Chapter Four: The First Battle with Sin
The four continue into the tropical forest and make their way up the rocky cliffside where Wakka and Kain were the day before. They are silent along the way, yet as the reach the top of the cliff, overlooking the Isle of Besaid, conversation strikes up as Lulu and Yuna gaze at the small, tropical village.
Lulu
"Take your time."
Kain
"Shouldn't we be leaving?"
Wakka
"We're gonna wait for awhile."
[Yuna walks over to Wakka]
"Are you ready?"
Yuna
[nods]
"Yes... let's do this..."
Yuna walks away from him, over to the statue Kain had noticed before. Lulu nods at Wakka, and silently follows after the young summoner. Wakka follows as well. Kain, in his confusion, watches as they move towards the statue, who's praying to the statue.
Kain
"What is this structure?"
Wakka
"It's an ancient custom. People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip."
[he lowers his head]
"Chappu didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss his boat."
Kain glances at Lulu, seeing her stoic expression fade into sorrow. Then his glance turns to Yuna, who catches his gaze, and nods. Kain steps back, his hands gesturing the prayer movements, then bowing. Smiling, Yuna prays as well, and then Lulu follows last. After several movements and deep concentration, Wakka straightens himself.
Wakka
"That should do it!"
Continuing along the path, of Besaid Island, Kain finds himself walking underneath ancient structures. It was then when the clamping and scraping of stone and rock, and a loud growl are heard from above. Kain looks up as he watches Vorador jump down from several structures. Then instantly, after a powerful leap, lands infront of ivory-tonned vampire. He smashes his two claws into the ground, then throws himself back, releasing an incredible growl. Kain glares, snarling at his old "friend" from the past. A large bastard sword forms in Vorador's claws, and instantly, he swings it towards Kain. Glaring at this act, the vampire draws out his newest sword Wakka had given him. After deflecting Vorador's blade, the green vampire flipped over Kain, continuing to slash at him as the white vampire deflected the attacks. Vorador lands on both feet behind Kain, draws back his sword and swings it towards Kain's back. Fortunately, Kain spins around, both swords' blades clashing against one another. The two exchange glares and low growls before Wakka and the women run forward.
Wakka
"That's enough!"
Vorador
"You fool. You have no idea how dangerous this man is."
"What are you doing letting him near Yuna?"
Kain
"After all this time, you still don't trust me, Vorador."
"Can't say I blame you. You didn't seem to be the trusting type as well."
[he glances at Yuna]
"So what caused you to become the guardian of a human?"
"The death of your sire by the hands of those beings haven't meant anything to you?"
Vorador glares and brings his face closer to Kain's.
Vorador
"I haven't the slightest clue of how you got here, Kain."
"I shall withdraw for now..."
"But if you so much as touch Yuna, I swear on my sire's grave,"
"You will die..."
With that spoken, Vorador's sword vanishes as he storms away. Wakka watches as the vampire vanishes into the forest, then turns to Kain.
Wakka
"You know him?"
Kain
"He's an old ally of mine..."
"We haven't shared the fondest of memories and past actions together."
"I suppose most grudges can never be released."
Yuna approaches him, bowing her head respectfully.
Yuna
"He's being overprotective, Sir Kain. Please don't be angry with him."
"Sometimes we don't understand him either. Vorador doesn't talk much anyway."
"But as I stated before... he has protected me since I was a child."
Kain closes his eyes for a moment, reopens them, and nods. The four follow after the green vampire, walking towards the fallen ruin that had blocked the road from before. Kain wraps his arms around Lulu and Yuna's waist, and with a powerful kick off the ground, lands ontop of the structure, then leaps off onto the other side, releasing them. Lulu gives a glare, flips back her braids and storms away. Yuna blushes for a moment, then nods with appreciating before following after her guardian. Wakka, who has managed to climb over the baracade, has landed beside Kain. The two nod at each other, then follow the women to the beach. Several citizens have gathered at the pier as Wakka, Lulu and Yuna step onto the boat. Kain notices that Vorador has already boarded, shaded under the darkness of the doorway, leading to a lower chamber of the boat. Kain kicks off the ground, clamps his claws onto the ledge of the boat, then flips himself onto the deck of the boat. The ship slowly begins to pull away, and Kain sees Yuna at a far off distance. She watches the dock as the boat pulls away, smiling and waving. The old woman, the old man and the little girl from the night before are with young boy. All four burst into tears as they wave, some even do a few prayer gestures. Yuna watches them as the boat pulls away, and does a prayer gesture in reply.
