Many years later I return to do a lil writing. I make no apologies and ask for no forgiveness. If you've been waiting, here you go, if you're just joining us, hi nice to meet you. Enjoy.

Chapter 21

Evrae

Bahumut tore through the air over the battleground. In the distance, hazy through the still dissipating dust and smoke, Bevelle gleamed like a jewel beside the Macalania Woods. Between Kijo and Majo, Lenne gripped tightly to the hard armored scales of her summoned Aeon. It felt warm, the great winged dragon, and comforting. With a deep breath, she drew what strength and resolve she could from her summon and set her eyes on the monster flying toward them.

"Evrae is the guardian wyrm of Bevelle," she shouted over the roar of the wind. "It protects the skies over the city from intruders. Ceasefire or no, Evrae will show no mercy to those who cross into its domain."

"How are we gonna play this?" Kijo hunched further down, trying to find a sturdier handle on the dragon aeon's back. "Can you outfly the thing? We only need to get close enough to jump off…"

"Out of the question," Lenne said quickly. "The summoners were all briefed on the futility of trying to outpace Evrae. Valefor is a faster flyer typically but no one's been able to get past Evrae with her either." Kijo glanced sideways at the summoner. Her words were cold and factual but he didn't hear any despair in them. Lenne's eyes were focused ahead on the oncoming beast without a trace of fear. The woman had a plan, that much was obvious. As to what it was…Kijo couldn't say.

Majo listened to the brief exchange indifferently. He knew they were in terrible danger, he could see Evrae roaring directly toward them, could see the ground hundreds of feet below blurring past. A part of him was terrified, but it was a small part. The rest of him felt empty. A quick glance over his shoulder reconfirmed the larger truth. Dying here, high above the city of Bevelle would only be hastening the inevitable. Far behind them, beyond the great mountain Gagazet floated the monstrosity that Yevon had become. The same monstrosity that he had failed to do anything to stop. The emptiness inside him filled with something cold and sharp.

"Everyone hold on," Lenne interrupted Majo's thoughts. "I've got to get us closer." Kijo adjusted his grip again, clutching hard to an upraised scale. Majo looked at the both of them but otherwise did nothing. "Here we go…"

Evrae roared as it closed on its prey. With a thought from Lenne, Bahamut opened its mouth and returned the challenge, the air shaking from their deep cries. Bahamut's roar wasn't reserved only for sound though and with hardly 300 feet left between the two flying beasts, an enormous beam of light exploded from the Aeon's gaping maw. The ray split the air with a crack and struck Evrae, however the wyrm had slipped to the side and only took it as a glancing blow. The attack was powerful enough to send the guardian of Bevelle wheeling crazily through the air as Lenne urged Bahamut to speed past the monster.

Kijo screamed in exuberance as they left the wyrm reeling in their wake but as he turned to look back he shut his mouth. Hardly moments after they had passed the guardian, it had turned and took after them. The large creature ate up the distance between itself and its prey in a grotesque slithering motion like an aerial snake. Once more it roared.

"Everyone grab onto me!" Lenne screamed as she turned her Aeon into a dive. Evrae followed gamely as they began to hurtle toward the ground. Kijo immediately freed a hand to grab Lenne around the waste. He looked at Majo who stared blankly down at the ground. Assuming he had panicked, he reached further and took hold of his collar. Majo, shaken from the his grim fantasies of his own death by his oldest and most naïve friend, let himself be pulled closer to the summoner between them.

Lenne felt it as Evrae's great beak closed over Bahamut's scaly legs. The dragon screamed as the guardian of Bevelle wrenched back and lashed out with its clawed forearms, digging deep past the armored scales of Bahamut's back. She felt her Aeon's pain and silently asked forgiveness, even as she yelled for her companions to jump. They did and the three of them hurtled down past Bahamut who shrieked as Evrae began to rend and tear. The wind buffeted them and she could hear Kijo screaming in fear and excitement. For an instant she looked back at her pained Aeon. It would only have to endure for a moment longer. Once they had enough of a headstart she could dismiss him…

Evrae was no dumb beast though. The guardian flung the riderless Aeon from its powerful jaws, scanned the skies and quickly found the falling prey. Lenne's eyes widened as the flying wyrm focused on her. With a thought, she dismissed Bahumut. Had they gained enough ground? Evrae seemed so much higher up than them now. The ground was quickly rushing forward to meet them. If she didn't summon her next Aeon now, they wouldn't have to worry about Evrae. So she closed her eyes, focused and called forth Valefor.

In an explosion of glowing glyphs and sigils, the massive birdlike Aeon came forth from the ether, soaring downwards beside them. How much further did they have to fall? She couldn't be sure. If Valefor caught them too early, Evrae would be on them in an instant. Too late and…well that didn't bear thinking on.

"Do something!"

Lenne thought that Kijo was screaming at her, but when she looked at him he saw his eyes were locked on Majo. The mage gave no indication he had heard his friend. How easy it would be to kick away from the two of them now. Even if the Aeon could catch the two of them they could never save him as well. He could fall to the ground and end it in an instant. No more pain or hesitation, just a single thud and then nothing but pyreflies.

The imagery of the pyreflies rising over the empty hole that was Zanarkand came unbidden to his mind. The mass of swirling lights bending and crushing together under Yevon's great gravity, morphing into the nightmare in the sky beyond Gagazet. A horrible thought struck him. How far would that terrible gravity reach? Were the pyreflies on the battlefield even now making a pilgrimage to join the mass of sin Yevon had created? If he died would his soul join it instead of returning to the earth? He couldn't bear that thought. He couldn't be any more a part of that than he already was. Kijo's cries reached at the same time and he turned to face Evrae.

"Blind."

The guardian's eyes suddenly watered and clouded over. It let out a piercing shriek of rage and surged forward, converging on the last position it had seen its prey. Lenne immediately directed Valefor to catch them and they all latched onto the soft feathers adorning the graceful Aeon. The city heaved upwards beneath them but Lenne urged Valefor to pull up and they skimmed over the buildings below. Evrae did not fare so well and smashed with an ear cracking thud, sundering brick and breaking windows.

Kijo couldn't help but laugh with the rush of adrenaline, but he pulled himself together in time to direct Lenne over the buildings and streets of the city.

"There," he said, pointing ahead. The massive building he had infiltrated only days earlier loomed before them. Far beneath it was the last available option. Vegnagun, the machina that might, might, be able to blow this thing Yevon created out of the sky. Kijo looked at Lenne and gritted his teeth. Vegnagun wasn't the only thing down there though. "In there. That's where Shuyin is."