Wings of the Fayth
Chapter 1: Release
I know that a lot of you are gonna be fairly annoyed that I haven't been working on my other stories lately, but, like so many others, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head; This is my first fic that has nothing to do with Naruto, so it may not be as high-quality as my other works.
For this story, i'm going to assume that the Aeons can talk while in their summoned forms, and simply choose not to. This starts in the middle of The Angel Experiment (book 1)
For those who've played FFX, but haven't beaten it, there are spoilers. You have been warned.
Yuna stared at Yunalesca. "I will save Spira from this blight! And I will do it without... false hope." A fierce determination burned in her eyes. As one, she and her guardians stepped forward to defeat the ancient priestess.
One indescribeable fight later...
Yunalesca fell down, panting. "You fools... You've released the power of transformation." Yuna turned her back. "We don't need the Final Aeon to beat Sin." Yunalesca began laughing madly. Her body dissolved in a flash of light, leaving a blitzball-sized orb floating in the air. It hovered for a moment, before exploding, bathing the arena in brilliant white light. Yuna closed her eyes... and when she opened them, she gasped, horrified at what she saw. The entire arena was now a flattened, clear dome; beneath, she could see the bodies of her former guardians, petrified. They began to glow, and, a monstrous shape emerged from the newly-created fayth. Throwing its head back, it gave a mighty roar. The air began to swirl around it, the very fabric of space distorted by its presence. Yuna stared, shocked into complete stillness. Slowly, a patch of space in front of the monstrosity ripped itself open, creating a void of the deepest black.
Elsewhere in Spira
The priests of Besaid rushed about, frantically looking for answers to this phenomenon. A beam of pure, white light radiated from Valefor's fayth, carving a hole in the roof of Besaid Temple; and then, just as suddenly as it came, the beam stopped. The head priest entered the Cloister of Trials hesitantly, and then covered his eyes, groaning. Where the Fayth had been, there was now only an empty hole.
All across the planet, the same thing was happening to each and every Fayth. One by one, the Aeons spent themselves attempting to seal the void, only to fail, and be sucked in.
Yuna couldn't hold on any more; Her fingers slipped, and she lost her grip on the rock she'd been holding on to. Screaming, she fell into the void.
Yuna blinked groggily as she slowly returned to consciousness. She tried to sit up, only to bang her head against something hard. Rubbing her head, she looked around... a cage? Stretching out her arm, she grasped the metal bars, woven in a pattern of small squares. Shaking her head to dispel the last of her sleepiness, she looked around. What she saw made her heart ache; row upon row of small cages, each containing a small, deformed child. One in particular caught her eye, a small girl. She was bruised all over, and a small, dirty wing was draped loosely over her head.
As she watched, the bird-girl began to stir, and a pair of bright blue eyes met her own. Yuna winced as she saw that the girl's face was a mass of bruises. Muttering under her breath, she cast Curaga; A rope of white light extended from her hands to the bird-girl's cage, wrapping around her frail body. Immediately, her bruises began to heal, and the girl stared at the summoner with a look of wonder. Just as Yuna finished healing the girl, and the rope disconnected, a door opened; it was too far beyond her cage to see it, but she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. What she was about to do next, she'd never done before; without her staff, it would take a massive amount of concentration. Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes, and called to Ifrit.
A ring of flames appeared on the floor, and the circle of ground within it turned brown, and rose up. Whoever was walking into the room began to shout. "What the hell is that!?" She smiled wryly at the pun, before a statue appeared within the uplifted column of earth, and it came to life, revealing Ifrit in all his glory. He looked around for a second or two, searching for his summoner, before he spotted her. He growled,and touched the lock on her cage, melting it instantly. After ensuring that she was safe, he turned to the whitecoats, and narrowed his eyes. "Who is it who dares treat my summoner this way?" The men backed off, even their Eraser escort paling in fear. Ifrit roared, and the whitecoats ran.
Max awoke suddenly, her head ringing. She felt hot breath on her back, and turned around, coming face to face with Ifrit. She cracked her knuckles, ready to fight whatever creature the Whitecoats had sicced on them, when the hellhound reached out a claw... and melted the bars on her crate. Warily, she crept out of the crate, and watched as Ifrit freed the rest of the flock. Yuna walked out from behind the Fire Aeon, and bowed. "I am the summoner Yuna." Max nodded. "Max." She did a quick 360, and in one of the crates, she spotted... a feather?
