"Seymour?" Yuna called out.

All she got was her own echo.

"Hello? Where’d you go?"

Seymour hadn’t said anything to her since he explained about the letter his mother had killed herself over. He was suffering from being in the middle of a fight between his fear of the island and lack of sleep. He hadn’t even tried to sleep since they got here, and Yuna hadn’t seen him eat anything, despite him showing her how to find edible plants and roots.

"Seymour?" she repeated.

And repeated, and repeated, and repeated. Damn echo.

Great. Now she lost him.

Just as she was about to call out again, she heard footsteps, and they certainly didn’t sound like Seymour’s.

Who had found them and how? If anyone from Guadosalam had found them, how would they react to finding her here with him?

They were coming closer. What should she do? Shoot them? What if they had friends? What kind of trouble would it eventually start?

Protecting people was complicated when weapons weren’t an option.

They were coming closer. Damn. Wait, there were two sets of footsteps now. Shit. They did have friends.

Yuna braced herself by the wall as she heard the people approaching the corner.

Before she could react, someone tackled her. "Yunie!"

"Rikku?" Yuna asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Don’t even think about trying to explain," Auron warned Rikku.

"Auron?" Yuna asked.

"Are you here to stop them too?" Rikku asked.

"Stop who?" Yuna asked.

"Where’s Seymour?" Auron asked.

"I can’t find him."

"How long ago did you lose him?" Rikku asked.

"Just now," Yuna said, her words punctuated by the sound of a machina gun going off and something slamming.

………………………………………………………………………….

Seymour had been lying on the floor in the chamber of the fayth for the past hour. He’d already shown enough weakness to Yuna over just going to the island. Besides, he needed time alone.

The last time he’d been here was before he was ten years old. Hearing his mother sing the hymn of the fayth had made him never want to be in the room again, but now… he wished he could hear it. He wished he could hear her voice again. Feel her close to his heart.

He wondered if she was on the Farplane now. If she was happy… If maybe the world would have less troubles and squabbles if he joined her and stayed there.

The door opened and he was pulled from his morbid reverie.

"You?" he muttered, getting up.

"You know, you’re far more predictable than you think," Kinoc said, raising a very large machina gun.

"Shit," Seymour said, raising his arms slightly, hoping a gesture of surrender would at least make things quick and painless.

"Indeed. Any last words, not that I’m going to bother to write them down or remember them in the least?"

"How about ‘What the fuck’s going on?’"

"Why did you think Djose was trying to get Guadosalam?" Kinoc asked, lowering his gun and wearing a genuinely bewildered expression.

"I don’t know. I didn’t have time to think! I had enough trouble not getting killed by myself!"

"Why the hell are you here then? A vacation?"

"My father came back, you bastard! Even without me having him murdered, he’s got six million excuses to get rid of me."

"And no doubt you’ve been adding to the list recently," Kinoc said, raising the gun, tired of talking. "No, whatever it is, I don’t think so," he added, and turned the gun to the door and fired at it.

Seymour refrained from saying anything, but gritted his teeth at the realization Kinoc was following his eyes.

"Don’t tell me you had no clue what was going on behind your back. Bevelle knew. Those spies were hard to bribe, too. But eventually I made it all fall into place."

"I apologize. Maybe if you had bribed me too. Then again, maybe if you just told me what you wanted."

"I want the Farplane and power over it; for that I need Guadosalam. For now, though, I’ll settle for you being dead."

Kinoc fired, but a sudden and loud pounding on the door startled him, giving Seymour a chance to dodge.

"Knock that off!" Kinoc yelled, reloading the gun.

"If you wanted me dead, why didn’t you just make sure I stayed in Guadosalam with my father?"

"Because you were part of my plan. Always were. No reason to go uncomplicating things. Now hold still." Kinoc fired again as the door came down. Seymour dodged the door before it crushed him, meeting with the bullet shooting through his side instead.

"Seymour!" Yuna yelled, and tried to catch him before he fell, but he was too heavy.

"Kinoc?" Rikku said.

"Auron?" Kinoc said.

"You want the Farplane, then maybe we should trade," Seymour said, trying to stand up, and failing.

"What the hell happened to him?" Rikku asked.

