Chapter 28: The Final March (Song: youtube - watch?v=Fu4fX_-m3Rs) ((I consider this song to be the theme of SOS, so please listen and enjoy. :D))
FLASHBACK START
"Wahhhhh!" Trisha shrieked in joy, bouncing around. "I can't believe we just marched the last time in our freshman year!"
Dylan grinned, nodding. Sweat was pouring from underneath her hat.
"But it won't be the last time ever!" Emi pointed out, panting in excitement. "We still have three more years to march here!"
She gestured to the large dome they were standing in, where marching band state finals were held, among other things...
"Yeah, don't be sad yet!" Dylan teased her. "You can't be sad until we're seniors!"
"Hah, yeah, I guess you're right," Trisha admitted. "But I can't help it. It's still another passing memory for us. We'll never march with this same group again."
Dylan frowned a little. Trisha had a decent point. Sam (Dylan's section leader at the time) would never march with her again. She would miss that.
But she knew she couldn't focus on that. There were still things ahead of her that she had to look forward to. So she forced herself to smile. After all, this was just the beginning.
FLASHBACK END
Yuna wanted to cry. She had just destroyed all of her aeons. All of them! She could never get them back! And she had worked so hard, and put her friends' lives in danger...just to get them. And now they were gone.
And now there was one more battle. She would either have to kill Yu Yevon...or die herself... Luckily, she happened to have seven amazingly powerful guardians at her command, so things were probably going to go fine. Especially considering one of them knew exactly how to beat every enemy they'd ever come across. That was definitely a plus.
Suddenly Yu Yevon's glowing outline came into everyone's view. The dark essence that surrounded it disappeared, revealing...what? What was this supposed to be?
"How appropriate," Auron said with a smirk.
"Yu Yevon is just a tick!" Rikku cried, sounding both amused and horrified at the same time.
"It's symbolic, du-uh," Dylan said, rolling her eyes playfully. "Either way, we're taking it down, right?"
Everyone cheered except Tidus. Yuna stared at him as he scratched the back of his head nervously. He didn't really want to have to make this sort of announcement, especially when everything was going so perfectly.
"Everyone!" Immediately they stopped cheering and turned to him. He paused. "This is the last time we fight together, okay?" he told them kindly.
"Huh?" Wakka grunted, furrowing his brow.
Tidus stepped forward, not taking his eyes off of Yuna. She stared back. This was going to be it, the moment she had been dreading.
"What I'm trying to say is...after we beat Yu Yevon, I'll disappear!"
"What are you talking about?" Lulu snapped, totally disbelieving. Tidus ignored her, still staring at Yuna.
Though she had totally been expecting this, it still hit Yuna hard. She could practically feel her heart breaking, smashing, being crushed and shattered. And she wasn't alone.
}{}{}{
By far, this was the most painful part of the journey. Even Macalania couldn't top this... The hell-bending reality: I would never see him again.
"I'm saying goodbye!" he exclaimed, walking past us and drawing his sword.
"Not now!" Rikku whimpered.
"I know it's selfish...but this is my story!"
"It's not just your story!" I shouted to him, taking a few hesitant steps forward. I heard a few gasps at my response. "It's not just your story," I repeated, and he turned to look at me.
"You're right," he murmured, pursing his lips.
"What are you saying?" Rikku gasped, trotting to my side.
"I...I'm leaving too. After this battle," I told them, closing my eyes. I willed myself to stay calm, and for once, it was working. I slowly opened my eyes to see everyone in even more shock.
"What? You too?" Wakka shouted, smacking his hand to his forehead.
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "I'm sorry. I don't know...I don't know if I'll ever see you again! But!" The willing of calm was not working anymore. "But I love you all so much, and thank you!" Little tears escaped my eyes. "Thank you!"
"Thank you," Yuna said, her face contorted in an effort not to cry or freak out. I smiled at her, and she loosened up and smiled back.
"Alright...now, let's finish this story! Our stories!" I cried, running forward to join Tidus. This would be the fastest battle yet. How ironic...the one occasion I wanted time to stop...
}{}{}{
Yuna inhaled deeply several times, but her exhales came out as short gasps. She was shaking all over. This was it. Her journey was about to end.
She looked around at all of her friends. They had been so faithful to her. Always there, ready to help her, follow her, no matter what kind of stupid decisions she made. Nothing would ever be the same after this moment. She wanted to make it last.
