that group. It's begun to break down in recent years but," Yuna shook her head. "Summoners should take care of summoner problems. For the last thousand years, maybe even before that, we've been responsible for the safety and welfare of our people. If I allow this to come to light before the people are ready then war will erupt all over again."

"Are the people here that foolish?" Cloud asked.

"They're easily frightened." Yuna looked out the large windows and wondered if she could hide in this decrepit palace for the rest of her days. It wasn't a terrible place. Quite lovely if one cleaned in up a bit. "This is my life. Finding horrible secrets and slowly telling people about them."

"I'll go with you to the next one," Cloud spoke. "A guardian protects a summoner right? And you broke up with yours."

"It'll be good for you," Yuna turned t smile at him. The sunlight was making his golden locks glint and shine while those electric blue eyes watched her carefully. He was studying her, she knew. "You'll learn all about your new world."

Cloud stood upright and Yuna once again marvelled at how much space he seemed to fill despite his slender frame. She noticed how his strength had recovered and the grace he moved with. The muscles beneath his skin flexed as he knelt before her and offered his hand.

"I'm not sure how you're people make oaths, but this was how they did it in all the stories and plays in my time." He straightened his shoulders and his mouth quirked in a mischevious little smile. "I, Cloud Strife of a land long forgotten, offer my sword to you. So long as I draw breath, I will be your guardian."

Yuna couldn't help the giggle that came out at his very serious and dramatic promise.

"I, Lady Yunalesca Fabula, High Summoner of Spira, swear never to use your sword for immoral purpose. For every breath you take, I shall be yours to keep."

Despite their fooling something very changing had happened between them. She'd never had a guardian swear themselves into her service. She'd never promised herself to a guardian. To anyone. Cloud seemed just as bewildered by the change as she was. When he rose from the marble floor in a fluid motion he stayed standing before her for a moment more. He didn't seem like a hero the way Auron had. He didn't seem like any of the guardians or fierce warriors she'd encountered here. Cloud was far calmer. Solemn in his countenance save for that spark she'd glimpsed. She'd see that smile again.

"What do we do next?" He asked.

"I'd like to find a map of the aeons King Zanar created. If possible, I'd like to relocate them into more accessible temples. I know it's selfish, and it might be cruel, but parts of Spira are collapsing without an aeon to keep the balance."

"If you take the aeons from their current places, won't that ruin the balance too?" Cloud asked. "It's been a thousand years since they were placed."

"Then maybe..." Yuna bit her lip and started drumming her fingertips against each other as she thought. Though and then began to pace through the office. "Maybe we won't move them unless the temple is sunken, or the area in ruins."

"And if it's a good place?"

"Then Issaru and I will work to notify Bevelle so pilgramage routes can be set up. Yevon may ave fallen, but something familiar might help to calm the people."

"You still haven't told me why the people need to be calmed." Cloud's voice came out a bit harder and more demanding than she'd heard so far. For a moment she didn't know what to do or what to say. The political climate of Spira was something everyone knew without words. Something she'd never put into words before simply because she was too close to all of the parties involved.

"Four years ago I defeated Sin. I should have died, it was tradition to die. To placate a beast that would simply return. I defied the beliefs of Yevon, exposed them for the corrupt and twisted structure they truly were. My entire life and everything I believed in was nothing but a lie. In exposing them, I set off a chain of events.

"Without a single governing body to keep the peace, factions began to emerge. Each little area forming it's own laws and fighting with each other. New Yevon emerged, holding to the beliefs and moral code without the Fayth to guide their actions."

"A religeon without faith?"

"Fayth, the spirits of the dead. They would speak to us through aeons or high ranking priests. Without the Fayth the priests developed smething new. Something that worked for people who weren't ready for change. The Youth League emerged and took control of all the roving gangs in the little cities. They went to war and my friends and I stopped them because something terrible had woken up."

"Then what?"

"That was two years ago. The Youth League has fractured into the Peacekeepers, led by my friend Paine. They keep the law, they don't war with Yevonites, they welcome them in fact. They're the more peaceful of the two and focus on keeping Spira safe from fiends and bandits."

"The Youth League is all of the trouble makers now, isn't it?" Cloud asked. His arms had crossed over his chest and now he leaned against the desk with her. "I'm guessing Yevon went the same way? One starting fights and one trying to keep it together."

"True Yevon. They're extremists. There's been a string of kidnappings in major cities and the Peacekeepers are ding their best to stop it. That's why Paine started it. Nooj wasn't doing anything to curb them and Baralai is having enough trouble keeping Bevelle in one peace."

"What if the Aeons end up making things worse?" Cloud looked at her. "You could end up with extemists in charge of temples, Youth Leaguers kidnapping aeons or summoners."

