Chapter 8: The Cause

They had stayed up pretty late the night before, helping the citizens of the town. Piecing back together what they could of their former lives. Doing make-shift repairs to the doc. Jr. had bucked with Tidus, yet again that night. He was beginning to wonder why the hell the inns kept placing them together. Jr. barely removed the crust from his eyes when one of the blitz ball players barged in.

"HEYY!" He shouted, causing Tidus to practically leap from his sheets. "You awake? Cap'n Wakka's out there waiting for you! You better get goin'!" with that, the pudgy team member exited the building.

"Sheesh… he didn't have to wake us up that way." Tidus complained, running his fingers through his blonde spiked locks. He shook his head in an attempt to erase the fog left over from the night before.

"Well, you heard the man, let's see what Wakka wants!" Jr. stretched and was out the door, well ahead of Tidus.

When Shion awoke the morning after, the port was bright and sunny. The weather was beautiful- if this were some joyful pleasure cruise, perhaps Shion would visit the peer or dine on some seafood. But it wasn't, what was happening was real now. People had died in front of her eyes, and the feeling of this world was finally starting to set in.

She must have slept late- the light poured through the windows of the inn like it was nearing noon. MOMO and Yuna were gone, she had shared a room with them the previous night. She figured that MOMO would be continuing her aide, and perhaps Yuna was out doing whatever it was that summoners do. Shion figured that it must be time to start the day, although these people didn't seem to keep time very well. As she bent over to stretch, she saw her modest brown notebook and classic fountain pen sitting on the foot of her bed. Now would be as good a time as any to catch up on her dairy. She wasn't deterred by it anymore- she was still a scientist and still needed to record this strange phenomena.

This time she kept her notes simple: Gnosis like creature attacked port, many died. Summoner performs funeral-like ritual on water.

She could have gone further, but something tall, blue, and elegant distracted her. She walked in, as composed, graceful and robotic as ever. Her red eyes demanded Shion's every attention, so much it made the woman wonder how the entity would ever fit in here. The android looked as if something important were weighing on her hard-drive.

"Shion, I have completed a report on last night's events."


They ran and met Wakka at the dock. Wakka talked mainly to Tidus, with his team. Something about some Lord O'hollered who was a blitz ball player or something- Jr. hadn't paid too much attention to it all, except for the part when the yellow pant's group all shouted "VICTORY" six or seven times. That startled him a tad.

"Err Wakka," Tidus started, "praying for victory is good and all… but is this right?" Tidus had a pretty good point. Why would they pray for that when there were so many other things they could pray for? Jr. would probably pray to go home, but yet, in an odd way he was still rather interested and intrigued by the world. "What I mean to say is… is this really the time?" Tidus finished, his voice was soft as he leaned toward Wakka, almost as if he were speaking of taboo.

"This is the only time! 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." Wakka seemed so excited for his game.

"Eh, whatever you guys say. Let's just go already!" Jr. didn't really understand this whole blitz ball thing, and he was looking forward to seeing what all of this was about. But with that remark, Wakka led them to the woods.

It was an overgrown area. It reminded Jr. of their walk to Besaid on their first day here. He wasn't really sure where they were going; he just went with it, mainly because he wasn't familiar, but also because he was up for adventure. It was a bit of a walk before he did see some known faces up ahead, the summoner's party, and MOMO- who, as usual was accompanied by her own guardian. The three women looked as if they were chatting over something important, whist Kimahri and Ziggy watched eyes alert and protective.

Wakka made a casual stroll over to Lulu, "Er… what's up?" he tried his very best to be nonchalant. Tidus and Jr. were a little behind Wakka, careful to keep distance. This didn't seem to keep Lulu from making her approach.

"She's saying she wants you with us." She explained, more so to Tidus than to the ginger beside him.

"Wait… huh?" The blonde was clueless. Nevertheless, Yuna made a gentle promenade to them and gave the widest smile they had seen yet from her.

"I want to ask you to be my guardian." She gave quite a blissful aura. But she was entirely serious.

"Yuna! What? This is no times for jokes, ya?" Wakka, on the other hand, seemed very, very surprised. "He may be a blitz ball whiz kid, but up against fiends, he's a newbie."

