A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Here's Chapter 25. Chapter 26 will follow shortly, so please stay tuned.
***
Chapter 25
The Fall of Bevelle
The warrior monks formed a line of riflemen to try and shoot the airship out of the sky, but bullets were useless against its metal hull, and with Cid raining projectiles on them, the line was soon broken. They were not accustomed to sieges.
With disorder and chaos reigning among the warrior monks, the Al Bhed descended upon Bevelle. Accompanying them were Tidus, Auron, Jecht, Lulu, Rikku, Wakka, and Kimahri, all armed to the teeth and ready to do battle. Opening fire upon the priests, the Al Bhed rapidly broke through their defenses and entered the palace to seek out the prisoners far below. Tidus went with them.
Grim-faced warrior monks drew swords left and right, prepared for battle. Jecht grinned ferociously, brandishing the rifle Cid had given him.
"Sin's back, baby, an' he's spoilin' fer a fight!"
A line of warrior monks charged them with cries of fury. "Y'see," Jecht explained wisely to Auron as they crossed weapons with the monks, "the funniest part is that it's true."
"I get it, Jecht."
Lulu calmly sidestepped the swing of a monk's sword, lighting a fire on the tips of her fingers. She snapped her fingers and the flame became a maelstrom, sweeping viciously through the priests' defense. "Don't make it look so easy," Rikku gasped, fending off her own foe with her claw as his sword rained blows on her. Lulu pointed to the priest and the firestorm leapt for him; the man screamed and dropped his weapon, swatting wildly at his clothes in an attempt to smother the flames.
"I had him," Rikku said, disgruntled.
"I know," Lulu said calmly, literally freezing another enemy in his tracks with a sheath of ice.
Explosions rocked the cliff below them. The airship was circling over Bevelle, raining missiles onto the city below. The ground shook as towers and spires gave way, the city's beautiful architecture crumbling to ruins. The palace groaned and shifted alarmingly beneath the weight of its ruined tower.
Rikku cursed. "I'm going to search for Yunie," she snapped to Lulu. "She's going to get herself killed down there."
Wakka swung the butt of a rifle into the head of a priest sneaking up on Rikku, effectively knocking him cold. "I'm going wit you," he informed Rikku.
"Where'd you get the rifle?" she demanded, startled.
Wakka grinned, slinging the weapon over his shoulder. "I picked it up somewhere."
"If you're going, go now," Lulu ordered, siccing her whirlwind of fire on a fresh wave of warrior monks. "Watch your step."
"We'll be careful," Rikku promised as she and Wakka sprinted toward the palace, cutting down a pair of monks with two vicious swipes of her claw.
Distracted, Lulu didn't notice the priest behind her until his hand seized her none-too-gently by the throat. A ferocious roar made her blood freeze in her veins; the priest was yanked away from her as easily as if he were a rag doll and thrown to the ground. Lulu winced and looked away as Kimahri plunged his spear into the man's heart.
"Thanks," she said breathlessly.
"Welcome," Kimahri grunted, his voice a low, animalistic rumble.
The two pressed back to back in the fray as more warrior monks leapt forward to engage them.
* * *
Trying to find the prisoners in the Palace of Bevelle, a maze of rooms, narrow corridors, and walkways extending over enormous, echoing halls, was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Tidus did his best to remember the way down to the dungeons beneath the cliff, but after a while the distinct feeling that he was leading them in circles came over him.
It didn't help that the palace kept shaking and groaning as though it were ready to collapse and that explosions sounded every few minutes from the city above. Nor did it help that around every corridor lay a squad of warrior monks waiting to engage the Al Bhed and Tidus.
At last Brother got impatient. As the surviving priests of one scuffle escaped down a side corridor, Brother caught one fleeing monk by the shoulder and slammed him against a wall, pressing the barrel of his rifle against the unfortunate man's temple.
"Frana yna dra bnecuhanc?" he demanded coldly.
The man was sweating and shaking, obviously confused. "I–what?"
"We're trying to find the prisoners," Tidus told him levelly. "If you tell us where they're located, I'll make sure my Al Bhed friend here doesn't shoot you."
The priest swallowed. "They're–they're five floors below us. Y-you take the staircase at the end of this hallway and follow it straight down. Then you take a left and the second right and you'll be there. I-I don't have the keys, you'll have to get them from the guards."
