Opinion on my first fic...

[Stormforce]

Hello everyone. I want to know if I should continue with what I'm writing...or not. It's a Final Fantasy X with BtVS characters in the place of the FFx characters. Anyway this is the first chapter.



Pairing: Of course if this fic gets that far...W/T

Disclaimer: Don't own either Buffy or FFX. So please don't sue me, all I have is 20 cents, and pocket lent.

Rating: Um...PG13 for language.



Final Fantasy X Buffy style



Chapter One: Zanarkand



Willow is sitting around a campfire with six other people. She gets up and places her hand on one of the blond women’s shoulders, and walks up a hill. As she looks out over the ruins of what once was a beautiful city, the wind blows her shoulder length hair back.



Listen to my story... This may be our last chance.





Willow slowly walked out of the door and smiled at her fans. She was the star player of the Zanarkand Abes, and she loved every moment of it. She wasn't a smartass like a couple of the players, but being in the spotlight was great.. She thought with a smile. She walked over to a couple of girls.



[Willow is the star player of the Zanarkand Abes; she is 18 years old, and 5’3”. She has shoulder length red hair and green eyes. She wears the Abes uniform a short yellow shirt, blue overall shorts, black fingerless gloves, and yellow high-tops. She also has an arrowhead earring in her right ear and an arrowhead necklace. When she fights she uses a sword as a weapon.]



"Hi, can I have your autograph?" One fan asked.



“Sure.” Willow replies and signs the blitzball.



"Good luck tonight." The second fan says and hands the ball to Willow.



She signs the ball "Thanks but it's nothing to worry about." Handing the ball back she gives the girls a wide smile "Hey if I score a goal I'll do this" she holds up three fingers on each hand "that'll mean it was for you, okay?" The girls giggle. "What seat?"



"East block, in the front row, fifth from the right." Both girls said.



"Got it!" Willow smiles as she turns to three kids.



"Will you sign our blitzballs?" One kid asks.



"I sure will." She hands the blitzballs after signing her name. "Well I gotta go." But before she could go the three kids scream out "Teach us how to blitz!" Willow gives the boys a smile "Sorry boys I have a game to play."



The boys look down at the ground "Well how about after?" The second boy asks.





Willow looks thoughtful for a moment "Maybe tonight...well?"



Before she could say anything else a hooded figure speaks up "You can't tonight."



Willow looks at the figure then back to the boys "I mean tomorrow."



The first boy looks up "Promise?" he asks.



Giving her best smile Willow replies, "I promise!" Then runs off to the arena. As she's running she can hear the announcer speaking.



I was in the coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Ira, gone. Vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. "Zanar", I say to myself, "What are you thinking?" I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Ira all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Whoa... Didn't mean to reminisce, folks. Anyway... Ten years later, the Ira Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that have won through to the finals are...of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! In just one year, she's become the team's number one player! She's Ira's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will she show us today? Will we see her father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!



Willow finally makes it to the front of the blitzball arena only to be surrounded by excited fans. "Hey come on. I've got a game to play. Please!" The fans let her through she waves at the fans and moves inside.



"Yo Willow how's our star player doin' tonight?"



Willow looks up to see Kris the second best player on the team, and her best friend. "Hey Dragon, I'm doin' good...and I'll be doin' great when we win the tournament tonight." Willow high fives the other girl.



"I know what you mean Will, hey you're comin' to the victory party at my place right?"



Willow looks shocked for a split second then hits Kris on the shoulder. "You know I won't miss one of your parties, so hell yeah I'll be there."



Kris lets a slow grin spread across her face "Great! Well come on the coach wants to talk to us." Willow lets Kris lead her while she gets lost in thought.



Ten years ago in Zanarkand.



Nine-year old Willow was on the ground bloody, bruised and sniffling. "Hey what's tha little baby cryin' for?"



She looked up to see a group of boys four or five years older than her. She thinks to herself and looks down.



"Aww poor baby ya gonna run cryin' to mommy now?" the same boy asks.



Willow does nothing but stare at the ground.



"You're starting to piss me off, answer me."



Willow doesn't even lift her head.



"That’s it I'll teach you to ignore me." The boy says and starts to kick the girl on the ground, but he falls forward and hits the ground beside Willow. Everyone including Willow look up only to see a girl two years older than Willow. She has short brown hair and blue eyes that at that moment seemed to be on fire. The boy on the ground gets up and glares at the girl before bringing his fist up to hit her. The girl sidesteps to avoid the punch and uses her open palm to hit the boy in the ribs. The boy cries out in pain as two of his ribs break under the force he stumbles back into the arms of one of the boys.



"Let's get the hell out of here." He cries and runs off with the group.



Turning around the girl kneels on the ground in front of Willow who looks up at her. The brown haired girl looks Willow over then sticks her hand out "Hi, my name is Kris."



Willow looks at the offered hand and then back to the girl "I'm Willow" she says and takes the girls hand.



Kris helps Willow up and grins "Come on let's get you cleaned up."











"Okay people quite and Listen up. This tournament is for the cup and we can't lose ya got that? Good now I want you guy and girls to go out there and WIN!" The coach said all the while glaring at the team. "Rosenberg listen up I want you to shoot your ass off out there and score, score, score."



Willow looked up "But coach if I shoot my ass off what will all the hot girls look at?"



The coach's face turned red "You know what I mean." he growled out.



"I know coach just wanted to tease you a little." Willow smile sweetly at him while Kris shook with silent laughter.



"Fine whatever all of you get your asses out there and win that tournament."



The tournament is in full swing the Abes are ahead by three points the fans are cheering for their favorite team.



Four blocks away an older man is standing on a rooftop looking out over the ocean, he see's something rise up and start toward Zanarkand. He takes a drink from the jug hanging from his side and walks off with his samurai sword slung over his shoulder.



Back at the tournament the game is tied the Duggles captain throws the ball, Kris intercepts and kicks it straight up out of the water.



The man is now walking down the street some people are running from the huge ball of water. He steps in a puddle and water splashes, but instead of falling back to the ground the water floats up.



Willow follows the ball out of the water and flips only to see a ball of water shooting beams. The beams hit the stadium causing the fans to panic and run, Willow grabs onto a ledge but slips off and falls to the ground.



Willow groaned and rubbed her head as she sat up, she looked around only to see people running and the stadium in ruins. She thought as she stood up a man was standing a few feet away.



"Giles! What are you doing here?"



Giles looked at Willow "I was waiting for you." he spoke calmly.



[Giles is 38 years old, and stands 5’9”. He has a brown ponytail reaching his waist. He wears a samurai style robe, dark pants, and dark boots. He hides his left arm in the robe with only his hand showing. He has a scar starting at the top of his right eye and continues own his cheek. He lost the sight of his eye from the hit the scar shows. When he fights he uses a samurai sword as a weapon.]





"Huh? What are you talking about?" In response Giles only turns and walks off, Willow follows but she doesn't see him.



Suddenly everything freezes the men and women that were running are now frozen in step. Willow looks around in wonder she thinks to herself. She turns in time to see the hooded figure from before appear out of thin air. "Whoa, how'd you do that?" Willow asks.



"It begins. Don't cry." Is the only thing the figure says before disappearing, causing everything to unfreeze. Turing around Willow finally see's Giles "Hey wait! Not that way." Giles turns to Willow



"Look." She looks up to see the ball of water that destroyed the stadium.



"We called it Sin"



"Sin?" Willow asks as something appears from a building and shoots pod looking things from its body. Willow dodges one of the pods as it lands at her feet; it starts moving causing her to fall back. The pod opens, but it's not a pod it’s a gray monster with four legs, two wings that have sharp tips, and a head that looks like it was mashed under a tank. Giles holds out a sword



"Take it." As Willow grabs the sword Giles pull her up "A gift from Ira." Willow looks at the sword



"My old man?" The sword is red and silver the body start out narrow near the hilt and widens toward the end, the blade tip veers down and back toward Willow.



When Willow looked at the things in front of her, something flashed in front of her eyes.



Name: Sinscale

HP: 100

MP: 0





"I hope you know how to use it." Giles says as he unsheathes his samurai sword.



"Willow, these one don't matter, just cut and run."



They ran down the street only killing the ones that got in their way, and slashing at the others. Rounding the bend Willow slides to a stop, there in the middle of the road is a large black squid looking body with tentacles waving around in the air.



{Flash}



Name: Sinspawn Ammes

HP: 2400

MP: 400





Gathering up her courage she runs toward the monster swinging her sword. She lands a hit causing the thing to wave its tentacles around madly in the air. Slicing up, down, right and left causes two of the tentacles to fall off. She looks to the right and see’s Giles doing the same, just as she is about to start another round of slicing Giles hollers out “Stand back.”



Doing as asked she steps back and watches as Giles lift his left arm up palm facing forward. A light forms in his hand spreading up his arm, and over his body, down to his sword blade. Willow watches as Giles leaps up into the air, and hears him scream out “Earthquake!” as he lands the sword shatters the ground. The ground starts to rumble with the force causing the monster to shake and die as its hold on the ground gives.



“Damn Giles, where the hell did you learn that!?” Willow asks wide-eyed.



Giles says nothing in reply and continues on.



“Oh come on! Gimme a break!” Willow calls out only to be ignored. Running to catch up with Giles she looks up and sees a picture of Ira “What are you laughing at, old man?” she asks it. Turning the corner they find themselves surrounded by more Sinscales. Willow cuts one in half only to have another take its place. After taking down four more each Giles looks to the right and grins.



“Willow, there knock it down.”



Willow looks over and sees a small tank machine, and gives Giles her “what-are-you-crazy” look.



“Trust me on this Willow, it will work.”



Sighing she nods her head and takes and running slash at the machine. The second her sword hits it the tank starts to shake and give off sparks; Willow jumps back in time to see it go over the edge. The explosion that followed was huge knocking her off her feet. As she stands back up she watches Giles run across the road as it falls apart.



“Come on Willow you can make it.” She hears Giles call.



She runs across only to have the road start falling from under her feet she thinks. Putting her last ounce of strength into it she jumps for the other side, and grabs onto the ledge. She looks down to see the road fall into a pit of fire when she looks back up Giles is standing over her, and over him is Sin.



He looks up “You are sure?”



Giles reaches down and grabs Willow by her yellow shirt, and pulls her up.



“This is it. This is your story. It all begins here.” Giles says to Willow as Sin sucks them up.





After Sin sucked her and Giles up, Willow found her-self floating over what looked to be a city. Looking around she saw something off in the distance, and decided to swim or rather float that way.





“Hey! Hey!” A voice says.



“Huh, my…my old man?”



Willow looked all around her and didn’t see anything. Shrugging her shoulders Willow starts floating toward what she saw earlier. Floating down she sees a younger version of herself.





I thought about a lot of things... like where I was. What I'd gotten myself into... actually that would be Giles' fault not mine. And then I started to feel light-headed and then a little sleepy. Really I think I had a dream. A dream of me being alone... I remember I wanted someone-anyone... even Giles there. So I didn't feel so alone anymore.







Well thats it... now can you tell me if I should go ahead and continue, or just stop now.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

Edited by: maudmac  at: 7/12/04 5:44 pm

[sabina]

Hi there



I absolutely love the Final Fantasy series and I think it will be fun to read about W/T as Final Fantasy X characters

Even though I'm a little partial to FF VIII myself... Rinoa...



But FFX too has a great romantic story that I think suits W/T well.



Are you planning on sticking with FFX story or are you going to change it?



I'm looking forward to read more of your story

---

"I know I was born and I know that I'll die.

The in between is mine.

I am mine!" - Pearl Jam

[bluehippocampus]

Hi It's an interesting and promising start. Even if I'm clueless of what you have in mind for our girls. Come on. Keep on writing, please?



BH

Beauty in things lies in the mind which contemplates them - David Hume

[amazonaa]

well you got my attention.





nice job. please continue.







brittney

Quote:

---

Kiss this axe, bitch!---Tara "Bargaining part 2"

---

[Stormforce]

Hi



sabina - Yes, I'm going to mostly stick with the story, but I will be changing some things around. Like the Aeons, and Rin, and Cid are going to be changed... Oh, and you've already seen one change... my character Kris, is part of the Dragon Clan, they are taking the Ronso Clans place. The only reason is because I needed a place for...well you'll find out.



bluehippocampus - I'm sorry you're clueless, but that should change with the next few chapters.



amazonaa - Glad I got your attention, and I will continue.



Thank you for the replies. And here's chapter 2.





Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: PG13 for language.

Summary: A retelling of Final Fantasy X with the BtVS characters.

Disclaimer: Do you really think I would be sitting here writing fics if I owned either BtVS or the FF series?



Chapter Two: Spira



Willow groans in pain and slowly opens her eyes, looking around she doesn’t see anything other then the ruins sticking up from the water. Sighing she stands up “Giles? Anyone there? Heeey.” Not getting an answer she takes a closer look at her surroundings. Water all around her, a little walkway to the right, and off in the distance she can see a dark shadow.



Willow walks over to the narrow walkway and looks at it, finding nothing out of the ordinary she continues. Reaching a slight incline the ground starts to rumble causing the walkway to break and fall away, Willow falls into the water below. Breaking the surface of the water she turns around in a circle, she can see dark shapes swimming toward her. One of the shapes flies out of the water, watching it Willow get a good look at it.



“Well great more monsters…atleast they’re fish monsters and not frog monsters.” She says and takes a deep breath.



{Flash}



Name: Sahagin

HP: 100

MP: 5



Grabbing her sword she ducks under the water to meet the enemies, killing the first one was easy. The second one put up a fight swiping at her with a clawed fin causing Willow to swim back to avoid it. Not seeing the third till it was right beside her, she didn’t have time to avoid the hit, a clawed fin cut into her right leg. Willow brought her sword up and across cutting the monsters head off. She looked back to the last one waiting for it to make a move, but it saw something before she did and swam off. She thought. Then she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, and turned toward it. It was huge and it wasn’t a fish The new opponent was atleast twelve foot high and seven or eight foot across. Its arms had hard armour on them; the stomach was more like a cage with its ribs being the bars, and the four light brown tentacles were as big as an oak tree.



{Flash}



Name: Geosgaeno

HP: 32,767

MP: 128







It stopped and turned and swiped at Willow. She swam back the forward to attack; her sword hit its ribs and made a dull clang also shaking Willow. The monster swung again barely missing Willow’s head; she turned and swam only to have the monster chase after her. As she closed in on the safety of the door the monster started sucking the water towards it. The water in front of Willow was flowing past her trying to pull her with it. Looking over her shoulder she saw it sucking debris in leaves, limbs, rocks, a frog. Putting an extra burst of speed into swimming she got through the doorway just before the monster slammed into it.



I had made it out of the frying pan… and into the freezer. I thought I was going to die in this place, but somehow luck was with me.



Climbing out of the water she looks around and blows in her hands. Willow grumbles and walks into a room. The room is circler with broken pillars scattered on the floor, but the floor in the middle is clear, looking up she can see that it has a balcony, to the left, right, and front are doors.



“No time like the present. Hopefully I can find something for a fire.”



Walking over to the middle door she tries to open it, not seeing a handle she shrugs her shoulders, and decides to leave it for later. The right door is ajar, pushing it open and looking in she see’s a small desk, she smiles and walks over to it. On top of the desk are a couple pieces of flint she puts them in her pocket and breaks the desk legs off, and carries them back to the other room. Placing them on the floor, she continues to the left door. “Now all I need is something to start it with.”



Opening the last door she finds a set of stairs drawing her sword just in case she takes each step slowly. Reaching the top and not finding anything waiting to eat her, she relaxes a bit, looking around she spots a bunch of dried flowers, and smiles. “Yes, now I can get a fire going.”



Starting the fire took little effort and soon it was chasing the cold away.



“Now all I need is something to eat, then I would feel a whole lot better.”



Willow sat beside the fire with her arms around her legs she used her knees as a pillow. The warmth of the fire caused her to doze off and dream.



{Dream}



Willow was standing in her house with Giles standing beside the door looking at her sternly.



"And just what do you want, Giles?"



"You made a bad call. The Abes lost the game because of you."



"You came here just to say THAT?" Willow sighs. "Is that the only reason you came, or does the all knowing Giles have something else to say? Maybe put me down some more?"



"It's been ten years...I thought you'd be crying." Giles says with a small frown. "Or don't you care?"



"Who me? Cry? I don't think so man. As for caring...no, no I don't care. He never did anything for me, but PUT ME DOWN!" Willow screams the last part.



Suddenly a hooded figure appears standing beside Willow.



"You cried." The figure says and disappears as Giles walks out the door leaving Willow to herself.



End Dream



Willow raises her head to see the fire starting to go out.



"No, please don't go out. Just hold on I'll get more wood." Willow speaks and starts to go to the room with the desk, when a noise gets her attention. Looking up she sees a dark shadow running on the side of the balcony. When it reaches the light she gets a good look at it.



