Disclaimer: Square-Enix Incorporated owns all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include. All other materials, such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera, all belong to Zeshin-kun.
Author's Note: Lol, habbo, I'm not sure where I could place another comeback party, but if I can, you might see your flame there. I will say that it'll be a while getting there, though. Thank you for telling me my chapters in the female perspective are believable. It was a long-standing worry for me that getting accuracy through multiple persons was going to be the downfall of this fiction, but so far, my female readers have had the same reaction you do so that's all well and good. Like you, there were at least two others that told me reading felt like a girl talking to them so, if that's the case, wonderful! Of course, now there's the worry about how I could sound so much like a girl... It's my writing skill! Yes, that's it...
But all jokes aside, thank you for the compliments and hopefully this fiction will proceed toward a Jecht favourable direction.
Last chapter, Rikku set off to find Kirin, the one in Shuyin's past closest to him and closest to her in likeness. Might you be able to figure out her plot? To be honest, even Rikku's not too sure about it, but a few bits more information should settle lingering doubts. There's going to be a few more inclusions that will start the next segment of this story so I hope you all pay attention to them and come up with your hypotheses to leave in review. =) Oh, but naturally with my stories, part one doesn't come to a close smoothly. It won't be anything as dramatic as the eve of war in Shuyin's Story's Changing The Times, but it's still not going to ease into the next chapter without making a few ripples. Take a guess as to why. I wonder if you lot can predict the outcome of this one.
Spira: The Eternal Discord
Chapter 20: Breaking Point – Jezebel
Rikku
When the Celsius landed back in Besaid, the sun was already set. The trip to the Farplane took up a little more time than I wanted and I knew Yunie and the others would be upset, but it couldn't be helped. My conversation with Kirin was better than I ever expected. I saw Kirin on Mt. Gagazet, sure, but I didn't know if that's the Kirin I needed. The Farplane's image was to show me how Kirin might have been, at least a better idea for me to have of her, but I couldn't have expected being able to meet her. I was sure I was ready now and I knew exactly what happened to them back then to be helpful to my plans.
"Rikku!" Yunie scolded, clutching both my shoulders before pulling me into a hug, "Where have you been?!"
"Sorry Yunie, it was just a little muddled over here." I told her, "I needed some time away."
After all, I didn't just come back after talking to Kirin. She let me learn what I needed to get things started, but I had no way to use it just then. I spent the rest of the time flying around, revisiting the spots where our enemies showed up. Most of what I did was just to calm my nerves. The baddies I was thinking to take on were two very creepy people. Still, there was the nostalgia that I required to succeed against them. Actually, that seemed to just be coincidence and their own ploy to catch us. That kind of revelation made me worry, made me wonder if there was anything else behind it or if thinking so only pulled us closer into their clutches. Either way, we had to take the chance since we were losing otherwise.
Yunie kept asking where I went, but getting into any detail would just worry her and she'd find out soon enough anyway. She and her guy had both come to the beach to pick me up, leaving Gippal, Leblanc, and Beclem to keep a watch over our wounded. A short while after Yunie stopped mothering me, Ormi arrived to tell us that Paine and Shuyin were awake. We were all happy to know Paine was okay, but what was shocking was how fast Shuyin had recovered. Last we'd seen, he had had a sword impale him in his gut by the shadow. I knew this turn only made him seem suspicious to everybody else, but I had a hunch it was something better for our side. Together, we headed back to the infirmary to greet them.
When I saw Shuyin up and about, I lost myself and rushed over to hug him, "Shuyin! You're alright!"
"Yea, it was just a glancing blow." He told me, his face back to that stern mope he'd been carrying for a while.
"Glancing?" We all shouted in surprise.
"Yea… I guess it doesn't want me dead. Seems it just wants me to remember, just wants to make sure I don't move on with my life." He replied.
"Is all this just to make you suffer?" Yunie asked him, the kind of voice she used making it clear she was upset to have Shuyin's life mess up hers.
To this Shuyin only gave a sarcastic grin, "Now, that would only account for one of them, wouldn't it? I can't really be sure. I think that shadow needs me, at least the part of me that was involved with it. Of course, I'm also in the dark as to why it'd need me to remember. Somehow, I doubt it's the culprit behind this, but it's probably one of the key players to explain why I'm here."
"Does that mean it remembers?" I asked.