Yuna
"Goodbye."
Aboard the ship, Kain descends into the darkness, noticing a young girl with a pair of binoculars. Slyly, he moves in at incredible speed, snatching the trinket from her hands, then leaping onto the railing of the boat. The girl gives a venomous glare as Kain smirks at her tauntingly, then pressing his eyes against the eye-pieces. His vision sets on the Isle of Besaid, disappearing over the horizon slowly. Shifting his vision onto the deck, he aims the binoculars at Wakka for a brief moment. Then, he shifts to the side, seeing the upper part of Lulu's dress. After a perverted smirk, he lifts the binoculars to see her face, that is already painted with annoyance as she turns away from him. After chuckling, he hears a gathering of footsteps as Yuna, followed by Vorador, walk across the deck and into his vision. Noticing the vampire with the stolen trinket, Yuna stops for a moment and playfully waves at him. Kain has seemingly forgotten about the binocular girl, who has proceded to walk up and snatch her binoculars from his hands. Kain glares at her, followed by a smirk as he kicks off the rail, landing to the center of the dock. He notices that Yuna has been surrounded by several people: sailors and blitzball players alike.
Sailor 1
"Word is, that summoner's got noble blood!"
Sailor 2
"I heard she's Lord Braska's daughter!"
Blitzball Player
"Ya don't say?"
Kain
[raises an eyebrow]
"Lord Braska's...daughter?"
Confused, Kain walks across the deck, making his way to Wakka and Lulu.
Kain
"Yuna's father..."
"Who is this man?"
Wakka
"Oh, I guess you heard those guys over there talking."
"Yuna's the daughter of High Summoner Braska! You saw his statue at the temple."
"Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago."
"Yuna's the heir to a great legacy!"
Kain
"I would suppose it's quite a name for her to live up to."
Wakka
"Huh? Suppose?"
Lulu
[crosses her arms]
"Wakka's...a bit lacking in the imagination department."
Kain
[glances at her]
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
Lulu lowers her arms and walks away to the rear of the boat. To Kain, he supposes she still bitter over his glance of her chest when he took the binoculars. Wakka scratches his head and walks away as well. It is when he is alone that the vampire notices that the sailors and blitzball players have parted away from Yuna. The sailors begin to do their duties while the blitzers practice their techniques. Kain scans the deck, seeing Vorador watching over Yuna at a distance. The two lock eyes, and the emerald-colored vampire gives Kain a venomous glare that screamed "Don't try anything stupid." written all over his eyes. With a taunting smirk, Kain approaches Yuna, who is standing at the front of the boat, gazing out into sea.
Yuna
"The wind...it's nice."
Kain
"I suppose..."
Yuna's shoulders tremble softly. Kain notices her hand lifting to her face, her pale cheeks turning a shade of pink. A small giggle erupts from the young summoner. For moment, she looks up at Kain, then continues to laugh. Had this been a vampire, a peasant, or any other human, Kain would've found the laughter provokitive. Yuna's laugh however, was more playful than humiliating, as if she had witnessed a good joke. Then for no apparent reason, laugh bellowed out from Kain's mouth. The two gripped the railing, laughter erupting from the both of them. After calming herself, Yuna looks at Kain.
Yuna
"You're a vampire... from Nosgoth, correct?"
Kain
[looks down at her]
"I assume Vorador has told you."
[Yuna nods]
"I see... I relunctantly reveal who I am. So I state that I am from this... Zanarkand. The last place I was in this... Spira."
"Your Wakka friend doesn't believe me at all."
Yuna looks up, shifting her body to the side, to face the vampire, who is still facing the front of the boat. He turns slowly as she speaks.
Yuna
"But I believe you!"
