Moon Says: So, it has been awhile. I had so much planned for the summer. But nothing really happened—except I am now on the final Day on FF13: LR (if I don't try to beat Aeronite, this is my first playthrough, why didn't I play on Easy again?), finished FFX (screw Nemesis, that Aeon thing, and Lulu/Tidus' Celestial Weapons (I hate Chocobos & Lightning now), and I'm almost to the concert on my first playthorugh for FFX-2! Let's not mention the Pokemon X/Yellow thing I had going on. I stopped because it was creepy that Dugrio was stalking me—I could see the bastard following me! I still need my Thesis stuff done...after it is done, I think I'm going to forget Loki exists.
-Ok, for the first time, I have an EMMA POV (something I wasn't going to do till X-2. I got inspired today after getting to the concert in X-2. I thought I would have gotten through Bevelle with this, but nope. I looked over my first outline, and shit, I deviated. Anyway, TOTG will be next, unless I have more Intervention muses. I really want to do WAR, but well, not right now. ENJOY!
Intervention
~Chapter 10~
When I opened my eyes, the bright light and heat made me close them right away so I could adjust.
I chuckled to myself before I opened them again.
Bikanel Island.
I hadn't been here in so long. The last time...I almost lost her.
My Emma.
We had infiltrated those damn bandits; the ones that invaded Macalania and helped create the Ice Fayth (well, hundreds of years before, they've made a comeback)...we were there with the Squad to finally put them down.
Her boyfriend had warned us that while night was better, the bandits may still be expecting attacks at night.
We were careful, but not careful enough. Half the squad was here, making sure that we cleaned them all out.
We didn't expect them to have hostages from their various raids.
My team tried everything we could to minimize the injuries and deaths with the hostages, but we hadn't been expecting them. I had two children with me when we were attacked from the front. A flame barrier defended us from that direction, but when someone snuck up on us from behind, I didn't have much time to react. I threw myself in front of the kids and, as I did so, I felt the bullets pierce my body, I heard her scream.
Now, I had heard her yell at me and our team for being idiots (very rarely) and scream when we were having sex, but never had I heard a soul shattering scream like that one. A scream that destroyed me more than any weapon could.
Before this was over, before I died again, I would hear that scream two more times.
All I know is what they told me. She freaked the fuck out. And by freaking out, I mean she froze the entire fucking island.
I don't know if the Fayth inside of her was having a flashback to when she was broken inside after losing her only reason for living, but Emma linked her power with that of the Fayth's power, and it changed the geography of the island.
Her boyfriend told me shit shattered, and before daybreak she had used almost all of her power healing me. Our team was exhausted as well; especially with trying to bring her back to awareness.
I remember waking up when the sun had risen; some of the ice was melting. By mid-morning, I was full conscious only for the fuckers who survived to retaliate against us.
I don't know about you, but you never piss a Fayth off nor do you scare them. You especially don't do a combination of it. In a total cliché move, Emma covered my body with hers as a hail of bullets descended down upon us.
Her ice (that was the island) became barriers for the rest of the squad, but that was all she could do. Whatever power or energy she had left was used in throwing her body on mine and casting a weak barrier protection spell over us.
The Fayth may not always be paying total attention to us, but mine was at that moment (especially after what had happened to me). I wasn't in any condition to do anything, but when we saw her go down, I saw a flashback of his time as a human.
The Fire Fayth truly did love the Ice Fayth, and it demolished him when he came saw what happened to her city. He, too, had heard a soul shattering scream and had come running.
He had been in the woods for some odd reason (he wanted to see the spring before he visited his beloved), and at that leveled peek next to the woods (now where the traveling agency is), he heard her scream and saw the flood—and there was nothing he could do about it. Because of the spells and wards that had been tripped with the first invasion, they blocked him from coming toward the city and to her aid.
And now, with my love in my arms as I lay helpless, watching her bleed out, I heard a heart breaking whisper in my soul.
Why does this always happen? Why is she always taken from me? No more...please. End...
Before I could figure out where or who the voice was from (or hear the rest), I felt the rage of the Fire Fayth fill me and consume me.
There is a reason why Bikanel isn't a forest island anymore (which was weird for where it was geographically located) or a frozen wasteland like Macalania...no, it's a desert because between our (the Fire Fayth and I) feelings of rage, helplessness, and love burned the entire place to a crisp. It seemed that the fire was so intense, it heated the ice so hot it turned everything to sand.
And, I was here again. This time without her.
Why did this keep happening with Sin? Why did that bastard keep separating us?
