The Destiny Heart
A Final Fantasy X Fan Fiction
Prologue
The windstorm that struck Besaid was nothing if not mildly devastating. Yuna and Tidus were just returning from their short honeymoon. Yuna, having spent some time as a Sphere Hunter, took a great interest in Spira's history. But as the devastation was cleared away, Yuna had no idea the amount of history that this small disaster would cause them to find.
The houses, surprisingly, had been hit the least. The ruins that were nearer the water, however, couldn't say the same thing. Thankfully, the temple was mostly safe as well. Despite the fact the Fayth was gone and the temple was mostly for nostalgic purposes, it was still a vital part of their history. Not unlike the ruins that got destroyed down by the beach, unfortunately. Yuna's former guardian, Wakka, was part of the clean-up crew. Lulu, another of Yuna's former guardians, was helping Yuna unpack into a small house near hers and Wakka's house.
"Yuna?" Tidus asked, strolling in and caked with dirt from helping clean up. "Wakka wants you. The clean-up crew found something."
"Coming," she said, hurriedly pulling her boots on and stumbling out the door.
"Yuna!" Wakka called, dirt smeared across his dark skin. "Come here!"
Yuna walked over to where there had once been a large tree just outside the village. Now there was a large, almost perfectly square hole in the ground.
"What happened here?" Yuna asked, dropping into the hole with the help of Tidus and Wakka, both of them dirty and sweaty from working all day.
"When we were cleaning up some of the roots and branches that fell, one of our crew members fell through the ground. Thankfully, it wasn't deep, but I think we found the remains of a house before the Village was built," Wakka explained.
It wasn't high. As a matter of fact, Yuna was still eye-level with the grass where she had been standing not long ago. But the perfectly flat stone walls suggested perhaps a basement of a house that was destroyed a long time ago. Any furniture or belongings that had been there had probably been destroyed for years. Yuna couldn't remember a time when Besaid houses had basements of any kind. However, the soil wasn't moist, so Yuna thought that perhaps something might have been preserved.
"How long do you think this has been down here?" Yuna asked, brushing the earth from one of the walls.
One of the island's historians stood after having examined some of the symbols on the wall; "Judging by these, this house was built about 400 years ago. I can't read most of them, but I can make out a name… Hakaiya?"
"I recognize the name!" Yuna exclaimed after a few moments. Without much more explanation, she clambered out of the hole, brushed the majority of the dirt off of herself and ran full out to the temple.
After several people bowing to her in the prayer of New Yevon, Yuna made her way slowly to the ring of High Summoners. After some hunting, Yuna found the faded statue of Hakaiya. Petite but majestic, hold a staff with a blade on the end. Time had eroded most of what must have been a beautiful face, but the name was perfectly preserved. Yuna didn't know much about her, but if she was also from Besaid…
"Yuna?" Tidus asked softly from behind her.
"She was a High Summoner," Yuna said breathlessly.
"She was?" Tidus asked, coming to stand next to her.
"About 400 years ago, yeah. She brought about one of the longest Calms Spira ever knew. About 15 or 20 years, if I remember correctly."
"How do you know this?" Tidus asked.
"In my training to be a Summoner, I was taught about some of the more memorable High Summoners. Hakaiya's story is particularly sad. She lost all her Guardians on her pilgrimage. That is why her story is rather short in the old teachings."
"Well, I think someone survived," Tidus said. "Come on."
At her little house, Wakka was standing in her main living are with a long box. It was amazingly well preserved, despite its obvious age.
"We found this at Hakaiya's house," Wakka said, indicating the box. "I figured that maybe you might want it."
Yuna knelt on the floor and grasped the lock gently. The golden metal all but crumbled in her fingers from its age. The hinges acted similarly as she opened the top of the small chest as gently as she could. The wood, however, had a beautiful aged patina and had obviously been buried in a sandier area, judging by the smoothness and durability of it.
A short staff and a book were inside, wrapped gently in a fine but durable silk. All of contents were amazingly well preserved. Yuna opened the front cover of the book. A piece of folded paper fell out of the front cover. It read:
Dear Reader,
If you are reading this, I am already dead. The staff you see is called the Destiny Heart. It was High Summoner Hakaiya's most prized possession. This little book you are probably holding in your hands is the story the Maesters and the general denomination of Yevon doesn't want you to know about. Hakaiya wanted to avenge the ones she loved against Sin… and she succeeded.
So read on. You won't be disappointed.
High Sumoner Hakaiya's second guardian.
