A/N: I had an attack of evil plotbunnies ... I've been dying to write something like this for awhile. I haven't forgotten the other stories I'm working on, it's just that I got inspired for this one, and so I'm running with it. If I don't use the inspiration I have when I have it, it just disappears, and that's no good. Plus, writing this has inspired me to write another chap of "Blessed, Cursed, Beautiful" which is forthcoming in very short order. Anyway, I hope you like this ... it's weird right now, and lots of stuff will be explained later in the story. So it's okay if you're confused now. It'll all get cleared up in good time. Enjoy and REVIEW, pretty please. XD All right ... on with the show:
Chapter One
Back to Life
"I'd say that we have a deal," the Gatekeeper said wearily to the man standing before him. He wished that there were something in his power that he could do to prevent what was about to happen.
If he'd been in possession of a conscience, it would be screaming at him right now. As it was, he knew this was wrong, and that Spira and High Summoner Yuna were about to be met with a world of pain … again.
But this … man … had found a loophole, and he had worked it to his advantage. The Gatekeeper's hands had been figuratively tied.
The man sneered evilly, clasping his ugly clawed hands together behind his back. "Well, then," he said in a voice that was too gentle to come from one so diabolical, "let's get on with it, shall we? I have work to do."
"Of course you do," the Gatekeeper sighed. With a flick of his wrist, a shimmering green portal appeared. He watched as the blue-haired former Yevonite maester passed through, and he closed his eyes.
Seymour Guado, walking among the living again … the gods only knew what his plans were, but the Gatekeeper suspected that it had something to do with the High Summoner, and revenge.
Seymour had come to the Gatekeeper, professing that he should be set free from this "eternal hell" as he called it. The Gatekeeper, had of course, refused such a notion. Seymour was sent, his life was over.
However, there was a clause that nobody knew about … that no one but the Gatekeeper was supposed to know about, for it was his job to enact balance and stability in the world of Spira.
It was the "unfinished" clause. Usually reserved for heroes who had met an untimely death in their fight for the greater good. If there was anything that they had not gotten to do while on Spira before they had met their end, they were allowed to go back, and resolve, not as ghosts, but as fully functional mortals. It was only used once in a very great while, and usually at the behest of the Fayth. They had used it for Tidus.
But the Fayth were gone now … and somehow, Seymour Guado had found out about it. And once you knew about the clause, you were entitled to it, regardless. The Gatekeeper had been forced to release Seymour.
However, Seymour was not aware of the need for balance in the world. If someone like Seymour Guado was released into Spira, than someone who was equally as powerful on the side of good must also be set free.
However, this time, being as Seymour Guado was thrice as evil and dark as anyone in all of Spira had ever been … there was need for three times the goodness and light.
Another flick of his wrist, and the Gatekeeper sighed, knowing he had done all that he could to tip the scales in the right direction.
Three heroes were going home.
Bikanel IslandRikku paused and looked across the vast ocean of sand before her. "Tysh dras," she muttered. "Why do they always do that?" It seemed like every time Rikku went out on a dig or any other mission with Brother, Nimrook, and Gippal, they always ditched her, leaving her to find her own way back to Home. "I'm so gonna kick your asses when I get back there!" she yelled out to no one in particular.
Who did they think they were, anyway? She did more work than the three of them combined, and they still treated her like some silly little girl. Which she wasn't. She was nearly twenty-years-old, for sand's sake. It was all Gippal's fault, really. His way of showing affection was to disappear and then to tease her about taking so long later.
She sighed. She was tired of his silly little games. Was he interested in her like that or not? She wasn't getting any younger, and she didn't want to wait forever for the dummy to make up his mind.
Suddenly, she had the feeling of a ghost walking through her and she shivered. "What the hell?" she muttered. A huge clap of thunder boomed above her and she yelped, even though thunder didn't scare her any more.
But why the hell was it thundering on Bikanel Island? Looking up, she was shocked to see that the sky was darkened and the clouds hung low and threatening.
When the sky opened up and a torrent of rain drenched her in seconds flat, she knew that something terrible was going to happen … the last time it had rained in the desert was the day before her mother had died. As quickly as it had begun, the rain stopped, and the blistering desert sun replaced the dark clouds.
"All right … what the fuck is going on?" she muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Well, I'll be damned." She heard a masculine voice say, and then he whistled lecherously. "You never told me how fine the Al Bhed girls were, Auron."
