Chapter 27: Legendary Hero
Nine centuries and decades passed. The Final Summoning had led to the Spiral of Death. Each new decade brought the return of Sin. And each return saw another summoner and guardian sacrificed for Yevon's Calm. Cities were built and rebuilt on top of their own ruins, some barely having a chance to cope with their losses before they were struck again, while others never recovered at all. Spira became a world clinging to the laws and promises of Yevon in hopes that someday there would be an Eternal Calm—the belief that if they atoned, eventually, they would be free from Sin.
But in time, Spira did become a world in her own right. Due to the Temple of Yevon withholding spheres of the past, the decimation of the older populations, and the shift toward a more primitive means of survival, the orphaned, younger generations forgot their origins. The only thing that mattered was achieving ten years of Calm. That's how long it took for Yevon to rebuild Sin from whatever new aeon he possessed. The maesters were the only ones aware of Spira's past. And they were quick to realize that this knowledge gave them power.
The new maester of the Bevelle temple attempted to ban people from repeating the haunting song that the Fayth could be heard singing on occasion. But his ban failed to stop it from catching on among the population, so the maester after him told everyone it was a sacred song, sung in defiance of Sin, rather than in defiance of Bevelle. The maester after him subtly altered Yunalesca's writings to erase the fact that Bevelle and Yevon were ever enemies. And such changes continued down the line of leadership, enabling each maester of the Bevelle temple to become the new behind-the-scenes emperor of Spira in every aspect except name. Generation after generation grew up adhering to the evolving laws of the Temple of Yevon, but Sin never changed. It kept returning—kept demanding atonement.
Finding someone to blame was easy once the desert-dwelling Al Bhed began digging up the ancient machina destroyed on the remote island of Bikanel. The Al Bhed were an alien race of humanoids who had an uncanny talent with science and mathematics. Believing it was a waste to throw away good machina parts, their restoration of ancient technology quickly put them at odds with the Temple of Yevon. Declaring them heretics, the temple set out to make them an example to anyone who disobeyed Yevon's teachings. When Sin destroyed any towns or villages, Yevon's far-reaching finger pointed to the Al Bhed and their refusal to adhere to the machina ban.
Under Bevelle, Bahamut's spirit remained locked away, guarding his own secrets of the past. Alone in his chamber, bereft of even a cleaning maid to sweep the dust from his tomb, he spent most of his days in the suspended consciousness of the dream, more interested in exploring the logistics of alternate realities than finding his own memories. An occasional summoner would brave entering his halls and request his aid, and he played his role as the mighty dragon aeon when called upon. He befriended, loved, and lost many summoners, but he could only save them from harm for so long before the successful ones were sacrificed to Yevon in the end.
It saddened him that Spira's mortals had become trapped in this cycle of self-destruction that not even the immortal Fayth could break. They, too, were trapped by Yevon's summoning spell. In their eternal, non-restful slumber, the dream became the play that kept them occupied. After almost a thousand years of maintaining the same illusions and searching for lost memories, however, even that grew tiresome. Forever is too long to exist.
))((
Within the dream, Bahamut and Valefor, the Fayth from the temple in Besaid, stood together on the road to Zanarkand and watched as Sin crossed the threshold between reality and illusion on its own, as no other aeon could. It had just come from wreaking havoc somewhere else on Spira and returned to the dream to soothe itself with better memories … again. "Has it been ten years already?" Valefor asked. She was a young girl with brown hair in twin braids, only a few years older than Bahamut. They were the youngest among the Fayth. Having shared various summoners over the ages, the Fayth knew each other well and had come to look upon each other as family.
"A new high summoner from Bevelle has recently determined to begin the pilgrimage," Bahamut told her. "His name is Braska. He's a bit unusual because he was excommunicated from the temple for marrying an Al Bhed. Still, he's determined to make the pilgrimage because his wife was recently killed by Sin. He shows great promise for being the final one this time, so you will probably be meeting him soon." Bahamut sighed heavily and sat on the ground. "He leaves behind a small daughter. I just wish there was something more we could do for him so that he could go home to her."
