38 City of Dying Dreams

After days of travel, we reached an amazing sight. "Wow!" Was all I could say. There were many thousands of fayth trapped along one towering wall, and five fayth adjacent to that. Each of the five fayth seemed to stand for different things. One was perpetually on fire, another had electricity hovering around it, one was frozen over, and another had a bubbling spring spilling over its edges into a large pool of water, which for some supernatural reason, was not frozen solid. The last one was a beautiful ivory statue.

"Fayth!" I was in total awe. "And someone is using all of them on this wall! Someone is drawing energy from all of them!" A huge blue twisting stream of light rose from the wall, signaling that they were being summoned. Lulu was as astonished as I had been. "Who wields power on this scale, and what could they be calling?" Suddenly, the five fayths' souls arose from their statues. I gasped. "Yuna." I placed a hand on my chest, taking a step forward. "Yes?" "You have come thus far, and you of all people deserve to know. All along your journey, you have been praying to Yevon. Yevon has not been answering your prayers, Yevon answers no prayers, it is all us. When your will, your desire for what we can offer is strong enough, we can hear you, and grant it to you. What we can provide to you and anyone who learns to summon our powers, is fire, lightening, water, ice, and healing." I blinked. They disappeared. "So Yevon's just a fluke?" Wakka face-palmed.

"Oh!" Rikku squeaked. I turned and saw Tidus lying face down next to the wall covered in fayth. "Oh, no!" I ran to him and rolled him onto his back. "What's happening?"

"Zanarkand?" I looked around. One minute I was standing with Yuna and the others in some crazy fayth infested place, and then only seconds later, I was standing in my Zanarkand, in my own home. The spirit of a fayth sat on the floor. He was the child who had offered to take me to Zanarkand back in Bevelle. I blew up at him. "Why'd you bring me here? I was supposed to stay with Yuna! I promised her! Take me back!"

The fayth squinted at me. "Welcome home." He was obviously being sarcastic. "Do you remember me?" "Of course I remember you!" I yelled. He remained completely calm. "I have know you for a long time. A long, long time." With that, he dissipated into nothing. I saw a ghostly image of Wakka. "Hey! What's gotten in to you?" Wakka was replaced by Rikku. "Wake up! Wake up!" Then she was gone. I began to put the pieces together. I wasn't actually in Zanarkand. "Wait...this is a dream." I heard the fayth behind me. "Precisely."

I waved my arms at him. "A dream? I don't have time to be dreaming right now!" The fayth took off his hood. I couldn't help but feel like I had seen him before, perhaps many times. "You're wrong. It's not that you're dreaming. You are a dream." It didn't register. I didn't get what he was saying, at first. "Wha?" The fayth ran, and I chased him out of the house. I gazed out over Zanarkand. It was deserted, but still the same Zanarkand I remembered from nearly a year past.

"Long ago, there was a war." "Yeah, I know, I know. The machina war." I cut into what I was sure was going to be a long speech, but the fayth continued as if I hadn't spoken. "A war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Bevelle's machina assured their victory from the start. Spira had never seen such power. The summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance. Zanarkand was doomed to oblivion. That's why we tried to save it...if only in a memory. The remaining summoners and the townspeople that survived the war became fayth for the summoning. The summoning of this city, of Zanarkand. A Zanarkand that never sleeps. The dreams of the fayth summoned the memories of the city. They summoned all the buildings, all the people who lived there."

I was shocked. "The people...they're just dreams...me, too?" "Yes. You're a dream of the fayth. You, your father, your mother, everyone. All dreams. And if the fayth stop dreaming..." Slowly, Zanarkand around me began to disintegrate. The buildings fell away until all that was left was the platform I was standing on. "No...you mean...I'll...disappear...die...?"

"Each fayth has its own person, building, or other memory. You are mine. If I stop dreaming, yes, you will disappear. But we've been dreaming so long. We're tired. Would you let us rest? Both you and your father have been touched by Sin. Sin, the one around whom all Spira, the spiral, revolves." He vanished. "Wait! What are you saying?" I called into the empty night. "Maybe, you will be the dream that ends our dreaming at last." Then I saw Yuna, standing across the way from me. "Wake up, wake up, please!" She begged.

