Betrayal?

[Tidus Revok]

"Tidus..."

"Tidus! Wake up!"

Tidus' eyes cracked open a little and squinted from the blinding morning sun beating on his face. He tried to block it our with his arm as he rose to his feet, then rubbed both eyes with his fist as he let out a long yawn.

"Morning Jen."

He mumbled mid yawn with his mouth agape. He opened his eyes to see his friend crouching in front off him with a slight grin - characteristic of her cheerful personality. After a satisfying stretch, Tidus leaned over and grabbed his red overcoat which was lying in the grass, and brushed off all of the twigs and various debris it had gathered from being used as a blanket during the night. A pathetic look denoted what was flashing through his mind at that moment, prompting Jen to grab his chin and pull his head up.

"Hey, Cheer up. We got a whole new day ahead of us!"

Tidus grinned for a second or two, but it quickly faded as he got his overcoat on. Jen leaned back and shook her head disapprovingly.

"Tidus, won't you ever let me trim that coat of yours? It's much too long and it makes you look completely ridiculous."

Tidus looked up at her, a little offended at her remark even though he knew it was all in good fun.

"It's a Ten'Ju symbol of rank, and it's not to be tampered with. Sensei wouldn't like it."

"So? I would."

Tidus stopped in the middle of zipping his vest and faced her with a rather serious look.

"You've never met Sensei."

A piercing cry from some sort of bird or small animal came from the distance followed by a short scream as Jen jumped to her feet.

"What was that?!" she whispered.

Tidus shrugged, trying to remember that Jen hadn't had the training he had. It was natural for her to be scared. He replied flatly:

"Some kind of bird I guess."

"You guess?!"

"Hey, don't panic, nothings going to harm you. We'll be out of here in less than an hour."


- Two Hours Later-

"I don't know your definition of an "Hour", but last time I checked it was sixty minutes. It's now been..."

Jen stopped to check her watch.

"One hundred and thirty-two minutes exactly."

Jen looked back up to find Tidus ahead of her.

"Hey! Wait up!"

She sprinted up alongside him.

"Tidus, I'm really hungry."

Tidus rubbed his growling stomach and groaned.

"Tell me about it."

Once they got out of the forest, Jen stopped dead in her tracks and pointed directly in front of her.

"What is it Jen?"

Tidus made his way through the brush and looked in the direction Jen pointed.

"Civilization at last!" Jen shouted as she leaped for joy.

"Food at last!"

Both bolted down the path for the Village. A few minutes later, Tidus walked toward the Village entrance with his head looking up, his stomach growled again as he smelled the fragrance of food cooking.

"Smells a bit burnt... O well. There's bound to be something fresh here."

The two made their way into the city, with Tidus the first to walk through the gates.

"Anyone there? Whats with this place? Its like a ghost town."

"Tidus, look! Someone must be hurt! They're just lying on the street, look!"

Jen pointed to what appeared to be a woman lying on the road.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Tidus hastily dashed to the body lying on the road, Jen tailing behind him.

"Ma'am? Are you al...." he paused mid sentence, and stared. his stomach unsettled at the sight.

"What is it Tid..."

Tidus covered Jen's eyes, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't look Jen, You don't want to ruin your appetite..."

The woman lying before him looked like she had been mummified for a few thousand years and unwrapped again. Her skin was flaking off and flying away in the wind. As Tidus scanned the small town he noticed not only this one woman. but apparently the entire village's population had been drained of all life. Tidus finally uncovered Jen's eyes. She shuddered at the sight.

"Who would do this!?"

Tidus knelt and touched the ground with his hand for a moment.

"Whoever did this, did it this morning. The wind hasn't even covered their tracks yet. Don't worry Jen, Whoever did this... They're gonna pay!"

"Ti...Tidus..."

Tidus put his index finger to his lips.

"Shh. Jen, I think you should head north to Bedoe. Find the nearest inn to the border and wait for me there. It's much too dangerous for you here."

Jen took two steps back, then paused for a moment as if to say something, but Tidus didn't let her finish:

"Go!"

Tidus began to follow the tracks through the city, when something caught his eye. A small piece of metal shined from the suns reflection. He reached down and picked it up. It was a small ring. In fact, it was completely identical to his own ring, only a small gash in the one he held in his hand separated them from being thoroughly identical.

"Nishaio?"

