A Shocking Revelation

Mushroom Rock Road was always a place of despair and death, with the Crusaders risking everything, and the same outcome happening each time. But as we were walking through that path, something was completely different. It was warm, almost welcoming, and I was conflicted between continuing our journey through this lively place, and not wanting to take a step further. I've never felt that feeling of indecisiveness before in my life.

"Hey, do you guys see that?" Tidus asked.

"See what?" Wakka asked.

Tidus pointed to a cliff in the distance.

"What is it?" Yuna said.

"There's a waterfall." Gaia said.

"No, there isn't." Lulu said.

"You guys can't hear it either?" The sound of the water splashing against the rock was loud.

"I can only hear the sound of you talking." Lulu replied.

"Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about, man."

"What, you guys can't-" Tidus looked down at his body. A bright halo outlined his limbs. He turned to Gaia. The same thing was happening to her.

Tidus wasn't only seeing these things. He was feeling much better without the help of the potions. He wasn't out of breath and the bad vibes he was feeling before was replaced with comfort.

"What's... going on?" Tidus said, quietly.

The crew stood, perplexed by the strange behavior of the two when Wakka caught sight of the escaping sender at the corner of his eye.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"There he is!" Yuna said.

They ran towards the black-hooded figure. Tidus and Gaia were shaken out of their daze and followed their friends. They weren't as fast as the others and found themselves lagging behind.

Their path was cut off by more hybrid fiends. Tidus and Gaia fought hard, and successfully overpowered the monsters without the help of their friends. They kept running, jumping on each platform like it was no problem.

When the two made it to the rest of the crew, they were being attacked by different monsters, both hybrid and non-hybrid. Tidus didn't hesitate. He charged the monsters at full speed, using his Slice and Dice move.

"Wait!" Yuna yelled, but she was amazed. He wasn't taking any damage from the fiends, no matter now hard they tried. Gaia started shooting at it with nonstop arrows, and bought Yuna enough time to heal herself and her friends. Wakka destroyed one of the monsters with his Element Reels move. Gaia finished off the rest of them with an Overdrive move where she launched herself in the air, spun around once, and sent an electrified arrow into the ground, and lightning bolts shot out of the rock into the fiends. The monsters were gone in less than ten minutes.

"Woah..." Wakka said.

"What?" said Tidus.

"You guys didn't get hurt at all, ya?"

Tidus looked at himself. There were no scars, not even a small scratch.

"Huh. I guess you're right."

"Look!" Yuna said.

Eiren was standing ways away from the Djose temple. Tidus planted his feet firmly on the ground. He'd had enough of the sender's games and he attacked head-on. When his sword pierced the sender's chest, there was a moment of silence, and the sender's body disappeared. Tidus stood back, shocked. A maniacal laughter could be heard above them. Eiren was looming on one of the cliffs, his expression much more terrifying than before.

"I see you've stumbled upon the greatest ability of all summoners! The power of illusion, much more effective than magic."

"Wait, that was a fake?!" Tidus yelled.

Eiren gave him a dissatisfied look. "Please tell me you aren't giving the impression that you've fought alongside the high summoner, seen her conjure those aeons, and didn't have the knowledge of this attribute?"

Tidus didn't say anything. Eiren levitated off the ground and came closer.

"Lady Yuna, I see that the effects of this unsent man walking upon Spira have infected him. He is no longer able to maintain the intelligence he once had, or perhaps he'd always been this clueless."

"Hey!" Tidus readied his sword.

"It's not too late, my lady. You must utilize this power for his sake, and for everyone else whom has lost someone dearly close to them. We'd been blessed with these abilities for a reason. We must not abandon our mission. To bring Spira's peace."

"How is what you're doing helping Spira?!" Tidus said. Eiren sighed.

"Lady Yuna, I hold very high thoughts of you, but I'm less confident seeing that you've wasted your time for this man's life." Yuna balled her fists and peered into his eyes, fire sparking in her own.

"That's enough! The people of Spira don't deserve the effects of your selfish actions! This madness is over!"

Eiren looked as though Yuna hurt his feelings with her remarks, but his false offense turned into a sinister laugh.

"No, my dear lady, it is not. It has only just begun."

With that, his eyes glowed and the pyreflies assembled in front of him. Fiends of massive sizes appeared in front of the heroes. The crew managed to eliminate these fiends without any struggle. Eiren sent more. He kept creating more and more fiends until the crew was in danger of completely running out of antidotes.

