A/N: Hello...thanks for all the reviews! All the usual disclaimers apply...I own nothing but Moira, yadda yadda...

Somewhere in a small, sleepy village in England, a well known local shop stood empty. The shop catered mostly to tourists and had an inventory full of knick-knacks, oddities and folk art created by local artists, sold on consignment.

Not much was known about the young owner of the shop; she had worked for the previous owner and bought her out upon her retirement several years ago. She didn't change much within the store, preferring to keep the nostalgia of years gone by. The new owner was single with no family that anyone in the village knew about. In fact there was nothing about her to cause local tongues to wag – until she went missing.

She had been missing for close to two months now and no one had the slightest clue where she went, but they all had their theories.

The shop and living quarters above had been searched to the point of ransacking in hopes of finding some clue as to her disappearance, but nothing turned up. Given the way her disappearance was discovered and the lack of clues, the local police were forced to declare that she was the victim of some form of foul play.

Once this piece of information was released the local rumour mill kicked into high gear; each theory more wild and farfetched than the last.

The only thing that no one ever suspected was that she had found her heart's desire at long last; a way into another world, far from her own; a way into the arms of the man of her dreams. No one ever suspected this was her end.

They would never have guessed that this new world she found herself in would challenge her so completely; would bring her face to face with her greatest fears. She herself would never have speculated that she had a natural affinity for magic, would have the strength of will to control the elements themselves or summon up an entity of pure power.

At the same moment the townspeople wondered "whatever happened to that nice young lady who runs the gift shop?' that selfsame young lady was lying on the stone floor of an ancient temple in another dimension; dead.

Auron attempted to rush to Moira but was stopped short by a curing spell cast by Yunalesca. In his zombie form, the healing light burned like acid, sinking deep into his body until he was wrapped in pain. Cursing loudly, he crumpled somewhat under the weight of the magic. For a few moments pain blinded him. Slowly, he forced his anguished mind to clear, ignore the pain and focus on the task at hand.

He practically crawled across the floor to reach Moira. He took one of her pale hands between his own and was immediately sickened at the sight; he milk white skin trapped between slabs of sickly green putrescence.

Quickly he realized that her time was running out quickly. In a few moments, she would be beyond resurrection.

"Yuna!" he called. A strangled cry came from the summoner and he turned to see she too was still under the zombie curse. She had ensured that all the others had been dosed with holy water and she was no doubt ready to heal him.

"Cure yourself!" he commanded.

"No! Not until you are well!" she called back, her voice sounding strained.

"I'm the guardian, remember? I protect you, not the other way round!"

"You need to lift the curse," Yuna insisted, forcing a vial of the precious liquid into his hand. Without warning, he pulled the stopper and poured the healing liquid onto the summoner's head. She squealed at the unexpected shower.

"Auron!"

"You cannot bring her back unless you are well," Auron said, his voice beginning to betray his emotions.

"I understand," she replied softly, handing him their last vial of holy water. Taking up her staff, Yuna conjured up a powerful life restoring spell. A flurry of gold sparks settled on Moira's pale skin, slowly sinking in.

For several heart stopping moments, Yuna and Auron stared at Moira, willing her back to life. The others were continuing the fight. Suddenly Moira sat bolt upright gasping for air. Her wild eyes searching frantically until she found Auron's concerned face. One look into his liquid brown eye was enough to calm her, despite his green skin.

"Moira," Auron whispered.

"Green," she said, pointing at him. He looked down at himself, chuckled a little and quickly doused himself with the vial's precious water. His colouring quickly turned back to normal.

"Can you stand?"

"I'm not sure," she answered, her voice dusty and dry. She held out her hand and conjured up a ball of water which she sipped until her parched throat was calmed. She then shuddered violently at the realization that she had just been brought back from the dead.

"Is it over?" she asked.

A battle roar from Kimahri gave her the answer. She turned to see a combined attack from the Ronso, Wakka and Rikku. Yunalesca fell backwards and the long tentacles that had been holding her aloft shrank back.

"There!" Wakka said with a broad grin. "She done for now, ya?"

Moira screamed as she saw a huge forked tongue slither out from the unsent summoner's newest body; a hideous distorted oversized head, complete with medusa inspired hair and glowing red eyes.

The black tongue quickly wrapped itself around Wakka, lifting him off the ground. He screamed as the pressure surrounding him increased.

Suddenly, from across the room dozens of ice shards crashed into the offending tongue. They opened up several weeping wounds and the tongue released its prey and retreated.

A grateful Wakka dropped to the floor and retreated to a safe distance.

"Thanks, Lu!" he panted.

"Any time," the mage drawled.

With a strong lift from Auron, Moira regained her feet and her sword. She quickly realized she was not yet strong enough to wield her sword; her first experimental slashes hurt like hell. She sheathed her weapon and concentrated on casting as many damaging spells as she could.

The battle continued with no end in sight. Each blow was returned with a vicious attack and despite their advantage of numbers, it seemed the party was doomed to fail.

Suddenly, the head emitted an ear splitting scream that stopped the warriors cold. Weapons clattered to the ground as they reached up to cover their ears, trying desperately to block the noise. The powerful attack shattered reality around them, with devastating consequences.

Moira was lucky enough to escape its effects but the others were no longer able to recognize friend from foe. Wakka picked up his spiked blitzball and threw it directly at Tidus who slashed back at him with his sword.

A huge fireball enveloped Rikku who launched a grenade back at the mage. Luckily it did not explode.

Moira also noticed Yuna and Kimahri were sparring. She was about to heal Yuna when a rather large blade flashed past her. Auron was attacking her! She could see he was completely confounded by the blast from Yunalesca.

