Captured Memories
The mood had dropped since Yuna told us that she was planning to marry Seymour. It was her choice but no one could convince her otherwise. The whole deal about the sphere had a few of us thinking too. It was something we couldn't see and we respected Yuna's privacy but the curiosity in me wanted to see what was on that sphere.
We had to take the long route through the forest. Lulu explained that sometimes a crystaline path forms above the tree tops and makes it easier to cross the forest to Macalania Temple. No one could explain why or how it formed but the whole forest was calm, serene, and possibly the most magical place I'd ever came across in Spira. I thought the Farplane was something but this was so much more breath taking. It wasn't like woods or forests back home or ones I'd initially think of. The whole place looked frozen and cold. Lulu did say that Macalania's Fayth was affiliated with ice so maybe these were normal woods once before the Fayth was moved to the Temple. It must have been a really powerful Aeon for it's power to reach across this far in its sleep.
"So after we get to Macalania, Yuna's going to be officially engaged to Seymour," I spoke aloud. Hanging at the back of the group were myself, Angel, Tidus and Rikku. Everyone else was focused at the front and on the lookout for fiends. "So she'll probably head to Bevelle and get married there and then, right?" I didn't really want to think about the wedding so soon, but if Yuna was going to continue the Pilgrimage then they'd want to waste no time getting to the ceremony.
"Why are we still talking about it?" Angel asked. "She's made up her mind and it's not like they'll accept any objections."
"You seriously don't care that Yuna's marrying that guy?" Tidus said. He was more bothered than the rest of us, I bet. I couldn't help but smile at his comment. He really did have a thing for Yuna.
"It's not my business. I'm not even a Guardian," Was her reply. "She's got her plan sorted out and if she wants to marry the Maester then we can't do much about it, can we?"
"Hey, what was on that sphere you mentioned?" Rikku piped up and glanced at Tidus.
"I don't know really, I just saw that it had that Jyscal guy on it," He started. Jyscal was Seymour's father, I remembered, and he passed away recently because I remembered them mentioning it in Luca before the tournament. "Yuna just said it was his will and he wanted us to take care of his son." I was hoping it wasn't specific to us and it really meant Yevon and Spira in general.
"Take care of him?" I questioned.
"Seymour's kind of like Yunie, in a sense," Rikku was surpisingly the one to offer the explanation. Actually it wasn't so surprising since Tidus probably didn't know and Angel probably didn't care to know. "She's half-human, half-Al Bhed. Seymour's half-Guado, half-human," Oh right that actually made sense since he did look considerably different from other Guado. "As far as I know, the Guado didn't like the idea of human and a Guado having a kid, so Seymour and his mother ended up being banished to a faraway island."
"I thought he was all about fostering a relationship between Yevon and the Guado and brought the teachings to them, or something like that?" Tidus put his hands behind his head as we walked down the path. I spotted a few butterflies fluttering by a tree. Some blue, some red. They were really pretty.
"I don't think he was the Guado Leader at the time," Rikku shrugged. I furrowed my eyebrows at the thought of Seymour being banished just for being mixed race. Something that wasn't his fault and something he couldn't do anything about.
"How could he have done that to his own son and his wife?" I felt myself actually getting angry over the point but I kept it to a minimum. "It's not like Seymour chose to be that way, and if they were expecting him they should have just damned the consequences. Instead he just puts them on an island?"
"Maybe that's what the sphere's about. He felt so bad about what he did he worked the rest of his life to make peace between Yevon and the Guado so he could get his family back," Rikku suggested. "And the sphere is him wanting to tell them not to undo what he did."
"Then what about all the stuff about an unclean death Auron was talking about?" Tidus asked. Rikku had no answer or explanation to that and simply shrugged. "Guess we won't find out until Yuna wants to show us the sphere, huh?"
"If she ever wants to show us it," I sighed.
We continued the walk through the woods quietly, noticing the increase in butterflies. Not by much but there were definitely more the further we went into the forest. There were some beautiful ones with rainbow coloured wings that Auron warned us not to go near as they attracted other butterflies, some that fiends seemed to be attracted to. I wasn't sure how that worked but he was the veteran, so I backed off the butterflies since they were really pretty to look at. Surprisingly we also ran into Barthello, Dona's lone Guardian, alone. He was freaking out about how Dona had suddenly went missing and he hasn't been able to find a trace of her. Auron was the one to calm him down, which was good since Barthello respected Auron greatly, telling him to guard his emotions and then his Summoner. After the whole conversation Rikku started shifting her weight from foot to foot awkwardly before brushing it off as concern when we asked.
The real interesting thing that happened was just before we reached the lake. I could see it peeking through the trees, just a frozen landscape covered in ice and snow. It had gotten a lot colder the closer we got to the Temple, the Fayth was of ice after all so it made sense.