"I'm disappointed in you, my lady. You've unlocked the true potential of the summoners, and yet you refuse to use your power to its maximum level! If this is the way I'll have to bring this feature out of you, then so be it!"

Eiren captured the pyreflies from the defeated fiends and used them to conjure a grotesque, haunting, and gigantic version of Ixion. Its roar was piercing, its eyes were demonic, and it had first strike. Gaia shot an arrow into it, but Ixion disintegrated it with his Thunder Spark. Tidus charged it and was thrown back by a swing of Ixion's head. Yuna couldn't activate her powers even if she tried. She didn't know how, and she didn't want to. She looked helplessly at her friends. Without any backup plan, Yuna gave them the order to flee. They ran with Ixion behind them, occasionally shooting sparks their way. It was destroying the land in its path, and the crew had to dodge falling debris. Lulu casted a spell on the cliffs above them, hoping it would stop Ixion, but it was invincible. They came closer to the temple and each of them headed inside. Tidus and Gaia were the last ones in, but they ran straight into a wall. This wall wasn't any ordinary wall. When Tidus's vision cleared again, he could see a thin, watery line separating himself and Gaia from the rest of the group. It surrounded the entire temple. Tidus tried to break a hole in it with his fist and felt pain surge through his arm. It was like he'd just touched an electric fence. Gaia tried calling to her friends but they couldn't hear her through the barrier. The two turned around slowly as they heard Ixion growling behind them.

Yuna froze at what she saw inside the temple. The entire rest of the population was stationed inside, ragged, starved, and traumatized. The life was brought back to their faces once they'd seen Yuna. She turned around to the rest of her crew.

"Where... where's Tidus?" she said, trying to catch her breath.

Ixion cornered the two. Tidus didn't know how to defeat it, nor did he have anyplace to run. Gaia was out of luck as well.

"You will not last, you insignificant fool." Eiren said to Tidus. "And now-"

He stopped when he caught sight of Gaia. She was terrified, and holding her hand against her chest.

"It's... you..." Eiren said, with slight disbelief. "You... would fight against me?"

"What...?" she breathed.

"STOP!"

Yuna came marching out of the temple.

"Spare their lives." she said.

"Or what?"

Eiren was elated at what happened next. Yuna was so infuriated with him that her eyes began to glow. Before she knew it, she gave into Eiren's suggestion and created an entity with wings, scales, and a fiery tale. Eiren observed the two monsters fight. Ixion was pushed back by Yuna's creation. It breathed fire onto Ixion's skin and the corrupted aeon flinched. The airborne creature whacked it with its tail and charged its next move. Before Ixion had a chance to perform Thor's Hammer, the fiend sped into the air then came crashing down, smashing the aeon. Ixion perished. Yuna's creation dispersed, and she fell against the rocky path, worn out by the summoning. Lulu and Wakka came to her aid. Eiren was in awe.

"I knew from the moment I saw you here, when those humanlike manifestations first roamed Spira, that you were the missing link to my grand plan. I was hesitant to approach you with my intentions, but after seeing you here, watching you create that glorious monster, my faith has been restored in you."

Wakka grabbed his blitzball and stood up, like he was trying to intimidate the sender. However, he knew better than to attack the levitating sorcerer with intense power. Eiren lifted his arms up.

"Farewell, Lady Yuna. Until next time we see each other." He vanished before anyone could do anything else.

Yuna was breathing fine, but her strength had drained when she unintentionally created the monster. She wasn't sure it actually happened. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control, and she was finding it hard to grasp what was going on around her. Lulu saved the last couple of potions and gave one to her, restoring her stamina. When Yuna came to, she was horrified at what she'd done. All the time she'd taken to keep this power hidden from Tidus, from her friends, from everybody. Now she'd made herself a danger to everyone around her.

"Yuna?" Lulu said. "Are you alright?"

"I... think so... I just... I don't know what I just did, or... how I did it. But I never want to do it again. It felt so... awful."

"It's okay, you didn't mean to do it." Lulu said.

"But I still did and... I feel like such a fool for allowing him to provoke me like that."

"Hey, he can say whatever he wants, don't let it get to you. We'll get him." Wakka said. Yuna stood up on shaky legs.

