A Blessing in Disguise

The storm raged on, the lightning and thunder nearly bringing Rikku back into her phobia. Fighting against monsters, the team kept running until they eventually made it out of Bevelle. Gaia led them through the thick Farplane mist and as she did, she could see the Council Forces being slashed by the hybrid fiends and reforming as spirits. Gaia slowed down a bit when she noticed something else happen. When the human soldiers dispersed into pyreflies, some of them appeared as spirits, while others appeared as some of the vibrant flowers. One of the team members called to her attention and she kept running. The rain was so heavy that it felt like rocks against their skin. Not only that, but it was extremely difficult to see. Eiren was trying to match their speed, but his old age and his lack of escaping strength made it much harder.

"Slow down!" he called after them. Gaia kept going. She didn't want anything to do with him, though a certain part of her felt guilty about leaving him in the pouring rain. She kept going until eventually, she could no longer hear the sound of his voice. None of them could and Eiren was lost in a sea of clouds and a heavy storm.

They ran until they finally arrived at the Calm Lands, where the trail of the Farplane mist stopped in the direct center. The thunder and lightning started to lessen but the rain was still extreme. When the excruciating feeling came back into Gaia's body, she knew the crew was in danger. She ran far ahead of the crew until they couldn't see her anymore and they assumed she saw the Inn a couple of miles ahead of them and ran for it. Once they made it to the small Inn, they were drenched and shivering. Most of all, they felt as though their spirits had been shattered. The peace had been undone, their hopes of saving Yuna were withering, and Spira had become a hostile place for its own people.

Lulu hated herself for losing the one person who had entrusted Lulu with her life. One that'd been like a sister to her for thirteen years. Lulu didn't dare want to think that death had come for Yuna. None of them did. However, sitting in the abandoned Inn, with nothing but an Al Bhed mechanical expert, a bumbling caretaker, the mayor of Besaid, a fainthearted sender, and a descendant from the "best guardian there ever was" with an attitude, they felt as though they would need much more if they were going to take down the Black Phoenix.

"Uh…" Rikku looked around the place. She tried turning on the lights, but the storm tampered with the Inn's electricity.

"What happens now?" Chuami asked Wakka.

"I don't know…" he said, rubbing his face in his hands. "Fuck…"

"This place had a CommSphere…" Rikku said, then sighed. "But… a fiend ate it…"

"Is there anyplace nearby that has a CommSphere?" Lulu asked.

"Uh… oh! The Monster Arena!" she said. "Well… it used to be the Monster Arena."

"Does it work?" Lulu asked.

"I… believe so," she said. "But we can't go over there in this weather…"

Wakka gave her a look. "You still afraid of lightning?"

"Nah, but… it seems kinda dangerous out there."

The Calm Lands didn't have any lightning rod towers and it was dusk out, meaning the entire place would be pitch black in a small amount of time.

"We'll wait until the storm passes," Lulu said.

"If it ever ends…" Rikku replied.

"It will end," Lulu replied in a firm voice. "It has to."

Wakka looked around them and noticed they were missing another person.

"Wait… where's Gaia?"

"She didn't seem to find her way into the Inn…" Rikku said.

They looked in each corner, each room, and the small area outside, but the results yielded little success.

"You think she's still outside?" Wakka asked.

"Well, she's not inside," Rikku said.

Wakka looked towards the entrance to the Inn. The storm was still at its worst and he knew it wouldn't be ideal for him to head out at this point, but he worried she would get lost and never be able to find them once they departed.

"Rikku, you got a flashlight?"

"Uh…" she dug through her inventory. "No, but I can make you something that can produce light for a little bit."

"You're not going out there, are you?" Lulu asked.

"I have to," he said. "She might be attacked by fiends."

"She won't get hurt if she dived into the Farplane mist."

"I know," Wakka was waiting for Rikku to fix a source of light. "But I gotta find her. That crazy bum might catch up to her, and who knows what he'll do, ya?"

