Author's Note: I do not own Finial Fantasy X or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong to their respective owners.
Ch.50 Father's Sphere 2
Later on, after we had gotten past Yenke and Biran, we were walking along the rising and falling roads of Mt. Gagazet. There were no shortage of fiends, and each encounter proved more annoying than the last. However, after defeating a Bashura with Murderous Blow, I spotted a speck of blue in a corner set apart from the rest of the road. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a sphere. "Hey guys! Take a look at this!" I called. They all gathered around me, and I played it back. The image that appeared was, to our surprise, one of Lord Braska in the very area we were in now. "Lord Braska!" Wakka said in awe. "he must have left this here. But why?" Yuna asked.
"It's a message. For you," Deiru said to Yuna. She blinked in surprise, but nodded and looked back, and I hit play. "Hello, Yuna. I hope you are well. I wonder how old you are, now that you're watching this sphere. You must be very beautiful, like your mother. I wish I could see you," Braska said. He was about to turn it off, but then said "Oh, by the way... Jecht and Auron send their regards. So far, our journey has been very entertaining. Of course, it is a hard journey, but I have no regrets. It is the path I have chosen. Yuna, when you have grown, you will have to find your own path. Do what you must do, the way you want to do it. Doors will always open themselves to those who do. Listen close, Yuna. Your future is yours to make. Live the way you want to. Whatever way that may be, you have your father's full support. Yuna, I will always be with you."
After that Braska approached the sphere and turned it off, and I looked over at Yuna. Her eyes were shining behind unshed tears whenever she blinked it clung to her eyelashes. Frowning in sympathy, I put it away and without warning, hugged Yuna. She returned it without hesitation, and while I held her she was shaking. Whether that was from the cold or sadness, I never knew. "It's okay," I murmured, petting her hair when she placed her head against my shoulder. I felt a sense of deja-vu; this same exact thing had occurred after I had watched a sphere of my father when we were in the Thunder Plains. Only now I was the one holding Yuna, not the other way around.
Tidus made a sound of awkwardness but I didn't care; all that mattered at that moment was comforting my sister. "My father... I barely knew him, and to hear him... saying those words..." she said softly, doing her best to hold her tears back. "I know," I said, pulling back and cupping her cheek. She leaned into it, and I brushed away a tear that managed to fall. "But now you know: If this is what you choose, then this is what he would have wanted," I said. She nodded and looked at the others, saying "Okay, let's go." We all nodded, and were about to do just that when there was a feral roar, and we turned to see a quartet of fiends running towards us. There was a Bandersnatch, a Grenade, a Nidhogg and another Bashura.
We all drew our weapons and charged forward, while the all the fiends except for the Bandersnatch stopped their charge. It kept going, and snarled before leaping into the air at Tidus. He shouted and dodged, slashing at the canine fiend. He managed to make a cut in its side before it ran back, and the grenade cast Fira at Lulu. She barely even trembled from the blast, but she did grimace and cast Drain. The grenade swelled from the hit and flew forward, but Kimahri blocked the hit. The Bashura roared and ran forward to try and take a swing at Wakka, successfully punching him hard in the stomach. He grunted from the hit but didn't fall, instead retaliating with Dark Buster.
The fiend was blinded and no longer a threat, while Rikku threw a grenade and hit all four of the fiends. The blast weakened the Nidhogg and created a chip on its scales, which Auron ran forward and slammed on to cleave the beast in two. Now that the numbers were down to three the rest of the fiends fought harder, including the Bandersnatch trying to bite Deiru in the leg. He took a step back and grabbed the beast by its head, raising it into the air and throwing it at the Bashura. The two fiends fell into a tangled heap, while Lulu cast Blizzara Fury and destroyed the Grenade. The Bashura stood and ran forward, trying to land a hammer punch on Deiru.
Tidus jumped in front of him and blocked the hit, then jumped into the air and unleashed his latest Overdrive, Energy Rain. His sword pulsed with energy before he swung it front of him, and over a dozen beams of energy shot down and into the ground. All was silent for a moment, until the ground exploded in a blast that sent the Bashura a few feet into the air while the Bandersnatch was destroyed. "Ha ha, take that!" I taunted. The Bashura growled and raised its arms, gesturing for us to come and attack it. Not minding the counterattack, I jumped forward and slashed at it, scoring a good-sized cut on its arm. It swung at me from the other side and hit me in the stomach, and my eyes bulged from the pain.
"Sofia!" Yuna called, and cast Death. Lately she had been trying to learn Black Magic spells to supplement her White Magic, and Death was one of the first few that Yuna learned. As usual the figure thrust its hand into the beast's chest, but to my surprise when it pulled its hand out there was no heart in its palm. It ran forward and tried to attack Yuna, but Tidus used Provoke and drew the hit towards himself. It worked, and he grunted from the force of the blow before Yuna healed him with Cura. I glared at the monster, realizing that it was immune to Death. Quickly wondering if there were any other spells that wouldn't work, I concentrated for a second before casting Bio.