"I know. Oh by the Fayth I know."

Cloud watched as his charge mulled it over in her head. It was a situation she must have thought on a thousand times since it began. She hadn't told him the full story of how she'd almost died but she didn't know just how closely her death mirrored those of his own life. The last woman he'd vowed to protect had died in prayer to stop a horrible beast too. Yuna had ignored what she was supposed to do and because of that the world was changed. She wasn't like Aerith. For every action that reminded him of the flower girl, Yuna would do something wholly her own. Chew her lip in worry. Pace the floor without pattern. Plot out all of the forseeable consequences of her actions. Her eyes were different too. Aside from their colors which were brilliant in their own right, they held a different sort of experience in them. A different kind of sorrow and loss.

"Giving people the right to make their own choices is important."

"Yes."

"A summoner is supposed to be a symbol of hope to those who need it."

"Yes."

"As a man who has lived through the destruction and rebuilding of a world, who personally destroyed his own established government, and was forced to confront the truth about heroes, I can tell you that there will always be someone with enough of a brain and enough force to take control when the pieces fall." Cloud looked at her and their eyes met. She was listening but she wasn't adoring. There was something about her that encouraged him to talk. Perhaps it was centuries of being alone in his own head or the way she merely listened. Maybe it was because they shared a path in life. "You and I didn't mean to lead revolutions. We both stepped back once it was over. But it's our job to make sure it doesn't happen again. To make sure the new leaders aren't as corrupted as the old ones."

"I've been refusing to meet the Patron of True Yevon," Yuna admitted. "He's sent people to try and convince me to go to him. I've been kidnapped by priests and maesters more times than I'd like to admit."

"Then we won't go. If he wants to meet, then he'll meet on your terms."

"He wants to marry me. Just like Fidelius, and Seymour, and Baralai. As a figurehead of their power and righteousness."

"Fidelius?" Cloud leaned back.

"Someone from a long time ago." Yuna pushed herself up from the desk and turned to keep looking around the room. She wasn't going to speak of Fidelius and Cloud wasn't going to ask. Baralai he knew about, vaguely. He could guess Seymour was one of her former kidnappers and would-be suitors.

"Out of curiousity, how many people am I going to have to keep you safe from?"

"Well, I suppose that depends on if they stay dead. People never seem to stay dead for very long here."

Cloud couldn't help but snort at that. "They never have."

Yuna decided to keep reading through the old diary while Cloud began to dig through the decrepit old office. Despite the advanced machinery of his 'shrine' this place didn't seem to have a lot of tech laying around. In fact, everything seemed a little bit less advanced than the time he'd been a part of. Fuck. That was something entirely out of his depth. He'd been kidnapped in kept in stasis by the same kind of whack job religious nuts who were causing problems now. His entire life was gone. His friends, the little family he'd built for himself with Denzel. Was it too much to hope that they'd stolen his son away in the night as well? Now he was here. Saving mankind from itself. Saving a young woman from his own worries and anxieties.

"Are there any others?" Cloud asked her as she turned the pages. "Heroes. I adopted a son. His name was Denzel."

"I'll look. Did he have any features? You were the Golden, so maybe..." Yuna dove into the book with a different sort of vigor than before.

"His eyes were almost as blue as mine. His family grew up by a reactor so he was exposed to mako from infancy and then to the lifestream when..." Cloud paused for a moment when Yuna looked at him in absolute horror. "That's not normal anymore, is it?"

"No. The Fayth constructed the Farplane in between the Lifestream and the living realm to prevent such a thing." Yuna searched his face for any sign he might be mistaken. "We'll have to do a lot of catching up on our way to fetch him."

"You found him?" Cloud was beside her in mere seconds, trying to decipher the books in front of her.

"Maybe." She hurried to emphasize the maybe of her discovery. "The Scion is on one of the lower floors, about three below this one in the shrine."

"Let's go." He began to walk out of the room and Yuna's steps were light and quick behind him. When she took hold of his arm he paused and he was well aware of two brother's sticking their heads out of a room further down the hall.

"Wait, Cloud, you don't even have a weapon."

"I have..." He didn't have his materia either. "Not a very good guardian, am I?"

"We'll work on it. For now though, take this." She handed him one of her guns. "Once we find an armory, we'll see if there's something you can have for yourself. So don't lose that."

Cloud took the firearm in hand and realized once again that Yuna was not like Aerith at all. Together they continued down the hall, down the stairway that led from one open air veranda to another. The whole palace seemed to be nothing more than a pile of corridors and gardens, broken up by the occasional difference in layout. One of the floors seemed to be nothing more than a very large ballroom, long tables lining the walls and decorated still with plates and cutlery.

