While Sephie, Erza, and Shizuku were dealing with the Youth League, Alex and the others had arrived and were enjoying themselves at Kilika island.
Not only was the island a fair bit bigger and more populated than Besaid, but it also had more of a energetic atmosphere than laid back. With most of the island's population living in a port town, it was built almost entirely on the wooden docks that housed wooden huts, numerous fishing boats, and trade ships.
Also unlike Besaid was the heavy amount of Youth League presence in the port town, due to the League being the ones to help rebuild it after Sin destroyed the town two years prior. Meanwhile the supporters of New Yevon were mostly located deeper into the island's interior, in the temple at the top of a mountain that was surrounded by a fiend infested jungle.
Immediately after they landed Lucy and Lala made their way into the jungle in their search for fiends and Machina, while the rest of them just walked around the port town to take in the sights and visit with the local people, with the children in particular creating a ruckus as they excitedly ran up and down the docks. Yuna especially was welcomed warmly by the people as she had been there immediately after Sin's attack two years prior, and helped the people as much as she could during her stay there.
Similarly to Besaid, the people threw together a last minute party to celebrate Yuna's visit, except this one was much more lively with fast paced music and dancing, as well as whole roasted animals for everyone to feast on throughout the night. Alex's wives that were present enjoyed the night very much as well, as he took them one at a time onto the dance floor to show off their moves as well. Needless to say they were the center of attention quite a bit due to every one of them being able to perform some superhuman feats.
Surprising them, Alex even dragged Yuna, Rikku, and Paine out onto the dance floor as well once he had danced with each of his wives, earning them numerous looks as rumors began to fly since he had arrived with them, and the trio hadn't danced with anyone else.
And so, their brief stay on Kilika was filled with festivities and fun until every one of them collapsed into bed late at night.
...
Meanwhile, at the same time at the edge of a mystical frozen wood, a group of rough looking Al Bhed men were searching around a solitary building for someone.
"Where is that slimy weasel?" One of the men growled angrily as he searched through one of the rooms in the building, a former Travel Agency that offer board and items to travelers in need.
"He must have fled into the woods." One of his companions snapped in irritation as they regrouped on the road outside.
It was a one way road that led to either the beautiful, but extremely treacherous Macalania Woods, or down to the deep frozen chasm lake that had swallowed the Macalania Temple two years prior. With the other direction being a dead end, the group naturally assumed their quarry fled into the deadly woods.
"Damn it, let the woods have him. I'm not about to risk my neck searching them off of the main path for a deadbeat." The rest of the men nodded in agreement, as none of them dared to explore the woods off of the main trail they took to get there on their Machina. Finally the leader of the group said,
"Alright, we'll give up for now, but we'll also come back in a few days to see if he survived. Either the woods'll take him, or we'll beat his debt out of him. Let's go!" With his command, the men began preparing their Machina to leave, large vehicles that were propelled by a giant fan on skis.
Meanwhile the very man they were looking for cowered on top of the former Travel Agency itself, shaking his head at himself as he muttered in self deprecation,
"Oh O'aka XXIII(23rd), you've right gone and done it this time! Not only did you go and buy a Travel Agency that isn't ever visited anymore, but you even went and got into debt just to buy the darned thing! What are you going to do now?" Just as O'aka was about to give into despair, and the debt collectors were about to leave, something happened that none of them would have ever dared to imagine, even in their wildest dreams.
The entire sky suddenly lit up as a massive magic circle appeared above them, casting an eerie silver light down onto the Travel Agency and the men around it. Then, as if that wasn't frightening enough, the entire world around them began to shake and shudder as something massive began moving within the deep chasm.
"Let's get out of here!" One of the Al Bhed cried out as they all fled on their Machina, unknowingly leaving O'aka alone to deal with the current situation.
"Oh, what is a poor and lonesome O'aka to do in this situation!?" He wailed in despair and fright of whatever fiend could possibly cause such a phenomenon, until O'aka just so happened to look up.
There, in the light of the magic circle, O'aka noticed a beautiful woman dressed in unusual, but very appealing, white and black clothes, with long flowing silver hair. With his gaze transfixed on her in awe, it was only when the ground beneath the Travel Agency began to shake even more violently that he switched his focus back to the chasm that had swallowed the temple.
