Disclaimer : I don't own anything.

Note : Has anyone seen my hands? They fell off a while ago. LOL.

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(Zanarkand Part 2)

When we got to the next room, I looked around, noting how the sky was nothing but a black void. There were no stars, clouds, moon or sun. Nothing. It was just empty, pitch black nothingness. The room itself was also in ruin, broken pillars lying here and there. At the far side of the room, Victoria stood, her hair hanging limply behind her as she watched us with a smile that bordered on a smirk.

I kept my place beside Tori as we approached, not wanting to let this unsent witch get her hands on her.

""Have you chosen the ones who will become your Fayths?" she asked as she looked at the two of us, her eyes almost glowing in the dim light of the room. "Who will they be?"

Tori took a deep breath and linked her fingers with mine as she took a single step forward, bringing me with her. Victoria looked to our clasped hands, and I could've sworn her smile became genuine a moment before it turned fake again as Tori spoke up. "Might I ask something first?" she asked politely as her hand squeezed mine. "Will Sin come back, even should I use the Final Summoning to defeat it?"

Victoria chuckled slightly as she closed her eyes and shook her head. "Sin...is eternal. Every Aeon that defeats it, becomes Sin in it's place...and thus, Sin is reborn."

"So that's why Jecht became Sin." I stated, still not used to the thought that this man was a different version of my father.

"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is neverending." she said simply with a small shrug.

Shane shook his head. "Neverending? But...but...if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back, ya? Someday, it'll be gone, ya?" he insisted frantically, his eyes shining with a hint of fals hope.

"Will humanity ever truly obtain such purity?" Victoria questioned back.

"This...This cannot be!" Hunter cried as lightning crackled at his fingertips. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope of all these years!" His eyes flashed dangerously as he glared at the unsent Summoner in front of all of us.

"Hope is...comforting." she stated, an almost bitter gleam in her eyes that vanished a moment later. "It allows us to escape fate, however tragic it might be."

"No!" I cried, realizing what she was saying.

Suddenly, the image of a younger Cam faced off against an image of Victoria.

"No! Where is the sense in all this?! Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!" he cried angrily as tears trailed down his cheeks.

She smiled and shook her head. "They chose to die...because they had hope." she said softly.

With an anguished cry, the younger Cam grabbed his sword and charged at Lady Victoria, only to have her raise her hand and send him flying. When he hit the ground, he landed akwardly on his neck, and didn't move. Then, the images faded away.

"Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people of Spira hope. Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow. Now, choose. Who will be your Fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"

For a split second, I noticed Tori's body faintly glowing a light blue. Her eyes that had been wide with shock, turned from their normal light blue to bi-colored. One was a clear ocean blue, and the other, a bright forest green. They darkened in anger, and she took another step forward, letting go of my hand.

I let her go, somehow knowing this wasn't my Tori. Other than her eyes, the way she held herself was more regal, and the anger that radiated off of her, seemed more personal.

There was no doubt in my mind, this was Spira's Tori.

"No one." she answered clearly, her voice ringing with innocence and anger. "I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira, and would gladly have died for them. But no more!" she cried with a shake of her head. Her hands clenched by her sides as she took a trembling breath. "The FInal Summoning...is a false tradition that should be thrown away!"

Victoria seemed startled to find herself facing a whole different person, and her eyes narrowed, but she remained calm. "No. It's our only hope. Your father..." she trailed off as she looked at me. "Your fathers sacrificed themselves to give that hope to the people. So they would forget sorrow."

Shaking her head again, Tori stepped back, standing beside me. "Wrong." she said lowly, her conviction raidiating from her eyes. "My father...Our fathers wanted...to make Spira's sorrow go away. Not just cover it up with lies!" she spat.

"Sorrow cannot be abolished. It is meaningless to try." Something in Victoria's eyes gleamed with a great sadness before it faded away.

A tear slipped out of Spira Tori's eyes and she released a shakey sigh. "My father...I loved him..." she stated, her voice trembling with pain and fatigue. "So I...I will live with my sorrow. I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow, in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don't know when, but it will be someday. I will conquer it. And I will do it without...false hope."

