Chapter 26: Summoning the Dream
A knock on the door of Yunalesca's study drew her attention away from her work. Then an acolyte stepped in with a bow. "The ronso have arrived with our aeon, My Lady."
"Thank you." Yunalesca rose from her desk and closed the book she had been scribing. She had been busy for several weeks hunting down traitors and trying to put the temple back in order. Though many had sided with Maester Renuta and the Founders before the war, after Bevelle was left half-undone by Sin, it was amazing how many temple clergy and guards denied they ever supported the rebellion. Now that the city was rebuilding, she turned her focus toward opening the temple's standard services and informing the citizens how Bevelle's dependency upon machina destroyed Zanarkand and Bevelle. She insisted that the only way to prevent it from happening again was to follow the teachings of her father and ban as many impersonal machina from widespread public use as possible. Therefore, her most recent matters of business entailed organizing and detailing those teachings into formal documents for all of Yevon's temples. "Deliver this to my husband," she told the acolyte. "Tell him I am placing the aeon on the lower level, and ask him to meet me there as soon as he has a chance."
"Yes, My Lady." The acolyte accepted the book and carried it away with her.
Yunalesca closed her door behind her and headed toward the ronso in the main hall. "Thank you for bringing him. I know it must have been a wearisome journey. Please, come with me."
))((
Bahamut looked around the big temple in wonder as he followed the four large ronso under strength-enhancement spells to transport his stone statue from Mt. Gagazet to Bevelle. They pulled it on an all-terrain sled most of the distance, but now that they were actually here, they carried it on their shoulders. The high summoner's daughter, now high summoner herself, led them to a service lift at the back of the temple. It was large enough to allow all four ronso to carry the stone onto the lift at once, but Bahamut chose to levitate above them as they descended into the depths under the temple. When he touched ground once more, he followed the party to the chamber where his new home would be and watched the ronso carefully install the stone node in its permanent place.
Yunalesca thanked the ronso again when they finished. "Please go back the way that you came and ask to be led to the dining hall. Replenish your energy and rest before you return home."
"Elder Kinan says Fayth Scar safe with ronso."
"Tell him I am grateful. I sent messengers to all of our temples, letting them know that Zanarkand was attacked by Bevelle, and word is now being broadcast to all the other cities. Bevelle wanted to make sure it had everything under control before sharing the news, but word is getting around now. No one should be going to Zanarkand in the future, except summoners on pilgrimage to pay their respects. It is now a sacred resting place for my father and many other lost souls." Yunalesca waited until the ronso bowed and left. Then, she faced the stone node that contained the boy's eternally sleeping body. "Bahamut, can you hear me?"
The boy climbed onto the glass dome covering the stone node and sat down on it, then levitated just a little above it before revealing himself to her. It was a strain to make contact between the spirit and material dimensions this way, especially with so little magic present.
She smiled upon seeing him. "This is your new home. You are under the Bevelle temple." She spread her arms, inviting him to look around. "I have this place back under Yevonite control now, but loyalists of the Founders still exist all across Spira. Therefore, you must listen carefully to what I have to say." Lowering her arms, she took a few steps toward him, folding her hands before her. "You are a special Fayth, Bahamut. You are not only the guardian of the temple, but you are also the guardian of the entrance to the ship. And I have decided it would be best if the fact that we are a colony ship was forgotten. The entrance to the bridge has been sealed off by Spira herself to prevent anyone from taking over a mutinous command of our course, which is probably just as well. But I will be taking further measures to be sure that the entrance to the dungeons and the Farplane will be locked away, even from the majority of the temple priests. From now on, the only entrance will be the balcony maintained by the guado in Guadosalam. They know better than anyone not to disrupt the Farplane's magic, for they are the ones who brought it to us. The Founders may have been destroyed by Sin, but their loyal supporters are refusing to disassemble their machina, and they're boasting that they will someday rise in power and return. But we've come too far to turn back now. Spira must remain free. So, we must forget that she is a ship and erase our memories of Earth. It's the only way for Spira to become the world unto herself that she was meant to be."
"You can't erase everyone's memories," he spoke through the dimensional barrier.
