Lulu sat at her makeshift desk – which was little more than a slab of stone sitting atop a simple wooden stand – whilst repairing a stuffed Ifrit.
The day was warm, as it tended to be at this time of year, and the air was alive with the sound of insects and working Spirans. Lulu wiped sweat from her forehead as she leaned over her accursed toy, trying to ignore the heat prickling at her back.
The thread snapped and Lulu hissed. Vidina had started gnawing on his toys with his teeth, and that meant a lot of broken eyes and pieces. If only he could talk, then she could scold him into not destroying everything he touched.
Not that it stopped her from scolding him sometimes.
Her CommSphere beeped and Lulu sighed, letting her hands rest as Yuna's image came on over the sphere.
"Kurgum almost died!" Yuna blurted, holding the sphere so close to her that Lulu could barely see past her. "And they've kicked me out!"
Lulu retied the knot of her thread. "I see."
"I'm being cut out!" Yuna continued. "And they didn't tell me! Baralai swore he would keep me in the loop, and now look at what he's doing! Why isn't he more worried about the councilman? Why am I the one being punished?"
"Punishment?" Lulu said, testing out the new knot. "Because you turned him down?"
"Yes!"
Lulu rolled her eyes and ran an awkward stitch around the toy's side. "Honestly, I'm surprised it took him this long."
"He–…" Yuna paused. "What?"
"This is a responsibility," Lulu said, pulling the stitch taut. "Which you've been avoiding ever since the Pilgrimage."
"I have not!"
Lulu kept stitching. "You ran away from Besaid for a year, and you've continued to refuse any offers by the Council to participate in the situations they thought – and, I believe, were – relevant to you. You've made it very clear that you're not interested in political matters, even though you insist on staying informed."
"But I am interested!"
"Are you? Really? Because I suppose even I've been fooled."
Yuna opened and closed her mouth a few times, betrayal in her eyes.
"There's something that you're afraid of," Lulu said, running the thread around and around the horn of the Ifrit. Hopefully Vidina, with his woefully undeveloped perception, wouldn't notice that the new horn wasn't black anymore. "I don't know if you're playing along because you feel bad for the chancellor, or because there's something in Bevelle that you don't want to face, but it's obvious that you're skirting around an issue that no one else can see."
"What?"
Lulu held the doll back for a moment to inspect it. It was a shoddy job, but if Vidina couldn't get past a strangely colored and placed horn, then he had no place being her son. "Be honest with yourself. What is it you don't want to talk about?"
A long moment of silence followed. Lulu waited patiently, tying off the last stitch. Wakka talked about their child being able to notice small changes, but Lulu had to believe that he wouldn't care about this new horn. He was disturbed enough by the thing coming off – there was a lot of frightened looks and sniffling involved – that Lulu assumed if it had a horn again, everything would be right with the world again in his eyes.
"I wasn't supposed to survive the pilgrimage," Yuna finally said. "I wasn't supposed to take an official role like this."
"You meant to take the easiest way out."
"It wasn't easy!"
"No," Lulu said. "It wasn't just that. Otherwise I would have stopped you. But death is easier than life in many way, and even you – like all the Summoners before you – chose that path. I've seen it enough times."
"But I–!"
Lulu let the Ifrit rest on her lap. "You didn't mean for this life and you didn't plan to take on all these responsibilities and you don't think you're ready. From the time you were only two feet tall, you prepared for your life to end before you were twenty years old.
"You think yourself above this because you've been forced to live this life you never wanted. But you still want to help, don't you? You became a Summoner to help Spira. So." Lulu leaned forward, her eyes locking on Yuna's despite the sphere's grainy image. "Help Spira."
"... How?" Yuna whispered, suddenly looking small. By the Fayth, it was like she was a child again, playing in her too-large robes. "I'm not a politician."
"No," Lulu said, leaning back again. "But you're an icon, both for the Yevoners and the anti. Some see you as the Summoner that vanquished Sin forever, others see you as the heretic that proved the entire world wrong. You unleashed the secrets Bevelle spent generations hiding from us. You proved nothing was impossible, and now those people you saved want you to continue saving them from the impossible."
"I'm not running," Yuna whispered.
"Not anymore you're not." Lulu stood to put away the toy and focus on the sphere. "Talk to the chancellor and figure something out. I'm sure he'll be reasonable."
"… He almost killed my friends last year."