"Again, I'm really not sure, but this wound that's spontaneously healed tells me it doesn't want me dead just yet. Still, for all I know, it's just toying with me like I toyed with you." He said, putting his hand on the fading injury.
Just then, Paine came by to say, "Lulu's in better shape. She's pulling through, but it'll just take some time."
"Paine! Are you okay?" Yunie asked her.
"Nothing Dark Shuyin's head on a platter wouldn't cure." She said, looking to Shuyin who eyed her back.
"You just might get that request, Dr. P." Gippal noted, coming in.
"How so?" Paine and I both wondered.
Dream boy answered for him, "We figure those two might show up in Lake Macalania."
"The lake, huh? Good assumption. That was a place very special to me so it'd make sense the shadow would want to spoil that, too." Shuyin responded.
"Macalania's special to me, too."
I decided, that was as good enough a time as any to get my plan going. "Actually, maybe we should go for Seymour when we fight."
"What are you talking about, Rikku?" Yunie said, expectedly confused.
"Well, they'll both be there, right?"
"Yes, but I don't see why…"
"Then, we have a shot at beating him. So far, we pick a spot based on one of them and just go with that, but let's try it this way." I said.
"But Rikku, what difference…" The blitz ace was about to say.
"Please!"
He tried to persuade me again, but Yunie placed her hand on his arm to stop him. Nodding to me, she let me explain my idea to everybody. I told them about doing some thinking on the situation after we got Shuyin and Paine to the infirmary and thinking about what our unsents' motives were. To my surprise, they listened to me closely and agreed with many of my points. The only one that seemed doubtful was Shuyin himself, but he didn't say anything. I knew he wasn't pleased with the plan, but he was distancing himself. Even so, I moved on and told them all what we should do in Lake Macalania to one-up on them. Once they understood, we set paths to draw them into our stage. The guys supported me much easier than I thought they would and it made me very happy that they did believe in me like I believed in them during our other adventures.
"Looks like Rikku's grown up." The blitz boy said.
"She always was one." Yunie corrected, bringing a smile to my face.
It wasn't any trouble at all getting to Lake Macalania. Beclem and Leblanc's gang stayed back in case Seymour had any ideas about recapturing Wakka and Lulu so we were just the six: Shuyin and his counterpart, us YRP, and Gippal. Gippal was getting through the "kinks" of our plan, working with Paine to sort out everyone's role. Yunie was fidgety so her man was stepping in to keep her confident. No, everything was perfectly fine except the numbing sound of silence glaring at me from the corner of my eye.
"What?" I asked, tired of being stared at like a misbehaving kid.
Shuyin only turned away with a sigh, taking his glare up with the clouds outside, arms crossed and in deep thought. Part of me wanted to go over there and demand he say something, but I didn't think I had the guts to face mean Shuyin just then. I already used up my courage reserves on what I planned for the battle and Shuyin's shadowy side. Kirin warned me about the risks, how dangerous this was even if we all prepared. I was sure Shuyin was having the same thoughts going around in his head, too.
Even if that was the case, so what? What else were we doing besides falling into their traps each time? If Shuyin thought I was going to be the good little girl, he missed those chapters already. This Rikku wanted to do something about the situation herself, not just play cheerleader for him. Anyway, I was the only one who had a chance of having the plan work so there.
Once we landed and unloaded, Shuyin finally decided to speak, "We should rethink this."
"And you choose now to say this because?" Paine immediately questioned of him.
"Because we had to come here anyway and we know they'll be here, but our plan sucks."
"It's a good plan!" I defended, almost ready to punch the guy if Yunie hadn't held me back.
"I don't like it."
"What don't you like? The part where it's probably the only thing that could work?" Paine asked, glaring at Shuyin with a sly grin.
"More like the part where someone stands a high chance of being killed." He easily returned, "And I've been there and back. Not a fun ride."
"It doesn't matter 'cause we're here already, it's the only plan we've got, and well…" Gippal interrupted, trailing off at the end to point at the fact that Seymour and the shadow were just a few feet away, giving us smug looks.
Without warning, our Shuyin launched himself into combat. Taking out his sword, he immediately went for a killing move on Seymour, which was easily blocked by the shadow. The rest of us had no time to initiate the plan before Seymour's multi magic forced us right into it. It wasn't the best way to start us off, but our enemies were here so that was always a good start.