"Wakka…" Lulu said.

She was aware she wasn't going to win him over, and instead, she halted her argument and straightened her posture. "I'm going with you."

"Don't, I don't want you getting hurt." he took the small Light Sphere Rikku pulled together from an empty sphere and a Lightning Gem. It would be enough to get him towards the end of the Calm Lands and back, but not any further.

"Wakka, I don't trust you to handle yourself out there-"

"I know," he grabbed his blitzball. "But you should."

Her expression changed into something Wakka hadn't seen before. It wasn't just worry, it was actual fear that he wouldn't return. He'd only known that look from when his brother said to both of them that he wanted to fight Sin with the Crusaders, and how the color drained from her face when he mentioned it. Wakka nodded to her, saying that everything would be okay before turning around to leave.

"Wakka," she said, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. "Please… be careful."

"I will." He said before disappearing into the expanding dark horizon.

Tidus wouldn't give up. He may not have known where, or what he was, or what just happened before his very eyes, but one thing he was sure of was that he wouldn't get anywhere by sulking. No matter how much he wanted to. He was bombarded with battles between the Forces and the fiends, and he thought he was on the verge of insanity when corpses started to reanimate as spirits. Some of them were still fighting in death, while others disappeared completely. People from both sides were so densely populated together that it was hard for Tidus to see ahead of him.

"Hey! Somebody help me out here! I don't know what to do…"

The spirits and the living people ignored him.

"Please!" he yelled.

Everything was in chaos and he didn't know where, or who to turn to. Then the reality struck him like a block of ice from a Blizaga spell. Yuna was gone, taken under the control of a powerful spirit. Tidus had completely surrendered himself to the Farplane but not out of his own free will. He was disconnected from the world of Spira, and had the misfortune of being in that state with his friends. Perhaps his first theory had been right all along, and he was nothing but a dream conceived by the fayth.

"AHH!" he screamed as his hands tore into his hair and the anger burst out of him like an erupting volcano. Everyone refused to help him and he couldn't tell if it was because he was invisible and inaudible to them, or they were purposefully leaving him in the cold. Dropping to his knees, he kicked and screamed and tried pulling out the vibrant flowers that have haunted him since Djose, but they remained intact. They even yelled at him for trying to remove them. Confused and angry, Tidus continued to shout at nothing, and he pressed his forehead to the ground, wondering if he could possibly sink through the floor.

It didn't matter to me how childish I was being. The one that I was sworn to protect and gave up my existence for is gone. My friends couldn't see, or hear me no matter how many loud noises I made. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to go. Hell, I still couldn't figure out what I was. I was scared, angry, but most of all...

"Lost?" a voice said.

Tidus perked his sobbing head to witness the source of the voice. A young girl, so heavenly looking, with long brown hair held in braids. Her cheeks were rosy and her lips were purple. She wore long Yevon robes and a dark blue cape with fur lining.

Tidus wiped the tears from his face. "Hey, you can see me! And you're not ignoring me like the rest of those guys."

"Oh, yes," she replied. "They are holding many grudges against you."

Tidus looked around him. "What? Why?"

"Still trying to decipher your true nature?" she asked.

"I've been trying to figure that out since Bevelle!" he yelled. "Er… the first time in Bevelle. I don't know where I am, or what I am, or how I ended up here. I don't know anything anymore…"

The girl shook her head. "You'd better find an answer to those questions of yours, or you'll meet the unfortunate fate of those spirits."

She gestured towards the wandering specters that paced around in circles, not knowing what path to take. Tidus came up to the girl and observed their behavior. They looked like they were trapped, despite the large amount of space around them.

"What's wrong with them?" Tidus asked, almost horrified.

"They don't know who they are, anymore," she replied. "They've lost their way long ago, and with it, all traces of their identity."

Tidus shuddered at the thought. "Wait, but that still doesn't answer my question of why they hate me, nor does it help me figure out where, or what I am."