"Maybe this time … Maybe Lord Braska will be the one strong enough to defeat both Sin and Lord Yevon." Valefor tried to sound optimistic.
"To defeat Lord Yevon, the final aeon must be able to resist his power of possession. But in almost a thousand years, no human or Fayth has been strong enough to do it—not even when their souls are combined." Bahamut kicked an illusory rock as he watched Sin sink beneath the surface. "Lady Yunalesca once told me that our choices in here shaped the future out there. But she was wrong. It's not enough. Nothing we do in here is ever going to change reality unless someone can create an aeon as powerful as Lord Yevon himself."
Valefor sighed. "It's a shame we can't change reality the way we make ripples in the dream. We could just erase Lord Yevon, and it would be as if the Machina War never happened. But it's his dream, so I guess deleting him would be kinda rude." She frowned with discouragement.
"I doubt we could delete him, even if we tried. His magic is unique because he wasn't transformed into a Fayth like everyone else. He transformed himself into something else. I'm not even sure if he's alive or dead, but I'm guessing he's like an unsent fiend, based on his vengeful behavior. Either way, he's real in the dream and reality because he's a summoner and aeon at the same time, whereas we're nothing but ghosts until someone pulls together enough magic to make our aeons real. And even then, our aeons are no match for him because he can possess us." Feeling hopeless, Bahamut stared at the bits of broken buildings from the ruins of the real city that had somehow become adhered to the top of the Sin's colossal head - something that often happened to the old armor shell after basking between dimensions. But then an idea he never considered before struck him. "Who supplies the magic for the dream? The Fayth? Or Yevon?"
"Well, many of the Zanarkand Fayth never studied magic at all, yet they can summon illusions like experts. So, I guess that means the spell for summoning the dream comes from Yevon but passes through the Fayth's memories to shape it. Like how an artist's creativity flows through the brush and paint.
Bahamut faced Valefor with sudden inspiration. "Then maybe Yunalesca was right after all, but we've been using the wrong tools. We need a different tool—something Yevon isn't expecting. Maybe we could summon our own aeon?"
The novel idea gave her pause. "You mean like a Fayth's Fayth?" Valefor tilted her head sideways and gave him a funny look for his suggestion, but then she frowned in consternation as she thought about it more. "I suppose our memories are a bit like aeons since they're both made of magic. But … these illusions are empty. They have no souls to be turned into Fayth. We don't know the spells to make a Fayth or an aeon. And there's no one outside the dream to summon it if we did. You'd need some other way to make the illusion real."
"What about Sin? It doesn't need a summoner to enter or leave either dimension."
Valefor looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Sin won't offer to take an illusion into reality for us, especially if it knows why we're doing it."
Bahamut became animated with excitement. "What if we tricked him into it? What if we made one of these dream illusions real enough to hitch a ride with Yevon and defeat him on the other side?"
"An illusion couldn't defeat Yevon. Not even the final aeons can defeat Yevon."
"But our illusions are made with Yevon's magic! His own summoning magic might be the one thing strong enough to resist his possession magic. Or maybe the fact that an illusion has no soul would make it immune. And since it would be a combined summoning from all of the Fayth, it would be fortified. Like when the final aeon is joined by the summoner's spirit to make it stronger, or more like the souls used to create Sin and Lord Yevon's transformation. Something like that might even be stronger than Yevon!"
Valefor considered the idea again. "Do you really think it could work?"
"If it fails, we've lost nothing but a few pyreflies. But if even one real life can be saved, it's worth a try, don't you think?" The boy tapped his chin as he started planning aloud. "The illusion would have to be someone lots of people remember, so we can fortify it with lots and lots of pyreflies. If we do it right, no one has to know he's not real. Not even the illusion will know he's an illusion."
