Title: Broken, Beaten, and Damned
By: Aina Song
Fandom(s): Final Fantasy X/ Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: Yaoi
Rating: PG-15
Warning(s): Crossover; Slightly AU; Language; Some OOC; Direct Quotes; Altered Quotes; Altered Scenes (and other such subtle storyline changes). Italics = thought bubbles, Fayth speech and/or telepathy, and Al Bhed.
Pairing(s): Yusuke x Tidus
Reviews: Yes, please! Reviews are a writer's bread and butter!
Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. Would you believe someone dared me to do this one?
Teaser: Yusuke finds himself in Spira, locked in partial-demon form, and increasingly obsessed with the fate of a certain summoner and her blond twin. Especially the twin. Mostly the twin.
Chapter Twenty-Nine – "No One."
Night had long fallen before everyone was willing enough to agree with Auron's declaration that they could delay no longer. They had rested, their weapons sharpened and ready, and could only hope their resolve would help to push them a little further.
Yusuke no longer felt satisfied with guarding the rear of their entourage, choosing instead to stick close to the summoners as they entered the city ruins. The atmosphere amongst the thousand-year-old debris tugged and cajoled at his energy, until it simmered and hummed beneath his skin. Pyreflies ambled about aimlessly, shifting and swirling in a wispy multitude of colors, and the skies beyond them seemed aglow with a generous dusting of glittering stars.
"Feels like… the Farplane," Wakka commented absently at one point.
To which Auron remarked only, "Close enough."
Every step of the way was a challenge. The road was broken and disjointed, and in places required a bit of teamwork to climb over. The fiends that tried to slow their progress were the strongest they had encountered. They stopped often to heal and recuperate, sometimes needing the rest they had used as an excuse to postpone this last leg of their journey.
Deep within the very heart of the broken city stood the remains of a large temple with a domed ceiling. At one point in history, it must've had been a home to its priests and acolytes, and a sanctuary for many a weary traveler. Now, however, it felt to Yusuke the same as an abandoned cemetery – full of death, mixed with pain and loss and suffocatingly mournful sadness.
At the temple's entrance, they were greeted by a priest with a very distinctive aura.
"Journeyers of the long road," the aged priest spoke, voice paper-thin and cracking. "Name yourselves."
"I am Tidus," the blond answered. Motioning to the pretty brunette at his side, he added, "This is my sister Yuna. We are summoners from the isle of Besaid."
The priest nodded. "Lady Yunalesca will surely welcome your arrival. Go to her now, and bring your guardians with you." He then walked passed them without another word, his aura blinking out as he turned a corner.
"Lady Yunalesca," Yuna gasped, sharing a look with her brother. "She's alive?"
"As alive as Seymour," Auron spoke, clear warning in his gruff voice, "and Mika."
And that priest, Yusuke mentally tacked on to the list. And you.
Understanding lit in the twin summoners' eyes. And when their guardians readied their weapons in further caution, so did they, conjuring staff and sword to defend themselves. Yusuke shared a glance with Tidus, and in a moment of inspirational synchronization, they moved slightly closer to Yuna on either side. The brunette might have been as powerful a summoner as her twin brother but, even after traveling so long and defending themselves against hordes of fiends, she lacked in true physical fighting experience.
The interior of the temple had been wrecked through, its walls collapsed into rows of debris. Auron was ever at the lead, silently retracing steps he himself had taken ten years before. Pyreflies flitted about, clouding together randomly in a way that tugged at Yusuke's senses and had Raizen's darker energy sitting up and paying attention.
The others murmured in surprise and alarm when some of the pyreflies came together in a cloud just beyond their reach. And though Yusuke could not see into the pyreflies, his companions stared at whatever image those will-o'-the-wisps were showing them.
If it might benefit the future of Spira, a ghostly voice reached the tattooed demon's sharp ears, I will gladly give my life. It is the highest honor for which a guardian might ask. Use my life, Lady Yocun, and rid Spira of Sin. The pyreflies burst apart, off to wander about to no-one-knew-where.
