Ever just the same,
Ever a surprise,
Ever as before, ever just as sure
As the sun will rise.
Tale as old as time,
Tune as old as song,
Bittersweet and strange,
Finding you can change, learning you were wrong.
Certain as the sun,
Rising in the east,
Tale as old as time,
Song as old as rhyme,
Beauty and the Beast.
~Beauty and the Beast
(I do not own this song or any of the others featured in this fan fiction.)
Chapter Twenty-One: The Fate of a Hero
Guardian moaned once and shrouded himself in a veil so that even I couldn't see into his thoughts. He retreated to the darkest part of my mind and left me empty and confused.
Guardian, please don't leave me alone, I begged him.
Leave me, he breathed threateningly. I reluctantly pulled myself away from him and back to the shimmering dream that had unveiled so much.
Guardian's fayth looked around the room in surprise, and then he smiled. "So it wasn't all just a fantasy," he said, sounding relieved.
Sophia stepped towards the fayth. "I have a proposition for you, Tidus," she said determinedly.
Guardian's fayth looked at her curiously, "Who're you?"
"I," Sophia stated, "am Yuna's mother."
You're Yuna's mother?
"You're Yuna's mother?"
My spirit's voice and the fayth's own voice mingled as we echoed each other, surprise clearly evident in the stale air of the temple room.
"Yes," Sophia said, bowing her head slightly.
"It's nice to meet you," Tidus said politely. "What were you saying about a proposition?"
Sophia arched an eyebrow at him. "Well you're quite down to earth, aren't you?" she said. She turned her back to him and said, "I want my daughter to be happy, and you are the person who will make her happy." She ran her fingers through her blonde hair and said, "I am going to give you a way to go back to her."
Tidus looked interested. "How do you expect to do that?" he asked skeptically.
She gave her husband a nudge towards the circle the housed Guardian's soul. "Braska will summon you, of course, and then you shall go back to her."
"Easier said than done!" Tidus exclaimed. "I'm an aeon, and there are way too many things wrong with that idea."
"I'm not done!" Sophia said, glaring at him. "After your summoning you shall, of course, be the full-blown Guardian Dragon that is your aeon body. In that body you must bide your time, eighteen to twenty years at least, and then go to Besaid." She turned to Auron, Jecht, and Braska. "During that time three fayths will be made. They will be Auron, Jecht, and myself."
Tidus turned to Auron and Jecht. "Are you sure about this?"
Jecht grinned at him and said, "Don't you worry about it! We have everything under control!"
"After such, Auron and I will return to the physical world to help you along the way. Jecht will stay close by us at all times, ready to help if need be," Sophia said, crossing her arms and smiling proudly. "I will complete the last leg of your journey for you."
"Hmm?" Tidus wondered.
Sophia put her hands behind her back and said, "Oh, that doesn't concern you at the moment."
"Whatever you say," Tidus said, still sounding skeptic at the imposed simplicity of the idea.
"Are we about ready?" Auron asked, sounding a bit impatient.
Sophia smiled and nodded towards her husband. "Yes, I think we're about ready."
"I still don't think that this'll work," Tidus said, moving his blue eyes towards the domed ceiling of his temple. "It's way too simple.."
"No one assured that there'd be no problems," Sophia said. She turned her back on the fayth. "Do you agree, o fayth, to become to aeon of Summoner Braska?"
"I do," Tidus said.
Sophia smiled and watched as her husband bent down. "Then let the summoning begin."
Braska made the shape of a circle with his hands and bowed to Tidus, who closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating. The Summoner's knees bent towards the ground and he reached behind him and gripped his staff tightly in one hand, bringing it in front of him and standing tall. Tidus' image shimmered out of view and the domed statue began to glow, getting brighter every second until the light seemed to flow through the entire room via small lines that traced the perimeter of it, each of them ending at the gigantic statue in the back. The statue's diamond eyes glittered and then began to soften, retaining the beautiful blue that was Guardian's eyes. The stone of the statue softened and became transparent, looking like a heavenly sort of water as the glow pumped through it. The strange liquid drained off of Guardian's golden body. The sword flashed as he stretched and yawned, as if waking up from an extra long sleep.