"Not a guardian, then..." Yuna's smile faded, and her rosey cheeks showed that she was slightly embarrassed. "I just want him nearby."

"Wait one second here!" Jr. made sure to stare right into the summoner's gaze, "You want him to be a guardian but not me? Trust me Yuna, I know way more about combat than this guy ever will." He was upset that Blondie was so suddenly invited. He wasn't sure why, though. Maybe he was superior. Maybe he was stronger, and smarter. Maybe, just maybe he was a wee bit jealous, and wanted to be more impressive than that goof.

"Foolish child!" Lulu placed her hand on her forehead, voice stern as usual, "I am extremely weary at the thought of even allowing him, to be Yuna's guardian. Must less a child such as you. You are lost, you may travel with us, but at your age, you are unfit to even consider guardianship."

The dragon was angry now. He wasn't used to being so, underestimated. Back home even though the citizens of the foundation saw him as the unusually short love child of Gaignun Kukai, his closest friends knew what he was capable of and allowed him to take on the proper role of a twenty-seven year old man. So, as much as he wanted to curse and shout, he decided to be the better person for once and position himself beside MOMO and Ziggy- two people who knew very well his identity and respected him for it.

"Jr., don't get mad at her… she's just trying to protect you…" MOMO whispered trying to calm the ginger-boy-man down.

"MOMO, that's the whole point. I don't need protection. That kid needs it more than I do. And how the hell could the standards of 'guardianship' be so damn high? Hell, that guy throws balls at monsters." Jr. folded his arms in sheer exasperation. "Balls! Common, we both know that bullets are more powerful than balls any day."

MOMO just smiled to him. She didn't want him to lose his cool over something so trivial. It was Yuna's choice- whoever she picked to be her guardians were her guardians. In her opinion this wasn't some sort of contest to be won. Too bad Jr. didn't see it that way.


"What does all of that mean, KOS-MOS?" Shion rightfully questioned meeting her daughters ruby gaze.

"It means," chaos came in. He must have been eavesdropping, "it means Sin is the same gnosis that brought us here."

"chaos?" Shion gasped. None of this made sense at all- it was as if they were in some backward topsy-turvy world where left was right and right was left.

"That is correct Shion, I have confirmed that the creature we battled last night, known commonly as Sin, is indeed the same anomaly that we fought in the Miltian star cluster." KOS-MOS was always matter-of-fact. The news didn't shock or disturb her at all. She didn't comprehend the ebb and flow of fate like a human- she only saw the present and took the proper action for the moment. Shion wondered what it might be like, to be KOS-MOS, to have no fear, no worry- to be carefree yet serious and ambitious. It was something beyond human comprehension.

"Chaos, what does that mean, what do we do with this information?" Shion asked, after taking a moment to gather the scientific, rational side of her brain. "Should we tell Yuna and the others?"

"Well Shion," chaos streatched into his normal casual pose, "let's think about it. We have KOS-MOS, correct? If Sin is indeed a gnosis, I believe fate brought us here to destroy it. You witnessed what happened yesterday. We have been brought here, to prevent such terrible things from happening again- I think anyway." Chaos took a breath and closed his eyes for but a second- he was thinking. About what Shion had no idea. Chaos was always one step ahead of everyone, he always seemed to know what was going on- it was incredible, miraculous even. It was one of his special gifts "it's just something I can do" he always said.

"As for Yuna, and the other localities," he started again, "I believe its best they not know what's really going on. Not yet anyway. The truth will reveal its self in time and in the proper way. We mustn't do anything to offend them, or their god."

"You're absolutely right chaos!" Shion felt like giving the seraph a cuddle, that was almost the perfect way to make sense of everything- almost, "I think- I think that's exactly why we're here. Come to think of it, Nephilm said something about Zanarkand and-"her dream came back to her. She was alone, she was afraid, and the world was white. Go to Zanarkand. Find yourself. Were the words of the mysterious angel. That was what she still couldn't make sense of… if they were here to kill Sin, then why was Nephilm so interpersonal? "Anyway we should probably at least let our friends know."

"Yes." Chaos nodded, "I think MOMO, Ziggy, and Jr. went with Yuna. And Allen was rebuilding the pier."

