Even In Death
Akara Usagi
Chapter 1
Yuna felt a warm hand touch her shoulder, then leave it. If only she didn't have to die... if only she had more time. All she wanted was to live, yet Sin would not allow it, and neither would Spira. The people would reject and exile her, possibly even execute her. She had made an oath to Yevon and the people of Spira that she, Yuna, daughter of high summoner Braska, would defeat Sin and bring peace to the people. They, her guardians, hadn't been able to find a way to save her. She knew... she knew there was only one way for her to defeat him... with the final summoning. Yuna had obtained all of the aeon summonings, and had successfully reached Zanarkand, where the final aeon summoning awaited within her grasp. Only a few days of travel now. The ruins of the once great machina city Zanarkand were difficult to cross. The pilgrimage had set up camp for the night; the fire burned so brightly. Yuna could see Tidus climb a small patch of rubble at the top of the mound, and she heard him cry. Yuna was to die, as the final aeon summoning would destroy Sin...then turn on her and kill it's master. Tidus, he could not cope...he fell in love with the fair Yuna, and she fell in love with him as well. The two had grown close and formed a bond that few people could understand. Her heart wrenched and leapt into her throat everytime he sobbed.
That night, Yuna did not sleep... she would not sleep again... the next few nights were restless. She reminded herself that dying was not so horrible, that it was like an eternal slumber where she would reunite with Yevon, the compassionate and wise God whose teachings she had followed her whole life.
Laying down, unable to sleep as well, Tidus looked up at the stars.
"If only she knew I was a dream..." he thought to himself. He knew that when Sin was defeated for good, so was he. For he was a dream of the Fayth, an entity created in loving memory of Zanarkand, destroyed a thousand years past. His father was Sin... and they knew...Yuna knew. He hated his father, yet pitied him, sensing a sorrow within the demon called Sin. Sin, or Tidus' father, Jecht, didn't want to keep killing. He wanted it to end. Tidus wanted to save Yuna, yet he also wanted to save his father. He knew that choosing one meant killing the other. Torn between a father and a lover, he cried in the night. Then again, if Yuna did not defeat Sin for good, Tidus would still be alive... or at least be more than a dream. Or would he fade away until Sin came back? He couldn't be sure. All he knew is that the next day would be Yuna's last. He thought about the time that they had spent together; the time they had first kissed. He sighed, knowing that never again would he be able to feel her in his arms, or to hear her laugh.
Tidus' thoughts then drifted to Sin. How did his father become Sin? He pondered that question every night and every day. How does someone become Sin? He remembered back to what Maester Seymour had said.
"...and I shall become the next Sin!"
It was then that he understood. He knew. Why hadn't he understood before? Seymour had wanted Yuna to take him and use him as the Fayth for the final summoning. The final aeon. The final aeon IS Sin! He realized that his father was on the same pilgrimage 10 years ago with Yuna's father Braska. His father must have been chosen for the final summoning! That was why his father now resided within Sin's body. His mind was slowly eradicating with every kill Sin would make. Tidus sat up, unable to keep still. How can I break this to Yuna? Does she already know? His thoughts were full of questions he couldn't answer. He laid back down and decided he wouldn't tell Yuna... at least not for the time being. She was already burdened with her own death approaching, she couldn't deal with the "death" of one of her guardians, and the falsehood's of Yevon's teachings. A teaching that preaches how Sin can be defeated for good, when the cycle itself deems that impossible. So long as guardians are sacrificed for the final summoning, Sin would always come back. Tidus wondered that if Yuna knew, whether she would go through with it or not. He considered sacrificing himself to become the final aeon for her... but he couldn't even fathom the idea of killing her in a merciless rage, nor could he bear the becoming of the next Sin. No. He wouldn't have it. Who then? Who would be willing to kill Yuna and become the next Sin until they were struck down by the next summoner? Auron... couldn't, because he wasn't one with the living. Wakka and Lulu... they're like a brother and a sister, Tidus couldn't imagine them killing her. Rikku was Yuna's cousin, and an Al Bhed. The Al Bhed were opposed to Yevon's teachings, so Rikku would not become the final summoning even if someone else's life depended on it. That left Kimahri. Though strong and silent, Kimahri was like a second father to Yuna, after her real father died at the hands of Jecht. He couldn't kill Yuna...
...so who could?