I jerked upright, knocking my forehead against Yuna's. She ignored it, and gave me a big hug, before shyly letting go, remembering that everyone was watching. Though I think everyone had already figured out the truth, there was an unspoken agreement between the two of us not to tell anyone about our...relationship, or whatever it could've been called. "Are you alright?" She looked really concerned. I shook my head trying to find an answer. No, I was not alright. If what the fayth said was true, then I might disappear, if he stopped dreaming. But I didn't want to believe him, and so I pretended it wasn't true. "Y-yeah...I'm fine." "What happened?" Rikku asked as I got to my feet. "I...I'm not sure...I just kinda passed out...Let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps."

That night, Yuna woke me up at dawn. "Tidus...you have frozen tears on your face. What's wrong? What happened?" I took off a glove and touched my face. Sure enough, there were icy tear tracks. I rubbed them off. I had a terrible dream that I disappeared right when Yuna called the final aeon, and then she died because I wasn't there to protect her. "I...I don't know...I can't remember what I dreamed about." I lied.

I didn't want to tell her. The first reason was that if it wasn't true, there was no sense in worrying her. It was doubtful that the fayth would lie to me, I didn't see why he would. The second reason was that if it was true, then...well, I didn't know, but I basically wanted to bear the burden of fear on my own. I still didn't know what the fayth wanted me to do to make him stop dreaming, but I sure wasn't going to do it. Yeah, it was selfish, but I still had a selfish streak left from my days back in Zanarkand. I wasn't all selfish, but I think everyone in Zanarkand was a bit, well, self-centered. Anyway, I felt bad for deceiving her, but I felt that was what was best to do, at the time.

We journeyed further, and several more days passed. We reached a small plateau. The sky was unusually clear that morning, from which we could see the Calm Lands in the far distance. Backing the flat ground we were on was a sheer cliff wall, with only a small passage through it. "Zanarkand is on the other side." Auron announced. They began to pass through, But Rikku and I stayed back.

"Zanarkand is on the other side, you know?" Rikku was really worried. "I know." "Yunie's gonna get the final Aeon, you know?" "I know. I still haven't thought of a way out. But we'll get one!" I clenched my fist. "Let's just go to Zanarkand. It'll all come together, I know it." I only half believed what I was saying, but I needed it to be true, it just had to be true, so I said it.

The passage was only wide enough for one person to go through at a time, so I let Rikku go first. As she walked in it, I started to follow. In order to fit, I had to turn sideways, but that was fine. "Ah, the son of Jecht." Seymour's voice sounded out beside me. Of all the places I could be when he came upon me, it had to be stuck between two sheer cliffs. "Hey! Guys! Come back!" Seymour grabbed my arm, pulled me out of the crevice, and tossed me to the ground like a rag doll. I tried to get up to fight, but he kicked me savagely in the ribs, again and again. "Yes, that's for kicking me!" The others arrived, but before they could do anything, Seymour pressed the end of a spear against my temple, pushing my head flat against the ground. "Take one more step and he dies!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks, horrified. He kicked me in the face, drawing profuse amounts of blood from my nose and mouth. He grabbed my collar and picked me up, lifting me high in the air like a trophy. With his spear's point right against my chest, the others had no way of trying to save me. He carried me over to the cliff edge and held me over it, and I thought for sure he was going to drop me. I couldn't say anything, I was choking. "No!" Yuna cried. "No?" Seymour snickered. "Fine then."

He threw me back onto the snow, knocking the breath out of me. He reached his hand out towards me, and with a hideously wicked grin, he said, "And this, this is for stabbing me in the back." Agony ripped through my body. I thought before that I could never experience more pain than the day I almost burned to death on Kilika. But that was ten times worse. I could never have imagined that such pain even existed. I remember thinking that I couldn't possibly be a dream, it hurt way too much.

I went limp, and I could smell rotting flesh, and faintly see some kind of vapor wafting up from my body. "What are you doing to him?" Yuna wailed and ran towards me. "Stop!" Auron yelled, but it was too late. Yuna tripped and fell on top of me. A flash of sparks erupted, throwing her across the ground. Seymour cursed at me, and stop administering the pain. I would have been relieved except for that I was afraid Yuna was dead. Seymour disappeared, and I pulled my aching body across the ground.