"Angel!" Quickly, she rushed over to the cage, unlocking it. She helped Angel out of the cage, and checked her over. Angel beamed at her. "Yuna did this weird thingy with a rope of light, and she healed me!" Max raised an eyebrow. "Oookaay..." She cocked her head, listening. "Guys, we gotta get outta here." Angel looked to Yuna. "But what about her? She can't fly!" Max bit her lip, but Yuna just smiled. "That may be true, but I can summon, and I'm sure Valefor would be happy to help." At the flock's confused looks, she quickly explained. "A winged creature, and one of my best friends."
Just when you think things can't get any weirder, they do. I was still in shock from seeing a giant, horned dog rip through the steel-reinforced walls like tissue paper; that was strange enough. But when we reached the open air... things got a whole lot weirder. The oversized hound turned into glass, and disappeared; then Yuna started running, praying, of all things! A strange circle of light started spinning around her, and that was when I figured out that she was calling another one of those... creatures. The rest of us were safely up in the air at this point, but she was about to be overtaken by the Erasers swarming out of the building, when four balls of light shot from the circle into the sky... and exploded.
I don't say this often, but... it was beautiful. A giant bird-thing came down from the explosion, and picked Yuna up in its talons. I was about to turn around, when i noticed something out of the corner of my eye; one of the whitecoats looked familiar... my heart skipped a beat, and my vision began to narrow until all i could see was his face, smiling up at me. Jeb!? As I saw him down there, in the trademark white coat we'd all come to know and hate, my jaw clenched, and every kind memory I had of him, shut down. In their place, a new feeling arose within me, a hatred so strong that it scared even me. Believe me, that's saying something. I growled, but, as the Erasers were carrying guns, I didn't risk going any closer.
Yuna joined the flock, now on Valefor's furry shoulders. Max's expression was furious, as she angled closer to Angel. "Angel, sweetie, was that...?" Angel nodded. "Yeah. Jeb's one of Them." The rest of the flock stiffened, while Yuna raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who's Jeb?" Max sighed. "He was... like a father to us. He's the one who rescued us from that place in the first place." Max shook her head, as if to clear her mind, and she looked over at Yuna in confusion. "So... how is it that you can call those..."
Valefor looked over at her. "We are called Aeons." Max twitched. "You can talk?" He chuckled lightly. "Indeed we can, child. We usually prefer not to, but we can." Max was slightly annoyed at being called 'child', but decided not to press the issue. Yuna continued where Valefor left off. "I am a summoner; it is our duty to aid the people of Spira-" Max raised a hand in a 'stop' gesture. "Spira?" Yuna tilted her head to the side, confused. "Yes...?" Valefor sighed. "It would seem, Lady Yuna, that we are in a world quite unlike our own. As such, they most likely will not understand much of our terminology."
Yuna nodded. "Spira is... my home. The ground, the seas, the air..." Max thought about it for a moment. "I'm guessing you mean Earth. The whole planet?" Yuna nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, a summoner's job is twofold. The first part is to perform what we call 'sendings'; this is to make sure that the souls of the recently deceased find their way to the Farplane, instead of staying in Spira to become fiends." Fang flew closer to Valefor. "Farplane?" Yuna looked over at him. "The afterlife." Fang nodded.
The second part of our job is to defeat a creature called 'Sin'; It's an enormous fiend and it can only be defeated by a summoner who has gone on a pilgrimage to all of the temples in Spira, and prayed at their Fayths. Fayths are statues located deep within the temples; they house the spirits of the Aeons, such as Valefor here. If a summoner gains the approval of a Fayth, he or she is permitted to summon the Aeon contained within. Once a summoner has visited all of the Fayths, they travel to the ancient ruins of Zanarkand; there, they meet the spirit of the lady Yunalesca, who supposedly holds the key to the only way of defeating Sin." Max took a moment to digest the information. "Supposedly?" Yuna's eyes hardened. "There's got to be another way, I just know it!"