{Flash}



Name: Klikk

HP: 1500

MP: 5



About half her height, gray in color, each of it's four legs come to a sharp point at the tip. And a long sharp tail. It jumps down and lands in front of her, Willow grabs her sword and blocks just when the monster slashes at her. The high pitch clang echoed through the room as Willow swings her sword and hits the thing on the head. Stunned the Klikk stops for a moment, giving Willow enough time to hit it again. Shaking its head it takes a step forward only to be hit with a shockwave of an explosion. Looking over Willow sees that there is now a door where there wasn't one before, and 4 people standing in the opening. She could make out three men and one girl, all wearing tight fitting diving suites. Willow sighed in relief… help was here.



The girl walked over to Willow and took a fighting stance at the sight of the monster.



"You on my side?" Willow asked.



Getting no reply Willow just shrugs her shoulders and turns back to fight. Jumping toward the monster Willow slashes and jumps back just as her feet touch the ground. The girl takes something out of a small pack on her side and throws it at the monster. Willow has just enough time to duck behind a fallen pillar before it explodes, blowing the monster into several pieces. When it's quite again, Willow slowly raises her head to see that the three men had joined the girl. Walking over to the small group she smiles, the girl takes off her goggles.



"Damn that was close." Willow says looking at what was left of the thing that attacked her. "Thanks for the help." She then screams when one of the men grabbed her by the hair, and held her. "Hey you bastard let go of me!"



"Yht fryd tu fa ryja rana?" The man holding Willow spoke. (And what do we have here?)



"Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!" The second one said. (A fiend! In human disguise!)



"Drah fa sicd gemm ed. Nekrd?" The third man said holding a knife to Willows neck. (Then we must kill it. Right?)



"Fyed! Fryd ev cra EC risyh? Fa't pa gemmanc." Spoke the girl as she grabbed the knife. (Wait! What if she IS human? We'd be killers.)



"Ed tuac hud syddan. Drao yna dra cysa ajah eh taydr." The third said pulling his hand free of the girls grasp. (It does not matter. They are the same even in death.)



"HU! E vunpet ed. Fa femm dyga ran fedr ic." She said and looked closely at Willow, then spoke directly to her "Cunno" before hitting Willow in the stomach. (NO! I forbid it. We will take her with us. Sorry.)



Willow fell to the floor as blackness invaded her vision and then blacked out.



"Belg ran ib yht dyga ran du dra creb." No one moved "Dryd ec yh UNTAN!" (Pick her up and take her to the ship. That is an ORDER!)



After giving the order the girl turns and walks out the opening leaving the three men to decide who carries Willow to the ship. Sighing the one who held the knife picks her up and walks off.



On the ship.



The one carrying Willow drops her on the deck and walks off leaving the other two men to guard her. She slowly opens her eyes and looks up at the guards.



"Ya know that hurt." She says starting to get up only to be pushed down by one of the men.



"Oui cdyo turh yht tuh'd suja." (You stay down and don't move.)



"Hey! I just wanna get up."



"E cyet cdyo turh." He said again this time pointing a gun at Willow. (I said stay down.)



"Whoa, alright I get it, I get it. I'll just stay right here and not move. Nope I won't move a muscle not me you see I'm not moving am I. So can you please get that thing outta my face, cause I like it where it is...I don't think it would look good splattered all over the floor of the ship."



"Tysh! Cra dymgc duu silr." The man said as he pointed the gun in another direction. (Damn! She talks too much.)



Willow sighed in relief when the gun wasn't pointing at her anymore. She leaned up against the railing and looked at the stars. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there when the hatch opened, and the girl that punched her and another girl came out. She decided to try and get up again, and found that she wasn't stopped. This new girl like the rest was wearing a tight yellow diving suit with goggles covering her eyes.



The new girl looked Willow up and down before looking at the other girl. "Oui femm ramb ic?" She said. (You will help us?)



"Uh...yeah right whatever."



"Fro tu oui hud cbayg?" The girl asked. (Why do you not speak?)



The man holding the gun started to hit Willow.



"Fyed!" The first girl said and turned to Willow. "She said that you could stay if you help us out."



"Hey, you can speak my language." Willow said before she was hit in the stomach. "Alright I'll help."



The men and other girl walk back into the cabin.



"So what are we gonna be doing?"



"We found some ancient ruins beneath us. They aren't active right now, but there should be some power left in them. So you and me are gonna go down there and activate it. The we should be able to salvage the prize. So come on let's get to work." The girl explained.



"You got it let's go." Willow said before she and the other girl dove in to the water.



Damn I forgot to ask her name...oh well it's not like we can talk underwater anyway. I'll ask her when we get back to the ship. Willow thought as she swam behind the girl, following the girl into an opening Willow saw that there was a control panel in front of a door. Swimming up to it Willow looked it over and gave it a couple of good hits, causing the panel to light up bright blue. She pushed a button that caused the door to slid up and open. Inside the next room there wasn't much to see except a light blue crystal hanging from the ceiling. Swimming into the third room the girl pointed to another crystal that wasn't lit up. Willow nodded her head and swam over to it; she gave it the same treatment as the panel. After four good hits the crystal lit up, causing the ruins to shake.



As they swam back out Willow saw a blue glowing tentacle grab on to the girl, and pull her toward a gaping mouth full of razor sharp teeth.



{Flash}



Name: Tros

HP: 2200

MP: 100



Willow grabbed her sword and quickly swam over to it and slashed the tentacle that was holding the girl. The girl swam off a little and turned around with a grenade in her hand, she motioned for Willow to get away. When Willow was nearly beside her the girl threw the grenade it bounce off the hard shell on Tros’ head, as the grenade floated down to the floor it exploded. The shockwave sent Willow and the girl up against the wall, but when they looked back there was only pieces of Tros left. The girl gave Willow a high five as they swam out the opening.





Back on the ship.



"E lyh'd pameaja ed! Fa vuiht yh airship." The first man said. (I can't believe it! We found an airship.)



"Oayr, dra pucc ec kuehk du muja ed." The second said smiling. (Yeah, the boss is going to love it.)



"Huf, ruf yna fa du kad ed ib rana?" Asked the third guy. (Now, how are we to get it up here?)



Willow shook the water out of her hair as she followed the three men toward the hatch.



"Oui, cdyo uidceta!" The third said and pushed Willow back. (You, stay outside!)



"Hey! I helped didn't I?" She said as the hatch closed. "Well that’s just great now I'm stuck out here...and I'm HUNGRY!"



She lay down on the floor of the ship her head propped up on her arm looking out at the ocean.



I wonder how far away I am from Zanarkand? I hope everyone is ok after what happened. But what the hell did happen? Giles knew what that thing was...Giles, stupid Giles nearly got me killed. The next time I see him I think I'll sic Kris on him after I tell him off. Kris is going to be pissed; especially when I tell her what happened to me. I know she's fine...she is part of the Dragon Clan and they can take care of themselves. Oh I know I'll have the whole clan chasing Giles' ass all over Zanarkand...teach him to screw with me.



Her thoughts were interrupted when her stomach growled.



"Need food." Willow said to no one, she was going to get lost in thought again until someone kicked her arm, causing her head to nearly hit the floor. Looking up she saw the girl she'd helped out, with a tray of food. She sits the tray down in front of Willow, who grabbed it and started eating. But there was one problem she eat too fast and started choking, the girl quickly handed her a canteen of water.



"It's cause you eat too fast."



Willow stands up and stretches then turn toward the girl.



"Hello there my name is Willow. What is your name?"



"My name is Buffy."



{Buffy is a 17 year-old Al Bhed girl. She stands at 5’2”. She has blond hair in a ponytail, and two little braids beside each ear. She has green eyes with black swirls starting at the pupil. She wears a orange vest, green shorts, and light colored boots, she has a different glove on each hand. When she fights she uses a claw as a weapon. She is also a very good thief.}



Willow grabs Buffy's hands and starts to shake the rapidly.



"Sweet! You really can understand me... hey why didn't you say so before?"



"I didn't get a chance to. Everyone thought oui were a fiend."



Willow looked at Buffy confused "Uh..."We."



"Oh, sorry "oui" means you" Buffy said.



"Ok, umm, who are you guys anyway?"



Buffy smiled and bounced on the balls of her feet. "We're Al Bhed. Can't you tell? Oh, wait you're not an Al Bhed hater are you? Cause that would suck."



"Well, I don't even know what an Al Bhed is...so I can't hate you now can I?"



"You don't know?! Where are you from?"



"Zanarkand. I'm the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. Ya know the best blitzball team there is." Willow said proudly.



"Uh did you hit your head, maybe that fiend squeezed you a little too hard."



"Well you guys hit me remember...and you pack and good punch too."



"Thanks! But do you remember anything after that?"



So I told Buffy about Zanarkand... about what life was like there, blitzball... and about Sins attack. I told her of how Giles and I were engulfed in this bright light. I said things just as they came to me... but then I started to wonder.



"Umm did I say something funny?" Willow asked when she saw the look on Buffy's face.



"You were near Sin? Right?"



"Yeah."



"Don't worry you'll get better in no time. They say your head gets kinda funny when you get too close to Sin. So maybe you just had a dream."



"Wait a minute... you're telling me I'm sick?"



"Yeah from Sins Toxin."



"And you are completely sure about this?"



"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So I'm sorry to say... no one plays blitzball there anymore."



"What do you mean a thousand years ago? I saw Sin attack Zanarkand. You telling me that happened a thousand years ago. No Way! It can't be!"



Neither Willow nor Buffy spoke for a few minutes. Buffy was staring out at the ocean and Willow was thinking about home.



"You said you play blitzball?"



"Yeah why?"



"You should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are... or you might find someone you recognize there."



"Luca?"



"Okay, leave it to me I'll get you to Luca, I promise."



"Are you sure?"



"What you'd rather stay here?"



"Not exactly."



"Okay, I'll go tell the others. Wait here. Oh and one more thing... don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand. Yevon says it's a holy place, you might upset someone." Buffy said then turned and walked back into the control room.



My Zanarkand. Holy place? Yeah right I thought, since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? What is this? I thought Sin took me to a place far away, and I could go back in a few days... but a thousand years into the future? No way!



"No way!" Willow screamed and kicked the cargo hold.



The ship started shaking causing Willow to fall back on her butt and roll backwards to the railing. When she looked up she saw two Al Bhed men coming out of the control room.



"Sin!" The first one screamed.



"Sin ryc lusa!" The second one shouted. (Sin has come.)



A third Al Bhed came running out of the control room shouting.



"Ihtan dra creb! Sin fahd ihtan ic!" (Under the ship! Sin went under us!)



Sin rose out of the ocean spraying water all over the ships deck, Willow tried holding on to the railing, but was swept over and into the ocean. She fell into the swirling water, the last thing she saw was Buffy leaning over the railing trying to reach her.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[onyxsundrops]

I'll confess that I know nothing about Final Fantasy, but I am enjoying your story so far. Thanks.



Yvonne

[BurningWhiteRose]

Oh wow...this is amazing.



Ive never played the game, but this is still cool...



Continue soon!



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David

[Stormforce]

Hi again.



onxysundrops - I'm glad you are enjoying it. And you really don't need to know anything about any of the games, because they are all different...well except FFX-2



BurningWhiteRose - FFX is a good game with a good story, if you ever get a chance, check out some of the movies, from the game. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.



For the ones who haven't played a FF game before, don't sweat it. The only thing that any of them have in common, is a man named Cid, and some of the Aeons, like Shiva, Ifrit and Bahamut. Final Fantasy X-2 is the only sequel to any FF game. And most of the magic is the same, some of it changed but not much.



Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Don't own either Buffy or FFX...if I did I would be on vacation in Japan right now.

Note: This chapter is a little shorter than the last two, but the next one will be longer. Enjoy.



Chapter 3: Besaid



Willow opens her eyes to find that she’s floating face down in the water. Jerking up she choughs up the seawater. “Buffy!” Willow hollers out to nothing but the ocean. She gets hit in the back of the head, and turns to see a ball.



“Blitzball!”



Looking toward where the ball came from she sees a group of men on the beach.



“Hey, you okay?” One of the men shouts out to her



“Heeey.”



Willow dives under the water and kicks off of the bottom, and shoots out of the water with the blitzball on her head. The ball flies up into the air as Willow flips over and her foot connects with the ball. The ball sails right by the man who called out to her. He watched as the ball flew off into the distance with wide eyes, he then looked back to Willow who was almost to the shore.



“Whoa-ho.”



Willow walks over to the group of men and shakes the water out of her hair.



“Hey.”



“Girl that was a cool move. You wanna try it again?”



Willow smiles at him and nods her head. One of the others gave her another ball, and showed them the move again.



Finally, things were starting to look up. Maybe I had more luck that stayed with me.



“You are no amateur. Who do you play for?” The man asked.



“The Zanarkand Abes.”



The group gives Willow a puzzled look as the man looked at her closely.



“What team did you say?”



“Uh, I meant… uh forget that. I got too close to… to uh Sin and my head is all foggy like… ya know. So I don’t know where this is… or even where I came from.”



“Ah, Sin’s toxin got to ya. But, you’re still alive. Praise be to Yevon!” The man says as he and the group of men raise their hands out to the side of their bodies, and bring them to the middle of their stomachs, one palm down, the other up forming a circle, and bow.



“All right, back to practice!” He says to the other men, and then turns back to Willow.



“I’m Xander, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs.”



{Xander is 18 years old with dark hair that sticks up and brown eyes, and he stands at 5’8”. He’s the youngest coach and captain of any of the blitzball teams. He wears a headband, yellow and dark colored overalls, with no shirt, and sandals. When he is in a fight he uses a blitzball as a weapon.}



“I’m Willow, nice to meet you Xander.” Willow said as her stomach growled.



“What? You hungry? Alright I’ll get you somethin’ at the village. Come on.”



I felt like I could trust Xander, so I decided to ask him.



“Its true Zanarkand was destroyed… a thousand years ago. Right? So it’s nothing but a big pile of rubble now isn’t it?”



“Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machina-machines-to run ‘em. The people played all day and let the machines do the work. And then, well, take a look around. Sin came and destroyed the machina cities… and Zanarkand along with ‘em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you asked me, Sin’s our punishment for letting things get outta hand. What get me though… is that we gotta suffer; cause of what some jerk-offs did way back when! ‘Course, we must repent for our sins, that important! It’s just that, it’s hard to keep at it sometimes, ya know?”



It was just like Buffy had said. Xander and Buffy couldn’t both be lying. Why would they?



Xander laughs and hits Willow on the shoulder. “But you bein’ from the Zanarkand Abes… that was a good one! Hey I’m not sayin’ that team never existed. But you gotta figure a team livin’ in luxury like that would be soft. Eh?”



I appreciated the fact that Xander was trying to cheer me up. But at that time, all I could think about was… everything that had happened to me… all this started with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home! For now, I would just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where, or when I was. Sure it was hard not to think about home. But I’d started to feel better already. A little better… maybe, just maybe.



Catching up with Xander, Willow looks over the end of the land and sees a twenty-five foot drop off into the water. She didn’t notice as Xander slowly creeped up on her, until she felt him push her over the edge. She hit the water with a splash and came up just in time to see Xander dive in five foot from her.



“Hey what was that for?” Willow asked as Xander came up.



‘Nothin’ just playin’ ya know.” Xander said with a smile. “Come on it’s this way.”



Willow followed Xander around a bend to see a dark cave going under the water. Before she could go into the cave Xander grabbed her by the neck.



“Hey lemme go.”



“Gotta favor to ask ya.”



“Let me guess, you want me on your team. Right?”



Xander lets Willow out of the headlock he had her in.



“A big blitz tournament is comin’ up. All the team in Spira’ll be there. Its huge I’m sure someone there will recognize you. Then you can go back to your old team, right? Come on! It’ll be fun. So what do ya say?”



“Yeah, sure thing.”



“Dude! This year our team is gonna ROCK!”



I thought then that Blitzball and Sin were the only two things that Spira and Zanarkand had in common. And I wasn’t too far off either.



Five minutes later Willow was again shaking the water out of her hair, as she and Xander walked along the uphill path to Besaid. At the top of the hill Willow looked down on the small village of Besaid. The biggest thing was the temple at the far end of the village.



“This is where I was born. I started playing blitz at five, and joined the Aurochs at thirteen, that was five years ago; I became the captain at sixteen. Five years and we’ve never won a game. Well after last year I quit the time seemed right.”



As they start walking down the slope Xander sighs, and shakes his head.



“So, anyway after I quit blitzball I got this new job. But every time my mind started to wonder, and I would think about the game. Ya know maybe, just maybe… then last year the first match was my big chance. But I had something else on my mind I couldn’t focus.”



“That’s a good excuse.”



“Hey, now what is that suppose to mean?”



“Nothing. So, you wanna win this years tournament… and go out with a bang.”



“Yes!” Xander said and nodded his head.



“Okay, well then, what’s our goal?”



“I can walk away happy, if we just play our best.”



Willow looks at Xander like he’s a fool. “No, no, no, no, when I say what’s our goal, you say “Victory!” When you play a tournament, you play to win.”



“Victory, huh? That sounds good.”



The continue walking toward the village when Willow spots two men running over to them. Taller one had brown hair with a headband, a green and brown long-sleeve shirt, purple pants and sandals. The shorter one had dark spiky hair, a green shirt, brown and yellow pants, and shoulder guards.



“Hello, you’re the one from the sea, correct?” The taller one asked.