If I run into Yuna, then I will damn well know he is trying to push us together.
And I will murder her ass. Her body won't be found in this desert.
Nope. And if I get my bearings right...I know exactly where to bury her where she definitely won't ever be found.
...Hours Later, after finding everyone but Emma and Yuna, at HOME...
Okay, so maybe people who noticed since someone built a fucking city on this gravesite.
I honestly don't know how I feel about the Al Bhed building their home on the main camp of that bandit army not to mention where Emma and almost died and, basically, destroyed the island (eco-wise).
But what can you do about it?
When we made it to the Summoner's Sanctum, which really wasn't a sanctuary if you ask me, neither Emma nor Yuna were there.
The Summoner who needed more clothes came up to me when we got down in there, "My, my, my, my, still without your Summoner. The Guado took Braska's daughter, but your Summoner..." she paused as she looked toward the opposite door (the only other door) before she turned back to me. "She ran off with a bald guy right before they took the girl. She was speaking rapidly in Al Bhed, so I have no idea what she was saying, but she left us all."
"So there could be a reason she ran off with the Al Bhed," the male Summoner from Djose Temple inserted but stopped before he said 'left the rest of them to defend for themselves.'
A few giant fiends took that moment to attack us, and two Aeons were Summoned to defeat them.
A pair that should never be together for they are worse than my own disastrous pair: Valefor and Ifrit.
A path we never should have taken.
Before the Fire Aeon left, he padded over to me and nudged me with his head.
If there was any other choice, I heard him whisper to me, but I growled at him.
"All of you keep saying that, but what is going to happen when I start saying that? I will always choose her over the lot of you. Remember that!" I hissed at the giant red beast.
The Aeon looked a bit fearful at my words, and that was when I knew. Sin had sent me to Yuna because she was a Summoner that could be swayed with her gentle heart, but there was always the chance mine would not.
And they all knew I could turn her against anything. (The other way around too, but that usually did happen. I was always the follower, so when I said something, she listened.)
When he disappeared, all the other stared at me at me uncertain—apparently seeing me interact with the Aeon just proved to Yuna's group I was telling the truth, but the others...it was weird, not to mention I hissed at an Aeon who, fierce to all others, backed away from me.
Rikku came to me, and just like before, had that hesitant question face on her. "What was that about?"
I hesitated as I looked toward the door Emma was supposed to have gone through then back at Rikku. "Since we were Chosen, our lives have been ruled by the Fayth. There comes a time, Rikku, when you can't take being used anymore. It just...hurts too much."
She had an understanding look on her face before an older man's voice reverberated through the room.
I chuckled then when I heard him. "So she got on a ship...no wonder she left. You Al Bhed don't have the experience to operate one of those things. Let's go, lead the way Rikku."
She looked offended for a moment before huffing and walking away from me, muttering cursing in Al Bhed at me. It caused me quietly chuckle.
Dona and Issaru went to the many parts of the ship while the others and I headed to the deck.
I saw Emma on one of the consoles rapidly fiddling with the controls, though she did pause when the bald man ordered the bombing of home.
She did as told and was one of the first started singing the Hymm of the Fayth with the pilot.
For the Al Bhed home.
The Hymm has always been a prayer to the dead whether for the living or the dead. Summoners used the song to guide the dead and to communicate with the Fayth (who are technically dead, a frozen death/life—but mostly dead). It was mainly used for guidance (asking for or doing it).
Here it was the fiends and for the various Al Bhed who died (but also for the Guado).
The others scattered across the ship, but I stayed with Emma. Rikku went to talk quietly with her father while I stood at her side (to the right, I made sure to keep everyone in my eyesight).
When they finished talking, Cid turned to me. "So, you found your Summoner, boy. What do you intend to do now? Yuna has been captured by those damn Guado. Am I going to drop you off somewhere?"
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why does everyone expect me to do Guardian things for that girl when I am not her Guardian? Yuna got captured because she caught the eye of that half-Guado man. He wants her, and I honestly don't think it's going to work out the way he thinks it's going to."
Emma chuckled darkly. "No, it won't. There isn't a strong enough of a connection between them. Usually love, duty, and loyalty does the trick, but...I really don't want to see what a hate relationship would do to the world.
"What are you goin' on 'bout, woman?" Cid barked after a second of trying to figure out her words.
I waved him off. "Seymour's dead, but it won't matter. He's probably taken her to Bevelle. The Al Bhed would never go there..." I say that last part in a mocking way, but it went over the man's head.