Tidus scratched his head while curiously examining the glittering ring.
He rose to his feet as he compared the two rings, which truly proved to be identical.

"Guess its time I pay Sensei a visit!"

[Tidus Revok]

A young brown haired woman, near the age of twenty or so, peered through the kitchen window of the small, but comfortable cabin. The golden light of a setting sun shone through the window, and endless specks of dust glittered like a field miniature stars as they glided down to the nearest surface. The woman slowly moved her knife in a circular motion as the peel of the fruit in her hand fell into the waste basket peice by peice. As she finished peeling the fruit the woman, named Allina, lifted her head and squinted from the bright piercing sunlight.

"Nishaio?" Allina heard a faint voice from upstairs reply. It sounded as if it was from their bedroom. She turned her head back to shout so it would be hearable from the upstairs. Nishaio never told his wife about his hearing abilities, he felt that conveying the secret may prove useful in the near future.

"Dinner is almost...." after blinking she saw Nishaio sitting at the table sipping a warm cup of coffee. She jumped and dropped a plate in startlement. He looked up at her waiting for her to finish her sentence. "Could you do me a favor?" She held the back of her hand against her forehead and breathed a heavy sigh, trying to slow her heartbeat back to normal. Nishaio made eye contact with his newly wed and kept a rather blank look as he inquired quietly:

"And what would that be?"

Allina held her chest still breathing heavily. "Take at least five seconds to get down stairs, this is the fith time you've almost given me a heart attack." She finally calmed herself.

"Eh, you'll get used to it." Nishaio grinned denoting that he was joking...sort of. Allina grinned back as she picked up the plate filled with eggs, toast and various steamed vegetables. Allina leaned forward to set the plate on the table.

"Isn't it great to live in peace and quiet at last Nishaio?"

Suddenly, as if on cue, Tidus kicked the door wide open and yelled at the top of his lungs: "GRAMPS!!! I'VE GOT A QUESTION TO - WOAAH!" He cut his own greeting short with a shriek and ducked, grabbing the top of his head to protect it while barley dodging a butter knife that was sent spinning towards him. "Sensei! I meant Sensei!" Tidus screamed. Allina smacked her forehead out of frustration.

"Haven't I told you to knock?" Nishaio questioned with a rather frustrated tone.

"Is that really something to try and kill me over?!" Tidus shouted, leaning forward as he did. Nishaio stood up this time with a fork in hand.

"If I were trying, you'd be dead."

"Thats just inflated speech!"

"You mean big talk?" Tidus jerked forward out of anger:

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME SO STUPID I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PUT TWO WORDS TOGETHER!"

"....I didn't say that..."

"Quit correcting me! Waaah!" Nishaio hurled another peice of silverware at Tidus, this time the fork went wizzing over his head and lodged itself in the doorpost. Allina sighed and whispered to herself as she sagged forward:

"That was the last clean fork".

But before Tidus could ask the reason behind the fork Nishaio shouted "I said knock!" Tidus screamed again and shut the door. About ten seconds later they both heard a gentle knock. Nishaio waited another five seconds and let out a sigh.

"...Come in..." Tidus busted the door open and screamed almost exactly as he did before.

"Sensei!"

Nishaio sighed heavily and Allina mumbled "So much for peace and quiet.", then proceeded to wash a new knife and fork as the two warriors bickered. Nishaio shouted out of frustration.

"Quit shouting kid!"

"FYI, I'm fifteen and three and one half quarters! And maybe you should train in what you teach!"

This time Nishaio smacked his forehead and let out a sigh. "Practice what you preach..."

"SHUT THE HECK UP! HOW DARE YOU SAY I NEED TO REORGANIZE MY DISGRACEFUL EXCUSE OF A VOCABULARY!"

"I Didn't say that either!"

GAH! WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE CORRECTING ME? I'M TIRED OF BEIN A..."

Allina finally turned around and grabbed Tidus from behind, covering his mouth with her hand. He kicked and continued to mumble until she gently scolded him. "Tidus, listen. Calm down, and please, take a breath before you suffocate yourself."

Tidus finally calmed himself. A few moments later everyone was seated and Allina was fetching Tidus something warm to drink.

"So Kid," Tidus groaned as his left brow started to twitch. "I know I know, Fifteen and three and one half quarters. I hope for your sake you have a pretty good reason for being here. That is, besides breaking my door, giving me a headache, and ruining my day in every conceivable manner."

