Return of Light
"No! No! No, no, no, no, no! I won't do it!" Rikku leapt back, dodging Chappu and Tidus's grabs for her. She spun and kicked Tidus in the side and managed to punch Chappu across the jaw, knocking his back a few steps as he staggered.
"Rikku…" Chappu growled warningly and Tidus grabbed her from behind, using his arms to pin her own to her sides. Her legs sailed into the air, lashing out as Chappu started forward.
"Let go of me, damn it! I will not do it again!" she shouted, kicking and screaming. Yuna sighed and rubbed her temples, while Zeoron hid her giggles behind her hand.
"Rikku, come on! The longer you delay, the longer it takes to get across the Thunder Plains!" Lulu said, scowling as the Al Bhed woman continued to struggle against Tidus while Chappu kept trying to get closer to help.
"NO!" Rikku shrieked. "NO! I hate lightning! Hate it!"
"Hell, just knock her out and come on!" Wakka said, cursing under his breath with a sidelong glance at Lulu, who he was thankful didn't hear.
"Wakka, if we knock her out, you have to carry and thus have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning," Yuna said sweetly, batting her eyes at him.
Wakka considered this. "Okay, tie her up and drag her along."
"What?! Hell no! Let me go!" Rikku screeched, struggling even harder. She jerked her head back, nailing Tidus in the mouth. He grunted and released her in reaction, his hands flying to his mouth. He glared at her.
"You're lucky I still have all my teeth!"
"Let's go, guys. We'll just leave her here," Chappu said, shrugging as he adjusted the Spirit Keeper in its sheath on his back. He nodded his head toward the tunnel leading down and started in that direction, Zeoron and Yuna following. Tidus shot one last glare at Rikku before jogging to catch up, Wakka and Lulu right behind him.
"Guys! Guys, come on! Please?" Rikku pleaded. She dropped to her knees, still calling after them.
—
"Light! I've never seen so much lightning—or felt so much pain from getting struck by it!" Tidus commented, rubbing his backside, wincing. Yuna sighed and shook her head; she and Chappu were the only two to come into the Al Bhed inn unscathed.
Tidus had taken at least three hits; once because he'd tripped and the other two because he'd chosen to get in an argument with Wakka and wasn't paying attention—in Yuna's opinion, he should've learned the first time to pay attention and stop arguing. Wakka had been struck four times; twice because Lulu had cast the lightning on him herself and the other two from falling down a hill and landing in, what else—water.
Zeoron had been walloped only once; she'd forgotten to cross under one of the towers and had been struck almost immediately while the others laughed as she screamed and cursed. Lulu had been hit twice by the lightning; Wakka had retaliated after the second casting by Lulu and had shoved her outside the range of one of the towers and the other by stopping to gaze back.
Chappu shrugged out of the Spirit Keeper and held it by the sheath in one hand as he gazed around while Yuna checked them into some rooms.
The door banged open and something blond and screaming loud enough to wake the dead charged inside, slammed the door shut, and launched them self at Tidus and Wakka, tackling both men to the ground as everyone else stared, shocked beyond words.
"Rikku?" Yuna gasped disbelievingly her disheveled blond cousin, who sat up, trembling, and her hair a wild tangle of locks and her clothes rumpled.
"Th—thunder! Li—lightning!" she stammered, seizing Tidus around the neck as he began to get up, cursing. He unlatched her death grip from around his neck and stood up, muttering.
Chappu laughed and shook his head while Zeoron giggled, falling against him as her entire body shook from the roaring laughter she was letting out.
* * *
"Grandpa! You invented the shot! You'd think that you, of all people, would know how to do it!" Tida exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as Jecht pushed himself up from the grass, spitting out a few tufts of the bright green substance.
"Yeah, well—I'm old!" Jecht protested, standing and dusting himself off.
A look of disbelief crossed Tida's face and she flung her hands out. "You're dead in your prime!" she cried. "And now, since that's out of the way, this has really been buggin' me. Why in the hell do you always go around in cutoff pants, no shirt and no shoes?"
Jecht stared at his granddaughter before switching his gaze into a glare. "That's really none of—"
"Actually, Jecht, I've always wondered about that myself. Please, enlighten us," Braska said, folding his arms across his chest and tilted his head, raising one brow.
"Yeah!" Tida added, moving to stand beside him, folding her own arms and tossing her head, a smug look passing onto her face. She stuck one leg out to the side and raised her chin.
Jecht gaped, mouthing wordlessly. He stopped suddenly with a glower at both. "Now look here—both of you! I don't have to explain anything to either of you! Ya got me?!"
"Yes."
"Yeah, sure. Fine. Okay. Whatever. Grandpa Braska, what's with the headgear and the robe? I mean, really!"
