Chapter 10: Welcome Home (Song: youtube - watch?v=pJwMD9RoVLU)

FLASHBACK START

"Finally..." Dylan murmured, flopping on her bed. "What a day..."

Her brown eyes searched her room aimlessly. It seemed unfamiliar after a week down south in Georgia.

Not that the trip wasn't fun or anything. Emi's grandparents were excellent hosts, and the weather was near perfect every day: rain.

But after being away from home for so long, and especially after a 12 hour car ride, her room was heaven. And so was the normal room temperature. And so was the fact that her acceptance letter for IU came while she was gone. Yeah.

But her room beat it all. There was no place like home at that moment.

FLASHBACK END

"Aaaaaaa!" Rikku screamed, holding her head in her hands.

The group had been wandering the desert for hours. Supposedly Rikku knew where she was going, but that's not what it seemed like to the rest of them. Or maybe she really knew and was second guessing herself? It didn't matter. They had made it to Home, but something was very wrong.

"Rikku!" Tidus cried as the rest of the group ran up to her. They all ran on to the Al Bhed town.

It was amazing built and absolutely stunning...except for the fact that it was surrounded by fiends, and things were on fire, and people were dying left and right.

"What's going on?" Dylan cried. "Did they find Yuna?"

"What? Yuna's down there?" Wakka yelped.

"Of all the places..." Lulu murmured. "Let's go!"

Cries of "Ajanouha ithan!" ("everyone under!") rang through the air as they continued further down.

Within the city, fiends ran amock. Some Al Bhed were out with guns, shooting them down. Others weren't so fortunate.

"Where's Yuna?" Wakka demanded when they were well inside.

"Keyakku!" Rikku cried suddenly, running to a man's side. He had been mortally wounded. "Who? Who's attacking us? Fru tet drec du oui?" ("Who did this to you?")

"Yevon...Guado..." were Keyakku's last words before he passed on.

"Keyakku? Keyakku!" Rikku shouted.

"A war?" Lulu said, shocked. "Between Yevon and the Al Bhed?"

"Dryd ec fnuhk! (That is wrong!)" a voice cried out. A tall, older Al Bhed man stepped forward. "Guado ku vun dra summoner. (Guado go for the summoner.)"

"Vydran...(Father)" Rikku murmured, standing up. Cid said nothing, but instead walked over to Keyakku. He checked for signs of life, any sign, but there were none. Rikku's frown grew as Cid stood up at last. She knew this was only the beginning.

"You Rikku's friends? Well, just don't stand there, come on!" he barked. "Let's go kick those Guado out of our Home!"

Everyone willingly followed him except for Dylan, Tidus, and Rikku.

"Who...?" Tidus said.

"Cid," Dylan replied.

"Leader of the Al Bhed..." Rikku added. "...He's my dad."

"Let's go," Tidus suggested.

"Yeah. We have to save Yunie."

"Not only Yuna. Right?" Tidus looked at Dylan for support, and she nodded quickly. The three of them...they maintained such a great support system for each other. If only it could've lasted longer.

Rikku's face brightened considerably as she nodded. "Right!"

}{}{}{

I don't know how many times we called Yuna's name that afternoon. Enough to last a lifetime, maybe.

Everyone was so worried. It was ridiculous...hectic...not to mention burning hot running through those corridors.

"Drec pedac! (This bites!)" suddenly rang out through the loudspeaker.

"That's Cid," I said loudly. Everyone stopped shouting for a second.

"Rikku! Oui nayt sa? Oui ku ihtan, duu! E ys majamehk Home! Yht dra fiend fedr ed! (Rikku! You read me? You go under, too! I am leveling Home! And the fiend with it!)"

"Oh, no!" Rikku whimpered.

"What'd he say!" Wakka shouted.

"We have to get underground!" Rikku shouted back.

"Where's Yuna?" Auron asked, stepping forward.

"The Summoners' Sanctum! This way!" she replied, running on ahead.

I felt really bad at this point. It wasn't fair at all that Rikku had to endure this. Not just Rikku; that entire race of people. The racism was bad here too, worse than I thought. It was the first time I was really starting to miss home.

"Gah!" I cried as more fiends jumped in front of us.

"Move," Tidus ordered me quietly. I blinked; he sounded like Auron.

Swiftly, he took out the large beast with two swings.

"This is wasting our time," I said even more quietly. He nodded. "Don't worry too much," I added.

