The Storm

Rin took the cart into a room that had a pin map of Spira hanging on the wall. Surrounding the map were pictures about the size of regular pieces of paper of all summoners and senders. A string attached each pin to a picture. All of them besides Yuna's were crossed over with a big, red X. Eiren's picture was attached to the wall as well, and it, too, had a large red X crossing it.

Rin walked over to the corner of the room and removed a small table. A small space on the floor had a false tile and he removed it to reveal a keypad. He heard footsteps and put the table back over it. Eiren walked through the door and paused when he saw Rin.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Just checking on the inventory," Rin replied.

"Really? I thought you already did that yesterday."

"I always check my lists twice," Rin said.

Eiren looked suspicious, but he had more important matters to tend to.

"Fine, but you should know that you do not have permission to be in this room." He replied.

"Dully noted, and Sir Eiren, thank you again for giving me another chance after my foolish retreat."

Eiren grinned. "Well, I most definitely trust you more than any of those Council members. And those summoners? They wouldn't take orders even if I were Yevon, myself."

"They can be tedious to work with," Rin said.

"I must return to my project. Keep watch on those guardians, they are feisty."

Eiren gave him a doubtful look before continuing down the path.

Once Eiren was out of the room, Rin came back to the space in the floor. The keys to each prison cell were located in a room across the one he was currently in, and to get to it, he would have to eliminate two of these yellow robots with whips standing guard at the door. The Machine Faction attempted to recover these robots to use in the Council Forces against fiend attacks in hopes of sparing the soldiers from giving their lives. However, the Council was hesitant about using machina for violence, even against fiends. It wouldn't seem ideal in their efforts to establish the public's faith in machina. Rin put the code in and a small hatch opened to reveal a small compartment with the team's weapons. Taking Rikku's mixing kit, Rin took parts to make a grenade and combined them with a lightning gem. When it detonated, it wouldn't create a fiery explosion, but a shocking outburst instead.

Every room that had significant importance was locked with a keypad. Rin was the only one allowed inside some of them, but not all. He stood at the doorway, focusing his hearing to make sure nobody was walking in his direction. He quietly scampered down the hall. He stood several feet away from the robots and pulled the pin off the electric grenade. He rolled the grenade towards their way and it shocked them. It made much less noise than a regular bomb. Rin stepped over the broken pieces of the robots and punched in the code. He snatched the keys, closed the door gently, and quietly walked back down the hallway to the room.

Before he made it back, he stopped when he saw the disconcerting state of one of these cells. The metal bars were bent, they looked as though something had taken a bite out of them, and gigantic claw marks were on the walls and floors. Rin shivered to think about how powerful a creature would have to be to cause this kind of damage, and the fact that such creature is now loose in the dungeon.

"What 'bout you, Chuami?" Wakka asked.

She looked at him. "What about me?"

"You haven't said much about yourself, ya? What's your story?"

"Not really much to tell about me. My mom died because of Yevon hunters, Kurgum and I kind of relied on each other while we grew up, and I didn't have a dad."

"Yeah, us too." Wakka said. "Not Rikku. Her dad scares me, ya?"

Rikku laughed.

"He has that effect on most people," Rikku said. "What happened to your dad?"

Chuami tried to find a way to answer this. "Well… the last time I saw him, according to my mother, I was really little. Honestly, I'm not even sure he knew I existed. At least, I'd like to think he knew I didn't exist. But… well… Mom said that he left one day for a very important mission. And never came back."

"Important mission?" Rikku asked.

"He… was a guardian to Lord Braska. I only heard stories from my mother, but I don't actually know for sure. Though, I doubt my mother would lie to me."

Everyone else was surprised and Lulu remained skeptical.

"Why didn't Sir Auron tell us he had a kid?" Wakka asked.

"Mom said he was a private person. Or maybe he didn't know about me. I feel like people that become guardians usually don't become ones if they want, or have families. Then again, I never was a guardian, so I wouldn't know."

"Is that why you've come with us?" Lulu asked.