"And my brother?" Shion perked her head to the side.

Chaos shook his head in a funny way and sighed, "I think I saw him at the hotel bar on my way up."


The summoner's party, give or take some additions, were now well on their way to the temple. They had been romping through the jungle path for nearly an hour fighting any fiends they came across in the name of her lady summoner. Jr. was especially flamboyant in his style. His Makarovs were hot in battle today, shooting fiends left and right, sending each soul to the farplane in high style. He'd even mix in kicks and flips whenever possible.

MOMO was annoyed. Why was he trying so hard to impress her, to impress them? He knew who he was, so what was up with the complex? She didn't understand all that well, but her databank told her it was a guy thing. She realized that he must be getting tired of being treated like some inadequate child. That she could understand, but what she couldn't understand was why he was jealous of Tidus' perspective guardianship. If Tidus wants to help- if Yuna wants him to help- then that's great. Maybe if they stuck around a little longer, they'd be invited too.

"Whoops… sorry!" The redhead muttered, slightly embarrassed. It was apparent by the bullet holes that Jr. had missed the miniature Ochu, and instead hit Waka's ball, then a tree. "Hey quit staring, I don't miss that often."

Everyone was glaring at him- as if Ziggy, Kimarhi and Lulu's glares weren't piercing enough!

"You know, children shouldn't carry such devices…" Lulu shook her head in disapproval, "What will it be next, I or Yuna? Perhaps Waka would be a nice target, or your friend." Lulu continued in a malevolently sarcastic tone. Jr. just gave a rebellious glower.

"She's right you know, you should be more careful." Ziggy agreed, which was shortly followed by a grunt from Kimarhi and a nod from Waka who was still mortified by the loss of his lucky blitz ball.

Yuna however giggled, "It's ok you know! No one is hurt, he's only trying to do his best!" she smiled and giggled again, "I appreciate every bit of it. Besides, shouldn't we hurry to the temple?" Yuna pointed her dainty finger at the forthcoming stairway.

"Yeah! You're right, let's just get moving!" With that Jr. grabbed MOMO's hand and they dashed toward the staircase, thankful for Yuna's clever change of subject.


"JIN UZUKI!" Shion called as she approached the hotel bar, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING SLACKING OFF?!" Jin was greeted by a surprise thump on the head and an impending chastening from his sister. "It couldn't be later than two in the noon, and you're drinking aren't you?" Jin panted and stared up at his little sis, wondering the reason for the sudden ambush. The android and the seraph just observed.

"No, I'm not drinking see?" He let her sniff the strange bottle with an unreadable label, and no alcoholic sent could be found. "I was just getting some lunch. A man's gotta eat you know? Besides you didn't have to hit me like that, Shion. " Jin rubbed the back of his head and gave her a semi-serious face. "It isn't like you have room to talk, Ms. Sleeping Beauty."

Shion huffed and folded her arms, "I was up later than you were last night! Besides, that's not why we wanted to speak with you. We have a very important discovery to discuss."

Just then Allen came through the door- worn out and hand bandaged. "Jin did you order the lun- Ohh hi chief! What are you doing here?" He asked, trying to be nonchalant.

Instead of his beloved chief, chaos answered, "We were just about to tell Jin about the data KOS-MOS compiled last night."

"Ohh can I see?" Shion handed him her computer, with the data file on screen. "Wow, Sin is made of imaginary space? What does this mean, chief?"

"It means Sin is a gnosis Allen." Bluntly answered the chief, quickly putting her computer away before someone noticed, "chaos thinks that if it's indeed a gnosis, we should try and use KOS-MOS to destroy it. Do you think her tertiary weapons system would do it?"

"Yeah, chief that's a great idea. But what if the villagers notice?"

"It wouldn't matter. If we destroyed it they would have to be grateful, right? I'm sure Yuna and her friends would be."

Just then Jin rose from his bar stool, "This is true Shion, but if Sin is the same gnosis that brought us here, with the ES' destroyed," Jin's tone was philosophical and thoughtful as usual as he explained, "vanquishing it may also take our only chance of going home. Not that I would mind. I could get used to living here."

