The Ultimate Price

"I got a theory. I think the fayth gathered all my thoughts and brought me back. Maybe… something like that." Tidus said, stretching.

Yuna was staring out into the Zanarkand sunset, the pyreflies dancing around them. She was content, with a slight hint of unrest in her eye. Tidus didn't know it, but she was keeping a close eye on him, as if he would vanish right then and there. She felt like she was lying to him just by keeping quiet. She wasn't going to let it bother her in that moment. She was grateful for everything. The fayth, Tidus, her friends, her life, her powers, everything. Mostly, she was grateful that Tidus couldn't recall the events that occurred on that island.

"Or maybe…" Tidus continued, looking at his hands. "I'm still a dream…"

Yuna's smile dropped. "Wait, so you'll disappear?"

She looked at the ground, her eyes filling up. Tidus didn't know for sure, he wasn't sure he wanted to, either, but at that time, all he could think of was how much he loved the woman who was standing behind him. He turned to her, a smile on his face.

"Cherish me, Yuna, and I'll cherish you."

She perked her head up, looking into his ocean-blue eyes.

"Alright? We gotta stay together, that's what we have to do."

He turned back around and stared at the glaring sun. Yuna ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Tidus was surprised at her gesture. It was more intimate than when she hugged him the first time, and now, there was nobody to interrupt them, or to take Yuna away.

"Is that what the fayth told you?" she said, squeezing him.

Tidus smiled weakly. "Nah, but I like it."

Yuna beamed, giggling. Her laugh was contagious to him, and she playfully pushed him into the small pond below. Tidus coughed and sputtered.

"That's not cherishing!"

Yuna smiled down at him, relieved. "You didn't disappear."

The dream made it seem as though time had stopped for just a second. Long enough for Tidus to remind himself who he was, where he was, and what he was doing there. When he opened his eyes, he saw souls traveling around him. The haunting distorted voices he'd once heard were replaced by soft singing. He'd recognize the melody anywhere. The Hymn of the Fayth was a gift from those that'd given their lives for Sin. It reminded him of his childhood. He stood up in a dark room. He could answer the first question of who he was, but he wasn't sure where he was. He recalled the night before: he was atop of the airship, wanting answers for his existence. Then he'd walked into the ship where he was taken under the influence of the gas. The last thing he remembered was the sender standing above him, a sly smile on his face, and a rough tone.

He looked around him. He could see huge metal bars and a hallway that was dimly lit by the glow of torches. He jumped a little when he heard the sound of someone walking down the hall. He crawled over to the metal bars.

"Hey! Where am I?! Hello!" the person completely ignored him. He noticed something off about this area though, the metal bars seemed to be transparent, or perhaps it was just the fact that his arm had gone right through them. He moved his hand around, and he could see the glow of the pyreflies within his body.

"What…?" he said quietly. He stuck his foot out and it reacted the same way. It was scaring him. Perhaps he was having another out-of-body experience and his body was somewhere else while his conscious walked freely. Maybe he was still dreaming. Either way, he wanted out of prison. Without thinking, he slipped through the metal bars and walked down the hall. There were other prison cells around him, and he could see that there were other people in them. These people had pyreflies floating around them, and their bodies were glowing, lighting their cell.

"Who… are you?" Tidus asked.

The people turned their heads up. They didn't answer, they just stared.

"Can… can you help me? I… I don't know where… I am…"

"Help?" they said. "There is no help."

With that, they stood up, turned around towards the brick wall behind them, and disappeared.

"Huh?" Tidus walked backwards, trying to wrap his mind around what he just saw. He heard the sound of people talking behind him. A cloud of souls spread throughout the hallway and Tidus could see people, walking through walls, walking through each other, and looking at him as though he'd committed a serious crime.

When Rikku, Wakka, Lulu, and Chuami woke up, they found themselves in cold containments, with rusty bars, dripping water, and cold air.

