Return to Final Fantasy X-3 Chapter Sixteen



Final Fantaxy X-3
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: CAVE OF WONDERS

Author: Stormforce
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Don't own either series.
Notes: <Anything in these are thoughts>


The desert night was was cool, and was quickly chilling the girls as Anya and Xander flew at top speed toward the Cave of Wonders. Willow would keep glancing over the side and stare at the ground, not because she was afraid of the Heartless, but wanted to make damn sure there wasn't anything like the Bikanel Desert fiend following them. As always Tara picked up on the tension, and wrapped her arms around Willow's shoulders, leaving a sweet and hopefully calming kiss on her neck.

Willow sighed and relaxed just a little as she leaned back allowing Tara's arms to tighten a bit more. The night sky was full of stars, stars that Willow kept a watchful eye on -hoping and praying that she wouldn't see another one blink out.

Glancing over Tara saw Buffy was much the same, staring at the sky, wrapped in Faith's arms. Both Willow and Buffy were startled out of their thoughts when the carpets landed near a giant lion's head, with the mouth open, and a dim glowing red light spilled out lighting the way.

"Careful, this place is dangerous." Aladdin said as the group entered the giant mouth, and quietly walked down the steps.

The room they were in was lined with torches, there was an offshoot to the right, and one to the left, a small path leading into another room was in front of them. Faith looked over the side of the path and softly whistled, darkness, nothing but pitch-black darkness greeted her.

"That's a hellva drop!" Faith said stepping back and glancing around the room. "Wonder how far down it goes?"

Tara shook her head as she stared into the darkness, "Let's not find out, okay?"

Buffy was about to speak when she was pushed forward and fell over the edge, her scream echoed up out of the darkness before dieing out. Turning the group saw a one of the large Heartless about to attack, and scattered. Faith glowed a deep dark blue, and turned toward the creature her blade in her right hand, and her left hand glowing with sparks flying from the palm. Willow back flipped away from two small shadows as she cast a Flare spell to kill them, and watched Faith.

Lightning shot from Faith's hand, as she raced forward hitting the Heartless with her blade, and jumped into the air, twisting around, and hitting the creature five more times before landing. The Heartless staggered back under the on slot of her attacks, and wobbled once, before falling to the ground -causing a shockwave that sent everyone flying back. Willow cried out as she was pushed over the edge of the path and into the darkness, and just like Buffy's, her scream echoed up before quiet took over.

Aladdin held Tara back as she leaned over the edge, and was soon joined by Faith, who had Donald and Goofy latched on to her legs.

"You can't! We can't lose the two of you!" Donald shouted as Faith tried to shake him off her leg.

"You're too important, if we lose you, we lose all the worlds." Goofy said.

"Quiet. Listen." Tara said softly, holding her hand up.

The group strained their ears trying to hear what Tara was hearing. Faith had closed her eyes and listened, just like Harmony had taught her, and a bright smile appeared on her face. The soft sound of running water could be heard; a relieved laugh forced its way from Tara's throat, as Faith let out the breath she'd been holding.

"There's water, so that means they're hopefully fine. Maybe just hurt from hitting the water that far down, but fine nonetheless." Aladdin said relieved.

"And probably bitching about being wet." Faith grinned, "Come on, maybe there's another way, and we'll meet up with them."

In the Underground...

Buffy awoke to a pounding headache, and groaned when it continued to get worse as she opened her eyes. Sitting up she gently touched the bump behind her ear, and found it wet and sticky, pulling her hand away she saw it covered in blood. Sighing she looked around the darkened area, and found nothing but stone walls covered in moss, and a small calm river. A flash of red caught her eye about twenty-foot away, and fully turned toward it. With her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could barely make out what the red was, and her eyes went wide when she realized it was Willow.

"Will?"

Willow didn't move, she was laying on her belly with her head turned away from Buffy. The Al Bhed slowly but quickly slid into shoulder-deep water, and sloshed her way over. "Will, wake up." she said climbing onto the stone beside the unconscious redhead. "Come on! You'd better not be dead!"

Buffy turned Willow on to her back, and gasped at the wounds on her face. Willow's top lip was split in the center and on the left, her bottom lip was split on the right, there was a cut just under her left eye -that was now swollen shut. Buffy grabbed a cloth wetting it in the river, and began to clean the blood off the redhead's face, only to reveal more cuts. There was a long deep cut across her forehead, and one starting beside her right eye that ended near her jawbone.

A painful groan alerted Buffy to Willow's awakening, and waited until the young woman opened her eyes the best she could. "Don't move, you're hurt." Buffy said softly as she continued to clean the blood.

"Wh-where are we?" Willow asked and coughed.

"Don't know, but we're near a river, so...there has to be a way out."

Willow nodded and tightly shut her eyes wishing she hadn't. The throbbing pain in her head shot through her body, and was making her stomach do flips. "How are you...feeling?"

Buffy shrugged, "I've been better, but I've also been a hell of a lot worse. Here, drink this...since Tare isn't around to heal us, we'll have to deal with drinking a Potion...sorry, but I don't trust your healing ability just yet." she joked helping Willow drink down the orange tasting liquid.