Yuna opened the small book and began to read:
The True Story of High Summoner Hakaiya
Day 1
I guess I should start recording my journey. I just acquired my first Aeon today, and Terran, Sekkachi and I are on our way to board a boat to take us to Besaid. I didn't always want to be a Summoner, but I guess life-changing events are enough to do that to a girl. It all started when I was 12, living in Luca…
Chapter 1- A Tragedy
Terran was 15 at the time. He had been friends with the young Hakaiya since she was an infant. Adorable little Hakaiya… fast turning into little hellion Hakaiya. The 12-year-old tomboy was currently bouncing a Blitzball on her knee skillfully. She was already pretty good. It was her life-long dream to be a famous Blitzer.
Terran? He didn't know what he wanted to do. He wasn't athletic enough to be a Blitzer, but he had too many issues with authority to be a fisherman or military man. He could be a Crusader, or travel the world to try something out, but he enjoyed staying at home too much. As he watched Hakaiya, her light blue eyes gleaming in the sun, her short red-brown hair waving with her movements, he realized he could never leave his friend anyway.
"Kaiya!" A short little blonde boy came barreling out of the house. His blonde hair was cropped close and his eyes, so much like Hakaiya's, were determined. "It's my turn! I wanna play with it!"
"No!" Hakaiya admonished her brother, barely nine at the time. "You're not old enough, Sekki!"
That was a lie, Terran though. Sekkachi was plenty old enough to play with a Blitzball. Hakaiya was barely eight when she started.
"Nuh-uh!" Sekkachi exclaimed, making a grab for the ball, which Hakaiya promptly pulled out of his reach. "You were eight when you got that and I'm already nine and a half!"
"Well, it's mine and you can't play with it!" Hakaiya said petulantly.
"MOOOMM!!" Sekkachi bawled, running back into the house.
"Baby!" Hakaiya called after him.
"You couldn't let him play with it for just a few minutes?" Terran asked, looking at Hakaiya with that annoying older-brother look that he had that just ticked her right off.
"What if he lost it?" Hakaiya asked, scowling. Suddenly, her face became very serious. "Since the Calm ended, everything's been really expensive. It's hard to ship stuff with Sin attacking every five minutes."
Terran smiled at her. She may act immature, but she was growing up daily. They had known each other almost literally forever. Terran's father moved to Luca from Bevelle, hoping for a better place to start a family, taking Terran's very pregnant mother away from the hubbub and highly religious overtones of Bevelle. Just a few days before Terran was born, Hakaiya's newly married father hired Terran's father in his family shop. It pulled in decent money, especially during Calms and Blitz season, when travelers and tourists were abundant. Soon after, Hakaiya's mother opened a small inn. Business was good, especially with Blitzers and Summoners on their pilgrimage. She hired Terran's mother soon after Terran was born. Their families became almost family-like in their closeness. In times of tragedy, much like the one those two families were living in, large families were a rarity. Mothers buried their children and visa versa on a daily basis in the time they lived. So any friends and family was really a good thing.
"Hakaiya!" a woman's voice shouted, bringing Terran out of his musings. Hakaiya's mother, Narika, was coming out of her house, Sekkachi at her back, her eyes blazing. "Why do you pick on your brother?"
"I don't!" Hakaiya said, looking at her shoes and holding her Blitzball behind her back. "He just wanted to play with my ball and it's special and I didn't want him to lose it."
"You know the rule, Kaiya," Narika said softly, bending down to Hakaiya's level and holding out her hand. "You can't share it, no one can have it."
"I'm sorry, mommy," Hakaiya said, not giving up her ball. "I'll share it. I promise."
"No, Kaiya, give it here," Narika said firmly.
Hakaiya gave up the ball begrudgingly and turned to sit on the wall with Terran; "Thanks a lot, Sekki!"
Sekkachi looked very apologetic; "I'm sorry. I just wanted to play with it."
Terran looked at Hakaiya with firm eyes. She rolled her own eyes and looked at her brother; "It's ok. I should have shared."
"So you don't hate me?" Sekkachi asked.
"No, I don't hate you," Hakaiya said reluctantly. "Now can Terran and I be alone?"
Sekkachi shrugged and walked off into the house. Terran put his arm around Hakaiya's shoulders; "That was very mature of you."
"Thanks," Hakaiya leaned into the teen's arm and rested her head on his shoulder.
Terran pushed his long blonde hair out of his almost sky-blue eyes, his tan skin taking on a golden hue in the sunset; "I should get home. Mom doesn't like me to be out past dark."
"All right," Hakaiya said. It wasn't uncommon in these troubled times that mothers kept their children close as long as possible. Hakaiya also headed in for the night, after staring out over the harbor. She sometimes wished she could travel, to sail on those golden waters. Someday, she would be a famous Blitzer and she would travel the world. She would be famous.
She couldn't wait.