"If he's going to fight Sin and Yevon, he would need to be a good warrior—someone physically strong and able to endure the battles," Valefor suggested, catching on.
"He would need to be persistent, too—someone who won't accept defeat," Bahamut added.
"Someone willing to lay down his life to save everyone else." Valefor shook her head at the impossible combination. "We would need a legendary hero. It's too bad we can't create Superman. Superman could throw Sin into another galaxy."
Bahamut looked toward the Zanarkand harbor. Only one answer came to mind. "Jecht."
Valefor pulled a face. "Jecht? The blitzball player? But … he's a blitzball player."
"Summoner Ohalland was a blitzball player. So was Shuyin. Blitzball players are up to the physical challenge and don't easily accept defeat." Bahamut asserted. "That's why Jecht was a champion. He's probably the biggest hero Zanarkand ever had."
"But ... I never met Jecht. And neither did you. If we don't have personal memories of him, it will be difficult to make him look real."
Bahamut smiled. "I know a Fayth who knew him well."
))((
Kaila blinked at the boy in the same stupefied manner that Valefor had. "Have you lost your mind? Jecht bragged a lot about being the best, but I seriously doubt he has what it takes to challenge something like Sin."
"He'd be made of Yevon's own spell, and he wouldn't be a real person. What better way to challenge Yevon than to make him fight his own magic? Nothing else has worked, and nothing's ever going to change if we don't try something different. If we can trick Yunalesca into creating a final aeon with our guardian instead of a real person, the final aeon might be strong enough to defeat Sin and resist Yevon's control."
Kaila quirked a brow, but then looked toward the houseboat with a heavy sigh. "I didn't come here half as much as Koji did. My memories of Jecht are sparse."
"We only need one. Kaila, everyone knows who Jecht was, but you're the only Fayth who knew him well enough to make him look real. We have to at least see if it's possible to mirror Yevon's magic back at him. And I can't think of anyone better suited the challenge. For Spira's sake, it's worth a try."
Accepting his argument, even if still full of doubt, Kaila walked onto the houseboat deck. Looking around, she tried to remember more from that beautiful day their families went sailing and deep-sea fishing.
Jecht appeared on the deck, checking the ropes and lines to prepare for the trip as three kids ran circles around him.
"All right enough of that." Jecht attempted to continue his task despite the rowdy behavior. But then one of the little munchkins bumped into him. Frowning and grumbling to himself, he tied off the last rope and faced them like a ship's captain—which he was. "I said enough! Sit down!"
Immediately, the children froze, dropped to the deck, and stared wide-eyed at him.
"What do you think this is, a zoo? One of you little monkeys go get my bait, and I'll thread your hooks for you. You, the blond runt," he said, making all of them giggle, including his son. Little Shuyin jumped up and ran to get the bait bucket.
Bahamut smiled at how innocent Shuyin seemed back then, but then stopped time before the fishing lesson could start. "All we have to do is find the moment that Jecht disappeared and prevent that from happening, so we can send him to a summoner instead."
"But Jecht is the only one who would know what really happened," Kaila reminded him.
"His memories should be cataloged in here with everyone else's by now. We just have to find them."
Easier said than done. Kaila and Bahamut sat on the deck of the houseboat and sifted through time flow after time flow, watching memories of every visitor or family member that came to the houseboat, until they came to one startling time flow that involved Jecht coming out of the front door, alone and in a very foul mood. He was carrying a six-pack of his favorite brew and stopped to grab one of the blitzballs from a bunch lined up on the side of the deck. Then, he stormed to a smaller boat roped a short distance from the larger one.
"I think we just found it," Kaila sadly remarked, as they watched him row away. "I wonder what happened to upset him so much?"
Bahamut leaped from the deck, landing softly on one end of the boat to stay with Jecht. "We can't let him disappear this time," he called back to Kaila.