Willow shot up coughing and ducked her head into the water. "That was awful! Orange my ass!" Willow said and watched Buffy mimic her earlier movement, ducking her head into the water, and taking a long drink.

"No shit! But it says orange...but it tastes like a rotten egg!" Buffy said shivering. "If I ever find out who made it, I'll make them drink it."

"Yeah, and I'll help!" Willow said and looked around the area. "Come on, we should try and find a way outta here."

Buffy nodded and followed Willow's lead sliding into the water, and sloshing their way deeper into the darkness.

Meanwhile...

Jafar dropped an unconscious Jasmine near a set of steps in the Lamp Chamber, and stood on a tall platform as he rubbed the lamp. "My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!"

Genie sighed sadly and nodded, as a blue beam shot forward into the back wall of the room, revealing a purple glowing Keyhole. Jafar began laughing as Maleficent appeared next to him, she held up a small hologram showing Tara and Faith in the treasure room. A door opened on the left wall allowing Willow and Buffy to stumble out, and into the treasure room.

"Those girls again?" Maleficent said unhappily, watching Tara and Faith take on over their soaking wet lovers.

Jafar glared at the group and turned to face Maleficent, "They're more persistent than I expected. Why don't you explain the situation to those two girls? Doing so may actually prove to be useful to our--"

"Hey! Are you Maleficent?" Faith's asked as the group stepped into the room.

Maleficent did not speak, nor did she give any indication as to who she was, she just disappeared -leaving behind a very pissed off Jafar.

"Jafar, let Jasmine go!" Aladdin shouted as he ran forward.

"Not a chance." Jafar said turning toward the group with an evil smile. "You see, she's a princess-and only one of the princesses of Heart who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

"Open..." Goofy went wide-eyed

"...The door?" Donald finished in a gasp.

"But you fools won't live to see what lies beyond it!" Jafar shouted and rubbed the lamp. "Genie! My second wish. Crush them!"

Aladdin stared at the blue Genie and shook his head, "Genie, no!"

"Sorry, Al. The one with the lamp calls the shots, I don't have a choice." Genie said and raised his hands above his head to strike Aladdin.

Buffy saw what was about to happen and ran forward knocking Aladdin out of the way, just as Genie's hands made a two-foot deep hole in the floor. Jafar laughed as the platform he was on floated over the group, and settled on the far side of the room. Faith, Willow, and Goofy took off toward the still laughing Jafar, as Tara, Buffy, and Donald took on Genie. Aladdin stood and shook his head before unsheathing his sword, knowing Genie was under Jafar's rule at the moment. But that's going to change.

Goofy spun around hitting Jafar several times before he was thrown into the wall, and stood and started his attack again. Faith leaped eight-foot into the air, and brought her sword down across Jafar's chest leaving a long wound, and smirked as he was knocked into the wall by Willow's Flare spell. The vizier stood and thrust out his snakehead staff, sending both girls sliding back, and into the wall.

Donald dodged Genie's Thunder spell and cast one of his own, as Tara added a Holy spell into the mix. Buffy jumped up slashed at Genie, landed and rolled back avoiding Aladdin as his sword made contact with Genie's upper body. Tara began glowing yellow causing Buffy to grab Donald and Aladdin, and haul their butts to a safe distance. "Watch this." she smirked as the guts looked at her confused.

"Simba, I call upon you! Lend me your strength!" Tara cried out as a portal opened allowing the King of Lions to jump through.

With a mighty roar that even stopped Jafar, Simba rushed forward and with one swipe knocked Genie on to the floor. Simba then turned and ran forward heading for Jafar, Faith grabbed Goofy as she and Willow moved out of the lion's way. Jafar only had time to scream like a small girl before Simba's swipe sent him into the wall.

"Thank you Simba." Tara smiled as the lion nodded and vanished.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin shouted and ran toward the princess, no one saw Jafar stand until he spoke.

"Genie! My final wish! I want you to make me an all-powerful genie!"

Genie floated into the air and cried out as the power flowed from his hands and into Jafar. Jafar laughed as he turned red, and began growing larger; the power overflowed and broke the floor allowing Genie-Jafar to disappear into an underground lava cavern.

"We have to get him!" Aladdin said and ran for the opening in the floor followed by the others. When they landed, Jafar was floating over a lava pit and laughing like a maniac. Willow matched Aladdin step for step as they both ran forward, and sliced at the evil genie, their swords bounced off a shield, and sent them flying back. Donald and Goofy were knocked to the ground as Aladdin flew into them, and Faith couldn't dodge fast enough out of Willow's path.

"What the hell?" Willow asked rubbing her head, and eyed the red parrot flying around -carrying a golden lamp.

"The lamp! Get Jafar's lamp!" Aladdin said as he stood. "We'll keep Jafar distracted, you girls get that lamp!"

"Right!" Buffy nodded, and took off after the parrot.

With Aladdin, Donald, and Goofy distracting the genie, the girls followed Buffy. Taking her Keyblade and throwing it in the air, Buffy giggled when the parrot shouted at her. The bird glared as Willow cast a Thunder spell, causing smoke to rise from his feathers, "Look bird! Give us the lamp, and I won't cast a Holy spell on your feathered ass!" Tara shouted, shocking Buffy and Faith.

