Chapter 7: Sendings and Jungle Warfare

The S.S. Liki arrived in what was left of Kilika Harbor as the late-afternoon sun bathed everything in blood-colored light. Violent and harsh, the sunset was a fitting backdrop for the devastation of the little harbor village, and Charlie was trying her best to keep from weeping at the sight as their ship pulled up to one of the few remaining piers. She turned to the others to see how they were handling seeing such a disaster, and was surprised at their mutual expressions. With the exception of the enigmatic Kimahri, all wore looks of grim determination, mixed with a weary kind of sorrow, as if what happened to this island had happened many times over. As they stepped onto the dock, Charlie could not help but think, "They've seen this before…so many times that it doesn't affect them that much anymore. They'll help in any way they can, but in the depths of their souls, they'll be thinking 'Thank God it wasn't my home this time!' How could anyone stand living like this? It's just too horrible!"

Suddenly, Yuna's solemn voice snapped her out of her dark musings. "Greetings! I am the summoner Yuna, and I have come from the temple in Besaid."

As she performed the prayer gesture, the village headman and his wife approached. "M'lady summoner!" called the old woman.

Yuna seemed to know what the old woman wanted to ask, because she held up a hand and said, "If there is no other summoner here, then please allow me to perform the sending."

"Thanks be to ye!" replied the headman, his face shining with gratitude.

"Our loved ones…we feared they would become fiends!" his wife sobbed.

"Please, take me to them."

"What the hell is a sending?" Charlie wondered as Yuna and the two elders walked away, and Wakka stood beside her. "We'll see what we can do to help in town," he told her, before leaving with the Aurochs.

Now alone, the young woman wandered about the remains of the village, until she ran into a crowd standing around a cluster of shrouded bodies floating in the water. Yuna was talking to the village headman, with Kimahri impassively standing behind her. Finally, Charlene spotted Lulu standing in the back of the crowd, so she trotted over and joined her. "So…what's a sending?" she asked.

The black mage stared at her incredulously for a moment, but then sighed, "You truly are clueless…are you sure it's just your memory that's the problem?"

"Gee, sorry I asked!" Charlie snapped, all the while biting down the savage retort that burned in her mind. "Since I'm so incredibly STUPID, I guess I'll just leave the genius all by her lonesome!"

The angry girl started to storm off, but then Lulu, in a flat voice, said, "The dead need guidance."

Charlie stopped and turned around. "Are you talking to me?"

The mage's wine-colored gaze turned to her, and she asked, "You asked me a question, did you not?" When Charlie nodded, she continued to speak. "Filled with grief over their own death, the dead refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living, and in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living. The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."

"The summoners do this?"

Lulu nodded, and turned her attention back to her charge. Yuna, now barefooted, did the prayer again, before picking up her staff and walking out onto the water as if it were a floor. "Holy shit, it's a female Jesus!" Charlie breathed, her eyes as round as dinner plates at what she was seeing.

Once Yuna reached the center of the shrouded forms of the dead, she twirled her staff around and began to dance. The young summoner spun about with the grace of a ballerina, her staff whirling all the while, and then pyreflies swarmed up out of the corpses to join her! The little opalescent lights spun and pulsed in time to Yuna's dance, emitting an eerie hum that, to Charlie, sounded a lot like whale-song. Suddenly, all the braziers in the vicinity flared in unison, and the flames became a ghostly blue color as a geyser of water lifted the still-dancing summoner into the air. Many of the people on the pier burst into uncontrollable tears as Yuna finished her dance and the pyreflies vanished. Finally, she stepped back onto the dock, and Charlene, still awestruck, said, "It must be really hard for her."

"Yuna chose her own path," Lulu replied, sedately walking away. "She knew from the beginning what it meant. All we can do is protect her along the way, until the end."

"What's the end?"

Suddenly, the young woman was aware that everyone was staring at her, and then the black mage let out another disgusted sigh. "Until she defeats Sin."

Yuna ran up to Lulu, the tracks of tears still evident on her face, and said, "I hope…I hope I did okay."

In a surprising display of affection, the female guardian hugged her charge. "You did very well! They've reached the Farplane by now, but…no more tears next time, hm?"

As the crowd dissipated and darkness fell, Charlie stood on the pier, with only her disturbed thoughts for company. "The Farplane…it must be Spira's equivalent of the afterlife. I'm not from Spira, though, so if I died, then would Yuna be able to send me, or would I be trapped here forever, roaming the world in the form of a mindless monster? Wait, what am I thinking? I'm NOT going to die here! I'm going to find out how to get the hell back to my own world, where the only monsters I have to worry about are the human ones…not that it's much better."