She was able to dodge and retreat to a safe distance where she immediately blasted Yuna with an Esuna spell. Yuna shook her head and ran from her Ronso attacker. She and Moira joined forces and quickly brought the others around.

Embarrassed apologies would have to wait; healing magic and potions were the order of the moment. Yuna could see that her guardians desperately needed rest. She called out for the Dragon King, Bahamut. The others ran for cover and tended to their wounds.

Rumbling announced the Aeon's arrival and Moira's eyes widened as she witnessed the power of the Dragon King for the first time. Immense somehow failed to describe him.

Jet black scales covered his massive body. Each limb was positively bursting with hard muscle. On his back, surrounded by multi-coloured reflective scales was a great wheel. Before Moira could wonder at its use, Yuna called for Mega Flare.

Bahamut took two large steps back and punched his clawed hands into the ground for leverage. He spread his wings and the wheel on his back began to spin rapidly. As it spun, the coloured scales surrounding the wheel began to glow with the build-up of energy. Blinding white light built up and the group watched as it flowed from the wheel into the Aeon's body.

Opening its mouth, Bahamut directed the rush of energy at the monstrous head before him. It was strong enough to defeat it.

The group heard Yunalesca scream and watched as the head crumbled and the last of her waving tentacles disappeared. Lying on the floor in the middle of the remains was the defeated summoner as she originally appeared.

Yuna dismissed Bahamut with her thanks. She then walked slowly and warily up to the fallen summoner.

"You fools!" Yunalesca spat. "What have you done?"

"We have saved Spira from your false hope," Yuna replied.

"No. You have robbed the people of Spira of their only hope in these dark times. Without the final Aeon there is nothing you can do about Sin. The people now have nothing but despair, Yu Yevon will see to it!"

"Yu Yevon? Is that who controls Sin?"

"Yu Yevon brought Sin to Spira and you have forever destroyed the means to defeat him. It is over. Now, send me lest I return as a fiend stronger than you can imagine."

Without another word, partially numb from shock, Yuna danced. Although her movements were robotic, Moira still thought the dance beautiful.

As the ancient summoner became shrouded in pyreflies they heard her softly call:

"Zaon, my love. I'm sorry, I tried."

With a final flourish of her staff, Yuna sent the cloud of flickering lights sailing off in search of the Farplane. Yunalesca and the deadly final Aeon were gone; no future sacrifices needed to be made.

But was Spira better off?

After resting for a few moments the group made its way out of the chamber, only to be faced with the ancient gatekeeper; the now irate ancient gatekeeper.

"Blasphemers!" he cried. "You have destroyed the Lady Yunalesca! You have..."

"Yeah, yeah!" Tidus cut in. "We've destroyed the people's only hope. Is that what you think?"

"Yes!"

"Wrong! You are so wrong!" he snapped back, his blue eyes blazing with anger. "We just became Spira's only hope!" He turned his back on the old man and began to storm out of the chamber. Before he could reach the entrance, Auron pulled Tidus aside.

"There is something I need to tell you," he said simply.

"What? What is it?"

"I am also unsent."

Tidus looked at his mentor for a moment, realizing the strength it took to tell him this secret.

"I kinda already knew," Tidus admitted. "When did you..."

"Ten years ago," Auron replied, guessing the boy's meaning. "I returned here after Braska and your father sacrificed themselves. I attempted to battle Yunalesca by myself. She defeated me easily."

"What happened then?"

"I made it part way down the mountain but eventually my strength failed me. Kimahri found me and carried me to the Ronso village, but somewhere along the way, I died."

"Why didn't you...umm...stay dead?" Tidus asked.

"I had two very important promises to keep. One was my vow to Braska to look out for Yuna and see her safe to Besaid. That I accomplished very quickly, with Kimahri's help."

"What was the other promise?"

"I think it would be better to show you," Auron said taking a step toward the center of the room. He knelt down and from within himself he gathered pyreflies to form the images he wanted to show the boy.

Moira had hung back when she saw Auron pull Tidus aside. She didn't want to eavesdrop, but something told her she needed to see what would unfold. She concealed herself behind a column and watched her lover's memories.

An image of Jecht appeared in the chamber.

"Do me a favour, will ya?" his gravelly voice began.

"Name it," a voice Moira recognized as Auron's replied.

"Aww, never mind. Forget it."

"Out with it!" the young Auron ordered.

"Will you watch for my kid? He's such a crybaby. I wanted to make so much of the runt, show him the view from the top."

"I promise to watch over him and help him any way I can. But Jecht, how can I make it to your Zanarkand?"

"You said it yourself. There's got to be a way. I know you'll find it."

"I suppose anything is possible. Alright! I'll do it," Auron replied with finality.

"Thanks. Make something out of him."

The image faded and Auron stood up, turning toward the young man who was once the runty boy Jecht worried about.

"I never thought..." Tidus began.

"He loved you, you know," Auron said quietly.

"I suppose he must have. But..." he closed his eyes tight, shutting out this new version of his father; one that grated against everything he had told himself to believe. "It doesn't change anything! I still hate him!"

Auron stared at Tidus, but wisely said nothing. He had seen many of these speeches about Jecht over the years. If only the boy would understand the truth; his rage and hatred were unjustly focussed on his father; it was his mother he needed to see in a different light. He saw firsthand how she neglected the boy when memories of Jecht haunted her; he could imagine only too well how the real Jecht caused her to act.

Moira slipped away, not wanting to be discovered. She rejoined the others who had waited in the entranceway of the temple. Shortly Tidus and Auron joined them as well.

"Where do we go from here?" Tidus asked. His battle with his conflicting emotions was clear on his face.

"I'm not sure. I suppose we need to track down Sin." Yuna said.

"So where do we find the bastard?"

They moved out of the temple as they spoke and the answer to Tidus' question presented itself.