"Jin, I understand that but couldn't riding that thing be dangerous anyway? I think we'd die trying to ride it. Waka said Tidus was one of the lucky ones." Here, Shion made a good point. It was only yesterday that they had witnessed the death that was Sin, and the havoc it wreaks. And, although Tidus was indeed lucky, he was still quite a wreck himself.

"So… uhh… what's the plan guys?" Allen managed to ask, caught in the middle between the two points. He didn't want to live there forever, but he certainly didn't see himself riding that thing.

"I belive," chaos began, "I believe the summoner's are trying to destroy Sin anyway. Perhaps we should stay with Yuna until the time is right to make our move." Everyone, minus KOS-MOS nodded their heads in agreement, "What about you KOS-MOS? Is that fine with you?" The angel-boy smiled at her.

"Anywhere Shion goes, I will go. It is my primary objective."


"Ohhh Lord Ohalland, guide our feet." Waka bowed before a giant statue of a man bearing a rod. The others were waiting for him to finish his victory prayer. Oddly enough it seemed Tidus joined him this time. It must have had something to do with that blitz ball game they're crazy about.

Suddenly, they felt the vibration of the opening of the cloister doors. There exited a tall, tan, slender and scantily clad woman and her single guardian- stout broad man. She was making a quick saunter toward Yuna and her jumble of guardians.

"A summoner, are you?" Her voice was nasally, with an air of arrogance and hostility.

"My name is Yuna-- from the Isle of Besaid."

"Dona." Dona introduced, bluntly. "So, you're High Summoner Braska's daughter. That's quite a name to live up to." Dona attempted to make conversation it seemed, but then she turned to see the plethora of people who were accompanying her fellow summoner. "My, my, my...And all these people are your guardians? My, what a rabble! As I recall, Lord Braska had only two guardians. Quality over quantity, my dear. Whatever were you thinking? I have need of only one guardian. Right, Barthello?" And the broad man, now assumed to be named Barthello, gave a nod and a grunt. Dona's arrogance seemed to anger Kimarhi, and the indigo lion gave her single guardian the evil eye.

"I only have as many guardians as there are people I can trust. I trust them all with my life! To have so many guardians is a joy, and an honor! Even more so than being my father's daughter!" Yuna exclaimed, and explained, holding her ground, "Of course, I would never think of questioning your ways, either. So, Lady Dona, I ask of you: please leave us in peace." And she held it quite politely too.

"Ughh! You do what you want. Barthello, we're leaving." And Dona and her guardian left the building.

"Waita go Yuna!" Jr. said gleefully, giving Yuna an elbow bump. "You did great!"

"Ohh? What did I do?" Yuna blushed, slightly embarrassed and wondering why the little man was congratulating her.

"You sure told her! And I bet when you get Sin she'll be so jealous! Haha I can't wait to see the look on her face." Jr. snickered back, "That'll be great! Of course, you'll probably still; I don't know thank her for something she didn't do or something. You need to work on that."

"Heheh yeah. You're right." Yuna gathered herself and gave a strange emotion, Jr. didn't seem to notice, neither did Tidus, but the other guardians knew very well her thoughts.

After a moment, they all allocated themselves to the cloister door. They stepped one by one on the mystic elevator; each guardian gave their own brand of confidence.

"The fayth is below. Let's do it yah!" Waka said.

"But first, the Cloister of Trials. Kimahri? Wakka? Ready?" said Lulu. The two each gave a nod.

"Strength, everyone!" Yuna encouraged, showing a Yevon sign, and a bit of strength of her own.

Tidus attempted to step on the device, and join the Yevonite crew, but Kimarhi put that to an end before it started.

"Wha? Hey, what gives?" Tidus rightfully questioned as he scraped himself from the floor.

"You're not a guardian yet." Lulu gave her answer. This made Jr. smile a little inside.

"Um... We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Yuna nervously reassured Tidus and her other non-guardian friends.

"Oh, sure! Soon like 'tomorrow' soon, I bet!" Tidus shouted as the platform was making it's decent.

"When do you think you'll be back?" MOMO added.

"As soon as we can ok? Don't worry!" Yuna shouted as the platform faded away.

MOMO sighed and began to walk down the steps, Ziggy met her half way- "It's ok MOMO I'll take you back to the village. We need to check on Shion and the others anyway, and I bet they would like your help."