"What… happened?" Rikku said, trying to lift her head off the ground. She grasped the back of her head where it hit against the stone tile.

"We got thrown in jail," Chuami said, glumly. "That's what happened."

"Ow…" Wakka groaned, rubbing his head.

"Are you all okay?" Lulu asked, breathing heavily. She tried to sit up, but the massive amount of pain shooting up her side forced her to lay back down.

"Fine, but… how do we get out of here?" Rikku said.

"There is no way out," Chuami said. "That's the point of prison."

"Maybe I have something that'll help…" Rikku searched around for her bag of items. They'd been confiscated.

"My tools!" she said.

"They took my ball, too!" Wakka said, angrily.

"And my weapons as well," Lulu said. "If we are going to escape, we'll have to rely on our wits."

"Yeah, only problem is we're not going to escape," Chuami said. "Have you already forgotten we're in prison?"

"Of course we are!" Rikku said. "We can't just sit here and let the world be destroyed!"

"What's the point? I mean, you couldn't beat Sin the first time, and we're powerless against a crazy sender than can just zap powerful things into existence."

"Hey, we're not gonna get anything done with that attitude!" Wakka said.

"I'm being realistic," Chuami sounded impatient, per usual.

"What about Kurgum?" Rikku said. "Don't you want to save him?"

"Of course, I just know I can't. Unless you have some brilliant idea to bust us out."

"I do! I mean, I would if I had my tools…" Rikku plopped her bottom on the floor. "I failed… the guys were right, Pops was right, I am a screwup…" She felt her eyes begin to water.

"Hey, don't you start talking 'bout yourself like that." Wakka said.

"You're a lot smarter than you know," Lulu said to her.

"Really?"

"'Course! You can make bombs out of potions and spheres! Plus, you really helped us out, ya?" Wakka said.

"Well, thanks," Rikku wiped a tear from her eye. "It means a lot. I'm glad we all still have each other."

While they were waiting for fate to decide where they'd go next, each of them shared a small bit of their history, aside from Chuami, who was sitting in the corner and keeping to herself.

"I've only been underneath Bevelle once," Rikku said. "Gippal… I mean, the Machine Faction, was researching more of Spira's history. We found lots of ancient machina, some that we think date all the way back to the Machina War."

"You're kidding!" Wakka said.

"Yeah! But we didn't think we needed them anymore because… well, we were sure we wouldn't have to fight Sin. Also, they were too old to salvage and reuse anyway."

"What were you all planning to do with them?" Lulu asked.

Rikku lowered her gaze. "Well… I thought of the idea to put them in a museum. But… well, the Council was still unsure about revealing them. They didn't want the public to know that Bevelle was hiding these dangerous, world-ending weapons. They're still secretive about what they find about Spira's history."

Chuami scoffed. "Of course…"

"I'm not even allowed to know what they know... It's irritating because we're supposed to be working together to make Spira a better place."

The rest of them gave her an empathetic look.

"Sorry..." Lulu said, softly.

Rikku slapped her hands against her thighs. "Well… don't worry about it. Things happen, you know?"

Wakka tried looking down the hallway from his cell. He didn't hear any others besides the four of them.

"I wonder where they put Gaia…" he mumbled.

"You never got around to telling me about her," Lulu said to him. Wakka looked into her eyes, full of genuine curiosity. His mouth moved slightly and no words came out at first.

"Uh… well… she… uh…" Wakka said. "She's… my mother…"

Everyone turned their heads towards him, speechless.

Lulu wasn't sure how to react, except with, "How do you know?"

"She said that before she died, she remembered her kids. She was holding her kid in her arms and… before giving him up, she said 'take care of your brother'. She was talking about Chappu."

Lulu was shocked. She felt sorry for him because all the spirits would have to meet their expiry when this situation was over. Wakka had to end his brother's suffering, he watched somebody that had been like a brother to him disappear, and now, he was going to repeat the cycle with his mother. Sometimes, life could be cruel, she figured.