"I came because Sin attacked and I didn't really have anywhere else to go. Also, Kurgum said he wanted to help Lady Yuna somehow. He really looks up to her, you know?"

Lulu wasn't convinced. She'd heard many others that claimed to be the children of Braska, Jecht, or Auron just for status purposes. Sometimes they also wanted things from the Council such as special treatment, a job working for the government, or representation within the Bevelle palace. However, she knew Auron wasn't one to talk about the past.

"So, I'm an orphan. I guess I'm bitter because I know that nobody's gonna be around for me when this is all over. Even Kurgum wanted to part ways. The Council doesn't even think I'm important enough to carry a weapon."

Everybody looked at her and noticed that for once, she didn't look like the ill-tempered girl that sneered at other people for thinking different from her. She seemed genuine. The crew jumped at the sound of footsteps rushing down the hallway. Rin grabbed the keys and went to Rikku's cell.

"I knew you wouldn't leave us out in the cold!" Rikku said.

Rin pressed a finger to his lips. "There isn't much time. Eiren has Yuna and he's using her for his project."

"What's he doing to her?!" Wakka said.

"I'm not sure, but he's utilizing a very powerful type of magic for this machine of his. He's been using each of the summoners and keeping them trapped here."

"We better go find them!" Rikku said.

When everyone was out, Rin handed each of them their weapons.

"I also have this one," he held out Brotherhood.

"Tidus!" Rikku said. "Did you see him, too?"

Rin shook his head.

"Let's find those two and rescue Yuna." Lulu said. Wakka took Brotherhood from Rin's hands and looked at it. It was dulled, but still effective. He walked over to Chuami and handed it to her.

"You should carry one, too." He said.

"You're… trusting me with this?"

"Yup. Time to show us what the legendary guardian's kid is made of!"

The crew ran into a room at the end of the hallway where fiends awaited them.

"Where did these come from?!" Rikku said.

"He must've found me out," Rin said.

Rin stood back as the crew fought the monsters. Rikku created a Blaster Mine and Wakka drained health from them. Lulu struck them with Bio. They were surprisingly high level monsters. Chuami didn't deal close to half the amount of damage that the others were and the impact that the fiends caused was enough for her to collapse. Once the fiends were gone, they tossed a potion to her and she got up quickly.

"Where to next, Rin?" Rikku asked.

"This way," Rin started towards the hall on the right hand side. They ran to another room and were attacked by the yellow, goggled robots. They swung their whips in a circular fashion.

"What are those things?!" Rikku yelled.

"Robots." Rin said, being his usual calm self.

The robots attacked first, smacking each of the crew with their whips. Rikku noticed something strangely familiar about them. Maybe it was the fact that they were metallic people with goggles. She threw a grenade at them, and they responded by replacing their whips with small cannons, shooting multiple hits her way. She was hit with Confuse, but only for a second. Lulu took them down with her thunder spells and more came. Rikku threw a lightning grenade at them and destroyed them.

"This way," Rin said, running towards the doorway.

Rikku picked up one of the pieces the robots left behind. Underneath its slightly rusted surface was the word "Bedore" engraved. Rikku put the piece in her bag.

They came across another hallway with prison cells and Rikku was relieved.

"Gippal! You're okay!" she said.

"Yeah… I guess…" he said. Baralai was in the cell across from him and Nooj was in the adjacent cell. Rin freed them from their containment. Rikku gave Gippal a tight squeeze, almost knocking him over.

"Well, thanks for your concern for us, Rikku," Baralai said to her. Rikku turned to him.

"Sorry! What happened to you guys? Everything's going downhill on the surface!"

"Not a clue," Gippal said.

"Yeah, one day we're looking at the oscillo-finder, then the next, we're in prison cells." Baralai said. "Nobody's told us anything around here. I don't even know what day it is."

"Well, long story short, Sin appeared in Bevelle, this sender of yours has been kidnapping and using summoners, and we're trying to find him so we can put an end to it before he destroys the world with his crazy invention." Rikku said, indifferently.

"Wow…" Gippal said. "That's a lot to take in, in five seconds."