"Wait," Auron stopped in front of an overgrown pathway, branches intertwining with one another. I could see the pathway faintly amongst the overgrowth and watched as Auron drew his sword. "It is here... somewhere."
"What is?" Tidus asked.
"Something you should see," Was the answer.
"But... Sir Auron," Yuna clasped her hands together, looking even more concerned than she had the whole trip.
"It won't take long," The older Guardian assured her before hacking a clean pathway in little to no time at all. The path ahead was dark, lit up by only a few of the glowing plants in the distance. "This way." We followed him through the darkened path and were shown a beautiful spring, hidden away quietly in the forest. The whole area was quiet and peaceful, much like the rest of Macalania, although here had more of a serene and nostalgic feeling somehow.
Auron stopped at the edge of the spring and waited for us silently. The water in the spring was still, even at the small falls further back. It was eerie how undisturbed it was. I approached the edge and lowered myself down. The water wasn't crystal clear; it was blurred but still reflected back at me like a mirror. Reach out at the water I found that it felt thicker than it should have been, but ran off my hand and left no residue but left my hand feeling damp as though I had dipped in into a river. It was so incredible.
"This place..." Tidus spoke, breaking the quiet that had captured us. "It's just water, isn't it?" He looked down at me for an answer, seeing as I was the only one handling the liquid. I shook my head and stood up to move away from the spring.
"This is what spheres are made of," Auron told us. I flicked open my pouch and looked at the silver orb Lysander had given me. It looked like the water from the spring was inside a glass orb but it was empty just as Lysander said. "It absorbs and preserves people's memories."
"Incredible," Angel muttered, gazing at the large statuesque plant that sat in the centre of the spring. There was a sudden movement in the water that made us back away, watching as a huge fiend appeared. It was like a huge blob, reflecting the same way the water did, with an odd piece in it's centre that I guessed was it's core.
"What's that?" Wakka asked. We had all took out our weapons at the fiend already. This was seriously becoming second nature to me now.
"Fiends are also attracted to these places," Auron then ran at the fiend, hacking through its gel body. It didn't look as though it harmed it at all though. I went forward and threw a punch, not harming it as my hit rippled across its body. Taking a step back I watched Angel throw a fireball at it, again to see it not be hurt by the assault we tired to give. It did counter with a Thunder spell that caused Rikku to leap back in fright.
Lulu experimented with a Water spell, for once the only thing that seemed to harm it severely. The fiend changed colour briefly before settling back into its regular blue once again. I ran towards it and threw a punch and felt an intense heat across my body having been hit by a Fire spell. The heat really hurt me badly and I fell back, realising just how strong this fiend was. It felt as though there were burns across my entire body. Yuna cast Cura on me and I got back up into the fight.
We had quickly figured out that it absorbed all Elements but its weakness and would only counter when hit with a physical attack. For being a floating blob of gel it was incredibly durable and really hard hitting. It would spread out itself to slam down on a number of us, pushing us onto the ground and making it hard to get back up and fight. We just kept going with our strategy, taking every chance we could to heal between attacks.
I was glad when the fiend exploded into a mass of Pyreflies. We all breathed a sigh of relief and quickly healed the last of our wounds. When the Pyreflies faded a clinking sound was made and we all turned, seeing a small sphere on the ground next to the spring. Tidus went to pick it up and brought it over to the group. Had the fiend been here because of this?
"Whoa, this looks pretty old, ya," Wakka said after we finished staring at the object. "don't know if you can play it back." I didn't know that spheres could become corrupted and damage recordings. Then again it was just like a video from back home.
"Jecht left it here ten years ago," Auron informed us. "Play it back." I had never seen a sphere be activated before but my interactions with spheres had been very limited. Tidus pushed a small button on the sphere's golden rim and an image appeared over the blue dome. It was nothing compared to the scale of the sphere Seymour had shown us in Guadosalam. The image was clear enough for us though.
It looked like it was on the bridge of a city, a huge city. It was completely quiet apart from a group of people. One of them I recognised as a younger looking Auron without the sunglasses and his arm completely out of his sleeve. The other was a man, maybe slightly older, wearing a priest-like robe and another man who looked Al Bhed. There were two women just out of shot; a blonde woman and a younger woman with black hair. Auron seemed to be the focus of the one who was recording, the man's face was so irritated at the man behind the recorder.
"What are you doing?" Auron asked, deeply breathing to not lose his patience.
"You said it was a long trip," A gruff voice answered. I glanced at Tidus, who's face had fallen into a glare. Was that his father's voice? "There's gonna be a lot of neat stuff along the way, right? Thought I'd take some recordings, you know? To show to my wife and kid back home." I did think that was sweet of him, having wanted his family to see what he was going through on Spira.
