Chapter 10

What had happened? That as the question that Kai was asking the second Tidus rejoined the battle. One second Tidus was out, the next he was back in the fray, his power suddenly far greater than anything he had ever seen before. Kai, Auron and Wakka could only watch dumbfounded as Tidus tore through the hordes of fiends around them. Kai rolled under a drake's tail and brought his katana round slicing through the scales on its side and it crumpled to the ground. Auron simply stepped back to avoid a dingo leaping at him and then proceeded to flatten the poor creature with a powerful blow from his huge sword. Wakka used his ball to crush the throat of a giant flying fiend and then spun to his right to avoid a dingo. Bringing his right foot up, he axe kicked the fiend, destroying its skull and it exploded into pryeflies. As Wakka and Auron began fighting the fiends once more, Kai turned to see Tidus still fighting with unbelievable skill, speed and strength.

What's with this kid? Kai flashed back to the battle with Sin going to Kilika. Tidus had destroyed a Sinspawn with almost complete ease, despite the battle beforehand with an unending wave of Sinscales and being heavily wounded by the underwater Sinscales. One second he's down of the count, the next second he explodes with power like I've never seen before.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a giant bird like fiend swooping down on him. He leapt up onto its back and drove his blade into its spine. The beast careened into the stands as Kai back flipped off of it and onto a drake, slamming both his feet into its head and coursing to crash into the rock beneath it. Both fiends collapsed into pryeflies.

Fighting like one possess, Tidus cleaved a drake in two with a fierce sideways strike. Almost as he did so, he saw a dingo leaping at him from behind in his mind. He spun round at inhuman speed. Leaning back to avoid the leaping canine, the zanarkadian placed both his feet onto its chest and shoved it over him. It howled desperately as it crashed into several other fiends, sending them all plummeting over the edge.

Kipping up, Tidus turned and inner crescent kicked a sahagin into a wall, which it hit in an almost comical fashion, face first and sliding down it slowly before crumpling to the ground. Tidus saw a drake charging him and jumped to his right side. Landing on the sahagin causing its arms and legs to stand up on end as he embedded his feet into its stomach and he leapt up into the air.

He held out his sword in his right hand and then something strange happened. Purple and blue samples of energy began to circle around brotherhoods blade as if drawn by some powerful magnetic force. The energy began to swirl and twist into the blade until it began to literally glow with power. After a few more seconds Tidus swung his sword across his body. As he did so, the blade hurled the magic down on the fiends. It was almost a rain of energy. The bullet shaped objects of energy flew into the ground. A few moments passed as Tidus remained floating in the air as the fiends continued to gather beneath him. Suddenly the ground beneath the creatures exploded, pieces of rock and metal rocketing out of the ground, the fiends were all disintegrated by the enormous amount of power the attack possessed.

Tidus landed on the ground, on one knee as the pryeflies swarmed around him, the only remnants of the fiends he'd been fighting. More began advancing on him. Tidus slowly turned his head to see them approach and got to his feet. The power that had awakened inside of him was still burning furiously, but slowly the fire began to diminish the more he fought. With every fiend felled, another three took their place.

Auron roared and leapt up to drive his sword into the ground. He came down, the blade stabbing into the rock. The second he did so fire exploded around the fiends surrounding him causing all to fall into darkness. It was the rage of a Dragon's fang. He withdrew his sword and replaced it onto his shoulder. Wakka spun on the spot and then threw his ball round. The ball went round causing all the fiends to fall to the ground as the ball burst through each of their bodies before returning to its owner. Wakka wiped the back of his hand over his nose and resumed his combat stance. Kai stood calm his blade back in its saya, as a huge number of fiends charged and flew toward him. Tensing Kai raised his right fist in powerful motion. White energy seemed to glow around his fist until a huge ball of power. Kai then slammed his fist into the ground falling to one knee as he did so. A huge pillar of holy magic erupted around him, sending all the fiends rocketing back. The wrath of the angels.

Kai stood up and looked around seeing more fiends crawl from the woodwork. The four were slowly loosing strength, and the fiend numbers seemed limitless. More and more just kept appearing, even as the people continued to flee the stadium. Something was out of place, fiends never attacked on such a massive scale, and never with such accuracy or organisation. Auron, Wakka and Kai backed up slightly as drakes, dingoes, sahagins and garudas approached.

"Where in Spira are they coming from?!" Wakka exclaimed as the three continued to back up.