"What's this about a plan, I hear?" The shadow said loudly, his words directed at Shuyin, but meant for all to hear.
While the two Shuyins fought, the rest of us went after the former Maester, though a quick Flare forced the other Shuyin clone to get into that fight, as well. He had originally gone to slash at Seymour, but the spell lit up underneath him and blocking only hurled him over to those two. From what I saw, he did manage a good comeback, striking down with the Spiral Cut Overdrive to break up what looked like a draw between the two. Meanwhile, to follow his Flare, Seymour used Ultima on Paine and Gippal who dodged, but set the stage for the Maester to cast Multi-Firaga right into their path. Paine saved Gippal by going Gun Mage and dowsing the closer flames, but the Firagas had them pinned. Yunie drew her Twin Bees and I quickly changed to Gunner myself so we could double-up on Trigger Happy. The former Maester was prepared for the bullets, though, having cast Barrier and Shield on himself to minimize the damage to pretty much nil.
"Haven't we been down this road before, Yuna?" Seymour cooed, "How did it end last time? Oh yes, with an Aeon surprise."
The ground suddenly rumbled and the small pools of Lake Macalania erupted into gushes of turquoise water. Yunie changed to Dark Knight and I decided to head back to Thief as Paine and Gippal made their way to us.
"So, how does this plan of yours work again?" Gippal shouted while we all kept a watch over the water.
"Don't worry, if I'm right, this latest Anima-fiend is perfect for us." I told him, hoping that I was right.
I really didn't need another Angra Anima knocking us out with an Overdrive. If Seymour's summoning was raising water, I remember only one fiend around this area that could do that and its attacks could be just what we needed to kick my idea in gear. As the water began to calm, the streams pooled together above us, taking the shape of a ball, but with Anima's terrible expression floating among the inside. It was just as I was hoping; Anima got mixed in with a Spherimorph fiend to make this glob of the Aeon. If I knew how Seymour worked, and naturally we all did by now, he'd gloat first before doing any big hurt on us.
"Allow me to introduce the Amorphous Anima." Seymour purred confidently.
With those words said, he got the thing to split into a bunch of globs above us. Anima's face appeared on the bottom of each glob before they hardened and fell. Yunie and Paine were both suited up in Dark Knight so they easily took the hit and cut through. For the rest of us, it was harder, but I was too fast for it and the boy all had their unique way of getting away. After the Pain plus pound move, Seymour had the blobs reform and act as smaller versions of the fiend we fought before, changing its element from time to time to cast different spells on us. While it distracted us, Seymour surrounded himself in the rest of Amorphous Anima, using the Aeon-fiend like a cocoon. The shadow, in the meantime, also took advantage of the bits of Anima messing around by going for Hit & Run. His counterparts easily blocked the strikes, but they had to take their eyes off the Spherimorphs and the globs grabbed them, holding them in place. Yunie and Paine just took the hits, their armor hard enough to absorb the damage, but Gippal ended up being caught by both and was captured, too. Lucky for me, I was forced to run further back to dodge that other attack so the shadow's Hit & Run never made it to me.
"Black Sky?" Paine called out to Yunie.
"Black Sky." And together they called for the rain of fire.
The globs weren't taking enough damage to have the three released, but that was fine. Even the shadow managing to dodge most of the attack was fine. In fact, since dodging it was making him more confident in himself, it was perfect. Once Black Sky finished, two more globs latched onto Yunie and Paine, leaving me the only one free. By then, Anima's main body opened up and Seymour came out with a new form, glowing like the Spherimorph shell he was in. Anima's old body wrapped around him like a robe and he hovered swiftly to my friends.
"Hm, five little ducklings all bundled nice and warm. I've almost collected the lot." He said, looking to me.
The blobs that surrounded each of them began twisting, tightening and hardening on them. He was still gloating so it was time to enter the final step. I kept my distance from them, shrinking to let them believe I was scared and worried about everyone. Seymour held back and just gave a victory grin, leaving the shadow to come and get me. Likewise, the guy took that job happily, doing that stalking thing he used before.
"Now would be a good time to scream, little girl." He snickered.
He would say a few more awful sentences before he got to me. While he was talking, I made sure to look away and slowly let my hair down. The last he'd seen her, she had her hair down. I needed to be as close to the mark as I could. I wanted as much of me to be recognized because this shadow didn't have Shuyin's good heart inside. This one only had memories that I hoped weren't just a tool to be used for his cruel ploys.