"It's like everything just, ended," Yuna whispered as they went further down the tower. Larger room and yet more corridors had gone off in other directions but they would explore those later. After Cloud had Denzel in his possession.

"A plague?" Cloud asked as he pushed a heavy door open. Whenever he had to shove his way through, Yuna had him covered. He wasn't sure how good she was with the gun in her hands but she'd done quite a bit and made it this far.

"Or shame." Yuna moved closer to him and eyed the corners as they moved throgh the much darker hall. Light creeped in through shuttered windows and neither one wanted to illuminate the place just yet. "The Great Temple in Zanarkand was supposed to be the living quarters of the senate and Prime Minister Yevon."

"There's stories of noblemen who went mad and had to be locked in their mansions," Cloud turned sharply towards something in a corner. Something that glimmered and made Yuna even more wary. It had been years since he'd trained with a firearm but he kept it trained on the glimmering object while Yuna watched the rest of the room. "When they got too old the staff would leave them to die."

"And if they couldn't leave?" Yuna asked.

"They died with him." Cloud crouched down to pick up the item. It was a little red gem in the shape of a diamond. "I'd guess no one came around looting." He offered the item to Yuna and almost a moment later came to regret it. "Get down!"

Yuna wasn't trained military, she wasn't a professional fighter, but she knew how to work with others. She'd spun into a crouch, aiming sharply at the little green thing while he stood over her with sights trained. The creature didn't move except to bark at them in fright before ducking behind an overturned chair.

"Are you going to play nicely?" She asked, leaning closer and lowering her gun.

The little thing poked it's head out and made a strange purring bark. It's tail flicked in rapid succession from the other side before it slunk out a little bit further along its belly. Cloud leaned back in surprise and the creature yelped and ducked back. It had three tails. A funny green bunny fox cat thing with three tails, a giant ruby on it's head, and more jewelry than even Scarlet had worn was hiding while Yuna laughed.

"It's alright, Cloud isn't going to hurt you." Yuna put her gun away and crawled over on her hands and knees. "He's just trying to keep us safe while we look for his son." The creature poked it's head out again and made a questioning sort of sound. Very slowly it came all the way out and sniffed at Yuna's hand. "He's my guardian. I'm a summoner. Oh! You know what that is, don't you?"

"Are you sure you should let him crawl in your lap like that?" Cloud asked as he leaned just a bit closer. It was about the size of a corgie or a fox and seemed to love wiggling around in circles before her.

"If he's my new Aeon, then it's very important for us to bond." Yuna ruffled the creatures fur and wiggled it's floppy rabbit-like ears. The things were nearly so long as it's tails. "Alright then. Let's leave this horrible room and keep looking for Denzel."

The creature hopped about her feet and circled around Cloud's with tiny barks and excited yips.

"Why didn't it come to find you before?"

"Aeon's are bound to their stones if a summoner doesn't call them. If he was left here when the palace fell, then he's been trapped alone in the dark like you were. The same way Siren was trapped in a pool by herself." Yuna paused when the creature headbutted her leg. "I think he has a name too."

They played a guessing game through the rest of the rooms, little green things tumbling through wild grass and sniffing or eating flowers they passed. With every wrong guess it snorted and pranced away along a path it knew and they did not. Not that Cloud or Yuna dropped their guard. Where one creature was others tended to be as well. When they reached the shrine Cloud was especially wary.

"The last time I was in a temple," Yuna began moving into the room. "Someone tried to marry me."

"Someone tried to kill me," Cloud agreed. "Sounds about the same."

Yuna liked Cloud. He was funny. Her new aeon didn't seem as sure but her new aeon didn't drain her energy the way others had in the past. She'd have to ask Issaru if Siren did the same but for now, she would keep her two companions until they found Denzel. Her little green guy began to paw at the shrine itself, dragging the ancient covering from the surface and knocking things over. When a candlestick fell too close the thing yipped and backed away. Cloud did not back away. In a swift motion he uncovered the thign to reveal yet another console. This one was different. Shaped more like a casket than the vertical thing Cloud had been inside of. She moved to help Cloud look for the release button.

"This is a shrine for squires," Yuna found herself saying as they looked for the release button. "I suppose after a thousand years it might make sense to place the Golden One's squire in a place like this." Yuna spotted a strangely raised design on the casket and slammed her hand down onto it. "Do you think that'll work Carbuncle?"

Her little aeon yipped in delight and the three figures watched as the wall slid away to reveal a small tank with a young boy inside.

~!~!~!~

I started a new one. I know, I know, I have other ones. And I could have updated them once I settled here in NY (oh yeah, I moved across the country!) but this idea has been bugging me for a while, and CiWL just isn't quite as dark as I like to go.