Chapter 25: Breaking Through (Song: youtube - watch?v=bq3kWdK061k)
FLASHBACK START
Dylan hated shopping so much. It was a little better with Emi and Trisha there, but anything beyond Target bugged her.
"C'mon, Dylan, prom is only three months from today!" Trisha squealed. "Just pick a dress!"
"No," Dylan insisted. "I'm wearing pants!"
"Oh come on," Emi sighed. "Don't make me pick for you like in eighth grade."
"Oh geez, never again!" Dylan laughed a little, and Emi smiled back.
Truth of it was, Emi was really the only one besides Addy that understood how Dylan felt about herself. She wasn't as pretty as her friends (mostly because she never tried). She didn't like to be fancy. She was more focused on being herself. That was an amazing breakthrough at the time. But by now, for Emi, it was just another fact.
"So, pick one, then," Emi said. "It doesn't have to be frilly."
Dylan paused, then sighed in defeat.
*What would I do without you?* she thought, glancing at Emi.
FLASHBACK END
"Rikku, aqlammahd! (Rikku, excellent!)" Brother exclaimed as we entered the bridge again. Rikku was nearly dancing out of her shoes.
"It's going to come back, isn't it?" Yuna murmured, closing her eyes in thought.
"I know," Tidus replied.
"What?" Cid barked. "You're kidding me!"
"Like we would," I pointed out.
"We have to beat the guy inside Sin," Tidus explained.
"The Crusaders would be out of a job if it was this easy," Wakka added.
"But it has weakened," Lulu said, bringing the conversation back to the lighter side. "I'm sure of it."
"Yeah! We're winning!" Rikku cried proudly.
"All right, I'll do what I can with the main gun!" He sounded proud as well, like he wanted to please his daughter even more.
It was quiet after that, so Cid walked briskly out of the bridge and into the corridors. Yuna soon followed him, and before long, Tidus followed her.
}{}{}{
Tidus found Yuna a while later out on the deck of the ship. She was staring out into the sky, lost in thought. But she heard his footsteps, and that comforted her enough to make her speak.
"I wonder if Sir Jecht is in pain," she said.
"Let's just end this...quickly," Tidus said. "The fayth said they would help us, right?"
"It bothers me, the way they said that."
"Huh?"
"I mean, they've been fighting alongside us this whole time," she explained, "but now they say they'll help?"
"I guess so..."
"Wait!" Yuna had a thought, an epiphany. "Sin is reborn when Yu Yevon merges with an aeon, isn't that right? If I summon an aeon, Yu Yevon will join with it. But at first, it'll be small, won't it?"
"Yeah..." Tidus caught on. "Then, we might be able to defeat Sin without the Final Summoning."
"I don't know." Yuna paused. "What if Yu Yevon jumps again?"
"Then we'll take it down again! We'll fight him until there's no place left to run!"
"I never thought it would come down to this," Yuna murmured quietly.
"Yeah, I know," Tidus agreed, not quite as melancholy. "Hey, the fayth, they're tired of this whole thing, too. Let's let them rest."
"The fayth said it's pointless to keep dreaming," Yuna said slowly, knowing Tidus had answers. "The dream will disappear, he said. What did he mean? And what is it that Yu Yevon is summoning from within Sin?"
"The dream of the fayth," Tidus replied just as slowly.
"You won't...go away, will you?" Yuna asked him, lowering her head.
Before he could answer, Rikku's voice blared through the loudspeaker.
"Yunie! Guys! Come look!" she cried. "Something's happening to Sin!"
Tidus and Yuna turned toward Bevelle to hear Sin's roar. It slowly pushed itself up, sprouting glistening, silver wings. With surprising grace and gentleness, it flew up to the Tower of Light and sat there, waiting. Tidus knew then that it had to end soon. Jecht couldn't take much more.
}{}{}{
"I wonder how it stays like that," Rikku said, turning her head sideways to get a better look at Sin.
"Wouldn't it just crush that thing?" I agreed, squinting. "It must weigh a million pounds!"
"Quiet, you two," Cid scolded us. We grinned at each other.
"Jecht... He's waiting for you," Auron said suddenly. I then knew Tidus and Yuna were back.
"Well, son, the main gun is still busted!" Cid warned Tidus. "We can't give you any cover fire!"
"Hey, just take us in," Tidus told him. "We'll do the rest." Tidus looked at us for reassurance, and we nodded, smiling, ready for the end. Just like him.
"All right," Cid confirmed, now addressing Brother. "Take us up, flush to the mouth! No mistakes, or I'm gonna tear out that mop you call hair!"
"Trust...me," Brother replied. "Me...take you there. No problem...ya?"