"We gotta hurry, he's got Yuna." Rikku said.

Nooj had to have two people by his side to help him walk. The machine parts on his body were missing.

"Nooj!" Rikku said. "What happened to your…?"

She didn't want to finish the sentence as she felt like she was being rude.

"I don't know, I'm assuming that blasphemous sender took them for his invention." Nooj said.

"Hey, weren't you working with him, Rin?" Gippal said, angrily stomping towards Rin.

"I had no knowledge of what this machine does," Rin said. "I only did what I thought the Council was asking of me."

"It's okay, Gippal, he's busting us outta here." Rikku said. Gippal crossed his arms and scowled at Rin with his one working eye.

"That's right," Rin said, going ahead of everyone else. "Now, follow me, or if you do not trust me, you're welcome to stay here."

"I've been in this hellhole long enough," Gippal said, walking past Rin. "But I'll be the one leading us now."

Rin shrugged. "Fine."

A couple of the senders helped Nooj walk as they headed out of the hallways.

"The Council has a place underneath this one where we store all the Machine Faction vehicles." Gippal said. "We'll find Yuna and make a break for it."

They ran into rooms with both fiends and the robots. Rikku healed her friends with Al Bhed potions and Chuami was improving on her sword skills. If Auron found a way to come from the Farplane and watch her fight, she hoped he'd be proud.

In one of the rooms, there wasn't any fiends, but Wakka noticed someone was standing in the corner, staring at the wall, completely silent.

"Hey, Gaia!" he said to her. "Come on! We gotta get out before-"

She didn't turn around and she remained completely motionless. Wakka came closer to her and noticed she had scratches on her back. She had ones there before, but these new scratches were much worse. She was shivering, though there wasn't any cold air. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

She swiftly turned around. "What?!"

He looked at her hands. Her nails were chipped and cracked and blood ran from the tips. They looked as though she escaped by digging her way out.

"What happened?" he asked. She avoided her gaze, looking at the floor.

"I… I don't know…" she said.

"Guys, I think I hear more people down here!" Rikku said, running down the next hall.

"Wait for us!" Chuami yelled. Wakka gave Gaia some bandages and ointment.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He told her.

She contemplated running away, but decided not to.

Tidus heard his friends yelling in the distance and he followed the sound of the noise. He heard the sound of spirits crying around him, and some of them said something along the lines of "no hope". This made Tidus start running.

Kurgum was more than relieved the crew found him.

"Chuami!" he said. "I'm so glad to see you!"

Wakka looked in every one of the cells, but there was no sign of Tidus.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"We'll find him soon." Rikku said. She'd been wondering the same thing.

"Wait… Where's Yuna?" Kurgum asked.

"We haven't found her yet." Chuami said.

"You mean she's in danger?!"

"We're all in danger, Kurgum,"

"Well, long time no see," Dona said to them. "Never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you're here to bail us out."

"Good to see you too," Wakka said.

"Lady Lulu, Sir Wakka."

"Father Zuke!" They walked over to his cell.

"I'm glad to see you two again," he said. "Something strange is happening here. Extremely powerful and dangerous magic and a sender with insane ideas. I wasn't sure what to make of it."

"What did he do to you all?" Lulu asked.

"He forced us into this contraption of his," Isaaru said. "This power we once used to conjure aeons, he robbed it from us."

"He took it from every single one of us," Dona said. "When the Farplane started acting up, we became summoners again, though none of us realized it. Not until one of your Council members educated us on this idiotic plan of his."

"What plan?" Rikku said.

"He believes by gathering enough of this energy, the energy that the fayth had entrusted us with, he can create something capable of defeating Sin." Zuke replied. "That is, he wants to abuse this power, and the fayth in the process. He wants to recreate another Sin to fight Sin."

"And he's going to do the same thing to Yuna if you don't find her quick." Dona said.

"Right, let's go get her!" Kurgum said.

All the senders and summoners followed the crew as they ran into different fiends, some of which were an unknown species.