"I dunno ask them!" Kai retorted as the fiends drew ever nearer. "They oughta know!" Wakka was about to answer when Auron took charge.

"Enough! Let's regroup with Tidus!" Knowing arguing with Auron was not in their best wishes; Kai and Wakka retreated back to where Tidus was fighting, followed closely by Auron.

As the three reached him, Tidus dispatched a dingo before a drake forced him to leap back. His eyes were once again their ocean blue colour and his chest was heaving. Kai came up next to him and unleashed his blade, sending crescent gust of red energy at the oversize reptile, cleaving it in two. However the second in fell, three more of its brothers took its place. The four warriors got back-to-back, Wakka and Auron on one side, Tidus and Kai on the other.

"Gimme a break!" Tidus uttered wearily readying his blade once again.

"You're telling me!" Kai replied, also out of breath "There's no end to them!" As the two spoke the fiends began to close in but then an unlikely saviour appeared.

On the balcony that once housed Maester Mika, the son of Jyscal, made his way into the sunlight. Seymour reached the balcony and looked over the stadium and the devastation. Seymour seemed to smile and performed the pray of Yevon gesture and as he did so several pryeflies flew around him.

A few moments passed until a deep black void formed on the walkway beneath him. From the void emerged a terrible shape. It was almost like a mummified body, with chains wrapped around it. Two Venus flytrap like flaps moving up its mummified and enchained tower of a body. Under all of the bandages hid one glowing blue eye. As it emerged into the sunlight, it gave a terrible howl, a screech, which pierced the ears of all that heard it. It was almost like it was in pain. Terrible, blinding and crippling pain. It looked round at it's fiend prey and energy began to gather in its eye as the guardians looked up at it.

"What the hell is that?" Tidus exclaimed as the fiends began to scatter with howls of fear.

"It's an Aeon…" Kai muttered in reply. Tidus looked at him and then back at the giant beast.

Soon all the energy gathered in the creature's eyes exploded into an enormous energy wave, literally destroying the fiends it came into contact with. It gathered its energy again and fired once more exterminating another large collection of fiends. This repeated over and over, as the fiends were destroyed Seymour simply stood calmly as Anima finished her work and growled slightly as she stood, claiming her rather unanimous victory. All the people stood in awe of the Aeons power as they stared at the powerful entity. All except one.

Kai's eyes followed the pryefly the glided past him. The son of Braska narrowed his emerald eyes and slowly turned to look at the Half-Guado summoner. Kai felt an immense dislike for Seymour coil in his gut. While Seymour had just saved countless lives, there was something different about him. Something was very dark about Seymour.

"After all the time we spent fighting those things he does it faster than a heartbeat" Kai said to himself. "A Maester and a Summoner...bit of a coincidence" Kai scoffed "Too much of a coincidence…it's like he waited for when things were at their worst and then saved all our skins." a couple of red sparks bolted up his body with a loud crackling sound and the other four looked at him.

"What is it Kai?" Auron asked. Kai shook his head.

"Nothing…" with that Kai turned and left the stadium, Auron followed and Wakka went to find the others. Tidus went after Auron and pursued him to the dock; desperate for some answers.

Yuna, Lulu, Kimahri and Kai waited for Wakka on the balcony just outside the city. Kai was leaning against the railing his arms folded as Wakka approached.

"Ok…I'm here now…I fulfilled the promises I made to the team," Wakka said as he approached. "From now on Yuna I'm your Guardian full time." Yuna smiled as she answered.

"Then welcome back Sir Wakka…" Wakka smiled embarrassed "Glad to have you with us"

"Hey it's good to back…" Wakka turned to Lulu "So what happened?"

"Can't say" Lulu answered. "We don't know where the fiends came from, but thanks to Maester Seymour, Grand Maester Mika is safe and sound. That's about it" Yuna's voice when she spoke was filled both terror and awe.

"Maester Seymour's Aeon…it was so powerful…" They had a scoff and they all turned to Kai.

"Yeah… and if you ask me it's a bit too coincidental…" Yuna and Lulu frowned, while Wakka glared. "Think about it. If Seymour possessed such a powerful Aeon why didn't he act sooner?" Kai looked at the party, and he saw Lulu and Yuna were agreeing reluctantly in silence. "He could've destroyed those fiends anytime he wanted to…but instead he waited until things were at their worst…if he'd waited any longer how more people could have been killed?" Wakka growled.

"That's enough Kai he saved your life…" Wakka pointed out. Kai snorted in disgust.

