Another chapter. More about Leviathan's past too. Not exactly the greatest right now, but it'll be developed more later.
I bet that no one has noticed this, but… in each of the * things that separate the parts? There are 18 * in each one! Ha!
Snow day today! Of course, it would be the day that the History project is due. And the History project had to be the one I spent hours doing the night before and rushed on until 12:30 in the morning. Oh well. Now I can fix its messiness. And I got to watch G Gundam at 12.
Just out of curiosity (though I think I already know…), who's your favorite character in KnK? Original character or otherwise, doesn't matter too much. Although none of the FFX characters play a huge part in this. Don't worry, there'll be more characters coming soon. Four more, to be exact. Not until later, though. ^^
Kirei na Kanjou
"Can you sing?" Ku looked innocently up at the fayth beside her. "Leviathan?" Leviathan gave her a questioning glance.
What do you mean?
"Yuna told me that the hymns in the temple are sung by the Fayths. So I was just wondering if you could sing too. Like the others." She tugged at the belt holding her sleeve up distractedly.
You met Yuna? The daughter of High Summoner Braska?
"Yes, in Besaid. She seems really nice." She turned her head to the side, away from Leviathan. "I think… if I had been able to stay longer, it would have been nice to talk to her."
A Summoner's journey is hard. Not only physically, but also because a Summoner cannot… connect with others. Lady Yuna is very kind and strong. I believe she will become a great Summoner, just like her father.
"Yeah. I'm kind of hoping to defeat Sin before she becomes one, so she doesn't have to go through the same thing, you know? But…" She struggled for the right words to say. "…I guess that I'm glad she's the one who'd fight Sin after me. If I… fail."
Ku paused a moment, thought, then quickly faced Leviathan. "You're changing the subject!" she shouted accusingly. "So, can you sing?"
I… I cannot.
Leviathan's words fell short. A look of sadness overcame his face, making Ku feel guilty for whatever she had said to make him feel that way. Still, curiosity had overtaken her, and she wanted to know why he was different from other fayths.
"I overheard someone in the temple talking. They said that all Fayths were granted the ability to sing the Hymn." She hesitated, then interrogated further. "Why weren't you given the same thing?"
The fayth stayed silent. He looked so fragile then, his long blue hair hanging down over his lowered face. Two green eyes were half-closed, partly covered by hair. Ku had never really noticed how he looked, and in his current position, she was able to study him more.
"Hey," she said softly, trying to break the silence. "I never noticed that." Leviathan looked at her peculiarly, to which she answered, "Your ears, I mean."
He ran his fingers over the length of his ear, much longer than the length of a normal human's. It curved slightly at the tip, and a long chain was bound around the ear. It made him look something like an elf.
Oh… this? It was something I received as a Fayth. To… separate me.
"To separate you from the other Fayths?"
Not only them, but all humans. Someone as impure as me cannot be the same as the Yevonites, or so the maesters believed back then.
A question that had been bothering Ku for a while now resurfaced in her mind. "You say that Yevon forbids you. Valefor calls you a heathen. What makes you so different? Why are you… impure?"
Another awkward silence ensued. Leviathan shifted nervously. Finally, he shook his head.
I did not follow Yevon's teachings. I did things that were… wrong, according to Yevon and his followers.
"But you still gave your soul to fight Sin?"
Yes. After my death, I realized everything I had done was wrong. I wished to repent for my sins, so I became a Fayth. They would not take me as a true Fayth because of my acts, so I became the forbidden Aeon, Leviathan.
Ku grabbed the Fayth's long sleeve and shook her head in protest. "But you gave your soul for them! How could they reject you like that?" She sighed. "Yevon is nothing but empty teachings for people to be tricked by. In reality, they mean nothing…"
Leviathan reached down and held her shoulders.
Yevon gives them something to believe in. The people of Spira truly believe that they will be able to atone for their sins. In that way, Yevon is good.
"But-"
No. You do not know my story yet. Until you have seen that, you cannot judge Yevon or myself.