"Perhaps not directly, but memories can become dusty and eventually forgotten if we don't pass them on to younger generations. As we speak, my priests are scouring all the libraries and public offices on Spira to remove any mention of Earth-related things from the archives. The temples have been instructed never to teach about it or mention it again. When the older generations' mumblings become unfashionable and vague, the younger generations won't care about history anymore."
"If they don't talk about the mistakes of the past, they will repeat them."
"Not if they obey Yevon's rules. His rules are all they need to be free of the sins that led to this destruction."
"But if they don't understand—"
"You understand, Bahamut. As a Fayth, you will always be a key to the past. You must guard it well, to prevent others from threatening to destroy Spira in the future."
Thoughtful, Yunalesca began to pace. "I'm writing a book about my father's sacred teachings and passing them among the temples so the citizens of this new Spira will know how to prevent this from happening again. I have devised a new training program for all summoners, in which they should try to gain the trust of as many aeons as they can to defend their towns and villages from any threatening fiends once all the machina are gone. It will be up to the Fayth to judge which summoners are worthy of your trust. Choose quality over quantity. Test their magic, their endurance, and their wisdom. Your choices in the dream will shape Spira's future, but once you have bonded with your chosen summoners, it is their actions that will shape reality."
His presence was beginning to flicker and thin at the strain of reaching back into reality on his own. "Understood."
The footfalls of armored boots echoed down the hall behind her. Smiling at the familiarity of her husband's long strides, Yunalesca gave the boy a bow and allowed him to depart. Then, she turned to face Zaon as he entered the chamber. "Did you read it?" She indicated the document he was holding. "What did you think?"
Bahamut was exhausted from his effort to become visible to the material world for a few minutes. Perhaps the only exhaustion a spirit could feel was in trying to be real again. He stopped levitating and sat sprawled on his tomb.
"I think it's very comprehensive," Zaon answered. "Perhaps a little too comprehensive," he added with a slight wince and an amused smirk. "You wish to be rid of destructive machina, not every tool that mankind has ever created. You would ban airships and hovercars?"
"Magic can take the place of any machina. We have become too dependent on luxuries and should return to using our feet and teleports that cover only short distances, like our lifts here in the temple or the teleport pads we gave to the ronso. It's harder to attack a city when you can't travel more than snail's pace for a slug's length," she added with a confident smile as she draped her arms around his neck.
"Then, I assume you will be taking guns away from the temple guards?"
"Of course. Our task is to heal and protect. Only those trusted to pass the Fayth's Cloister of Trials will be permitted to use aeons to combat fiends. Mages will also have to pass tests to prove they are worthy of magic studies."
He lifted a brow in amusement. "Clocks, communication spheres, sphere recorders ..."
"Can all operate on magical energy harnessed from places like Macalania, and aren't likely to harm someone," she reminded him. "But I suppose I can cross a few exceptions off of that forbidden machina list. What's important is that it becomes impossible to create a large weapon stash for anyone, including us."
"And what will you do with the discarded machina?"
She frowned at him for finding an argument she had not yet considered. "I don't know. We'll … dump them in the desert, or something. Bury them under tons of sand." She took her book back from him since it would need an edit about disposal options.
Zaon chuckled. "That should do nice things to the engines and gears. You know, I have to say, I'm surprised at how easily you've slipped into this leadership position. Then again, with a father like Yevon, you were practically raised for the role, weren't you. Perhaps this has been your destiny all along."
Yunalesca blushed at her husband's confidence in her. "Thank you. I think that deserves a candlelight dinner." She gave him a kiss, then withdrew to gesture toward the stone node. "By the way, did you see our Fayth has arrived?"
Zaon couldn't see the ghostly little boy, but he bowed reverently before the tomb. "Hopefully, he will be able to restore some sanctity to this place. But, the reason I came down here is to tell you we have an urgent visitor upstairs—a man from Besaid City."
"From the Besaid temple?"
"I don't think he's a temple official. He looks quite desperate. Said he wouldn't talk to anyone but you, though we offered to hear him out."
"Besaid City is nothing but beach resorts and health spas. How could he be desperate?" Curious, Yunalesca left the chamber of the Fayth with her husband and took the lift to the main hall of the Bevelle temple once more.