"That won't be a problem," Tidus said dryly. After all, he had an entire squad of armed Al Bhed with him, not to mention Brother. "Five floors down, make a left, take the second right. Correct?"
The priest nodded fervently.
"All right." Tidus nodded to Brother, who reluctantly let the priest go and stepped back.
"Ku," he said icily.
"You might want to evacuate," Tidus added with rare sympathy. "This place is going to collapse on top of us any second."
The priest didn't need to be told twice. He inched along the wall away from Brother, then turned and escaped down the hall without a glance back.
* * *
The pyreflies were obviously guiding her. A group of them streamed over Yuna's head as she jogged through the halls of the palace, often swarming together to block her way when she took a wrong turn, redirecting her onto a path of their choosing. Yuna could only hope that they were leading her to Miralesca.
At one point the hall she was following opened into another enormous, high-ceiling room with walkways criss-crossing above and below her. Her corridor seemed to lead directly into open air.
"The walkway for this hall must be mechanized," Yuna told the pyreflies, noting an opening to another hallway in the far wall directly across from her. She could barely make out the control panel for the walkway extension.
"Now what?" Yuna wondered aloud, glancing down at the floor of the room, hundreds of feet below.
She turned to find another way, but a swarm of pyreflies were gathering behind her, forming a familiar, solid shape. Feathers grew on a slim, armless body; wings unfurled. Gleaming yellow eyes regarded her carefully.
"Valefor," Yuna whispered.
The aeon's beak parted as a long, high-pitched shriek escaped its throat–an invitation. Knowing instinctively what it wanted, Yuna placed a hand on its narrow shoulder and carefully swung onto its back. Valefor shrieked once more, unfurling its wings, and took to the air, carrying Yuna easily across open space to the hallway in the far wall.
Yuna slid off the aeon's back and onto solid ground just as it began dissolving into pyreflies. Yuna watched it sadly, wishing that it would stay. Valefor ran its beak comfortingly through her hair, then disappeared.
"Thank you," Yuna whispered before turning and setting off down the corridor, trailing pyreflies in her wake.
* * *
Even with the best intentions in the world, finding Yuna was quickly becoming an impossible task as neither Rikku nor Wakka had any idea where to begin to look. "We should have followed her right away," Rikku muttered as they paced through the halls. "It was so stupid to let her go off on her own."
"She'll be okay," Wakka offered.
"I'm not taking that chance," Rikku said bluntly. "I'm not leaving here until I know she's safe, even if the palace collapses on top of me."
They continued through the endless corridors, guided by nothing but instinct and hopes. There was a scuffle with warrior monks here and there, but the halls were mostly deserted–anyone sane would have fled the palace by now.
The silence between them was deafening. At last, Wakka broke it.
"I was tinking about dat ting you said to me earlier, you know."
Rikku started. "W-what thing was that again?" she stammered.
"You know. Dat 'e muja oui' ting, or whatever you said."
"Oh. That. Um, right."
"See, at first I didn't know what you meant, being dat I don't speak Al Bhed and all," Wakka went on recklessly. "But den when I tought about it, it became pretty obvious. 'Cause I do know dat 'e' means 'I' and 'oui' means 'you'...so dat leaves only de middle word to figure out."
Rikku couldn't help herself. She stopped walking and turned back to face him, twisting her hands behind her back as she waited.
"Dis 'muja' ting was a source of worry," Wakka continued. He hesitated for a moment, gazing at her levelly. "I'm not really dat smart, and I can't do anyting but play Blitzball, and I get on your nerves, and I know next to nothing about de Al Bhed and all dat. You've had to put up with me all dis time. So I supposed you musta been telling me dat you hate me."
"Wakka!" Rikku gasped. "I don't–"
"But before you said dat," Wakka interrupted, "you kissed me." He smiled. "So you can probably see why I'm a little confused, ya?"
"Wakka...I..." With a sudden start, Rikku realized there were tears on her cheeks. Helplessly she laughed. "What am I crying for? This is–this is so stupid!"
Wakka wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I love you, too, Rikku," he murmured. "I just want you to know dat." He kissed the top of her head, then gently pulled away, holding her by the shoulders. "So what do you say we go find Yuna and get outta here, ya?"
Rikku rubbed her eyes vigorously and smiled up at him. "Sure. Let's go."