“Yes.”



“Please be careful. There are fiends on the road today. So be on your guard.” The shorter one said.



“Yes, it would be a shame if something happened, after your run in with Sin.”



Willow turned to Xander as the two men left. “Who were they?” Willow asked.



“The tall one is Riley and the short one is Oz. They are Crusaders.”



“Uh, crews of what exactly?”



“Don’t tell me you forgot that too? Hey, it’s cool, I was just kiddin’ around. Anyway I’ll help you out.”



“Okay cool, and in return for your help, come tournament time I’ll make sure to take the cup.”



“Great! Anyway about the Crusaders you can ask them yourself, they have a lodge in the village.”



As they continued down the hill Willow un-sheathed her sword, and Xander grabbed his Blitzball. There in front of them stood a brown dog that was foaming at the mouth, and in the air was a blue bird with brown wings, and a long beak that looked like a pointing arrow. Willow looked at the dog.



[Flash]

Name: Dingo

HP: 125

MP: 10



When she looked at the bird another flash.



[Flash]



Name: Condor

HP: 95

MP: 15



Willow dodged to the right as the dog jumped at her, as Xander stepped back to avoid the bird’s attack. Xander threw the ball into the air hitting the bird on its chest knocking it out of the air it disappeared in a swirl of multi-colored light. The Dingo had turned and ran at Willow, she again moved to the right as she brought her sword down severing the Dingo in half. It like the bird disappeared in a swirl of multi-colored lights.



At the bottom of the hill Willow saw two large doors standing open, the doors went to a gate. A rather large gate, about fifteen foot tall with sharp points at the top. She and Xander walked between the doors and came to a stop.



“Welcome to Besaid village.”



There were five huts on each side of the walkway, and standing proudly at the end of the road was the Besaid temple.



“So, is there any food around here?” Willow asked as her stomach growled.



“I’ll get you something later. But right now take a look around. The last hut on the left is the Crusader lodge; you can talk to Riley and Oz there. The first one on the right is the Item shop, you can buy Potions, Phoenix Downs, and Antidotes there, it’s all the shop has right now. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Over here.” Willow followed Xander to the side of a small hut.



“You still remember the prayer right?”



“No I’m sorry I don’t.”



Of course I’d never prayed before in my life. But I didn’t have to tell that to Xander.



“Sin’s toxin must have gotten to ya bad. Ok I’ll show you.”



Xander raised his arms out to the sides as he bent his right leg at the knee and stepped back with his left leg. The as he straightened up he brought his hands to the middle of his stomach, and over each other, his left palm facing down, and his right palm facing up, then he bowed, and raised up.



“There now you try it.”



Willow did exactly what Xander had showed her.



“Not bad. Now go and present yourself to the temple priest.” Xander spoke as he turned and walked away.



Any Blitzball player would know that prayer. It was the Blitzball sign for victory.



This place is so different. Willow thought as she walked to where Xander pointed out the Crusader lodge. Stepping inside the lodge she said Riley and Oz sitting at the only table in the small room. There was a woman with dark brown hair behind the counter, and from where she stood she counted ten beds, and a glowing sphere at the back of the room.



“Hey, you were attacked by Sin, right?”



Willow looked over and saw that Oz was the one that spoke.



“Yeah.”



“Recently was it?”



“Uh, yeah I think so.”



“So Sin can be that far away. Hey, you’re not hiding something are you?”



“Now why would I do that?”



“You see if Sin’s near by it’ll attack the island for sure. But it hasn’t… I wonder why?” Riley said.



“I’m sorry. I don’t really know anything. And to tell the truth, I don’t know what the Crusaders are.”



“What! You’re kidding me.”



“Sin’s toxin! Oz tell her who we are and what we do!”



“Yes sir! The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin. We have chapter throughout all of Spira accepting all who wish to join our struggle. The hero Mi’ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We’ve been fighting Sin ever since.” Willow learned a little more about Spira, from listening to Oz speak.



“What! You’ve been fighting for eight hundred years and still haven’t beat it?” She asked with wide eyes.



“Well, we have steered Sin away from towns many times. And that’s all we can do. Nobody’s ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the Temples, towns, villages, and all people of Spira.” Riley said.



“Well then who’s job is it to defeat Sin?”



“Is Sin’s toxin really this bad?” Oz asked looking at Riley.



“It does seem rather bad… We could just tell you what you want to know. But I think that you should try and remember on your own. Go to the Temple and pray. Perhaps Yevon will hear your prayers and help with your memory.”



Sighing Willow turned and left the lodge she walked up the four steps to the Temple walkway. There were ten pillars on each side, and a ten-foot tall door in front of her. Pushing open the doors Willow found herself inside a circler room with a vaulted ceiling going up a good twenty-five, to thirty-feet high. There were statues of men and women all around the room, and some people in front of certain ones on their knees, praying.



It was then… standing in that place. That I began to realize how different this world was from my own.



She walked over to a statue of a beautiful woman and began to study it, as a priest walked over to her and stopped.



“It has been ten years since Lady Mythe became a High Summoner. And two weeks ago we finally receive a statue for our Temple.”



“What’s a High Summoner?”



At the startled gasps and looks she got when she asked that, Willow took a step back.



“Uh… I got too close… to Sin and I don’t remember much.”



It was funny hearing myself say the same excuse all the time… funny and a little sad.



“Praise be to Yevon, that you are still alive.” The priest spoke doing the prayer. “High Summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few can become Summoners, who call forth entities of great power: the Aeons. The Aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessings of Yevon.”



So what he meant… was that we should respect some kinda great men and women or something like that. Atleast that’s what I figured.



Willow left the temple thinking about all that she’d learned. She only stopped to ask a young woman where Xander’s hut was. When she walked in Xander looked up, he was sitting at a small table reading a book.



“Hey there, sorry no time for lunch yet. Say, why don’t you take a nap… you look beat.”



“Yeah, thanks.”



Willow laid down on the small cot Xander used as a bed, as Xander went back to reading. After a couple of hours the Temple priest came in.



“You could atleast go in and see how they’re doing.”



“You know I can’t interfere. It’s the rules, and anyway there are guardians in there already.” Xander says as he and the priest walk outside.



“But it’s been nearly…”



Dream



A man and a woman are standing in front of a boat talking, while an eight year old Willow listens.



“But it’s been nearly… it’s been nearly a day already.” The man says.



“Perhaps you could look for us.”



“Ma’am there is people searching as we speak.”



“Thank you.” The woman says as the man walks away.



“Who cares whether he comes back or not.” The young Willow says.



“But he might die!” The woman says as she turns to Willow.



“Fine, let him! I don’t care!”



“Do you… do you really hate him so much, that you don’t care whether he lives or dies?”



“Yes!” Willow says and nodes her head.



“But if he dies, you won’t be able to tell him how much you hate him.”



End of dream



Willow rose up in the cot to find herself alone. “Xander?”



A small boy pokes his head in the doorway, and smiles. “Xander is at the Temple.”



Willow thanks the boys and walks over to the Temple. Inside she sees Xander and the priest talking, walking over she can see Xander has a worried look on his face.



tbc...

Well thats it for the third chapter. The fourth should be out soon...maybe later tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. ^_^

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[BurningWhiteRose]

Grrr...



Darned cliffhanger. And I was just getting a grasp on things too.



Continue soon? Cause if you dont i'll cry.



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David

[Stormforce]

BurningWhiteRose - Sorry about the cliffhanger. Here's chapter 4 so you don't have to cry.



Final Fantasy X Retold

Rating: PG for a small amount of language

Summary: FFX retold with Buffy Characters.

Disclaimer: If I owned Buffy, Willow and Tara would have lived long happy lives together. And if I owned the FF series I'd be japanese...which I'm not.



Sorry I forgot to add that and what's in bold is Willow narrating.



Chapter Four: The Summoner



“Is something wrong?” Willow asked Xander when she stepped up beside him.



“The Summoner hasn’t returned from the Trials yet.”



“Eh?”



“Well… apprentice Summoner really.”



"Ah?”



“There’s a room in there called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the apprentice prays to the Fayth. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a fully-fledged Summoner, remember?”



“Okay, so someone is in there and they haven’t come back out yet. Right, got it.”



“A day has already gone by.”



“Say, Xander, it isn’t particularly dangerous in there is it?”



“Sometimes, yes it is.”



“Well, why don’t you go in and help?”



“There’s already guardians in there. And besides it’s forbidden to interfere.”



Willow runs up the stairs to the door at the top. “Hey, what if somethin’ happens? What if the Summoner dies?”



“The precepts MUST be obeyed!” The Temple priest shouts at her.



“Like I care!” Willow says before going through the door.



Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.



Willow looks around the room she ended up running into. The only thing noticeable was a Glyph on the far wall. She walks over to the Glyph and studies it, raising her hand Willow touches the outer portion of the Glyph, and jumps back and something to her right glows bluish green. Looking at the wall to the right Willow finds that another Glyph appeared, she walks over and examines the new Glyph. She looks from the new Glyph to the one she first touched, and smiled. Slowly raising her hand she touches the blue green Glyph in the center, causing the wall to slide up. She descends the stairs when she turns the corner she finds a dead end with a small hole in the middle of the wall.



She thinks.



Turning back Willow finds another glowing Glyph over a small glowing sphere, she picks the sphere up and heads back to the wall. Placing the sphere in the wall causes it to open; as she walks into the opening she picks the sphere up again. Willow finds herself in hallway that turns to the right a few feet ahead turning the corner she sees a hole on the left wall, and one on the right. Not knowing which hole to put the sphere in she pick the one on the right, this causes the wall to slide up to reveal a secret room with a purple sphere.

Taking the purple sphere from the wall she walks back to the hallway, to find glowing ruins on the left wall. As she touches then the wall opens to reveal a bright green sphere, she picks this one up and places the purple sphere in the green spheres place. A small purple light flows from the side of the sphere down the side of the wall, and around the corner, causing the back wall to explode. When Willow checks it out she finds a treasure chest. Opening it Willow finds a rod, shrugging her shoulders she straps it to her back, and goes back to the last sphere hole. Placing the green sphere into the hole Willow steps back as the wall slides up revealing another room. Walking inside the room Willow sees a small flashing silver light on the floor.



“Hey!”



Willow jumped a mile into the air, and turned to find Xander standing at the opening of the room.



“What’s gotten into you? Hey, it’s okay. Only Summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter here. It’s tradition. Very important.”



“What about you then?”



“Me? I’m a guardian.”



“Guardian?”



An elevator appears under Willow and Xander and takes them down.



“Summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every Temple in Spira. Guardians protect time on their journey. The guardians in there now… One of’em has a short fuse, and the other one... well lets just say you don't want to be on her bad side. Well now that we’ve come this far… might as well go all the way in.”



Willow follows Xander into a circler room with a blond haired woman standing by the stairs, and a dark haired woman sitting on the third step.



“What are you doing here? Didn’t think we could handle it?” The blond asks as she walks over to Xander.



“No! It’s uh… it’s just…” Xander turns to Willow. “See I told you she gets mad easy.” He whispers.



Willow looks at the dark haired woman, who stairs right back at her.



“Is the Summoner alright?”



“And just who the hell... are you?” The blond asks looking at Willow closely.



The door at the top of the steps open, and the most beautiful woman Willow had ever seen stepped out. Just as she was about to step down she started to fall. The dark haired woman was there to catch her in an instant. As she stood up Willow could see sweat running down her face and neck as she brushed her blond hair back with her hands. She then smiled at everyone.



“I’ve done it! I have become a Summoner!”



Willow follows the others out of the Cloister and back into the Temple.



Man was I surprised. And here I thought that all Summoners were a bunch of old geezers.



Willow looks up to see that the group had left the Temple and runs to catch up with them.



“Hey over here!”



Xander grabs Willow in a headlock and moves her toward the village center.



“What? Ow!”



“Wait till you see this!”



“Xander! I can’t see a damn thing with my head under your arm.” Willow said as she broke the hold Xander had on her.



“Ready!” Xander says to the summoner.



The summoner then raises her staff to the air, spreads her arms outward. A circle starts to glow under her feet, and moves outward. Willow looks to the sky with everyone else and sees a shape flying toward them. The shape turns out to be a giant bird like creature.



{Valefor is a female Aeon with a sharp pointed white face, with a horn on each side of her head, and two horns between her eyes. She has a downward curved horn at the top of each wing. She has a bright red neck, and waist, and her body is light blue. Her chest and the inside of her wings are a golden color. She is the energy Aeon, and her overdrive is Energy Ray.}



I had never seen anything like it in my life. Sure it was a little scary, but still… I could feel a strange kind of gentleness coming from it.



The summoner gently pets the Aeons head before it jumps into the air and flies off.



I remember… That night, we talked for the first time. I didn’t know it then, but after that night, everything changed. For everyone… For me…



Later that night Willow walks around the bonfire, before being grabbed by Xander.



“Come on Willow. Let me introduce ya to the team.”



Sighing Willow could only follow Xander as he ran over to the group that was practicing on the beach earlier that day.



“Okay guys listen up. This girl wants to play in the tournament so bad I let her on the team. Her memory is still a little fuzzy, so don’t mind her if she says anything funny.”



Xander grabbed Willow by her left arm and pulled her over to the team. “Go on say hi.”



“Uh, hi guys.”



The team speaks their greetings to Willow before looking at the ground and around the fire.



“So guys what’s our goal?” Willow asked trying to get the team pepped up.



“To do our best!” The whole team says as one.



“Nope, we gotta new goal this year… our new goal is… victory! This means we win every match, defeat every opposing team! To bring the Crystal Cup back to our island, that’s all we need to do to win. Easy, ya?” Xander said from beside Willow.



“Victory? Victory! Victory! Victory! Yeah!” The team starts chanting.



Willow smiles at the team this looks over the fire to see the summoner. Leaving the team to their chanting she walks over toward the summoner.



“You heathen!” An old man says to Willow stopping her dead in her tracks.



“Stay away from the lady summoner!” Said an old woman.



“You’re a bad person!” A young girl said.



The summoner gets up from where she was sitting.



“My lady! Please be careful!” The old man says.



“But it was my fault to begin with.” The summoner says to the old man and walks over to Willow. “Thank you for your help earlier. I’m Tara.”



{Tara is a new summoner fixing to begin her pilgrimage. She is 17 years old and has long blond hair to the middle of her back, and she stands 5’5”. She wears a thin white shirt, a yellow ribbon around her waist, a long blue skirt with splits on the left side, and dark boots. She also has an earring of a feather in her right ear. When in battle she uses a rod as a weapon, and when things get tough she calls upon the Aeons to help.}



“Yeah, I’m sorry about that… wasn’t that… wasn’t I not supposed to… I guess I kinda overreacted. Anyway I'm Willow." She says and sticks her hand out.



Tara takes the offered hand and gives Willow a small half smile. “Oh, no Willow it’s not your fault. I went into the Trials overconfident.”



“Um, anyway… I saw that Aeon thingy. That was freaking amazing! I have never seen anything like that in my life… it was so cool… I hope I get to see it again. That would be awesome… ya know.”



“Really? Do you perhaps think I could become a high summoner?



“Yeah, although I don’t know what that is… but yeah I think you’d be a great high summoner… no you’d be the greatest one!



Tara shyly ducks her head and looks at Willow through her hair. Willow could see a bright blush covering Tara’s face and smiled. Before she could say anything else the little girl from before ran over to Tara.



“Lady Tara come play with me some more, please?”



Tara smiles at the girl and nodes her head. “Okay, Nikko.” Turning back to Willow she gives her a smile. “So, tomorrow then.”



“Uh… tomorrow?” Willow asks confused, but on the inside she was jumping for joy.



“Yes, we’re going on the same boat, aren’t we?







“Really? Cool.”



“Yes, we can talk some more then. And you can tell me all about Zanarkand.” Tara says smiling and walks over to the young girl.



Willow was thinking and didn’t see Xander walk up and stand by her side, until he spoke.



“She’s cute, ya?”



“Oh yeah!”



“Don’t get no ideas.”



“Well I’m not promising anything in that department coach. But, what if she… ya know, comes on to me?”



“Sorry girl that ain’t gonna happen. Anyway let me know when you get tired I had a bed made up for you at the lodge.”



“Yeah sure Xander.”



Willow walked around the village for another thirty minutes before she got tired of the dirty looks she was receiving from the older villagers.



“You ready for bed now?” Xander asked as Willow stepped beside him.



“Yeah.”



“Okay this way.”



Willow followed Xander into the Crusaders lodge where she showed her to her bed. It was the first one on the right side of the room. The small single bed looked comfortable to Willow who was now feeling the effects of running all over the place that day.



“Well, sleep tight.” Xander said as he walked out the door of the lodge.



As soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep and dreaming.



Dream



Willow looks around and notices she is standing on a boat dock. Toward the end of the dock she sees a figure, and walks over to find Tara looking out over the ocean.



“Hey, Tara, where’s the boat?”



“Everyone will find us if is doesn’t come soon.”



“Um, are you really sure this is okay? I mean I don’t want you to get into trouble because of this. Cause that would suck.”



“Would you take me to Zanarkand?”



Out of nowhere Buffy comes running along the dock.