Bahamut followed since he had nothing better to do.
Yunalesca spotted the man from Besaid City right away. He was sweaty, slightly ragged in appearance, and had a strange expression of urgency on his face—an expression she had seen all too recently in both Zanarkand and Bevelle. "Can I help you?"
As soon as the man saw her, he rushed forward and bowed to his hands and knees. "Lady Yunalesca, please! Please come to Besaid City and rid us of the giant fiend! It has destroyed everything! Our temple said our aeon could defeat it, but it wasn't strong enough. Perhaps you can summon something stronger. They say you saved Bevelle before it was a total loss—that you drove the beast away. Besaid is in ruins now. Please help us!" The man broke into tears and set his forehead on his hands as he mourned.
Bahamut was at a loss for words. Why would Yevon attack Besaid City? Besaid had done nothing wrong.
Yunalesca seemed just as disturbed by the news. "Perhaps … there were traitors among you, or it sensed you had weapon machina," she decided. "Is it gone now?"
"Yes." The man lifted his chin and wiped his face on his sleeve. "But the survivors are frightened—very frightened. Please, send help before it returns."
"I'm sorry to hear of your losses," she quietly sympathized. "Tell your people ..." She thought for a moment. "Tell them that if they live according to Yevon's teachings, it shouldn't return. In the meantime, they should get rid of all their machina. I will be creating more aeons soon, and one of them will be strong enough to defeat the one that troubled Besaid. I promise."
"Thank you. Bless you, Lady Yunalesca." The man stood, bowed, straightened, and then bowed again.
"Rest and have something to eat before you return home." She gestured to one of the nearby acolytes who had overheard his plea and led him away.
Zaon drew close enough to whisper to his wife. "That is the third attack in so many weeks. Your father didn't stop at Bevelle and the Founders' headquarters. He struck the small city built on bridges over the Moonflow and the one along the highroad. Now he has struck Besaid City. How many more cities does he intend to hit before he has satiated his appetite for revenge?"
"He is destroying their machina and traitors."
"By hitting the entire city? That's what Bevelle did to Zanarkand. We are no better than Renuta and Guregohe if we let this continue. Your father's judgment has become too broad for the sins of Bevelle alone. He's spinning out of control from absorbing so much hatred and grief … so much death."
"Perhaps he's trying to tear down the old cities to get rid of the technology and Founder's loyalists," Yunalesca suggested, becoming upset.
"Why he's doing it doesn't matter." Zaon lowered his voice but spoke with urgency. "That's no excuse for genocide. We must end it, Yunalesca. You know that we must." Placing his hands on her shoulders, he drew her into his arms to comfort her, though he knew his words hurt. "Your father is not himself anymore. I don't think he is capable of stopping himself."
Bahamut watched as Yunalesca struggled with Zaon's truth. She knew he was right, but her surrender was reluctant. "I will need to create … at least one final aeon," she whispered through her tears. "I will make it strong enough to destroy his armor."
"Only his armor?"
"I fear the dark prayers he summoned for his own physical transformation, but it is his aeon armor that was crafted from the souls and sorrows of those who died. It's the armor that absorbs and intensifies his rage, converting it into destructive magic," Yunalesca confessed as she lowered her gaze and grasped a handful of long, silver hair to draw over her shoulder as if it were a comforting blanket. "My father has done so many good things in his lifetime. His compassion for others is what drove him to establish these temples and push his magic beyond ordinary limits. If he could be free of the shell that surrounds him with rage, maybe he could calm down, even if he can never be himself again."
"Then ... no matter how much destruction he brings to Spira, you will not—"
"He is my father, Zaon!" she snapped. Then, she lowered her voice again, not wanting to draw attention to their conversation. "I will not take my own father's life." With a frown, she wiped away a tear and retreated to her study to edit her document on banned machina.
Zaon sighed and rubbed the tension from the back of his neck, clearly feeling guilty for suggesting patricide. But Yevon's taste for punishment had gone beyond justice.
Bahamut couldn't help but sympathize with Lady Yunalesca for not wanting to harm her father, but he also felt sorry for the Fayth that would have to face off against Yu Yevon in the future. Considering what he'd seen him do to Bevelle, defeating even his armored shell was not going to be easy.