"Stand back!" Wakka said to the crowd. Gaia pulled out her bow and fired two arrows into each one. Wakka used Osmose and Lulu casted Death. Death worked for some of them, but others it missed. As Gaia fought, she felt something within her that was threatening to show. She was trying her best to keep it contained but she wasn't sure she had the strength to control it. She was sweating, her nerves rising. For a second, she couldn't attack the monsters and she stood there, frozen. The monster ran to her and smashed itself into her body. She dropped to her knees. Rikku threw her a potion.

They came to and end of the hallway where two doorways perpendicular to the crew were. Everyone stopped for a moment as Rin walked to the front of them.

"This hall leads to the machine, where Lady Yuna remains." Rin said, pointing to the one on the left.

Gippal walked next to him. "The way to the ships are over here."

He pointed to the right. Rikku looked at both doorways and turned to the crowd. Too many people, and much too dangerous.

"Gippal, Rin, you take the summoners and head for the ship." She ordered.

"What about you?" Gippal said.

"We still gotta find Yuna," Rikku said. "We'll meet up with you when we do."

Kurgum stepped forward. "I'll come with you."

"Uh, no you won't," Chuami said.

"But… I wanna help save Lady Yuna!"

"You're just going to get yourself killed."

Kurgum had enough of how she'd been treating him. He marched ahead of the crew towards the doorway on the left and turned to address her again.

"Chuami, I've already told you before, you're not my boss!"

The summoners and Council members parted ways with the crew. Before leaving with them, Rin turned to Rikku.

"You won't be able to easily see the entrance to the machine," he said. "It'll be behind a false brick wall. It's color is slightly lighter than that of the real wall. Directly in the center is a removable brick with a keypad behind it. You'll need the passcode. It is 0-9-1-2-4-7."

"Okay, got it, and thanks again."

Rin nodded. "Good luck."

Tidus heard the sound of fiends roaring and grenades going off. He ran through the rooms where broken machina parts were scattered and parts of the building were ruined from the grenades. Souls were floating around the room and the ghostly moaning could be heard from them. Tidus kept going.

Yuna… please be okay…

"There it is!" Rikku pointed towards the wall that was completely free of clutter and she could see what Rin was talking about when he said its color was lighter. Before they could even come close to it, a fiend materialized in front of them. It was one that was attached to the wall. It was fleshy-looking with visible veins and liquid oozing from its surface.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Wakka said.

"No time, let's take this one down!" Rikku said.

It was easier said than done, because the monster had first strike and poisoned each of them. It casted Reflect on itself and Protect. Wakka was already feeling a tad bit queasy and the poison was making it worse. The fiend created fleshy tentacles out of its skin and slapped each of the members with them. Rikku threw multiple Al Bhed potions and pelted it with grenades, but barely scratched it. The monster was overpowering them.

Tidus heard a roaring sound coming from a hallway in front of him. He rushed through it and eventually met up with his friends.

"Hey, guys! Are you okay?! Where's Yuna?!"

Nobody answered him. Nobody even looked at him. Tidus thought maybe it was because they were only a couple of hits from being knocked out. He wished he could help them but he couldn't use his magic. He couldn't use a sword either.

"Okay… think…" he told himself.

He couldn't think of anything. He could only stand there and watch the madness unfold. Gaia had enough strength to fire one last arrow straight into the creature's eye. It screeched loud and as it writhed in pain, Rikku took the time to heal everybody. She mixed her ingredients together and hit the monster with Hazardous Shell. They attacked until the fiend finally died. When the pyreflies flew away, Tidus thought he could hear them speaking actual words. He shook off the feeling and tried to get his friends' attention.

"Hey, guys! What's going on?! Where are we?!"

"Okay, let's see here…" Rikku removed the fake brick and punched the code in.

Tidus still received no answer from them. He waved his hand in front of Wakka's face. Nothing.

The fake wall lifted and inside they could see that Yuna was unconscious and strapped to this machine the summoners were talking about. Tubes connected to her body and every single one of the souls in the glass chambers were forced into her.

"Yuna!" Tidus yelled.