Kaila flew behind them until she could perch on the side of the boat, unafraid that her ghostly presence might tip it. "We could become visible to him and just ask him to do this for us, you know."
The boy's expression flattened. "Do you honestly think he'd agree to go to another world and banish a monster that no one has been able to defeat in over nine hundred years?"
She frowned and scratched her head in defeat. "But it feels weird, you know?"
"He's not real," Bahamut reminded her. "And Jecht disappeared on his family anyway, so it's not like we're taking him away from them."
"I know, but ... we're still pushing him into a reality he knows nothing about. Regardless of whatever happened to him the day he disappeared, he's been dead for over nine hundred years now. Spira will be a completely different world to him once he's beyond Dream Zanarkand."
"Ripples diverge from what they remember anyway. This is no different from altering an illusion that's going to stay in the dream."
"It's very different, Bahamut. He'll be living beyond his memories after he's made real. In the dream, we can wipe the slate clean and restart as many times as we want because it won't change anything that's already happened. But out there, the future hasn't been written yet. And we're throwing him into it. If it works, it will give him a real life again after he's been dead for centuries."
The boy had not considered that. "But he's just a memory. Memories never lived in the first place, so they never really died either. He'll still be an illusion. Nothing more. The only difference between this ripple and the others is that this one has a chance to make a real difference to someone out there."
"You mean it has a chance to make a lot of real ripples," Kaila corrected. "Lots and lots of ripples."
Jecht finally stopped rowing alongside an isolated beach. Hopping out into the water, he dragged the boat half up on the sand, then unpacked his beer and blitzball. He was already quite drunk, but the first thing he did was sit in the sand and drink another can of beer while staring out at sea. Something was really bothering the man, but he kept it bottled, which only made him feel worse.
"Stay with him," Bahamut told Kaila. "Stop time before he does anything stupid. I'll be right back. We need more pyreflies if this is going to work."
))((
On Mt. Gagazet, Valefor had already rounded up the rest of the Fayth for the mission. "They've all agreed to help!" she eagerly announced when Bahamut arrived.
A strong young man with short ginger hair came forward among the gathering. Bearing a helmet under one arm, Ifrit was dressed in the armor of a Crusader from the Kilika temple. "Bahamut," he warmly greeted the boy before discussing this scheme. "Are you sure this will work?"
"No," the boy admitted. "But, it's worth a try."
"Remember, you cannot edit reality the way you can memories within this dream. If Jecht's illusion survives the transfer into reality, he might create problems out there that you can't erase."
"There is always a risk when trying something that has never done before."
A hooded woman in priestess attire joined the conversation. "You can guide him to his summoner, but after that, you will have to leave matters in their hands." Shiva had once studied as a summoner at the temple of Macalania. "Because of the nature of the sacrifice to become the Final Aeon, the summoner may choose from the other guardians. If Jecht is chosen, he must fight Sin of his own free will. But he may choose not to."
"I understand. And I'll watch to make sure he stays on task without hurting anyone."
"Then, if you are resolved and willing to take responsibility for his actions, we will help."
Bahamut nodded and led them back to the spot where Jecht spent his final moments—where Kaila had been watching the professional blitzball player practice. "Has anything happened?"
Chin in hand, elbow on knee, Kaila gave him a bored expression. "He's almost finished his last beer."
The boy gave the man a questionable glance.
Kaila sighed, boredom changing to sympathy. "Shuyin used to complain about Jecht's drinking, but … I had no idea it was this bad. I remember rumors that he drowned because he was drunk, but it doesn't make sense for a blitzball player to drown. Koji shouldn't have drowned either, but I guess sometimes it's the things we take for granted that defeat us in the end." Lifting her chin to Bahamut, she saw the other Fayth standing with him and knew it was time. Rising from her vigil in the sand, she joined them.