))((
As Sin continued to ravage various cities throughout Spira, summoners and pilgrims alike came to Bevelle to beg for Lady Yunalesca's help banishing it. She always promised the same thing—adherence to Yevon's teachings should prevent it from returning, and she would soon create an aeon of equal strength to defeat it.
When she was sure that Yevon's laws were firmly established, at least in Bevelle, Yunalesca journeyed back to the Zanarkand ruins with her husband to create the final aeon intended for one purpose only: the defeat of Sin.
Bahamut was curious to see how his summoner would handle this confrontation with her infamous father, so he followed.
Yunalesca went to the summoning chamber at the back and bottom halls of the Zanarkand temple, but as Zaon stood before her, her will began to crumble into tears.
"I love you." He kissed her forehead to encourage her to be strong.
"If I knew of any other way ..."
"This is the way it must be. No one else should bear this burden. We both know this. You are my summoner, and I am willing." Zaon stepped back, drew a breath, knelt on one knee, and waited.
Still fighting her own tears, the high summoner began the ancient dance that would transform her beloved guardian into a Fayth.
"What? No!" Bahamut watched in dismay as Yunalesca entombed Zaon's body in a stone node, not unlike his own. The ghostly boy touched down on the floor of the summoning chamber, where she wept over her husband's stone-encased soul. But he decided to remain hidden from her view, allowing her to grieve alone.
When Yunalesca was ready again, she straightened. "Zaon ..." She could barely make herself say his name, much less cast another spell, yet that is precisely what she did. A four-legged monstrosity with two forearms and large horns rose from the glyphs while her summoning magic pried a hole between reality and the spirit realm. As her creation rose above her, Yunalesca looked proud of the noble beast her Zaon had become. But at the same time, she could not bear to face him after what she had done. Weak enough now that she had trouble standing, she cast yet another spell right behind the summoning. For this new aeon to be strong enough to pierce Sin's armor, it needed another soul to fortify it similar to Sin's construction. Yunalesca's soul would have to do.
Bahamut watched with macabre fascination as the high summoner's spirit walked away from her body and was absorbed into her guardian's aeon. Yunalesca's physical body was in a meditative trance now, but the paired souls of the aeon turned around to face the chamber of the stars. The beast let out a haunting cry that echoed throughout Zanarkand's ruins. Their souls called out to Yevon, and it wasn't long before Sin rose from the dark waters beneath the dead city in response.
Zaon took the initiative with fast, powerful attacks, followed by strong black magic. He took a beating from Sin in return, but the shell did eventually crack and open. Like a crow digging into a broken clam, Zaon exposed the dark entity within.
Bahamut sighed with relief, but just when he thought the battle was won, the unthinkable happened. Yevon's aeon, which visibly radiated dark energy now, lashed out with one more powerful spell that stabbed into Zaon. Yunalesca's final aeon bellowed with rage and thrashed to escape as Yevon attempted to take him for his new shell.
Yunalesca's spirit was ejected from the battle for the aeon's body. "NO! Father!" She tried to run back to her husband. "Let Zaon go! He's trying to help you!" But as a spirit, she could do nothing while her father's dark aeon melded into her guardian's manifestation. "Zaon!" she screamed and ran back to her own body to reclaim it, but it was too late. When Yevon ripped his daughter's soul from her bonded aeon, he also severed her connection to her physical body. Spent with exhaustion from the effort of casting such difficult magic, the meditating summoner collapsed to the ground.
Bahamut gasped and ran forward, too, but in spirit form, he was just as helpless to aid either of them. Glancing at Zaon's stone node, the boy was surprised to find it completely void of any corpse or magical seals. Zaon's soul was now possessed by the enigmatic entity that had once been Yu Yevon.
The aeon paused for a moment at the sight of the pyreflies drawing together over his wife's body. Then, he solemnly retreated back into the dark waters beneath Zanarkand, and the old aeon armor burst into particles of magic that dispersed throughout the ruins.
Bahamut blinked in silence at the broken spirit clutching her own wrists with no way back into her mortal form. He didn't know what to say.