The others knelt around Yuna, but they made way for me. "She's not dead, yet, but she is fading fast." Auron removed his hand after feeling for a pulse. Even he was sad. My friends were all mourning. All this way, just for her to die. "No, no, no!" I sobbed. Blood seeped from her open mouth, and I cradled her gently in my arms. My tears poured endlessly down on her face. "This wasn't the way it was supposed to end." Auron said coldly. "You idiot!" Lulu screamed. "Of course it wasn't!" "Yunie!" Rikku wept nearly as much as I did. I was out of my mind. "I promised you! I promised you I wouldn't let you die. I swear it! Wake up!"

She started to choke, coughing up more blood. Her eyes slowly opened. My tears of grief changed to great joy; I cried so hard that day. Everyone except Auron and Kimahri hugged her. I was so happy I would have kissed her right there in front of everyone, except for that both of our faces had blood all over them. "Tidus...are you okay?" She was only thinking of me. Now that she was okay, I did a mental once over of my body's condition, and moaned. "Come to think of it, I'm terrible..." "Yeah, you don't look so good." Rikku commented.

Yuna healed me, and it brought on no weakness to her. "Uh, Tidus, I think you healed Yuna." Wakka was uncertain about saying that, but I decided he was right. "You are a healer...And we had no idea." Lulu shook her head. "Remember what the fayth said...that if you have a strong enough will and desire for something, they can hear you..." Yuna looked at me, sweetly, and I smiled back.

"Wha!" Wakka exclaimed, and we all jerked our heads in the same direction. There Seymour stood, a very pleased smirk on his face. I shivered. I was in terror, actually. I didn't think I could handle another one of his torture treatments. Yuna jumped up and began a sending, but Seymour extended a hand towards me. I cringed, waiting for the pain. Yuna stopped, knowing what was coming. "Yes, that's a good girl." Seymour lowered his arm. "Allow me to say something to the last Ronso. Yours was truly a gallant race. They threw themselves at me to bar my path. One after another" He giggled; he actually giggled. It was disgusting.

I looked at Kimahri, as did the others. He was downcast. I rarely saw him express emotion, but that was one of the few times that I did. Seymour spoke again. "You could end the suffering of this poor Ronso. Allow him to die, and release him from his pain. Spira is a land of suffering and sorrow, caught in a spiral of death. To destroy, to heal Spira, I will become Sin. Yes, with your help. Come with me, Yuna." I tightly gripped the hilt of my sword. 'Come with me, Yuna.' That was my line. "Once I have become the next Sin, your father will be freed." Seymour's eyes locked on mine. Then, he was gone, just like that.

Yuna glared at the ground. "He will become Sin...with my help..." "Lies. Forget them." Auron snapped. "If he becomes Sin, Sir Jecht will be free." "We're leaving." Auron commanded. Yuna ran up to him. "You know something! Tell me!" Auron remained completely silent, not even batting an eye. "Tell me!" Since Auron wasn't going to, I figured it was high time I did.

"Jecht...he's Sin." No one know what to say. They just stared. "Sin is Jecht, Jecht is Sin! I don't know how or why he did it. When Sin is near me, he talks to me. My old man is Spira's suffering." Everyone was clearly in shock, but finally Yuna found her voice. "Even knowing that Sin is your father...still, you know, I must..." I knew she was going to say kill him. And I understood that. He was evil. "I know. It's okay. Let's get him."

"You would fight your own father?" Lulu was even more astonished than before. I snorted. "Yeah. No problem there. I mean, look what he's done!" Wakka scratched the back of his neck. "Uh...'bout your old man...Chappu...I uh...I think I'll just pretend I didn't hear nothin'. I'm gettin' a little confused, ya? Why...Why'd all this have ta happen?" "We'll learn when we arrive. Soon." With that, Auron led our somber group through the last leg of our journey.

"They'll be upon us soon. She has sent fiends to test our summoner's strength." Yuna gazed at Auron. "Who is 'she'?" "Yunalesca." He replied. "You mean...Lady Yunalesca?" Auron searched the icy trail ahead of us. "In Zanarkand, she awaits the arrival of the strongest." Yuna was confused, if only a little. "She...is still here...I mean, her soul?" There was actually a tinge of hope in her words. "She lives as much as Mika and Seymour." Auron crushed her hope with only one breath. "I see..."