He led her over to a picture that had materialized next to them. It was the same one he had shown her the first time they had met. The young girl still sat in the corner alone while other children ran around the room she occupied.
You remember this, correct? At one time in my life, I was the one who caused these things to happen.
Ku looked at the tall man in shock. Meanwhile, a boy ran up to the young girl in the picture. The boy said something, to which the girl replied. Afterwards, the boy ran away, and the girl returned to staring out of the window.
"Stop showing me this! I don't want to remember it. And don't say you caused it… because…"
You do not want to know of me as the one who could have brought you sadness?
Ku started to back away from Leviathan, who stood, unmoving. "No…" She turned and started to run.
Ku! You cannot run from it forever. You will have to confront it in the end.
"No," Ku mumbled. "I'm not… I'm not running away!" She gripped her head and fell to the ground. She felt herself falling farther and farther away, until all she could see was a fading blue light, alone in the darkness. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
Brother shifted in his bed to the side. He saw Ku, his Summoner, in the bed next to his. Her eyes were shut tightly together, and a few beads of sweat were running down her face. She appeared to be having a nightmare.
He had never been good at comforting people, so Brother simply laid there, watching her. Her usual calm visage was twisted into a painful grimace. Studying her features more, he started thinking about what his father had told him.
It had been a few years ago when they had had their discussion. Brother had asked about his aunt, Nasu. She had married Lord Braska, once an old friend of Cid's and the father of Lady Yuna.
"My sister loved Braska a lot," Cid had said. "But she was blinded by her love and started to follow Yevon with 'im!"
"What did you do?" Brother had asked.
"Had no choice but to exile her and Braska from Home. The rest of the Al Bhed come first, even before family." He had looked sad for a moment, then had shouted, "There's an important lesson in this, boy!"
Brother had given his father a perplexed look. "What lesson, Father?"
"Don't you ever go fallin' in love with those Summoners, ya hear? They'll only make ya sad in the end. Not just you, either. All the people 'round ya too…"
Brother glanced back at his Summoner. She was breathing calmly again, and she looked content. He guessed that by most people's standards, she would be considered attractive. To him, she seemed pretty ordinary, nothing special compared to some of the Al Bhed women he had seen before. Besides, the serene attitude she displayed wasn't his type at all. He liked the outgoing kind. Ku was more like another little sister to him than anything else.
Brother rolled over to face the wall on his right. He closed his eyes, silently hoping to reach the Calm Lands soon. Maybe I can convince Naida to come with us to Zanarkand… He fell asleep again, a hint of a smile on his face.
Ku opened her eyes to a tall sloping ceiling. She puzzled over it for a minute in her half-asleep state, still not completely used to waking up in new territory. Besaid was much different than Zanarkand; not only did it have no technology, the temperature was a huge change as well.
She hastily sat up in the comfortable bed, memories of the last time she had woken up in the Al Bhed salvage ship invading her head. Looking around her, she saw Brother still sleeping peacefully in his own bed.
Getting up and walking over to his bed, she muttered, "You're lucky I don't know any magic… I'd use a lot more than a water spell." She smirked at the malicious thought and resorted to shaking him instead.
"Errh…" Brother groaned. He rolled around, his back to Ku.
"Wake up, Brother," she said, now poking him. "It's time to get up. The ship is going to leave without us!"
Brother cracked one green swirled eye open. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, grunted, and stood. "We go," he slurred, in the same half-asleep condition as Ku. He picked up his machina gun and handed the scythe next to it to his Summoner.
"Alright," she said as she took the weapon. They thanked the innkeeper, who looked at them warily, and left the Crusaders Lodge.
Outside, they heard clapping. It wasn't directed towards them, however. Most of the villagers were gathered near the entrance of Besaid, where a group of men were standing and cheering, all wearing the same uniform. Among them was the red-haired man they had met yesterday, Wakka. They walked up to the crowd and found Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri.
"What are they cheering about?" Ku asked.
"Those are the Besaid Aurochs," Lulu explained. "Wakka is their captain. They've never won a game, yet they still bother going to Luca for the tournament. It surprises me sometimes, but I almost envy them."