“Hey! You said you’d take me to Zanarkand!”



“Yikes! I… uh, that is… uh.”



“Anyway I thought Xander told you NOT to get ANY ideas?” Buffy spoke causing Willow to flinch.



“H-he did?” Tara asks as she turns away from Willow.



“Yeah! So Willow you're going to take me!”



“Hey! Stop your dreamin’!" A new voice shouts.



Willow looks over to see Ira her father standing on the beach.



“You with a woman? Ha! You can’t even catch a damn ball. So what are you gonna do with a woman? Oh what’s the matter? Gonna start cryin’ again? Cry, cry, cry. That’s all you’ll EVER be good for!”



“I hate you!” A younger version of Willow said.



“Huh? I didn’t hear that. What’d ya say?” Ira says from the beach.



“You have to speak loudly to be heard.” Tara says standing to Ira’s right.



“I Hate You!” Her younger self shouts.



“Eh? Still can’t hear you.”



“That’s the spirit!” Buffy says standing to Ira’s left.



“You can do it!” Tara says.







Willow jerks up in her bed.



I HATE YOU! She screams to nothing but air.



“She’s dead, okay? Dead.



Willow hears the voice of the blond guardian from outside. Slowly getting off the bed Willow walks over to the door, and peeps out. She sees that the woman is talking to Xander.



“But Anya!”



{Anya is 18 years old she has shoulder length blond hair, and she stands 5’4”. She wears a long black dress that buckles up the front. And always carries a stuffed doll of some sort with her, she says it helps her to focus. When in battle she uses black magic to defeat the enemies.}



“She does look a lot like Hikari. I was surprised, too, the first time I saw her. But no matter what that girl looks like, she isn’t, and NEVER will be Hikari. Don’t you understand? You shouldn’t have brought her here in the first place!”



“Yeah, but… she need our help, Anya! I couldn’t just leave her out there, what is something worse had happened to her? Huh?”



“Excuses again?”



“Yeah, but…”



“That’s it! No more! That is enough Xander!” Anya says to Xander and walked away.



Bowing his head Xander walks over to the lodge and spots Willow who is standing beside the door.



“Damn, that girl is scary. Remind me NOT to get her pissed at me, will ya?”



“Yeah I know what you mean, Anya has a short fuse and when she’s mad you wanna stay away from her.”



“So, uh, Xander, I couldn’t help but overhearing her talking… uh… who’s Hikari?”



“My little sister Hikari… she looked like you.”



“She’s dead?”



“Yeah, she was fighting Sin with the Crusaders last year. She didn’t make it. I heard on the day of the tournament.” Xander said and sat down on the bed Willow was sleeping in.



“Oh, so that’s what you meant when you said you were thinking about something else the day of the tournament.” Willow sat beside Xander.



“I became Tara’s guardian to help her fight Sin, ya?”



“Oh, I see you want to avenge your sister then?”



“Yeah that was the idea. But now I’m more worried about some stupid game than revenge. Well no matter… after this tournament, I’ll be a full-time guardian. I know it looks like I’m using you, but I’m not.” Xander looked at the floor as he spoke.



“Hey Xander.” Willow said and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I mean… I owe you a lot. You really helped me out, by bringing me here and all, especially when I screwed up and ran into the Trials. Anyway, what I mean is… thanks, Xander.”



“Stop, you’re embarrassing me!” Xander smiled at Willow and stood up. “Well I’m gonna hit the sack, and you should to. We have an early start in the morning.”



“Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.” Willow said to Xander as he left the lodge.



Okay thats all for chapter 4, and I'm working of five it'll be out soon. Hope you enjoyed ch4.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[bluehippocampus]

Good work!!! Nice plot really. Each passing chapter it gets better and better. Kudos



BH

Beauty in things lies in the mind which contemplates them - David Hume

[robotguru]

I'd better finish the game before you finish the fic lol, damn Seymor...i hate the guy.



Anyways, this is a nice fic.

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[BurningWhiteRose]

YAY!!



I dont have to cry.



Great chapter. Why do they hate Willow so much? And another YAY, because now Tara's there. We all know no matter what they say, Tara will try to help Willow...



Right?



Tara's a cool priestess like thing...hehe



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David

[robotguru]

Willow (or Tidus as it was in the game) ran into the Cloister of Trials, this is against the teachings of Yevon, that's why people were hostile.



If you think that Cloister of Trials sounded complicated, wait until we reach the Yevon Cloister of Trials waaaaay down the road...that was freakin hard.

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[Stormforce]

bluehippocampus - Thank you! I'm glad you like it!



robotguru - lol, where are you at in the game? I know the fights with Seymour had me screaming. And that damn Yevon Cloister of Trials, nearly had me in tears, lol. Oh and just wait till you see who takes the place of Seymour. *Evil grin*



BurningWhiteRose - Like robotguru said Willow (Tidus) ran into the Cloister of Trials which is against Yevon. Only summoners, apprentice summoners, and guardians are allowed in the Trials.

And Tara will help Willow out...





This chapter has a bit of the Final Fantasy Universe magic explanation.

Final Fantasy X Retold

Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: PG-13 for a small amount of language and violence.

Disclaimer: Don't own either, and never will.



Chapter Five: Off to Kilika Island



The next morning Willow slowly crawled out of bed and stretched. She spoke to the lady behind the counter before walking out into the warm morning air. Seeing Xander and Anya standing in the summoner’s circle, where Tara summoned Valefor the day before, she walks over.



“Hey! Morning sleepyhead. There’s something I want to give you.” As he spoke Xander held a light blue sword out to Willow, who took it. She stepped back and took a couple of practice swings and finds that it’s light and easy to use.



“Whoa! You’re giving this… to me?”



“Yeah, use it well.”



“Don’t worry I’ll take good care of it. Thank you Xander.”



Anya looked from Willow, to the sword, and finally to Xander. “That’s the sword that you gave to Hikari.” Willow looked over to Anya, then to Xander.



“Well… she never used it. Where’s Tara?” Xander said looking everywhere but at Anya.



“We’re taking the same boat, aren’t we? So, why do we have to wait here?” Willow asked.



“Tara came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started.” Xander said to Willow.



“Um… the Calm?”



“Since then she’s been like a sister to me and Anya. But she had the talent… she became an apprentice. And now, today, she leaves as a Summoner.” Xander finished.



“This is our journey. We should leave together.” Anya said looking at Willow.



Hearing a loud thump stopped Willow from asking any more questions. When they turned they saw Tara trying to pick up a rather large trunk. Setting it up on its side Tara wiped the sweat off her forehead.



“Tara, you really don’t need all of that luggage.” Anya said shaking her head.



“Well you see… they’re not really my things. They’re gifts for the Temples we visit.”



“This is not a vacation, Tara.” Xander spoke causing Tara to lower her head.



“I suppose… I guess you’re right.” She said looking up at Xander.



“Okay then! Off we go!” Xander said as he picked his blitzball up off the ground.



As the group passed the gate Tara turned and looked back at the village, then caught up with the others. Anya was walking a little behind Xander and Willow who were talking about blitzball. Shaking her head Anya sighed, then her eyes widened. “Look out!”



Xander had faster reflexes and shoved Willow out of the way of an on coming attack by a Dingo, then threw his ball at the Condor that was swooping down to attack Tara. Willow rose off the ground grabbed her new sword and severed the Dingo in half. She jumped back when she saw a light blue jelly like fiend slide out from under one of the bushes.



[Flash]



Name: Water Flan

HP: 315

MP: 30



“Hey! Let Anya take care of that… your sword and my ball won’t hurt it.”



“Why’s that, Xander?”



“The reason is because that is a magical fiend. Tell ya what, go ahead and take a hit at it… and you’ll see what I mean.”



Willow ran forward and sliced the fiend right down the middle and jumped back. When she landed she watched the fiend as it reformed its self. “What the hell?”



“Now you understand? Only magic can hurt that kind of fiend.”



Anya stepped up and cast a Thunder spell on the fiend causing it to seemingly melt into the ground. She turned and smiled at the stunned Willow, and walked on with Tara by her side.



“Now that was… weird… and cool!”



“Will, you ain’t seen nothing yet! I’ll let Anya explain the magic to you… hell I still don’t understand it myself.”



At the top of the hill Willow watched as Tara, Anya, and Xander prayed. Xander came over to stand beside her after his prayer was finished.



“Hey, let’s get going.” Willow said to Xander.



“We wait. People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip… Hikari didn’t pray that day, said she’d miss her boat if she did.” Xander told Willow and turned back to see Anya placing her hand on Tara’s shoulder.



“Take your time… the boat will wait for the Summoner.”



“I’m fine, Anya. Let’s go.”



The group left the prayer site with Willow in the lead. Turning the small corner, Willow found herself in some old ruins. Not paying attention to where she was going Willow didn’t see the figure jumping from one broken pillar to another, until it landed in front of her. Willow leaped back and fell to the ground. Looking up she saw the dark haired woman from the Temple Trials standing before her. Willow scrambled back as a spear came down and stuck into the ground right between her legs. Getting up she grabbed her sword and blocked the blow that would have hit her in the head. Shoving the woman away from her, Willow swung her sword around trying to cut the woman’s stomach, the woman blocked, and back-stepped raising her spear up and bringing it down in a wide arch, she hit Willow on her shoulder, cutting it. Willow stepped forward then swung her body around, and bending at her knees Willow swept the woman’s feet out from under her.



“That is enough!” Xander yelled stopping the fight.



Standing up the woman looked Willow over then turned and walked off, leaving Willow to glare at her back.



“Who the hell was that? And just what the hell is her problem?” Willow asked holding her bleeding shoulder.



“That would be Faith.” Xander said giving Willow a small smile.



{Faith is of the Dragon clan. She is 18 years old and has long dark hair to the middle of her back, and wears a dull silver breastplate covering her chest, with her upper back bare, black leather pants, and black boots. She can learn a fiend’s attack and use it against them. She is also very protective of Tara, who she claims is her adopted sister. When in battle she uses a spear as a weapon.}



“Faith Dragon of the Dragon clan. She has learned the fiends way of fighting.” Anya said as she walked by.



“Don’t worry about it. Faith is pretty much like that she doesn’t like anyone new. Well until she gets to know them.” Tara said as she cast Cure on Willow’s bleeding shoulder, healing it.



The path to the boat dock was not very long and the group got there only having to fight off a couple Dingo and Flan fiends. Willow saw that the villagers were there to see Tara off on her journey. Tara was holding a crying girl as she spoke to the Temple priest. Sitting the girl down she kissed her forehead and gave the girl a smile, before stepping on the ramp leading up to the boat. Willow followed Xander up the ramp before being stopped by the priest.



“Young lady, you are not a guardian, but I want you to help take care of Lady Tara, please don’t let anything happen to her on her journey.”



“Yes sir, I promise to not let anyone, or anything hurt her.” Willow told the priest. He smiled and nodded before walking off the ramp to join the villagers. Willow stepped on the S.S. Liki avoiding Faith and went to lean against the cargo hold. She watched Tara wave to the villagers as the boat left the dock. As the boat sails Willow looks around trying to find Tara, when she spots her Willow frowns. Passengers surround Tara all trying to speak to her at the same time. Deciding to see what’s going on Willow walks toward the group.



“Have you heard? They are saying that this summoner has noble blood.” A man said to the one beside him.



“Yeah, that’s Lady Mythe’s daughter.” The second man said.



Willow thought turning away from the men Willow looks around for Xander, seeing him over by the hold she walks over.



“Hey, Xander… is Tara’s mother famous, or something?”



“Yeah, she is the daughter of Lady Mythe. Remember you saw her statue at the Temple? Lady Mythe defeated Sin ten years ago, and brought the Calm to Spira. Tara is the heir to a great legacy!”



“It’s tough when one of your parents is famous.”



“Eh?” Xander looked at Willow with confusion on his face.



“Don’t mind Xander he’s… a bit lacking in the imagination department.”



“Thanks Anya… I’ll remember that.” Willow said laughing. “Xander said you could explain magic to me… so if you don’t mind could you?”



“That won’t be a problem, come on sit down and I’ll explain about Black Magic.” Willow and Anya sat down on the steps leading up to the balcony on the ship. “ First thing you need to know is this… everyone has MP in their body. MP is short for Mana Points… or Magic Points. This let’s you cast, and if you run out of MP, and if you're in a hurry you can use an Either to restore it, or just have a good nights rest. Okay, there are four basic elements to magic, Fire, Water, Ice, and Thunder, in which you start out with first. The more you use a certain spell the stronger it gets. When you use magic against fiends make sure you know its weakness, sometimes you can heal one with certain spells. Fire is harder to control than Water and Ice, but it is most effective against Ice fiends. Water comes next, it’s not that hard to control, and it can be used against Thunder fiends. Next is Ice, you use this against Fire fiends. Ice is the easiest to control, because it is just a huge block of…well Ice. Then Thunder is the last, and hardest to control, if you can’t control it; it could hit a teammate, and not the fiend. Okay, are you still with me?”



“Yeah! This is great!”



“Good! Okay like I said the more you use a certain spell it will get stronger. The four elements have three levels. Beginner. Which are Fire, Water, Blizzard, and Thunder. Intermediate is Fira, Watera, Blizzara, and Thundara. And Adept is Firaga, Waterga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga. Now when you reach the Adept level you can learn new spells, such as, Bio it is a green blob like attack that covers and poisons the fiend. Demi, it creates a portal around the fiend and cuts it HP in half… say the fiend as 600 HP Demi will cut it down to 300 in one casting. HP is short for Hit Point or Health Points. Death, you should know what that is, it will kill most fiends instantly, but some are immune to it. Drain, when you use this it will drain about 100 HP from the fiend and placing it in your body healing you. Osmose, this will drain the fiend of about 50 MP, and healing your MP. Flare is a non-elemental attack and will damage any enemy, even the Behemoth, it doesn’t matter what it is, Flare will damage it. And the last is Ultima, another non-elemental attack, like Flare it will damage any enemy for several thousand HP. Okay did you get all that?”



“Yeah I think so.”



“Okay, say you are up against a Flame Flan, what spell would you use to kill it?”



“A Flame Flan? You would use a… Ice spell to kill it.”



“Good, that’s right, a Flame Flan is a fire elemental fiend, a fire spell would only heal it, and a Blizzard spell would kill it. Now you have to remember there are other spells besides those that you can learn.”



“I was wondering… could you possibly teach me to use magic?”



“Yes, I can help you learn magic, but to learn White, or Healing Magic you’ll have to learn from Tara. She only uses that kind of magic.”



“Thank you, Anya. That was interesting and I can’t wait to learn how to cast.” Willow spoke getting up and smiling at Anya.



“Well if you like I can show you how to start, right now.” Anya said also rising.



“Sure, what do I have to do?”



“First relax your mind and body. Then search inside yourself, and look for a kind of barrier.”



Willow relaxed, and closed her eyes the ocean breeze played across her face, as she looked deep inside her mind, and found a gray barrier. “Okay, I found it, and it looks gray.”



“That’s it. That is your barrier, different people are different colors, since yours is gray, it means that you can learn and cast both White and Black Magics. Now with your mind gently push the barrier and break it.”



Again Willow did as Anya said and only found resistance. Sweat formed on her forehead and face, Anya watched as shook her head.



“Don’t try so hard. Try imagining that the barrier is paper, and think about ripping it down the middle.”



Again Willow did as she was instructed this time finding no resistance and breaking the magical barrier. A small flame formed in her hand as the barrier broke then disappeared. Looking at Anya Willow smiled.



“Now you need rest, go walk around the boat the sleeping quarters are below deck, take a nap if you like.” Anya pointed out the door that lead below deck, and then walked up the stairs.



Deciding to explore the boat a little more Willow headed down the stairs. Riley and Oz were standing by a door at the back of the hall; there was a man with a large backpack to her right. She went into one of the doors on the left, and suddenly heard the sound of someone being sick. She slowly backed out of the room and walked toward the man with the backpack.



“Why are you lurking around here? And who are you?” Willow asked the man as she gave him the once over. He was wearing yellow pants, and a dark shirt, and sandals, with a green backpack.



“What you don’t know who I am? I am O’aka the twenty third, merchant extraordinaire.” Willow shook her head. “Oh, well I’m not known… just yet, just you wait and see I’ll be the talk of Spira in no time. Say you wouldn’t have a spot of Gil to lend me, would you?” Willow sighed and handed him 100

Gil. “Thanks kid, I will make it up to you… that is a promise.” O’aka spoke nodding his thanks to Willow.



Willow left the merchant and opened the door at the end, and her eyes widened. There running on giant wheels were big yellow birds. “Whoa! What are those?” A woman came out from behind one of the wheels and looked Willow over.



“These are Chocobos.” She said.



“Chocobos?” Willow asked as she stared at the birds.



“By Yevon! Don’t tell me you haven’t seen a Chocobo before. What backwater island did you come from anyway?”



Sighing Willow looked at the floor. “Sorry, just forget I was here.” She said and backed out of the room. When she stepped back up on deck she saw Tara standing alone at the front of the boat. Willow thought to herself as she started walking over to the blond summoner. She leans against the rope railing, and watched Tara out of the corner of her eye.