"This is no pleasure cruise," Auron grumbled and shook his head, walking down the bridge. The man in the robes laughed and it suddenly clicked with me when I remembered that this man had a statue in the Temples. This was Yuna's father, Braska.
"Relax, Auron," He said, a smile painted across his face. Some the corner of my eye I could see Yuna smiling so brightly at seeing her father again. She was only seven when he died, wasn't she?
"I'm with Auron; it's demeaning the nature of the Pilgrimage," Jecht swivelled the camera onto the blonde woman who stared straight into the lense with a disapproving look. "Honestly Jecht, can you please put that thing away?"
"It's not that offensive," The girl next to her said. I was genuinely surprised at how much she looked like me and I couldn't understand why. Again another click went into place: these girls were Pyre and Siren, so it meant that the Al Bhed man was Karma, of Gynsy as was his Al Bhed birth name. "It's going to be a long journey, so it's best to keep the memories of one another. And it's for his family, I'm sure they'd love to see what Spira's like."
"You seriously believe- you know I'm not going into it," Pyre frowned, putting her hands up in the air. She then turned to Karma who was chuckling at the whole thing. "Are you just going to laugh?"
"It's funny to watch you and Auron get so frustrated," Was the Al Bhed's answer as he grinned. Jecht chuckled a little as well before watching as Braska started walking down the bridge.
"Hey Braska, is this it? I thought this was supposed to be a grand occasion," He seemed quite dejected at the lack of ceremony. "Where are the cheering fans? The crying women?"
"Too many goodbyes. It makes people twice before leaving," Braska explained to him. Pyre folded her arms and looked to Jecht.
"It's a lot easier to keep yourself focused about the Pilgrimage," She added. I remembered that she had been a Summoner as well but never completed the Pilgrimage. I wonder where it ended for her.
"If you say so," Jecht scoffed. "But there better be a lot more colourful for when we get back. A parade for Braska! Vanquisher of Sin!" Braska laughed at the man's enthusiasm, with Siren smiling broadly at the side.
"We should go, dawn will break soon," The screen faded and the scene shifted to at the lake in Macalania, not far from where we stood right now. This time it was Braska who seemed to holding the camera, trying to get a group image of his Guardian. "Auron! Could you stand a little closer to them?" With a grumble the younger Auron moved closer to the group. Jecht clearly couldn't help but grin and push his buttons.
"What's the matter? Afraid I might bite?" Karma laughed at the reaction Auron gave. We couldn't see his face too clearly since it wasn't zoomed in enough but we could all tell Auron was at his wit's end. Turning to the Summoner, Jecht called out to him. "Hey Braska! You should take one too. It'd make a great gift for little Yuna." A smile went across my face, finding that so cute.
"I suppose..." Braska's voice sounded as though he was kind of far away with his thoughts.
"Okay, picture time's over," Pyre started to move away from the group gathering.
"Hey what's the hurry?" Jecht asked, genuinely confused at why she wanted this over with so quickly.
"Let me tell you what the hurry is!" Auron stepped in, having his fill of Jecht's antics. This must have been early on in the Pilgrimage by the looks of it. The recording ended with Braska approaching the group before a huge argument could begin. Tidus merely scoffed.
"What's the point? He wasn't on some pleasure cruise," He said. Rikku took the sphere and examined it quickly.
"I think there's more," She clicked the button again and this time the recording was where we were currently standing. Jecht seemed to be on his own this time, sitting in front of the lense.
"Hey kid," This must have been a personal message made a lot later on. Maybe he recorded over some parts from before. "If you're watching this... it means that you're stuck in Spira, like me. You might not know when you'll make it back home, but you better not be crying. I guess I'd understand. You know what? There comes a time when you have to stop crying and move on. You'll be fine. You're my son and... well..." He stood up and took hold of the camera, pointing it at the spring. "I'm no good at this. Anyways... I believe in you. Be good. Goodbye." And that's where the recording ended.
"He sounded almost serious... but it was too late," Tidus spoke bitterly.
"He was serious," Auron told him. "Jecht had already accepted his fate. He always talked about going home to Zanarkand. That's why he took all those pictures- to show them to you when he returned. But the longer he travelled with us he began to understand Spira, and Braska's resolve. It happened gradually... but Jecht changed." We all stood in silence for what seemed like the longest time, taking in what we had just seen.
"There's an inn not far from the Temple," Lulu spoke up. "It would be best for us to rest there for a little while, before going to the Temple and speaking with Maester Seymour." We all agreed with that idea and started to head back to our original path. The start of that recording was stuck in my head. I had heard a lot about Siren now but even with the resemblance people pointed out, I never realised how much we looked alike. I also felt bad for Tidus and Jecht. Their relationship had never been great and part of me wishes that Tidus could see that his dad clearly did love him. If only they could speak face to face one more time.