AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am so so sorry that this chapter took so long *hides forever* Please don't hate me!
Thank you to Solaris Prime, fanficlove2014, A.K.b00m and xenoanaan for reviewing the last chapter!
This chapter is dedicated to zenocanaan, golden-priestess and darkspineodd.
DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X, its characters, locations and plotlines are owned by Square Enix. I do not claim to own any of these. However, I do own my original character Sakura, also known as Suki. If you wish to use her in any form of media then please ask my permission first.
Chapter 49 - Yunalesca
We emerged through the door at the top of the stairs to find ourselves on a platform below the night sky. The Hymn of the Fayth was so loud it felt like it was resonating right through me. The floor of the platform was beautifully decorated with the symbols of Yevon, but Lady Yunalesca was nowhere to be seen.
Before I could say anything though, a ghostly looking figure began to appear before us. It soon became clear that it was Yunalesca herself, and she looked directly to Yuna.
"Have you chosen the one to become your fayth?" she asked. "Who will it be?"
Yuna swallowed before she spoke up. "Might I…ask something first?" With Yunalesca's curt nod of approval, she continued. "Will Sin come back even should I use the Final Summoning to defeat it?"
"Sin is eternal," Yunalesca answered in a tone of voice that suggested she felt Yuna should already understand this. "Every Aeon who defeats it becomes Sin in its place, and thus is Sin reborn."
"That explains Tidus' dad," Rikku murmured to me and I nodded, glancing over at Tidus who, from the look on his face, had just realised the same thing.
"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny," Yunalesca continued. "It is never-ending."
"Never-ending?" Wakka frowned. "But…but if we atone for our crimes Sin will stop coming back, yah? Someday it'll be gone, yah?"
Yunalesca seemed to smirk slightly. "Will humanity ever obtain such purity?"
Wakka grunted in shock as Lulu stepped forward.
"This…this cannot be!" she cried out. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope all these years..."
"Hope is…comforting," Yunalesca replied. "It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be."
Next to me, Tidus tensed up. He opened his mouth to scream in protest, but another voice beat him to it.
"No!" Auron yelled, but instead of the man standing behind me, it was the memory version created from the pyreflies that appeared before us.
"Where is the sense in all this?" Auron yelled, brandishing his sword. "Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!"
"They chose to die," the memory of Yunalesca replied, "because they had hope."
The memory of Auron screamed with the agony of losing his friends before he ran forward to attack Yunalesca. I reflexly grabbed my sword to run towards him to try and stop him from doing something stupid, but a voice behind me caught my attention.
"Sakura, don't."
I stopped and looked round to see the real Auron staring down at the ground, a pained look on his face. Before I could say anything to him I heard Rikku gasp. I turned back to see Yunalesca strike out at Auron, sending him crashing to the floor. By the time the memory disappeared he wasn't moving.
I slowly looked back round at the real Auron, and he looked up at me straight in the eyes. He nodded once and I shuddered as memories of when Yuna had sent Lord Jyscal came flooding back. Auron had collapsed as Yuna performed the Sending…because he had to force himself not to be sent too.
Auron was an Unsent. Yunalesca had killed him.
The real Yunalesca began to speak again. "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?"
What followed was the longest ten seconds of my life. Yuna was silent and she looked at all of us in turn with a steely determination in her eyes before she answered Yunalesca clearly with no hint of hesitation in her voice.
"No-one. I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira and would have gladly died for them, but no more. The Final Summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away."
"No," Yunalesca said with anger snaking into her tone. "It is our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give that hope to the people, so they would forget sorrow."
Yuna shook her head. "Wrong. My father…my father wanted to make Spira's sorrow go away, not just cover it up with lies."
Yunalesca sighed. "Sorrow cannot be abolished. It is meaningless to try."
Yuna looked Yunalesca right in the eyes. "My father…I loved him. So 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 it will be but someday I will conquer it. And I will do it without false hope."
"Poor creature," Yunalesca sneered. "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 to live in despair. Let me be your liberator."
The air around Yunalesca seemed to turn thick and black before Auron called out to us all.
"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose. 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!"
Kimahri pointed his spear right at Yunalesca. "Yuna needs Kimahri. Kimahri protect Yuna."
"Well I'm fighting!" Rikku grinned.
"Me too," I agreed. "I don't have any plans to die today!" I looked round at Auron and smiled. "I've still got plenty of questions for you after all."
Auron smiled back and nodded.
"I can't believe we're gonna fight Lady Yunalesca," Wakka sighed, more with mild frustration than anything else. "Gimmie a break."
"You can always run," Lulu suggested teasingly.
Wakka grinned slightly. "I'd never forgive myself. No way, not if I ran away now. Even in death, yah?"
"Heh. My thoughts exactly," Lulu agreed with a smile.