The next day, Charlie emerged from her room at the inn and looked around, wondering where the others could be. "Hmm…I guess they're all outside."

Heading out the door, the young woman promptly ran into Datto, one of the Aurochs. "You awake?" he asked, curiously staring at her.

"Nope, I'm sleepwalking and came out here for a stroll! Idiot." Charlene fought down the urge to scream in frustration. "Yeah, I'm up now."

"Cap'n Wakka's waitin' for you!" he said before running off continue helping rebuild the village.

Alone again, Charlie wandered through the village, looking for the others, when she ran into one of the men from the Liki. He looked like he was completely lost, and when he finally noticed her staring at him, he said, "I don't know if it's the toxin, but I can't remember anything, like my name, or my house… I thought that someone might notice me and help me out if I walked around, but no one's paying any attention. I guess everyone has their own problems to worry about."

Feeling sorry for the poor man, Charlie kindly pointed him in the direction of one of the few remaining houses, and said, "I think they're treating people with toxin sickness in there."

"Oh…thank you," the afflicted stranger vaguely replied.

After he wandered off again, Charlene continued her search for Wakka, and finally found him overseeing the rest of the Aurochs as they worked on repairing one of the piers. "Ah, there you are!" he said, before turning to the rest of the team. "Besaid Aurochs! Huddle!"

All of them rushed over, and their captain said, "On to the temple, where we pray for victory!"

As they ran off, he turned to Charlie and saw the confused look on her face. "High Summoner Ohalland used to live in the Kilika Temple here," he told her. "Yep, Lord Ohalland was once a great blitzer, you know?"

The two of them started walking, and after a period of silence, she asked, "Wakka…praying for victory is great and all…but is really okay?"

"Something wrong with enjoying blitzball?"

"Well…this isn't really a good time, is it?"

"This is the only time!" he exclaimed, his voice full of passion. "The players fight with all their strength; the fans cheer for their favorite team. They forget pain, suffering…only the game matters! That's why blitz has been around for so long, least that's what I think."

"Okay." Charlie wasn't sure what to say.

Wakka smiled at her. "Let's play…and win! Right?"

"Right, Chief!" she saluted him impishly.

The blitzer's grin widened, and then he pointed at the dense jungle before them. "Temple's beyond the jungle there, so let's go!"

Charlie and Wakka arrived in the jungle a few minutes later, and Lulu, Yuna, and Kimahri were standing a few feet away from a nearby Life Spring, out in the middle of the path. The mage and the summoner wore odd expressions, while the Ronso looked ominous, as usual. The blitzer saw the troubled look on the female guardian's face, and said, "What's up?"

Lulu walked up to Charlie, her garnet eyes cool. "Yuna's saying she wants you with us."

Wakka whipped around to stare incredulously at the young summoner. "Huh?"

Yuna turned her two-colored gaze to her new companion. "I want to ask you to be my guardian."

Suddenly, it seemed like the entire universe just stopped in its tracks. "What? Me, a guardian? She must be out of her goddamned mind! Everyone in Spira must be stark raving mad!" Before Charlie could say anything, however, time started again, and Wakka practically shrieked, "Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya? She may be pretty good with a blitzball, but up against fiends, she's still a newbie."

She turned back to the blitzer, and said, "Not a guardian, then…I just want her nearby. I feel that we need to stay close to her, but I'm not sure why."

Charlie gave Yuna a strange look, not really knowing what to think. "What are you talking about?"

"It's just that, well…"

"We're all going to the temple anyway," Lulu interrupted as she strode by. "Can't this wait till later?"

Yuna nodded, and then turned back to Charlie and bowed. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I shouldn't have…"

"You don't have to do that. I'm just really confused right now."

"My apologies."

Then Kimahri walked up, silent as always, and pointed in the direction of the temple, effectively ending the discussion. They pushed their way through the dense jungle cautiously, fighting various fiends along the way, but they finally emerged on a rickety old bridge. Looming at the other end of it was a giant flower with bright red petals and a pair of long, clawed vines that gently waved back and forth in the air. "What is that?" Charlie asked Wakka.

Before the blitzer could answer, Gatta rushed toward them and said, "Company, halt!"

Luzzu then walked up and pointed at the big flower, and said, "The fiend before us is Ochu, Lord of the Wood! We've had trouble with this one before. Remember, discretion is the better part of valor."

The two Crusaders, their warning finished, stepped to one side as the group decided what to do next. "I suppose we could just take the long way around," Wakka suggested.

"Wouldn't that make the trip five times longer, though?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Why don't we let Yuna decide," Lulu said, turning to the silent summoner.