"Yeah whatever…he may have saved my life…but that doesn't mean I have to like him…besides…" Kai turned and looked over Luca "Something wasn't right about that attack…Fiends never attack in such great numbers or with such randomness…I wonder…"

"I said enough Kai…" Wakka cut him off fiercely "Don't say anything about it!" Kai snarled. Wakka's blind devotion certainly always annoyed him and while he'd like to slap some sense into the man he decided not to.

"Fine if it'll ease your temper…I keep my thoughts to myself" Kai turned back to looking over Luca. Yuna came and stood next to him and looked at him with a smile. Kai sighed and smiled back and the children of Braska looked out of Luca together.

"This is all your fault you hear me!" Tidus seized Auron by the collar. "Being stuck in Spira and not being able to return to Zanarkand! This is all because of you! It's your fault!" Auron smirked and then began to laugh out loud. As Auron continued to laugh, Tidus growled and roughly took his hands off of Auron's coat and the veteran Guardian turned away still finding humour in Tidus's outburst, probably because Tidus rarely lost his temper in front of Auron.

"Hey who are you?" Auron turned around slightly "You knew my old man didn't you?" Auron nodded.

"Yeah"

"And you knew Yuna's father?"

"That's correct" Tidus shook his head.

"Hey man there is no way…" Tidus asserted, "It's impossible.

"Nothing impossible about it…" Auron replied calmly "Braska, Jecht and I… Together we defeated Sin ten years ago. Then I went to Zanarkand" Auron's small uncle-like smile appeared on his face "Where I watched over you…so one day I could bring you to Spira" Tidus frowned his anger replaced by bafflement.

"Why did it have to be me?" Auron looked at him through his one eye.

"Jecht asked me to" Tidus raised an eyebrow at the man who had been like an uncle of sorts to him.

"Is he alive?" a shade of pain glazed over Auron's face and he looked away.

"That depends on what you mean by 'alive'…" Tidus's confusion was evident at this point. "He is no longer human…but then…I felt something of Jecht inside that shell…" he turned to look at Tidus "you must have felt him when you came in contact with Sin" Tidus's eyes widened as he flashed back to when he'd seen Sin's face up close on the way to Kilika.

The presence, the calling out to him. No…it couldn't be but…could it?

"It can't be…" Auron looked down and then back at Tidus.

"It is…Sin is Jecht." Tidus shook his head rapidly and moved back.

"No way…that's ridiculous! I don't believe you!" Auron gazed at him with no betrayal of emotion. He didn't think Tidus would care as much as he seemed to. Perhaps he did not hate his father as much as he claimed.

"But it is the truth…" Tidus turned away and leant down like he was going to be sick. "You'll see for yourself…come with me"

"And if I say no?" Auron sighed.

"Every story has an ending" Tidus whirled on him anger all but evident in his face.

"I don't care about your stories!" Auron looked down.

"I see. Sorry you feel that way" Auron turned to go "Fine. Come or don't come it's your decision" As Auron began to walk away. Tidus yelled in frustration and turned back on him.

"What am I supposed to say?! You tell me it's my decision but I don't have a choice do I?!" Auron stood patiently yet infuriatingly still as Tidus vented his anger "I have to go with you, I have to! You're the only who can tell me what's going on here anyways!" Tidus turned back around crouching slightly clearly upset over the whole ordeal.

"Irritating I know…" Auron said softly "Or are you afraid?" Tidus didn't reply. Auron sighed feeling his somewhat fatherly feelings for the boy emerge. Despite the fact he did not directly raise Tidus, he had both watched over him and trained him, and thus a bond had formed between them. He moved over to the distressed zanarkadian and put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right" Tidus straightened up slightly and Auron turned his back to him. Tidus took a couple of deep breaths before speaking again.

"Auron?" he felt the elder man acknowledge him "Will I ever go home? Back to Zanarkand?" Honestly Auron did not know the answer to that question.

"That's up to Jecht" Tidus sighed and Auron looked over his shoulder at him. "I'm going to offer my services to Yuna…come" with that Auron walked away.

It was all too clear to Tidus now. Zanarkand was somewhere he would probably never see again, at least how he knew it. Plucking up his courage he turned and followed his mentor towards his destiny, whether he knew it or not.

Thus marked this first glimpse of the change from athlete to hero.

Again apologies for the somewhat slow update speed, school has been piling on.

Anyway your thoughts and reviews please!!!!!