"Aw, you're just gonna stand there and hope it'll all go away?" He sneered, letting out a couple more chuckles, "Sorry hunny, going to your happy place can't help you now."
"Don't…" I mumbled.
"Don't? Is that all? Well, at least it's something."
"Don't… Please…" I continued, slowly lifting my head to face him, Please… That's enough."
The shadow eyed me curiously, looking back at Seymour once before turning his attention back to me, ready to add another threatening remark. Before he could, I walked over to him, pressing my hands and chest against his and looking up into his eyes with mine trying their best to recall how they were in our last battle. I tried to look scared, really helped by the fact that I was actually terrified, and fortunate for me, they started to well up with tears, one even managing to overflow and stream down my cheek.
I quickly took advantage and said, "Shuyin, please stop this!", hugging him close.
I could feel his body jerk from my touch, but he straightened up soon after, "Foolish little girl. Do you think I'd fall for it like Shuyin did?"
His sword arm started to lift up to go for the kill, but as I hoped, it was wavering to show that he was doubting his actions. I was getting to him! I just needed one more push. That push came right out of the shadow's own moves. Grabbing me by the neck just as the real Shuyin roared for him to stop, he pushed me back to make way for his sword's strike. Even if it was instinctive, the cringe I made when I lurched back definitely helped. When I opened up my eyes, I could see that the shadow was just about ready to go for the kill, leaving me just enough time to…
"SHUYIN!" I screamed just as the sword swung down, stopping the shadow right when his weapon pressed against my neck.
I was shaken, truly shaken, and my heavy breathing and terrified gaze gave the shadow all I had wanted to show it, what had stopped Shuyin from killing Yunie and me back in the Farplane that day. Kirin was Shuyin's heart, something he got back the moment I put it in danger at that moment. This time was no different and my gamble worked, though it was a really close call. If I had screamed just a second later, I wouldn't have said anything ever again.
The shadow stared at me in shock, hopefully because it was feeling the same thing Shuyin had. He wasn't Shuyin, but he couldn't escape what made him. Shakily, he stumbled towards me, dropping the sword with a loud clang that made me gasp. His eyes never left my face, not even to blink. When he reached me, his hands flew out, grabbing me roughly by the shoulders, but even then, his eyes kept focused.
"No! Kirin… Stop doing this to me!" He growled, pulling me and shaking me like that would make Shuyin's heart go away.
In the distance, a frustrated Seymour called over, "What're you doing? Get yourself together and let's finish this!", letting me know the shadow had pretty much spun us around.
"Shuyin, I hope you can forgive me." I softly said, repeating the words Kirin wanted to have Shuyin hear.
The shadow was hysterical by that point, his grasp of my shoulders starting to hurt. He already couldn't bear to look at me, taking to panting heavily while looking down, trying as hard as he could to recollect himself. It would fail. Shuyin already knew that when I turned my head to check up on them and Seymour. The Maester was on his way to kill me, which was perfect for what I wanted to do. And if everything were to go right, we might even end up with two Sh…
"No… I'm not that weakling. I don't intend to sink into a pathetic heap for some girl! This filth has to be purged and I am the power to crush Spira's despair!" He suddenly growled, grabbing my shoulders so tight, I yelped in pain.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Seymour ordered, now within at least a ten-foot radius.
As his grip grew harder, I thought my shoulders were going to crack; they hurt so much, but he suddenly pushed me away, mouthing a "no". I flung into Seymour who just swiped me away, landing me in a heap off to the side. The hit took me out of it for a bit and all I got for the next few minutes was the shadow shouting a "I won't let anyone stand in my way!" right when I hit the ground followed by someone screaming, more screaming, fighting noises, and then an arm tucking itself under my neck to lift my head up.
"Rikku?" A familiar voice whispered, the arms shaking me a little to wake me up.
As I slowly opened up my eyes, I started seeing yellows and blues, then branches before I realized Shuyin was the one holding me up. His expression was a mix of happy and worried, something I figured I'd just have to get used to. I finally understood why he'd been upset over my defeating Seymour and this plan. It occurred to me after I spoke to Kirin.
"Shuyin tried to protect us all and we let him down by not being careful, not taking the proper precautions. I loved him, but in the end, I was too broken to help him."