"Ok Ziggy, let's go." She looked upward at Jr. and waved, "I'll see you later ok!"

"Alright MOMO, we'll meet you back in a while. Have fun!" Jr. waved back and the realian and cyborg duo left the temple. "Man Tidus, that Donna's a bitch ain't she?" Jr. leaned against the column and made himself comfortable.

"Yeah, I agree. She didn't have the right to harass Yuna like that."

"Hm. Well when I'm a guardian I'm ganna do way better than that muscle head. All brawn and no brains that guy is."

Tidus nodded to that, but then realized the other implication. "Hey since when were you ganna be a guardian?"

"Since I said so." Jr. taunted, "Trust me, things like this don't get past me so easy."

"Is that so?" Tidus took offense to that implied comment, "Well I still think you're a midget."

"Why you-"the midget was about to begin his usual string of profanities, but was interrupted by someone tall, dark and snooty.

"Where's Yuna?" She asked, the particular angle of her head gave off an air of superiority.

"She's down there. Why do you want to know?" Jr. instead unleashed a wee bit of that energy on her in his voice.

"Humph. Then why are you here, boy?"

"Well you see," Instead Tidus answered, "We're not guardians, so we're not supposed to go in there. Right?"

"Ohh not guardians you say?" she asked, giving a glance over to Barthello, who before they knew it had shoved Tidus down the shaft.

"Hey what do you-"But it was too late. Jr. had found himself on the platform before he could finish. And by the hand of Dona, no less.

"Ow! Hey! What's the big idea?" Tidus shouted as the platform began another decent.

"Just a little game." Dona explained, long elegant body looming over the shaft.

"DAMN BITCH! You planned this all along!" But neither of them paid any mind to Jr. who was raising his fist and shouting the usual string he was going to give Tidus, but instead put them to a worthier cause. "HEY you come back here! You're ganna pay for this! AHH SHIT."

"This is bad, really bad." Gulped Tidus, in an attempt to remain calm.

"Ohh by the way, that's no way to talk to her lady summoner, boy." Was the last thing they heard before the elevator reached the bottom.

"Only guardians allowed, and I'm sure no guardian." Tidus arose from the platform and stretched. "Well, I guess it's too late now."

"Yeah you bet it is." Jr. followed suit, "Man, I can't believe I let my guard down to her. Damnit!"

"Hey it's not your fault. You should blame your short stature." Tidus picked, trying to lighten the air, (but he should have known better).

"WHY YOU-"Jr.'s comeback was interrupted yet again, but this time by the rumbling of the shaft.

The boys turned their head, preparing for more Dona brand torment. But instead they were pleasantly surprised to see someone short and pink, rather than tall and dark.

"Hey MOMO? Why are you here, didn't you go with Ziggy?" Jr. asked, utterly shocked at her appearance. Why would Ziggy let her in? Did she beg to come back? Did Dona push her too when she came?

"I ditched Ziggy to check on you!" The two boys' jaws dropped. "He got distracted talking to some fighting team, and when I saw Dona push you I was worried, so I had to come."

"MOMO, you don't need to worry about us, we can take care of ourselves." Jr.'s face became as red as his hair, "Besides, won't the old man be pissed when he finds out you're gone."

MOMO gave a curtsy, and pet the ruffles in her pink skirt, "Don't worry he won't get too mad. Besides, I can take care of myself, Jr."

"Alright MOMO you can come!" Said Tidus, cheerily, "But you stay beside us and don't get lost ok!"

MOMO gave a wink, "As I just said Tidus, I can take care of myself. Now, what can I do to help?"

In a cloister of trials, a 100-series is a handy thing to have. Tidus was amazed by MOMO's ability to figure out what spheres went where. With her help, the "trial" passed by with ease. They pretty much left MOMO too her work, which she enjoyed doing very much.

She remarked that they were just like the test "daddy" used to give her and her "sisters" to judge each model's analyzation abilities. Although Tidus had no Earthly, Miltialy, or Spira-y idea what that was supposed to mean, he certainly appreciated her speed and accuracy.

Before long, the three had caught up with Yuna's other guardians, whom were waiting outside the fayth.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Panicked Waka when he caught sight of the three, his hand met his face.

