Disclaimer: as always, I'm not owning anything from Final Fantasy 10, just this story. Everything else is credited to Square, or should I say, Square-Enix.
"And Letty passes to
Datto... Bargerda rushes ahead to tackle Datto but Datto makes an outstanding
dodge!" Bobba's voice echoed throughout the Blitzball Stadium. "A
few seconds are left now, what are the Aurochs up to?"
"Datto makes a quick pass..." Jimma resumed. "Nammi is going
for it... he shoots... GOAL!"
The entire Blitzball Stadium acclaimed at Nammi's decisive shot.
"And that's it folks! The Aurochs won the game 4-3! This team is surprising
us more and more!"
"Yeah, I'm still wondering what kind of miracle could have occurred, Bobba..."
Jimma went on. "The Besaid Aurochs have literally changed since the last
Yevon Tournament. Today they've played another excellent match, and their new
recruit Nammi appears like a promising player!"
Later in the Besaid Aurochs'
locker room...
"Whoa guys!" Wakka said to his team. "You really outdid yourselves
this time, ya? But there's no time to celebrate. We must work hard for the next
match in order to win the tournament too, okay?"
"Yeah, Cap'n!" the Aurochs replied in unison.
"And don't ya forget it, ya? What's our goal?"
"Victory!" the Aurochs said.
"Good. I'll see all of ya on the boat to Besaid."
Everyone left.
"Nammi, I wanna have a private talk with ya."
The new player from the Besaid Aurochs was a rather slim boy with a pale skin
and short black hair. He was wearing the easily recognisable yellow clothing
of the Aurochs team.
"You did great there. That was... amazing! And that shot of yours..."
"I know, Cap'n." Nammi answered. "I wanted to show you that I
was sure I could do a great Blitzball player."
"No prob, brudda." Wakka said in confidence.
"But Cap'n, I mean, er..." Nammi hesitated. The presence of Wakka
in front of him was obviously intimidating to him. "I wanted to blitz since
I was a kid, but my parents would always say that I wasn't fit for it, that
it's also the dream of many other people out there in Spira. Moreover they kept
referring to other people whom they saw as promising, such as our Summoner...
and Chappu."
"Ah? I guess it's because he became a Crusader, ya?"
"Yeah, that's it. But no matter what they said, I kept on thinking about
Blitzball. And Chappu... he didn't care about this either. He understood me
well since, as you know, we were good friends at that time, before he left Besaid.
He wished he could see me in the Aurochs some day."
Wakka looked down and shook his head.
"I remember... he wished he could see us bringing the Crystal Cup to the
island. And then..."
"Sin?" Nammi asked in hesitation.
"Yeah." Wakka said.
"But... Hey Cap'n, you're one of the guys who have finally defeated Sin,
right?" Nammi went on in excitement. "First you won the Crystal Cup,
then Sin?"
"Yeah. That was all thanks to Yuna, Lu and myself, and a bunch of other
people ya might have seen."
"Wow..." Nammi let out, completely bewildered.
"Can I ask ya somethin'? Just call me Wakka when we're not playing Blitz,
okay?"
"All right, Wakka."
"It's also one of our pals that helped us win the Cup. You remember him?
He was the blonde guy in strange clothes. And hey, have you seen this Blitzball
shot of him?"
"Oh yeah, I surely did! It took me a long time to do this on my own in
the lake in our island. That guy has inspired me... just like you Wakka."
"Hey... you're embarrassing me!", Wakka said in a smile.
They paused.
"Ya know..." Wakka then resumed. "You remind me of him sometimes.
He came on Spira out of nowhere, and I helped him out a bit. In return he played
for us in the finals. Man... my team has changed, thanks to him."
"Do you know where he is?" Nammi questioned.
Wakka looked down and shook his head.
"Well... he just... went away as he came."
"Huh?"
"I dunno myself... maybe he's dead, maybe he's not. But I felt bad for
him... just the way I felt with Chappu."
A few hours later, Wakka,
Nammi and the rest of the Besaid Aurochs finally reached their home island by
a new model of seaship.
"Man..." Wakka exclaimed as he got out. "I can't believe it...
it's taking less time to travel from Besaid to Luca thanks to those machina.
I can't believe I could find them handy someday."
"At least you have learned something about them." said a voice coming
from the quay.
That was Lulu.
"Huh? Lu?" Wakka said, surprised by Lulu's sudden appearance.
"Know this, Wakka. I never had any prejudice against the Al-Bhed and their
machina. You should learn to open your mind sometimes. Must I recall you that
Yuna also has Al-Bhed lineage?" Lulu said in her usual sharp tone.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Wakka replied in disdain.
"Oh, by the way, I think you and your team deserve some congratulations
for your victory." Lulu went on.
"Ah, thanks... hey, how did ya get to know?"
