You opened my arms to a million scars,
You took my heart and you tore it apart.
No regrets, nothing remains,
I turned away and I can't stay.
The Sweetness of Death by the Obsidian Knife - Ash
As they emerged from the caves of Gagazet, blinking in the rising sun, a gasp of awe arose from the trio. Zanarkand lay before them in ruins as the legend decreed. Still, the beauty of the great Machina City could be seen, eerily exquisite as the mellifluous fingertips of the dawn stroked the smooth, unblemished surfaces. Luzzu simply gaped, unable to do anything other than look over the debris-ridden plains. Cid wiped away a lone tear; the emotion at seeing the city that had been part of the fairy tales passed down through the generations overcoming him. Though this had been the city of the summoner's, he still felt a strange connection to the wreckage. Lesca surveyed the scene wistfully, wondering absently how her father had felt when he had looked over the remains of Zanarkand. Had he felt so…sad? She couldn't place the reason for her sorrow, each step she took now brought her closer to her goal of death, her own destruction.
She should have felt elation at the thought of being reunited with her family on the Farplane, but he wasn't there. Aleron had appeared with her parents on that fateful day in Guadosalam, looking almost seraphic, happy and loved by his grandparents while he awaited his mother's arrival. She remembered the ache of her heart when her husband didn't appear beside them, looking down lovingly on their son as she had expected. From that day on, she had flung her expectations to the wind; they only caused her pain, she had reasoned after an internal battle with herself. The serpentine waters winding around the corpse-like buildings sparkled as the sun rose higher in the sky, and she shivered despite the warmth being exuded from the orb's breath.
She twisted the ring on her finger as she continued to ponder her fathers pilgrimage. Jecht…Had he broken down at the sight of this Zanarkand, the alarming contrast of his home so full of life and this city of ghosts perhaps too much for the self-assured blitzer? She shook her head, a slight smile tugging the corners of her mouth upwards. The Great Jecht? I don't think so…but he must have hurt. I hope they helped him through it. Did Auron and Jecht resolve their surface differences? In the sphere she clung to there had been hints of a budding friendship, and she prayed it had blossomed for both their sakes. In their hearts, they were near identical, though neither would have cared to admit to it. What happened to Jecht? She could only assume he had followed the other members of the pilgrimage to his death, but she hoped he had made it back to his Zanarkand.
Her inner monologue tired her and she stopped thinking, concentrating instead on the sensations her body was experiencing. The luminary warmed her skin; the slight dusting of tan she had acquired in Besaid had all but faded now. The delicate breeze blowing in from the Zanarkand waters carried on it the whispers of the dead intermingled with the sweet salt scent of the ocean. Beautifully horrifying. Straining her ears, she could just about make out the soft splash of the waves lapping against the mounds of rock that protruded from the ocean. Lesca's tongue darted out to wet her lips, her fine eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise when she tasted the salt there present. She was shocked to find the tears running freely down her face without hindrance. The summoner wiped them away quickly before her Guardians caught sight of the inexplicable grief and worried.
A cry disturbed her thoughts and she spun round, the small hairs on the back of her neck prickling in anticipation. Cid and Luzzu turned also, stealing a look at the summoner before scanning the area for the source of the shriek. A man appeared from the ruins, carrying in his arms a young woman. His anguish was palpable as he lamented her obvious death. The two Guardians lowered their weapons which had been cocked and ready, to ascertain the mans intentions. He approached them; his eyes red rimmed from the caustic liquid streaming from his tear ducts.
His eyes pleaded with them. "Please, the Lady…she has fallen. We were so close to the end of the pilgrimage! Only to fail in Zanarkand." He shook his head, before taking in the staff at Lesca's side. "You are a summoner also?"
"I am." She stated hesitantly.
He laid the cadaver on the ground gently before taking Lesca firmly by the shoulders. "Please! You have to send her, I couldn't bear it if she were to become…"
Lesca nodded sadly. "I know. I'll send her. What are your names?"