* * *
Guided by pyreflies, Yuna soon arrived at one of the lowest levels of the palace. Here the plaster walls and marble floors gave way to stone, and twisting rock formations stretched down from the ceiling. The air was cool and dry with a hint of a saltwater scent; Yuna supposed the ocean breeze must be blowing in from some opening in the cave network.
She soon discovered a pair of enormous, mechanized metal doors with a machina standing guard in front of them. This time it was Shiva who appeared from the swarm of pyreflies, freezing the machina in its tracks without a twitch. It then coated the metal doors in a thick sheet of ice and snapped its fingers. The doors shattered into millions of tiny fragments. As the aeon dissolved into Moonflow, Yuna thanked it and passed through the destroyed barrier.
Behind the shattered doors was a large, empty cave with an opening that led straight into open air. She could see the ocean stretching to the horizon through the opening, but knew this cave was at least a hundred feet above the bottom of the cliff, where jagged rocks jutted out of turquoise water.
Miralesca stood by the opening of the cave, facing the ocean. "Listen," she said quietly without turning. "You can hear the sounds of battle. Your friends are fighting fiercely for you. You should go to them."
"Not without you," Yuna said firmly.
The priestess shook her head. "It's over for me."
"Nothing is over!" Yuna cried. "There are always second chances! If you ever truly wanted to help Spira, then you wouldn't be giving up so easily now!"
Miralesca sighed, facing Yuna. "You don't understand. It is because I want to help Spira that I am giving up now. This world doesn't need me. Nor does it want me. The era of Yevon is over."
"Then let's work together in creating a new era," Yuna persisted. "One of peace and harmony between the peoples of Spira."
Miralesca smiled and shook her head. "Maybe what I did here was a mistake. Maybe I will repeat those mistakes if I go with you. I don't really know. All I know is this–you are all that is needed to create a new world."
Yuna suddenly realized that Miralesca stood at the very edge of the cave opening, and knew what she intended to do.
"Wait!" she cried, reaching for the priestess. "Don't do this!"
Miralesca smiled, closing her eyes. "I am glad to have met you, Grand Summoner. Goodbye."
She leaned back and fell.
"Miralesca!"
She was gone. Yuna darted to the edge of the cave, but she did not even catch a glimpse of her falling body. The sea rose in a swirl of angry, frothing waves and swept the priestess away.
* * *
Following the directions of the priests, Tidus, Brother, and the Al Bhed soon found the dungeon. It was abandoned of all guards. Only their ring of keys was left lying in front of the main door to the dungeon.
"This is convenient," Tidus remarked, picking up the keys and unlocking the door.
He divided the keys among the Al Bhed, and they began unlocking the cells and freeing the prisoners within. Some of the prisoners shrank back in fear at the sight of them; others wept tears of joy as they experienced their first taste of freedom in years. Most left their cells in silence, mute and deadened from their trials within the dungeons.
Tidus personally went to O'aka's cell to free him. The man was standing at the bars of his cell, attempting to see what was going on. The moment he glimpsed Tidus he yelped and leapt back.
"A ghost! Fayth 'ave mercy!"
Tidus rolled his eyes. "I'm not a ghost, O'aka," he said, shoving a key into the lock of Oaka's cell.
"Are you an Unsent, then?" O'aka demanded, peering at him warily as the cell door slid back.
"No! I'm alive, and so is Yuna. Cid and the Al Bhed saved us, and now we're saving you." Tidus stood back and waited.
O'aka cautiously stepped out of his cell and looked around, wide-eyed. "I'll be damned," he whispered as he saw the squad of Al Bhed. "I'm not dreaming, am I?"
Tidus shook his head. "You're free."
"Oui tuha?" Brother called from down the corridor.
"That's the last of them," Tidus called back.
Brother looked around to check that there were no more prisoners, then waved Tidus and O'aka to him. "Madc ku."
They left the dungeon and went back to the stairs, ascending it as high as they could go. The squad of Al Bhed went first, then a line of prisoners. Tidus and Brother brought up the rear, keeping an eye behind them for any danger. The palace shook and groaned quite alarmingly. They could see the fear in the eyes of the prisoners and in the tense movements of the Al Bhed squad.
Tidus put a hand on Brother's shoulder and murmured in his ear, "Yuna is down here somewhere."
Brother nodded grimly. Instinctively the Al Bhed understood the gist of what Tidus had said. "Famm?" he inquired, looking at Tidus with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah. Let's go."