Sophia walked up to the great dragon and patted his leg. He bent down to her as far as he could and looked her straight in the eye. "Go," she said. "Go and prepare yourself, Aeon, and be in Besaid in twenty years." She placed her palm on his muzzle and turned her face towards Auron. "One of us will be there for you when you get there." Guardian nodded and rumbled his reply with an agreeing growl.
Auron held up his sword at Guardian as the great beast broke off into the storm of pyreflies that made up his physical form. "Good luck," he muttered, drawing back the gigantic blade.
~*~*~*~
Darkness descended on my vision like a cloud, and Guardian sighed as if getting an enormous burden off of his back. I'm sorry, he muttered.
It's all right, I said, unable to be angry with him.
The past can be hard, Sophia's spirit voice murmured, but the dream hasn't ended yet.
What d'you mean? I asked.
We're going to a later time, Sophia said.
The darkness seemed to break away, revealing a churning ocean below us and a very familiar dragon-shaped vessel being tossed by gigantic waves that threatened to rip the ship apart with their force. Crusaders and sailors ran about the deck trying to keep the ship afloat as the wind tore at the sails and whistled through their ears, obscuring their hearing.
Ryuu's arrogant voice was barely heard over the gale as belted out orders to his soldiers. "You, Oryon, or whatever your name is, get to the lookout. The captain says that a hurricane may be headed our way. Give out the warning if you see even the beginnings of one!"
A younger, less-experienced looking Oryon saluted his superior and hustled to do as he was told. He seemed proud to have even been addressed by Ryuu. I chuckled this observation to Guardian and he laughed. Something that'll soon change, eh? Oryon's thirty times the soldier that twit will ever be.
The rain pelted down on Oryon and a shiver ran up his spine, but he kept his brown eyes focused on the sea. He blinked as water clouded his vision and brought a hand up to wipe the persistent droplets out of his eyes. He jumped and let his hand fall dumbly to his side as a golden glimmer trailed under the other side of the ship, a golden glimmer that happened to be over a hundred feet long. The glimmer stopped as it reached his side of the ship, and a familiar face lifted itself out of the water and stared at Oryon, who's jaw had fallen. A cerulean eye winked and the beast flicked its gigantic tail at Oryon, who took a step back. I knew this scene looked familiar, Guardian chuckled.
"Fiend! Fiend!" Oryon shouted, though his calls were lost to the frantic men who were trying to keep the ship in one piece. "Fiend!" he tried again, raising his voice a few notches. He received no reply.
Guardian raised himself out of the water until he was standing on it, his feet staying on the ocean's surface as if he weighed no more than a feather, and he crossed his great arms and observed the scene below him, as if deciding what he should do. "Fiend!" Oryon tried once again, though the warning was hardly necessary as every man on the deck had turned to face the gigantic golden dragon, most of them unsure how to react to his appearance.
Guardian bent down until he was at eye level with the men on the ship, and one of them whimpered helplessly as he lifted the ship out of the water and into his claws as if the Draconis were just a simple twig lying on any path. He lifted the ship above him to check the bottom of it and then returned it to where he was looking directly at the men. "Who's in charge here?" he asked. The men pointed towards the captain of the ship, who shrunk away and glared at the sailors and Crusaders that pointed the accusing fingers. Guardian turned his eyes to the captain. "Where is this ship headed?" he asked.
The captain swallowed and answered weakly, "Luca."
Guardian blinked. "Speak louder, man, I can't hear you over this storm."
"LUCA!" the captain shouted, his voice cracking.
Guardian nodded approvingly. "Much better." He patted the ship and said, "There's a hurricane headed this way, and it's a big one. If it reached here you'd all be dead. Lucky I came along." He pulled his arm back and said, "I'll give you a one-way trip to Luca, but you must never speak of my presence in this ocean." Every man on the deck nodded dumbly. "Alright then," Guardian said, smiling with his lethal-looking teeth. "Safe trip!" He threw the ship towards the sky and closed his eyes, opening them again a second later to watch the ship disappear. A thousand miles away he knew that the ship would be dropped near Luca's harbors, and he grinned to himself as he imagined the shocked look on their faces.
Guardian looked back at the stormy sky and murmured, "Good seein' you again, Auron."
~*~*~*~