"Don't think so little girl! By the way, did you grow those by magic?" Iago asked leering at Tara's breasts, as he flew over her head.

"Damn bird! Those are mine to look at, not yours!" Willow shouted casting a Fira spell, and setting Iago's tail feathers on fire.

Iago flapped his wings madly and dropped the lamp before he flew off, hurrying to find some water. "Okay, Jafar! Get back into your lamp!" Faith shouted, causing Jafar to scream as his body was pulled into the lamp.

Willow glanced up as something slowly floated down, and caught it, looking at the old yellowed paper she quirked her right eyebrow, and put it in her pouch.

Back Inside the Lamp Chamber...

Jasmine opened her eyes, and sat up with a groan as she rubbed her head. "What...what happened?" she asked quietly. She could hear the voices of the others getting closer and started to call out, but a hand covered her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of red, before a second person she couldn't see knocked her unconscious again, the princess was lifted on to a small figures shoulder, as they stepped through a black portal.

"Jasmine? Jasmine!" Aladdin shouted running to the spot Jasmine had been laying, and looked around before lowering his head.

The Keyhole glowed a bright purple as Tara stepped in front of it, her Keyblade rose into the air, and shot out a deep purple beam -sealing the Keyhole. After the Keyhole was sealed the room began shaking, and chunks of rock fell from the ceiling. "Whoa! We'd better get outta here!" Goofy said and saw Aladdin shake his head.

"I can't! Jasmine!"

The group grabbed Aladdin as Anya and Xander came flying into the room, and picked them up before flying at top speed out of the Cave of Wonders. The group watched as the giant lion's head melted into the ground, as they flew back to Agrabah.

The twins helped the tired group off the carpets, and watched as Aladdin sunk to the floor. Tara lowered her head as Willow and Faith's twins glanced at the group, "What's wrong?" Faith's twin asked.

"Jasmine isn't here anymore." Aladdin said sadly, causing Tara and Buffy's twins to go wide-eyed before the tears started falling.

"Don't worry, we'll get her back!" Willow said and got a nod from the others.

"Please let me go."

"We can't, Aladdin." Tara said and saw her twin nod.

"Wh-why not?"

"I sure wish we could..." Goofy started but was cut off.

"But we can't. If we take him to another world, we would be--" Donald said and glared as Goofy cut him off.

"Muh... Mudd--"

"Meddling!" Donald shouted.

"I promise you this, Aladdin, we will get her back." Buffy said and smiled as she discreetly kicked Willow's shin, causing the redhead to jump up and down. However she stopped when she saw what Buffy was looking at. There stood her twin hand-in-hand with Tara's twin, along with Faith and Buffy's twins holding hands; the girls were giving each other happy smiles.

"Uh, earth to Al. Hello?" Genie said waving his hand in front of Aladdin's face. "You still have one wish left. Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you."

"I...I wish... ...for your freedom, Genie." Aladdin said as he and the others watched as Genie's legs appeared, and the cuffs on his wrists disappeared. "A deal's a deal. Now, you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master. But if you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help find Jasmine."

"Sorry, Al. I'm done taking orders from others. But... A favor, now that's entirely different. I guess I could give that a try. After all, we're pals, right, Al?"

"Thank you." Aladdin said as Genie whisked him into a strong hug.

"Just leave it to me!"

Meanwhile in a dark area...

"That smarmy vizier could've had 'em-if someone had stuck around to give him a hand." Hades said glancing at the two young women by his side.

"Hey, we did our job! We brought the princess, didn't we?" A young blond said glaring at the god of the Underworld.

"Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred. One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely." Maleficent said forcefully casting her own glare at Hades.

Hades took a step back waving his hands in front of his face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay?" He said and turned toward the two young women. "By the way, girls, have we got something special for you."

"Huh?"

"We had a deal, yes? You helped us, and we granted your wish..." Maleficent smiled as an image of two young women appeared lying side-by-side. One had dark blond hair, and the other had dark hair, and both were unconscious.

"Tara!"

"Faith!"

"Willow, Buffy, go them. Your vessels are waiting." Maleficent said and smile evilly as the girls nodded.

"Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage." Hook said approaching.

"Why are you doing all this for us? What the hell is the catch?" Willow asked suspiciously.

Maleficent gently touched Willow's face, before touching Buffy's. "Silly girl. You're both like daughters to me, I only was you both to be happy."

"I seriously doubt that." Buffy said shoving Maleficent's hand away.

"Believe what you like. But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain." Maleficent said watching the two young women leave.

Back with the others...

Tara glowed bright blue and staggered as Genie merged with her. "Wow, I've got to get used to this again."

"From what I saw, you never did." Willow grinned and received a glare from Tara.

"Please find our cousin." Tara's twin said embracing each of the group.

"We promise to bring her back safe and sound." Tara said and winked at Willow's twin just to see her blush, and smirked when she got what she wanted.


Continue to Final Fantasy X-3 Chapter Eighteen


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