"I see you've all survived the little setup I've put out for you," Eiren said. "I would take the time to punish my servant, but I'd rather demolish your glorious posse instead."

"Let her go!" Lulu said.

"If I let her go, then the entire world of Spira will be doomed," Eiren said. "Spira will thank me for this. If not now, in the near future."

He levitated his body while Tidus tried to reach Yuna. He expanded his arm to touch her body, and he tried jumping up to reach her, but she was too high.

"Those spirits paid the price for their unwelcome visit to Spira." Eiren said. "Both the living and the dead did. Who was responsible for their death? Sin. And I… we are going to defeat it. We are going to avenge everyone, for all the pain, all the sadness, the remorse… we are going to destroy grief! And the Beckoning will continue for all eternity! Everyone that has lost a love one shall be reunited and the world itself can judge who does and who doesn't deserve it!"

Gaia shot an arrow in him and he stopped speaking for a second. He turned his attention to her and his expression turned from sinister to utterly downhearted.

"You again?" he said.

The rest of the crew followed suit. They started attacking him while he kept a brief second of his attention on Gaia, who was trying very hard to interpret this man's strange behavior when he looked at her. Then Eiren came to, and he threw each of the crew members back against the wall with an invisible force. They were each held against the brick with an unusual amount of strength. Tidus jumped high enough for his hand to make contact with Yuna's leg. When his hand went through it, it made contact with the excessive amount of pyreflies and felt like touching fire.

When the glass chambers were emptied, Eiren smiled viciously. The crew prepared to fight but they were blinded by a sudden burst of light. When the light died down, Eiren's body was on the floor and a black, shadowy figure with a read aura surrounding it was in the air. Everyone had their mouths open in complete shock. They'd only seen a type of shadowy figure such as this one once. It was when they were fighting Yu Yevon's spirit. Lulu immediately fired spells its way, but it deflected them by casting a shell in front of it. Wakka threw his ball and he dodged in time when the spirit sent it back. Chuami held the heavy sword in front of her with shaking hands, sweating profusely. Gaia kept her stance, her bow in hand, glaring at the spirit.

Tidus turned around and was petrified. He felt hatred and a tidal wave of anger radiating from the spirit and the strength it had intimidated him. He heard an evil, terrifying laughter coming from it.

When the spirit entered Yuna's body, the same bright flash could be seen and Yuna was outlined with the black and red atmosphere. The spirit freed her from the machine and Yuna fell to the floor without waking. Tidus walked up to her and before he could attempt to hold her, her eyes opened and revealed the horrific glow instead of her gentle, blue and green eyes. She rose to the air, the black and red aura emanating from her. She looked devious, nothing at all like the Yuna they'd all known and loved. Combined with the power of every summoner, every sender, and this enigmatic spirit, she seemed almost godlike. She held out her hand and formed a massive ball of energy without effort. The purest form of the fayth's power.

"Yuna! Are you still in there?!" Rikku said.

"You let her go you son of a bitch!" Wakka yelled.

"Yuna!" Tidus yelled. She couldn't hear him, she couldn't see him. At that point, she and the spirit couldn't see anything but their mission ahead.

"I am Yuna no longer," both voices said at the same time. "I am going to save Spira. This is for our future."

With that, Yuna and the spirit vanished, leaving a cloud of black smoke behind.

Everyone felt as though they were having a stroke. Nobody moved for a second as they were too in complete shock to handle the situation. Wakka turned to the man that had been holding this spirit the entire time as he was slowly waking up.

"What did you just do…?" Wakka said.

When Eiren didn't answer him, he went over, grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!"

Eiren's eyes opened and he turned his head in every corner. "Where… where am I? What's… what's going on?"

"Don't pull that shit on me!"

"I didn't do anything, I swear! It was all him! I wasn't trying to hurt anyone! I just wanted to see her!"

"Bullshit!" Wakka threw him against the floor and was about to hit him. He wanted to hit him until he was insentient. He felt a hand holding his arm back.

"Wakka, don't!" Gaia said.

He turned his head to her, trying to pull his arm free of her grasp.

"You know this guy?!"