"I think my father might still be alive, you know?"

"Really?" Rikku said.

"Yeah, because well… she couldn't be here because of me. I've never met her before, ya?"

Lulu didn't respond. She only listened.

"Lu, don't yell at me for this, but… if my father's alive, I wanna seek him out. I want you and Vidina to come with me."

"What? But… Wakka, I'm the mayor of Besaid, and you're the assistant mayor, and… Yuna's the Yevoner priestess. We can't leave her to tend to Besaid on her own. We can't leave any of them to lead Besaid."

"Then… I'll go."

Lulu raised her eyebrows. "You're going to leave us? Again?"

"I'm not gonna be gone forever. I bet my old man would be happy to see that I'm still around, ya? And I can bring him and my mother to Besaid, and we can all be together."

"Wakka, you shouldn't."

He paused, staring at her. "Why not?"

"You know what's going to happen to her when she finds out the source of her existence. That is, if the information she gave you was correct."

"What are you trying to say?"

Lulu sighed in frustration. Both Rikku and Chuami covered their ears.

"I'm saying that you can't trust somebody you've only known for a couple days."

"You're saying she's lying to me?" Wakka sounded pained.

"No, I'm saying you should be careful. And if it were true, why bother looking for someone that never tried to reach out to you and your brother during your entire lives?"

"Maybe he thought we were dead, I mean, Sin attacked the island, and Besaid's not very big, you know."

"He never tried to find you."

"But… I wanna do this, Lu. Gaia said that her last wish before she checked out was to see the people she lost. I wanna grant it for her, and I wanna be with my family."

"What about us? We're your family, Wakka." Lulu sounded indignant. Wakka didn't mean it in the way she thought, but he knew his words hurt her a little. He wished he knew what to say. He always wished that. Just then, the crew heard the sound of a rolling cart coming their way.

"Good morning," Rikku turned her head up to see Rin.

"Hey, how come you got let off the hook?" she said, squinting at him.

"Here," he handed her a bowl with soup in it. "You need your energy, Miss Rikku."

He gave the others their serving of food. Rikku put hers down and stood up, abruptly.

"I demand a trial! I want my voice to be heard! Where are my rights?!" she yelled.

"You must be silent, Miss Rikku, or you will cause a stir." Rin said.

"You were behind this, weren't you?" Rikku said. "How could you? How could you betray us like that? I thought we were friends!"

Rikku walked straight up to her cell.

"Silence, Miss Rikku. If you aren't patient, then I will have no choice but to escort you, and your friends out."

Rikku blinked. "W-what?"

Rin turned his head to look from one side of the hallway to the other. He straightened his posture and repeated through a quiet voice and clenched teeth, "I said… I will escort you and your friends out..."

She stared at him for a second.

"Until next time, farewell," Rin said, taking the cart away.

Tidus felt bewilderment overwhelm him. There were so many people, yet nobody would stop to answer his questions. It was clear to him that they weren't alive, but they were here without effort. He was anxious, afraid of what was to come, and wanting to find his friends. He didn't know what was happening to them. Walking further down the hall, Tidus didn't hear the ear-piercing ringing noise, and he felt no pain. When he entered the first room, he encountered a large fiend, with horns, sharp teeth, and fiery breath. Tidus reached for Brotherhood, only to find it wasn't with him. Tidus planted his feet on the ground and attempted to use his magic. He couldn't do it, but when he stopped, he'd realized the fiend wasn't attacking. It acted as though he wasn't even there. Tidus was confused. The fiend didn't move when he waved his hand in front of it.

He walked through the monster, which gave him the strange feeling that was similar to butterflies in his stomach. When Tidus interacted with the fiend's pyreflies, the fiend stirred a bit.

Something else happened that blew his mind when he approached another hall. A note suddenly appeared on the wall, saying:

Yokai, forgive me. If only I'd known then what I know now.