"The Al-Bhed technology has now enabled all the people of Spira to follow
the Blitzball matches via screen-shows, just like the ones around the Stadium.
These have become quite popular, even if the Stadium attendance has remained
the same."
"Hmm... I think Rikku deserves a thank-you too." Wakka finally said.
"Exactly what I was thinking about." Lulu agreed, smiling.
The sun was setting. Nammi was on the beach, showing his Sphere Shoot to the
Aurochs and some other amazed people of Besaid Island. Lulu and Wakka were walking
along the path to the village.
"If only the other were here... If we ever win that tournament, I wish
they could be here to celebrate." Wakka said.
"People don't stick on to ifs and maybes, Wakka." Lulu replied. "You
do have a good point somehow. It's been quite a while since we had our last
talk with Rikku and Kimahri."
"Yeah. But we can't do anything about it. Kimahri has sworn to protect
Mount Gagazett and Rikku's been busy showing how to use machina to other people."
"Speaking of other people, I am a bit concerned about the Guados. Their
morale can't be more terrible since Seymour's past deeds have stained their
reputation." Lulu said.
"That Seymour... He didn't deserve being a Maester, I knew it!" Wakka
said furiously.
"No need to rage against him now, he's dead."
Wakka grunted.
"What I mean is... who would be the new Maester of the Guados now?"
"Well, according to rumors that go between us Blitzers, Navara, the captain
of the Guado Glories, is willing to take this place. That would be cool, ya?
A Blitzer as Maester!" Wakka answered.
"I cannot decide if it's a good choice or not. We should let time decide
about this..." Lulu said.
The sky was becoming dark.
Not as dark as it usually was, but darker. Shimmering lights could be seen from
the horizon surrounding the isle of Besaid.
And meanwhile, in Guadosalam...
"My Lord! My Lord!" Navara said in alarm, running as fast as he could
towards Lord Trommell. "My Lord! We have detected a disturbance in the
Farplane! The limits between our world and the Farplane are evanescing! The
dead are about to resurface on Spira!"
"Calm down, Navara..." Trommell said in his slow tone. "You are
speaking of the frontiers between our world and the Farplane that are about
to disappear, right?"
"That's right, my Lord! I don't know what to do, but if pyreflies escape
from the Farplane and materialize into fiends, I'm not ready to fight hundreds
of them!"
"I do hope this will not happen, Navara. I am sorry to disappoint you but
even if Summoners can send fiends to the Farplane, there is nothing we were
taught in order to keep them in."
"What shall we do then, my Lord?"
"We wait, Navara... We wait."
"To our victory!"
Wakka said.
"To our victory!" the rest of the Aurochs said, raising their glasses
of fruit juice.
Many torches were enlightening the village. The Aurochs were sitting around
the campfire at the center of the place, with Gatta standing near them.
"Hey Nammi..." a little girl said, handing a Blitzball and a pen to
him. "Can you sign my Blitzball please?"
"Yeah, no problem." Nammi said, as he took the ball and the pen.
"You too Wakka." the girl said. "Can everyone sign, please?"
Lulu was standing nearby. She smiled.
"You seem to have developed some popularity amongst children, Wakka."
Wakka grinned.
"Heh... of course. Here!"
Nammi passed the ball to Wakka who made a quick signature on it. While the rest
of the team were signing, Wakka got up and walked to Lulu.
"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask... have you seen Yuna?"
"I was about to ask you the same. I haven't found her anywhere in the village,
not even in the Temple."
"I was searching for her by the beach too, and no one had the slightest
idea about where she was." Gatta added. "However, according to the
ferrymen, Yuna hasn't left the island."
"Not even in the Cloister of Trials? Not even in the Chamber of the Fayth
either?"
Lulu shook her head.
"The Chambers of Fayth are no longer forbidden since there are no more
Fayths to worship. I just come from there, and no, she's not to be found."
Wakka grunted again.
"I wish I could know what's wrong with her..." he started, but broke
immediately, eyes wide open. He stood there for a few seconds, then resumed.
"Lu... watch this."
"Watch what?"
Wakka pointed to the sea. Over the horizon line, right between the dark sky
and ocean, the shimmering lights had turned brighter. It seemed they were all
darting towards the island, shining brighter and brighter. Later, the people,
concerned about what was going on, could see exactly what the lights exactly
were... Everyone stood there, staring at the sea...
It was pyreflies. And there were thousands of them...
"My Lord, what's going
on?" Navara asked in panic.
Trommell was unexpectedly calm. Strands of pyreflies were coming from the passageway
to the Farplane, and had started to scatter along the road to the Moonflow,
and on the Thunder Plains, leaving behind them their eerie echo. He was watching
them with some interest.
"I thought I wouldn't be old enough to witness this one day. I was wrong,
apparently..." he finally said.