"I am Zuke. This was the Lady Summoner Sedan. So close…I swear, if I make it back to Besaid, my training will begin immediately. I will become a summoner in her place; I'll avenge her death. I will defeat Sin. Damn the Sinspawn to hell…"
He slumped to the ground, defeated by the horrors he had experienced. Lesca looked at the man before walking away from the group, pausing momentarily to gather her thoughts and run through the ceremony in her head. Slowly, tentatively, she began to dance. The Guardians watched on, her staff slicing through the air in elegant motions, her feet seemingly not touching the ground. This person is dead. A step, a simple movement of her wrist sending the staff spiralling in yet another harmonious revolution. Her soul depends on me for its salvation. Another tread as she swooped low before returning to the tips of her toes, spinning in loose circles, letting the grace of her movements take over her body. It consumed her now, the dance. She didn't have to think of her next step as she let herself be carried by the breathless song of the pyreflies escaping from the other summoner's body. She closed her eyes as she gave herself to the summoner's ballet; tears escaping her as she contemplated her loved ones deaths and her own fate. She pushed the selfish thoughts from her mind, instead concentrating fully on the soul of the departed, commending her silently to the Farplane. May you find peace…The final fluid inclination of the stave and the ritual was complete. She smiled weakly at the man, relieved to see the body had dissolved completely into a chaos of light. Luzzu caught her arm as she stumbled, his eyes voicing silent concern as she leant on him heavily.
She looked up from the tuft of grass she had been staring blankly at and regarded Zuke. "You will be alright?"
He nodded, relieved that his summoner was safely in the Farplane. "I will. May Yevon bless you, thank you." He walked off toward his home, leaving the summoner's party in silence.
Cid walked over to where Lesca still stood supported by Luzzu, using a gentle thumb to rub away the remaining tear. "It's ok. You did good."
"I, I hope we don't meet anyone else like that. I don't want to do it again." She stammered, embarrassed.
"I know. It'll be over soon, Lesca. You won't have to worry for much longer."
She sighed and took one last look at the desecrated city before her. "It'll soon be over. How right you are."
~*~*~
She shook her arm free of Luzzu's tremulous grasp. "Please, Luzzu. Let me go. The Fayth awaits me."
"Why should I let you go to your death?" He raged.
She smiled sadly, running a soft finger down his cheek. "Because I ask it of you. I told you not to accompany me back in Besaid if you meant to hinder us. Why did you not heed my warning?"
He flung his arms in the air, frustrated at her inclination toward a futile death. "I thought you would change your mind! I thought…"
Cid prised him away gently. "I know what you thought, kid. I told you it wasn't gonna happen. We have to resign ourselves to it, ya know? Let her go, don't make it harder for any of us."
The younger man slumped, defeated as Lesca descended into the chamber of the Fayth. He looked up to the Al Bhed, clenching his fists to try and make physical the emotional pain. "You're her uncle! Dissuade from this fool's path!"
Cid laughed. "A monk of Yevon shouldn't be saying things like that!"
"I don't give a shit what I should or should not say! I care for her…"
"So do I. She's family, but that means she's got our will of steel. I tried to discourage her from this course months before we met you, to no avail. You think I didn't try? I tried till I was blue in the face. I said to you that she was as good as dead, to keep your mind off of her, didn't I? I know it's not that easy, but I wish you'd listened. For her sake and yours." The older man sighed, rubbing the back of his head.
Luzzu's head snapped up. "She has feelings for me?"
"As a friend, nothing more. She still loves him, she mourns him daily. What do you think the reason for this damn pilgrimage is? It's so she can be with him and their son. Death is her release from the pain of living."
"Cid! Luzzu!"
The cry interrupted the heart to heart and they descended into the chamber without a second thought. As their eyes adjusted to the light, they made out the figure of the kneeling Lesca beside the Fayth. She looked up at them, panic stricken. "This isn't a Fayth! It's a statue, the stone has no power!"
The Guardians tried to contain their joy. "So there is no Final Summoning?" Luzzu asked hopefully.
"I, I don't know."
A man appeared in front of them surrounded by pyreflies. He lifted Lesca's chin up to meet her eyes. "Your eyes tell me you have journeyed well summoner, you have completed your pilgrimage. This statue lost its power as a Fayth long ago; it is Lord Zaon of the First Summoning. But fear not! Lady Yunalesca will surely bestow upon you that which you seek. The Final Aeon will be yours."