Instead, he turned around and stepped toward the pilot. "Dyga ic du Bevelle, puo."
Emma sighed as she turned slightly in her chair. "You are taking an Airship to Bevelle, yes?"
Cid just looked at her as if she was stupid, "Duh."
"You do know why there has never been an air assault/invasion on Bevelle before, right?" when the fool didn't answer, "There are dragon-like fiends, big ass ones, that protect it."
Rikku pulled on her hair, "They can be defeated, right?"
Emma shrugged, "All fiends can be defeated, but not everyone can defeat a fiend. I've never taken them on because I think these flying beasts too troublesome."
Cid snorted, "So can you or can't you? I thought you was some all powerful Summoner that even Bevelle feared."
Emma only raised an eyebrow. "Just because you have power, doesn't mean you use it. You just destroyed HOME with weapons of mass destruction. You have them, does that mean you are going to attack all cities now?"
Cid sputtered before growling. "Don't you turn this back on me! My niece needs a savin'! Are you a friend of the Al Bhed or not?"
Emma almost glared at him. "Other than the fact, she's half-Al Bhed, this isn't my fight. I am not one of her Guardians. My job is to prepare Summoners and the Guardians for the Final Summoning, make sure they are strong enough to actually be able to do the damn thing. If I do the work for them, then they aren't ready!"
"Well, I don't want her to do the Final Summoning," Cid snapped back.
"Besides the fact that it isn't your choice? There are no other ways to defeat Sin! It is a necessary evil. Aeons are the only way. Don't you think I've tried to find another way? Yuna...Yuna's not built to be able to do the Final Summoning. It will destory her before she even gets to Sin." Emma looked so old then. "I don't want her doing it, either, but at this point, the only other Summoner strong enough might be Seymour, and he can't do the Summoning."
Cid was only silent for five seconds before he countered, "If it's so necessary and you're so powerful, you do it," he mocked.
Emma let out hysterical laughing. "I can't get without a certain distance of Sin, let alone close enough to do the Summoning. Besides," she said as she wiped a few tears from her eyes, "The Final Summoning requires a certain...sacrifice that I am unable to give. And I mean a sacrifice before the dying after vanquishing Sin."
Then, she looked to Rikku, me, and then the old man. "I would have done it long ago if I could have."
There was something chilling and full of despair in her words that it stopped Cid from mocking or pressing her further. Instead, he, too, took on a look as if he was out of hope.
"Then how do we save her?" and Cid wasn't just asking about from Bevelle.
Emma just looked at him with pity. "Honestly, if I can convince her, she won't fight Sin at all."
"But who will defeat Sin?" Rikku asked, her voice shaking.
As Emma looked at me, I could tell she wondered exactly what I knew. I knew the truth of Sin, of why Summoners had to die and why Sin would be reborn, but most of all, I knew what she refused to let herself know: the Fayth were plotting and moving behind her back. If they succeeded, I would be alone.
But really, what was another thousand years of waiting for her? It wouldn't be the first or last time—such bitter thoughts filled my soul.
It was the same voice as before. A voice that wasn't mine but was.
A mystery for another time, then?
"Misguided fools created Sin, and misguided fools will destroy Sin; it's the way of the world," Emma said before she got up and walked off the bridge of the ship.
I sighed as I realized that Yuna might just be the misguided fool to continue in our footsteps. She would save the world and condemn it at the same time. We had the War, then Sin, what's next?
I headed to the deck of the ship knowing that was where my lover went too.
~Emma~
As she looked out into the sky from atop the ship, Emma remembered the first time she was on an airship. She felt so free up in the air. Free from all her burdens, responsibilities, from fate. But it only lasted so long before reality came back in.
When she woke up on Bikanel, he was there. Her trusty Al Bhed anchor had found her and took her to his tent to heal. Lucky for her, he decided to not live at HOME.
Double Lucky for her, he had been reborn when she needed him the most.
With her love, it had always been about feeding off each other, being what the other needed. So many mistakes had they made by living life and taking actions for others. It was him who always made her put herself. He gave her what she needed.
A friend/love (though this was never really said outloud) she never had to share with a sister.
An anchor she never doubted would leave her (though there had been a few close doubting movements when she fucked up).
Someone who always told it to her straight, told her when she fucked up, who never babied her.
Someone she could be completely and utterly selfish with; someone who took her abuse, her brushing aside for someone who wasn't right for her (such a toxic relationship), someone who only gave and never took.
Someone she ended up killing in the end.
Just like the rest of her Squad.
She woke within ten minutes of Sin's attack—though this probably had to do with his healing.