"Yeah right."

I lowered my head, frowning, but I continued on, following Rikku and the others. He was absolutely going to hate us all soooo much in a few minutes.

Soon we were in what looked like a boiler room. I could never figure it out; it was too dark, and everything was so frantic. This was the first time we'd actually stopped to catch our breath.

"This place done for," Wakka murmured, crossing his arms.

"You're right," Rikku mumbled, staring at the ground. "You're right, Wakka. We Al Bhed, we...we weren't always like this. Sin destroyed the island where we all used to live. After that, we were scattered to every corner of Spira. But then, my dad brought the Al Bhed together again." Her gaze lifted some. "If we few put our minds to it and worked together, then we could make a new home. Everyone worked hard, we had our Home back again..." She shook her head slowly, her eyes wandering back to the floor. "But now... Why did things have to turn out this way?"

"Rikku..." Wakka said. Everyone looked shocked, but she didn't move at first. Then suddenly she reached out to Wakka and placed her head against his chest. I could tell she was crying. "Dmn those Guado! What are they thinking?"

"Everything happens for a reason," I said as two huge fiends roared and galloped toward us.

"But why them?" Lulu asked as we started to fight.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Yes you do!" Rikku suddenly cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Rikku, what are you saying?" Wakka asked, looking back and forth between us.

"You know why they hate us, don't you? You know everything else!"

"I..."

It was now completely unavoidable. Everyone had to know.

"I...fine. I do know everything else. I know exactly how everyone in this group is going to end up at the end of Yuna's pilgrimage," I admitted, shaking.

"How?" Wakka stammered, gaping.

"Because in my world, this world is fictional, and a lot of people know the story. Not just me."

"Do you know where Yuna is?" Lulu asked me.

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"I can't tell you." I could feel Auron's piercing gaze resting on me, but I kept on. "I can't just interfere with this story. I have to let the pieces fall where they may. I don't think I'm here for any reason other than to protect everyone." I lowered my head. "I don't even know why I'm here. I just am."

"Well-"

Everyone turned and looked at Tidus, including me.

"...If you're here to protect us, shouldn't you be helping me fight these things?" he said with a grin.

"Ah, yeah," I said, grinning back. That was all I needed for now. I knew later I'd be lucky to get the time of day from him.

}{}{}{

"Rikku, what is the Summoners' Sanctum?" Lulu asked as the party ran down more stairs.

"The Summoners' Sanctum is where we keep the summoners. We keep them safe there," Rikku answered, not daring to make eye contact with anyone.

"You kidnapped them," Wakka concluded. However, he didn't sound angry. Just tired.

"I know it's against the teachings and all that..." Rikku said, nodding and turning around at last.

"I get why you did it, but..."

"Well, I sure don't get it, Wakka," Tidus interrupted, walking down the rest of the stairs, up to Rikku. "They might get hurt on their pilgrimage so you kidnap them? I mean, if the summoners don't do their job, then who will beat Sin? You want to protect them, I know. But guardians are there for that. If guardians do their job well, summoners will be safe! Right? Right!"

Everything suddenly was still. No shouting over the loudspeaker, no roaring fiends, no explosions, no gunshots. Nothing.

"It's quiet," Kimahri said. "Kimahri goes now."

Tidus watched as the rest of his friends went down to the Sanctum except for Rikku. He stared at her, angry. She simply stared back, and he could see there was something he was missing. Something.

Dylan probably knew what it was, seeing as she looked back once at Tidus and Rikku, then hurried after Auron and Lulu. Rikku soon followed, and Tidus eventually had to as well.

"Yuna, please be here!" Rikku cried, opening the doors. She gasped, and soon everyone could see why.

The Summoners' Sanctum, to be blunt, was a disaster zone. The Guado had obviously gotten there, too.

"Yuna!" Kimahri roared through the ash-coated air.

Rikku ran forward, took one good look around, and collapsed to her knees in front of a dead Al Bhed soldier.

"She's not here," stated a familiar voice. The party turned to see Dona walking toward them. Barthello was not with her. "Hello again," she added, very quietly. Isaaru walked up behind her, also mellow. "Wait there until we have performed the sending."

"They died...protecting us," Isaaru murmured. "It's not much, but the least we can do is give them a proper sending."

And so the two summoners turned and went on to send the fallen soldiers. Everyone was stone-cold quiet, until, not to anyone's surprise, Pacce ran up.