“The wind… it’s nice.” Tara speaks causing her and Willow to laugh. “You’re a blitzball player, right? And you’re from Zanarkand, right?”



Willow turns her head and looks into Tara’s blue eyes. “Let me guess… Xander told you that right?” Sighing Willow looks away “The thing is Xander doesn’t believe me about any of it.” She says with her head lowered.



“But I believe you. I was told that in Zanarkand… there is a great stadium, all lit up even at night.”



Willow jerks her head around to look at Tara, who is staring off into the distance. “Huh?”



Not hearing Willow speak Tara continues. “I was also told that great blitzball tournaments are held there, and the stands are always full.”



“Tara, how do you know that? I didn’t tell Xander anything like that.” Willow says with wide eyes.



“Sir Ira told me, he was one of my mothers guardians.” Tara said causing Willow to grumble “Ira” unhappily.



“My fathers name was Ira.” She says then grumbles more.



“This is amazing! Our meeting like this must be Yevon’s blessing.” Tara speaks as she does the prayer of Yevon.



“It sounds like my old man… but it can’t be. Willow said as she stared at the ocean. “My old man is dead. He died ten years ago off the coast of Zanarkand; he went out for training one day, and disappeared. No one ever saw him again.”



“I’m sorry… wait! That was the day Ira came to Spira. It’s true! I first met him ten years and three months ago. I remember because that was the day… my mother left. The date fits doesn’t it?”



“Yeah, it fits… but how would he have gotten here?”



“You’re here, are you not?” Tara said to Willow with a half smile.



Suddenly a huge wave crashed into the boat, causing Tara to lose her balance, Willow grabbed a hold of Tara’s hand, as she held on to the railing. Another wave this time bigger splashed over the boat making Willow’s hand to loosen and Tara’s hand to slip. Tara slid back, as she passed by one of the harpoon guns Tara held on to it, only to have her grip to slip. Before she could fall over the railing Faith was there holding on to her. A dark shape in the water took form and rose up beside the boat.



“Sin!” One of the passengers screamed as Sin hit the side of the boat, causing everyone on board to fall to the deck. Two men ran over to the harpoon guns and readied them to fire at Sin.



“Hey! What in Yevon’s name are you doing? You stick a harpoon in him, and he’ll drag us under!” Xander spoke with fear in his voice.



“We’re sorry, but Sin is heading for Kilika! Our families are in Kilika. Please, forgive us Lady Summoner.” One of the men said.



“No! Wait!” But Xander’s pleas fell on deaf ears, as both men fired the harpoon guns. “Oh boy… this keeps getting better and better.” Xander said as everyone watched the harpoon’s fly toward Sin. The first one over shot and missed, but the second stuck firmly into Sin’s fin. Sin speeded up dragging the boat behind him, as Sinscales fell on to the deck. Xander was throwing his ball at Sin, as Anya started casting Fire spells. Willow and Faith took care of the Sinscales on the boat, and Tara stood back and healed the group when needed. With one last Fire spell from Anya, the rope snapped and Sin dove under the water.



A strong wave splashed over the boat making everyone hold on to the railing. When the water calmed the group looked around and didn’t see Willow anywhere. Tara tried to dive into to water only to be held back by Faith, Xander looked over the railing, and jumped in. When he opened his eyes he saw Willow floating unconscious, and being attacked by Sinscales. He threw his ball and swam over as it bounced off one Sinscale to another till the four of them were dead. When he reached Willow he saw that she was bleeding from various wounds, taking out a Potion he poured it in her mouth. She automatically swallowed it, Xander watched as her wounds completely healed, and she opened her eyes. Willow gave Xander a grateful smile, before turning into a look of horror.



[Flash]



Sinspawn Echuilles

HP: 2000

MP:20



There swimming towards them was a huge blue and gray Sinspawn. Its head was diamond shaped with three little horns sitcking out to the side of its head, and a orange glowing heart shape in the middle for an eye. The four light gray tentacles were narrow at the top but widened at the bottom. In the middle of the four tentacles were five small stingers and one larger one. Willow franticly pointed behind Xander who turned and with one look swam backwards to Willow. The fiend swiped a tentacle at Willow making her dodge back. Xander was spinning his blitzball on the tip of his finger making it glow, then kicked it hitting the fiend on its orange eye, causing a dark cloud to form around its head. Was Xander's thought.



Willow swam at the fiend with her sword to the side, and ducked under one of the tentacles raised her sword and brought it down with enough force to slice it off. She didn't see the stinger closing in on her until it was too late, it hit her leg making Willow scream from pain, and lose some of the air in her lungs. Xander threw his ball stunning the fiend long enough to throw an Antidote to Willow. She drank it killing the poison in her body. The fiend started spinning around causing Xander and Willow to spin with it, and collide into each other. After it finished the attack Xander threw his ball hitting the fiends head, as Willow cut off another tentacle and the big stinger. The fiend started shaking, and exploded into different colored lights and disappeared. Xander gave Willow a thumbs up sign and hi-fived her. Fighting off more Sinscales she and Xander swam back to the boat.



A few miles away from the boat.



A woman is sitting by the window in her home watching her little girl play, an old man and his wife are weeding a small garden, men are working on their homes, a man is selling weapons by the boat dock, and children are playing with a blitzball. All of this comes to a stop as a shadow passes over the island of Kilika. The people look out toward the ocean and see Sin rising out of the water speeding toward them. The Kilikans only have time to hold their loved ones as Sin attacked. A blitzball floats in the water beside Sin and Kilika is almost completely destroyed.



The passengers on the boat are on their knees crying, as Xander, Anya, and Faith look at the rubble that was once the Kilikan village. Willow is lying on her back with her head in Tara’s lap, who is silently crying as she plays with Willow’s hair.



When Sin attacked Zanarkand that day, I woke up in Spira. I kept hoping that it would work in reverse, too.



“I will defeat Sin… I must defeat Sin.” Tara was whispering over and over again.



But I was just fooling myself. Maybe it was that day… on the sea, under the burning sun, hearing everyone cry. I started to give up hope. I was in a foreign world, and I wasn’t going home. This place, Spira, was my new reality, and I was stuck in it for good.



There's chapter five hope you enjoyed it.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[justin]

This is a great story



I really like the final fantasy games, and FFX is my favourite, so this was a good choice for a setting.



looking forward to reading more

What other people think of me is none of my business - Ellen Degeneres

[robotguru]

Right now, i'm against Seymor for the second time when he has Kinoc by his side...bloody dead priest cancels out all my protect spells.



The first fight wasn't that hard, it was just that he got me every time he did something new, the toughest fights i've had have to be against the a big badass dragon with bad breath (on the airship) and against the other Summoner's Aeons, i won that one by the skin of my teeth, last possible attack before oblivion.



Heh, O'aka is cool, sometimes cheaper than the main shop on the level too.



That last chapter was great, just tell me you're not gonna do hundreds of Blitzball games like we have to in the game

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

Edited by: robotguru at: 7/17/04 3:26 am

[amazonaa]

that was great. but why can it never be that tara can't love willow or whatever that was. I think they're about to prove that wrong.







great job.







brittney

Quote:

---

Kiss this axe, bitch!---Tara "Bargaining part 2"

---

[robotguru]

I could tell you Amazonna but that woukld be a major spoiler, you find out later on.

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[Stormforce]

justin - Thank you I'm glad you like the story. FFVIII and FFX are my favourite games in the series. I thought FFX had a great story and thought... Hey! Wouldn't it be awesome if that was Willow and Tara.



robotguru - The battles starting with the one on top of the airship, were all a pain especially the second battle with Seymour. I always helped out O'aka like you said he was, sometimes cheaper than the other shops. And god no! I'm not going to put a ton of Blitzball games in the fic...I'll play Blitzball, but I'm not going to write about them. I might have the party to get their Celestial Weapons, but I haven't decided yet. Getting most of them was a pain...butterflies, lightning, the race. Getting the fiends was the easiest.



amazonaa - robotguru beat me to it. But yes, if either one of us told you, it would be a major spoiler. Sorry.



Now on with the story.



Final Fantasy X Retold

Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: R for language and violence

Disclaimer: Don’t own them



Chapter Six: Kilika Island



When the boat docked Tara was the first off, followed closely by the others. A middle-aged man and woman came running up to them.



“Hello, I am the summoner Tara. I have come from the Temple in Besaid.”



“M’lady Summoner! The woman spoke in a relieved voice.



“If there are no other summoners here, please allow me to perform the sending.”



“Thanks be to ye Lady Summoner.” The man said.



“We feared our loved ones would become fiends! Thank you Lady Summoner.” The woman said and took Tara’s hand and led her off.



“We’ll go and see what we can do to help in town.” Xander said as he and the Aurochs ran off toward the town. Willow followed Anya and Faith to where Tara was preparing to perform the sending. Walking over to Anya, Willow took a slow look around. Several villagers were standing and waiting for Tara to begin, as she looked more closely at the water, Willow could see the dead villagers wrapped up in cloth, and shivered.



“Uh, what’s a sending? Are we going somewhere?” Willow asked Anya.



“Damn! You truly ARE clueless. Are you sure that it’s just your memories that’s the problem? I think you’ve been hit on the head with a blitzball one too many times.” Faith said glaring at Willow.



“Oh hush Faith.” Turning to Willow she spoke again “The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still living. They envy the living, you see. And given enough time that envy turns to anger, and even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. Sad isn’t it? The sending sends them to the Farplane where they may rest in peace. Anya explained to Willow.



“And the Summoners, they do this?” Willow said and turned to watch Tara.



Tara had begun to walk on the water holding her rod in her right hand and out to her side. She stops thirty feet from the dock and swings her rod around her body and over her head. Leaning back she brings the rod over her stomach and chest, and rises up and twirls her body. The souls of the dead slowly float out of the bodies, and under Tara’s feet as she continues to twirl. The torch flames on the pier go from burning red to burning bright blue. The souls make the water under Tara’s feet rise up into a pillar with her on top. The souls then descend into the air and disappear, the water slowly falls and Tara in gently sat back on the water.



“It must be tough being a summoner.” Willow says as she watches Tara slowly walking out of the water and back on the dock.



“Tara chose her own path. She knew from the beginning what it meant to be a summoner. And now, all we can do as her guardians is to protect her along the way. Until the very end.” Anya said and walked over to Tara.



“The end? What’s the end?” The villager’s turn and stare at Willow, Faith shakes her head.



“You moron! It means until she defeats Sin.” Faith said as she too walked over to Tara.



“Oh… you don’t have to be so bitchy about it you know.” Willow said to no one but herself, as she watched Faith pull Tara into a hug.



“I hope I did okay.”



“Don’t worry, you did just fine.” Anya says as she too pulls Tara into a hug. “But… no tears next time, okay?



I wished there would never be a next time. No more people getting killed by Sin. No more sendings for Tara. Everyone stood there watching her. It was strange, and somehow… horrifying. I never wanted to see it again.



That night as Willow slept in the small lodge that somehow escaped being destroyed by Sin, her dreams were like nightmares. The attack on Zanarkand, the Al Bhed ship, and the boat S.S. Liki, the destruction of Kilika Island, and finally the sending. As the sun rose the next morning Willow tiredly crawled out of bed, she spoke to the owner of the lodge when she came down the stairs. Stepping outside Datto one of the Aurochs runs up to her.



“Hey! You finally up? Cap’n Xander’s waitin’ on you over there.” He said pointing toward a destroyed section of the dock. Willow ran over to find Xander and the Aurochs helping to rebuild the dock. Seeing her Xander called a stop to the work.



“Hey, there you are.” He said to her then turned to the team. “Besaid Aurochs! Huddle! Time to go to the temple, where we pray for victory!” The team nodded their heads and ran off. “High Summoner Ohalland used to live in the Kilika Temple. He was a great blitzer, you know?”



“Hey Xander?” Willow said a little uncertain.



“Yeah?”



“Praying for victory’s all good… but is it right?”



“What? Something wrong with enjoying the game?”



“No. But…what I mean is…is this really the time? What with Sin’s attack and Tara doing the sending…and all.”



Turning to Willow he saw the confusion and worry on her face. “Will, you have to realize that this is the only time! The players fight with all their strength: the fans cheer for their favorite team. And in doing this the pain, the suffering, it’s all forgotten for a short time… and only the game matters. That’s why blitz has been around for so long. Well that’s what I think anyway.” Xander explained.



“Okay, whatever you say.”



“Well I say… Let’s play, and win! Right?



“Yeah!”



“Okay the Temple is just beyond the jungle, the others are waiting for us at the path. So lets get going.”



When Xander and Willow reached the jungle path they saw Anya looking closely at Tara, and Faith’s ranting was scaring off the birds.



“Tara! You can’t possibly be serious! I mean come on!” Faith was saying, or rather screaming.



Willow thought as she and Xander neared.



“What’s up?” Xander asked Anya.



“Tara’s saying that she wants you with us.” Anya spoke directly to Willow who looked at her confused.



“Huh?”



“I want to ask you to be my guardian.” Tara shyly said to Willow.



Faith was gripping her spear so tight her knuckles were turning white. “She can’t be your guardian, look at her! She’s a blitzball player the fiends’ll eat her alive.” She told Tara then turned to Xander. “No offence meant.”



Xander smiled. “None taken.”



“Well, not a guardian then… I-I just want her near by.” Tara said causing Faith to growl.



“What? What do you mean? Willow asked even more confused than before.



“W-well it’s j-just that…” Tara stuttered out.



“Hey, we’re going to the Temple anyway. Can’t this wait till later?” Xander questioned trying to get everyone calm again.



“Yeah, how ‘bout like never later?” Faith said and walked ahead of the group.



“I-I’m s-sorry, I shouldn’t h-have.”



“There’s nothing to be sorry for… it’s just that I don’t know what’s going on.”



“My apologies.” Tara said and looked at the ground.



“Hey, like I said there is absolutely nothing to apologize for.” Willow said and got a small half smile from Tara.



The group walked along the jungle path running into a flower like fiend, which Faith learned a new attack called Seed Cannon from. As they continued on a Dinonix, a lizard fiend jumped from a tree, and sunk its teeth into Faith’s shoulder. Willow thought she saw the flowers by the path wilt from the words coming out of Faith’s mouth. Getting a good grip on the fiend Faith threw it to the ground, and stabbed it in the heart with her spear.



“Teach that fucker, now won’t it?” Faith said as Tara healed her wound.



Back on the path they proceeded deeper into the jungle, with Faith muttering a few curses here and there. Ahead of them, they could see Riley and Oz running toward them. Oz looked like he lost a fight with a meat grinder, and Riley’s shirt and pants were tore in various places showing that he too had wounds. Behind them stood a huge green and brown fiend, with four tentacles with claws. The top part opened up like a blooming flower, with sharp teeth, and something in the middle that looked like a pool of water. The fiend had stayed behind when Riley and Oz ran off, and began dozing.



Xander gave the two men a once over before speaking. “Hey you two alright?”



“Yeah, a little worse for wear, but we’ll be fine.” Riley spoke as Oz just nodded and flopped to the ground, looking a little on the green side.



“Please allow me to heal the both of you.” Tara said and stepped forward.



“It would be an honor Lady Tara.” Riley smiled.



“What happened? You look like a giant moth had your clothes for a snack, and him,” Willow said pointing to Oz. “he looks like he was chewed up and spit out.”



“We thought we could take on that,” Riley pointed to the fiend. “But we were dead wrong. That thing is called Ochu, Lord of the wood. And he’s very hard to kill, he can put you to sleep, and poison you. If you do decide to fight him please be very careful.” Riley said as Tara finished healing Oz.



Turning to her guardians and Willow, Tara spoke “To make this jungle somewhat safer we have to get rid of that fiend”



“I agree, if we don’t do something it’ll just keep on attacking and killing people.” Anya said holding her white Mog doll.



“Yeah, plus we have a Dragon with us.” Xander said cocking his head toward Faith. “With her I’m sure we’ll have no problem defeating it.” Faith just nodded and gripped her spear tighter.



Everyone turned to Willow. “Well, with what I’ve been through, I’m up for it.” Willow said and grabbed her sword.



With everyone in agreement the group walked toward the fiend. Lord Ochu being sensitive to sound woke up and charged the group, making them scatter. Faith cast Scan on it, “Anya! His weakness is Fire.” She called out, and blocked one of the tentacles from hitting her in the chest. Xander threw his ball hitting the fiend in the mid-section. Anya readied a Fire spell, and let it fly just as Xander caught his ball. The fire caused the fiend to shriek and swing its tentacles around madly. Willow saw one of the tentacles about to hit her, and brought her sword down severing it. A green substance spurted out of the severed limb hitting the ground in front of Willow, burning the grass. Willow thought. One of the tentacles hit Xander on the head, and he fell to the ground snoring away.



Anya seeing this got mad, “Hey! This is no time to be sleeping!” she cast a Water spell over Xander waking him up. Glaring at Anya, he hit the fiend again with his ball, Anya cast another Fire spell, and Faith sliced it open with her spear. The fiend wobbled from side to side, before taking a step toward Tara, seeing this Willow ran toward Tara and pushed her out of the way as the fiend fell. One of the claws buried itself into Willow’s leg, ripping it open. Willow fell to the ground unconscious as the fiend disappeared.