With those words, she glowed again, and in the blink of an eye, my Tori was back, clearly seething with anger at the unsent Summoner as she grabbed her staff. I followed her lead, grabbing my thunder blade, and I knew the others were arming themselves too.

Victoria laughed, a cold, dead sound, and glowed as she rose over a seal she was standing on. "Poor creatures. You would throw away hope. Well...I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope, than live in despair. Let me be your liberator."

Cam stepped forward, his massive sword resting on his shoulder. "Now!" he cried. "This is it! Now is the time to chose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!"

Dustin nodded and stepped forward as he fixed his claw over his hand and grinned. "Well I'm fighting!" he called.

"I can't believe we're gonna fight Lady Victoria!" Shane cried in despair. "Gimme a break!"

"You can always run!" Hunter called, raising an eyebrow as thunder crackled between his finger tips.

"Hah!" Shane cried. "I'd never forgive myself, no way! Not if I run away now! Even in death, ya!"

"My thoughts exactly." Hunter put in with a crooked grin.

Taking a page out of Cam's book, I looked to Tori who looked back and smiled at me. "Tori! This is our story! Let's see this thing through together!"

She nodded and her smile grew.

We ran over to Victoria and formed a circle around her as she floating in the air. Her skin had turned a deathly pale and her eyes glowed a malicious red.

Cam started off by using his Tornado attack, causing her to spin around in the air as the explosions hit her. Dustin threw a grenade in the mix before mixing up a new attack with items he stole from fiends. One was a viel of really nasty smelling stuff he stole off a flying eyeball, yeah, that was weird, and the other was something he stole from one of those bombs we fought in the Al Bhed home. Throwing them at Victoria, it caused a powerful firey explosion and when the fire died down, Victoria was binded and poisoned.

Shane spun his blitzball on his finger before thorwing it up in the air and flipping, kicking it hard and sending it flying at our enemy as Hunter cast a series of thundaga spells, before charging and casting a volley of firaga spells.

Tori stood behind us all, casting protective magics on us as I charged my newfound fire spell and let it fly, immediately charging with my blade and following it up with a flip attack.

Lady Victoria fell to the ground, only to grow in size and have her hair turn into tentacles. Horns grew from her head, and she grew an extra set of arms. The tentacles lashed out and hit Hunter and Tori, bringing both of them to their knees, and I ran in, slicing at her and driving her back.

Gasping, Tori cast a powerful curaga spell on herself before standing and running over to Hunter to do the same.

Dustin threw another grenade before running forward and slashing her with his claw, grabbing a glowing white gem from her and dropping it into his pouch for later use.

Cam and Shane attacked simultaniously. Cam ran forward and slashed at the tentacles, clearing a path to her vulnerable body, and Shane attacked her face with his blitzball, stunning her. I joined in the attack, helping Cam get to her body, and together we slashed her visciously.

"False hope." I muttered darkly as I glared into her dead eyes. "You're one to talk." Slashing her again, I retreated back to the others.

Again she changed. Her body fell back onto the ground, and began changing. It was undescribable, but once she was done, smoke appeared all around her, obscuring her from view, as something rose fro mthe ground. Once the smoke faded away, we were facing a giant...face. It's long hair was tentacles, like Victoria's, and her own body was part of the back of it's head. It turned face down to the ground, and her body raised as she lifted a hand, and we all had to dodge the tentacles that flew from the ground and attacked us.

One hit Dustin, bringing him to the ground, unmoving, and one clipped Shane's shoulder.

Hunter counterattacked with a volley of blizzaga spells as Cam sliced at the tentacles to hold them back, and I raced over to Shane with a hi-potion and anitdote as Tori healed Dustin.

"Thanks, ya." Shane muttered as he stood up slowly, glaring at our enemy. "I can't believe we're fighting her." he muttered.

I shook my head. Here we were all fighting for our lives, and he was still griping about fighting an unsent Summoner.

