Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X.
A/N: Just hoping everyone is liking the story so far. Annnd of course…review! (note: did a teeny edit in intro chap; nothing too big, probably isn't even noticeable. It was just to fix some little inconsistency I noticed.) Oh and...I SERIOUSLY couldn't think of a title for this chapter...so it's...um, nameless.. Unless someone has a suggestion? Dx (I'm lame, lame, lame, lame, lame!)
Note: Just a little side note…dialogue that's italicized is supposed to be spoken mentally. In the intro, it was dialogue within the sphere. So..yeah, I think I'll keep it that way unless someone just really, really prefers regular quotations and…blah blah yeah, you know, stuff.
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Summary: Yevon dictated the life and fate of its believers throughout Spira. Yevon gave birth to summoners, and it was only a summoner who had the power to defeat Sin, then a celebrated Calm always followed. Yevon only knew five great summoners who accomplished such a feat, but what if there had been others? The people merely knew what Yevon told them, right? Well, this is a story of a forgotten Calm brought by a summoner that Yevon couldn't acknowledge, one born of Al Bhed blood--the story of how a Calm came to be in a time of conspired rebellion against the Yevon order.
A Forgotten Calm
Chapter 2 – Gagazet's Memory
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It was a nice sunny morning the next day, which was a comfortable contrast to Macalania's everlasting white weather. With the winds at a steady breeze for those few days, breakfast had come and gone with ease, and now everyone just had to wait for word about their summoner, and as if on cue, he stepped out from the temple with a humble smile. Every pair of eyes fixed on his triumphant emergence from the doors.
"Were you successful, Summoner?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Please, show us your new aeon!"
Scattered voices called out to him from the small crowd.
"Thank you all," he said graciously and bowed in prayer, "for your concern and enthusiasm. But I think it's best for us all to begin on our way again. Though I would be more than happy to show you my new ally, I have stalled this caravan long enough here, my apologies. My journey has advanced very far already, and I wish to bring Spira a new Calm as soon as I possibly can."
"The Holy Lands lie just beyond the peak of Gagazet. Let us make haste," his guardian spoke.
There were utters of complete appreciation and joy for the summoner as they dispersed, all beginning their march down the snow path to exit the temple grounds. For most of the travelers, their journey would end once they reached the Calm Lands. The path to get there wasn't that long; all that there was left to do was to walk through the icy canyon path back to the Macalania Woods and take a turn that would lead straight out to the plains. The short journey would take no more than just several hours on foot.
Normally, traveling in a caravan like this was a fairly safe way to get around. Teams of Crusaders would be sent to scout ahead and clear the path of any fiends lurking by for the civilians to proceed without harm. At this time of day, it was only the weaker fiends that usually ever showed up, and once they were out of the dimmed woods, the rest of the way was practically danger-free. Everyone began to chatter excitedly when the rocky mountain walls were visibly seen towering around them; it meant that they had reached the valley right outside of the Calm Lands, and their destination was just ahead.
Drowned in the growing chatter, Zhara walked in lone quietness, staring off at the white majestic peaks on the other side of the green field, almost entranced in a pool of assorted emotions and thoughts.
"You thinking of heading off to Gagazet after this?"
Caught by surprise, Zhara hesitantly glanced over at the young man who had asked the question, unsure of whom exactly he had addressed it to. He stood right beside her, looking far into the distance ahead as she did, smiling.
"So, are you?" he asked again, turning to her this time.
Zhara stopped walking and stared at him. It was unusual muteness that came spontaneously, and she didn't even realize it at the time how he might've mistaken her silence as being rude.
The young man stopped in his steps as well and turned around, looking puzzled. He felt a mix of confusion and a pang of embarrassment, afraid that maybe he had tried to converse with perhaps the wrong girl.
"You…can understand me, right?" he asked in a frown, just to be sure she was the same person he had seen the night before. Short, blond hair, same black outfit with the white sleeves…it should've been the same girl.