What he saw there shocked him beyond words, as the ruins of the temple slowly rose up out if the depths.
***
"WOW!" The children exclaimed excitedly as they swiftly approached one of the largest cities in Spira, the seaside city of Luca.
Though Alex and his peerage members had arrived in Luca when they first came to Spira, this was the first time the children saw the numerous ships that dwarfed those they saw in Kilika, and the large stadium that was usually used for the Blitzball tournaments. It was also the first time they actually saw people from the numerous races of Spira as they got closer to the docks, where they could see the Guado, Hypello, and the rare Ronso walking about.
Though they were happily babbling about how excited they were to see all the new people, Alex furrowed his brows when he watched a Ronso pass by a small group of Guado, his jaw clenched and fist clenched. Thankfully though the Ronso kept his rage in check and passed by the Guado without incident, but Alex knew it was only a matter of time before his entire people decided to avenge those who were killed by Seymour Guado.
For the moment though, Alex turned his attention towards the gathering crowds of people at the docks they were headed to, all of which were pointing and staring at the very unusual and large ship pulling in. Of course the attention they were receiving only multiplied once people noticed Yuna standing on the deck, and the already large crowd exploded in size as people clambered to see her after the concert that Leblanc put on while impersonating her.
"Smile and wave to your adoring public, High Summoner Yuna." Paine told Yuna with a slight smirk as they prepared to disembark, to which the High Summoner replied sadly,
"But all I want is some peace and quiet..." Rikku then snuck up to Alex and whispered,
"Poor thing, she's lived such a sheltered life." Paine then added,
"Maybe she's getting old." Yuna then whirled around and demanded,
"Who's getting old!?" Paine and Rikku then snickered at Yuna's outburst, while even Alex chuckled lightly at her expense. The High Summoner then stamped her foot and pouted cutely as she turned her back to them, but had to put on a different expression as they got closer to the people.
Once they finally left Zenith's deck to step onto the docks, Yuna was instantly swarmed by her adoring public.
"Lady Yuna! Can I have your autograph?"
"Lady Yuna, over here!"
"Will you be doing another concert lady Yuna?!"
Everyone on all sides bombarded the befuddled High Summoner with rapid fire questions, leaving her no room to answer until a certain person approached them with what appeared to be a camera
"Lady Yuna! A word for the local sphere broadcasting station!?" A girl asked who was adorned in green and orange robes with a matching hat that was pointed on either side of her head.
"This is Shelinda from the Luca sphere broadcast station, would you please give us a statement regarding your recent performance Lady Yuna?" With the girl's mike being offered to her, the crowds around them went silent as they awaited Yuna's answer.
"Well," Yuna began quietly, not sure of how to respond. "In a way it was me, but not really."
"Puzzling words to be sure." Shelinda replied, before asking next,
"And what about your recent activities as leader of the Gullwings? Two years of silence on Besaid and then a concert, and now a sphere hunter of all thing? Is there a boy involved?" Again there was silence as everyone anxiously waited for Yuna's answer.
"Well firstly I'm not the leader of the Gullwings, Brother is. And secondly, the reason I joined is private." Yuna smirked playfully at that last part as she intentionally left everyone guessing, but what Shelinda asked next made her mood do a complete flip.
"And what of the rumors regarding a marriage arrangement between yourself and the son of the former New Yevon Praetor? Will such an arrangement carry over to to the current Praetor of New Yevon, Praetor Baralai?" Though Yuna's expressions went through a series of changes throughout Shelinda's questioning, her response was to ask,
"There's a new Praetor of New Yevon?" Shelinda nodded and replied,
"Indeed. The former Praetor was recently asked to resign, and the new Praetor, Baralai, was elected to take his place. Does this mean the marriage arrangement hasn't carried over?" Yuna immediately shook her head as she fairly stated,
"The marriage arrangement was a one sided request from the former Praetor, that I repeatedly turned down. There is no marriage." Ending her declaration with a huff, Shelinda and few others giggled until the next person stepped down from Zenith's decks, drawing everyone's attention with his size, wild hair, red fur, and the small army of children clinging onto him.
"And who is this?" Shelinda asked Yuna, who would obviously know his identity since they had gotten off the same unusual ship. Yuna however hesitated for a second, before Alex suddenly spoke up as he introduced himself,
"I am Alexander Morningstar, the Dragon Emperor."
