Disclaimer: Read the first page.
Note: This one's kinda short. Hope it's okay.
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"Rikku?" Gippal pushed the hut door open and quickly moved to stand beside her. He set his hands on her shoulders and stared at her intently. She said nothing and he followed her gaze until he too watched the pyreflies rise up. "Fryd dra…?"
Yuna burst through the partially open door and ran quickly from the hut towards her daughter. She forced herself to pause when she noted the blank look on Liya's face. "Liya?"
The girl said nothing, nor did she lift her eyes at her mother's voice.
"Liya." Tidus said firmly.
Slowly, she looked up at him with eyes that were devoid of all color. "He's broken free of the Farplane." Her voice said. "And his target is Zanarkand." She turned and cast her gaze out across the blue ocean. "He will not rest until she is awakened. To give him life once more."
"Who?" Yuna asked hesitantly as she took a single cautious step forward.
"You know him." Liya's voice replied. "He haunted this world an entire millennia before you sent him to sleep."
Shuyin. The name hit the ex-summoner. And it hit her hard.
The girl stared blankly at her mother and a look of knowing played across the small features and sent a shiver up her mother's spine. Yuna barely felt Tidus' hand slip into her own until he squeezed it reassuringly.
"If he succeeds in waking her and making her his own, you won't have the power to stop him." Her voice finished and the color bled back into her eyes. Her small legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed onto the dirt.
Vidina stood transfixed as he stared at his friend. His breaths were short and shallow until he shook himself from the spell and hurried the short distance to kneel beside her. He reached a hand out hesitantly and shook her. "Liya?" She made no response and he rolled her onto her back. "Liya, wake up."
He hadn't seen them move, but Yuna was on her knees and pulling the small girl up into her arms. The pyreflies lingered in the air and moved through those who had come out of their huts, sending chills through warm bodies. Before she could respond, Yuna watched as a small swarm of pyreflies settled into Liya's body and her skin turned a deathly shade of blue and took on the feel of ice.
"Liya!" Yuna screamed. She heard feet move behind her, but was unable to turn to watch the young Al Bhed speed away.
"Come on." Tidus pulled at Yuna's arm, but the young woman didn't budge. "Come on, Yuna." He spoke more urgently as he slid his hands under her arms and forced her to her feet. He pulled her along back into the hut as Vidina rose to his feet and tried to fight back tears that threatened to fall.
Moving into the hut, Tidus pulled Liya from Yuna's arms and pulled back the blankets on the bed. He set her down then turned back to his wife.
"Strip down." He told her. She looked to him doubtfully. "You need to strip down and hold her. She needs direct contact from your body."
Yuna hesitated, but stripped down until she wore nothing more than a thin white top and tiny panties. She moved forward and Tidus began pulling Liya's small top from her body, then moved onto the shorts before Yuna slid beneath the covers and pulled Liya's small form into her arms.
Yuna gasped at the initial contact. Liya was quite literally frozen. "Tidus," She whispered and glanced up at him.
He returned her gaze, then he too stripped down into his boxers before crawling beneath the blankets and sheets and pulling them both into his arms. She was biting tears back with everything she could muster when she felt his arms tighten around them and he looked up at him.
She couldn't for the words to ask, but it was as if he could read her emotions. "She's going to be fine." He whispered to her and pressed his lips against her forehead. "She has to be."
A loud explosion thundered in the distance and she looked up towards the sky. The dark heavens were set a fiery glow and she glanced about herself when it began to diminish. A woman who stood beside her turned and locked gazes with her. The woman's green eyes were warm and held a depth she'd never seen before.
"Are you ready?" The woman asked.
She hesitated. "I think so."
"Two more days, and we'll be out on those lines." The woman said as she glanced back out towards the dark horizon.
Her stomach churned and a hand set on her shoulder. "You shouldn't be here." The woman said. "You might be able to hide it well, but you still should have accepted clemency when it was offered to you."
"I'm honored to be able to fight for and protect those I love." She replied as his blues eyes flashed in her mind for just a moment. She went silent when the woman turned to her.
"What about yourself?"
She didn't respond.
"Megaera." Came a voice and the woman turned at the name.
A young boy approached garbed in clothing much like that of a Blitzer and he took the woman's hand. "Don't be afraid, Jalen." Megaera replied. "The Fayth will protect you. And if you perish, they will take you before Death can lay her cold hand on your shoulder." She hugged the child to her side and the three stood with the other Summoner's on the hill's crest gazing out towards their future.
"You won't tell him, will you?" Megaera asked.
"He doesn't need to know." She paused. "More so, I don't have the strength to look him in the eye to tell him."
"Your magic can only hide it for so long, Lenne."
Yuna's eyes slid open in the dark. She looked over at Tidus and noted his shallow and steady breathing. Movement in her arms brought her attention to Liya. She noticed the increase in the girl's body temperature, but it still was well below normal.
She needed to get up to stretch, but feared her lack of body heat against the girl, could force her back into submission.
"It's all right." His voice was quiet. "You need to get some air." His hand came up and touched her cheek. "I'll stay."
She gave a faint smile and rose up on her arms to kiss him. Peeling herself from Liya, she slowly climbed out of the bed.
"Where did you go?" His voice asked her as she moved towards the door.
She paused and turned back to watch Tidus tighten his grip on the girl. "What do you mean?" Yuna asked.
"When you fell asleep." He replied. "Where did you go?"
…they will take you before Death can lay her cold hand on your shoulder
"I don't remember." She whispered back and moved out of the hut.
Your magic can only hide it for so long, Lenne.