"It comes!" Auron shouted, watching a huge beast roaring as it charged towards us. The fight was not easy, but we beat it, with the help of a Bahamut, the aeon of my fayth, the one who dreams of me. I found myself flinching every time beast took a swipe at the aeon.

Soon after we vanquished the creature, the snow began to melt into the ground as we traveled, and eventually we turned a bend and found ourselves on a cliff overlooking the vast city of Zanarkand. The ruins were so many things at once. They were nostalgic, they were beautiful, they were frightening and awe inspiring.

I stood next to Yuna, gazing over the amazing sight. My heart was thundering in my chest, my eyes were stinging. We were running out of time. I had spent countless hours picking apart every possible way to save her, but still I came up with nothing. I took her by the shoulders, spun her in my direction, and hugged her. I tried not to let go, I felt like maybe we could just be that way forever, she wouldn't die and lose her soul, and I would disappear. I wondered if I even had a soul in the first place.

She rested her head on my shoulder, "I don't want to die..." She whispered, quiet enough so that only I could hear. I held her tighter. "I know, Yuna." I couldn't even try to promise to her again that I would save her. I had a horrible sinking feeling inside me that I couldn't save her, no matter what I did, or how badly I wanted to. "Thank you, Tidus...thank you for everything." It was like her last words. "Don't say that. It's not over yet." She didn't get a chance to answer me. "That's enough." Auron grabbed one of each of our shoulders and pried us apart. It was like he was ripping a piece of me away. I think it was the same way for Yuna.

Yuna spoke with the others as they traveled down the mountainside, but I stood and gazed over the city that used to be my home, or at least in a dream. Then something caught my eye. It was a blue sphere, lying at my feet. I picked it up, and held it out in front of me. Only Yuna's voice came out, no image, so I raised it to my ear.

"Sir Auron. Kimahri told me, when my father wanted me taken from Bevelle to Besaid, it was you who told Kimahri. I had always wanted to meet you someday. I am truly glad I had the chance. Having you as a guardian is so great an honor that I don't know how to thank you. Perhaps if I defeat Sin, that will be my thanks to you. And, if you are all listening to this, then I guess Sin is already gone...and so am I, I suppose... Anyway, I just wanted to say, Sir Auron, thank you.

Kimahri...Do you remember the first day we met? I was barely eight. My father had defeated Sin, and all Bevelle was celebrating. Everyone was saying what a hero my father was. I knew that my father had defeated Sin, and then, he was gone, forever. I felt so alone. That night, I couldn't sleep, so I wandered to the outskirts of the city, away from the celebrating crowds. I stood on the bridge in Bevelle where my father and I had parted. I stayed there for a long time. Then, you appeared, Kimahri. You said you were looking for the Daughter of Braska. At first, I was so scared, until I realized what a gentle person you are. When I told you that I was Braska's daughter, you said you would take me as far from Bevelle as you could. You said it was the wish of a man facing death. After we got to Besaid, you tried to leave me in the care of the temple, but I held on to you crying, "Don't go, don't go!" And you listened, Kimahri. You stayed. Kimahri, thank you, thank you so much. And...I've always like your broken horn..."

Wakka, Lulu, I'll never forget my days spent with you, growing up in Besaid. We always played together, us and Chappu. When you refused to let me become a summoner, and I did it anyway...I'm sorry. I've always wanted to apologize. You know, when you tried to stop me then...really, I was happy. I could tell you really cared about me. You were like my big brother and sister...What else...I love watching you play blitzball, Wakka. I even love it when you scold me, Lulu.

Rikku, you're my cousin, and though I only met you a little while ago, I feel like I've been friends with you all my life. You're so kind to me, and you help me to be cheerful. Thank you for trying to protect me but I hope you'll understand someday, this is what I have to do...I'm sorry...thank you for being my friend.

And...I guess that leaves...Tidus...star player of the Zanarkand Abes. You are...I am...well, um...I'm glad-I'm glad we met. We haven't even known each for a year yet...but...well...It's funny. So this is what it feels like. It's a much more wonderful feeling than anything I had ever imagined. Wonderful...but it still hurts. I...I just want to say, thank you for everything. That's why it hurts so much...when I think of us never being together again at all...I'm afraid...no, I shouldn't say that. I'll do that part over. Um..."

"Yunie?" Yuna's long speech was left without an ending when Rikku broke in. I heard some shuffling sounds before the sphere turned off, and all was silent.