"Hey, what's 'sacrificed'?" he asked Tidus, bouncing on his toes. "The Al Bhed said summoners were being 'sacrificed.' That summoners shouldn't have to do a pilgrimage..."

"Why couldn't they trust guardians to protect the summoners? The Al Bhed had no right stopping their pilgrimage!" Tidus answered, an edge of anger in his voice.

"The pilgrimages have to stop!" Rikku cried suddenly, her eyes squeezed shut, her face toward the floor. "If they don't, and they get to Zanarkand... They might defeat Sin. Yunie could...but then she..." Rikku's head popped up. "Yunie will die, you know?"

Tidus felt every single cell in his body go on the fritz. Die... Yuna could die?

"You know, don't you? Summoners journey to get the Final Aeon," Rikku continued. "Yuna told you, didn't she? With the Final Aeon, she can beat Sin. But then...but then... If she calls it, the Final Aeon's going to kill her! Even if she defeats Sin, it will kill Yunie too, you know!"

With that last cry, Rikku dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes. She was out of breath just from talking; her heart was pounding in her ears.

"Was I the only one who didn't know?" Tidus whispered. He paused for a moment, then bent down to Rikku and grabbed her shoulders roughly. She flinched, as did Dylan.

"Tell me why! Why were you hiding it?" he shouted at her. "Why didn't I know?"

"We weren't hiding it..." Wakka said quietly.

"It was just...too hard to say, " Lulu finished.

"Sorry," Dylan added, her voice nearly inaudible.

Tidus let out a shout; he sounded hysterical. He fell to his hands and knees, cringing.

"Lulu! How could you?" he cried, pounding his fist on the ground. "How could you? Isn't she like a sister to you? I thought you were family! Why don't you do something, Wakka?" Tidus sat up and stared Wakka right in the eye. Wakka didn't move.

"Don't you think we tried to stop her?" Lulu cried. "She follows...her heart."

"Yuna, she knew what she was doing when she chose to become a summoner," Wakka agreed, closing his eyes. "To face Sin, ya? Yuna knew!"

"But Wakka, that's just totally wrong!" Rikku argued, standing up. "Summoners shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves...just so the rest of Spira can be happy, right?"

Before anyone could reply, a large, ape-like fiend materialized before them. Kimahri ran to fight it, the rest just simply stared, overwhelmed.

"But that is our choice..."

Isaaru walked toward them, Dona following him.

"We all live in fear of Sin," Dona added. "You know that."

"A world without Sin... That is the dream of all Yevon's children." As Isaaru spoke, aeons came down from the sky, standing around them. "And we will use that power, even if it means our lives!"

It was silent...except for Tidus. Clenching his teeth, he growled and cried out, over and over.

Suddenly he ran toward Valefor and began punching the aeon in its stomach.

"And I've been telling Yuna... Let's go to Zanarkand together! Let's beat Sin!" he shouted. "I told her all the things we could...we could... And all along, the whole time, I didn't know anything!" He helplessly fell to his knees. "But Yuna, she'd...just smile."

}{}{}{

My throat was so completely constricted by the time Tidus was done shouting, I thought I might never speak again. It was...overwhelming. I've never felt so bad in my whole life.

"I can't let her die!" Tidus said at last, finally standing up. "I'll find her!"

And so we ran on. I knew what was coming...Cid's airship...Bevelle...Via Purifico...and then...

"..."

Rikku and I made eye contact only once; she frowned deeply. This was the last time we'd ever set foot in this place again.

The airship wasn't too far away from where we were, and soon we were all on board, out of breath, but quiet. Nobody wanted to say anything at that point, I think...

"Hu desa!" Cid shouted when he ran into the control room. "Ku, ku, ku! (No time! Go, go, go!)"

"Three minutes mavd! (Three minutes left!)" Brother whimpered.

"Rinno, rinno! Oui ryja one minute! (Hurry, hurry! You have one minute!)" Cid shouted.

Suddenly Tidus ran forward. "Where's Yuna?" he said angrily. Cid didn't even bother to reply, not even look at him.

"Ajanouha uh puynt? (Everyone on board?)" he asked us.

"Ajanouha ymeja! (Everyone alive!)" an Al Bhed crew member answered for us. Well...maybe he wasn't even talking to us...