“Willow!” Tara screamed and ran over to her. Willow’s leg was bleeding heavily and the skin around the wound was turning green. “She’s been poisoned, give me an Antidote.” Faith was the one that handed Tara what she asked for. Taking the top off Tara poured the contents over the wound, the Antidote bubbled in the wound pushing the poison out of Willow’s body. Tara sighed in relief when the green faded and the color came back to Willow’s leg. Tara cast a healing spell over Willow, and waited. A few minutes passed before she opened her eyes, to find blue eyes looking back. Willow thought, and gave Tara a small smile. Smiling back Tara helped Willow to stand.



“What happened? Where’s the fiend?” Willow asked when she didn’t see it. “Don’t tell me it ran off.”



“No, it didn’t we killed it. And you my friend, took a hit that Tara would have got if you hadn’t pushed her out of the way.” Xander said proudly.



“Come on, let’s get to the Temple before dark.” Faith spoke and gave Willow a nod.



Following the path to the Temple the group didn’t encounter any more fiends, and gave a happy sigh when the steps came into view. The Aurochs were waiting at the bottom step, when seeing they saw Xander wave, they headed up the steps. Only two of the team stayed, one was doing squats, while the other was stretching.



“These steps have a history. Lord Ohalland used to train here at his peak.” Xander said to Willow. The two Aurochs laughed.



“A race huh? Do ya think you can beat me?” Willow asked them and readied herself.



“Tara, do you mind?” Xander asked and stood beside Willow.



Tara stood on the fifth step and raised her hand in the air. “Ready?” Was all she said and bolted up the steps. Anya laughed, and Faith shook her head.



“Hey! Tara, that not fair!” Xander raced after her with Willow following. Before reaching the top two more of the Aurochs came running down.



“L-look out! Sinspawn!” Datto screamed as he ran past. Faith and Anya had already caught up and ran behind Willow and Xander.



Toping the steps the four saw Tara being held in one of three tentacles, toward another set of steps the group saw a gray shell rising out of the ground.



“Faith you take the shell and we’ll take the tentacles and get Tara.” Xander said and Faith nodded.



Running toward the Sinspawn Faith hit it dead center and jumped back as a green mist was released. Anya cast fire on one of the tentacles as Xander hit the other. Willow ran over to the one holding Tara and gave it a good swipe cutting it in half, dropping Tara into Willow’s waiting arms. Willow sat Tara on the ground and hit the tentacle again. All three tentacles went underground, and the shell opened, a green Sinspawn emerged, with yellow and red markings on its body. The fiend cast a water spell on Faith, pissing her off. Anya was still casting Fire spells, Willow hit the fiend with her sword, Xander threw his ball into the air, and twirled it on the tip of his finger, the ball glowed white, and Xander hit the Sinspawn with it, a bright light surrounded the Sinspawn.



“Ha! Now you can’t cast!” Xander screamed at the Sinspawn.



Tara stood and watched as Faith got hit in the midsection and flew back fifteen foot and skidded to a stop not getting up. Anya was hit on the side of her head, and fell to the ground unconscious. After the tentacles had been pulled back, Willow had left Tara and ran over to the body and cut off two of the tentacles before she too was knocked back.



“Stand back! I’ll summon Valefor!” Tara shouted.



Willow and Xander scattered and watched as a bright circle of light circled Tara’s feet and Valefor flew from the sky. Tara gently petted Valefor’s head, and spoke to her, “Use your Sonic Wings attack.” Valefor rose into the air and pulled her wings back and then brought them forward in one fast motion, sending a huge gust of wind at the Sinspawn, killing it. Tara dismissed Valefor as the Sinspawn disappeared.



Xander had ran over to Anya and pulled her out of the way, and Willow had ran to Faith, and cringed when she saw the wounds on Faith’s body. Her stomach was cut open and bleeding, her right eye was swollen shut and beginning to turn black, and a cut starting beside her right eyebrow and ending at her chin. “Tara! Faith has been hurt!” She hollered making Tara run over and kneel down.



Willow stood and backed up not wanting to get in the way. “Now that’s getting a workout!” Willow said to Xander still breathing hard from the battle.



“Yeah, sorry about that, had hoped to break ya in a little easier, ya know.” Xander laughed and patted Willow on the back.



“Being a guardian’s tiring!” Willow said as she watched Faith open her eyes, and stand “Tara, you okay? Did that thing hurt you?”



Tara looked to Willow as she stood. “I’m fine, just worried about everyone. How are you and Xander?” She asked as she healed the cut on Anya’s head.



“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Xander said checking his blitzball over for holes.



“I’m fine too, nothing a good nights sleep won’t cure.”



“Hey, Will. I have to say you got talent!” Xander said and twirled the blitzball on the tip of his finger. “You handled yourself pretty well.”



“Really? You think so? Sweet!” Willow jumped into the air making Tara giggle. “So, what exactly are these “Sinspawn” anyway?”



“Fiends.” Anya said and rubbed her head. “They fall from Sin’s body, and are left behind in its wake.”



“Yeah, but leave ‘em alone, and Sin’ll come back for ‘em. You gotta be quick!” Xander said causing Willow to shiver at the thought of Sin returning.



That moment when Xander told me I had talent in battle… I think that was when I started seriously considering becoming Tara’s guardian.



“Well we’re almost to the Temple.” Faith said and picked up her spear. “So, let’s get going.”



Faith walked up the stairs, followed by Tara and Anya, and Xander and Willow at the back. Willow was lost in thought, until Xander spoke.



“So, uh… are there fiends in Zanarkand, too?”



“Just a few. It’s a big deal when one shows up though.” She replied off hand then stopped. “Hey! Since when have you believed me about Zanarkand?”



Xander stopped on the top step and turned back to Willow. “Well I been thinking. Maybe the people Sin gets to don’t die. Maybe Sin carries ‘em through time, by like a thousand years. And then, one day, maybe they just pop back, see?”



“Amazing. Simply amazing.” Anya spoke as she turned to Xander. “You make up one theory after another, refusing to face the simple truth. Sin didn’t take Hikari anywhere! Sin killed her and left her crushed body on the Djose shore! Your sister won’t just pop back.” Anya turned to leave but stopped. “Oh and one more thing. No matter how much you want it, no one can take Hikari’s place. No one can replace Sir Ira for that matter. And there is certainly no replacement for Lady Mythe, either! It’s pointless to think about, and sad.” Anya then turned and walked by Tara who had her head down.



Sitting down on the top step Xander stared out toward the jungle. “I… I could never be what Hikari was.” He stands still not making eye contact with Willow, who was watching him. “Well, things happen, ya? Best not to think ‘bout it.” Willow watched as Xander climbed the last six steps.



Xander, Anya, and Xander’s sister Hikari. Something had happened between them a long time ago. I was sure of it. And whatever it was, it was none of my business, that’s for sure. Best not to go there.



Well that's all for chapter 6. Hope you enjoyed it.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[robotguru]

Brilliant update, this is really going well.



Heh...not sure i've ever tried a water spell to wake someone up...might have to try that next time

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[BurningWhiteRose]

Wonderful updates!!!



Cant wait to see what happens next...



And geez...Anya's harsh. Not just on Willow, but Tara too! Poor Tara. And Willow. They're all bossing her around, like a nobody.



She'll make a great guardian...



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David

[Stormforce]

robotguru - I don't know if a water spell would work in waking someone up. I couldn't help it I thought that would be amusing to write in.



BurningWhiteRose - Yes, Anya is harsh, but don't worry she'll warm up and not be so bad. As for them treating Willow the way they are...remember when Xander told Willow "Don't get no ideas.", well, that's why, they don't want Tara and Willow to get close. You will find out why, but that'll be waaaay down the road.



Final Fantasy X Retold

Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: R for language and a bit of violence

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.

:Note: I forgot what the next Summoner is wearing, is called. So I explained it the best I could. And this chapter is a little longer cause I put the boat ride in it.



Chapter Seven: Kilika Temple



Following the stairs Willow finds herself in the Temple courtyard. She could see another small set of stairs leading down to the Temple door. The temple was four stories tall and was painted with red flames, and had green glowing orbs sitting on the roof. Red flames had been painted in a circle in the middle of the courtyard. As Willow takes all of this in she sees three men walking toward the group, hearing Xander groan she looks at him. “Hey, you okay? You not feeling well?”



He turns to face her. “Not anymore I ain’t.” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder indicating the three men. “And it’s because of them.”



Willow looks at the men again they were wearing blue, brown and purple overalls and sandals. Right off she could tell they were blitzball players, and by their looks, very cocky.



“The one with the red hair and headband is Bickson, he’s the captain of their team, the Luca Goers. The one with the dark skin is Abus, second best player, and the other one is Graav.” Xander told her then turned to face the men as they approached. “What’d you three come here to pray for victory? Or just to stand around and look stupid?” Xander asked them.



Bickson glared at Xander, then winked at Willow who frowned. “Xander, you are an asshole! You really think, we, the Luca Goers, pray for victory? We don’t have to, and you know it. But we have been praying for some competition for the tournament.”



“Yevon knows it won’t be the Besaid Aurochs!” Graav said laughing.



Abus looked to Graav. “Ah, yes, what is it? Oh yeah! Their gonna “do their best.”



“Ha! Too bad their best isn’t good enough. So why bother showing up?”



Willow’s face was red and getting redder by the second. “This time, we play to win!” She angrily said with a glare.



“Ohhh! I’m so afraid we’re going to lose to a bunch of babies.” Abus said and pushed past Willow, with Graav following.



Bickson looked Willow over, and grinned like a shark, giving her the creeps. “Well, honey, when you wanna play on a real team,” He said then looked at Xander. “and have a real man in your bed, look me up.” Bickson slapped Willow on the ass when he walked by.



“You sonvabitch!” Willow screamed and tried to launch herself at Bickson’s retreating back, but Xander and Faith held her back.



“Will! You gotta calm down! Don’t worry we’ll see them in the finals and kick their ass.” Xander said holding Willow’s right arm.



Faith was holding on to Willow’s left arm. “Listen! This is a Temple; you don’t fight at, or in one! Tara could get into trouble, is that what you want?” Faith calmly spoke to her.



“I hope a fiend eats them!” Willow muttered too quietly for Tara and Anya hear, but Faith smirked and Xander laughed. She calmed down enough for Faith and Xander to let her arms go. “We’ll beat them! We have to!” She said still angry.



Tara walked over and placed her hand on Willow’s shoulder calming Willow down even more. “Do you know that team?”



Willow looked at her, and then turned her head. “Putting people down… They’re as bad as my old man!”



Tara took a step back. “But, Sir Ira was a kind and gentle man!”



Willow jerked her head around. “Well not my Ira… My dad was always like that.”



Even ten years after he left… just thinking about my old man got me mad. But maybe that was just my way of keeping him… Nah.



Willow entered the Temple to find Xander on his knees praying to a statue of an older man. Faith was leaning against the wall a few feet from the door, and Tara and Anya were standing by the stairs leading to the Trials. When she stopped beside Xander she could hear him quietly whispering “Lord Ohalland, guide our feet.” she thinks the prays.



The door to the Trails opened and Willow’s eyes widened as a woman and her guardian stepped out. She was wearing a black bikini top covering her breasts, and protective sleeves covering her arms up to her shoulder. She had two pieces of protective cloth covering the outer sides of her legs and was wearing a black thong. Her dark hair was tied up in a ponytail. The man beside her was wearing gray and red overalls with no shirt showing his muscles, he had dark hair, and pale skin.



Faith, Anya and Tara joined Willow and Xander by the statue of Lord Ohalland. The woman stopped in front of the group, and she looked Tara and her guardians over for a moment before she spoke. “A Summoner, are you?



Tara bowed and spoke. “My name is Tara from the Isle of Besaid.”



“Cordelia.” She says. “So you’re the daughter of High Summoner Mythe. That’s quite a name to live up to.” Cordelia said and looked at the four standing behind Tara. “And all these people as your guardians?” What a rabble! As I recall Lady Mythe only had two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. What in Yevon’s name were you thinking? I have need of only one guardian. Right, Angel?”



Angel nods “yes”.



As Cordelia spoke Tara started to get angry and took a small step back. “I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust.” Tara took Willow’s hand in hers and intertwined their fingers, and Willow smiled. Anya, and Faith saw this, Anya turned her head, and Faith gripped her spear, and grit her teeth. “I trust all of them with my life! To have so many willing to be my guardians is a joy, and an honor! Even more so than being my mother’s daughter! Of course I would never think of questioning your ways either. So Lady Cordelia, I ask of you: please leave us in peace.”



Tilting her head up Cordelia looked at Tara closely. “Fine. Do whatever you want to. Angel we’re leaving.” Cordelia turned on her heal and left the Temple with Angel following.



Willow frowned when Tara let her hand go, and watched as she walked over to Anya and Faith. Anya looked upset and Tara put her hand on her shoulder as she spoke to quietly for anyone but Anya to hear. Anya said something and Tara looked over at Willow that moment and gave her a smile. Willow blushed from being caught staring, but smiled back before dropping her head.



A guardian is someone a Summoner can rely on. Someone she can trust with her life. I started to wonder, did Tara feel that way about me? And why was she smiling at that moment when she was talking with Anya?



After talking with Anya and then Faith, the group entered the door leading to the Trials, and sees an elevator at the end of the hallway they were now in.



“The Fayth is right below us. Let’s do it!” Xander said and headed to the elevator.



“Uh…the Fayth?” Willow asks confused looking at Faith who glared at her.



“Yes, but first we have to go through the Trials.” Anya said holding her stuffed Mog doll to her chest. “Xander? Faith? Are the two of you ready? They both nod “yes” and step on the elevator.



“Have strength everyone!” Tara said as Willow stepped on and was suddenly shoved off by Faith.



“Hey! Why’d you do that?”



“You’re not a guardian yet. So you stay here.” Anya told her with a grin.



“Sorry.” Tara said giving Willow a sad smile. “But don’t worry we’ll be back soon, okay?”



Willow sighs and watched the elevator descend. “Oh sure. Like “tomorrow” soon, right?” She grumbled as the elevator rose back to ground level. She turned to leave but jumped back when she saw Angel standing in front of her. “Why the hell are you lurking about?” Willow said as she placed her hand over her heart. She then saw Cordelia step out from behind Angel, and looked her over.



“Where’s Tara?” Cordelia asked with confusion written all over her face.



Willow pointed to the elevator. “They already went to the Trials.”



Looking from Willow to the elevator and back again only confused her more. “Then why are you still up here?”



“I’m not a guardian, so I’m not supposed to go in, right?” Willow said then took a step back as Angel stepped toward her.



“Not a guardian, you say?” Cordelia said with a smile like the cat that just ate the canary, as Angel picked Willow up over his head.



“Hey! Lemme go! Wait!” Willow screamed. “Oomph!” The air rushed out of her lungs when she landed on the elevator floor. “And just what the hell is your problem?”



“Oh, I just want to play a little game, that’s all.” Cordelia said as the elevator descended to the bottom floor.



Willow thinks when the elevator stopped.



Willow walked over to the fifteen-foot tall door and stopped. “Only guardians allowed, and I’m sure no guardian. Well I guess it’s too late now.” She spoke out loud and opened the door. The first thing she saw when she stepped through the door was a pedestal, with a red glowing sphere sitting in the middle of it. Willow though to herself.



Taking the sphere from the pedestal she found it was warm to the touch, looking around she saw a slot next to the door, and place it into the slot. The door went up in flames making Willow jump back a foot. Taking the sphere out was the solution the flames flickered out and Willow stepped into the next room with a smile, only to have it wiped off when she saw the whole middle of the room on fire. She examined the room and on the right wall there was another red sphere with a red light running down the wall, and into the flames. Taking the sphere out of the slot made the wall rise to reveal a room, and extinguishing the flames. Willow walked into the room and found a purple sphere she picked it up and took it with her. With the flames now gone she looked down at the drop. Something flashed to her left, when she looked there was a flashing sliver light on the floor.



Walking over to it she kneeled down, and touched it then jumped back as a bright light flashed. When she opened her eyes the pedestal from the previous room was there. Another flash to her right showed that the sliver light had moved over by the room, where she got the purple sphere. She walked over and touched the light and nothing happened. Sighing she walked back to the pedestal and leaned on it causing it to move. She thought it over, and decided to try moving the pedestal over to the light, standing to the left side she started to push the pedestal. It smoothly slid over the floor, and over the light, it sunk into the floor and a staircase was revealed. Willow found another slot by the stairs and placed the purple sphere into it causing the wall to explode. Inside was a treasure chest, opening it Willow go a Red Armlet for her troubles. Standing up and taking the red sphere with her, she proceeded to the door at the top of the second staircase. Placing the sphere in the slot she stepped back when the door went up in flames, she took the sphere out and the flames flickered and died out, letting her pass through the door.



At the Chamber door Willow hesitated She thinks then opens the door and walks into the Chamber.



“Whoa! You can’t be in here!” Xander said when he saw her walk in.



“It wasn’t my fault. It was Cordelia and that creepy guardian of hers.”



