FFX-2: Ties That Bind Fanfic

Chapter 16: Treasure Hunt

Rikku rose her head and howled, replenishing her vitality in the process as the Fiends evaporated into pyreflies behind her. Her breathing was ragged as she sniffed the air. 'Come on Yunnie where are you?'

She smashed the ground with her fist and growled irritably, wiping some sleep from her eyes, "No!"

'I'm not going to sleep, I can't!' She yawned again, and growled, "Maybe just for a hour or three." She relented, looking around for a usable shelter for her nap, heading for the nearest building, but as she approached the door a electric beep stopped her, looking at the keypad she growled slightly, "Locked."

But her expression quickly changed, "Wait a minute." her smile grew, "Now I can see what your really up to." she purred as she sphere-changed to Thief and started began hacking the terminal, a moment later the door hissed and opened.

Cautiously she entered.

The corridor was sparse, with another lock on the other side, easy enough for the Al Bhed to bypass before she entered the main room where she took a sharp gasp.

There was a strange lab table, with a even strange device hooked up to the back, the main entrance in front of her looked like fiends had been trying to claw their way in, and to her right was a row of console and monitors. She headed there first.

"What do we have here," she wiped sleep from her eyes again, yawning, and stepped back as a chamber opened on the console, something that looked recently added, with the words "Please Insert Result Plate." flashing on the screen, with a yawn she did as told then yawned finding a corner of the room to curl up in and nod off to sleep, mumbling "I'll check the results in the morning." as she drifted off to sleep, not competently cure on what she had just done or really thinking of the danger of being in a room with a partially compromised blast door.

Meanwhile in another Lab Paine awoke from a makeshift cot in the dark Fiend Lab to see a figure, half cast in the shadows slipping out of her own bed, "Where are you going?"

"I still have places to check up on, work to do."

"You need sleep," Paine ordered.

The girl smirked, coming into the light to reveal another Paine, one with brown eyes, "Again you underestimate me. I have had to survive for almost 3 years in this place. I sleep for maybe a hour at a time. I can't just change my habits now. You rest, I'll be back soon then together we can find Rikku and you can give her Yuna's Garment Grid now that we have come to new arrangements."

Paine narrowed her eyes a moment, then relaxed, "Fine."

Settling back into her bed Paine watched as her brown eyed double slipped out, "I won't be long."

She said nothing but kept her eyes on her double until she was out of sight, then settled back to sleep.

Stepping out into the streets of the city 'Paine' smiled, a warm feeling filling her as she looked around as the lights of the various factories and towers they had gotten running. Then her stomach twisted into a knot as she remembered Tobius and Koji, the horrified look on the Former's face as his magic failed him, and Koji's own look of terror as his Wyvern was over-souled, eyes glowing with menace as it's neck whipped around and...

'Paine' flinched, eyes shut tights as if closing them and looking away would prevent the memory in all it's detail from playing out before her mind's eye. The Crunch of metal, the roar of a beast, the snapping of bone. It was almost a relive when Koji's body dissolved into Pyreflies instead of having to see him slowly die first. Then anger as she remembered who was to blame for all of this, who had stolen the Fayth, the magic from the world just to defeat some weapon, just to stop Sin.

Paine dropped to her knees, the anger that welled up draining out as she begin to weep.

'No that isn't right.' she reminded herself, Yuna was not the enemy she so desperately wanted her to be. Yuna had only done what so many others before her had done, only she had succeed where they had failed. Where she herself had failed to go.

The Final Summoning.

She still didn't understand all of it, after all she had been holed up in the city for what had felt like several lifetimes, she had missed out on what had gone on beyond the walls. Hell she didn't even know if the War was still going on, or who had won. In the end the war meant nothing, this city was all that mattered, and once it was restored she would welcome even their bitter enemies into it's walls with open arms. Three years completely alone fighting for one's own survival had put many thing is prospective.

'Paine' gasped as she suddenly picked up speed into a mad dash sphere-changing to Thief as her mind wandered to a terrible thought, "I hope the process is reversible."

The path to the old lab was easy enough to find, 'Paine' after all knew this town like the back of her hand, and getting back inside was no terrible problem. The Command room still uncompromised though the door was far to damage to ever open again. 'Paine' took a great sigh of relive to see that it was still all operating as expected, then she saw the monitors, and more importantly "Scanning new Result Plates."

Curiously she moved over, inspecting the setting, and then she heard a soft moan, Rikku stirring from her slumber a moment, 'Paine's' heart skipping a beat at the green eyed girl yawned to say, "Paine what are you..."

But drifted back to sleep.

Taking a moment to remind herself of her new form 'Paine' let out a relived breath, 'Maybe I can still fix things before she wakes in the morning.'

And quickly 'Paine' got to work.