"And I've heard... not from Vorador..."
"That in Nosgoth, the sky is always darkened."
"And that vampires roam the land in the swamps, and cities, and even in the mountains."
"And near a small town, there were nine, pure white pillars..."
"Each of them so tall, you could never tell where they stopped towering."
Kain
[turns to face her]
"How do you know that?"
"If you haven't heard it from Vorador?"
Yuna
[smiles]
"A man named Dante told me."
"He was my father's guardian."
Kain's eyes widened... his face turning a shade paler than usual. He moves away from Yuna, pacing back and forth, muttering the name repeatively. Yuna turns around to watch him, seeing his angered, disturbed movements and appearences.
Yuna
"What's wrong?"
[halts]
"My father...his name is Dante"
Yuna
[gasps]
"Amazing!"
[She does the prayer gesture, then walks over to Kain]
"You know, our meeting like this must be the blessing of Yevon!"
Kain
[shakes his head and crosses his arms]
"It may sound like him... but it's nonesense..."
Yuna
"Why not?"
"I know he wasn't a vampire when he served my father..."
"But..."
Kain
"My father was never a vampire, Yuna..."
"I was turned by a Necromancer, a guardian of death."
"Before that time, my father had died..."
"Three-hundred and twenty years ago in Nosgoth."
Yuna
[she turns away]
"I'm sorry..."
Kain
"I was told he was murdered on his way to the Pillars..."
"My father was of noble blood. A first class merchant..."
"He hadn't returned from one of his journies one day..."
Yuna
"Wait..."
"I am not certain, but seeing that you speak of your father's death three-hundred and twenty years ago..."
"I suppose it means that the time in Nosgoth must differ to the one in Spira."
Kain
[turns to her]
"What makes you say that?"
Yuna
"Because I first met Dante ten years and three months ago!"
"I remember, that was the day my father left..."
Kain
[crosses his arms and looks back out to sea]
"But how would he make his way here...?"
Yuna
[smiles and looks out to sea as well]
"You're here... are you not?"
Kain looks at her once more. Before he can retort, the boat vibrates and rumbles violently. Yuna loses her footing and topples forward. Kain instantly lashes out with one of his claws as his fingers clamp onto the woman's fingers. Another rumbling is caused, allowing the ship to tilt to one side. Kain, with his other claw, clutches the railing. For a moment, their eyes lock, staring up into each other's as if some magnetic force had pulled their eyes into such a stare. Snapping back to his senses, Kain yanks Yuna forward, sending her flying into his chest as his arm wraps protectively around her. Lowering himself to a crouch position and cradling Yuna in one arm, Kain continues to grip the railing, his eyes scanning the deck, searching for Vorador. In an instant, the boat levels out as a massive gray fin shoots out of the water.
Vorador
"Sin!"
Kain turns, seeing Vorador charging toward one of the harpoons. Sailors sprint out onto the area, standing behind more harpoons. Kain stands up, releasing Yuna as Lulu throws her arms around the young summoner. Wakka slides into the scene as well, glancing at Vorador and the other sailors.
Wakka
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Stick a harpoon in him and we'll all get dragged under!"
Sailor 1
"Sin is going for Kilika! We gotta distract it!"
Sailor 2
[looks at Yuna]
"Our families are in Kilika! Forgive us, Lady Summoner!"
[Yuna nods]
Wakka
"Wait!"
[Vorador glares at him]
"Oh, boy..."
The green vampire takes arm, then fires the first harpoon at the fin. The first sailor fires another one as the two harpoons connect with Sin's fin.. The fin drags the boat along as water splashes onto the deck. Kain instantly pulls out Chappu's sword as he eyes the fin. A swarm of small pods from the fin are let loose onto the deck of the ship, transforming into insects. Leaping away from the harpoons, Vorador's sword forms in his hand as he slices through the insects. His attention then turns to Wakka, Yuna, and Lulu.
Vorador
"You three! Attack Sin!"
"Kain and I shall deal these pests."
Yuna
"But... Lord Vorador..."
Kain
"There's nothing to fear Yuna."
"Vorador and I have delt with worse..."