I backed up a ways, before twirling my blade and Summoning Bahamut to me. I glared at the ex-Summoner and sneered. "Bahamut! Mega-Flare attack!"

Jumping into the air with a mighty roar, Bahamut flipped and landed on all fours. The wheel on his back began spinning slowly, picking up speed each second, He roared again and dug his claws into the ground as his body shook with the force of the building attack within him. A glowing light appeared in his mouth and shot out towards Victoria, engulfing her in light. Explosions could be seen and heard, and another beam of light erupted from the ground, housing more explosions.

When they finally faded away, I heard Tori's voice. "Shiva! Diamond Dust attack!" she called.

I spun around to find her a little ways to my left, her ice Aeon standing beside her. I'd been so engrossed in the battle, I hadn't even noticed her Summon. Raising an eyebrow, I took a couple of steps back and watched as Shiva coated the battle field, and Victoria, in ice, before she snapped her fingers and the ice exploded, damaging the enemy harshly.

The face faded away, leaving Victoria hunched over as she struggled to keep standing, and we knew the battle was over. Dismissing our Aeons, we walked up to her warily, keeping ourselves ready for an attack.

"If I die, so does the Final Aeon." she murmured with a warning look.

Raising an eyebrow, I folded my arms over my chest. Uhh...lady? You'r already dead. I thought wryly.

"And with it, Spira's only hope."

"Then we'll find Spira a new hope." I said with a shake of my head, and glare at the former Summoner.

"Fool." she spat as she glared right back at me. "There is no other way. Even if there was...Even if you did destroy Sin...Yu Yevon the immortal, would only create a new Sin."

Frowning, I watched her carefully. "Yu Yevon?!" So there was more to this than met the eyes. I should've known.

"Ah...Bradley...Forgive me." Victoria whispered as she gave a sad look around her. "Spira has been robbed of the light of hope...All that remains is sorrow."

With those final words, she collapsed to the ground and faded away into pyreflies.

"I cannot believe what we just did!" Tori stated with wide eyes.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I saw a hint of the bi-colored eyes before they returned to her normal blue ones and felt myself frown. I'd known that my Tori and Spira's Tori were in the same body, but I didn't know they were somehow...coexisting. I guessed, it sort of explained when Tori and I would be alone, and she'd still seem to be acting like Spira's Tori.

With a nod, I smirked. "Let's do something more unbelieveable!" I cheered.

Dustin looked at me warily. "Like what?" he questioned hesitantly.

"Let's defeat Sin...for good!"

Slowly and hesitantly, our group moved to the stairs, heading out of the room. I made to follow them, but Cam stood at the stairs, and held me back.

"We must talk." he said quietly, sadness clear in his voice.

I already knew what he wanted to say, and a part of me wasn't surprised. It explained how he could fight Voctoria and Sin and still be around. I mean, he'd told me that the Summoners and their Guardians died after fighting Sin, but here he was. So yeah, I figured it out.

"There is something you should know." he continued.

I nodded. "I know...It's about you, right?"

"I am also an unsent. You are not surprised?" He certainly seemed surprised at my reaction.

I shook my head. "I think I kinda knew. It was Victoria, wasn't it?" When he landed on his neck and stopped moving. No one could survive a fall like that.

"When Braska and Jecht died fighting Sin...I just couldn't accept it." he explained sadly. "I came back here, tried to avenge them. But she struck me down. Somehow I made my way, crawling, down Mt. Gagazet. But my strength left me just outside of the Ronso village. They took care of me until I was strong enough to continue, but they didn't know I was unsent. Honestly, I didn't know either. I knew I felt different, but couldn't explain it." He sighed. "I've been wandering ever since, never going to the Farplane."

"Cam..." I muttered, feeling sorry for my friend.

"Don't make that face." he said firmly as he glared at me slightly. With another sigh, his look softened. "Being dead has it's advantages. I was able to speak to the Fayth about a promise I had made to Jecht. That's why they brought you and Tori."