Gaia didn't answer him. Wakka dropped his arm and took a couple of steps back. Tidus came over to the cowering man on the floor. He stood up on legs that had very little strength in them. His eyes watered as he stared at the woman standing before him. He no longer looked like the daunting sender that had antagonized them since the very beginning. He seemed like just an unvarying, contemptable human, oblivious to everything he'd started. Despite this, Gaia didn't reflect the same reaction when their eyes met. She glared at him, her eyebrows sharp and fire in her eyes. She clenched her fists, suddenly remembering everything about this man.

"I finally found you," Eiren said to her. "I've… I've been wanting to see you since… since you left."

Wakka was confused and his mouth was slightly open. Then, they felt the building shake. Everyone escaped the scene except Gaia and Eiren, who stayed in position for a minute.

"Gaia, come on!" Rikku said.

Gaia turned around and fled, leaving Eiren feeling dejected as he stood in the middle of the awaiting destruction. He stopped pitying himself as he followed.

"We gotta get to the ships!" Rikku said.

Before they could reach the hallway, they were stopped by a terrifying version of Bahamut. One that had purple fire in its eyes and on its surface.

On the surface, a battle between what was left of the Council Forces and the hybrid fiends occurred, the thick Farplane mist surrounding every part of the city. Corpses were scattered around the entire city and the fiends were plentiful. Yuna flew above Bevelle, witnessing the pandemonium. She used her power to create a raging storm with extremely high winds and constant lightning. She took some of the hybrid fiends and tore them apart. Everyone involved in this fight was met with an obstacle as both the Farplane mist and the heavy storm were making it difficult to see. She created random boulders and stones and threw them down, smashing the other fiends. Anything was possible, but not everything, and the spirit brought both their attention to the task that had started many years ago.

Her eyes glowed like flames and the pyreflies within her reacted. She raised her arms and started building her armor. The people stopped battling for a second to watch in astonishment as an enormous phoenix spread its wings and roared loud enough to shake the ground beneath. The bird was much larger than Sin's entire body and its surface was made of black and red fire. Its eyes were inert. Yuna's body was placed within the heart of the creature and dark vines wrapped around her limbs. The spirit within her took control of the entire bird through these vines and Yuna closed her eyes as she fell in a deep sleep. The phoenix took off and flew at an unnatural speed north of Bevelle, the force of its wings causing casualties.

"What was that?!" Chuami said.

"I don't know!" Kurgum yelled.

Bahamut roared as the building continued shaking, bits and pieces from the ceiling falling. The crew was about to fight the aeon, but the entire ceiling above them fell. The crew took cover and braced the collapse of the building, but it was stopped. Each of them looked up and saw that Bahamut was keeping it from falling on them. Bahamut kept the rubble above it and readied a Mega Flare attack, and the crew jumped out of the way as it used the move to create a gigantic hole in the side of the dungeon, leading them to a way out. They didn't have much time as more of the palace was starting to fall apart.

"Come on!" Rikku said.

"What about Tidus?" Wakka said.

"He'll… he'll catch up with us!" Rikku responded, hopelessly.

Tidus wanted to scream at them. He was there the entire time and he couldn't make that known to them. Every one of them, including Eiren, rushed out through the hole and towards the city. Bahamut stayed, dropping the part of the ceiling while the palace fell apart around it. Tidus ran through the Farplane mist, suffering a period of tinnitus, but he paused for a brief second as he noticed the city wasn't the same as when he'd first seen it. He saw both the living and the dead, the living being the Council Forces and residents fleeing. The dead stood around the bodies of their relatives, wishing they could've done something to protect them. The city was still where it was, but Tidus could see the same vibrant flowers he'd seen at Djose, growing along the paths, the side of the buildings, and the ghostly moaning could be heard from them. The sky was completely clear again, and the warm feeling he'd gotten when he saw it returned.

I'd only felt such a feeling like this once. It was when I'd been in the Farplane, and at that second, after everything that'd happened to me from when I woke up in that prison cell, I had the feeling I wasn't in Spira anymore.