It magically was written right before his eyes. Then, as he stood back and examined more of the hallway, more words appeared before him with the words "Beckoned", "Betrayal", "Sin", "Revenge", and "I'm sorry". It didn't make the least bit of sense to him, and it wasn't just the fact that these words weren't here before. The word "beckoned" stayed with him. It was a term he hadn't heard before, and somehow, he had the feeling that he wasn't supposed to know about it until now.

Yuna awakened in a brightened room. She felt dizzy and her vision was blurry. She sat up and felt a headrush. Her back was hurting from laying against the hard tile and her limbs were numb. She looked around her. Standing right behind her were two enormous glass chambers filled with energy in the form of pyreflies on both sides of a body-shaped mold with straps at the arms and legs. Yuna slowly stood up, trying to balance her weakened body. She ran her hands along the glass chamber and the pyreflies were drawn to her touch. She could see a thin, watery line beneath the glass and it was keeping the pyreflies from escaping.

"Quite a beauty, isn't it?" Yuna turned swiftly to see Eiren. His body looked as though he hadn't eaten in days. His hair turned from gray to a platinum white and his eyes looked lifeless. He had scars and scratches on his hands and noticeable bags under his eyes.

"Where… where am I? Where are my friends?" Yuna was breathing heavily and her vision was slowly turning to normal.

"Don't be afraid, Lady Yuna," Eiren said. "If I wished to harm you, I would've done so when I'd first laid eyes on you. I've stated before that I need your help."

"For… for what?" her eyes searched for an exit but she couldn't see one.

"When I first became a summoner, I knew absolutely nothing of the impressive potential behind summoners. Like you, I'd lost a loved one. A bright, young girl whom had given my life meaning and purpose was taken from me by the hand of Sin. I vowed to martyr myself for her sake. I wanted to avenge her and every innocent soul that Spira had lost. Then I'd found out that I didn't have to sacrifice my entire life, nor those of other summoners. I was in the process of creating a weapon, a weapon that had the ability of completely eradicating Sin. When the fayth abandoned me, I could no longer utilize this power."

Yuna looked around the room and when Eiren was talking directly at her, she turned her head in false interest. She felt the room become increasingly warm with the rise of her nerves.

"I know exactly what you're thinking, Lady Yuna," Eiren continued. "Why must you be the one to partake in such a project when I am perfectly capable of this power myself? I have limited abilities. What you've seen at Djose shore is miniscule compared to the amount of energy that lies within these chambers. You've collected every one of the aeon's energy, you've activated an ancient practice of beckoning that was deemed to be forbidden one thousand years ago. You've created a powerful creature that no summoner had ever conceived."

"I… I will not conspire with you! I won't risk many other innocent lives with this dangerous amount of power!"

"But you already have," Eiren said. "You have brought upon the suffering of many. Your selfishness has broken the barrier between the Farplane and Spira, thus bringing the return of Sin, and the punishment for all those beckoned spirits to turn into hideous fiends. You've lied to your lover and gave him the false impression that he was real for an entire year."

Yuna asked herself how Eiren had known about this. She never gave him this information.

"What would Spira say if they'd found out about your treachery?"

"I don't care what happens to my reputation as long as they know the truth!"

"But you could give Spira another chance at peace."

"Not from doing this dangerous work! All these souls… all this power… Yu Yevon lost control of his creation after acquiring so much of it!"

"Trust me, Lady Yuna, you will not lose control of this incredible creation. Because you won't be the only one exerting it."

"W-what?" As Eiren walked closer, Yuna tried to run but she couldn't. Some invisible force was sustaining her body and preventing her from escaping.

"Now, I must take use of you as my newfound vessel," As he spoke, a black and red aura surrounded him and black tentacles emerged from his body. When he spoke again, two voices were heard, one much more demonic than the other.

"I, or should I say he, won't last much longer in this current state."