A puddle of green liquid appeared around the fiend, which instantly absorbed into it skin and began dealing damage. The Bashura roared and tried to run forward, but was stopped by a wave of pain that brought it to one knee. "Nice going, Sofia!" Wakka said, before throwing his ball and scoring a direct hit to the head. The fiend grunted but couldn't get up, his body already shutting down from the poison. Auron grunted. "It's time to end this," he said. He quickly took a drink of the jug at his hip, when the fiend managed to stand and punch him in the stomach before he could swallow. The ale sprayed over his katana and it suddenly burst with a black-red aura. Auron looked at in surprise before smiling, and swung his blade down.
Three bursts of energy flew forward and hit the fiend in the chest, and it doubled over from the force of the blow. But when I ran forward to attack it rather than just grunt from the attack the beast fell back, severely injured just from that single attack. I looked at it in confusion, until I realized that whatever move Auron had just used had also inflicted it with all the Break statuses, including Armor Break. Smiling, I struck again while Tidus and Kimahri joined, attacking with sword and spear. The Bashura couldn't do anything, weakened as it was by our attacks and the poison. With one last Drain spell by Lulu it fell face-first onto the ground, dissolving into pyreflies.
After that we continued, and reached a bend around the mountain when Rikku stopped. Tidus and I did as well, and she said "Zanarkand is on the other side, you know?" "I know," Tidus said grimly, and I nodded. She turned around. "Yunie is gonna get the Final Aeon, you know?" she pressed. "I know," Tidus repeated. "I, uh... still haven't thought of anything," she admitted. "Neither have I," I said, and Tidus agreed. "What are we gonna do?" she asked. All was silent for a moment, until Tidus said "We'll do something! We just don;t know enough yet. Until we do, we really can't help Yuna. Let's go to Zanarkand! We'll find something there. It'll all come together. I know it!"
I looked t Tidus, surprised by the speech. Rikku smiled and said "Hey. Just now, you sounded like a leader, you know?" he put his hand on his hips, pushed his chest out and said "Star of the Zanarkand Abes! Didn't anyone tell you?" I rolled my eyes and walked ahead while Rikku bowed. Then suddenly she straightened and shirked, and I whipped around... to see Seymour standing right in front of us. He smiled and said "Ah, the son of Jecht and the daughter of Alexander." I drew my sword an glared at him I hatred, while Tidus said "Rikku, ran ahead and tell Auron!" "You two are not fighting him alone!" she protested. "There's no time for this! Go!" I ordered.
She bowed her hand and ran ahead, and once she was gone Seymour chuckled. "Now is time for you to die. Prepare yourselves," he said, walking forward. "Not if I can help it!" Tidus said defiantly, and before I could add anything we heard "Save some for Kimahri!" The others all ran back and joined us, adding seven to our number. "Lady Yuna, it is a pleasure," Seymour said. "Yuna! Sofia!" Lulu said, and without waiting we began the sending. "A sending, so soon? Allow me to say something to the last Ronso before I leave," he said, looking at Kimahri. I was thrown off by that last statement, and he chuckled. "Yours was... truly a gallant race. They threw themselves at me to bar my path. One..." He raised his hand. "After another..." then he formed a fist and brought his hand down, still laughing.
"No..." Kimahri said in horror, and Yuna started "Kimahri..." "You could end the suffering of this poor Ronso," Seymour pointed out. "I don't understand you!" Yuna said angrily. He turned around and walked to the edge of the cliff. "Allow Kimahri to die, and release him from his pain," he explained. He looked out beyond the edge. "Spira... is a land of suffering and sorrow caught in a spiral of death. To destroy- to heal- Spira I will become Sin," he said, turning back around. "Yes, with your help." Tidus and I stood in front of her, keeping him away, and he smiled wider. "Once I have become the next Sin, both of your fathers will be freed again," he told us.
I gasped, looking away as I thought about that. Then I remembered that Sin could only be replaced by the first one dying. I looked at him in hatred. "Free as in dead!" I yelled, running forward while Tidus did the same, calling "What do you know?!" There was a flash of light, and a huge fiend appeared behind Seymour. He rose into the air, connected to it by a stream of energy. "Pitiful mortal," he said, drawn into the beast. "Your hope ends here!" he called, and there was a flash of light. When it faded it showed that he had again changed form, only this time he was Seymour Flux. "And your meaningless existence with it!" he called. We all spread our weapon, prepared for what was going to be a long battle.
xxx
Oh man, this battle going to be interesting to right. But it will be worthwhile, so stayed tuned!
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look or you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)