Brother nodded again and called to the head of the line. "Pacco!"
An Al Bhed stopped and looked back at him, snapping to attention. "Cen!"
"Dyga dra bnecuhanc du dra airship e damm dra udranc du fyed vun ic," Brother ordered. "Fana kuehk du vedt Yuna."
Pacco nodded. "Oac, cen."
The Al Bhed headed toward the surface while Brother and Tidus went back the way they came. Alone, they hurried through the endless twisting corridors, searching doggedly for Yuna. The palace seemed entirely deserted by now.
Or so they thought. When a warrior monk appeared out of a side hall behind them, neither of them had any time to react. There was a sound like a clap of thunder, then Brother swore viciously and fell to his knees, clutching a hand to his shoulder.
Tidus snatched up Brother's rifle without a second thought and swung it blindly. The butt of the rifle connected with the warrior monk's head with a loud, satisfying crack.
"Bastard," Tidus snarled at the priest's unconscious form, flinging the rifle away.
Brother sat on the floor with his hand pressed to his shoulder, blood streaming between his fingers, muttering curses in Al Bhed through gritted teeth. Tidus knelt beside him.
"He shot you?"
Brother gave him a look as if he knew what a stupid question Tidus had just asked. "Sorry," Tidus said sheepishly. "Let me see."
Tidus was no expert on bullet wounds, but it appeared that the projectile had gone straight through Brother's shoulder. He decided this was a good thing and set about to ripping the unconscious priest's outer robe to shreds for a makeshift bandage. He tied the bandage as tightly as he could around Brother's shoulder and gave him a hand up.
"You'd better get to the surface," Tidus told him, jabbing a finger at the ceiling to get his point across.
Brother shook his head. His face was pale and his jaw clenched tightly against the pain, but determination blazed in his eyes. "Madc vedt Yuna."
Tidus didn't argue. "Let's go."
When they turned, however, they found their way blocked by a small boy with an expressionless face and mysterious, shadowed eyes. The child was all too familiar to Tidus.
"You're that Fayth!" he gasped. "The one who told me I was a dream!"
The boy spoke in a voice that seemed to echo through their minds, a voice that they somehow both could understand. "The Fayth have come in the name of Yuna, her guardians, and all those who defeated Sin and Yu Yevon forever and thus ended our dreaming. You who love Yuna and would die for her, follow us. We will bring you to her side."
* * *
Yuna didn't know how long she remained inside the cave, seated at the edge of the opening, watching the ocean crash against the jagged rocks far below. After a time, however, she became aware of an increased number of pyreflies within the cave–then two new presences.
"Yuna!"
She felt a touch on her shoulder, then a hand gripped her chin, gently but firmly turning her face. Yuna looked into Tidus's worried eyes.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
"She's dead," Yuna mumbled. "She killed herself."
"I'm sorry," Tidus said sincerely, taking her hands and tugging her to her feet. "I know you wanted to save her. But we have to get out of here now, before this entire place collapses on top of us."
"But–Miralesca–" Yuna protested. "I should dance the Sending for her–"
Pyreflies veiled around them before Tidus could reply, and the voice of Bahamut's Fayth issued from somewhere among them. "The Sending is irrelevant. There are no fiends, and the priestess harbored no ill feelings toward you at the time of her death. We will guide her soul to the Farplane. You must leave, or our work here will be in vain."
The pyreflies streamed from the cave opening and to the sea below. "Is that good enough?" Tidus asked her softly. "I'm sorry, but the Fayth is right. We have to leave."
Casting one last glance at the sea, Yuna silently said her farewells. Then she brushed off her skirt and nodded. "Yes. Let's go."
Outside the shattered doors Brother waited for them, sitting back against a cave wall and cradling his shoulder, wrapped in a makeshift bandage stained with blood. Yuna gasped. "Brother! Are you okay?"
"A priest shot him," Tidus explained. "We wrapped it up as best we could, but he wanted to help find you."
"May I?" Yuna carefully unwrapped the bandage from around Brother's shoulder and peeled it back to examine the wound. Watching her, Brother said nothing.
"I think the bullet went through his shoulder," Tidus said helpfully. "Is that good?"
"Definitely. It means I can heal the wound right now." Yuna smiled at Brother. "Not to worry, this is nothing I can't handle." She placed her small hand on his shoulder, closing her eyes, and spread the warmth of her healing magic into his wound, knitting muscle and flesh together until it was as good as new. Brother was silent through the whole procedure, but when she opened her eyes and looked at him again, he placed a hand on her cheek.