"Yuna!" Tidus called. "This is our story. Now let's see this thing through together."
Yuna smiled round at us all and nodded before we all ran towards Yunalesca, weapons at the ready.
Yuna wasted no time in casting a fire spell at Yunalesca, but immediately after Yunalesca chanted something under her breath and Yuna fell to her knees.
"What happened?" I called to Lulu who was closed to her.
"It's a silence spell," Lulu replied. "If she can't speak she can't summon."
Aware that her back was to Yunalesca, Lulu quickly cast a fire spell of her own, before Yunalesca seemed to cast the same spell on Lulu as she had on Yuna.
"Now neither of the can use magic," I growled in frustration. "And I don't have any potions!"
"I've got some!" Tidus called just as Yunalesca attacked Yuna again. But before Tidus could do anything, Yuna herself threw a potion over Lulu, reversing Yunalesca's spell and enabling Lulu to speak again. Lulu quickly cast another fire spell as Tidus threw a potion over Yuna, at which she smiled to him in thanks.
Tidus quickly ran at Yunalesca to attack her, but she managed to dodge out of the way. Before she could move again thought Auron, Kimahri and I all got in hits while Rikku threw a grenade in for good measure. Lulu cast yet another powerful fire spell as Yunalesca attacked Tidus. Tidus retaliated immediately and attacked her again, but as soon as he did Yunalesca seemed to smirk.
Suddenly darkness surrounded her and some kind of snake-like form grew from her torso. She rose above the platform before swooping down and attacking all of us. Creepy tentacles tore through the floor and attacked us too.
Yuna quickly cast a cure spell on everyone before Tidus ran forward and launched a flurry of attacks at Yunalesca. He then jammed his sword into the ground before using it to launch himself into the air, calling on Wakka as he did. Apparently Wakka knew exactly what Tidus meant because he threw his blitzball to him. Tidus flipped upside down and, just like with the Jecht Shot, he whammed the ball right at Yunalesca, actually causing her to stagger backwards slightly.
"That was amazing!" I cried as he landed back on the ground and retrieved his sword, quickly sending the ball back to Wakka.
"Oh, I know," Tidus grinned.
"Don't be cocky," Auron scolded, whacking Tidus slightly around the back of his head.
Yuna grinned too before casting a fire spell at Yunalesca, just before she attacked Tidus again. Tidus staggered backwards but Lulu quickly cast a cure spell on him. This seemed to annoy Yunalesca as she then attacked Lulu before also attacking Rikku and me. I grimaced in pain before Kimahri suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me back from Yunalesca. I was about to protest before I saw Yuna raising her staff to the sky and Bahamut flying down towards us.
Bahamut quickly attacked Yunalesca with an incredibly powerful energy blast which caused the ground to tremble. Yunalesca seemed to sink into the ground and for a split second I thought we'd beaten her, but suddenly a terrifyingly grotesque head appeared from the ground. It looked like it was covered in blood. It had a snake-like tongue and its hair looked like snakes. It was something from a nightmare; like hell itself was trying to fight us.
Yuna froze for a second but soon snapped herself out of it before ordering Bahamut to attack again. He did so but with a much weaker attack, and it seemed like he was getting weaker by the second. I spotted very faint lights leaving Bahamut and traveling through the air towards Yunalesca and gasped. She was leaching energy from him somehow. Bahamut might be a huge and powerful aeon but he was weak from his big attack and now Yunalesca was making him even weaker. He wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
Bahamut managed to get two more attacks in at Yunalesca before he crumbled to the ground. Yuna bit her lip in worry as we all ran back over.
"I didn't even realise he was so weakened…" she mumbled.
I squeezed her hand. "I think Yunalesca was drawing his energy out somehow. If you summon again just be aware of that."
Yuna nodded as Kimahri and Auron ran forward to attack. Yunalesca lashed back at Kimahri but he didn't even grimace, probably wanting to keep a brave face on for Yuna. Rikku threw another grenade together with Wakka throwing his ball which made for a pretty good combo, and they both managed to dodge out of the way of Yunalesca's attacks.
Suddenly the snakes that seemed to make up Yunalesca's hair burrowed into the ground before appearing in front of Kimahri, Lulu and I. They attacked us and we didn't even have a chance to move. All three of us were on our knees with the pain when the snakes disappeared but Yuna quickly cast cure over us all. Rikku ran up to me.
"Are you alright?" she asked with panic in her voice.
I nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry. I really hate snakes now though."
Wakka launched another attack at Yunalesca, this time backed up by Tidus and, very willing to get my own back for the creepy snake-hair attack, I quickly ran in and got a few slashes of my own.