"What do you mean, my Lord?"
"Such an event used to occur once every two, or three years, I don't know
exactly... but rest assured, if it's really what I'm thinking about, then those
pyreflies would mean no harm to us."
As the resounding noise
of the pyreflies came to the villagers' ears, their bewilderment turned into
anguish.
"Fiends?" Nammi said.
"Let'em come! I'll show them what I'm capable off!" Wakka replied,
holding a spiked Blitzball in his hand.
"Excuse me, people, but I think I could bring some light to this mystery."
a voice said.
Wakka turned around.
"Ah... Sir Maechen. You seem to know what's going around, ya?"
Everyone turned to the old man who cleared his throat and started:
"Yes. I have made some research about the history of Spira in the past,
well before Sin came to existence. It seems that there used to be a day, called
'Day of Remergence', during when the souls of the dead people were able to return
for a short time from the Farplane into our world. Since those souls belonged
to people who had accepted their death, or from people that were sent by Summoners,
there is no risk for them to rematerialize into fiends. The village..."
Maechen cleared his throat again.
"No... All Spira has nothing to fear about." he resumed. "It
is said that such a day only happens once every few years, but how long between
two such days, no one truly knows. The clergy of Yevon was fully aware about
this ancient custom. However, it hasn't happened for a thousand years, since
Sin was apparently exerting some kind of control over the pyreflies, forcing
them to return into fiends and preventing the souls of the dead to be calmed
by this brief return into the land of the living in their original human form.
But Sin is no more, so nothing can stand between us and those souls now. One
last thing, such an event only lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes, it
depends on how much we have remembered about those who unfortunately left us
for the Farplane. And that, as they say... is that."
The flames torches had turned from orange to bright blue. The pyreflies were
coming even closer... then a wave of them started to flow past the place. Everyone
watched in admiration.
"Wow!" Wakka exclaimed.
Lulu said nothing. She was watching the pyreflies going past Besaid, when four
of them gathered right in front of her, and turned into a human shape. Then,
to her great surprise...
"Chappu!" she said, completely baffled.
"Huh?" Wakka grunted, before turning and getting struck by the same
surprise as he saw that his brother was really right here in front of him!
"Hey brother... Hey Lulu! How are you going?"
He turned to Nammi who was witnessing the scene.
"Hey pal! Long time no see!" Chappu said to him.
"Er... er... hey... Chap... Chappu." Nammi greeted back.
"What you doing here brother?" Wakka asked.
"Just came to see how everything goes." Chappu said. "You doing
awesome at Blitzball, from what you told me at the Farplane."
"Yeah, look over there!" Wakka said, pointing at the Crystal Cup,
standing majestically by his house.
"Wow! Outstanding!" Chappu said. "And hey, looks like you've
got a new player in the Aurochs too."
All the Aurochs nodded proudly to Nammi.
"Remember what I used to tell ya, right Nammi?"
Nammi nodded.
"I'm glad you finally got there, pal."
"Thanks Chappu." Nammi replied, with a tear in his eye.
"Wakka... Lulu..." Chappu resumed. "I'm sorry I've caused so
much trouble by becoming a Crusader."
"Hah... Whatever. It's not your fault..." Wakka said. "And it's
not mine either. If Luzzu hadn't made you join..."
"No, brother. I made my own choice. Luzzu's not to be taken responsible
for it."
"Please understand, Wakka." Luzzu's voice came.
"Sir? Is that really you Sir?" Gatta asked, looking everywhere to
catch a glimpse of his former superior who eventually appeared next to Chappu.
Luzzu looked around, and finally caught Wakka's bewildered stare.
"Ah... Wakka." he said. "I'm glad you're still alive. I was worrying
about you since this tragic event at the shores of Djose Road."
Wakka said nothing.
"I thought you would urge me to come back so you could punch me more."
Luzzu went on. "I was apparently wrong."
"Even if I did, this wouldn't make Chappu come back." Wakka replied.
"Ya know... I was more angry against Sin than against you after Operation
Mi'Ihen."
"May I take this as a forgiveness?" Luzzu asked.
It took a minute for Wakka to eventually answer the question.
"You could say so, yeah..." he said in a low voice.
Kimahri was walking along
the path to the summit of Mount Gagazett as he saw the pyreflies coming in mass
in front of him. The blue beast was gripping firmly to his halberd.
"Fiends better go away!" he growled. "Kimahri here to protect
Mount Gagazett. Kimahri not fail!"
Some of the pyreflies assembled in front of him and turned into three acquaintances
of him: Biran, Yenke and Kelk, all three killed by Seymour's hand long ago.
As he recognized them, Kimhari planted his weapon on the snowy ground.
"Kimahri knows you not alive." he said.
"Kimahri right." Kelk said. "But Kelk has come to congratulate
Kimahri for his courage and strength."