Fang 'hn'ed. "What's wrong with her way?" Yuna sighed. "I forgot to mention this, but every summoner travels with at least one 'guardian', to ensure that they aren't killed by fiends before they reach the end of their pilgrimage. What Yunalesca does, is turn one of the summoner's guardians into a fayth, in order to summon the 'Final Aeon', which is said to be the most powerful of all Aeons. Its power is enough to beat Sin, but at the cost of the summoner's own life. That's not the worst of it, though..."
Fang frowned. "You sound as if this has been done many times before." Yuna nodded. "Sin itself is not the problem. It's actually an Aeon, created by a godlike being known as Yu Yevon. Every time a summoner beats Sin by using the Final Aeon, Yu Yevon possesses the Aeon, and transforms it into a new Sin. Fortunately for the people of Spira, it takes ten years for the transformation to be complete. This period is known as the Calm, and it's what a summoner lives for." She chuckled, realizing her pun. "In fact, it's what we die for." Max looked over to Angel, who nodded. Yuna was confused, but said nothing.
A few minutes later, Valefor noticed a dark cloud heading their way, and squinted. "It would seem that there are two more of your kind at the head of that flock." Nudge shouted, "Iggy! Gazzy!"
One tearful reunion later, we were back on the road. Well, above the road, but you get the point. We'd stopped for the night at the cave at Lake Mead, and we were headed east. Why? No idea. We were all enjoying the feeling of flying, for no other reason than to be free. Gazzy and Nudge were showing off for Yuna, doing crazy tricks in midair. She laughed lightly, enjoying the show, and I smiled. She seemed like a good person so far; Angel hadn't picked up any 'evil' vibes, and, as crazy as it was, her story was true. And, you know, there was the healing. I sighed happily. Then, in the next second, I choked. I think I made some kind of sound, then a blinding, stunning pain exploded behind my eyes.
Valefor tensed, then dropped to intercept Max as she fell. Gently, he caught her in his talons, then lowered her into Fang's waiting arms. Max moaned, clutching her head. After a while she stopped, and she was able to think coherently. Fang looked down at her. "Man, you weigh a freaking ton. What've you been eating, rocks?" Her lips twitched. "Why, is your head missing some?" Nudge edged closer, her expression worried. "Max, are you okay?" Max nodded. "Let's find a place to land. Please."
An hour later, they landed, making camp for the night. Max and the others cleared brush away from their chosen site, while Yuna cast Fire to get one going. She sat beside the flames, staring into the flickering vortex. Slowly, tears made their way down her face, and she buried her face in her arms. Suddenly, she tensed, as she felt a feather-light touch run across her neck. She heard someone sit down beside her, and she looked up to see the one they called Iggy. He looked over her shoulder, a questioning expression on his face. She sighed, and looked around, seeing that everyone was sitting around the fire, staring at her curiously. She lowered her chin to her arms. "I'd rather not talk about it."
Max nodded, understanding. Speaking of things she'd rather not talk about... "Guys, I've got some bad news. Jeb's alive, and... he's one of Them." For a moment, everyone was silent. Unsurprisingly, Nudge was the first to speak up. "What? But-but-but... Jeb?!" Max nodded. Gazzy was stunned into complete silence; Fang was almost always silent anyway, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Nudge was crying, and Iggy stalked off into the trees.
Later that night, Iggy came back, his knuckles bloody. Yuna stood up, her hands already glowing with the energy of Cure. Iggy heard a faint humming in the air, and cocked his head to the side. "What's that?" Yuna simply grabbed his hands, and whispered "Heal..." The skin on his hands began to knit itself back together. Iggy's eyes widened in amazement. Suddenly, he stiffened, and Yuna stopped. She bit her lip, worried. "What is it?" Iggy shook his amazement. "For a moment there, I could... see..."
Yuna nodded. She'd been able to guess that he was blind, based on the directions Max gave him. Brightening, she realized something. "You weren't born blind, were you?" Iggy shook his head. "The scientists at the school tried to 'enhance' my vision, and, well... it didn't exactly work out." Yuna smiled. "Well, then, this should be easy." Iggy's eyes widened, as he heard the same hum he'd heard earlier, and felt Yuna's hands lightly rest themselves on his forehead. "Close your eyes, please." Bemused, he shut them, and felt Yuna's hands move down to his eyelids. After a few seconds, she removed her hands, panting slightly. She smiled at him. "Open up!" Iggy opened his eyes, and blinked, amazed.
"I can see!"
As usual, please R&R.