Rikku, who had hidden behind Kimahri in a moment of timidity, peeked around the Ronso's shoulder. "W-what was that…?
"Our predecessors," Auron solemnly revealed. "This dome… is like one giant sphere. People's thoughts and feelings remain here. Forever."
They took his words to heart, proceeding at an even more cautious pace than they had been already. Now Yusuke wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the pyreflies, and one or two of the traveling companions seemed unsettled whenever they did.
The second time it happened, the others murmured amongst each other, very clearly upset with what they could see which Yusuke could not. Yet the dark youth frowned, disturbed to hear what could only have been the tear-choked voice of a child crying out for its mother.
I don't want you to become a Fayth!
And the child was answered, presumably by the mother he was pleading with. There is no other way. Use me, and defeat Sin. Only then will the people accept you.
I don't care about them! The child insisted. I need you, Mother! No one else!
The child's tears and begging would have affected any mother, any woman, any soul without a heart of stone. It seemed no less moving, here. When this child's mother answered this time, her voice cracked. I don't… have much time left…
The cloud of pyreflies parted, and Yusuke could not help but to feel a twinge of sympathy for both mother and child. And when Rikku and Wakka wondered that the child looked so alike to Seymour Guado, the tattooed demon cussed under his breath and wondered when such a heartbroken child had grown to become so twisted as a man.
~o~
They passed beneath a broken archway within which might once have stood a pair of doors, into a narrow corridor and up a small stand of stairs. Auron shouldered open a door with a broken handle, motioning the others into the next room. Pale tiles on the floor and random sconces on the walls provided the only light in the otherwise shadow-filled chamber. The red-robed warrior led them into an adjoining room, larger and with more shadows playing across its surfaces. A stone lift floated in the center of the floor, waiting to take them to a lower level beneath the room.
"This is it," Auron gruffly announced.
"The hall of the Final Summoning," Yuna murmured. Beside her, Tidus took his sister's hand into his own.
"Do either of you need a moment, before we go down?"
She shook her head, and Tidus gave a small smile in gratitude for their guardian's considerate offer. "No," the blond replied. "Waiting will not make this easier. There is nothing more we can do to prepare."
Nodding, Auron motioned them onto the lift. Then he joined them and commanded the rest of their companions to follow suit. Though Yusuke suspected the lift would take them into this nearly-collapsed temple's sacred chamber, he did not question the other guardian. Instead he moved to stand closer to Tidus' side and caught Rikku's arm when the lift's sudden activation caused her to stumble.
After descending into the lower level, they passed through another broken doorway and gathered around a flattened glass dome which entombed a large stone plaque in the floor. Yusuke frowned, and in the back of his mind Raizen's pocketed energy murmured ominously at the overwhelming waves of nothing radiating from the statue.
The unsent priest who had greeted them upon entering the temple appeared before them once again, his eyes fixed upon the dome in the floor. "That statue," he spoke, so softly that some of them had to strain to hear, "lost its power as a Fayth, long ago. It is Lord Zaon, the first Fayth of the Final Summoning. What you see before you is all that remains of him. Lord Zaon's soul… is gone."
"Gone?!" Wakka broke in.
Rikku's swirled green eyes glanced from one to the other of her cousins, and then turned again to the old man. "Y-you mean… there is no Final Aeon…?"
"But fear not," the priest went on, as though he had not heard them. "Lady Yunalesca will show you the path. The Final Aeon will be yours. Go to her, now. Inside, the Lady awaits." And he faded away in a cloud of pyreflies. An increasingly common sight.
Yusuke clenched his jaw, tossing a glare in Auron's direction. But the red-robed warrior only shook his head, denying nothing. "If I had told you the truth," he asked the group as a whole, "would that really have stopped you from coming?"