Anya shook her head as she approached. “It doesn’t matter, Tara will be the one to suffer the consequences!”



Willow frowned. “What consequences?”



“She could be excommunicated!” Xander said as he leaned against the wall and lowered his head.



Willow looked from Xander to Anya, and then to Faith who was glaring at her. Deciding to avoid Faith for the time being she walked over to Xander.



“So…uh…Xander, what’s in there anyway?” Willow asked and leaned on the wall next to him.



“The Fayth, remember?”



“Oh, yeah…that thing. Right.” She said a little unsure.



“The Fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin.” Anya said walking over. “Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still living bodies.”



”Huh?” Willow looked at Anya in disbelief.



“Now they live forever trapped in statues. But when a Summoner calls for them, the souls of the Fayth emerge once again. That is what we call an Aeon.” Anya explained the walked over to Faith.



“All that in this room? S-so what’s Tara doing in there?”



“Tara prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin.” Xander looked over to Willow. “And then they merge with her.”



Willow thought as the door opened and Tara stumbled out. Xander ran over as Anya and Faith helped Tara to stand. Willow thought when she saw Tara being helped.



There was something I didn’t tell anyone else that day. That song we heard there, in the Temple…I knew it from my childhood. It was proof that Spira, and Zanarkand was connected. At least to me it was. Maybe that’s why, suddenly, I felt like…I just wanted to go home. I tried to say something, to tell them. But the words just wouldn’t come.



Willow walked behind the group with her head down as they walked back through the Trials. Tara saw this and waited for her to catch up. “Willow, please don’t feel bad about being here.” She said when Willow stepped beside her. “Everything will be fine, so don’t worry, okay? Besides, I’m not mad at you.”



“Yeah, but…if something does happen…it’ll be my fault.” Willow was looking everywhere but at Tara.



Tara put her hand under Willow’s chin and tilted her head up. When she looked up Willow saw that half smile she was beginning to love on Tara’s face. Tara dropped her hand and took Willow’s hand in hers. “Don’t worry nothing will happen.” She squeezed Willow’s hand before letting go, and moving over to the elevator.



Willow smiled as she stepped onto the elevator. “So, what Aeon did you get?”



“I got the Aeon Ifrit!” Tara said happily.



{Ifrit is the male Aeon of fire. Ifrit looks something like a huge dog. He has a brownish red body with orange fur on his head, the side of his face, and the front of his legs. He has two horns on the top of his head curving over his back, and two smaller ones curving to the front of his face. He also wears a golden bracelet on each wrist. His overdrive is Hellfire.}



When the group stepped outside to the Temple courtyard people surrounded Tara, Willow watched as she thought back to Zanarkand when her fans did the same thing.



I thought I had put my feeling for Zanarkand behind me. But they were there, and they grew inside me, bigger, and bigger till I was ready to burst.



“Are… you okay?” Tara asked when she approached.



Willow looked up, and shrugged her shoulders. “I…I really don’t know.”



“Well, what do you want to do?”



“To scream real loud.” Willow thinks for a second, then tilts her head back and screams as loud as she can. Tara laughed when Xander jumped a mile in the air, and turned with his Blitzball ready to fight. Anya shook her head, and Faith sighed.



The walk back through the jungle was easier than it was before. Just as the path was coming to an end Xander screamed in pain, and fell to his knees. Looking behind them the group saw a giant red bee, and a yellow metal like fiend. The yellow fiend had four small crescent moon shapes around a small ball in the center, and a small ball in the center of each crescent shape. And electricity was sparking off its body.



[Flash]

Name: Killer Bee

HP: 110

MP: 5



[Flash]

Name: Yellow Element

HP: 300

MP: 100



Anya was the first to react to the fiends by casting a Water spell on the Yellow Element. Faith swung her spear at the Bee and missed when it dodged. Tara and Willow helped Xander stand and he shook off the attack, and threw his ball at the bee knocking it out of the air. Faith ran over to the fallen fiend and stabbed it with a grin on her face. Anya cast another Water spell breaking the Yellow Element apart killing it.



“You okay?” Faith asked cleaning the spear blade.



“Yeah, just a little shocked.” He replied and grinned when Anya groaned.



Back at the village Willow stopped to look over the armor a man was selling by the boat dock. The others went on to wait by the boat. Not finding anything she wanted, Willow thanked the man, and headed towards the group. Tara was sitting on a barrel, with Anya sitting to her right, and Faith standing to her left, Xander was sitting on the dock in front of her.



Xander looked up when she approached. “Hey, you ready?”



“Yeah, let’s go.” Willow said and boarded the S.S. Winno with the group.



When the boat set sail towards Luca Willow walked around the deck a few minutes before getting bored. She thought and headed below deck to have a look around. Datto was being seasick again, and she quickly backed out of the room. Deciding to go up top she ran into O’aka by the stairs.



“Hey, how goes the business?”



“Not good at all, ye would think a small island like Kilika would be sellin’ things cheap. But, no, everything was expensive. Say ye wouldn’t have a spot of Gil to lend ye ol’ pal, would ye?” Shaking her head Willow gives O’aka 400 Gil. “Thank ye! I’ll make it up to ye, that’s a promise!”



Willow walks back up to the top deck, and stops in her tracks when she sees the Goers surrounding Tara.





“What are you talking about?” Willow asked when she neared the three Goers.



Bickson turned around and looked her up and down. “So honey, did you come to find a real man, or play on a real team?”



“No, to both! I came to see how my Summoner was doing!” Willow said making Tara smile.



“Ha! She shot you down, man!” Graav laughed.



“Well she’s an idiot.” Bickson said to Graav.



“Don’t call her that!” Tara stood and faced Bickson.



Bickson stared at Tara showing no emotion. “But she is an idiot! Especially if she thinks the Aurochs can beat us.”



Willow stepped up to him and poked him in the chest with her finger. “Now, that I’m here, we’ll win!”



“Yes, they will win! Because she is the star player of the Zanarkand Abes.” Tara said and Willow’s eyes widened.







The Goers started laughing. “Yeah, as if anyone live in those ruins.” Abus said before walking off.



Tara’s face turned red from anger. “It’s not ruins, there’s a big city there! It’s true!”



“I-I got too close to Sin and…” Willow said and was interrupted.



“Right. Whatever Your Ladyship says.” Bickson said and left with Graav following.



Tara turned her back to Willow and looked up at the stars.



“Hey, Tara don’t worry about them. Their nothing but jerks!” Willow said taking Tara’s hand and gently squeezing it.



Turning to face her Tara smiled. “It’s okay, Willow. But I still believe you. If you don’t mind could I have a few minutes alone, please?”



“Yeah, sure. I’ll be on the upper deck if you need anything.” Willow turned to leave and saw Faith standing behind her, nodding her head Willow walked over to the stairs. She stopped half way up when she heard Anya and Xander talking.



“Well? You’ll take responsibility?”



“Anya! Will you relax? She is bound to know someone in Luca.”



“And if she doesn’t?”



“Well, with her moves… she could always join a Blitz team. Anyway bringing her along was better than leaving her in Besaid.” Xander said and leaned back against the pole he was sitting by.



“What!” Anya shouted. “You’d just leave her in Luca?”



“Well, what do you want me to do?”



“Tara wants to make her a guardian.”



“Oh yeah… There’s that too, eh?”



“And who’s fault is that?”



Xander’s head shot up “Not mine!” Then he lowered his head “It is mine, huh?”



“Yes, it is.”



“Why do you think she wants to make her a guardian, anyway?”



“Xander! Don’t you listen? Because she is Sir Ira’s daughter.”



“Oh, right… Wait, you sure ‘bout that? She is really Sir Ira’s daughter?”



“It’s hard to say, but Tara believes it’s true.”



“Okay.” Xander shrugged.



“Okay! Okay!” Throwing her hands up in the air Anya stomped over to Xander “Is that all you have to say?”



Xander shrunk back a little “Well, yeah, I mean… it’s her decision… well hers and Tara I guess.”



“You’re right, for once.”



“Hey! I’ve been right plenty of times.”



“I wonder which is best…” Anya trailed off and thought for a moment. “Why don’t you tell her she should?”



“Huh? Should what?” Xander asked confused.



Anya rolled her eyes and shook her head “Become Tara’s guardian.”



“Why me?”



“Why do you think… because Tara can’t.”



“And just why not? It’s the Summoner that asks that, not another guardian.”



“Because she hates her father… what he was, what he did. Do you really think Tara can possibly say to her…” “I want you to be my guardian, like you farther was to my mother?”



“Aren’t you being a little over-sensitive, Anya?”



“Xander!”



“All right, all right. I’ll talk to her after the tournament. Okay?”



“Be discreet.”



“I know it’s her decision.” Xander leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “She doesn’t like her father?”



“Apparently. She told Tara as much.”



“Hating your own father, huh? Sounds like a luxury to me. I don’t remember my parents. Can’t say how I feel about them.”



“I remember mine a little.” Anya said showing no emotion.



“Dammit!” Xander hit the deck with his fist. “Sin just takes everything away from us!”



Not wanting to hear any more Willow walks up the stairs. Looking up Xander nod. “Hey girl, go to bed. The tournament starts tomorrow morning.”



“Yeah, okay then.” She turns to leave when Xander stopped her.



“Someone’s bound to recognize you when they see your moves out there.”



Willow sadly smiles and nods. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs she spots a Blitzball and goes over to it. Resting her right foot on the ball she thinks back to when she was five.



[Flashback]



A five-year old Willow kicks at a Blitzball, misses, and falls to the ground.



“Well, well, trying to follow in my footsteps, are you?” Ira asks walking toward the young Willow. “I usually charge for lessons, you know… that shot is done like this.”



Ira kicks the ball toward a pole, it rebounds back to him, he then hits the ball with his fist, making it rebound again, he kicks it into the air, and jumps up spinning his body. As the ball came back down, he kicks it sending it sailing out to the ocean. When he lands he smiles at Willow. “You can’t do it, kid. But don’t worry you’re not the only one. I’m the best.” He says and walks off.



[End]



Willow looked at the ball as the anger rose. Doing just like she remembered her father doing, she succeeded in performing the Super Shot. “The best? Yeah, right.” She said out loud and turned to leave, and was startled by Xander and the Aurochs standing behind her.



“Dude! What’s that called?” Xander asked amazed.



“Doesn’t have a name. Anyone can do it if they try.”



“Can you show it to us again.” Xander handed her another Blitzball.



As Willow is preparing she looks to the right to see Tara wave. She performs the shot for the Aurochs, then walks over to Tara.



“That was the Super Shot, wasn’t it?” The question was more of a statement.



“How’d you know that?”



Tara smiled “Sir Ira showed it to me when I was a child. He called it the Sublimely Magnificent Super Shot Mark III.”



“Stupid name, huh?” Willow said and sat on the railing. “You know what? There is no Mark I or Mark II, ya know? My old man said the name Mark III was just something to get the crowd hooked. She said they’d come back every night expecting to see Mark I and Mark II. And, they really did. I used to get so mad.” Willow said making Tara giggle. “Is he alive, you think?”



“I don’t know. But, Sir Ira was my mother’s guardian.”



“So, he’s famous here, too?



“Yes. So if anything happened to him, I would think word would get around fast.”



“Uh-huh.”



“What would you do, if you sound him?”



“Who knows? I thought he died ten years ago. Well I’d probably smack him one. After everything he put mom and me through. And because he was famous, I was always… Tara you should know. Your mother’s famous. Everyone in Spira knows her, right? Ain’t it tough?”



“It is hard to follow in her footsteps, as a Summoner.”



“Sure.”



“But the honor of having a mother like her, surpasses all that, I think.”



Willow jumps off the railing and sighs. “Well, there wasn’t much to honor about my old man, that’s for sure.”



“You shouldn’t say that about your father!”



“Hey! I got the right!” Willow snaps.



“I guess you do.” Tara says sadly and hangs her head.



“Tara, I’m sorry.” Willow says putting her hand on Tara’s shoulder. “Its just…thinking about him… makes me mad.” Raising her hand she cups Tara’s cheek. “Please, don’t take it the wrong way. Okay?”



Leaning into Willow’s touch Tara gave her a small smile. “Okay.” She then leans in closer to Willow.



Willow thinks and leans toward Tara, and jumped when a Blitzball hit her on the head. Looking up she saw Xander waving from the upper deck.



“Show me that move again!” She heard him holler. Sighing she showed Xander the Super Shot again, and watched as Tara went below deck to the sleeping quarters.



I didn’t think my old man would come to Luca. He never did like watching other people play. But I couldn’t help feeling something bad was gonna happen. And these feelings of mine are usually right. Sure, I’d told Xander that I would help him win the tournament. But I wasn’t sure I had it in me to play at all anymore.



That's it for seven. The name of the shot Tidus preformed was actually called Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III...don't own that either. ^_^ Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter.

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[robotguru]

heh, i could never manage to get the Jecht shot, would come in useful against the Goers.



You know how much i like this fic, i'm starting to repeat myself



Keep it going

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[BurningWhiteRose]

oooh....ahhhh...



Cool moves and an almost kiss. Not to mention a butt load of jerkwads touching Tara's territory! Bad! Very Very Bad... Touching Willow's butt like that. Although, I really cant blame them.



Continue, I love it!



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David

[PaleBlueDot]

Hey

Just wanna say I'm really enjoying this fic.

Actually I'm not a big fan of final fantasy but I heard

it's really good. (But l love to listen FFX's OST)

I like the way you describe Willow and Xaner.

Keep up the good work and hope to see more update.

[Stormforce]

robotguru - I couldn't get the Jecht shot either, and I rest the freaking game like 8 times. *Sigh*



BurningWhiteRose - Don't worry the "jerkwads" will get what's coming to them...remember the tournament is coming up.



PaleBlueDot - Hey there I'm glad you're enjoying the fic. Yep the FF games are good...that is if you RPG's. I have FFX's OST too, I love Suteki Da Ne it's a beautiful song.



I'm glad you're all enjoying this... okay this is the first part of chapter 8, i gotta go check the game for a few things before i can finish the part 2. I'm thinking the second part will be out later tonight. Now on with the fic. ^_^



Final Fantasy Retold

Pairing: Eventually W/T

Rating: R for language and a bit of violence.



Chapter Eight: Luca



The next morning Willow stood on the railing holding onto a rope to keep from falling in the water. From the boat she watched the Blitzball arena open and the sphere pool to come into view. The harbor was bustling with men, women, and children, all there to watch the tournament. When the S.S. Winno docked at the Luca harbor, Willow could hear the commentators speaking.



“Ah, over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now, at dock two folks. All the way from Kilika it’s the Kilika Beasts!” The first commentator said as the Beasts walked down the ramp and waved to the spectators. “High Summoner Ohalland used to play for them, a big name to live up to. Their hometown was recently attacked by Sin. Isn’t that right, Jimma?”



“Yes, Bobba. They’re going to be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year!”



“Exciting isn’t it, folks? Our next team off the ramp is… Well, well, well! If it isn’t the Besaid Aurochs! They’re a living, breathing, statistical impossibility!” Bobba said as the Aurochs walked down the ramp, Xander was rubbing his head in embarrassment. “I’ve never seen a team this bad! In twenty-three years they’ve never made it past the first round. Only a few die-hard fans are in the audience today.”



“Best of luck to them, and a safe journey back to Besaid.”



“Right, Jimma. Moving right along, our next team is… Here they are, folks! Our very own Luca Goers! They’ve got power! They’ve got speed! They’ve got teamwork! They’re an all-around first-class team and they’re back home in Luca.”



“You can say that again, Jimma. Look at the crowd! Looks like all of Luca has turned out to cheer the Goers on! They know, I know, and you know. The Luca Goers are number one!”



On the dock Xander watched as Willow went from happy, to angry. “Hey, it’s like this every year. Don’t let it bother you.” He said when Willow’s face was a mask of fury.



“This is bullshit!” Willow jumped on a crate, and grabbed a megaphone. “Stop right there, Goers! You guys are smiling now, but not for long! “Cause this year, us Aurochs are taking the cup! Haha!”



Tara was giggling when Willow jumped down. Xander had a horrified look on his face, Anya was shaking her head, and Faith was smirking.



“What in Yevon’s name were you doin’ up there?”



“But Cap’n we stood out!” Datto said.



“Yeah, we were on the sphere!” Letty said.



At that moment two men and a woman hurriedly walked past the group.



Maester Snyder is here!” One of the men said.



“Already?” The woman asked.



“His boat is on the number three dock.” The second man said, and started to run.



Willow looked over to Xander, then to Tara. “What’s up now?”



“Maester Snyder has arrived, that’s what!” Tara said excitedly.



“Snyder? Maester?”



“Maester Snyder is the leader of all the people of Spira. He’s come all the way from Bevelle. The tournament is being held to honor his fifty years as Maester.” Anya said.



“Fifty years? Shouldn’t he be, uh, retired by now?”



“Hey!” Xander turned to her. “Mind your mouth now.”

“Come on, let’s all go see him!” Tara said then ran off with the others following.



Reaching dock three where a huge crowd had gathered Willow jumped up and down trying to see in the front. “Well, darn! Can’t see a thing.”