Cid helped his niece to her feet as they entered the hall of Yunalesca together, bowing as the woman herself descended into their presence. Lesca bowed deeply once more, making the gesture of prayer to the legendary summoner. "Lady Yunalesca, I am honoured."
The ghost smiled. "Welcome to Zanarkand, summoner. I extend to you my congratulations; you have successfully completed your pilgrimage. I will now confer to you that which you seek; the Fayth of the Final Summoning will be yours. But first you must choose the one whom I will change."
The young summoner frowned. "What do you mean, my Lady?"
"You must choose which of your Guardians will become the Fayth for your aeon. There must be a bond between summoner and Fayth, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies. One thousand years ago, my husband, Zaon became my Fayth. Your father, Braska, chose the Guardian Jecht as his Fayth. Come to me with your decision, summoner."
The sceptre left the room as Lesca reeled from the revelation. She looked up at Cid; her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I, I can't do this! I won't!"
His face was like granite, hard and unwavering. "You can. You must. Lesca, I'll do it. Make me your Fayth."
She shook her head vehemently. "No! What about Rikku? She needs her father!"
"You need me more. Her brother will watch over her."
She turned to leave, her path barred by her uncle. "Don't be a fool! I don't want you to die! We leave now. I rue the day I contemplated this death." She hissed.
He stared her down. "You think all this time on the pilgrimage I was happy escorting you to your death? I don't want you to die either, Lesca, but you yearn for it. It will consume you."
Lesca scuffed the ground, the hair falling over her face hiding her tears from the men. "You're right. I want this…Uncle, thank you." Just like my father before me, I sacrifice one I love for my own selfish desires.
Luzzu shook the older man in anger. "Cid no! You can't do this! Lesca, Sin always comes back, this is foolish! Don't do this!"
Cid chuckled softly. "We have to. You'll understand one day, kid. I guarantee it. Now, you coming in to say goodbye or what?"
Luzzu hung his head as he followed the two into Yunalesca's chambers, glaring at the unsent woman from beneath his brow with undisguised hatred. She looked up, nodding in satisfaction as Lesca entered. "You have chosen your Fayth?"
Lesca hesitated before nodding. "My uncle. Cid."
The woman lifted her hand to send the man his death. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end that never came. The Al Bhed cracked open an eye to squint at the woman. She had paused. Yunalesca looked at the young summoner curiously. "Lord Braska's daughter…you were married to one of his Guardians, correct?"
Lesca tapped her foot anxiously on the floor. "I am, was. Auron was my husband."
The woman gave a laugh. "Ah yes, I remember him well! He loved you very much, his mind was consumed with thoughts of you, you know. Alas, he was young and impetuous. I had hoped he would have returned to you, but I suppose all is for the best.
If he had not died by my hand you would not have undertaken the pilgrimage, correct? At least one of the two of you had sense, you saw the futility in the sorrow and pain that is life on Spira and decided to end it conventionally. Not as an assault on the one person who offers Spira hope."
Lesca blinked slowly as she tried to make sense of the words. "What did you say?"
"Auron…he tried to avenge your fathers death, the death of Jecht. He tried to lay me to rest. Futile. He fell by my hand, I cannot allow the Final Summoning to be lost to the winds of time because of one mans foolish, romantic delusions."
The younger woman felt the temper rise within her. "You killed my husband?" She whispered in disbelief.
Yunalesca shrugged. "I believe so, he left Zanarkand badly wounded. I doubt he still lives. After all, he never returned, did he?"
Lesca dropped the staff that she had been grasping so tightly her knuckles were as white as the peaks of Gagazet. It bounced slightly as it hit the ground, rolling on the craggy floor toward Luzzu with the soft grating of metal against granite. She stumbled as she tried to remain upright, her knees weakening from the shock. Her thoughts came in a jumble as she shook her head, trying to make sense of the last few moments her cursed life had slung at her. She…dead. Auron! Cid put a restraining hand on her arm and she shrugged it off with a force that surprised him. The gloves, which for months had served only to keep her hands free of frostbite, groaned in protest as she flexed her fingers within their confines, feeling the old muscles sing with joy as glowered at the woman. Incantations and hexes swam through her mind as they had what felt like a lifetime ago, the power warming her to the core as it coursed through her veins. She bent slowly, retrieving her stave. She turned it loosely in her hands as she looked at the woman, calmly, coolly.