"I said, where is she?" Tidus screamed, grabbing hold of Cid's uniform from behind. He turned him around but kept a firm grip on him as he continued to shout. "Answer me! Answer me, dmn you!"

"What'll you do when you find her, eh?" Cid finally said. At this point he was hanging a few inches above the ground in Tidus' grasp.

"I didn't know anything about what a summoner is supposed to do," Tidus admitted, practically dropping Cid back onto his feet. "And I told her all those things without even knowing. I've got to tell her! I've got to tell her I'm sorry!"

"That's it? You're gonna tell her you're sorry?" Cid's voice rose with anger with each word. "And then you just drag her to Zanarkand and make her fight Sin, huh? You're all the same - let the summoner die so we can live in peace!"

Completely unexpectedly, Cid grabbed Tidus and flipped him over his shoulder. He fell to the ground, stunned.

"No!" Tidus insisted, standing back up. "I'm not gonna let Yuna die!"

"Hah! Words! Show me action!"

"I'm telling you, she won't die!"

It was quiet for a moment, then Cid finally spoke.

"Boy, don't forget those words, 'cause if you do...I'm gonna make you regret it."

"I won't." Tidus nodded as Cid walked over to what looked like a special kind of map. "So you know where she is?"

"'Course not," Cid snapped, back to himself. "That's why we're gonna look! Using this airship!"

"A-Airship?" Wakka gasped.

Right on cue, the ship began to rumble. It was a bit...terrifying.

"Vydran! Nayto du ku! (Father! Ready to go!)" Brother cried.

"Oaaryy! Y vmekrd 1000 years ujantia! (Yeehaa! A flight 1000 years overdue!)" Cid laughed, walking toward Brother.

"Fruy! Ed sujac! (Whoa! It moves!)" Brother said in disbelief as the ship began to start up and slowly lift out of its cove.

"Necg pek, feh pek! (Risk big, win big!)" Cid said in reply.

The whole ship lurched, and I could feel it turn around, away from Home, and take off into the desert air.

"Fruy! Ed vmeac! (Whoa! It flies!)" Brother gasped, still amazed. I was, too, that a 1000 year old ship could still work. If only cars worked that well!

"Haqd, fa ica dryd! (Next, we use that!)" Cid commanded, gesturing to something on Brother's control pad. Brother lowered his head sadly.

"Frydajan oui cyo, (Whatever you say,)" he murmured, sighing.

Suddenly, he began to sing, and Cid and the others joined him. It was the Hymn of the Fayth, and despite the lack of vocal quality, it was absolutely one of the saddest things I've ever heard in my life.

"What's goin' on?" Wakka asked.

Rikku responded quietly, "We're...we're going to blow up our Home."

"How?" Lulu asked, shocked.

"With one of the forbidden machina!" Cid replied. "Nayto? Vena! (Ready? Fire!)"

I watched out the window with the others as red homing missiles flew out of the sides of the airship and headed toward Home. The first one to hit wasn't much, but they accumulated very quickly, and soon all we could see was a mass of red-orange fire where Home once was.

Suddenly, what looked like it could've been a nuclear explosion boomed through the air, and the shockwaves were approaching us quickly. At one point, the ship fell behind, and we were engulfed in a firey-red abyss, but it pulled through just in time, barely escaping what would've been our inevitable doom.

"Gah-hah-hah-hah! Nadinh du cyht! (Return to sand!) " Cid hollered, laughing. Brother, on the other hand, was sobbing loudly. Cid approached him. "Hu haat vun daync! Fryd ec kuut ypuid machina, ec drao lyh pa piemd yhaf, oui caa? (No need for tears! What is good about machina, is they can be build anew, you see?) "

Rikku didn't look as upset as Brother, but her face was stony and pale, and she was quieter than usual.

"Hey, look," Wakka said to her. "Don't get so down. Boom!" He laughed idiotically. "Like happy festival fireworks, ya?" Rikku turned to him quickly, her face scrunched in anger.

"You can cram your happy festival, you big meanie!" she snapped, storming off.

"Good one, Wakka," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh yeah? ...Yeah...I probably shouldn't have said that..."

I couldn't help but laugh as he trudged away, once again outdone by Rikku.

Tidus, Cid, and Lulu were having some discussion about the sphere oscillo-finder, Rikku was definitely not in the mood to talk, and who knew where the others were, so I had no choice but to hang out somewhere I knew Tidus would find me.

He wasn't the only one who needed to apologize.