"Aren't you going?" Ku gestured to the three, to which Yuna shook her head.
"I must continue my training this year," Yuna continued for her future guardian. "We've all gone to Luca before, and we'll get to go next year, so it's not too bad." She thought, then said, "You're going on the same boat as them, right? You should hurry."
The Besaid Aurochs were starting to walk down the path to the beach. Ku nodded to Yuna, and then she and Brother followed the blitzball team.
"Ku!" Yuna shouted. "There's a statue farther down the road. If you're leaving the island, you should pray there for a safe trip." She waved and performed the prayer gesture. "Good luck!"
Ku waved back and returned the gesture. "Well," she said to Brother, "I guess we should pray there, just in case."
They didn't have to worry much about any fiends, as Wakka killed most of them with his blitzball. The ones that did get past them were easy to defeat, and Ku was able to take most of them out with her scythe. Brother had to use his gun as a club instead; every time he shot his weapon, he received an insult from one of the Aurochs.
A few minutes later, a large stone came into view. It was the statue that Yuna had mentioned.
"Alright, boys," Wakka said, "Betta' pray here before we leave, ya?" He proceeded to kneel down and pray, and the rest of the team followed suit. Ku and Brother did the same.
When they were done, the Besaid Aurochs stood up. "What's our goal?!" Wakka shouted.
"To do our best!"
Brother shook his head and muttered, "Dryd ec draen vencd secdyga... Hu fuhtan drao yna cilr y pyt days." (That is their first mistake… No wonder they are such a bad team.)
"Brother!" Ku hissed quietly. "Pa xiead!" (Be quiet!)
It was too late. Wakka had heard the two's conversation. "You two talkin' 'bout us? In Al Bhed, too, ya?" He scoffed at them and waved for his team to keep going. He glanced back at the Summoner before going too.
Ku sighed miserably. "We have to spend a whole day on a ship with them… We should try to get along, ok, Brother?" He tilted his head and gave a resentful nod.
They started to run after the group of men who were now pretty far ahead. The crashing of water reached their ears, and looking around, Ku could see several huge waterfalls around them.
"Wow…" she whispered. "Never thought I'd see something like this…" Brother seemed as enraptured by the sight as she was. Suddenly, a scream came from the end of the path.
Running to the source of the sound, they saw a group of Condors attacking the Besaid Aurochs. Wakka was doing well fending off one of them, but the other two were free to attack.
Brother unhooked his large machina gun from the strap on his back and aimed for one of the birds that was ready to claw at the group. A ball of fire exploded from the barrel and flew towards the Condor, effectively knocking it from the air. Wakka saw where the shot had come from, slapped his forehead with his hand, and ran to the fallen Condor to finish it off. The other Aurochs had backed off and were trying to make a break for the beach, which was just around the corner.
Ku gripped her scythe tightly. She was about to summon Leviathan, when she remembered the night's events. I can't summon him… not after what he told me… Valefor can take care of this. She held her weapon up and started her summoning dance for the new Aeon.
A large bird-like figure flew down from the sky. It preened its red and purple feathers, and Ku pet it gently on the head. The feeling she got from this Aeon was so different from Leviathan, and it made her uncomfortable. Shaking her thoughts away, she pointed to the Condors and Valefor glided over to them.
"Valefor, I hope you can do this…" Because this was her first time calling the Aeon, she had no idea how far its power extended. She could only hope it was enough to defeat two Condors.
Valefor clawed at one of the Condors, but it jumped back quickly, dodging the attack. The second Condor, to whom Valefor's back was turned, jumped at the chance. It dove for the Aeon and managed to scratch it. Valefor turned around instinctively and chased after the monster until it stopped. It grabbed the Condor's face and clamped its claws around its head. The other monster tried to attack, but another shot from Brother knocked it away. Wakka, having killed the third Condor, started throwing his blitzball at this one.