The girl scouted ahead, passing through the living and dead people like it was nothing. Before leaving him completely alone, she added one last remark.

"If you want the answers, you must seek them," she added. "When you have, we shall speak again. Until then, farewell."

Tidus started walking towards her, then his walk turned into a run. "Wait!"

It was too late, she'd already gone. Her words seemed to have only caused more questions in his mind. How could he seek the answers when he didn't even know where to start?

"Maybe… maybe the fayth could help me," he said.

He hadn't wandered far away from Bevelle, and as he skid past the fights and the battles, the spirits regarded him with more respect. At least, more respect than before. They still never spoke a word to him, but they stopped traveling aimlessly to give him a look of recognition. It was almost a miracle that one of the many spirits here found their way.

That way wasn't one Tidus thought he could travel. It took him halfway through the area from outside the palace to the entrance to the temple to realize something.

"I can't go in the temple," he said, sighing. "I'm banned, or something like that."

It had also taken him a while from when he left the entrance to the temple to realize that he was being followed. In the crowd of audacious spirits and living beings, Tidus swore on his life, or un-life, that he saw a read cloak with one sleeve hanging loose turn away from him and keep walking. He saw the red cloaked figure disappear back into the crowd and decided to follow.

"Hey, wait…" he was saying it to himself while trying to say it to the person.

He walked through the people and noticed when they died, they either transformed into the flowers, or they remained humanlike. He was distracted for a bit as he watched the lost spirits scream and continue walking in an endless circle. The fresh spirits were unaware that they've died until they saw the world around them. Some of them moved out of Tidus's way and eventually when he reached the end of the crowd, his smile widened as he caught up to his old friend.

"Auron! I'm so glad to see you!" he said, tears forming in his eyes again. "How'd you find me?"

"I've been watching this disaster of yours unfold since you appeared back to the real world." Auron didn't sound angry when he spoke. Rather, he sounded irritated, like he'd done all of this before.

Tidus hung his head. "You saw all of it?"

"We can see everything from here," Auron said.

"Where is this place, anyway?"

Auron scoffed. "You don't know what you are, you don't know where you are. You have helped saved Spira once before, haven't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then those answers should come to you easier than that,"

"All I know is that I was dead all along, and that Yuna somehow brought me back, and the fayth wanted me on Spira to fight Sin, and that I…" he tilted his head up and realized he was talking to himself. "Hey! I'm not done here! I need your help!"

Auron stopped walking and sighed heavily.

"You can't have my help if you don't want to seek the truth," he said. "Even when it's right in front of you."

"I do want the truth, dammit!" he balled his fists and stomped the ground in a tantrum. "I don't know anything!"

Auron turned to face him. "What is it that you think you know?"

Tidus stopped his fit. "I know that Sin came back, that the Farplane's a mess because of it. Spirits are able to walk freely, I think because the Farplane came out of it's hole. I came back because of Yuna, or maybe the fayth brought me back. It's still a little hazy to me. Dad said the fayth needed my help, but I don't know how I can help them from here. That psycho sender was apparently possessed by Yu Yevon. And it's got Yuna. Then I ended up here."

"That's it?"

"Well, what else do you want me to say?" Tidus ran his hands through his hair. "You asked me what I know."

"What you think you know."

"I just appeared here," he said. "I don't know where I'm at, or how I got here. All I know is that I have to get back to Spira and save Yuna. Save everyone."

Auron shook his head. "You are hopeless."

"Hey! Not helping!"

"What do you expect me to say?" Auron said.

"I don't know, maybe some advice?"

"The answers to your questions are all around you," Auron said. "Do as the girl says. Seek and you will find."

"I don't even know where to start…"

Auron didn't answer him. He was staring off into the distance where the waterfall was flowing and the pyreflies were traveling. Bevelle never had a waterfall beside it, but there it was. Loud and magnificent.