"Well, apparently, I’ve been shot!" Seymour said. "WHERE THE HELL IS ANZI?" he yelled at Auron.

"Things got complicated after Bevelle found us," Auron answered, unconcerned.

"She was captured?" Seymour yelled, angrily crawling towards Auron.

"I didn’t know we were being captured at the time. She’s in Besaid at the moment."

"Where the hell did you come from?" Kinoc asked, pointing at Auron. "I gave explicit orders to have you shot!"

"An interesting order, coming from a friend of mine."

"For someone who’s been dead, you’re remarkably naïve, Auron. Although, I would have brought you back."

"Back?" Rikku asked.

"Back from where?" Yuna asked.

"The Farplane," Seymour said, collapsing

Rikku and Auron helped him stand.

"Bleh! He smells!" Rikku complained as Seymour’s head rolled back and he passed out.

"What are you planning, exactly?" Auron asked.

"I tried playing nice. I tried playing fair. I tried playing rough. I’m not playing anymore. I’m going to have power over the Farplane and I don’t care who I have to send there to get it. Not you. Not your silly looking friends. Not the rest of the world."

"You appointed people who are afraid of you on purpose." Yuna accused. "That’s why Djose hasn’t been able to hold a leader for more than three days, you appointed people more cowardly than you and they feared themselves into assassination within days."

"Looks like someone’s catching on," Kinoc said.

"You knew they were so afraid of you, you’d come back and you’d have a perfectly arranged way to kill them."

"Exactly," Kinoc said.

"I won’t let you!" Yuna said. "I won’t let you kill him!"

"And I’m not gonna let you kill Yunie!" Rikku said.

"And I won’t let you kill her," Auron said, handing Seymour to Rikku, who toppled over, unprepared for the sudden increase in weight. "And I won’t let you take innocent lives. You’ve abused enough power, I won’t let you take the Farplane. I can’t."

"I’m not sure what’s more pathetic," Kinoc said, tossing the gun away. "Seymour running to his mother, then his girlfriend who hides behind her dead guardian, Bevelle’s attempts to stay neutral and keep the peace at the same time, or how Seymour looks."

"What are you doing?" Auron asked.

"Oh, I lost interest in killing him once he passed out. He can’t have long to live. And I’m the leader of Djose. Do what you want. Guards should be arriving soon."

"I don’t want him to die on me!" Rikku shouted. "Ick!"

"Auron…" Yuna said, but he pushed her away. She went to Rikku’s and Seymour’s aid to pull him off of her.

"Why is he so heavy?" Yuna said, trying to pull Seymour’s dead weight off her friend. "He hasn’t eaten in three days."

"He hasn’t showered in three days," Rikku complained, shoving once she had enough space to move her chest, but most of her strength was in her legs and Yuna dropped him. "At least. He’s a mess."

"He hasn’t slept for three days either," Yuna said, this time trying to pull him to the side.

"Well, he’s taking a nap now," Rikku said, rolling away before Yuna dropped him again. "Yunie, make Auron do something. He’s just standing there!"

"No one’s killing anyone," Auron told Kinoc.

"Well, one of us is. Eventually, I’ll have to get rid of you for trying to stop a war or two, or you’ll have to kill me to stop a war or two."

"I’m not going to kill you," Auron said. "But I’m not going to let you kill so many. Nor will I let you or anyone else have the Farplane. It is not to be owned or controlled. Death alone has caused enough grief and misery, it does not need mortals to make it worse."

"You done yet?"

Behind Auron a flutter of sparkles went off.

"Huh," Kinoc said. "Didn’t count on that. Ah, well. It’s too late to bother with the gun again, they should be here soon. Trust the people who’ve been a step ahead of you to be late."

"What are you muttering about?" Auron asked.

"Oh, you’ll see. I’m surprised you were the one I had Bevelle send after me. And I’m sorry. But I’m not rescinding my orders to have you killed if you go poking around in Djose. Consider it a friendly warning," Kinoc said, going towards the door.

"Some friend."

"Oh, and by the way," Kinoc said. "Thanks for not killing me."

"We saved Seymour!" Rikku cheered. "…Wait… Yunie, should we be cheering?"