His words sparked a series of murmuring and muttering since no one had ever heard of an Emperor in Spira before, and even the reporter Shelinda was dazed for a moment before she remembered herself, and asked,
"And what is your relationship with Lady Yuna?" Alex then glanced at Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, the edge of his lips curled up in a smirk that made all three blush and look away embarrassedly, before he answered,
"I'm currently employing the Gullwings to show me around Spira, since I've never been to this land before." Again, Alex's words caused a stir since he made it sound as if he wasn't from Spira, which Shelinda immediately asked for confirmation about.
"Are you saying that you aren't from Spira?" Alex nodded and said,
"Yes. I and my wives came to Spira in order to explore it and to establish peaceful relations with its people, as well as to study some of the unique Machina, spheres, and fiends that are found here. It is also our intentions to find a place to establish as a sort of base in Spira, allowing us to trade and regularly interact with Spirans of all races."
More and more people began to mutter in interest at Alex's answer, before Shelinda sadly said,
"We're all out of time, but I think I speak for all of Spira when I say we're anxious and excited to see what you will bring to Spira, Mr. Dragon Emperor." At Shelinda's cue the person operating the camera stopped filming as they prepared to leave, while numerous people also tried to shuffle the crowds away to give Yuna and her companions some room.
"Phew." Shelinda let out a sigh as she turned to Yuna, and asked, "Now that that's over, how have you been Lady Yuna?" Yuna flashed a genuine smile at Shelinda, and answered,
"I've been good, but you've certainly changed in the last two years Shelinda. I hardly recognized you." Shelinda however smiled wryly and replied,
"Maybe. I still feel like the same old me, though I do enjoy what I'm doing a bit more than when I was with the temples." The two and Rikku then spent a few minutes catching up, as Shelinda was a big supporter of Yuna's during her pilgrimage two years prior, before someone called out to her and she said,
"'Sorry to cut this short Lady Yuna, but my ship is about to leave. I have to head to Bevelle since a major story came up in Macalania." Yuna cocked her head to the side curiously, and asked,
"Oh? What kind of story?" Shelinda's eyes lit up as she excitedly told them,
"Last night there were numerous reports from Bevelle of an eerie light filling the skies in the direction of Macalania temple, and the earth began to shake as if there had been an earthquake. We haven't confirmed anything yet, but some reports state that the temple has risen out of the lake and been restored! I'm going to report on it now!" As Shelinda's eyes shone excitedly, her name was called once again by a group of people nearby, prompting her to say goodbye one last time before running off.
"Did something really happen to the temple?" Yuna uttered out loud with conflicted feelings, after all her last visit to the temple had been marked with her killing Seymour Guado in battle, being branded traitors of Yevon for doing so, the temple being knocked down into the frozen lake below, and then Yuna being whisked away into the arms of the undead Seymour, who tried to force her to marry him. Rikku however then took her hand as she said,
"Whatever happened, I'm sure we'll get to see it when we go by there." She then turned towards Alex, who nodded and said,
"Of course, we still have a few days yet before we reach the Macalania woods to prepare yourself." Yuna nodded slowly as they finally began to move forward through the crowds.
Though Luca was much larger than Besaid and Kilika put together, they didn't intend to spend much time there since Alex and his group had first arrived in the city. Instead they were only slowed down when the children who hadn't been to Luca yet spotted something that they wanted, like a plushy or a type of treat they had hadn't seen before.
When they finally reached the edge of the city though, they found a grassy expanse stretching out to meet them that marked the entrance to the Mi'ihen Highroad.
With only towering ruins dotting the immediate landscape, rolling grassy plains surrounded them in every direction but behind where the city was, though Alex could also see evidence of numerous mountains and canyons in the distance. Instead of the peaceful silence one would expect here though, there was actually quite a bit of noise around them due to the nearby Chocobo rental station, and the numerous Al Bhed machina that surrounded them.
"Welcome to the Mi'ihen Highroad." Yuna said as she swung her arms out wide, while the children excitedly gasped and flocked to the Chocobo rentals. Alex chuckled at their behavior before Lucy spoke up from behind him,
"So I take it that we'll part ways here for a few days?" Turning to look at her, Lala, Kurumu, Shia, Sun, Yami, and Moka, Alex nodded as he said,
"Yep, let's try to get everything we need to done in Spira before my timer runs out, but remember there's no real hurry since I intend to install a gate." Every one of his wives nodded in affirmation, before going to say their goodbyes to the three Gullwings for now, and causing quite a stir by taking flight.