"I've seen a waterfall like this before," Tidus said. "And these flowers. It was when we were visiting the Farplane. But, these flowers are growing along the streets and buildings, not like vines, but flowers popping out of nonliving material. There's no mountain holding that waterfall in place, yet it's actually there. I can see people becoming spirits after dying, and some of them not appearing as spirits. I guess, all those signs are pointing to the Farplane. We're in the Farplane, aren't we?"

"It took you long enough," Auron replied.

"I saw spirits appearing like they do on the Farplane in Spira, Auron." Tidus put his hands on his hips.

"What else was on Spira that would've normally been in the Farplane?"

"Uh…" Tidus scratched his head. "Oh, right. The Farplane clouds. I guess that means that Spira and the Farplane are in the same place at the same time."

Both listened as the flowers whispered incomprehensible words to each other. It was almost as if they were speaking different languages. It was a definite possibility, with how long the Farplane had existed. Tidus knelt before them and observed the colors. He didn't notice before, but the flowers had the smallest of pyreflies within them, and looking close with a magnifying glass, which Tidus didn't have, he theorized that he could've seen memories of the living.

"These aren't flowers, are they?" he said.

Auron shook his head even though Tidus didn't notice.

"Are they souls?" Tidus asked. He could hear one answer him in a raspy voice.

"Yes…"

Tidus turned his head to the humanlike spirits.

"But those are also souls over there," he said. "Why aren't they apart of these flowers?"

"Something is still keeping them from completely passing on," Auron answered. "When they died, they came in contact with the Farplane mist, and that drew them into the Farplane, without being sent. But something is still keeping them from accepting death. These flowers are souls that have accepted death, but those that still feel a connection to Spira, whether it's somebody missing them, or unfinished business, linger as they were in corporeal form."

"Like me…" Tidus said, looking at his hands for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Wait, that means you, too. What's keeping you from going?"

Tidus expected Auron to say 'because somebody had to help you', but instead he didn't say anything. Tidus stood and walked over to the legendary guardian.

"Is it Jecht?" he asked.

"Possibly,"

"Or, maybe it's Yuna."

"Doubtful,"

"Wait, no, I got it," Tidus thought for a second. "Chuami."

From the way Auron didn't give him a response, Tidus suspected he was right.

"Have you actually met her?"

Auron shook his head.

"You've just seen her traveling with me?"

"Yes,"

"Do you want to see her?"

Auron started walking away from him. "We don't have time to discuss this."

"Wait! Do you?" Tidus had to run to catch up to him.

They traveled out of Bevelle, away from the mess and the troubled souls. Eventually they were on the path towards Macalania temple. Tidus stopped and went through his brain to find what else he remembered.

"I still don't know how I got here,"

"Is it really relevant?"

"Yeah, if it can help me get out of here."

"It won't be that easy," Auron said.

"Probably not, but it can help me find my way,"

"You can help yourself find your way," Auron replied.

"Right, but it might help me here," Tidus thought for a moment. "I was on the airship, that creep came up and knocked us out, and then I was in prison. But I think I already crossed over to the Farplane because my friends couldn't hear me. Maybe I died in my sleep?"

"What did you discover about yourself before then?" Auron asked.

"Uh… that sender said I relied on the same power that Yuna used to conjure aeons to walk on Spira."

"Do you know what that means?"

"It means I was summoned."

"There's a different method used to describe it," Auron said. "A practice that wasn't used until you arrived on Spira the second time."

Tidus thought for a moment.

"I saw words on the dungeon walls in Bevelle," he said. "'Betrayed', 'revenge', and… 'beckoned'. I don't know what 'beckoned' means, but… I saw it there. Is that what you're talking about? I've never heard the word 'beckoned' except maybe…"

He remembered Lulu saying, "When a summoner beckons, the souls of the fayth emerge again."

"So… that makes me an aeon, right?"

"Not exactly," Auron said.

"A fayth?"

Auron shook his head.