Valefor was relentless in his attack against the Condor. Ku watched, gaping, as it tightened its grip on the fiend's head and finally let go. The Condor fell to the ground, but it was miraculously still alive with only one wing broken. In an act of fury, it used its last surge of strength to run to the flying Aeon. It jumped up and grabbed its leg in its large beak and bit down forcefully.
Valefor shook it off frantically, and fell to the ground with the Condor. Ku felt a twinge of pain shoot up her leg, and she cried out as it gave way on her. Valefor was being attacked mercilessly by the Condor, and the monster dug its beak into the Aeon's side. Valefor shrieked as it faded and disappeared back into the heavens.
Brother quickly got up and started to run towards the Condor, which had turned its attention to his fallen Summoner. He raised his gun to his eye as the Condor started its flight to its prey. He urgently pulled the trigger and saw the shot fly towards the Condor. At the last moment, the Condor managed to pull itself to the side quickly enough to dodge the shot. Brother stopped in shock. "Cred! KU!"
Ku watched as the machina shot flew past the Condor, missing it by a few meters. A blitzball flew in their direction and hit the monster, but it ignored it. Ku felt her leg, which still hurt from Valefor's injury, and made it impossible for her to move. She shut her eyes, waiting for the impact of the Condor's claws against her body. She waited… but nothing came.
Letting one eye open, she saw that everything had a bluish tint. She realized that a barrier of water was surrounding her. Outside of her blockade, the Condor was being attacked by a large sea serpent-Leviathan.
Ku silently cursed for letting herself get saved again by her guardian Aeon. Even after what he had said to her, she still couldn't get by without him. She felt a wave of frustration wash over her while Leviathan killed the Condor, which exploded into pyreflies. A few gold objects dropped down as well.
The barrier of water disappeared with a swish of the Aeon's tail. He looked towards Ku, who avoided his gaze. Brother reached them and kneeled down next to her.
"Ku?" he asked immediately. "You are ok?" He was taken aback by the tears that were starting to streak down her face. "Ku…" He looked up at the Aeon. "Fryd tet oui tu du ran?!" (What did you do to her?!)
The Aeon gave him a sad look and shook its large head. Brother was amazed at its intelligence and gentleness. He turned back to Ku, who looked up at him.
She wiped away the tears quickly and said, "I'm… fine. Cunno…" Then she fell against Brother's chest, unconscious.
The Aeon hastily moved forwards, but stopped when the guardian shook his head at him. "E femm dyga lyna uv ran. Tu hud funno." (I will take care of her. Do not worry.) He picked up Ku in his arms, her head still resting against his chest, and stood up.
The Aeon gave a slight nod and faded away into the pendant around Ku's neck. Brother sighed, then started walking towards the Besaid Aurochs.
When he reached them, a few of them inched away.
"You… you understand that thing, ya?" Wakka said in astonishment. His expression grew serious again. "But dat was a forbidden aeon, ya? What you two doin' with it?"
Brother cursed silently and shook his head in exasperation. "Boat is waiting," he said plainly. "We leave." He walked past the group of blitzers, who parted for him and the Summoner.
He glanced down at Ku, who was still asleep. Ku… I only hope you are ok…
I wanted to go a little farther in this chapter, but it's taken me hours to write this and I have to write about a Childhood Memory for school. So I'll just expand the next chapter. ^^
Y'know what I realized? If you translate 'Rose' into Al Bhed, and keep translating the Al Bhed translation to Al Bhed, you eventually get back to Rose. Works with 'Cid' too. And 'exactly'. Works with anything, really. I thought that was interesting.
…I have no life.
Kinda hard not to notice elf ears on a Fayth… Maybe that was a little extreme. I want to draw a picture of Leviathan. A nice, attractive picture of him, maybe? But I'm not really sure what to do for it… I mean, just having him stand there looking pretty isn't very interesting…
I dunno bout you people, but Valefor was always sooooo weak when I used it. It kept dying on me. ;_; I started to use it as a one shot thing: use an Overdrive, let it get killed, end. Sigh...
Next Chapter: S. S. Liki and Kilika! Possibly an actual battle, too. ^^