The dark youth wanted to immediately argue, to say Hell yes, he would have put a stop to whole damn thing! And yet… catching the gazes of their twin summoners, glimpsing the resolve that struggled to burn bright, even now… Yusuke knew a moment of self-doubt. He had sworn to protect the both of them. He had sworn not to abandon either of them. If, indeed, the truth had been revealed earlier, and had the two decided to press onward in spite of it…
No. Yusuke would not have turned back.
~o~
They followed Auron into a very large room, hidden beyond the sacred chamber. And there, descending a tall flight of stairs to greet them, was a scantily-clad woman with moon-pale skin and impossible white hair falling below the small of her back.
Yusuke had seen this woman before. So had they all, as a projected image displayed in Guadosalam before Seymour Guado's unsavory proposal.
Yunalesca.
Pyreflies flitted about her nearly-translucent form, and she moved with all the grace of a phantom. She paused at the foot of the stairs, spreading her arms in welcome. "I congratulate you, summoners," she spoke, her voice strong and filled with the illusion of life. "You have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow upon you that which you seek. The Final Summoning will be yours." She paused, casting her fogged-over gaze amongst their number. "You must choose the one whom I will change to become the Fayth of the Final Summoning."
What. The word didn't even dignify itself as a question as it rang within the walls of Yusuke's skull. The others were no better, from what he could read of their expressions.
"There must be a bond, between chosen and summoner," Yunalesca went on to explain, "for that is what the Final Summoning embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin.
"A thousand years ago, I chose my husband Zaon as my Fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon.
"There is nothing to fear," she added, her voice softening as though to comfort them. "For once you call forth the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate liberation."
Maybe, Yusuke hissed mentally, baring his fangs in a silent scowl. But not if you're using it to run away.
She waved an arm to her side, and across the room clouds of pyreflies came together at her command. The others stared at the three clouds, seeing something Yusuke still could not, but even the tattooed demon felt his eyes widen when the first of the voices spoke – in a clear-cut, younger version of Auron's gruff and grainy tone:
It is not too late, the memory within the pyreflies insisted. Let us turn back!
If I turn back now, who will defeat Sin? Would you have some other summoner and his guardians go through this?
This is the only way we got now, a third voice added in agreement with the second. It took but a moment or two for Yusuke's mind to make the connection; he had heard this one before. It was the same voice played back from a sphere found in the Macalania woods, the voice of Jecht. Tidus and Yuna's other Al Bhed uncle. Make me the Fayth, Braska.
Don't do this, Jecht!
Jecht… The memory of Braska hesitated.
Tuh'd dno du dymg sa uid uv drec, pnudran.(38) There was a brief pause, before the third voice spoke again, sounding thickened with checked emotion. Braska still has to fight Sin, Auron. Guard him well. Make sure he gets there.
Auron suddenly heaved his claymore, swinging in a wide arc and cutting through the clouds of pyreflies, breaking them apart. His back was to the rest of the entourage, and he did not turn around for a long minute.
Yunalesca seemed not to notice that her example had been interrupted. Turning, she glided up the flight of stairs and announced for the summoners to find her again when they were ready to decide. And then she was gone, vanishing behind a closed door.
Silence fell over the room, but it did not last long. "If one of us has to become a Fayth," Lulu spoke up, turning to the twin summoners, "I volunteer."
"Me too!" Wakka immediately jumped in.
Yusuke clenched his jaw, growling under his breath. His muscles tensed like a tightened coil, and in the back of his mind Raizen's pocketed energy hissed with frustration. "Are you all so eager to die?"
Everyone turned to him, and the dark youth narrowed his eyes when a few of them seemed to give him pitying looks. As though he was the one who didn't understand. When Lulu looked as though to say something, he cut her off. "Don't even think about tryin' to tell me it's the only way! You're just fallin' into the same pattern as everybody else that made it here. How is one of you dyin' today gonna save your world for tomorrow?"
"But that's what the Final Aeon does," Lulu bravely attempted to placate him.