Lesca spoke quietly, repeating her question. "You killed my husband?" Bitch.
Yunalesca nodded silently. Amoral, depraved, fiend-like bitch. Lesca's eyes burned as she tried to contain her rage. "You deprived my son of his father, you deprived me of my life, my happiness for four years?" I'll make you pay for this.
Again, a nod before she smirked at the young woman. I'll kill you! The rage descended upon her, a light fog that clouded her thoughts, turning her toward the path of revenge. She unconsciously muttered for the aid of her aeons while Cid and Luzzu took up their places at her side, glowering at the very woman who had turned Lesca onto this road. They fought for Lesca; they fought to abate their own rage against Yunalesca's past indiscretions. They fought for every fallen summoner who had sacrificed a loved one for naught and received a death for their pains. They fought because they cared. Bahamut roared as he launched an attack on the unsent, his swipe cut short as the woman banished the dragon to oblivion. The trio looked on in confusion, Lesca shaking her head before gathering her thoughts enough to call upon Shiva. Yunalesca laughed at the pitiful efforts of the three as she banished aeon after aeon from her sight.
"Pathetic fools. You would rather destroy yourselves than live in woe? I'll give you the death you so crave summoner. You can join your husband on the Farplane, reminisce with him about what an honour it was to die by my hand."
The wavering restraint Lesca had been grasping to snapped, and she dashed toward the woman who had caused her grief, screaming in protest against the wrongs that the spirit had committed. Her fists connected briefly with the sceptre's torso, scoring a single, glancing blow before Yunalesca tossed her carelessly aside. Lesca landed heavily, the wind knocked from her lungs as her back rasped agonisingly against the cool, pitted rock. She gasped in agony as she felt the tender flesh rip from her body, a deep wound in her chest slowing opening before her horrified eyes to reveal a twisted distortion of bloodied muscle. Her body retracted on instinct into a foetal position as her two Guardians watched on in horror, unable to move their feet to help her as she lay there, broken and bleeding. She scrunched up her eyes, not wanting to watch as her destroyer neared her. The room was still, the only noise the shallow, ragged breaths of the injured woman, punctuated by low, intermittent whimpers.
Yunalesca moved toward her, her slow, deliberate steps sounding like a death knoll in the hush. The unsent looked down upon Lesca with contempt. "I expected better of you. Too much like your husband." She shook her head, dismissing her with a wave of the hand. "May you find your salvation on the Farplane."
She eyed Cid and Luzzu with distaste. "And as for you…" The sceptre narrowed her eyes before turning her back on them. "You are not worth my time or my effort. You will die by your own misery soon enough. The cycle will continue." Yunalesca walked away, leaving the fallen summoner struggling for breath on the ground.
Lesca cracked open her eyes sluggishly to stare in horror at the pool of blood surrounding her. Bitch…I'm going to die and I've accomplished nothing. Nothing. Oh, tytto, you'd be so ashamed of me…My life has been a waste. Did you feel like this too, Auron? When you died in vain at her hand? We're both fools then. Idiots with romantic delusions, just as she said. I die for you…I die for us.
The Guardians shook themselves out of their reverie, Cid the first to reach her, clutching her to his chest as her life ebbed away. "Lesca! That, I, I'll kill her! Oh Gods, no, don't go!"
Her eyes closed heavily, his voice sounding distorted. "I…can't stay."
"Heal her, for Yevon's sake! Use an ointment, a potion, anything!" Luzzu entreated the Al Bhed desperately.
He shook his head. "It's too late for that, we need to get her to a city. Only a summoner can undo this type of damage."
"We might find one on the way, God's I pray we do…but if not? Where do we go from here?"
Cid frowned, looking at his niece as she struggled to draw breath. "There's only one place we can go. Guadosalam. Seymour can help, he's our last chance."
Thanks to:
Refugee
Pierson
The Angel of The Lion
This was originally a lot longer, but it's been split into two chapters. Yup, it was that long. Go me!