"Oui dyga uh Ceh fedr caneuic ehzineac mega dryd? Cdemm cu cdibet, fusyh," his voice was near and soothing, as it always was. His chin length blonde hair touched her face as he leaned over her to check her injuries.
"Cu, dryd'c ouin tavehedeuh uv cdibet dutyo?" her tone was a little gruff from what had just happened along with some teasing in it.
"So tavehedeuh uv cdibet ec ymfyoc dra cysa: ed'c frah oui tu cusadrehk nalgmacc yht oui teth'd haat duu," the Al Bhed shook his head, pulling back, as he looked at her reproachfully, but she could see the fondness in those eyes as well.
They stared at each other for a few months before he took her caressed her cheek with his left hand. "You've changed...darker, more filled with death than before. What have we done to you," he whispered the last bit before he sighed and pulled back completely.
She missed his touch immediately but shoved it down. Instead, she stared at the tent entrance in front of her. "You knew what I did this entire time, didn't you?"
When he didn't answer, she continued. "I think, no, I know it's finally catching up with me. It's what they want, and it's always been fuck what I want," she spoke the last bitterly. "I've given my entire life, everything to them, and all I've ever asked was for one thing—something they promised whole heartedly. But they can't stand it anymore. It's too much for them, but never for me, is it?"
"It's always help someone and curse yourself, right? That was the first thing you ever said to me," the blonde man remembered. "They said over the network that Yuna and her group attacked the Guado Maester...but that was you, wasn't it? You killed him and went after her, didn't you?"
Her head snapped to him, locking eyes with him. It always surprised her with how well he knew her.
"It's getting worse. The others haven't got it this bad; they're just...tired. But you? You're going insane, not that you've had the best mental health to begin with," those green eyes teased as she half-heartedly swatted at him with the closet hand within reach, the right—which was lucky for her that it wasn't her injured side.
When the fun moment was gone, Emma looked down at her lap. "I made things even worse. There is a balance to be had. With each other, there is some amount of peace, if they ever get together (but curse, so is there ever?), but I fucked that up. To save him, fuck the peace between Zanarkand and Bevelle, I traded more than my soul. I agreed to marry Yevon."
The guilt and shame was written all over her face; her healer just reached out and gripped her hand. "You bonded with him."
It wasn't a question, and she hated herself even more. "I know the Fayth don't know much about those two, but they know enough of what being touched by one means. At least she did," Emma stopped as she tried to explain this. She had never put any of things into words before.
The only one who knew was the one who revealed the truth about Yevon, who had saved her from herself after her lover, her Squad, her sister were dead, and her everything was gone.
She had nothing left then; she had sought refuge at the Island of the Monks, but she found him. Her lashing out wasn't pretty nor right. But he told her everything.
"The last two to be touched were the Ice and Fire Fayth, yes?" came the too smart reply. How did he put everything together?
"My Fayth bonded with me more than any Chosen before, making what happened with the Zanarkand Fayth worse. These last thousand years weren't helping. All the death, guilt, all of it has made the madness worse." Emma confessed with a heavy heart. This wasn't something she could tell her love. He was in too deep as well; if he knew the truth about the Zanarkand Fayth and her past...let alone about those two...she didn't know what he'd do.
She was afraid of that lash out for he would do just that. He would take down so many...he would become that one more than he already was. There was only so far the Chosen were supposed to interact with Fayth, how deep to go into their soul.
She had gotten too far in the wrong one.
"The loneliness and the despair made the madness worse. I fell in deeper with the wrong one, and the balance is completely wrong—and it's all my fault. I didn't understand...if only I had talked to..." Emma stopped. It had been so long since she had spoken his name. In fact, there really was no one alive that knew it anymore. Instead, he was just called by his rank now.
"So there was someone before you that had been...chosen, so to speak," her Al Bhed commented, and she nodded hesitantly.
"It was actually Yevon and his lover. We owe them so much...Bevelle had tried to take advantage of the most powerful Summoner and Guardian that had been alive in a long time. We were surpassing Yunalesca and her husband, and soon we would have taken their position in Zanarkand. Those greedy bastards wanted us for themselves, but the powerful twosome before us, that matched us in power and magic, sacrificed themselves for us. Yevon joined them to keep them under control, and the other bound himself to that island. I blamed Yevon for so much..." Emma trailed off as her companion squeezed her hand, giving her strength like always to go on.