"When have you let that stop you?" Lulu asked, not needing to mention Seymour's name. She could make out Yuna recoiling at the memory anyway. "I'm not saying you should trust him a hundred percent," Lulu said. "In fact, I wouldn't recommend trusting anyone in the New Yevon sect."
Yuna shook her head. "I don't."
"Good. But you can do it. Think of it like beating Sin again."
"… That's not encouraging."
Lulu sighed. "Okay. Think of it like… another Sending."
"That also… doesn't help."
Yevon's name, what did it take to help this girl? What worked in the past? "You'll do great," Lulu said simply. "Don't think about it too hard."
Yuna frowned. "I… I can do that."
"Yes," Lulu said, "you can."
"Thanks, Lulu."
The sphere clicked off and Lulu finally turned back to her desk. She couldn't help the nagging doubt that maybe Yuna would mess up, or that something would happen to her, though she knew it wouldn't affect Besaid.
But Yuna had learned plenty on her own, and Lulu trusted her to keep that up.
When Tidus found himself drifting to sleep, he forced himself to watch it. Not control it yet, as that would only wake him up again. Theoretically, at least. These visions felt different from normal dreams, but he wanted to play it safe.
The view that met him was that of a translucent palace, built with black crystal and ghostly illusions of space in the background. The place was foreign to him, yet it brought a sense of familiarity. He didn't let it put him at ease, however. Ease wasn't going to help him chase down an arrogant, snotty, jerk that never told him anything as straight as he could.
And if there was anything Tidus couldn't stand, it was cryptic messages delivered by mysterious figures. The Fayth were bad enough.
"Hey!" Tidus cried as a name he didn't know echoed in the back of his name. "I know you're in here! Minwu!"
A vague silhouette of a figure appeared, pale in color and form billowing in an unseen wind.
Once in view, it floated away.
Tidus cursed. He wasn't going to have any of that today. "Hey!" he called, dropping into a run. "That's not how this works, buddy!"
He chased the figure through halls of onyx and lavender stone and darkness. Though the silhouette never moved, Tidus found himself travelling through endless tunnels of that purple crystal and glass.
And when he finally caught up, the silhouette changed to an illuminated person that turned to face Tidus. It was a man, covered head to toe in plain cloth. The style was strange to Tidus, as it covered even the man's face, excluding his eyes. A few gems items decorated the man's robes, shining in a nonexistent light. It made him look a little regal.
"White mage," Tidus said. "Like in children's stories."
"Yes." The man faced him, hands clasped behind his back. "You're familiar with them, then?"
"Given that my girlfriend is a white mage herself," he said, "Of course, I would."
"Only the myths, though?"
Tidus frowned. "I guess. I don't know, man, it depends on what else there is. I've learned a few spells myself, though I can't say I'm great at it. Who are you?"
"Just a figment of this reality." The man summoned a staff out of nowhere. "Will you hold this?"
Tidus blinked, but accepted it. It was more of a walking stick than most white mage staves he'd seen. It was made of simple wood, with a single jewel on top. "Is this your weapon?" Tidus asked. "It doesn't look like much."
"You would think that, wouldn't you?"
Tidus frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Pay it no heed." The mage took the staff back. "I merely wanted to satisfy a curiosity of mine. The real reason for my coming is that I must ask you a favor."
"Isn't that all that Fayth do?"
"Not all." He looked a lot like an older Bahamut, now that Tidus could get a good look at him. "We also tell humanity what it needs to know at certain times."
"Very helpful."
The man regarded Tidus with a flat stare. "We do what is necessary. We do not cater to the whims of people like you."
Tidus shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I've come to expect."
"I have something I must ask of you," the man said, setting his staff aright. "Something we all must ask."
"Well," Tidus said, folding his arms. "I'm not exactly doing a whole lot else. What do you want?"
"Help." With a flourish, the man changed the scene around them to look like the night sky. Only instead of the stars being mere splotches of light against the sky, they surrounded them. Tidus startled as the ground faded beneath him.
"What the-!"
"Calm." The man took Tidus' arm, causing the panic to vanish as quickly as it came. "Focus. What you see here is the Cosmogenesis, a place from which you and all you know originated."
"Wow," Tidus said. "I actually sort of understood what you said there. Are you sure you're a Fayth?"
The man shot him a stern look, though Tidus could only see his eyes. "How much of this part you understand is of trivial import. For now, all you need to know is that this is what links you to other worlds."
"Worlds? Like my Zanarkand?"