The boy stopped time for Jecht's illusion, then faced the rest of the Fayth that had followed him. All of the spirits were familiar with Jecht in some way or another and poured their memories into the illusion Kaila summoned. Focusing the magic of the dream into the illusion, they fortified Jecht with enough pyreflies to make him substantially different from any other memory in the dream. Most illusions were empty shells. But Jecht was given the internal design of a real human so he could react to the real world based on his changing perceptions, rather than frozen-in-time patterns. He could thirst, feel pain … even bleed. But would it be enough to make him seem real out there?
"Now, all we need to do is get him to a summoner. I nominate Lord Braska," Bahamut announced. "He fell out of favor with the temple because of his Al Bhed wife, but then lost her to Sin. He's not out for revenge, but he wants to help others avoid his suffering. He's wise and compassionate. His choices show he is fair and forgiving, and his magic is strong. I'm his only aeon at the moment because he's still in Bevelle finalizing his personal affairs before beginning the journey to meet the rest of you. But I think he's strong enough to make it to Zanarkand for the Final Summoning."
"How do we get Braska to summon Jecht if he doesn't know he exists?" Ifrit asked.
"Sin," Bahamut answered, drawing more than a few murmurs from the gathered Fayth. "Sin is the only aeon that can come and go as he pleases between dimensions."
Ixion, a sailor with a stern expression, crouched before the boy. "Sin was designed to solidify feelings into real manifestations—to use those feelings to create spawn and cast very destructive magic. If Jecht's illusion touches Sin, maybe it will be enough to anchor him to reality, even if it does not make him real. But, in doing so, we may lose him. It's the equivalent of sending a fiend among the mortals … like an unsent. If he harms Spira, are you prepared to destroy him?"
"I am."
Ixion straightened. "Then, you may begin."
With that blessing from the rest of the Fayth, Bahamut left the dream by opening his eyes from the silent meditation he had entered, sitting over his tomb in the Bevelle temple. Bursting up through the ceiling and floors above his chamber, he went through a back wall into the street. Then, he ran toward the docks, passing through people rather than taking the time to skirt around them. Once he made it to the pier, he sat down and waited. Timing had to be perfect.
))((
As a spirit, Bahamut felt no need for food or rest. He sat for what seemed like endless days watching the coast of Bevelle, waiting for Sin's inevitable swim-by arrival. Eventually, he was rewarded with the sight of the large shell lurking along the ocean's horizon. Closing his eyes, Bahamut sent his mind back into the dream.
"Sin has arrived in Bevelle," he spoke to Kaila, who sat on the beach slightly beyond Zanarkand's harbor. Most of the other Fayth had slipped away to tend to the dream or sleep, though a few still watched from afar.
"Have you found Lord Braska?" she asked.
"He's getting ready to travel south, but he's concerned about his daughter's welfare. He will not begin his journey until he is certain she has a suitable guardian. His heart is heavy these days, and I think his daughter is beginning to suspect why."
Kaila gazed out over the water. "I'm sure Jecht will do all that he can once he learns what's at stake. That's the kind of man he was when gameplay turned into sudden death matches."
Bahamut nodded and opened his eyes to leave the dream. Then, he stood and flew through the city toward the home of his summoner. Braska sat at his desk, mulling over papers concerning his daughter's legal guardianship. Straining to gather enough pyreflies to become visible in reality, Bahamut waited for the man's peripheral vision to sense his presence.
"What is it, Yuna?" The summoner's voice was gentle but tired as he continued scanning pages, rather than turning to look directly at the child at his elbow.
"Come." It was difficult to gain presence strong enough to appear before the living and speak, so Bahamut kept his communication to the point.
That was not his daughter's voice. Braska looked up from his reading and was surprised to see the boy's spirit. "Bahamut? Does something require my attention?"
"Dock three," the boy answered, then ran through the wall of the house to reach the docks before him.
))((
"Auron! Yuna!" Braska called toward the open door of his study as he grabbed his temple robes and pulled them on over his casual attire. Then long, urgent strides carried him toward the front door.