Yuna then stepped up to summon Yojimbo, the Aeon she had gained at the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth in the Calm Lands. He almost looked like a giant man but with very intricate and colourful armour on. He had a dog at his side which Yuna had told us was named Daigoro, and he attacked mainly with his sword.
Yojimbo attack Yunalesca and she retaliated, but it seemed as though Yojimbo's attacked were more powerful. However I noticed the same lights I had seen when Yuna had summoned Bahamut. Yunalesca was leaching from the aeon again. I called out to Yuna but she just nodded once; she knew.
Each time Yojimbo attack Yunalesca the attack itself seemed more and more powerful. However he himself seemed to be getting weaker and weaker due to Yunalesca absorbing his energy. After sending Daigoro in to attack, Yunalesca lashed out at both of them and they slowly faded away. Yuna sighed heavily under her breath before she once again raised her staff.
"She's summoning again?" I frowned.
"She's being smart," Auron replied. "Yunalesca is weak now, and Yuna's aeons are all strong. We can win this with their help."
Not entirely convinced I turned back around to see Shiva standing in front of Yuna, neither of them looking fazed at all. Shiva did her signature move of encasing Yunalesca in ice before snapping her fingers to shatter it, which seemed to badly hurt Yunalesca. I forced myself not to cheer. Shiva managed to get two more attacks in before Yunalesca sapped away the rest of her energy and she collapsed.
As we all ran back forward Auron called out to us. "She's weak! We can finish this!"
"Suki!" I heard Tidus cry. "Let's do this!"
I locked eyes with Tidus and nodded before we both ran forward and leapt into the air before slashing down on Yunalesca, both of us landing on opposite sides of her. When we turned back around to look I gasped. The giant snake-topped head had gone and the regular Yunalesca was lying on the ground. Compared to her other forms she looked so tiny.
"If…if I die," she said with a weak voice, "so does the Final Aeon. And with it, Spira's only hope."
"Then we'll find Spira a new hope," Tidus replied confidently. He looked at me for agreement but I stayed silent. All I could look at was the pyreflies that were now rising from Yunalesca's body. We'd…I'd just killed Lady Yunalesca. There was no way we were going to get away with this. We'd already killed Seymour and people thought we killed Kinoc, but now this?
"You fool," Yunalesca said. "There is no other way. Even if there was, even if you did destroy Sin, Yu Yevon the immortal would only create Sin anew."
"…Yu Yevon?" Tidus frowned, looking around at everyone. Nobody else looked like they knew what Yunalesca was talking about either.
Yunalesca clenched her fists and looked up at the sky. "Zaon…forgive me. Spira has been robbed of the light of hope. All that remains is sorrow." With that Yunalesca turned to stare at Yuna one last time with tears in her eyes before she disappeared completely. As soon as she did the Hymn stopped.
"I cannot believe what we just did…" Yuna mumbled.
Tidus took her hand and gently squeezed it. "Let's do something more unbelievable. Destroy Sin so it won't come back. And without the Final Aeon. I don't know how just yet but I'll find out."
The walk back through the temple was a quiet one. Nobody said a word, presumably because everyone was thinking about what we'd just done. None of us – except maybe Auron – had been 100% confident that we could destroy Sin without the Final Aeon, no matter what any of us said. We all had that tiny little voice in the back of our heads telling us that we had just doomed Spira for eternity, and that voice sounded a lot like Yunalesca.
However despite everything that had happened that wasn't the only thing on my mind. Finding out about Auron had completely thrown me. I couldn't believe that he was dead, that he was an Unsent.
"Sakura."
Almost as if he had read my mind Auron spoke my name. I stopped walking and turned round to look at him while everyone else kept going.
"You've realised, haven't you?" he said.
I hesitated for a moment but I nodded. "You're…you're an Unsent aren't you?"
"Yes," Auron confirmed. "I was killed by Lady Yunalesca when I tried to avenge Jecht and Braska."
I was silent then, not really knowing what to say. I'd suspected that answer but hearing it was a bit unsettling. It was strange and slightly creepy to think I was talking to a dead person.
"…That's why you refused to come with us to the Farplane," I said eventually, that being the only thing I could really think of to say.
Auron nodded. "Yes. It's also how I was able to get to Tidus and Jecht's Zanarkand by riding Sin."
I smiled slightly. "I feel like I should be surprised but I'm really not anymore."
Auron chuckled under his breath. "I suppose you're getting used to the strangeness now."
"Yeah, I guess," I agreed. "It doesn't even really seem strange anymore." I paused for a moment before I spoke up again. "Are you going to tell the others?"
"Tidus already knows," Auron replied. "He's standing behind that pillar listening to our conversation."
I quickly turned round and watched as Tidus peeked out meekly from behind a pillar. "Um…hey guys."
I glared at him. "Tidus, eavesdropping is meant to be my thing."