"Your Zanarkand," the man said, changing the view to match that of Tidus' old home. "Is not a world in and unto itself, merely a place that has faded with time."
Again, the view changed, this time to show Spira.
Tidus jumped again but was quicker to reign in his shock. "Whoa!" he said. It looked like it did on the map, but instead of being a picture on parchment, it looked like an image on a sphere. Instead of translucent glass, it rested on a solid mix of white and blue. The sphere was surrounded by pure blackness.
"This is your world," the man said. He let go of Tidus' arm, allowing him to float closer. Trying to move himself in this air was worse than the purple palace area, but Tidus managed a couple inches closer through some flailing.
"All of it?" Tidus asked. "It's a lot smaller than I thought."
"Your world is eight-five percent water," the man said. "This is unusual, but not impossible. Some few islands can be found outside your own, containing civilization, but not as much as I would have thought."
"There are others out there?" Tidus tried to get closer, but it felt like a barrier blocked him.
"Not many. The reason I show this is to help give you a sense of scale."
"Huh?" Tidus straightened, easily floating back toward the other man. "Scale of what?"
"I was confused, as well." The man changed the view back to that of the purple palace and Tidus touched back down on solid ground. "There have been some complications regarding the souls sent to this world, and for that I need you to travel to Baaj."
Tidus blinked. "Baaj?"
"You weren't the only one displaced in time." The man sighed, letting his staff vanish into thin air. "Your time has run out – I will speak with you again at a later time. For now, it is better that you wake up. Visions like this will only make you more restless."
"You're one of the weirdest Fayth I've met," Tidus said. "You're only half as cryptic as Bahamut."
"The Fayth," the man repeated. "Have better things to do now that they have woken from their ageless sleep. They don't have time to string you along with bare hints."
"Good. Cause I'm kind of tired of all that."
"I didn't much appreciate it, either," the man said. "But that is neither here, nor there. Return to reality, young one. It is better for you to focus on what's in front of you."
And just like that, the dreamscape faded.
Snow couldn't remember his dreams at all this week.
The day was cloudy when he finally woke up, but there wasn't enough cover to block out the sun. Snow didn't remember anything else about his week in bed, though he felt refreshingly normal when he came to.
He laid in the old Crusader's tent, as usual, with small rays of sun peeking through the tent opening. The sky wasn't grey, but the sun didn't shine uninhibited, either. A cool breeze wafting his way told him of a recent storm.
Snow yawned, pulling himself to his feet, and felt something was different. No snowflakes burst forth at his waking up, and no frost formed over his bed.
He stretched his fingers and felt mana flow through them. It came back to him, the motions he used to push elements from one plane into the other and the feeling of having the world under his unnatural control. Something about that made him uncomfortable, but he couldn't remember why.
However, he did remember that this wasn't something he should be able to do on Spira. It felt normal, yet the reason why evaded him.
One of Snow's roommates, Palm, rested on a nearby cot and stirred as Snow summoned a small blizzard and held it perfectly still in his hands. He had cropped red hair and youthful features, though Snow knew him to act more mature than most of the kids in the area. Palm was a newcomer to Besaid, and one of the best helpers around. He had a knack for getting some of the finer work done, like finagling beams into place and forcing bent materials to cooperate. His small frame was deceptive in that regard.
"Hey," Palm said, sitting up. "What's that?"
Snow shrugged. "Just a little something I've been working on."
Palm nodded and looked like he wanted to say something else, though he stayed quiet.
"It's amazing what a little sleep can do," Snow said, letting the spell puff back out of existence. He yawned again and stretched out his arms. "I feel better already!"
"Already," Palm said. "Do you realize how long you've been out?"
"I know." Snow walked to the tent's exit. "Doesn't change how great I feel!"
Stepping outside felt like brushing dust off an old sphere. The sun felt warm and welcome on his skin and the air was fresh in his lungs. Every breath felt like new life entering his system.
"Snow!" shouted Jeami, another kid in the village. She had dark hair and skin and wore only a simple, short dress. "You're alive again!"
"You bet I am!" Snow called back. "Where's Tidus? I need to prove him wrong!"
"Down by the beach! Where else?"
"Thanks!"
Snow left the village with a smile. With one hand, he summoned a small fire that he moved around his arm, sending it back and forth while he walked. The sun's light, filtering through both clouds and trees, left a faint glow that lit most of the way to the beach in its pale hues.