His guardian met him in the front hall, coming from the kitchen. Auron had been making himself a hot drink and sipped it with suspicion. "Trouble?"
"Bahamut just asked me to go to the docks. A Fayth showing up in my house can't be good news, can it?" Braska looked to the top of the stairs where his seven-year-old daughter stood. "Nana isn't in today, Yuna, and I can't let you stay here all alone. You'll have to come with us, but I want you to stay far back if any fiends are present. And you must obey me without question if I tell you to run. Do you understand?"
"Mh." The little, brown-haired girl bobbed her head, then hopped down the stairs and clasped her father's hand. Auron was reluctant to set down his steaming mug, but when Braska's daughter smiled at him so that her unusual two-toned eyes almost squinted shut, he sighed and surrendered the drink to grab his sword and coat. Yuna walked between the two men down to the docks, completely secure in their capable hands.
))((
Down at the pier, Bahamut's spirit faced the ocean ... and Sin. No longer visible to the real world, the boy closed his eyes and re-entered the dream to stand beside Kaila on the Zanarkand beach. "Braska's on his way."
"Let's hope this works." Kaila crossed her fingers, then started to unfreeze time.
"Wait!" Bahamut recreated the sword Shuyin used and placed it on Jecht's back. "We can't send him out there without a way to defend himself."
Satisfied that they had done all they could, Kaila unfroze time, and they both watched in anxious silence as the illusion of Jecht that the Fayth worked so hard to make real waded into the ocean to practice his famous trick shots. Eventually, drunken Jecht did slip under the water. Both spirits gasped and ran to his aid but were surprised when he resurfaced.
"What?" Kaila stopped time again. "He's not supposed to come back up. Something has broken the pattern." She tried hard to think of what might have made the difference resulting in his death. "Wait. Koji died after a fiend attacked him. Do you suppose Jecht was attacked by a fiend, too? If so, Yevon has removed all fiends from the dream. We can't let Jecht survive and go home. That will ruin everything."
"But we don't want the illusion to die, so this is just as well. Jecht needs a different kind of fiend—one that can take him out of here." Bahamut conjured an illusionary copy of Sin into the dream Zanarkand, sitting in the water not far from where Jecht stood. Then, he unfroze time, hoping curiosity would take its natural course.
"What the—?" Surprised to find himself suddenly in the presence of a sleeping monster, Jecht stumbled backward. Thinking his drunkenness was playing tricks on his mind, he rubbed his eyes, blinked, and rubbed them again. But the enormous whale-like monster remained. "Damn, that's a big fish."
"He knows it wasn't there before," Bahamut whispered to Kaila, astonished. Usually, illusions showed no reaction to people and things changing in their vicinity. When Kaila erased Koji from Shuyin's intended tackle, Shuyin never noticed. "Jecht remembers what happened before we stopped time."
"Because he has no pattern to follow anymore." Kaila was awed and afraid at the same time for what they had created. "His script ended when the real Jecht died. This illusion is no longer a memory, Bahamut. We've created something totally different." She looked to him with worry. "Are you sure we didn't really bring him back to life?"
"He has no soul, Kaila. He's still just an illusion. Keep an eye on him. Make sure he goes out to sea. Make sure he touches Sin."
"But … Sin's an illusion, too."
"Not on the other side." Bahamut opened his eyes. Back in Bevelle, he leaped from the pier and ran across the water toward the real Sin. Sensing the approaching Fayth, an instinctive alarm went off with Sin, and it turned to swim away.
Bahamut thrust his hands against the shell. The magical toxin that surrounded Sin was insanely uncomfortable. Still, the boy's transformed existence as a Fayth, and the seal over his far-away tomb, protected him from being drawn into the swirling hate and despair that flooded his mind. He wasn't material enough to grasp the shell itself, but hanging onto his sanity and the magic that surrounded the shell, Bahamut closed his eyes to enter the dream once more, using the real Sin to temporarily dissolve the boundary between what was real and what was not.