"I don't get it." I muttered, feeling myself frown. "Why me? And why Tori?"

"I am not sure how to explain Tori...and it will be difficult to explain you. Hmmm..." He seemed to think a moment. "Very well. I will show you my memories."

With that, a cloud of pyreflies formed around him and I saw the ghostly images of Jecht and the younger Cam.

"Can I ask you one last favor? Uh...nah." he shook his head, his shaggy hair swinging around wildly. "Forget it."

"Spill it!" the younger Cam ordered with a growl.

"Okay. Listen good. I need you to take care of my son. My son, in Zanarkand. He's such a cry baby. He'll need someone there to hold his hand." he snorted and shook his head. "Take care of him, will you?"

"All right, I will. I will take care of your son. I give you my word, I will protect him with my life."

The images faded away and I raided an eyebrow as I faced Cam. "Well that's nice and all, but that Zanarkand-"

"Is a dream." he cut me off. "I know. I went there and looked after the other you, until I sensed it was time for Sin to return. That Blake never had to fight a day in his life and wouldn't be able to defeat Sin. Stop it for good. Neither he nor Jecht ever realized their world was a dream and they weren't real. Somehow, travelling through Sin to this Spira, however he did it, Jecht was touched by Sin, and in some strange way, it made him real enough to exist here."

"That's confusing and all, but what's it got to do with me?"

"You are Spiran Blake's replacement. As I stated, he has never had to fight, and did not have what it took to beat Sin permanently. That is why...you were brought in his place. Your power is great, and will be necessary for the final steps to beating it forever. I believe, that is also why Tori was brought here. Her power, added to your own, should be more than enough to save all of Spira once and for all."

"And this bull about her dying?" I put in doubtfully.

"If you can figure out how to defeat Sin permanently, you will be sent back. She won't die."

I didn't like the sound of that and frowned. He'd said she wouldn't die, but he also didn't say we'd both be sent back. I wondered if he was hiding something, or perhaps, he just stated it wrong accidentally.

"Sin wants to be destroyed."

That caught my attention. Turning to Cam, I sighed. "I know. I sensed it under Macalania temple."

He nodded. "He is losing his remaining humanity, but as long as he can, he controls Sin and tries to keep him from attacking."

Thinking about it, I realized it was strange. I'd heard Sin was such a monster that attacked anyone and anything, but the only real recent damage I'd seen since coming to Spira, was Kilika. Sin hadn't really attacked us that day on the boat, or that day under Macalania.

"He knows we are his only hope." Cam stated as he made his way to the stairs. "He is buying us all the time he can to figure things out."

Nodding with a thoughtful frown, I followed him out of the temple, meeting up with the others at the entrance. They were staring in terror and shock outside, and I ran forward to see what was up. For a brief, heartstopping moment, I thought Lothor was back, but when I looked out, I saw it was worse...or better...depending on your point of view.

Sin was outside the temple, floating over the massive lake on the other side of Zanarkand. He just floated there, not moving and not attacking.

Again, I could feel the grief and pain inside it and felt my own heart skipping a beat sympathetically. I know. The Final Summoning's gone, but we'll find a way. I promise. I thought. In fact, I already knew of a way, and the more I learned, the more cemented it became, but I still wasn't ready to admit it to the others. The last thing I wanted was to cause them false hope.

Sin seemed to hear me, because it turned and slowly sank back into the water, disappearing from sight. The next thing we knew, the sound of a large engine was heard, and an all too familir airship came into view. It seemed to see us and docked a ways ahead, opening a port for us to board.

I knew the time was coming closer, and with a glance to Tori, I saw the sadness and confusion in her face, showing me she felt it too.

Together, we boarded the ship silently, most of us still in shock over what happened and what we learned, and the rest, trying to sort through their mixed up thoughts.

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Hmmm...interesting. I'm lost with everything I've said and where I am, but I'm going on for everyone. I hope this makes some sense, and possibly explains a few things to everyone.

Hope you liked this.

R+R please.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and encouraged me to continue this fic.

Tenshi