***********
Hakaiya awoke later that night. She knew it was late at night; it was still dark outside and most of the town lights had been turned out. Suddenly, Narika burst into the room. She looked frazzled and only half aware of her surroundings. Her father, Siirden, was holding a sleepy Sekkachi on his hip.
"Hakaiya, wake up!" Narika exclaimed. "Grab anything you can carry in your pack! You have to run!"
Hakaiya bolted upright out of her bed and ran to her wardrobe, pulling out a simple rucksack and piling clothing into it. She also put the pile of clothes that her mother handed to her—Sekkachi's things.
"Terran is waiting outside for you," Narika said, fastening a cloak at her daughter's throat. "Head to the other side of town and go up the steps to the High Road. Wait there until Daddy and I can come get you, ok?"
"Why?" Hakaiya asked, slipping on the boots that were handed to her. "What's wrong?"
Narika sighed; "Sin has been spotted several miles off the coast. A fishing boat from Killika has just brought word."
"Mommy, no!" Hakaiya exclaimed, clinging to her mother's sleeping gown.
"You have to," Narika said, her blue-grey eyes welling up with tears. "You have to go!"
"Come with us!" Hakaiya suggested. "We can all run together, us and Terran's family!"
"Believe me, sweetie, I wish I could, but you know Daddy and I have to stay. We have two Summoners staying at the inn and we have to make sure they are safe."
Hakaiya tearfully clung to her mother; "I'll stay with you!"
"No, honey, you have to run," Narika repeated. "Now go, you don't have much time."
Just outside the house, Terran was waiting, a sword at his hip and his long hair pulled back into a ponytail. His mother, Eliode, was just running up behind him, her own blonde hair swept away from her pale face.
"Sin is coming this way!" she exclaimed. "It's been spotted and it's moving fast."
"Go!" Narika exclaimed. "Run! Please, run!"
Hakaiya finally obeyed, grabbing Sekkachi's hand and running across town as fast as her legs could carry her. Lights had begun to come up again, people scrambling to abandon their homes for safety as quick as they could. Terran dragged the two siblings along at an alarming rate until they finally reached the staircase at the edge of town. Hakaiya looked out over the water, checking if she could see Sin from here.
"Hakaiya, come on!" Terran grabbed her forearm and dragged her by her forearm to the beginning of the High Road.
The moon provided a little light, but from what Hakaiya could see, there were no fiends to be found. They walked about a half-mile up the road before they took shelter in a small, dark pillar. Sekkachi promptly curled up on the grass and fell to sleep.
"I wish I was that lucky," Terran said, lighting a small light.
"Will our parents be OK?" Hakaiya monotoned.
"I don't know," Terran said, curling up. "I think it's best if we just wait here and hope for a miracle, I suppose."
Hakaiya didn't sleep, unlike her male cohorts. She dozed for a few minutes at a time, but there were screams, sickening cracks, and loud crashes all night. Her home was being trashed and there was nothing she could do about it. It was a restless few hours for the redhead. It felt to her like days before, finally, everything went quiet. Hakaiya could see the pale starts of daylight just outside her makeshift shelter.
"Terran!" she whispered, shaking his shoulders. "It's morning!"
Terran shot awake; "We made it…"
"Terran our parents!" Hakaiya exclaimed.
"What is it?" Sekkachi asked blearily.
"It's quiet. We're going to find Mom and Dad," Hakaiya explained, shouldering her sack.
"I'm coming with you!" Terran exclaimed.
"Me too!" Sekkachi exclaimed.
For once, Hakaiya didn't disagree. As they made their way to town, the silence grew thicker and thicker. Finally, they reached Luca. It was destroyed. Hakaiya walked slowly the familiar and yet alien path to her home. A few survivors were extracting the dead and wrapping them in shrouds.
Hakaiya hoped her parents had run away, escaped… anything. She just hoped they were alive. But as she passed the inn, something grabbed her ankle. She jumped but looked down to see the bloody arm of her mother.
"Mom!" she exclaimed, kneeling so her mother could see her easily.
"Hakaiya," she groaned, holding her daughter's wrist. "The Summoners… tried to fight. They… died trying. Please… please be safe… Terran… please Terran take care of… them. Take care of my children… please."
"Mom… how?" Hakaiya cried, tears streaming down her fair face.
"Where are my parents?" Terran asked.
"I don't know," she said, adjusting herself to breath easier. All her visible skin was spattered with blood. "Please… there is a boat leaving. Terran… promise to take care of them."
"I promise," Terran said, tears in his eyes, knowing the truth all ready. "I will take care of them, Narika."
Hakaiya had to drag herself away from her mother's body as the survivors came and wrapped her body, tucking the charms into the wrappings. Hakaiya trudged slowly along the road, her head hanging low. As they walked to the docks, Hakaiya felt a sinking feeling in her gut… she knew her life would never be the same again.