After a long moment of weeping over her death, the loss of her husband, and their defeat in the battle for her father's soul, Yunalesca looked up at the boy's spirit. She could see him now that they both existed on the same plane of magic. "You shouldn't have followed."
"I ... You're my summoner. I'm supposed to help you, but you didn't summon me."
"Because our bond would not have been strong enough to defeat Sin," she said through clenched teeth. Not even Yunalesca's close bond with her husband was enough.
"Is ... it over?" Bahamut softly asked.
Yunalesca looked down at her lifeless body and almost laughed at the irony of that question. "It will never be over. Zaon was right. My father absorbed too much hatred and grief. He will use the new aeon to rebuild Sin again and again." With a sniffle, she wiped her tears and sat up straight. "It will take time, though. The people of Spira can use that time to rebuild their lives in peaceful calm." She lifted her gaze toward Mount Gagazet. "As long as they continue to honor my father's laws, there's a chance they can prevent his return … for a time. I will continue helping them defeat Sin to bring that calm as much as I can."
Bahamut's brows drew together in worry. "But if Lord Yevon continues to rebuild Sin, nothing is resolved. More people will die."
Yunalesca felt no chill as the wind blew through her. "I have done what I could, child. My father will be impossible to defeat now. But someday, someone will come this way to try again. Until then, all I can do is remain here and offer the spell for the final aeon to any summoners who survive the pilgrimage."
Bahamut backed away from Yunalesca's spirit with caution ... fear. Though she was a high summoner, Yunalesca had chosen to remain unsent. And somewhere out there beneath the pyreflies among the ruins, a new Sin sank below the waves to recover and dream.
))((
The sun was on the rise in the cloudless sky, marking the beginning of a brand new day—or at least the beginning of a day that was widely remembered by the Fayth. Dream Zanarkand was not nearly as populated as the real one had been, so only a few people hustled by, faded out, and reappeared periodically at the eastern end of the Zanarkand harbor. But the Fayth kept themselves busy by collecting memories from the dead in the Farplane, as well. They had done a fantastic job of gradually bringing the city itself back to life by attempting to fill those gaps.
Sighing to himself, Bahamut sat on the deck of Shuyin's houseboat, which remained docked at the far end of the pier across the water from the mainland ... as always. Staring out across the sparkling ocean, he was thinking quietly and minding his own business when he suddenly found himself in the middle of three children chasing one another. Two of the children sported chestnut-brown hair and hazel-green eyes, but the other boy had unruly blond hair that had been bleached into tints of white and gold from time spent outdoors under the sun. Though Bahamut hadn't met Shuyin when he was that young, he knew beyond a doubt that's who the blond boy was, and he smiled at the unexpected glimpse into the past.
"Walk!" a gruff voice behind them ordered. "Or someone's going to plow into something and get hurt!"
Bahamut's eyes widened, and he gasped in surprise as Jecht and another man walked right through him. Whose memories were these? Had Shuyin come back?
"Just set the crabs down right here," Jecht continued. "Let's go inside, and I'll show you where the cabin is. We'll head out after the kids have settled a bit. My boy's too wound up right now. Bound to push someone overboard when he's like that. Better for it to happen here than out in the middle of nowhere." He chuckled and took a sip of his beer.
"Rrraaahhh! Gotcha!" The energetic, blond-headed boy wrapped his arms around his friend and lifted him off the deck in a tackle, attempting to throw him aside.
The girl cried out as they collided and fell on top of her, bumping her head against the wall. "Ouch! Stop it!"
"Hey!" Jecht snatched his son up by the arm to scold him. "Calm down! Look at what you did to Kaila. Pay attention to what you're doing, or I'm going to plant your ass in a corner somewhere."
Bahamut blinked in astonishment. "Kaila?"
Two women helped the girl up and checked her head for abrasions. "What do you boys have to say for yourselves?" one of the women prompted.
"Sorry," the brown-haired boy reluctantly offered. The blond-haired boy only folded his arms across his pot-belly and frowned at the girl for spoiling his fun.
Jecht popped the back of his son's head. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Sorry," little Shuyin groused.