"Sorry about that," he grinned before becoming more serious and looked back to Auron. "So…what happened?"
"When Braska and Jecht died defeating Sin…I just couldn't accept it," Auron replied, looking down slightly. "I came back here, tried to avenge them, but Yunalesca struck me down. That was what you saw earlier. Somehow I made my way, crawling down Mount Gagazet, but my strength left me just outside Bevelle. That's where Kimahri found me." Auron looked back up at us. "I told him about Yuna just before I died. I've been wandering ever since, never going to the Farplane."
"Auron…" Tidus sighed, his face looking as downtrodden as mine probably did.
Auron actually rolled his eyes at both of us and smiled slightly. "Don't make those faces. Being dead has its advantages. Like I said to Sakura, I was able to ride Sin and go to your Zanarkand."
"And…you've been watching over me since then, haven't you? Why?" Tidus asked. "What's the big idea? Why me?"
"It…it is one of those things that is difficult to explain," Auron sighed. He stayed silent for a moment before nodding to himself. "Very well. I will show you."
With no further explanation he walked slightly away from us and knelt down, his hand over his chest. "My memories," he murmured quietly before pyreflies started to dance around him.
An image took shape in front of us again, created from Auron's memories. This one was different from others we had seen though, as it was as if we were looking at it through Auron's eyes. Standing in front of us was Jecht with Braska slightly behind him half-way up a flight of stairs, the same stairs we had just descended after fighting Yunalesca.
"Can I ask you one last favour?" Jecht asked in his now familiar growly voice. "Uh…nah, never mind."
"Out with it!" Auron's voice replied, sounding like it was coming from somewhere behind us even though when I turned around there was nothing there.
Jecht chuckled slightly. "Okay. Listen good. Take care of my son."
Auron gasped slightly in surprise. Clearly that hadn't been what he was expecting.
"My son in Zanarkand," Jecht continued. "He's such a cry-baby. He needs someone there to hold his hand, see? Take care of him, will you?"
"But how am I supposed to go to Zanarkand?" Auron asked.
"Hey, you said it yourself," Jecht laughed. "There must be a way to get there, right? You'll find it."
"…Alright," Auron replied. "I will. I give you my word. I'll take care of your son. I'll guard him with my life."
Jecht smiled. "Thanks Auron. You were always such a stiff, but that's what I always liked about you."
The memory faded and Auron stood back up. "That is why," he said before walking after the others.
Tidus stood there with his fists clenched, looking down at the floor. "Dad…" he murmured under his breath.
"…Tidus?" I called quietly. He turned and looked at me. "Look…I never knew my dad. He died when I was still a baby; I don't remember anything about him or my mom. But your dad…I can tell he really cared about you. I just think that when you were a kid you couldn't see it. I get that; when I was younger I used to think Uncle Cid hated me because of how he treated me, but I know now he was just doing it for my own good, trying to toughen me up for the real world. I think it's the same with Jecht."
Tidus nodded slowly. "Yeah…and now I have to kill him."
I bit my lip. "I'm sorry-"
"No, don't be," Tidus cut me off, smiling slightly. "It's okay, really. Like I said to Yuna, I think it's what he'd want. He doesn't want to be that monster, I know it."
I sighed slightly. "You're so much stronger than me Tidus. I don't think I could keep going if I was in your situation."
Tidus squeezed my shoulder and I looked up at him. "Hey, you're not meant to be as strong as me. You're still only thirteen Suki, remember that. You've got plenty of time to get stronger."
I smiled but shook my head. "I don't though. I need to be strong, for Rikku and Yuna and everyone else. I don't want them to think I'm a burden."
Tidus frowned. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
I shrugged. "I dunno…a while. Ever since Home got destroyed I guess."
"Okay, let's do a quick recount," he said. "Since that happened you were the one who thought of riding the anchor cables to get to the palace of St Bevelle, you were the one who figured out how we were going to get out of the Via Purifico and you stood up to Seymour single-handedly on Mount Gagazet. Suki, nobody thinks you're a burden. If anything, you're far more mature and far more able than a normal thirteen year old girl."
I smiled shyly at the compliments. "Really?"
Tidus grinned. "Yes really. Although don't let it go to your head."
I put on my most innocent look. "Who, me?"
Tidus laughed and squeezed my shoulder again. "Come on, let's go."
"Tidus, wait," I said quickly.
Tidus stopped and looked back at me again. I swallowed before I suddenly hugged him. "Thank you," I said quietly.
Tidus was surprised but he hugged me back. "For what?"
"…For being the best big brother ever," I murmured.
Tidus didn't react for a moment but then he hugged my tighter.
"Well…thank you for being the like the little sister I never had," he replied quietly.
When we pulled back we were both smiling.
AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Pleeeeeeease revieeeeeeeeeeew!