The heat didn't bother him anymore. In fact, Snow let it burn through him before the excess energy flowed from his core and into his mana reserves. He felt the power of it pulse in his veins like he'd just finished an intense workout. The sensation was familiar to him, though he had grown unused to it. His body would adjust, probably, with enough practice and exposure. He assumed.
When he left the ruin-littered path and emerged from the little canyon that led out into the beach, Snow found Tidus throwing a blitzball around with Jassu.
"Hey!" Snow yelled, interrupting their round. They both showed surprise when they caught sight of him, with Jassu raising an eyebrow and Tidus' jaw falling slack.
Snow dropped the fire from his arm into his palm. "Guess what!"
He threw the fire.
Jassu leaped out of the way, hitting the ground and rolling a couple yards out of the way while Tidus scrambled out of range and prepared a spell of his own.
Snow pulled out lighting as Tidus threw up a protection spell that generated a translucent shield that rippled white in the air and blocked Snow's direct line of sight to him.
Snow released the bolt anyway.
Tidus pulled the shield against himself, causing it to move and snap to fit the form of his person as the lightning connected and a clap sounded with the impact. He started another spell.
Snow rushed in.
The green-tinged silhouette of a clock flashed briefly into view around Tidus' person, and he moved faster. Too fast for Snow to hit him.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Tidus said, dancing around him as green light flickered about him. "What brought this on?"
"You wanted me to learn how to control myself!" Snow fell into proper stance, summoning more energy from his core. "And you know what they say about practice!"
He threw down Quake.
Tidus yelped as the ground gave way beneath him and pillars of earth shot up from the ground. One pummeled him in the stomach and sent him flying in the air for a moment before he came crashing down.
He hit the sand face-first with an audible thud and groaned.
Snow walked over, placing his hands on his hips. "Who's the master, now?" he asked.
"I hate you!" Tidus rolled over onto his back. "I think you bruised my spleen!"
"That's what you get for-"
Tidus leapt back to his feet in one swift motion before throwing some white magic on himself that caused his skin to shimmer slightly. Snow moved to summon ice, but Tidus was too fast.
The little punk leapt in, grabbing Snow by the neck and throwing him to the ground.
Snow ate sand and the world spun in his eyes for a moment before he pushed himself back to his feet. "Hey!"
Tidus was faster. He jumped on Snow's back, wrapping his legs around Snow's abdomen and his arms around his neck before tightening the grip.
Snow saw what he was doing. So, he threw on Steelguard.
"What the-?"
Snow only had to straighten his back to force Tidus off again. Doing so, he may as well have flicked an ant off his back. He moved with such force and speed that he sent the other guy crashing into the ground with another thud.
"What is that?" Tidus scrambled back to his feet as Snow turned to face him.
"It's…" Snow paused, a golden glow fading from his person. "Oh, come on. I know this one."
"I should hope so," Jassu yelled from way over where he stood.
"Yeah." Tidus rubbed at his arm. "Geez."
"I got nothing." Snow let a gust of wind spin about his arm. "But I'm sure it'll come back to me."
Tidus, still moving with Haste, leapt at him. "Not if I take you out, first!"
Snow released the wind, causing Tidus to stumble in his way before light shimmered across his person again. Protect.
Tidus let out a cry and crashed into Snow, limbs locking around him. "Try it again!" he demanded. "I'm ready this time!"
Snow Steelguarded. The energy coursed through his system and he could swear his skin hardened into metal.
"Aha!" Tidus threw himself backward, testing Snow's strength. "There it is!"
Snow grunted, barely holding steady against the kid's dead weight, Tidus trying for all the world to bring him crashing into a heap.
With a shift in stance, Snow twisted and threw them both into the sand.
Tidus unlocked himself and scrambled away. Snow stumbled back and brushed sand from his face. Tidus hopped backward, keeping his eye on Snow.
"Okay, you two." Jassu stepped in between them. "Enough showing off."
Tidus looked between him and Snow for a moment before stilling and slapping his hands together. "I'd say my work here is done!"
Snow laughed. "This wasn't just you, kid."
"Lulu must be proud, ya?" Jassu gave him a skeptical look. "I guess I wasn't paying that much attention."
"I, uh, made a breakthrough." He tried to remember the moment when it all came back. "Yesterday."
Tidus snorted and wiped sweat from his brow. "You were bedridden yesterday."
"Oh, right." Snow thought back. "Huh. Must have been before the tournament, then." His memories told him that he got it from a different life, but that couldn't be right. He didn't know a place called "Cocoon."
