Chapter 10
"We did it!" exclaimed Paige.
"Yes!" said Phoebe.
"Let's get out of here" said Auron.
"How?" asked Piper. "The mouth shut just after we went in".
"And we can't orb out of Sin" said Leo. "We need to find another way out"
"The Power of Three!" said Paige. "There is nothing stronger. Piper, Phoebe, come here".
They linked hands and chanted "The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free, The Power of Three will set us free!"
A light appeared up high, and they saw the ceiling of the monster's body disintegrate. Through the rapidly enlarging hole they could see blue sky.
"Phoebe, why don't you levitate up and see if that's the exit?" asked Paige.
She levitated up to the ceiling and called down "It's the way out, all right"
Phoebe levitated further and finally left the monster's body. As she looked around, Paige orbed in beside her.
"Paige! I thought you couldn't orb out of Sin?"
"So did I. We must have destroyed his orbing protection shield with the Power of Three spell"
At that moment, Leo orbed in beside them, along with Piper, Parvati and Auron. "Let's go" said Auron
"Yeah!" said Piper. "There'll be a big celebration!"
Due to the enormous size of Sin, the top of his body was level to the top of the chasm. They walked over the Calm Lands and came to the small building again.
"You did it!" exclaimed Maechen. "I knew you could!"
"You guys were magnificent!" said Edea.
At that moment there was a loud BANG, as the carcass of Sin exploded, giving out a bright light, illuminating the twilight sky.
"We've got visitors" said Kinoc.
A man with red hair and dressed in yellow was approaching, with a woman in a black dress with black hair held up in a bun.
"My parents!" said Parvati. "Let's go meet them"
They ran over to the couple and Parvati said "Hi Mum, hi Dad".
"Hey Parvati" said the redhead. "How you been doin', ya?"
"Good. I guarded Summoner Paige on her pilgrimage, like you said, Mum, and we defeated Sin once and for all".
"You've obviously mastered your powers very well" said the woman.
"You gonna introduce us to your friends, ya?"
"Oh, sorry. This is High Summoner Paige, and her guardians, Piper, Phoebe and Leo. Sir Auron also guarded her".
"Auron's here?" asked the woman.
"Yes. Paige, Piper, Phoebe, Leo, these are my parents. This is Wakka, and this is Lulu".
"What are you doing here?" asked Auron, coming over to them.
"Yuna wanted to see the final defeat of Sin, so we came with her" explained Lulu.
At that moment they saw three people approaching. One was a Ronso, the second was a blonde woman dressed in very skimpy clothing and the third was a brunette in a white top and a blue dress.
Parvati ran up to them and said "Hi guys! How have you been?"
"Never better" said the blonde woman.
"These are my friends" said Parvati. "This is High Summoner Paige and her guardians, Piper, Phoebe and Leo.
"This is Kimahri" said Parvati, pointing at the Ronso. "This is Rikku" she said, pointing to the blonde woman, "and this is High Summoner Yuna".
"Pleased to meet you Lady Paige" said Yuna.
"Oh, just call me Paige, Lady Yuna".
"Just Yuna will do fine".
"Ok" said Paige.
Around the campfire that night they told their stories. Paige told them of her pilgrimage, and the final defeat of Sin.
"How did you get him down into the chasm?" asked Yuna.
"Edea took care of it for us" said Phoebe.
"Edea?" said Yuna. "Who's Edea?"
"Oh, sorry" said Paige. "Yuna, this is Sorceress Edea. Edea, this is High Summoner Yuna and her guardians Kimahri, Rikku, Lulu and Wakka".
"So this is the legendary High Summoner Yuna" said Edea.
"I'd hardly say legendary" said Yuna.
"But you are, Yunie, you are!" said Rikku.
"You finished the job for me, Paige" said Yuna. "I'm sorry to have sent Sin to your world when I defeated it. You killed it for good and for that I thank you"
"How come the machina brought down Sin?" asked Wakka. "Last time it just destroyed them, ya?"
"Because" said Edea, "this time I was there. I summoned the legendary Guardian Force Odin which brought him down, so High Summoner Paige could go inside and destroy the monster for good".
"So Sin won't come back anywhere?" asked Rikku.
"No" said Maechen. "Yevon's teachings state that when Yu Yevon is defeated twice then he is gone".
"So who is this Yu Yevon?" asked Edea. "I hear you people talk about Yevon and Yu Yevon but I am never sure if they are two different things or just different names for the same thing"
"Yevon was a summoner who lived in Zanarkand a thousand years ago" said Maechen. "When Bevelle's army attacked the city he summoned a creature to defend the city, but an evil side of him caused the creature to be uncontrollable. It became known as Sin, and it destroyed Zanarkand. Yevon turned all the survivors of Sin's attack into Fayths in order to summon a dream of the city. Yevon got powerful from doing that, and his evil side split and became known as Yu Yevon. Yu Yevon used Sin as its armour and continued to destroy until Lady Yunalesca, Yevon's daughter, defeated Sin along with her husband Lord Zaon. But seeing that Sin was her father, or part of her father, she decided not to destroy it completely, so Yu Yevon possessed Zaon, Yunalesca's Final Aeon, and made him Sin".