Within the dream, the illusory Sin continued to sleep. When the monster didn't move, Jecht's curiosity got the better of him. Grabbing the edge of his boat, he jerked it free from the sand and pushed it back into the water, keeping it between himself and the monster, as if it were some kind of shield. Slowly, cautiously, he approached Sin.
Jecht reached for the strange beast, but his hand passed right through the illusory Sin, continuing through Bahamut's unseen Fayth, who rippled the dream to touch the real Sin. The moment the blitzball player touched the toxin, the pyrefly particles in his hand solidified, and he was drawn from the dream into reality. Jecht cried out in shock and horror, seeing his arm distort as it passed through the dimensions, but there was nothing he could do now to stop the rest of his body from being pulled all the way through.
When Jecht disappeared entirely, Bahamut opened his eyes again, in time to see his illusion splash solidly into the real ocean. Eager to see if his theory worked, Bahamut released his grip on Sin, disconnecting the dream from reality. Diving under the water, he tried to catch his illusion, but Jecht's body passed right through the boy's immaterial hands. The illusion had solidified, just like an aeon! He couldn't wait to tell the others that it worked! Success was short-lived, however, when he realized the drunken blitzball legend was in danger of drowning a second time. Straining to gather pyreflies again, Bahamut revealed his presence to Jecht. "Don't give up! Keep swimming! You have to reach the shore!"
))((
Half-drowned and still very drunk, Jecht was startled again, but this time at seeing a child's ghost underwater. Thinking his son had somehow followed him to a watery grave, he shot toward the surface and floundered in the large waves caused by the giant aeon.
Treading water, Jecht tried to get a grip on his senses. He was hallucinating. He had to be. But when he looked behind him, the giant "fish" was still there and on the defensive, swimming away after getting spooked by the contact. The ghostly child telling him to swim for the shore was still there, too. But now, pods shot from the colossal creature's shell into the water were opening into man-sized, blue fiends. Muttering a string of curses, Jecht turned and swam as fast as he could toward the shore. His life depended on it.
))((
"There!" Auron pointed to Sin's movement off the shore and shouldered his sword, ready for a fight. Sin was leaving, but its spawn was quickly heading their way.
Braska drew his staff and flashed his daughter a look of warning. "Yuna, go back to the city wall and stay there!"
Frightened, the small girl ran away from the piers and the hissing and flickering swarm of blue Sin spawn approaching land.
Jecht ducked under the pier in a failed attempt to hide and draw his sword. He swiped at a few of the spawn that followed, but the rest ignored him and headed for the humans above the docks.
Auron and Braska ran toward the spawn that began attacking men working in the dockyard, putting themselves between the workers and the threat. Auron sliced at the fiends that came toward them, while Braska drew the magical glyphs that would summon his only aeon. "Bahamut, thank you for your warning that Sin was at our back door."
))((
Expecting that they would need help fighting the swarm, Bahamut's spirit faded from the water near Jecht and materialized before his summoner in his black dragon form. Rushing toward the oncoming Sin spawn, the dragon's brute strength made short work of the fiends picking off dock workers. Individually, the small fiends weren't difficult to defeat, but their numbers made the battle chaotic until the last one went down.
When they had things back under control, Bahamut bowed before his summoner and was dismissed. Back in spirit form, Bahamut ran across the water to where Jecht was. The first part of their plan had been successfully accomplished, but without the second part, it wouldn't mean anything.
Jecht crawled onto the shore just as the city guards arrived on the scene. Coming out of the water, he stumbled and fell. Catching his breath from the fight and the swim, he was still trying to absorb the surreal shock of what had happened.
Bahamut strained to materialize once more. "You were drowning."
"I wasn't drowning," Jecht countered the blunt observation. "I know how to swim better than anyone. It's just a little difficult when I've got man-eating insects swarming after me!" He looked up with a wince and found himself facing the same mysterious boy that had appeared before him in the water. "You're not my kid. Who are you?"