"Hey," Tidus said. "Let's take a trip, huh? I've been dying, stuck here in Besaid for the past forever."
"Oi," Jassu said. "Watch yourself, man. It's only been a week."
"Still." Tidus gestured. "I wanna go to Baaj."
Snow crackled his knuckles. "Sure thing. I could use a good walk."
"Oh, it'll be more than a walk. Trust me on that one." Tidus started off. "We'll leave tomorrow!"
Chuami waited, sharpening her sword while Kurgum slept. The surgery was done, and all she could do was sit and hope that when he opened his eyes again, he would see and feel like normal again.
Chuami hated waiting. She spent years doing it when Kurgum made the stupid decision to apply for a Master Summoner from Bevelle to take him on as an apprentice.
Kurgum had gone through and completed all those stupid trials – many of which he still wouldn't talk to her about – and he couldn't even use that experience to defend himself against a bunch of tourists. Chuami wondered what those years even got him in the end – he danced smoother for it. So, what?
Kurgum stirred and Chuami almost dropped her sword when his eyes fluttered open and he looked around as if confused by his surroundings. Some of his bandages had been removed, but his face was still covered in creams, salves, and white cloth.
When he spoke, it came out as a raspy croak that sent Chuami snatching for the water. Kurgum accepted it with shaking hands. "Yuna…"
"No." Chuami touched his thin shoulder. "Don't talk." Especially not about her.
"But…" Kurgum took another sip. "She could have done it."
"You don't know that."
He looked at her with two eyes, though one had gone discolored and didn't focus her way. The skin around both was scabbed and torn. "She could have. The people listen to her, like the water."
Chuami scoffed, helping him drink. "The water doesn't say anything about how you compare to Senders like Yuna."
Kurgum took another sip, then struggled into a sitting position. "Maybe. But I only conjure magic tricks, while Yuna can communicate with and unite the people. I wonder… what would happen if two Senders danced at the same burial site?"
"I can't imagine it would make much of a difference."
"But-"
"No more of that." Chuami took the water away and leaned back. "Take it easy – thinking about Yuna and how she's 'better' won't help you get better. Especially not when your body needs to rest."
Kurgum's lip trembled at the mention and he looked up at the ceiling, eyes glistening. "They say my scars will never heal completely. And… my mind is damaged in some way. I haven't been able to cast anything since I arrived. And I space out sometimes."
"That's the medication," Chuami said. "It's known to cause temporary problems like inability to focus."
Kurgum tried to smile, but it brought a tear trickling out of the corner of his eye. "You're right," he said, voice thick. "It's probably the medication."
Kurgum loved his white magic. He loved to heal and make things better. Chuami felt her rage flare up inside her at the thought that he would never cast as well as he used to. He might never soothe another ache, nor heal another cut. His hands could go the rest of his life without channeling another spell, after spending his last one on her.
And on top of that, his left eye could never see again. His scars could last forever.
"I won't forgive them," she said, more to herself than Kurgum. "What they did was unpardonable."
"They were scared," Kurgum said. "They couldn't lose their loved ones a second time."
Chuami clenched a fist and dug her nails into her palms. "You can't excuse their actions so easily! They had no right! I never would have hurt someone because I wanted to see my mom again."
"Wouldn't you?" Kurgum coughed again and Chuami allowed him another sip of water. "I… I don't know if I would've been able to hold myself back."
Chuami held her tongue against a retort as Kurgum settled back into his sheets. She wouldn't have done this. Not to anyone.
Kurgum's breathing levelled out and his eyes slid closed. The room glowed softly with the light of the morning, and it lit Kurgum's pale face as if designating him among the ghostly dead. As if it agreed with the monsters from the Moonflow.
Well, Chuami thought. Maybe she wouldn't have done it to most anyone.
Her eyes lingered on the bandage covering the large gash in Kurgum's forehead before she took her sword from the desk and forced herself to finally look away. The room was bright, the cloth and sheets glowing white with the late afternoon sun. So calm and peaceful. And sickening.
She looked to Kurgum, whose restful breathing reminded her of how he would fall asleep outside when they were kids. "What I wouldn't give to see that mongrel one more time," she whispered, voice scratching against her throat. "And ram my sword down his miserable throat. The one that cast the first stone. You wouldn't be able to stop me then, would you?"
Chuami didn't want calm. She didn't want peaceful. She would find fire, and she would find chaos and she would rain it all down on the Moonflow riverside.