"It was Dona and that big muscle head man!" Explained Tidus before Waka could elaborate further. It was obvious they were angry. MOMO hid behind Jr., just a little partly out of shame, and a little from fear. She hadn't been pushed, she came down herself.

"Yuna will be the one to suffer the consequences!" Lulu yelled, in a furious tone they hadn't heard before.

"What do you mean? What consequences?" Asked MOMO, a little bit worried now.

"She could be excommunicated!" Panicked Wakka some more.

"Don't worry Waka we wouldn't let them do that to her." Jr. told, folding placing a hand on Wakka's arm. "We'd have to make sure the excommunicated Dona first."

Waka removed Jr.'s hand and spoke in a more serious tone than usual. "Ugh… Just sit and wait, ok? Behave yourselves!" And MOMO, did although Jr. seemingly preferred to lean.

"So uhh, what's in there anyway?" Wondered Tidus aloud.

"The fayth, remember?" Replied Wakka.

"Oh yeah, that thing. Right."

Lulu approached the two men, "The fayth are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls, willingly given from their still-living bodies." The three non-guardians looked at the woman, confusion mixed with a tad of wonder and a dash of fear in their eyes. "Now they live forever, trapped in statues. But when a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge once again. That's what we call an aeon."

"So what does Yuna do in there? How does she receive the aeon?" Asked MOMO, executing a quick analyzation of the prayer room from her seat.

"She prays with all her heart for a way to defeat Sin." Waka explained yet again, gladly this time.

"The chamber beyond is a sacred place. Only summoners may enter." This time it was Lulu.

"So wait, even guardians can't go in? What if she's in trouble?" Jr. wanted to know, thinking perhaps it would come in handy later.

"It's taboo!" Waka gave a quick snap, still a little miffed with the boy for entering yet again, and damaging his lucky blitz ball.

Just then, Yuna exited the inner door, staggering her way to her guardians, too weak to notice the extras. This time, Lulu attended to her.


It was dusk by the time Shion saw her friends on the horizon. She was eager to see them in private and speak of their newly calculated plan.

She ran toward Yuna, her guardians, Jr., MOMO, and Ziggy (who waited outside the cloister for MOMO, too worried that something might eat her inside.) and greeted them. Chaos and the others followed.

Shion wondered how they would take the news, MOMO she knew would want to help. Jr., would probably too, but he might also share the same concerns as Jin about getting home. Ziggy probably wouldn't care much either way.

But for the first time since she had come here, Shion Uzuki felt that she might have a real purpose other than some forgotten diary.


Author's Notes: Heyyyy guys! Firstly, I apologize for not getting this to you sooner. My laptop is broken. I am doing summer tutoring. My sister plays the sims on the big computer. I'm working on the biggest Xenosaga website ever and need my staff to turn everything in. AUGHH!! I wanted to write this so much sooner. I'm sorry if this chapter is suckish because I'm rusty.

Now on with my explanations. DUNDUNDUN!!! Sin is a gnosis! How many people guessed that? If you did raise your hand! I guess now everyone has a nice piece of the plot. Not all of it though. And OMG I'm so excited for Luca and Auronnnnn! And Seymour!! And… well I won't say. BUTBUTBUT I need an opionion. Should I have Shion explain wtf is going on next chapter, or skip the ship ride and just go to Luca already? I'm a little partial to the latter. It would add suspense and drama plus I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT SIR BADASS Auroun! As well as meyster gayface Seymour. I love them both! Even if Seymour is a pixie who wants to use Yuna.

Anyway reviews please! And critique too! Also, I might not get to chapter 9 until after the 17th, because I have to work on Project Godsibb. If you're on LJ and like Xenosaga you've heard of it (gaint xenosaga site, lots of lost canon scans, character pages, forum, oekaki, the works. Visit and click the LJ hub for details). Yes I'm that bossy freak. Want to be on my staff? PM me or write it in your review. I need content writers for character pages, badly. So please do if you have any spare time whatsoever. I'd 3 it!

Thanks again my wonderful reviewers! (PS: Super early readers, ATE my seperator bars. So I had to re-add them. If something doesn't flow, let me know!)