"Dryhg oui," he said quietly.
Yuna smiled. Though they spoke different languages, she was sure that this time, she understood. "You're welcome."
"I hate to interrupt," Tidus said edgily, "but we seriously need to get moving."
They didn't hesitate for another moment, but hurried up the stairs as fast as they could and through the endless hallways, relying on instinct rather than any set course of direction. In a hallway on one of the upper floors they found Rikku and Wakka.
"Yunie!" Rikku yelped as soon as she saw. "Tidus! Brother! You're all alive!"
"We're not going to be if we don't all get out of here now," Tidus said sharply. "Just go!"
The floor shook underfoot as they ran through the hallways. A horrible snapping, cracking sound suddenly reverberated throughout the palace, accompanied by a shudder like an earthquake. "You hear that? The cliff is collapsing into the sea," Rikku whispered, her face pale.
Yuna spotted a group of pyreflies in a corridor off to their side and pointed. "There! That way!"
At last they reached the balcony on which Tidus and Yuna had nearly died. It was scattered with debris and the bodies of dead priests, void of any living souls other than Lulu and Auron, waiting anxiously in the shade of the airship. "Let's go!" Lulu cried immediately when she spotted them.
Safe aboard the airship, Yuna and her friends watched as the palace finally collapsed beneath the weight of its ruined tower along with half the cliff, sliding from the land to plunge into the ocean below. She could only hope that everyone had safely evacuated as the airship circled over Bevelle, the city a ruin of tumble-down wreckage and smoking debris.
Their side had suffered casualties as well, as indicated by the bodies that were carefully laid out in the main cabin. Recognizing one of the dead, Yuna knelt at his side, trembling.
"No," she moaned. "Please, O'aka, open your eyes."
A hand settled on her shoulder. "He got caught under some falling debris, and his chest was crushed," Cid told her gently. "Pacco told me he would've lived if he hadn't hesitated to shove another prisoner out of the way. They dug him out 'cause they didn't want to leave such a brave soul to rot in Bevelle." He hesitated a moment, then asked, "Will you dance the Sending?"
Yuna realized there were tears on her cheeks and rubbed them away with the back of her hand. "There's no need," she answered thickly. "The Fayth will take care of their souls, and bring them to the Farplane to rest."
They went to the bridge, leaving a group of Al Bhed to prepare and purify their comrades in their custom. Yuna stood silently, gazing out the windows to the city below them. Then she saw them.
"Cid–everyone–look!"
The others crowded around the window to peer out in the direction Yuna pointed. On a hill above the city, headed toward the forest of Macalania, were hundreds of people and their sparse baggage.
"Refugees from Bevelle," Auron commented. "I wonder where they'll go?"
Yuna turned to face Cid. "We have to go down there."
All of them, including Cid, gaped at her. "We what? Why?"
"To help them, of course."
"Help the priests?" Rikku demanded shrilly. "They tried to kill you!"
"They did," Yuna admitted. "Over nothing more than a difference in opinion. But what about us? Can you honestly say we would have done better?"
She looked around at all of them for a moment: her only love, her best friends, the Al Bhed, a second family to her. "This is where it begins," she said quietly. "This is where we make a choice. We can choose to see these people as our enemies and perpetuate hate, or we can choose to help them as friends taking care of friends. Miralesca's vision was a world without sin, as is mine. But we will never, ever see that world unless we learn to understand each other."
For a moment there was silence. Then Cid issued a quiet order in Al Bhed, and they felt the airship turning, heading toward the refugees. "Most of them won't accept our help, y'know," Cid pointed out. "They'll only see us as the enemy."
"I know. But some will." Yuna smiled. "That's a start.
* * *
To be continued.
* * *
Translations
Frana yna dra bnecuhanc? – Where are the prisoners?
Ku – Go
E muja oui – I love you
Oui tuha? – You done?
Madc ku – Let's go
Cen – Sir
Dyga dra bnecuhanc du dra airship e damm dra udranc du fyed vun ic – Take the prisoners to the airship
and tell the others to wait for us
Fana kuehk du vedt Yuna – We're going to find Yuna
Oac, cen – Yes, sir
Madc vedt Yuna – Let's find Yuna
Dryhg oui – Thank you