"Inside, wild child. And walk this time." Jecht opened the door and gave his son a small push, encouraging his friend to follow. The blitzball player smirked in amusement at Kaila as she gave the boys a defensive, dirty look and entered the houseboat behind them, careful to keep her distance from their rough play. "Told ya," Jecht spoke to the other man, drawing a chuckle from him. "Thank the gods there was a wall there, or we'd be fishing her out of the water." He held the door for the other three adults to follow the children inside, then he closed the door behind himself.
Bahamut blinked in astonishment again, then turned around to see he wasn't alone. Kaila was perched on the rail of the top deck.
Hopping down from the rail, she descended the stairs to sit next to him on the lower deck. "It was a beautiful day for sailing. I'll always think of Shuyin on days like this." Smiling, she lifted her face to the sun in the clear blue sky and inhaled the salty air on the ocean breeze. "I didn't expect to find you here. I thought you didn't like being in the dream."
Bahamut looked back out to sea and sighed. "This was a good place to be. The boat could take us to the beach, and the beach was always fun, even if Shuyin did throw me in the water a lot."
Kaila laughed. "Well, this boat isn't going anywhere outside of the bay. Even my memories of sailing on the ocean can't accommodate those limitations. No other place exists in this dream except Zanarkand—not even the rest of Spira. Yevon's done something to the dream so that some things from reality don't exist here."
"That's just as well." Bahamut turned his chin to face the ocean and spoke in a somewhat melancholy tone. "All of Spira outside the dream is doomed, anyway," he glumly answered.
Kaila leaned forward to peer under the quiet boy's hood. "What makes you say that?"
Bahamut relayed the events he witnessed regarding Yunalesca's final summoning.
Kaila's brows pinched together. "She tried to kill her own father?"
The boy shook his head. "She couldn't bring herself to do it, even though Lord Yevon's soul is no longer human. He's a fiend now—the biggest, strongest fiend in all of Spira. Lady Yunalesca set up the temples to encourage new summoners to gain the trust of all the Fayth at each of the other temples on a pilgrimage, so she believes that eventually, someone will come to Zanarkand expecting to find one here, too. But there's nothing left of Lord Zaon, so she's offering to stay and make new aeons for anyone who makes it this far. I guess no one else knows that spell except her. She and Lord Yevon both guarded their secrets of magic so closely." With a pout, Bahamut put his elbows on his knees and let his cheeks fall into his fists. "He'll always be angry at Spira for what happened to Zanarkand. And since he can possess other aeons like that, there's no chance of ever defeating him."
Kaila somberly considered Bahamut's insights. "I was right, then. That's why Lord Yevon summons us to dream. Our good memories—memories of Zanarkand before it died—soothe his conscious." She squinted at the boy in the warm sunlight that contrasted with his gloomy mood. "Is that why you came here, after witnessing such a thing? You probably have good memories here, too, somewhere under all the layers of time. Maybe you should try to find them."
Bahamut tilted his chin, curious at her phrasing more than her suggestion. "Layers of time?"
"Time here doesn't work the way it does in reality, or you'd see too many people in the same place at the same time. There is no real present. Everything you see here happened in the past. So, time in this place has layers—like volumes in a video series. It goes as far back as the memories of our oldest souls but only goes up to our own final days. There's nothing new in the dream beyond that ... unless you want to consider the ripples."
Kaila had Bahamut's full attention now. "Ripples?"
"Alternate realities." She tried to think of how to explain it. "Memories are limited to a certain time and place, and sometimes they aren't very clear or correct. So, these people walking around ... Sometimes their clothing and faces blur or change, especially if two Fayth remember the same thing differently. People appear and fade unexpectedly because memories can't trace anything before or after what was actually experienced by the dead soul. Their actions follow the patterns from the past unless something is done to purposefully alter the pattern. It's like … revising a story for a different outcome."
Kaila looked back to where the children had their mishaps. "Shuyin had no choice but to knock me down and bump my head into the wall. No matter how many times I replay that memory, he will always do the same blockheaded thing because that's what really happened." She chuckled lightly to herself. "If I don't want to be squashed, the only way I can stop him is to change something. But changing one thing sometimes ends up changing other things. That's why we call them ripples." She looked back to Bahamut with a small wince. "Does that make sense?"
Bahamut nodded. "So ... how would you prevent your head from getting bumped?"