Zhara finally realized that she hadn't been saying a thing to him, now just snapping out of her hazy mental state. He was that Crusader she walked by yesterday, and she was just standing there like a deaf idiot while he had tried doing a polite gesture by just talking to her. Amazingly enough she still managed to hide this inner agitation from appearing on her face. It was getting a bit awkward for them both, but Zhara just kept quiet, this time in good-humor.
"Umm…hmmm," he thought to himself, now starting to really think he had spoken to the wrong person.
"You're…very out of the ordinary, aren't you?" she finally said, then walked past him.
The young Crusader furrowed his brows in confusion. "Okay…well, you know, I was just trying to start some friendly conversation…" he said, now somewhat offended by her rather forward remark.
Zhara stopped and cupped her hands over her mouth to stifle just a little laughter, which he didn't notice. She glanced over her shoulder only to see the growing irritation in him, so she turned around to show her mirthful grin.
"I was just kidding," she said and walked over to him. "You're not mad, are you?" she asked, seeing that he didn't appear to be as amused.
"Oh, no…not at all. Sorry, it's just for a while there you really—yeah…" he quickly told her.
She nodded and smiled. "But you know, I really do appreciate you coming to talk to me. Doesn't really happen often. You're very nice."
"I-It's nothing. I just saw you the other night and I didn't know you could speak this well. I would've talked to you sometime before if I did."
"You don't have anything against Al Bheds?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I'm not so iffy about that kind of stuff."
"Really…"
Seeing the end of the valley just up ahead, she ran off. When she reached the grassy ledge at the exit of the valley, she turned around and shouted, "By the way, my name's Zhara. What's yours?"
"I'm Yun!" called back to her and ran to catch up. Standing by her, he exhaled and pulled his protective goggles away, revealing prominent hazel eyes, and let it sit on the plate of his facial armor covering his forehead. "Nice to meet you," he said with a polite smile.
"Yun," she repeated. "…You have really nice eyes."
"You really think so? I mean—" he laughed, taking it as a joke or tease.
"No, no…really. You have nice eyes," she said again. "I think they're a pretty color. And it kinda compliments your hair."
Yun picked at one of his dark brown locks to look at. "Really…?"
Zhara could tell her compliments were starting to make him feel awkward, so she waved her hand and shook her head to dismiss any of it. She turned around to look at the entire view of the Calm Lands. There were flocks of chocobos scattered all over the field, and warriors—Crusaders, chocobo knights, any sort of fighter—were training along side them. At the center of the Calm Lands was a tiny settlement where native merchants set up their tents and awnings open for business. Each day, travelers would stop there to buy, sell, and trade. There was also a small chocobo ranch for people to rent at.
Many of the Crusaders in the caravan's escort were seen running out to the field to join those who were training. In the distance, one man waved up to them and called out, "Hey, Yun! See'ya, okay?"
He waved back to him. "Later!" he replied.
"Is he a friend?" Zhara asked.
"Yeah, kind of. We actually just met during this job. You really do get to meet a lot of people on missions though," he said and headed down the slope to the field. "Come on!"
"You're not staying here?" she asked, following along.
"Nope. I've got one more job. A few of us still have to take the summoner to Mt. Gagazet. You're heading there, right?"
"…Yeah."
She followed Yun to where everyone was gathered at the bottom of the slope. There, more escorts, some newly hired, lined up beside the summoner and his guardian.
"I am truly thankful for your aid, sir."
"Think nothing of it, Lord Ismail." A knight standing beside an armored chocobo bowed his head and spoke, "it's the least we can do."
Giving their final words of luck and gratitude, everyone departed for the snowy mountains guided by the chocobo knight. Yun and Zhara followed closely behind.
"Is it all right for me to be coming with you?" she asked him.
"Don't worry. Look, some of the other civilians are coming too. They probably want to go trade with the Ronsos," he assured her. "Which…reminds me. Why exactly are you going?"