"You're right." she said. "We should help these people. They look like they've been stuck here for a long time."

Yuna walked into the temple while Tidus stood outside, awaiting her return, thoughts swarming through his mind. He looked at the hand he used to break the field. It was fading for one second, then it stopped.

There was a large variety of people in the temple. They were huddled against each other, some of them kneeling in prayer. There were children, adults, and elderly. They looked almost as damaged as the Al Bhed fugitives. When they saw Yuna again, they felt as though their prayers have been answered.

"Lady Yuna has come to rescue us."

"'Tis truly the blessing of Yevon."

"Praise be to Yevon!"

Yuna gave them a small but sincere smile. She took what little she had in medicine and started handing one out to each of the people. Yuna caught sight of a Guado woman in the corner, avoiding the rest. She walked over with a small potion.

"Oh, hello, Lady Yuna."

"Take some of this, it'll help you."

The woman drank the potion and some of her wounds began healing. It was nice to have some refreshing liquid after being dehydrated for days.

"Could you tell me about what has happened?" Yuna said.

"I... I came here to pay my respects to my niece. She was a Crusader years ago and was taken by Sin. When I came here, I found I wasn't the only one. There were others coming from Luca to visit for the same reason. I'd heard rumors about the dead returning to be with their families, but... I never believed them. It seemed like calling people back from the dead was taboo itself. But then... I started to think more of it. I... truly missed my dear niece. She was like the daughter I never had. But all of a sudden, there she was. Right in front of me. I couldn't believe my eyes but... I went over to embrace her nonetheless. But then she... wasn't herself anymore. I don't know why, but... in one second she was my quirky little niece, and in the next, she was... a monster."

The Guado woman shivered when she remembered the experience. It was truly an awful sight. Yuna sat next to her and tried comforting her.

"It's alright, ma'am." she said.

"She wasn't the only one, though. All the other family members had the same thing happen to their relatives. Then, we were completely surrounded by those horrible creatures. We couldn't run, so we hid in the temple. I can't seem to explain it, but there's some kind of boundary around the area. It was keeping the fiends from entering the temple. We'd lost a couple people that assumed it was safe and tried escaping. We've been... trapped here ever since."

"I'm very sorry." Yuna said.

"You know the worst part? I had to leave my son back in Guadosalam. I... haven't been able to let him know I'm alright. I... hope he's okay. I hope he doesn't think I ended up like his father..."

"You mean, your son, Bayal?"

The woman looked at her. "Yes... how do you know?"

"We had to visit Guadosalam and take care of some business. We ran into him on the way."

"Was he... was he safe?" she asked.

Yuna hesitated a second. "Yes, we made sure he was perfectly safe."

The Guado woman breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Wakka and Lulu were guarding the area outside while Yuna was talking with the people. Wakka turned his head and saw Gaia observing the newest addition to the Djose temple. A memorial was put up for many of the fallen Crusaders, ranging from the most recent to as far as decades ago. It was originally thought up by the Youth League, but wasn't actually established until the Council was formed. Of course, many people rejected the idea of having it put up where the temple was. Everything the Crusaders stood for still irked some of them to this present day. Gaia was reading each of the names. Wakka came up next to her.

"These were the Crusaders that gave their lives, ya?" he said.

"I wonder if they'll go back to doing their thing now that Sin's back."

"Not if we can stop it."

"They have reason to fight again now that isn't just Sin."

"Yeah, but they won't have to."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am."

"But it wouldn't hurt, having them around to help us out. We can't be everywhere at once."

"Yeah, but we're better off not sendin' people to die, ya?"

"It wouldn't be sending them off to die, they volunteered to fight Sin in the first place. We're not forcing them to fight."

"I just don't think it's a good idea."

"You sure sound like you're against this whole thing. Is it because the Crusaders used machina? Everyone was upset at them for that."

"No, I mean I was at first but... it's not just that."

Gaia looked at him. "Then what is it?"

Wakka tried very hard to avoid talking, or even thinking about this subject. Oftentimes, he was lectured about not allowing the past to remain where it belonged. Not just by Lulu, but by several people he'd associated with while being the village elder. Still, he wanted to get these thoughts off his chest.

"When I first saw Sin a couple days ago, several things went through my head. Like why I became a guardian in the first place, and the fact that I enjoyed pounding Sin's face into the ground."