With it just being Alex and Sun once again, he then approached his children as they happily petted the Chocobos. The owners of the rental station just smiled warmly as they watched over the children petting and trying to feed their Chocobos, until Alex approached them and apologized for any trouble they might have been. He then turned towards the kids and said,
"Alright, are you all ready for your 'big adventure'?" Immediately the children looked at him, some with excitement, and some with hesitation since they wanted to continue playing with the Chocobos.
"Are you coming with us daddy?" Edith quickly asked, before looking dejected as Alex shook his head as he told them,
"No, daddy has some things he needs to do. Besides, this is YOUR adventure. I want all of you to go out there and have fun exploring together, seeing new places and fighting new fiends as you do so. Sun will watch over you all to make sure none of you get into trouble though." As he said that the petite siren stepped forward, prompting the children to gather around her as she laid out the few ground rules they needed to follow, such as to watch out for one another, and to not get separated while traveling.
As Alex approached the three Gullwings, Yuna anxiously asked him,
"Are you sure about this? Some fiends can be really dangerous." Alex nodded slowly before saying,
"Yeah, I believe that they need to be able to get out and see what's out there for themselves, spread their wings so to speak. But I'm also not going to throw them to the wolves, that's why Sun will be watching over them." With Sun having learned numerous 'songs' that prioritized healing and protection, he had no problem with her watching over the children as they explored; plus there was the fact that if she needed, the siren could instantly wipe out all life in several miles around them with her attacks.
Though they hadn't seen Sun getting serious with her abilities, the three girls decided to trust in Alex's judgement since they had seen just how much he cared for his children over the last few days. Nodding her head, Yuna then asked,
"Ok, then how do you want to proceed?" Alex smirked as he said excitedly,
"Isn't it obvious? We need to ride some Chocobos!"
***
While Alex and his family were preparing for the next stage of their respective adventures, a group of Al Bhed raced across the burning hot sands of the Bikanel Desert in their large gliders. Despite the giant fan roaring right behind her though, the leader of the group, a woman with short blonde hair named Nhadala, was deep in thought.
The night before the desert had been lit up with an eerie purple light that had caused their excavation encampment to go on high alert, prompting her to call back all of their deployed men and women in case the light was an indication of some kind of danger. When her men tried to calculate where the light was coming from though, the location they gave her sent chills down the spines of every Al Bhed present.
That was why she was now leading nearly all the men under her control to investigate, while a select few had remained behind to report to the leader of the Machine Faction, Gippal, if they didn't return. As even the early morning sun burned down on them, the group raced through sands to reach their destination as swiftly as possible.
When they finally crested the last dune between them and their target though, all of the Al Bhed powered down their Machina as they stared at their destination in awe, and sadness.
"E lyh'd pameaja ed..."(I can't believe it) One of them muttered as they fell to their knees, tears streaming down their face after they removed their goggles. All around him though several other Al Bhed were having similar reactions, while Nhadala was having a hard time keeping the waterworks back herself.
After all, before them was the one place they never thought they'd see again. A place that had been blown up two years prior after all of the Al Bhed fled in the wake of an attack led by the Guado. The only place they had been welcomed in all of Spira until the truths of Yevon were brought to light.
Home.
Seeing the sole Al Bhed city, Home, restored once again reduced many of the men Nhadala had under her to sobbing wrecks, which she couldn't blame as she too tried to fight the urge to begin sobbing uncontrollably from seeing the ruins. Instead, she steeled herself before snapping at those same men,
"Alright! This isn't the time to be standing around wailing like a bunch of children! I want you, you, and you to head back to camp and report this! Send word to Gippal and Cid so they can spread it to the rest of the Al Bhed!" As the men she pointed out began to hurry back to their Machina to race back to their encampment, Nhadala turned to the rest of them as she continued,
"The rest of you are with me! We're going down there to investigate and see what happened! We're going home." With the last bit being notably softer in tone, the men quickly returned to the Machina as well as they quickly raced down to the metal spires that marked Home.