"Then screw the Final Aeon!" He shot back without missing a beat. Turning to Tidus, holding the blond's fiery blue gaze, he went on. "I promised to find a way out for the both of you. Why the hell would you make it easy for her by walkin' straight into her trap?"
"Yusuke…"
But Yuna touched her brother's arm to quiet him and stepped forward, her prettily mismatched eyes wide and wary as she stared at the tattooed demon. "T-trap…?"
"She's hidin' something," Yusuke growled. "I've seen enough to know when I'm not being told the whole truth, and she's definitely keepin' an ace up her sleeve."
Tidus' wit was right on the heels of his sister's; "You believe there's another option she's keeping from us?"
"Take a look around you," he reasoned impatiently. "How long did you train and prepare for the day you would come here? How many times were the two of you force-fed that bull about sacrificing yourselves for the safety of Spira? And now that you're finally here, some Ghost-of-Christmas-Past tells you we gotta kill off one of your friends too?" He spun on his heel, a ripping snarl passing through clenched teeth as he glared up the flight of stairs. "I've always hated liars."
~o~
They found Yunalesca waiting for them on a broken dais which seemed to float in the illusion of an endless sea of stars. Yusuke felt the shift of energies in the atmosphere, and surmised they had crossed into a fairly convincing imitation of an entirely separate reality. So the little bitch has some power, he mocked, still pissed at having been lied to.
"Have you chosen the one to become your Fayth?" She asked them. "Who will it be?"
"Might we… ask something first?" Yuna spoke, hesitantly. "Will Sin come back, even should we use the Final Summoning to defeat it?"
"Sin is eternal," Yunalesca answered immediately. "Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in its place. And thus, is Sin reborn."
That explains that, at least. Now Yusuke waited for the other foot to drop.
"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is never-ending."
Wakka tried to protest; "But if we atone for our crimes… Sin will stop coming back, ya?"
"Will humanity ever obtain such purity?" She asked in return.
The redhead choked on his next words, a stricken look on his face, as though the last shards of everything he had believed in until then were suddenly shattered in front of him. At his side, Lulu quickly stepped forward. "This cannot be!" She argued desperately. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement. It's been our only hope, all these years!"
"Hope is… comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be."
Swarms of pyreflies raced onto the dais then, suddenly clouding together as one last memory made itself heard.
Where is the sense in all this? Younger Auron's voice rang out, pain and grief thick in its demand. Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them! Jecht… Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!
Though Yunalesca herself did not address the pyreflies, still her voice could be heard in the air, though faded and small as though filtering in through a great distance. They chose to die… because they had hope.
And then Yusuke heard something that forced him to relive the memory of his second death: The voice of Auron's memory belting out a final desperate battle cry, and then cutting itself short as it was followed by a deathly silence. He glanced briefly at the red-robed warrior standing stoically to the other side of Kimahri, knowing a moment of sympathetic understanding that the man had just been forced to watch his own death-scene.
"Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people hope," Yunalesca spoke again, her voice breaking through the tense silence. "Without hope, Spira would drown in its sorrow. Now… choose. Who will be your Fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"
Everyone wordlessly turned to the twin summoners, waiting to follow whichever cue they would decide upon. Yusuke, however, glared at the woman standing so patiently before them. Baring his fangs, he felt his muscles bunch and tense, and he flexed his claws at his sides.
But then he felt a hand wrap around his wrist, and he turned his head to meet Tidus' steady gaze. The blond gave him a long look, his fingers squeezing around Yusuke's wrist before slipping down to lock their fingers together. Glancing at their joined hands, the dark youth looked up again and gave a single nod. A small smile tugged at Tidus' lips, a smile he shared with Yuna when his beloved sister stepped closer and hugged his other arm in unwavering support. Tidus then turned his gaze to Yunalesca, and gave voice to their decision.
"No one."
38) Tuh'd dno du dymg sa uid uv drec, pnudran. Al Bhed translation = "Don't try to talk me out of this, brother."