"Oh no, your brother sounds like Wakka!" I told Rikku. She grinned.
"Let's get ready to blitz!" Tidus cheered.
"Biff!" Rikku and I corrected him.
"Whatever! Let's just do this, ya?" Wakka shouted.
"To the bridge!" Kimahri barked, and we followed him, somehow managing to keep up with his large strides.
Soon we were back on the deck-again-and Sin was staring at us-again-waiting to fight us-again.
"Here we go!" Cid shouted.
"Yeah!" Tidus cried. "I'm coming for you, Dad!"
"We can defeat this just like before!" I shouted. Suddenly the ship rumbled.
"Hey! What's goin' on?" Wakka yelped.
"We're being pulled in by Sin again," Lulu stated.
"Well, whatever! That just makes this easier!" Tidus cried.
}{}{}{
Even though its face was destroyed, Sin managed to pull the airship inside safely.
It was surprisingly beautiful in there. Pyreflies danced around the group, as if to welcome them. Rikku spun around cheerfully, following the pyreflies. But suddenly the calm, blue sky turned an angry red, and Seymour's eye flashed before each of them. There was a moment when suddenly the ship rushed forward through the pupil, and everything became turbulent and horrible, but it ended just as quickly as it began. Soon they were floating through a tranquil abyss.
"Dad! Where are you?" Tidus cried the moment he was on the ground.
"We must go to him," Auron said.
"Then we will! Let me take front!" Tidus ran ahead of everyone else.
"Good luck," Yuna said as he passed her.
Without a thanks or any acknowledgement whatsoever, Tidus cried, "Follow me!"
So they did.
The group must've wandered hours upon hours through the misty pathways inside of Sin, battling fiends here and there, stopping every so often to rest a little. By far, it was the most epic part of their journey so far...and the journey was almost over.
"Ohhhh, geez," Dylan moaned after hours of silence. But she had every right to. There, just ahead, was Seymour himself. He laughed when he saw them. Tidus was the first to run forward. This was another thing he was ready to end!
"Don't you ever give up?" he snapped at the unsent.
"Sin has chosen me," Seymour hissed in glee. "I am part of Sin. I am one with Sin, forever. Immortal!"
"Sin just absorbed you," Tidus pointed out.
"I will learn to control it, from within. I have all the time in the world. Since you were gracious enough to dispose of Yunalesca..." Seymour's form began to change as he spoke. "...the only means of destroying Sin is forever gone. Now nothing can stop us!"
"Well, we can!" Tidus said.
"By all means, try!" Seymour cried in a crazed voice, his form reappearing in a new shape. "You should thank me! Your death means your father's life!"
Four panels glowed around Seymour's form, each one having four colored circles on it.
"Those circles represent the elements," Dylan explained as the group prepared to attack. "We can plan our moves from there!"
}{}{}{
"So this is going to be my kind of battle, right?" Lulu joked, smiling. I nodded.
"It's all you," I replied, nodding back. "You say it now!"
"It's biff time."
"Alright!" Rikku and I cried, pumping our fists in the air.
The panels rotated to show red.
"That's fire!" I shouted, pointing. "So, yeah! You know what to do!"
"BLIZZARD!" Rikku cried, shooting her newly learned magic at Seymour. "Bwahahahahaha!"
"Please...Lulu...just finish this now before she freaks me out any more," Tidus said, laughing.
"I wonder what would happen if we all did Ultima at the same time," I suggested. At that point, everyone had learned the spell, and we had fought enough fiends that we knew what we were doing.
"Okay!" Yuna cheered. I was surprised at that. But maybe she was just as excited to kill her ex-husband as the rest of us. "Three, two, one!"
"BOOM!" Wakka shouted, laughing.
The spells all shot off toward Seymour and exploded in a blinding white light. The wind knocked me over, but I probably would've fallen anyway, seeing as I was laughing too hard for words. Finally, I was getting to destroy the most annoying video game character ever! In person!
When the light cleared, only Seymour in his human form was left. He staggered backward, then collapsed to his knees.
"No!" he murmured, clutching where his heart used to be.
"Now!" Wakka shouted, finally serious again. "Yuna, send him!"
"Right!" Yuna cried, ready as ever. She walked over in front of Seymour with pride, readying her rod. And, to everyone's delight (except Seymour's, of course), she began to send him.
"So it is you, after all, who will send me," Seymour murmured. Yuna continued without a word, not even starting to hesitate. "But even after I am gone, Spira's sorrow will prevail."
"Now that's a sight for sore eyes," I said happily as Seymour burst into light and pyreflies.
"Sin will be right behind you," Tidus added, much more serious.
*As will Jecht,* I thought as he walked away. *And as will you.*