"Ok come on, it wasn't that bad. And for your information, I came to ask you..." Tidus paused for a long moment. He had Allina and .....well, he had Allina's full attention anyway. "Why the heck have you been massacreing masses of innocent people!?"

Allina gasped and replied in Nishaio's defence "He would never do a thing like that Tidus, we all know that." But Tidus's eyes never left Nishaio, who was sipping a warm Civean style drink named Vebes - a lot like Tea, only much sweeter. He didn't seem to even react to the question, which kind of threw Tidus off...a lot...

"To answer your question..." Nishaio paused for a moment, twirling his hair as he often did whenever he concentrated. "There are alot of reasons." Allina's jaw dropped. "However, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't really know what you're talking about."

"Don't feed me lies! I found this at the scene!" Tidus slammed his open hand on the table. The sound of metal slamming against wood pierced throught the silence and echoed for a long moment. He lifted his hand revealing a small ring with a gash mark on it. Nishaio picked the ring up and examined it without expression.

"Two problems with your theory." Nishaio grinned a little, as if he were amused by Tidus's somewhat reasonable assumption.

"Eh? What's that?" Nishaio scoffed.

"Firstly notice the gash mark. Can you truly imagine anyone getting near enough to me to leave a mark on my ring?"

Tidus replied with a rather annoyed look. "Good point."

"Secondly... Look at my finger, Tidus." Nishaio lifted his other hand revealing the new ring he had crafter after he gave his old one to Tidus. This one looked different, and had no magical properties whatsoever.

"Darn it! Whoever's behind this has only led me on an untame duck trail."

Nishaio lowered his head down and rested his forehead on both fists as he whispered. "Wild goose chase...."

"DARN IT! QUIT SAYING MY METAPHORES ARE SO MIXED UP IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY CAME FROM A SHOTGUN!"

Nishaio sighed. he was getting a bit sick of the cycle. "Nevermind, you had it right the first time."

"Of course I...Wait...No! Don't agree with me!"

Nishaio sighed. "How did I ever train you again?" Tidus finally calmed again and his over-ruling sad look came over his face again. Nishaio looked back up at him. "Tidus, this is very important. Tell me, if you think I was behind whatever you saw, it must have been bad. Tell me exactly what it was."

Tidus looked up at Nishaio, remaining silent. Nishaio slightly nodded in response and motioned for his wife to leave the room.

"An attack of some sort?" Nishaio asked.

Tidus replied in a sad semi-whisper, at a tone where his voice cracked as he spoke. "More like a slaughter..." Nishaio listened intently while also examining the ring. He had a wierd expression on his face as he stared into the green gem in the center. One would think he was familiar with this exact ring. He thought silently to himself "It's almost identical to the ancient Falcome style, but the text is mid age south-eastern Civean. This came from Caparia. Whats it doing here? Come on kid, I need to know everything!" Nishaio's eyes lifted from the ring and met Tidus's "Go on..."

A tear started to form in Tidus' left eye. "Countless people. An entire village... Dead. Slaughtered, mercilessly murdered."

"By what, Sword? Gun? Ki?"

"No no. Nothing so simple."

"Then what, Tidus?" Nishaio returned to examining the ring.

"It was like a field of unwrapped mummys. Like, like."

"Like what Tidus?" Suddenly Nishaio recongized the style again at last while Tidus finally continued his unfinished sentence.

"Like they had been drained of all life."

Nishaio jumped to his feet and turned so pale that if he hadn't been standing, Tidus would have thought him to be dead. "Cape hall!" Nishaio whispered.

"Wha" Tidus replied curiously.

"Mummy like bodies - that's what you saw?!"

"Yea, that's what I just said...what's wrong?"

"And the ring's from Cape hall."

Tidus starred at Nishaio with a puzzled, slighly frightened look. Anything that would make Nishaio Shimata pale would probably make Tidus wet himself. "You lost me with the 'cape' thing, Sensei."

"I'll explain everything, but on the road." Nishaio rose to his feet, walked over to a display and took his two swords off it. He started to strap the sheath on his back as he spoke. "We may not have time to sit around, Not with you slowing me down anyway." He picked up a satchel and tossed it to Tidus, who caught it with ease. "Let's go Tidus."

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

A single streak of light made its way at last to the Lavertian downs drained of all life. It had not even been a day since its population had been made into ghosts... and still they lingered. They were in pain, they had not yet departed. The pain of their deaths was too much of a shock, and too sudden. They could feel their bodies still, and their moaning rose to the skies.. though none but the white and red cloaked woman could hear them.