"Well, patterns are tough to break. Like the laws of physics, something put in motion stays in motion until something else stops it. It comes down to finding that something else that can make a difference." She tried to think for a moment, then stood with a grin. "Shuyin ran into me because he was tackling Koji, right? So, erasing Koji from the time flow should prevent it from happening."
"You would erase your own brother?" Bahamut didn't like the sound of that option.
"It's not really Koji. It's just a memory of him, and one that I can recall whenever I want." She turned around and replayed her memory, stopping it at a point before Shuyin collided with his friend for his playful tackle. It was as easy as touching a memory sphere, only this memory sphere was life-sized and 3-D. In the blink of an eye, Koji's illusory presence vanished. Then, she set the time flow in motion again to test her theory.
"Rrraaahhh! Gotcha!" The blond-headed boy wrapped his arms around little Kaila and lifted her off the deck in a tackle, attempting to throw her aside.
Little Kaila cried out as he knocked her down and fell on top of her, bumping her head against the wall. "Ouch! Stop it!"
"Hey!" Jecht snatched his son up by the arm to scold him. "Calm down! Look at what you did to Kaila. Pay attention to what you're doing, or I'm going to plant your ass in a corner somewhere."
"Are you all right?" Dannae and Kaila's mother helped the girl up and checked her head for abrasions. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Dannae prompted.
Jecht popped the back of his son's head. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Sorry," little Shuyin groused.
"Inside, wild child. And walk this time." Jecht opened the door and gave his son a small push.
Kaila stopped time and scowled at the results. "That little pinhead! He would have knocked me down anyway! What's wrong with him tackling little girls like that?"
"Wait a minute." Bahamut stood and pulled a toolbox from the side of the deck into the spot where the tackle takes place. "Run it again."
Kaila cleared the thought, then set it in motion from the beginning once more.
"Rrraaahhh! Gotcha!" The blond-headed boy reached out to grab little Kaila, but his foot hit the side of the toolbox, and he fell before tackling her. Crying out in pain and clutching his foot, he winced at the sensation that jolted through his stubbed toes.
Little Kaila turned around and saw that Shuyin hurt himself. "Did you step on something?" she asked, crouching next to him with curiosity.
"Hey!" Jecht shook his head in disgust and pushed the toolbox back into place. "Calm down! Serves you right for running when I told you not to. Pay attention to what you're doing, or I'm going to plant your ass in a corner somewhere."
"Are you all right?" Dannae checked Shuyin's foot for abrasions.
"It's a stubbed toe." Jecht hauled his son back onto his feet. "Geeze, stop babying him, or he's going to cry about it." Opening the door, he gave his son a small push. "Inside, wild child. And walk this time."
Kaila cleared the memory. "Hey, good call! He still got in trouble, though. Shuyin was always in trouble for one reason or another." She giggled. "See? Patterns are hard to break." Looking toward the front door of the otherwise empty houseboat, she sighed. "It's a shame he isn't here to supply these memories himself, you know?"
"Shuyin's … not himself anymore," Bahamut reminded her.
She saddened and looked down at her feet. "I know. But he could make this place seem so real again. Koji could, too, if he were here. And Lenne. She's still missing, too, isn't she? So many unsent ..."
Bahamut nodded sadly and stared out at the peaceful ocean once more as he listened to the waves gently bumping the boat's hull against the pier. He had not seen his sister since he left for the ronso caverns. He wondered if she was searching for Shuyin the way he was searching for her. But Lenne was a summoner. Like Yunalesca, she knew better than to hang onto reality and risk turning into a fiend. "Will the Fayth just keep adding to the dream as more people die?"
Kaila shrugged. "I suppose. These memories have no real lives of their own, so that's the only way Dream Zanarkand can have a future. Even the ripples fade unless you stick with them and keep detouring them … because they never really happened. Eventually, though, new generations won't have any memories of Zanarkand … except for ruins … if anyone ever visits them. And that won't help Lord Yevon. He needs us to dream of a living Zanarkand for as long as he lives. The past is the only thing that gives him peace."
Considering Yevon was now an immortal monster, Bahamut realized that might mean summoning Dream Zanarkand for a very, very, very long time.