"Yunalesca never told the summoners that the Final Aeon becomes Sin" said Auron. "The only two she told were Yuna and Paige".
"So even Lord Braska didn't know, ya?" asked Wakka.
"No. Yunalesca never mentioned it to him when we were there".
"How many summoners have you guarded?" asked Edea.
"Three" said Auron. "Lord Braska, Lady Yuna and Lady Paige. You want me to tell you about them?"
"Why not?" said Edea.
"I was originally a warrior monk in the Palace of St Bevelle. However, it was arranged that I marry the High Priest's daughter. I didn't want to, so I told the High Priest, and then I met a summoner, Braska, and offered my services to him as a guardian. Braska was forsaken by the temple, like myself, as he had wed an Al Bhed. We met a man named Jecht in the temple prison who said he was from Zanarkand. Braska told Jecht that he was leaving on a pilgrimage to Zanarkand, and that he thought there might be a way to return Jecht to his own time. Jecht accepted and Braska made him his guardian as well.
"Jecht and I never got on well at first. He was always drinking and he got angry easily. However one night he attacked a shoopuf, a creature used for transportation in Spira. He swore never to drink again.
"When we reached Zanarkand, both Jecht and I tried to persuade Braska to turn back, but he refused. When Yunalesca asked Braska who the Fayth for the Final Aeon would be, Jecht said that he would become the Fayth. He explained that his dream was back in the other Zanarkand, with his wife and son. I had said that there must be a way back to ancient Zanarkand, so Jecht asked me to go back there and look after his wife and son. I agreed. Braska had also asked me to take his daughter Yuna to Besaid village. But when Yunalesca told me that Sin was a never-ending cycle, then I attacked her, and she killed me. My duty to Jecht and Braska kept me from the Farplane, so I continued on as an unsent. I left Yuna in the care of Kimahri and sought to fulfill the promise I had made to Jecht. I got sucked in by Sin and transported to ancient Zanarkand, where I met Jecht's son Tidus. His mother had recently died of a broken heart, as she believed, like Tidus, that Jecht had died at sea during blitzball training. When Zanarkand was attacked by Sin then Tidus was sucked in and transported to Spira, where he met Yuna and her guardians – Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri. They set out to Zanarkand, joined later by myself and Rikku. By killing the evil Maester Seymour, we earned the wrath of the Yevon church who called us traitors. We defeated Yunalesca when Yuna learned the truth of the Final Summoning, and we used Rikku's father's airship to enter Sin and destroy both Jecht and Yu Yevon – for good, we thought".
"Yuna, what happened to Tidus?" asked Phoebe. "I don't see him with you".
"Tidus, ah…" A tear formed in Yuna's eye, but she quickly brushed it away. "He was just a dream, a dream of the Fayth. And I loved him, too, and I was devastated when he disappeared when Sin and the Fayths vanished".
"I'm so sorry" said Paige. "It must have been hard, losing him like that".
"Yes, it was. I don't really want to talk about it".
"So, Sin's finally gone now" said Piper. "He's the most powerful demonic creature we've ever destroyed"
"I've seen worse" said Edea. "Sorceress Ultimecia"
"Who's she?" asked Phoebe.
"A Sorceress from the future" said Edea. "She could reach across time and possess other Sorceresses. I was possessed, and so was a friend of mine, Sorceress Rinoa. Ultimecia actually compressed time in the world where I'm from, causing past, present and future to become one, and trapping everyone in time itself. I only survived because of some friends of mine who I had raised from children in my orphanage entered Ultimecia's castle and destroyed her once and for all"
They continued to tell stories into the night, and they all went to bed very late. They slept in the next morning and when they left, the Al Bhed had removed the machina and disappeared.
"Maybe we'll meet again someday" said Parvati. "I have enjoyed traveling with you"
"So have we" said Paige.
"Where's Auron?" asked Piper. "I wanted to say goodbye to him as well"
"Ah, he departed to the Farplane last night" said Leo. "He asked me to say goodbye to you for him"
They walked up to the four Maesters and Edea. "Well, I guess this is it" said Maester Yuma.
"Yes" said Paige. "We've enjoyed working with you"
"Thank you very much, Lady Paige, and have a safe journey home"
They set off back to San Francisco, and found what they had hoped for – the manor to have survived Sin's attack. Many areas of the city had destroyed and were being rebuilt, but P3, Piper's nightclub, and the Bay Mirror newspaper where Phoebe worked had survived as well, so they were both able to go back to work.
The three of them and Leo resumed their normal lives, now much quieter as there were no more demon attacks, due to the defeat of the Source/Sin. But they hoped that one day they would be able to meet up again with those whom they had shared their adventure with.