"Why'd you become a guardian?"

Wakka sat on the cold surface.

"Somebody I knew became a Crusader. Someone I shared my entire life with. I tried stopping him, but he wanted to make a better place for the person he loved. He wanted to live in peace with both of us, ya?"

"Who?"

He sighed. "My little brother."

"Oh..."

"Now I... really don't know what this means for Vidina. I don't want that life for him. If we don't get rid of Sin for good this time, he might make that decision for himself. I gotta make sure that doesn't happen."

Gaia sat next to him, hugging her knees.

"Wakka, I know you're worried about your son, but... believe me when I say he's going to be okay."

"How can you be so sure?"

She grinned at him. "I just am."

Wakka beamed and stood up. "Well, best not to worry about it, ya? Gotta focus on this mission so we can go home."

He put his hand against the memorial and was silent for a minute before walking away. When they walked back to the front of the temple, Gaia's eyes went wide and she grabbed her bow.

"Woah, what the hell?!" Wakka said, standing back.

There stood a hybrid fiend, but it held more of its human qualities than its fiend's. It was clothed in a familiar Crusader uniform and it stared Wakka down. Its legs and arms were doglike and it had a canine head, snarling with sharp fangs. Atop of its head was a mound of red hair. Lulu came up next to them.

"What's that?!" she said, readying her magic.

"Is that...? No, it can't be... but... I guess it is..." Wakka said, softly.

Both women looked at him. He lowered his gaze, his fist balled. Gaia was about to run towards it, but he stopped her.

"What? But we gotta-"

"This is between us." Wakka turned his head to look at Lulu. She understood.

He walked towards the fiend. Lulu turned her head away. Wakka looked straight into its eyes. It was pained, both emotionally and physically. Wakka hated that the reunion between him and his brother had to end up like this. There were things Wakka wanted to tell the Crusader before he left that he was too prideful to say beforehand. He was never able to marry the woman he loved, have the children he wanted, or be with the person that was his only family. Wakka was living the life his brother wished for, and he felt guilty about it in that one second. The hybrid fiend didn't attack. It was waiting for Wakka to kill it.

"I guess we gotta do what we gotta do, ya? That's what you told me before you left. I... took care of Lu. I killed Sin with Yuna. And... you got a little nephew. Life just goes on, ya?"

The fiend was twitching. It couldn't hold back its nature for much longer. Wakka nodded.

"Right, I gotta help you out..." He hit the fiend with his blitzball until it was finally killed. When Wakka saw the pyreflies rise, he got on his knees, his hands folded. He stared at the ground for a couple minutes, holding back his tears and his sorrow. Lulu clasped her hand over her mouth, feeling sorry for him. The moment was interrupted when Yuna came out of the temple.

"Alright, everyone, we are returning to Luca." She brought the entire crowd of people out of the temple. Wakka got up and walked towards them. He stopped in front of Lulu.

"I'm sorry." Lulu said to him. He perked his head up. He wasn't expecting her to say that. Normally it was him responding in that way. He didn't say any more. Before joining up with Yuna, he put his calloused hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it. Lulu had a flashback about what she had to do for Lady Ginnem.

Yuna led the restored crowd on the path towards he gate where their families would be waiting. Lulu walked next to her. Wakka noticed Gaia was still studying the Crusader memorial. He whistled to her.

"Come on, Gaia. We gotta go." he said. She took one last look at one of the names and continued on with her friends. This name sounded vaguely familiar and she felt another memory poking its way into her mind.

Chappu... I feel like I've heard that before... she thought.

Tidus was walking far behind the crowd. He couldn't take his eyes off his hand. It faded in one second and then stopped. He saw the same material that made up the field around the temple in his dream about the barrier between his Zanarkand and Spira's. When he tried to break a hole in the shield, he heard the same ringing sound he heard when he attempted to pass through from his Zanarkand. This field and that one were made of the same element, but Tidus didn't know what it was. He still wasn't sure if he'd actually visited his Zanarkand or if he'd dreamt about it. Yuna noticed he was staring at his hand for quite some time.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked him. He quickly hid his hand behind his back.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just fine." he replied.

"Really?" She sounded cynical.

"Yup, nothing to worry about here." he continued walking ahead of her, dropping his hand to his side.

Yuna sighed. "You're still a poor liar, you know."