Yuna stared uneasily at the Ochu for a long moment, but finally decided, "We will fight."

"Yeah!" Charlie cried, striking a warlike pose. "It's just a big flower, so how hard could it be?"

"Me and my big friggin' mouth!" the young woman mentally growled a little while later, hissing with pain as the green fires of poison lanced through her once again. She had been careless during their fight with the Ochu, and now there was a long gash on her back, oozing venom throughout her system. Another pulse of pain surged through Charlene, driving her to her knees, and she tried to bite back a shriek, but it still escaped in the form of a whimper and interrupted the others as they conversed with Luzzu and Gatta about the fight.

"Hey, you okay?" Wakka inquired, rushing over to check on her.

Charlie made a rather unflattering comment as she tried to get up, but suddenly, Luzzu stopped her. "Don't try to move," he commanded. "Ochu poison is a sure way to get to the Farplane, fast, and you'll only make it worse if you move."

"Idiot!" she berated herself. "It figures that you would go off and pull some stupid stunt that shows everyone how useless you are!"

Just then, a pale, multihued light welled up around her, and the burning sensation of the poison subsided. Confused, the young woman got to her feet and turned to stare at Yuna. "What did you just do?"

"Esuna," the Lulu explained as the summoner blushed embarrassedly. "It's not a powerful spell, but it's useful against poison and other negative effects, if you treat them quickly enough."

"Oh." Charlie's face burned with shame, and she said, "I'm sorry I caused trouble for everyone."

"No, it's okay!" Yuna reassured her. "If you hadn't pushed me out of the way, it would have gotten me, instead."

"Sir, we should fight, too!" Gatta exclaimed.

"We'll get our chance soon enough," Luzzu told him.

Then, then the two Crusaders walked away, the younger one singing a battle song as they left. "We should get going, ya?" Wakka said, looking up at the sky. "We don't wanna have to come back through here after nightfall."

The rest of their journey through the woods was full of subdued silence, since Charlie was still embarrassed about her run-in with the Ochu. "Why did I do such a crazy thing back there?" she wondered, while warily eyeing the jungle around her. "I could've gotten myself killed doing that!"

"You did it because you like these people," whispered a niggling little voice in the back of her head. "You want to be friends with these people, you just won't admit it!"

"SHUT UP!" she hissed back, "Yeah, I like these people, but I can't be friends with them…they'll just get hurt in the end."

Suddenly, the little voice fell silent, and Charlie realized that they had stopped at the base of a large series of stone stairs. The Aurochs started stretching, and Wakka pointed at the steps. "These stone steps have a history, you know?" he said.

Charlene didn't know, but she didn't say anything, so the blitzer continued to speak. "Yep, Lord Ohalland trained here at his peak."

Then, the rest of the team chuckled, and Charlie turned to look at them. "You guys want to race?"

The Aurochs nodded in unison and quickly formed a line. The young woman took her place at the end of it, and Wakka said, "Yuna, if you would."

The summoner hurried to one side of the stairs and raised her hands, her eyes dancing with mischief. "Ready?"

Then, without another word, Yuna turned and rushed up the stairs with a giggle. The Aurochs looked surprised for a moment, but then took off after her, with their coach not far behind them, yelling, "Hey! Hey!"

Charlene started to follow them, but stopped when she heard a loud roar from above. Then the Aurochs, minus Wakka, ran back down the stairs, their eyes full of fear. "L-look out!" one of them cried as he rushed past.

Wakka appeared at the top of the stairs, blitzball in hand, and shouted, "Everyone, quick! Sinspawn!"

Before Charlie could stop to wonder what a "Sinspawn" was, Lulu and Kimahri surged past, and she ran to catch up. The three of them reached the top of the stairs, when the floor near the next set of stairs erupted, and a huge, grayish-brown dome emerged from the hole in the pavement. Then, a pair of green, hand-like tentacles grew out of the floor behind the group, effectively cutting off their only means of escape. "This is just great!" Charlie complained as she drew her sword.

The young woman whacked the dome with a clumsy overhand strike, but her blade just bounced off the peculiar creature as if it were made of rubber. "What the…hey, my sword didn't work!" she yelled.

Then, in retaliation, one of the tentacles wrapped around Charlie's ankle and lifted her high into the air, waving her about like a rag doll! The ride was making her dizzy, but she managed to hack off one of the "fingers", and the tentacle dropped her, but not before spraying dark green fluid all over her. "Oh God, that is just SO gross!" she groaned.