"Kimahri strong enough to defend Gagazett." Biran said. "Strong
enough to defeat Seymour with Summoner and Guardians. Biran happy for Kimahri."
"Kimahri lost horn..." Yenke roared, "...but Kimahri not lost
strength. Biran, strong Ronso, but Kimahri even stronger. Yenke proud of knowing
it."
"Kelk wants Kimahri to defend Gagazett too." the former Ronso Maester
said. "Kimahri became as strong as Mount Gagazett."
"Kimahri will do it." he said. "And Kimahri not fail."
Meanwhile, at the lake of
Besaid Island...
Yuna was floating on the water of the lake, lying her back on its cold surface,
gazing at the moon. She was feeling quite proud to be the one responsible for
the Eternal Calm. She did what she wanted to do from the start... yet there
was something that saddened her. She had tried to forget about this something
several times, but she renounced. She couldn't forget... She had sworn not to,
after all... and in front of all Spira.
Her empty eyes were still
looking up to the sky... as some pyreflies, followed by hundreds of them a minute
later, passed above her. She gaped in surprise, and quickly swam to the shore.
"What's going on?" she thought. "Are those all the spirits I've
sent to the Farplane?"
She reached the shore, then stopped eyes wide open, as she saw three silhouettes
emerging from a mass of pyreflies stationed by the path.
"Sir Auron?" she managed to say. "Sir Jecht?... Father!"
"It's been a long time, Yuna." Braska said with a reassuring tone,
as he started walking to her, followed by Auron and Jecht.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm glad to know that you're safe and stuff..." Jecht
said. "But hey, what are we doing here?"
"I think today is the day of Remergence." Auron said. "Many souls
in the Farplane are aware of this date and await for the opportunity to make
a brief return to the land of the living."
"This usually allows the spirits of both the dead and the living to find
peace." Braska went on. "Just as I wanted to do... It's been more
than ten years now. You've become such a beautiful young woman, Yuna. And I'm
happy to know that you've found a way to defeat Sin for good. I'm very proud
of you."
"Thanks, father." Yuna said. "But, I'm not the only one to be
thanked. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have made it that way."
Auron laughed. "As I thought." he said.
"Yeah, right..." Jecht went on. "That's what I wanted to know
about... My son. I have just caught a brief glimpse of him after Sin went into
pyreflies, and then, no more of him."
Yuna felt tears rising to her eyes.
"I remember... He said he had to leave, but I wanted him to stay. And then
when I rushed to him..."
She started to sob.
"I know how painful it is for you. I felt the same when your mother left
this world." Braska said, as he put his hand over Yuna's shoulder.
Feeling the warmth of her father's hand, Yuna dried her tears.
"He's not dead... I can't really explain why I think this way. I just don't
want to think he's dead..."
"Hmm..." Jecht said. "If you ever have any clues about where
he could be, do not hesitate to tell us so we could be in the know too. We'll
be awaiting for you at the Farplane, Yuna. And, by the way, you and my son totally
rocked. If by chance you see him, congratulate him for me!"
"Just do as you think wise, Yuna." Braska said.
"I will." Yuna replied.
"It's time for us to leave now. We can't stay too long in the land of the
living. I'm sorry to know that Jecht's son is nowhere to be found, but I'm glad
to see you still alive. I hope you will live long before you eventually join
us." Auron said, as he started to fade within the pyreflies.
Yuna nodded, and watched her father and Jecht following Auron into the streams
of pyreflies, then turning into pyreflies themselves before eventually returning
to the massive group, disappearing with it, leaving their eerie echo behind.
Kimahri reached the top
of Mount Gagazett, at the exact place where fayths once were gathered. The pyreflies
were hovering all around the mountain range, and were heading towards the ruins
of Zanarkand. The Ronso watched the scene, with an air of satisfaction.
As he planted the handle of his halberd in the snow, he could feel something
hard with its handle. He removed the snow at the spot, and uncovered something,
shining a bright blue light... It was a Sphere.
"Maybe pyreflies left it..." Kimahri said to himself.
He took the Sphere in his big hand, and took a closer look at it. This Sphere
had nothing in particular, no irregularities... just a plain Sphere. Kimahri
closed his eyes and put the Sphere to his broken horn...
A voice echoed in his mind...
"Hey, let me out!" it was saying. "I don't care if I used machina,
it was to protect the Summoner! Are you listening? Someone get me outta here!"
Kimahri reopened his eyes and shook his head. That voice seemed too familiar
to him...
The last pyreflies were passing from the fayth pit to the entrance of the icy
caves of Mount Gagazett. Kimahri watched them flying by, then returned to the
entrance of the mountain.
"Kimahri must carry Sphere to Yuna." he said. "Young man not
dead. Gagazett knows it. Farplane knows it... and Yuna has to know too."