"What? Tida, I really do not believe—"
"Yeah, Braska, what's with the headdress?"
"Now see here—!"
"Hey, wait a minute, Grandpa Jecht! You were asked first!"
* * *
"Wh-why is—is it s-so d-d-damn c-c-c-cold?!" Zeoron shrieked, huddling with Rikku as they shared a cloak. Her teeth were chattering out their own rhythmic beat. Rikku clutched the green cloak tighter though she and Zeoron were still shivering furiously.
Tidus and Yuna were grasping each other so tightly that they were shivering as one. Both had on a cloak—Yuna's pink and Tidus's black—and were walking just behind Chappu, who was wearing a dark blue cloak, the Spirit Keeper latched tightly onto his back. Wakka trailed behind Yuna and Tidus, his teeth, too, chattering along.
Lulu was walking along placidly, gazing around.
Zeoron finally noticed. "Lulu, how can you not be freezing to death?" she demanded, forcing Rikku to halt with her. Ahead, the other stopped, turning to watch.
Lulu blinked. "I'm able to hover somewhere where the cold cannot touch me," she said calmly.
"Where?" Zeoron demanded, slipping from the cloak's partial shelter and running—floundering in the snow—to Lulu. She stopped in front her, looking up at the taller woman with fierce eyes.
Lulu raised a brow. "I thought you knew, Zeo. Listen, grab your source and then let it go, but not all the way. You're hovering between holding it and not."
Zeoron grinned suddenly. "Oh, this is awesome!" she cried, spinning around joyfully. She laughed, leaping into the air and continuing to spin.
She stopped after a few moments. "Oh, wow, Lulu, this is incredible!" she said, looking to the elder Black Mage. Zeoron halted, glancing all around.
"Lulu? Lulu? Guys? Guys! Guys, come on! This isn't funny!"
"Yes it is."
"Rikku! Shh!" a chorus of voices shouted.
* * *
"One more!" Tida called, her chest heaving as her breathing labored. She tested her grip on the Brotherhood, clenching her fists around the hilt and twisting them, grinding on the hilt.
"Tida, you've had enough. You need—"
"Don't tell me what I need!" Tida snapped, releasing one hand from the watery blue sword. "Just give me another fiend!"
Yunalesca sighed from her kneeling position on top of the box-cage. She shook her head and placed one hand down on the gate. "What type?" she asked.
Tida stood to her full height, gripping the Brotherhood in one hand as she swung it back, her left arm coming up to cross over out in front of her chest. "Give me Sin."
Yunalesca shot up to a standing pose, her pale eyes becoming vivid. "Tida, I will not give you Sin. That is by far too much for even you to handle."
"Give me Sin, Yunalesca, now."
"Tida—"
"Give me Sin!"
"Fine!" Yunalesca barked, stomping on the box-cage and opening its door. At once, millions upon millions of pyreflies shot out, beginning their formation of the said fiend.
Within a few moments, Tida found herself looking for the first time at something countless summoners had died trying to defeat. How many times had Yu Yevon remade this Final Aeon into Sin?
"Too many times," Tida murmured, taking small steps to her left all the while keeping her colored eyes trained onto the towering fiend called Sin above her.
Yunalesca leapt off the box-cage; it vanished as soon as her feet left its surface. She moved around to the side, ready to intervene should Sin find a way to get the best of the young High Summoner.
Tida struck first; she leapt into the air, slashing at Sin's shoulder. Sin growled and attacked back at her. Tida let out a yell and flipped backward, kneeling on the ground and staring up at Sin.
She moved to jump again just as Sin brought down one foot; Tida screamed as it caught her squarely, knocking back into the ground. She grunted and struggled to the feet. Sin struck again, sending the Brotherhood flying from Tida's hands.
"Damn!" she breathed, glancing around for a better means of attack. She grinned and spun, her clothes changing and Nirvana flashing into her hands. She let out a breath of air in a whoosh.
"Let's see you take out the Aeon of Light!" Tida shouted. Her arms shot out the sides and she tilted her head back, eyes closing. Her forehead sparkled and she felt something land behind—and she knew that something was Auron, her own special aeon.
Tida turned around, grinning. "Auron!"
Auron shook his head, Masamune resting on his shoulder. "I already defeated Sin twice. What makes you think I would want to do it a third time?"
Tida shrugged. "Uh… third times a charm?" she suggested weakly, changing back. She walked over and slid a boot under the Brotherhood, sending it arcing into the air and into her hand.
"So, ready to take this bitch out?" she asked, jerking her head sideways at Sin.
Auron sighed and took up Masamune in both hands. "Might as well get this over with."
"Sweet. HOLY!"
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