“Shhhh!” Xander shushed her, as a woman with blond hair walked down the ramp. She was wearing a dark blue robe, with a green sash over a red silk dress. Her hand were a bit longer than a human hand. The woman turned and prayed toward the Maester’s ship.



“That’s a Guado, right?” A man beside Willow asked.



“Who could it be?” The woman beside the man asked.



“Isn’t that Lady Maester Glory?” A second man asked, then bowed in prayer as an old man walked down the ramp and stood next to the blond.



“People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome.” He said then turned toward the blond. “Rise, Lady Maester Glory, and all of you as well. I present to you… the daughter of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you already know, she has been officially ordained a Maester of Yevon.”



“Thank you Maester Snyder.” Glory turned to the crowd. “I am Glory Guado. I am honored to receive the title of Maester. In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfill my duties as a Maester to the best of my abilities.” Glory finished and the crowd bowed.



Xander seeing Willow not bow he nudged her arm. “You too, bow your head!”



“Hmph!” Willow watched Glory as she stared at Tara, and a grin crossed Glory’s face. Willow glared at her when she walked by.



“Really psyches you up, ya? All right last meeting before the game.” Xander said and ran off to the locker rooms with the Aurochs following.



Willow watched them disappear and turned to Tara.



“Come on I’ll walk you to the locker room.” Tara said taking Willow’s hand. Anya looked to Faith, and sighed shaking her head. “I can’t wait to see you play! I just know you’ll look good!” Tara said happily swinging their joined hands.



“So, you’ll be cheering me and the Aurochs on?”



“Yes, silly! I will!” Tara said making Willow smile. They walked up and set of stairs and down another set to the right of the sphere pool. “Okay, it’s the last door on the left.” Tara pulled Willow into a quick hug before leaving with Anya and Faith.



“Wooo-whooo!” Willow shouted jumping into the air, after Tara, Anya and Faith disappeared up the stairs. “Yes! I got a hug! I got a hug!” She sang and did a happy dance up to the locker room door. Composing herself, she opened the door and stepped in. “Hey, where’s Xander?” She asked not seeing him in the room.



Datto looked up. “At the match-up draws.”



“We had to play the Goers in the first match last year.” Letty said sitting down beside Datto.



Jassu closed his locker “The year before that, and the one before that, too!



“Well, we would have lost to anyone, anyway.” Keepa said hanging his head.



Xander walked into the locker room with a smile on his face. “We’re playin’ the Al Bhed Psyches first. If we win, we’re in the finals! That’s right, we got seeded! Two wins and we’re the champions!” Xander pumped his fist in the air.



Tara ran into the locker room. “There you are!” She said to Willow. “Someone said they saw Sir Giles in a café!”



“Gi-Giles?” Willow asked stunned.



“Yes, Sir Giles!” Tara nodded “Let’s go find him!”



“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! The game starts like real soon! Come back quick, ya?” Xander worriedly said.



Willow turned and nodded. “Not to worry. I’ll be back.”



“Yeah, okay.”



“Xander, you’re stiff, man.” Willow said causing Xander to rub his face. “No, not your face.” She walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. “Just relax, breath in, breath out…like this. Just breath, okay?”



Tara was giggling as she walked through the door, followed by Willow a minute later.



“Maybe now we can find Sir Ira.”



“Huh? How?”



“Sir Giles was also my mother’s guardian. So, he might know where Sir Ira is. Let’s go now.” Tara takes Willow’s hand and pulls her along.



It didn’t even occur to me to think that the Giles, Tara was talking about… and the one that I knew from Zanarkand could be two different people. I don’t know why, but I knew it was the same guy. I just knew it was the same Giles.



Before going up the stairs Willow saw two of the Al Bhed Psyches leaning against the wall. “Hey, Tara I’ll meet you upstairs in a sec, okay?”



“Okay, but please hurry.”



“I will.” She watched Tara climb the stairs, and walked over to the two men. “Hey, Al Bhed Psyches, right? Some Al Bhed saved me the other day, and… This girl Buffy gave me food and…uh…you don’t understand me do you? Uh, anyway…if you meet Buffy, tell her thanks, for me. Oh, and as for the first game? May the best team win!” Willow smiled and headed up the stairs.



The two Al Bhed watched her leave before speaking. “E Meto Summoner!” the first one said. (A Lady Summoner!)



“Fa sicd nabund.” The second replied. (We must report.)



When Willow walked down the stairs she saw Tara, who was surrounded by people taking pictures, and asking questions. Tara was trying to push through, but couldn’t get more than a foot at best.



“Please, let me through.” Tara spoke to the people blocking her path. When they didn’t move she gave a helpless look to Willow.



Willow looked at the large group then got an idea. “Hey! Isn’t that Lady Glory?” She shouted looking towards the way she came from.



The group of people pushed Willow out of the way and ran off trying to reach Glory. “Let’s go before they come back!” Willow took Tara’s hand and ran, then looked back over her shoulder. “Dang, you’re really famous.” She said slowing down to a fast walk.



“I hope we don’t get separated.” Tara said as she walked a little in front of Willow.



Willow let her get a few foot ahead “Tara!” She shouted then putting her thumb and forefinger in her mouth whistled.



“What was that?” Tara asked causing Willow to giggle.



“In Zanarkand, we do this to cheer on Blitzball players.” Willow said then whistled again. “Now, you give it a try. Put your fingers in your mouth like this.” She says, putting her fingers in her mouth.



“Like this?” Tara asked putting her thumb and middle finger in her mouth.



“Uh-uh, not like that. Like this.” Willow showed her again. “Then, you just blow.”



Tara tries to whistle, but can’t. “It’s not working!”



“Practice.” Willow smiles.



“Okay.”



“Hey, just use that if we get separated. Then, I’ll come running, okay? Well, guess we should just stick together, till you can do it.



Tara smiles and raises her hand palm facing out “Yes, ma’am!”



When they reach the marketplace, Willow looks around taking everything in. There are five little shops, a café, and a set f stairs leading up to a walkway. “Wow, this place is huge.”



“Yes, Luca is the second largest city in Spira.”



“I thought every town was little, you know, like Besaid and Kilika.”



“Towns don’t usually get bigger than that.” Tara sadly says. “Because when a lot of people begin to gather…”



“Sin…? What about Luca? Is it safe here?”



“It’s not any different, but the stadium is here. And the Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength.”



“They protect the stadium?”



“Blitzball’s really the only entertainment that we have. Spira’s a little short on fun these days.”



“Whoa! Talk about pressure!” Willow said making Tara giggle.



“Oh! That’s right, is Zanarkand like this, too?”



“Well, there are more buildings. All tall and cramped together.”



“Oh. They must be so tall!” Tara looks up imagining them. “Don’t you ever get dizzy?” She asks, this time making Willow giggle.



“Nah. I’m used to it.”



Tara laughs “Let’s go find Sir Giles!”



Willow follows Tara into a café, and looks around. “Giles isn’t here.” She says sighing, then looks to her right to see Faith talking to two other women.



“Say something, Faith. You haven’t seen Harmony, or me for five years! Did you forget us?” A brown haired woman said.



“Leave her, Hallie. She is an outcast anyway.” Harmony said.



Faith forgot her Dragon friends? We taught you so much, before your ceremony.” Hallie said shoving Faith back a step. “We taught you to be strong.”



“Maybe we taught her too much.”



Willow walks over and stands next to Faith. “Take ‘em on!”



“Ha! She couldn’t hit Sin, even if she tried.” Harmony laughed and was knocked on her butt when Faith slugged her.



“Take it outside! The games starting!” The bartender shouted.



“Oh, no! The game!” Willow exclaims just as Hallie uppercuts Faith.



On the sphere screen Maester Snyder is speaking with the Blitzball captains standing behind him. “Today, on this glorious day, player from all over Spira have assembled here… to participate in this great contest of bravery, skill, and strength. All of these fine teams, equally renowned, deserve to win the cup today. Such is the nature of this contest. Let us, the spectators play our role accordingly. Let us sing to the glory of the winners, and applaud equally the valor of the defeated. Contestants, may Yevon be with you.



The maintenance crews opened the valves to fill the sphere pool, as the fans cheered. The Aurochs and the Psyches entered the pool and began the game. Willow turned to look at Tara, and didn’t see her there anywhere in the café.



“Faith! Tara’s gone!”



“Shit! We have to find her!” Faith said and ran out the door with Willow hot on her heels. Outside they saw Anya running toward them.



“Where in Spira have you two been!?”



“What’s wrong?” Willow asked trying to squash the bad feeling she had. < Don’t let it be Tara…>



“Tara’s been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches. In return for her safe return, they want the Aurochs to lose.” Anya explained.



“What!” Willow shouted and grit her teeth.



“If they’re only Blitzball players, I doubt they’d do anything drastic. But we shouldn’t take chances. Let’s go get her.” Faith said to Anya un-strapping her spear.



“Hey, I’m going too!” Willow un-sheathed her sword “This will be no problem! They’re telling the Aurochs to throw the match, as if they needed to. I mean how good a team can they be?”



“Xander said the same thing. He’ll take care of the game. We should go get Tara. The Al Bhed ship is on dock four, let’s go!”



When they reached dock one, three machina robots blocked the path. Anya cast a Thunder spell, then dodged when one of the machina stabbed at her. Willow jumped over the middle one, and swung her sword around severing the machina’s head. Faith thrust her spear into the thirds chest and twisted the spearhead, cutting the wiring. At dock two they could see the giant sphere screen broadcasting the game.



“The Aurochs are keeping the game tied with some excellent defense!” Bobba was saying.



Letty threw the ball to Xander who caught it, and was tackled hard by one of the Psyches.



“Ow! He’ll feel that one in the morning, huh Jimma?”



“Yes, but the referee doesn’t call the foul. Xander’s taking a real beating out there!”



“Still in there!” Willow said as they passed dock three.



“He won’t last. Xander’s always like that.” Anya said watching Xander float in the sphere pool.



“Ouch!”



They saw the Al Bhed boat leaving the dock “Let’s go!” Faith said and began running faster. The three women jumped onto the ship, making it by a hair. Willow tucked her head in and rolled to a stop, Faith skidded to a stop right behind Anya who had like Willow rolled. The ship started shaking, and the deck opened, and a huge machina rose up. It had two five-foot tall spinning wheels on top, and the legs supporting it.



[Flash]



Name: Oblitzerator

HP: 6000

MP: 10



Faith ran and striking it with her spear, hardly causing any damage. The same happened when Willow hit it with her sword. Anya was casting Thunder spells, when the machina shot out a Blitzball toward her. Faith threw her spear knocking it to the deck, another ball shot out and Faith dodged; the ball hit the deck and bounced into the water. The machina started shooting out Blitzballs at a fast speed, Willow knocked Anya to the deck as the balls flew over them. Looking up Willow saw a crane on the side of the boat, the Blitzballs stopped, and Willow helped Anya to stand.



“Thank you.”



“Your welcome. Can you keep it busy? I have an idea.”



“Yeah, don’t worry.”



Willow ran over to the crane while Anya cast more Thunder spells, and Faith attacked it with her spear again. Turning the crane on she moved the claw over the machina “Watch out!” she hollered to Faith. She dropped the claw and picked the machina up. The spinning wheels came off and the bottom half fell to the ship deck. Anya cast another Thunder spell causing it to shake then explode. An Al Bhed man was thrown back and into the cargo hold control panel. Willow sighed in relief when she saw Tara standing in the doorway.



Willow followed Anya and Faith over to Tara “You okay? They didn’t hurt you did they?”



“No, I’m fine.”



“I hope you hurt them.” Faith said as she and Anya checked Tara over for wounds.



“Oh, maybe just a little.” Tara told Faith with a grin. The noticed Willow looking around the ship “What is it?”



“Huh? Oh! There were these Al Bhed that saved my life when I first came to Spire. They took me on their ship, even gave me food. I was kinda hoping this was the same ship, but…it’s not. I wonder if they’re all gone.”



“What happened?” Tara asked trying to shoo away Anya who was still checking her for wounds.



“Sin came up near us. I made it out okay, but I don’t know what happened to the ship.”



“Um…was there a woman called Joyce on the ship?” Tara asked looking at Willow.



“I don’t know. They were all speaking Al Bhed, and I couldn’t understand them.”



Tara hung her head “Oh, I see.”



“So, who’s Joyce?”



“She’s my aunt, but I have never met her.”



“Wait. That means you’re Al Bhed, too, Tara.” Willow questioned.



“On my father’s side, yes. Joyce is my father’s sister. She became distant after my father married. But my father always told me to find her if I ever needed help.”



“Oh, and you’re worried that she was…on the ship?”



“Willow, please don’t tell Xander about Tara’s lineage. You see Xander he…he never had much love for the Al Bhed.” Anya said.



“Xander! I gotta tell Xander!” Willow said with wide eyes.



“I told you not to tell Xander!”



Tara’s eyes widened when it dawned on her what Willow was talking about “The game!”



“Oh!” Anya shot a small magical light into the air that sparkled for a few seconds before going out.



Meanwhile at the game…



“I don’t believe it the score is tied at 2-2 the Aurochs have a great defense this year!” Bobba was saying.



Jassu threw the ball before being tackled. Datto caught the ball and swam toward the goal, and was surrounded by three Psyches. He threw the ball, Letty caught it and swam for the goal. Xander looked up and saw Anya’s magical light sparkling and grinned. Letty threw it to Xander who motioned with his hand.



“The Aurochs are launching an all out offensive!” Jimma said.



With two Psyches after him, Xander threw the ball at the goal. The goalie wasn’t quite ready, and missed the catch as the ball made it, just at the buzzer went of signaling the end of the game.



“Gooooaaaal!” Bobba shouted “ The Aurochs win the match with a 3-2 score!”



“We won!” Willow jumps into the air.



“We did it! We’re in the finals!” Tara jumps into the air along side Willow.



“Not the most…graceful win. If it was Hikari in there she’d still be standing.” Anya said watching Xander float on his back.



Willow turned to Anya “Hey, aren’t you being just a little unfair?”



“Excuse me?”



“Look, I know I could never take Hikari’s place. You’re the one who told Xander that, right, Anya? And to tell you the truth, I don’t want to. And I don’t think Xander wants me to take her place either. And I don’t know what she was to you, but you need to see, and get it through your thick head, we are NOT trying to replace her!” Willow said before storming off to the locker rooms, with Tara and Faith following, leaving a speechless Anya behind.



“You sure you’re all right, cap’n?” Datto asks Xander, who is lying on a bench holding his ribs.



“The next match starts soon.” Letty looked at the clock.



“Yeah, and we’re playin’ the Goers.” Jassu says hanging his head.



Xander tries to throw a Blitzball, but drops it when a sharp pain shoot through his body.



“Miss me?” Willow asked walking through the door with Tara and Faith.



“Lady Tara!” Datto said.



“Are you okay?” Letty asks.



Tara sadly looks from the Aurochs to Xander “All this because of me. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” She says and bows.



Xander halfway sat up “How can you let some Al Bhed kidnap you?”



“Hey Xander, let it go, alright?” Willow said and smiled at Tara.



“Just don’t go near Al Bhed anymore, okay? They’re trouble.” Xander said and Tara nodded her head before walking out the door, with Faith behind her. He slowly gets up off the bench and looks at Willow. “The game starts real soon. No time for warm-ups. Ready?”



“Lemme at ‘em!”



“All right!” Xander said then turned to the team. I got something to tell you guys. After this game…I’m retiring. I promised myself this would be my last tournament. Win or lose, I’m quitting Blitzball. But you know… Since we’re here, we might as well win!”



“Yeah!” The team shouted as one.



“A-am I on the bench?” Botta asked.



“Nope I’m warming the bench. Willow is taking my place. All right, let’s win this one! Let’s make those Goers goners!”



The team walked out of the locker room just as Anya was entering.



“I saw you floating there, on the sphere.” She said looking at the floor.



“Hey, you weren’t supposed to see that.” Xander says before fainting.



Anya caught him before he could hit the floor “You really gave it your all, didn’t you?” she says hugging him closer to her.



“All right, boys, what’re we gonna do?” Willow asked turning to the team.



“Win!”



“For Cap’n Xander!” Botta said as they walked through the sphere pool door.



Well, that does it for chpter 8 part 1. Hope you enjoyed it. ^_^

To be forgotten is worse than death.

[amazonaa]

That was great. i love this story.



Willow and Tara are getting closer, huh? I guess that means there gonna break the rules. Oh well. I wnder if Willow becomes one of Tara's gardians.





more soon, please.





brittney





~Kiss this axe, bitch!---Tara "Bargaining part 2"~

[robotguru]

heh, all will be revealed soon Amazonaa, soon as we get to that point anyway...who says we tie Stormforce to her chair?

------------------



There can be no rainbow without rain, you cannot know true happiness until you know sadness first.

[BurningWhiteRose]

Hooplah!



Niiiiiiiiiiice...



They won their first match, and now...Its Willow's turn.



Love how she saved Anya and Faith...sort of...



Cant wait for the W/T...Although I'll prolly have to...



Continue Soon!!



Sincerely,

BWR

***

If homosexuals dont reproduce, why are there so many of them?-Jim David