[he then glances at Lulu]
"Are you sure you can handle such a beast with a tiny doll?"
Lulu
[smirks]
"Watch and learn, little boy."
Holding a small doll in one arm, Lulu took her other arm, folding it across her chest and shoulder. Small, orange spheres circled around her. In an instant, she swiped her arm out infront of her as the spheres forged into large flames, striking against Sin's flesh. Kain would've commented on this, had he not heard a loud "SWIPE!" from infront of him. He dodged the slashing from one of the insects, then slashed it with Chappu's sword. The slash and force has cleanly cut through the creature's body like a knife through paper. Vorador, positioned beside Kain, had leapt forward, slicing at more creatures as they approached. Before Kain could attack again, there was a sound resembling that of a mystic slicing of some sort of sword. Looking to the side, he sees Yuna with her arms extended in the air, multicolored spheres surrounding her.
Stepping back, she places herself in a fighting stance as rays of light explode from the atmosphere and her aeon, the beast known as Valefor, lands before her. After stroking it's throat lovingly as she had before, the bird-like dragon takes back into the air. Kain leaps back, avoiding a blow from one of the insects, when a blitzball flies infront of him from an angle, smacking into the creature. Turning his head to the side, he sees Wakka with a cocky smile, giving Kain a thumb's up. Kain looks up at the aeon, howevering directly above Yuna. A large, glowing sphere of white energy forms in the beak of Valefor. After gathering the amount of energy needed, the sphere's beam out of the aeon's mouth , striking the insects and Sin's fin, then exploding instantly, killing the insects before Kain and Vorador.
Sin tears out the harpoons and their devices, then flees from the boat. All is silent... and Yuna looks about the deck frantically.Vorador and Wakka glance at her, then they stare at each other. They know who she's searching for. Both the human and the vampire leap on the railing on the boat. Seeing this, Yuna extands an arm for her guardians.
Yuna
"Lord Vorador..."
Vorador
[looks over his shoulder at her]
"I can manage for a few minutes..."
With that said, Wakka and Vorador kick off the railing, diving overboard and into the ocean. Yuna runs for the edge, only to have Lulu take her shoulder. She stares at her guardian, slightly frowns, then nods.
Kain's body sinks slowly, being pulled away from the surface. In his arm clutches the hilt of Chappu's sword. His mouth is open wide, eyes closed as several fish swim towards his body, biting and feasting off his flesh. From the darkness, a blitzball goes flying through the water, striking the fish. From behind Kain, a strange spell of blue light surrounds his form, healing his wounds and allowing him to awaken. Kain's eyes open, seeing Vorador with an empty bottle of some sort of solution, and Wakka in the distance, holding his blitzball and giving another thumbs up. Wincing with pain, Vorador clenches his teeth as Kain examines him: his flesh slowly dissolving and sizzling in the water. Nodding to each other, Kain and Wakka swim to Vorador's aid, throwing his arms around their shoulders as they kick to the surface.
The quiet town of Kilika...a massive tidal wave approaches. Children play innocently as a mother nurtures her infant. However... the timing is too late. The children and woman gaze up at the shadow that had befallen over their figures. The entire city is engulfed in water as the tidal wave crashes. And then, in a powerful gust, everything begins to get sucked into the sky; houses, humans... everything. In the sky, a whirlwind of corpses and debris is formed, above Sin, who's floating on the surface...
"When Sin had attacked Zanarkand that day, I awakened in Spira."
"'Twas the same day I had been brutally defeated by the Sarafan Lord..."
"I prayed that my encounters with Sin would work in reverse, and return me to Nosgoth..."
Yuna is seated on the boat, Kain's head resting on her thighs as he slowly awakens. She is gazing out at the sea with a great depression. Her fingers clench into a fist as she raises her hand to her heart willfully.
Yuna
"I will defeat Sin... I must defeat Sin."
"I was merely fooling myself."
"Perhaps it was that day... on the sea, under the burning sun...."
"I began to lose hope."
"I was in a foreign world, I wasn't returning to Nosgoth."
"This was forever my new reality..."
"And I was bound here eternally..."