Meanwhile, Wakka and Kimahri battled the other tentacle as it tried to snake past them and grab Yuna. "Take that!" the blitzer yelled, smashing another "finger" with the blitzball, while the Ronso stabbed the base of it with his spear.

At the same time, Lulu cast various black spells at the dome, but they were no more effective than the weapons the rest of the group used, so she then turned around and assisted Charlie, who chopped away at her own tentacle as if it were a tree. Finally, another loud roar came from the dome as the injured appendages withdrew into the ground. Suddenly, the weird monstrosity opened up, and a hideous sight greeted the gang. It looked like a cross between a bug and a plant, with bulbous eyes, an insect-like mouth, and another pair of vine-like tentacles, which it waved around as it roared at its would-be slayers. "Damn, that thing's ugly!" Charlie yelled.

Just then, the revolting Sinspawn spat a huge glob of yellowish goo at Wakka, but he managed to evade the disgusting projectile. It struck the pavement with a nasty splat, and then hissed as it slowly ate its way through the stone. "Don't let any of that touch you!" Lulu warned everybody. "It's like acid, and it will burn you if it gets on you!"

The ugly creature's eyes glowed blue as it waved its tentacles in the air, and a huge wave of water erupted from nowhere, swamping the party and knocking them to the ground. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, it reached out, grabbed Yuna around the waist, and then tried to eat her! The summoner still had her staff in her hands, however, and she jabbed the undecorated end of it directly into the fiend's left eye. It let out a terrible, ear-piercing scream as it dropped its prey, and lashed about wildly in pain. Kimahri, without missing a beat, rushed forward and plunged his spear into the monster's throat, and then began jerking it left and right, widening the wound and spraying more green "blood" everywhere.

Finally, the creature let out one last scream and died as the Ronso backed away, and then it dissolved into a huge cloud of pyreflies, leaving behind nothing but green bloodstains and ruined pavement. Charlie leaned forward, hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath as the Aurochs returned to the scene. "Jesus friggin' Christ!" she swore between pants.

"Sorry about that!" Wakka laughed. "I hoped to break you in a little slower."

"Being a guardian's tiring!"

"Hey, you handled yourself pretty well. You got talent."

"Yeah right, that's why I got thrown all over the place!" she scoffed. "Anyway, what the hell are these 'Sinspawn' thingies?"

"Fiends," Lulu replied, going into "teacher mode". "They fall from Sin's body, and are left behind in its wake."

"Leave 'em alone and Sin comes back for 'em, so you gotta be quick!" Wakka added as they walked up the stairs. Then, as if remembering something, he stopped walking and asked, "So, Charlie…uh…they got fiends in Zanarkand, too?"

The memories of Auron, the bug-scales, and the giant blue tentacle flashed through her mind. "Yes, they do," she quietly replied.

The rest of the group stopped, and Charlie turned around to stare at her companion. "Wait a minute! Since when have you believed me about Zanarkand?" she demanded.

The blitzer didn't look at her. "I been thinking…maybe people Sin gets to don't die. Maybe Sin carries 'em through time…like a thousand years through time, and then one day, maybe they just pop back, see?"

"Or maybe, Sin just tosses them off someplace where they don't belong." Charlene opened her mouth to speak, but then Lulu made a disgusted sigh and interrupted her. "Amazing, simply amazing," the mage said, her crimson eyes flashing furiously at Wakka. "You make up one theory after another, refusing to face the simple truth: Sin didn't TAKE Chappu anywhere. Sin crushed him and left him on the Djose shore! Your brother won't just pop back, Wakka."

She stormed off, but then stopped when she was halfway up the stairs, and said, "Oh, and one more thing: no matter how much you want it, no one can take Chappu's place. No one can replace Sir Jecht, for that matter, and there's no replacement for Lord Braska, either. It's pointless to think about it…and sad."

Lulu stalked away, and Yuna and Kimahri followed her, leaving Charlie and Wakka alone. The blitzer sat silently on the steps for one long moment, while the young woman tried to figure out what to say to him. Suddenly, he punched the ground beside him, and sorrowfully said, "I…I could never be what Chappu was."

"Wakka…I…" Charlie started to say, but stopped when he got up.

"Well, stuff happens," he said, walking away. "Best not to worry."

The young woman watched him leave, but finally fell into step behind him, with only her own thoughts for company. "Poor Wakka! Does he always catch that much hell from Lulu? I know it's none of my business, but he doesn't deserve that…not really." Then she smacked herself in the forehead, and sighed. "Damn it, Charlie, don't let yourself get too involved with these people! You don't want them to end up like Marcus, do you? Maybe…it'd just be better if I were alone…"