"What is a 'beckoned'?"

"A spirit," Auron replied.

"That's it?" Tidus said. "What's special about it, then?"

"You weren't summoned, you were beckoned back into this world based on the wish of a living being."

"What? But I saw people bring back the memories of the dead," Tidus said. "But those were just illusions. I'm not an illusion, I don't fade in and out like they do…"

He said it, but he thought about the many times he faded starting with when Eiren cornered them in front of the Djose temple.

"Wait…" his eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that I'm nothing more than just one of those spirits brought back because of the will of the living?"

Auron nodded.

"That can't be right!" Tidus said. "The fayth… they… they brought me back here because they needed me to help fight Sin! Yuna… Yuna did the same thing, but… I was brought back to save Spira. I'm not just here because Yuna wanted me to be…"

"You are," Auron said. "That's why you came back to Spira after you disappeared when Sin was defeated. And when you exploded on that island."

"No way," he said. "I… I'm not just another one of those spirits."

He stomped the ground.

"You refused to believe it, but the truth was always right in front of you." Auron said.

"I… I didn't know, though," Tidus said. "I felt so… real, even after I found out I died. I felt like an actual human being."

"You didn't want to leave that world," Auron said. "You didn't want to leave Yuna."

"But… if I'm one of those spirits," Tidus said. "That means I'm a problem that has to be 'taken care of', just like them… that means I'm a byproduct of Eiren's demented actions."

Auron sighed. "A downhearted way of looking at it, but yes."

Tidus sighed. "But… I can't go yet! I have to return to Spira and save Yuna. I have to do that, but… I'm worried. If I go back to Spira, I'm worried I might become a fiend, like those guys did."

"You won't," a voice said.

Tidus turned his head to the girl in the long robes.

"So, you've found the answers to your questions?" she asked.

"Hardly," Tidus replied. "There's still things I don't understand. Maybe I don't even want to…"

The girl started towards the path. "We all have to learn the hard truth, someday."

She turn her head towards them and motioned for the two to follow. "Come."

Tidus looked at Auron who was already walking towards the girl. Tidus wasn't sure if he should follow as he'd probably discover more disturbing things he didn't want to know, but he didn't have a choice. It was that, or losing his way and his identity, and becoming a Lost Soul. He wondered, because he was in the Farplane before he came to Spira the second time, if he'd stayed much longer than two years, maybe he would've forgotten who he was, who Yuna was, and Spira altogether.

As they walked, there was a tranquil melody emitting from the girl. Tidus recognized it before, but he didn't know exactly what it was. He just had known he heard it over and over again. The girl led them to Macalania temple and Auron chose to wait at the entrance.

"You're not coming in?" Tidus asked.

"I'm not the one that needs explanations," Auron replied.

Tidus was about to enter, but hesitated. "I can't go, there's a forcefield around it..."

"The rules are different in this world." the girl said.

She disappeared into the temple. When Tidus walked through, he saw that it was no longer empty. People were on their knees, performing the Yevon prayer over and over again as if it would make any amount of difference. Spirits were beside the living people, and they just sat there with the unfortunate truth that they couldn't help the living. They just stood, separated from the real world. Tidus thought there couldn't have been any worse treatment.

"This way," the girl said, standing at the top of the stairs. Tidus walked up the long stairs, not even bothering to open the door. Memories played before him of High Priest Seymour Guado being killed repeatedly. He yelled in pain and Tidus just scoffed at him.

Serves him right… he thought.

He looked at the door that stood before the Chamber of the Fayth. When he entered, he didn't see any living or dead people inside the area. Instead, the statue of the fayth was illuminating and Tidus finally recognized the tune the girl was humming as the Hymn of the Fayth. She levitated atop of the once deactivated statue and looked down on him as he listened to the hymn.

"You're a fayth," he said.

She smiled as a mysterious wind blew through her hair and upon finding this out, Tidus felt something he hadn't felt since this entire debacle began: relief.