"If you want to kill this thing really fast..." Dylan suddenly was telling Yuna. She blinked. "...just turn it into a zombie and use a phoenix down." Dylan shrugged. "But I totally understand if you don't want to just waste this moment."
Yuna smiled, and Dylan smiled back. They were totally mutual on that. It was obvious Dylan was struggling to come to terms with her own reality. At least Yuna could stay in Spira.
She turned back to the parasitic creature. Yu Yevon...huh. How symbolic. Yu Yevon had truly been like a parasite all these years. Taking aeons and controlling them until a new one came along, then it would just change forms. It had no real form. It had no other purpose. Yuna kind of wondered what the original summoner looked like. How old was he? Was he young, like her? Surely not; she couldn't imagine being a summoner for that long!
Casting Holy on the beast creature, Yuna sighed. She really just wanted to kick Yu Yevon in the face, but it had no face, so that wasn't going to happen.
Still, it made Yuna so angry just thinking about it. Without Yu Yevon, her father would still be alive. So would Auron. So would Jecht. And so would Tidus. The only downside is that she and Tidus would probably never have met. Or if they had, they never would've been anything more than friends.
Also, Yuna never would've met Dylan. Sin would've never have attacked her world. She would've lived in peace for her whole life.
}{}{}{
I guess I should've been more angry at that point. You know, thinking along the lines of "Why did this happen to me? I wish I would've never come here!"
But the strange thing was...I didn't feel that way at all. Sure, there were definitely some sour notes along this trip, but there were a lot of grand times as well. And though I knew the ending would be absolutely incredibly hard to bear, I was pretty much ready for it.
No, I didn't have a plan. But I had come to terms with the fact that Tidus and I were never going to see each other again. I would never ride in an airship again. I would never hang out with Yuna and Rikku again.
At least, that's what I thought at the time, but that's a whole other story.
"Don't worry," I told Yuna. "We can't die in this battle. Give it all you got."
She nodded obediently. Her face showed her story on it. I wondered if mine was that badly obvious.
Lulu cast Ultima on Yu Yevon's tick-like body. It was almost dead. I could tell because its little tentacles were waving around frantically.
It kind of reminded me of an octopus.
Anyway, Auron went forward to take the last shot. The last swing of his sword that he'd ever give. But this battle was going to end much more easily than his other one with Yunalesca.
Suddenly Yu Yevon glowed a lavender color, then dark again, the symbol of Yevon appearing on its body. The tiny red lights that had served as its comet-like trail before now circled around it, then blasted into to it. Yu Yevon was engulfed in reddish-orange light as it slowly died away. A single bright pyrefly flew out, free at last after all these years. Only one. That's how ghostly Yu Yevon was.
The towers surrounding Yu Yevon all briskly lined up in perfect formation, then slowly began to close in on Yu Yevon's empty tick body. They crashed into it, sending out a radiant white light across the area.
Ohhhh, geez. It was over.
}{}{}{
Meanwhile, in Besaid, everyone had gathered to wait for either the end of Sin, or the end of the world. Everyone was there. It wasn't just the natives. Though the entirety of the Besaid Aurochs-besides Wakka and Tidus, of course-was present as well.
Maechen was there with the Chocobo Knights, sharing with them stories of old times. Before this moment, they wouldn't have listened. But now that was the only thing to free their minds of troubles ahead.
Suddenly the Aurochs began to cheer and clap in excitement. The Knights and other natives looked up into the night sky and gasped, overjoyed. Even the chocobo was excited.
With a salute, the Knights stared into the sky, their hope eternally renewed. For in the distance, they could see a bright light of peace. Sin had been destroyed.
Inside the temples, the people danced and laughed freely for the first time. Though their religion was destroyed, they were filled with hope for the future.
Even deeper inside each temple, the aeons that rested there began to change their form. Their colors faded, and soon they were nothing more than dirt-brown statues, resting beneath the surface. Those fayth were gone.
Bevelle's temple was no different; the aeon of Bahamut transformed into an earthly statue. The little boy fayth watched in joy. He was ready for this. He'd already been waiting too long. Slowly he faded away, away to peace. He could stop dreaming at last.
All over the world that night, people watched as their source of great pain, Sin, disappeared for good. Some people didn't believe it. Others were overjoyed.
But even to the nonbelievers, this was a great sign of eternal hope.
Yuna had accomplished her mission.
But, unfortunately...even with such an amazing act, there came consequences that no one that young should have to face.