"Thanks for the phoenix downs," Yuna said. "I’ve been a bit lacking in supplies lately."

Seymour tried to lift his head, not yet ready to join the conversation, and coughed up blood all over the two girls.

"Ewww," Rikku said.

"Ah, bless you!" They heard Kinoc in the adjoining room. "Thank you so much! How did you know to find me?"

"Tell Djose…" Seymour said, blinking, and paused to cough again. "Huh?"

His last word was echoed by the others as several Guado guards entered the room, pointing their spears at Seymour.

"Get back," they warned the girls. "Get up," they ordered Seymour.

"I can’t feel my legs," he said.

One of the guards pulled him to his feet, only to have him collapse to the floor. He hefted Seymour up again and even though Seymour’s legs were useless, held his arms behind his back as he held him. "You’ve been sentenced to be executed for the attempted murder of the Lord Kinoc of Djose, by the orders of the Lord Jyscal."

"What?" Yuna exclaimed

"But we saved HIM!" Rikku yelled. "Of all the times to leave Paine to do something deconstructive back at home."

"His Lordship also decrees that no action be taken towards Besaid or anyone from there found with Seymour, considering the false reports from Bevelle."

"False reports?" Auron asked.

"We were told you would be sent here to aid Seymour. And that terrorists were sent to your island in the name of Djose in order to turn you against them."

"You were told to come for me?" Kinoc asked.

Auron scowled at how low his friend had sunk, pretending to be the victim after trying to murder someone.

"The captain of your guards asked us for help, unwilling to move the army out under such circumstances."

"Understandable," Kinoc said. "And I must thank you."

"In your place he negotiated a trade: The life of your murderer, successful or not, for the leader of the terrorists."

"The man who caused all this! We caught him a few days ago," Kinoc said. "We were to trade him for peace relations, but… Well, as you can see."

Auron gritted his teeth under his cowl. Kinoc wasn’t taking advantage of a disaster, but he had caused it.

"However, the only way to heal the holy grounds is to send the man who defiled it to the Farplane, and Seymour is the only person allowed to step on the holy grounds and able to do so."

Seymour smiled and Kinoc frowned. Auron watched, knowing the stalemate would not last long.

"Because of this, we have been told to inform him that if he refuses to perform the ceremony properly before the execution, a large reward will be posted on his friend Anzi’s head, and it shall be removed before he meets the same fate."

"You wouldn’t dare!" Seymour yelled.

"We follow our Lord," the guard said. "Anything else to add before the sentence is carried out tomorrow at Bevelle?"

"Bevelle?" Kinoc asked.

"They may have taken a purely neutral position, but they asked to host whatever would promise peace between the nations. They wish to show alliance in peace, not cowardly ignorance."

"Oh," Kinoc said. "Isn’t that nice of them."

"I gave you those cards," Seymour said, before being dragged away—quite literally.

"Excuse me!" Kinoc yelled, following them. "I don’t mean to press, but might I have a lift?"

"What just happened?" Yuna asked.

"He set us up to be set up," Auron said, dumbfounded.

"You need new friends," Rikku said.

"If he killed him, he would have had his war between the Guado and Besaid. If we hadn’t been warned, we would have gone to war with Djose—or lost Chappu and Vidina. If we saved them and came here—even if we were too late… Damnit! He gets what he wants even if he dies!" Yuna said. "He’d just have a damn flunky bring him back and kill them!"

"Yunie, my head hurts," Rikku said.

"He’d just wait until Guadosalam is thrown into anarchy when Jyscal dies, which he no doubt plans to be soon. He’ll use the peace treaty as either collateral or incentive to attack. Or he’d have someone else do it until he’s brought back."

"You can’t do that, though," Yuna said. "It’s the Farplane. It can’t be controlled."

"He’s willing to risk too much, even if it can be done. And it shouldn’t be done," Auron said.

"So what do we do?" Rikku asked.

"…I don’t know…" Yuna said. "What’s the right thing to do? … And… will it be the best thing to do?"

"What are you talking about?" Rikku asked.

"You did the right thing, Auron… he was your friend. You gave him a chance. It wasn’t the best thing to do, though."

"He just lost his chance."

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