"When he found out that I had killed his lover, what Bevelle had done, what his lover had done to me, he snapped. The two of us kept each other balanced for so long...until the Maesters of Yevon became greedy again. It couldn't have been more than five hundred years (probably less) since Zanarkand fell when Bevelle realized I was still alive. They tried to take advantage of me, and when I told him, my mentor, he turned into a fiend."
Silence was between the two before he asked, "Did you kill him?"
Emma let out a good laugh. "Fool, I'm too selfish to be by myself. Of course I didn't kill him. He's all lonely in his island prison, waiting for me to return and soothe him with song."
Intense wind hit the tent, and Emma sensed something. A shit ton of fiends were heading toward the island as well an Aeons. So, Seymour found where Yuna washed up after Sin attacked (not to mention he recovered quite quickly), and the bastard was coming for her.
The blonde male was too used to her and knew what was happening. "You need to leave."
The woman nodded. "He'll be here soon with the others. I can feel them coming across the desert. Fiends are coming, we need to warn your people. The Guado want her back."
Her trusted anchor helped her up, and the two quickly walked toward HOME (which was a ten or so minute walk away—the way they were hauling ass anyway) in silence. It was when he took her to where the Summoners were gathered that he knew which one she was talking about.
A girl who looked exactly like her sister.
Her Al Bhed said nothing; instead, he helped her down the stairs, and as soon as they were in the pit so to speak, Cid came busting through the other doors. The bald Al Bhed wasted no time as he made a beeline for Emma.
"Vilgehk Fiends yht Guado yna yddylgehk. Fryd ec kuehk uh?" Cid was practically growling.
Emma countered with,"Tet oui ajan veht dryd yencrebc?"
"Tu oui ghuf ruf du fung yh yencreb?" the Al Bhed leader questioned.
Emma smirked, "E ghuf ruf du yldejyda dra faybuhc."
"Kad ouin ycc sujehk, secco!" he waved his hands in a shooing manner toward the door he just came from.
~Tidus~
I felt Emma come back to wherever her mind took her as she relaxed into my arms as I molded my front to her back. "Why do I always find you on a ledge of some sort over a drop that could kill you?" I mused as I remembered another ledge or two I found her lost in thought near.
My Summoner actually thought about that before she let out a breath. "Maybe you should just let me fall."
My arms tightened, and I growled into her ear, "Never."
She didn't respond for a few moments before whispering, "Maybe that's the problem. Maybe we wouldn't be cursed if we could just let each other go."
Then I responded, without even thinking, "Then let's fall together, because I refuse to give you up."
She giggled darkly before she responded, "We are each other's strength and weakness. One day, it won't be a reason to live anymore but death that we give to each other."
"Bring it on, love. I'd rather die with you than live without you," I countered.
Emma twisted in my arms till we were face to face with her arounds around my head. "Fate or Destiny? There's never been a choice with us, has there?"
I frowned, "Do you...regret—"
My love cut me off with a hard, deep kiss that told me her answer. "Always and Forever, for better and for worse, is the saying, yes?"
Then she was out of my arms, walking toward the lift while tugging on my hand, "Let's go help them do their jobs. Honestly, my Guardians never lost me."
"No, you lost us," was my smartass reply.
"Asshole," she muttered with so much love as she tugged me inside the ship.
I wasn't blind. I saw the madness that her boyfriend told me about. He warned me toward the end, before everything went to hell—back when there was a chance to stop everything. But I didn't understand, and there was so much he didn't, or maybe couldn't, tell me.
Whatever it was, there was something deeper than the Fayth I knew going on here. Something darker, and I had no idea in hell how to fight it.
How do you protect your Summoner, the love of your soul, without knowing the threat?
All I knew was that the closer we went to Zanarkand, the less time I had to figure all this out. I had to find a way to save Emma from the Fayth, herself, and this unknown shit that was eating her way inside.
Translations:
"Dyga ic du Bevelle, puo." === Take us to Bevelle, Boy.
"Oui dyga uh Ceh fedr caneuic ehzineac mega dryd? Cdemm cu cdibet, fusyh." : "You take on Sin with serious injuries like that? Still so stupid, woman."
"Cu, dryd'c ouin tavehedeuh uv cdibet dutyo?" : "So, that's your definition of stupid today?"
"So tavehedeuh uv cdibet ec ymfyoc dra cysa: ed'c frah oui tu cusadrehk nalgmacc yht oui teth'd haat duu." : "My definition of stupid is always the same: it's when you do something reckless and you didn't need too."
: "Did you ever find that airships?
: "Do you know how to work an airship?"
: "I know how to activate the weapons."
: "Get your ass moving, missy!"