The question came unexpectedly, and for a moment, the answer ringing clearly in her head brought her discomfort. She hesitated before replying. "It's…a personal matter."
It was obviously a vague answer, but Yun didn't comment.
Advancing to the sacred mountain wasn't long or arduous. Fiend sightings around the Calm Lands weren't particularly common until you reached the base of Gagazet, where the temperature then began to drop, and snow started falling. Awaiting the summoner's arrival were many warrior Ronsos standing at the entrance to Gagazet's path. Not so many words were exchanged between them since the summoner had intended to keep a quick pace to his destination. Everyone watched him give his farewells and returned with their blessings of Yevon, and then he left.
Looking around, Yun was surrounded by merchants flocking around each other with business deals and propositions while customers, most of whom were Crusaders and knights from the training grounds down on the plains, searched scrupulously around for affordable supplies and arms. Before long, he had finally noticed that Zhara had already left.
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"It's cold."
Within a short promenade's time, she arrived at the site of the summoners' memorial. Stepping steadily ahead, Zhara came closer and closer until she stood directly in its presence. She kneeled before it, staring idly at the stone monument blanketed by freshly falling snow. Her knees were cold against the ground, but that hardly mattered.
"I'm here. Sorry that I'm late."
Downed in the song of the mountain accompanied by the faint voice of the winds, she sighed. This was her private ritual, year after year since then, since the death of the one summoner she had loved dearly like a father. And there, etched into the monument was his name, right in the middle of the massive pool of names belonging to others who had fallen on the unforgiving mountain, long forgotten in the last 800 years.
"There's a lot to say," she spoke with optimism. "I…umm, well I wanted to tell—" her words were interrupted by an outward gasp, as she nearly fell forward from a sudden tremor coming from farther up the path. She darted an alert glance in its direction.
"The summoner…!"
Hastily, she got back on her feet, but right before rushing off, she turned back to the monument and gave a last prayer, then dashed up the trail.
"Sorry."
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Everyone froze in fright at the abrupt rumble.
"What the hell…?" Yun mumbled to himself.
"It came in that direction!"
"Was that…a fiend?"
"Lord Summoner Ismail!"
Voices from all over gasped and cried the worst of their fears. It wasn't long before two warrior Ronsos raced ahead fully armed. Two other Crusaders who remained followed in haste, and one turned straight to the idle Yun and screamed, "Hey! Let's go!"
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A/N: End chapter 2! Ok! Well I want to say, this one really didn't turn out exactly…eh, not so great as I wanted it. I don't know, but this chapter seemed a bit boring to me, but I did try my best not to make it so bleh though…(sigh) oh well. I think this one might've been a tad slow. I hate writing slow parts, but I beeeggg everyone…give it some time. Like most lengthy…novel-sized RPG stories, mine will have its slow parts too. : (
This chapter actually originally had more, but then it seemed to drag on a whole lot, so I cut it here and just had the parts after carry on in the next chap. That one should have a lot more…to it, I promise! So, in the next chapter, we'll see what's going on, and I'm gonna go a bit more into character backgrounds. (-sigh-…I can tell already that I think this fic is gonna end up a lot longer than I expected it to be. Hopefully though, I'll start to pick up some more readers!) And umm, I could really use some help with a chapter title...please? I had a title but that only worked when it still included the other part I cut out (bangs head on desk).
Oh and thank you sooo much, Xmaster! (cries) you're my first reviewerrr! I really do hope the story won't start to bore you or anything. I'll try my best to keep it interesting! And I SWEAR, as long as there's at LEAST one person reading this thing, I'll keep writing, lol. I won't care if reviews don't come in, I WILL, I WILL, I WILL!
To Lillian: HAH! I DID write another chapter! And guess what, I'm gonna write ANOTHER one after! Pwahahahaha! You will neverrr get a chance to whack me with a flag during guard practice! (Cause I'll go rifle crazy back on you, lmao.) But geez, knowing us, we'd ending killing each other with equipment either way, haha! Ahem…we truly are guard-geeks. : )