"Auron?" Rikku's eyes widened at the name and she spun around, finding herself looking at the faces of two very familiar men … Sir Jecht and … Auron! Gods … she remembered, watching him fade into a cloud of pyreflies four years ago. She hadn't really given it much thought since then.
They hadn't been close on Yunie's pilgrimage … she was the young one, the annoying little Al Bhed, and he was the older, stoic warrior. Yeah, she'd had a tiny little crush on him, but who wouldn't? She had been sad to see him go, because he had been kind to her when she had been scared.
"Rikku?" Auron nearly choked as he looked her over. She was all grown up. "What … what the hell are you doing here?" All he could think was that he was dead … on the Farplane … so why was she here? What had happened to her? Had she been in pain?
"Well, I'm about to ask you the same thing," Rikku said testily, trying to hide her sudden shock at seeing the two of them, standing before her. "What brings you two dead guys to Bikanel?" She tried to keep her tone light, but her heart was racing to be seeing them … in the flesh.
"Wait. Bikanel?" Jecht said. "I thought … this isn't the Farplane?"
Rikku looked at him as if he were crazy. "If this is the place of eternal rest, I'd rather be unsent," she said bluntly, and then looked at Auron. "I mean …" She giggled nervously.
Auron chuckled a bit in spite of himself. All grown up, yes, but still the same old Rikku deep down. And that was important. There had never been anything about Rikku that needed to be changed in the first place. "It's okay," he told her, eliciting a grin from the blonde. "It appears we're back on Spira," he told Jecht, taking in his surroundings. "Though why we ended up here, I'll never know."
Rikku cocked her head and regarded the men. "Any ideas as to why you're back?" she asked.
Auron looked thoughtful, and Jecht scratched the back of his neck, the same way Tidus did.
Rikku's eyes widened. "Tidus!" she cried. "We … we should go to Besaid. Tidus and Yunie, they'll want to see you."
"It's as good a plan as any," Jecht said to Auron. "Until we figure out what the hell is going on here."
"All right, let's go," Auron said brusquely.
"Follow me. We'll go to Home, and Pops can take us on the airship," Rikku said. "Wow … Yunie's gonna be so surprised!"
"Well, that makes all of us, then," Jecht said under his breath. There had to be a reason they were back on Spira … and on Bikanel Island, of all places? With this girl? "By the way, who is she?" he asked Auron.
Auron smiled a little. "Rikku," he said simply. "Don't you recognize her?"
"Rikku?" Jecht asked. "The little one who traveled with you on Yuna's pilgrimage?" He looked at the girl – no, she was a woman now – who was leading them through the sand dunes. "Well, I'll be damned," he said, quickening his steps. "C'mon, Old Man!" he yelled back at Auron, causing Rikku to giggle.
"Tidus called him that, too," she said brightly, looking over her shoulder and tossing Auron an easy grin. "Isn't that right?"
"Hmph," Auron said nonchalantly, though he picked up his pace to catch up with them. "Seems you and your son have more in common than either of you would like to think," he told Jecht.
"Hey!" Rikku said suddenly, stopping. "I just thought of something."
"Can't this wait? I'm broiling out here," Jecht said irritably.
Rikku glared at him, a look that said "don't fuck with me, buddy." Auron tried to hide a smirk. Jecht, being railroaded by this little bit of a thing. Although, Auron knew as well as anyone, that Rikku was a hell of a fighter, and much stronger than she looked.
"What is it, Rikku?" he asked her.
Rikku smiled at him. "Thank you, Auron," she said, still glaring at Jecht. No wonder Tidus was such a pain in the ass. "I was just wondering … you guys are both here, so … where's Braska?"
Isle of BesaidYuna looked up at the normally azure Besaidian sky and frowned. It had suddenly become cloudy, like it might rain. But it never rained in Besaid. "Strange," she said to herself as she walked along the path from the beach, back toward the village.
She walked into the hut that she and Tidus had lived in since their marriage two years ago. She never could quite get over all that had happened to her in the past four years.
She and her guardians – all six of them – had defeated Sin … not just for a little while, but permanently. But then, Sir Auron had had to be sent, and Tidus had faded into nothingness, as dreams were so prone to do.
Two years ago, there had been another adventure … this one with Rikku and Paine. It, too, had been world threatening, but once again, she had prevailed …
And Tidus had come back to her. These past two years had been among the happiest she had ever known. Aside from the fact that Rikku and Paine had both left Besaid shortly after her wedding, Yuna felt complete, for the first time since losing her father nearly fifteen years ago.