Bahamut smiled, pleased that Jecht had made it this far. "You have to talk to Lord Braska."
"Who?"
Bahamut faded before the guards rushed to scoop Jecht up by his arms.
"Where'd the kid go?" Jecht looked around.
"What kid?" one of the guards responded.
"The kid that was just here talking to me!"
"Did the Sin spawn hurt you?" another guard asked.
"What's a Spin Sawn?"
The guard holding him sighed to the other with disgust. "He's not hurt. He's drunk."
"All right, what's your name?"
Jecht laughed. "Trick question, right?"
"He probably can't remember. He was out there swimming in Sin's toxin," the first guard said to the other, making a loopy gesture at the side of his head.
Jecht took offense. "I'm not crazy, you moron; I'm Jecht!" When neither of them seemed awed with recognition, he frowned. "Abes' MVP for the last several years? You know, I don't think I'm the only one tippin' back a few around here." He made a drinking gesture, straightened and looked at the red walls facing the docks, then swayed slightly. "By the way … where is here?"
The guard sighed. "Bevelle."
"What? There's no way I swam from Zanarkand to Bevelle in the blink of an eye."
"Zanarkand?" The two guards looked at each other and laughed. "Alcohol and Sin's toxin are an ugly mix," one joked to the other. "Okay, 'Jecht' from 'Zanarkand,' let's go get you a nice, comfy cell where you can sleep it off." He took Jecht's arm and attempted to lead him away.
Jecht tried to pull away. "Oh, hell, no! I know you're not taking me to jail on top of what I've just been through with that fish and ghost kid and fiends! I'm leaving this crazy-ass beach and going home!" He struggled to pull free again, but that only made them tighten their hold. A small scuffle ensued.
Bahamut smiled in amusement at Jecht's stubborn resistance. He had never met the man, but he could imagine Shuyin doing the same thing. Leaving the drunken blitzball player to argue with the Bevelle guards, the boy ran back to where Braska stood with one of the guards and the foreman of the docks.
"While the temple may no longer recognize you, we're grateful for your help, Lord Braska," the guard told him. "I'm sorry we didn't get here in time."
"Well, I had a bit of a heads-up that Sin was lurking off-shore." Braska glanced at the noisy man being dragged away. "What's that all about?" he asked when one of the guards that had struggled with Jecht joined them.
Auron snorted and sheathed his sword. "One too many beers, that's what."
"Some drunk, says he's from Zanarkand." The guard waved him off.
"Zanarkand?" Braska looked to Auron, more than a little amused. "Perhaps providence has sent us a tour guide."
"You mean a bar guide." Auron frowned. "No one could survive alone in those ruins."
"What's his name?" Braska asked.
"Called himself Jecht. You know him?" the guard answered.
"No, but … I'll be heading to Zanarkand soon. I'm intrigued by the coincidence, so I'd like to talk to him, if I may?" The summoner saw that his guardian wasn't impressed by his whim to interview the drunk, but Auron's skeptical expression only made Braska smile. Once more, he summoned his mighty aeon, and Bahamut returned in his dragon form. "Bahamut, please stay with Yuna. We'll only be gone a few minutes," he instructed before they walked away.
Yuna smiled as the black dragon approached her. "Bahamut." Without fear, the girl stroked his ebony scales with her small hands until he folded his wings and sat down beside her.
The dragon smiled to himself, pleased with the way the Fayth's plan had come together against the odds. Then his eyes drifted from Braska and Auron to the child happily turning her attention to some pretty rocks on the ground, and his heart went out to her, knowing she could be orphaned, regardless of whether this plan succeeded or failed. But if Jecht could defeat Sin and Yevon, if there was any chance that Braska could come home to his daughter, and if she could grow up in a world free from Sin, the Fayth's gift to her father will have been worth the trouble.