Kirin was Shuyin's heart. He had an idea of her that didn't let him accept that she was her own person with her own mind and her own flaws. He didn't want me killing any more than he had wanted to see her kill, but they were in a war so he kept shielding himself from those, but he told me about Trista and how Kirin was by then. He couldn't face it that we're both just people and the same for Lenne. But I only screwed up his chances for moving past that with this plan of mine. I thought it would all work out and the shadow would end up on our side just like he did. I didn't think about how close I could have come to having my head lopped off.
Apparently, after Seymour conked me out, the shadow blasted him because he didn't have that Anima cocoon around him anymore. Actually, most of the Amorphing or whatever Anima was in a few puddles elsewhere. By my guess, Shuyin probably attacked it the moment Seymour got hit by the shadow and then came for me when the others were freed. The Maester still had his updated form, but without Anima, most of his new abilities were gone. Instead, what he had looked to me like combination elements, like the Triple Foul Yunie's Aeons could use during the pilgrimage.
"You think you're up for round two?" Shuyin asked me plainly.
"Why, you think we…" I was about to say.
Very abruptly, Shuyin tossed me up, spinning me as he did so I could see what was happening. The shadow gathered himself and went to attack Shuyin. Taking out my daggers, I used my air to my advantage, going for a stab on him like I had with Seymour. Instead, after a deflection on Shuyin's sword, he hopped on it and headed for me. I quickly crossed my daggers to block his lunge, catching the tip of the weapon and balancing myself on it. Meanwhile, Shuyin managed to grab the leg of his counterpart, pulling us both down to the ground before offering a shoulder for me to somersault onto and making sharp jabs with his sword at our opponent.
While we were busy with that, Seymour's Triple Fouls were slowing as his magic began to run out. Yunie and Paine had him pinned with Black Sky, forcing him to waste more magic on protective and Cure spells. And while they were doing that, the boys were picking up the physical offense, Gippal with Grinder to take off small bits of the Spherimorph armor and the Blitz Ace poking the weaker points to chip away some more.
"Enough of this!" Seymour growled, "This Seymour Stellus deems it time to unveil my true power."
The armor melted around him and collected back into a ball before brightening with light. Inside, several colors swirled around the Maester, revolving faster and faster until they all blurred together.
"Rakuhouha!" He suddenly burst out, shattering the outer shell of the Spherimorph armor.
The contents that had been trapped inside erupted in spikes of multi-elemental power, scorching the entire area. Shuyin and I were far enough away to avoid it, our attention mainly on Shuyin's dark side. For the others, they took to hiding behind Yunie and Paine, but even then I could see that it wouldn't be pretty. As the tremendous energy surged, the Dark Knight armor began to melt and blow away from them. By the time the raku whatever finished, both of them had to switch out dresspheres. Yunie took to White Mage while Paine went back to her Warrior form. Turning my attention back to the center of the blast, I saw that Seymour was in rough shape. That attack was his last ditch effort to buy time until the shadow could pyrefly them both to safety, but we could help mess up those plans.
"You two, I'll filet later. Right now…" The shadow started to say.
Quickly, I cartwheeled in and took my heel to his chin. Following me, Shuyin put him into a lock, holding him still so I could flip forward, grab him neck with my ankles, and flip him even further away from helping Seymour. Before we could react, though, a streak of yellow blew past us and began cutting away at him, too.
"Hey, head back over. Yuna's ready and you two look like you could use a break." The Blitz Ace said.
"Alrighty!" I consented, taking Shuyin to go surround Seymour.
When we got there, Yunie was already in the middle of sending him and he was helpless to resist. There was a howl in the background, courtesy of an Energy Rain, and then our mission was complete. While my plan didn't go exactly the way I hoped it would, we accomplished what we set out to do that day. We sent Seymour back home.
Author's Note: And at long last, we're at the end of Seymour. Finally, too, since I feel mages take away from the fight. He was boring even in the game. I kept rolling my eyes each time I had to fight him because, while I had my trouble with the first fight, the rest were lame. =\ Well, that's to me anyway. He's not much of a fast-paced instinctive reaction kind of boss, is he? I mean, I'd rather fight a Tonberry than that guy. Note, I don't mean to offend any Seymour fans out there; he just wasn't for me. =P Anyway, now we've just got the one pissed off and possibly confused unsent around to deal with. What will happen? Tune in next time for Chapter 21: Partial Victory. See ya then!