Atsuko was frozen in her tracks, stunned and dumbfounded at the gravity of their pain. The psychic trauma was intense, and even in her strength, she had to do all she could just to stay standing in the midst of these lost souls. They did not yet notice her... but soon enough, they would, and she knew it. That could not stop her, not now. This was quite a task for a single being to undertake... but it was one that needed doing; not one of these people deserved their deaths, and it was her calling to set things right.

The goddess pulled back her hood, and cast her gaze slightly to the left of her. Her brow furrowed, and in a moment, a second rendition of herself, slightly faded, appeared and blinked back in return. That one manifested, she looked to her right as well, and a second appeared at her side. Nothing needed saying; they all knew what she did. They were *her* after all, if only shades of her.

The original knealt, right in the middle of the tortured streets, and let fly her will for all it was worth. By the end of that night, this town would live once more.

--------------------------
an hour later
--------------------------

Well, she'd thought she could do something... but every attempt soon was met with failure. The souls had begun to gather and watch her work, fascinated by this power she held so caringly for them, but she could not, no matter how hard she tried...

The shade of her that had been trying at last burnt up its last energy, and flew backwards, fading but a moment later, from a woman's body, lying in the street. This snapped the original Atsuko's eyes open. The fledgling stood, eyes lifting high, and strode softly to the spot where her shade lied. She reclaimed some energy, but it wasn't much. She was already tired and not one person stood on their feet for her efforts. This would be a long night indeed.

"My lady..." the woman, whom the body belonged to, whispered jsut so the pink-haired divinum could hear. Atsuko turned her head to the spirit, and smiled a bit, wiping sweat from her brow. "Its alright... I'll figure it out."

"He took me... took my life and the echo when it killed me... He jsut.... did it. I don't understand." the ghost again spoke, and Atsuko looked at her critically a moment, then determined the honesty. This had been an insightful, observant woman in life, why should this change in death.

"Michelle" Atsuko said, crouching beside the body, which now was surrounded by a pinkish powder from the first couple layers of her flesh blowing around all over the place from the breeze. "Let's try again... could you come here, please?" she said, and the ghost obeyed, though reluctantly now. She did not want this woman, who tried so hard already to heal her, to suffer the same fate as her two shades.. but she obeyed her, just the same. Atsuko touched the spirit, and touched the body, furrowing her brow with effort.. and slowly, images waved into her mind, overtaking her quickly. Even if they were one, Atsuko derived a bit of a shield from the use of a shade of herself rather than direct contact. It was a side effect, but it might have spared her some pain now if she had used it again.

She tore her hand back, shocked at the sensation, and what she had seen and felt. This was not the work of men. The spirit's hand tightened in her own, and the fledge looked back. "he just... Took it?" she asked, and the spirit nodded in reply. "Like all of us."

Atsuko was flabberghasted. This was... an aweful thing for an agent of the gods to do... but the power contained in his works.. it was undeniable, even if it broke a lot of rules she had found in her own experimentation in her powers. One could not simply DO these things. It just did NOT work that way. What was done was done, and could not be undone, she knew, when it was as such. This wasn't even smiting. She could sense the energy was... somewhere... but she couldn't take it back couldn't put it where it belonged. This was wrong. All wrong. Had a god come down and... done this? Had he been able to break the rules? This filled Atsuko with disgust... and more than a little fear.

"w-will you be... govorned by me? Will you all?" the goddess cracked with her voice. Quickly, she formulated a plan. She could not give them back their energy... but life made energy naturally.

Michelle looked to the goddess like how a cow looks to an oncomming train. This was a big question... she had doubts, and all, even if so far this woman had been trustworthy. After a moment, she nodded. "Yes... I guess so... You'll help us, right?" she asked, and the goddess nodded slowly in reply.

Atsuko nodded... and extended her hand to the dried corpse. It trembled, then became powder, lifting from the ground so it could become a cloud, then condense into a small, solid sphere of a pinkish color in Atsuko's hand. It weighed less than a pound, and was about as big as a baseball, and with her will, it levitated at her side, centering in the spirit's chest.

"You can trust me, child. I'll reforge for you and your kinsmen... new bodies." she said, looking worried at best.. and the woman blinked.

"New?" This would be an interesting night.