"Why do you look so serious?" Tidus asked her, looking up from the sofa when she walked in.
Yuna looked up, shaking herself out of her reverie and smiling at the blond-haired miracle before her. "Oh, it's … it's nothing," she said quickly.
Tidus shook his head. "Auron was right about you," he told her, standing up and crossing the room to her.
"About what?" Yuna asked, puzzled.
"You're a poor liar," Tidus said, adopting a deeper register for his voice and mimicking the Legendary One very nearly perfectly.
Yuna giggled in spite of herself. "You know, between you and Rikku, Auron's good name is really getting sullied." Yuna's cousin, too, was good at mocking the older guardian.
"Don't change the subject," Tidus said, sternly now. "What's up?"
Yuna sighed. "It's just … when I was walking back from the beach, the sky got really dark … it's very ominous."
Tidus lifted the material that served as a door for the hut and his brow furrowed. "It's fine now," he said easily. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"
Yuna turned and looked outside. Sure enough, the sky was clear and blue, and the sun was shining gloriously. "That is so weird," she said. A cold chill passed through her, and her skin erupted in gooseflesh. "Something's not right."
"Yeah, I'd say," Tidus said, stepping outside the hut, an extremely bewildered look in his blue eyes.
Yuna followed him out, and gasped in shock. "Daddy?" she breathed.
Standing before her was Braska, looking as dumbfounded as she felt. "Yuna?" he asked in his quiet voice. "I don't understand."
Yuna reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, as if she were making sure he was real. Tears sprung to her eyes, and she threw herself into his arms. "You're … really here." She could hardly believe it. "But … but why?"
"I really don't know," Braska said, relishing the fact that his daughter was before him, and that he could hold her again. "I'd like to think it's a good thing."
Yuna looked up at him and smiled through her tears. "It is a good thing. Oh, Daddy." She pulled out of the embrace and walked back to stand beside Tidus. Taking his hand in her own, she smiled.
"Ah, yes," Braska said. "Young Tidus. I understand that the Fayth sent you back."
Tidus nodded, a bit nervously. Even though he had conversed with Braska on several occasions while they were both on the Farplane, it seemed different now, somehow. Maybe it was because Braska was his father-in-law now. "Yeah, I guess … they thought Yuna deserved it," he said.
Yuna shook her head. "You're just being modest. You deserved it too!" she protested. "Maybe that's why you're back too, Daddy."
Braska smiled, a bit sadly. "Somehow, I doubt things are that simple. There were rumors, on the Farplane, of some big evil rising in Spira."
"So maybe it has something to with that," Tidus said, brow furrowed with concern. "We should probably be ready for that sort of thing."
Yuna shook her head, refusing to let her happy day be marred by talks of evil things. "No! It doesn't always have to be bad, you know! I've done enough! Why can't they just let me be happy?"
The commsphere at Yuna's feet suddenly flickered with static, and then Rikku's face came into view. "Yunie!" she cried out. "Yunie, you will never believe what is going on!"
Yuna knelt down to ground level. "Rikku, what is it?"
"We're on our way in the airship," Rikku said.
"Who's 'we', Rikku?" Tidus asked.
"Tidus! Oh, my gods, you aren't going to believe this … Jecht and Auron … they're back!" Rikku crowed.
"They're with you?" Yuna asked, confused. "Why did they end up in Bikanel?" she asked no one in particular.
"I'm not really sure … they don't really know what's going on either. But I think, if both of them are back, maybe Braska is too!" Rikku continued excitedly.
"You don't say," Braska said, amusement sparkling in his blue eyes as he regarded his niece on the machina sphere.
Rikku gasped. "Braska!" She turned her head and addressed the men behind her. "Auron! Jecht! Braska's in Besaid, with Yunie!" She turned back to the sphere. "Wow. Just … wow. We'll be there soon, okay?"
Yuna laughed at her cousin. Rikku was never going to change … she would always be bouncy and flighty and wispy and perfect.
And today … today was a very good day. Yuna refused that something bad was about to happen. Three people she cared a great deal for were back. All she wanted to focus on was spending time with them, and enjoying this gift for everything it was worth.
Omega RuinsSeymour Guado regarded the abandoned ruins in the far east of Spira with keen observation. Nodding with satisfaction, he smirked to himself.
"Poor Lady Yuna," he said cruelly. "You will pay. You and those ignoramuses that you call friends and family. The end of this pathetic world is so very nigh."