Notes: No notes this time.
Tidus hesitantly followed his wife deeper into the city until the small party reached the cloister of trials. Faint lights illuminated, ready to set the puzzles into place until Yuna raised her hand. With a flick of her wrist, the cloister powered down and they progressed to the lift.
Her eyes stared blankly ahead as the magic encrusted platform lowered them down into the city's underground towards the chamber below. No words were exchanged as they progressed forward, through the fallen temple and towards the Chamber of the Fayth.
This was the place that Yuna had been so willing to throw her life away so long ago. The memories irked at the Blitzer as his memories came to life.
Welcome to Zanarkand. I congratulate you, summoner. You have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow you with that which you seek. The Final Summoning...will be yours. Now, choose. You must choose the one whom I will change...to become the fayth of the Final Summoning.
No one had known what to say. No one could truly understand what it was the ancient summoner spoke of. She seemed to speak in riddles, that had no answer.
There must be a bond, between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin.
He had been willing to give himself up as the Final Aeon the very moment those words fell from the woman's lips. Knowing what he was, and what purpose he could serve with his life, Tidus had been willing to die for the people of Spira. He had been willing to die for Yuna.
Okay. Listen good. Take care of my son. My son, in Zanarkand. He's such a crybaby. He needs someone there to hold his hand, see? Take care of him, will you?
His thoughts immediately flew to Liya. He knew she didn't need to hold his hand. He knew how strong she was...that she was different. But that persistent fatherly instinct kept driving him to it. Was this really how his own father had felt? Tidus never thought that his father had ever felt anything. A sudden pang of guilt twisted in his side.
You must hurry.
Tidus snapped to attention and his eyes fixed on a figure he thought he'd never see again. The small black bikini held to her body the same way it had so long ago, curtained only by her long silver hair.
She took a single step forward and her appearance shifted. Her face softened and her hair slowly turned from silver to black. About her body, a red dress slowly took form and molded perfectly to every strain.
You're not far behind, but she's at the threshold of the Chamber.
"What..." Tidus shook his head and pressed a hand to his temple.
"Don't listen to her, Tidus." Rikku growled out.
Yunalesca bowed her head. I fully understand why you would choose not to listen to me. But I can't bother trying to explain myself. Liya is too close. He'll force her to pray for the Fayth. And that cannot happen.
"She's right." Yuna's voice spoke emptily. Her blank eyes gazed off into the distance.
"What is going on?" Gippal demanded.
"I'm tired of these circles." Tidus murmured. "Where's my baby?"
Liya is the product of a replicated dream. She is in fact a dream replication. Something that was given life, when the original copy was discarded. He knows she has the power to wake the Sleeper into aeon form.
"How does she have the power to summon an aeon?" Tidus murmured. "All the Fayth are gone." Then he was silent for a long while. Rikku gazed at him worriedly. "She's not a summoner."
She's the daughter of a summoner. The greatest Spira has ever seen. Two Fayth remain locked within the walls of Zanarkand. Two left to dream. And I'm so tired of dreaming...
Yunalesca's image faded out until almost nothing of her could be seen.
And so is she.
The summoner spoke no more and separated in a stream of pyreflies.
"There." Wakka pointed down at the fallen city below Mount Gagazet.
"We must save Liya." Kimhari said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Datto asked as he progressed down the mountainside. With a nod, Keppa soon followed, then so did the rest of the Aurochs and the Ronso that had accompanied Kimhari.
Wakka turned at glanced back at the Fayth Scar. It had once held most of the Fayth os Spira, but they had long ago left the mortal realm to finally rest in the Farplane. It was bittersweet.
"They left mortal world," Kimhari said quietly. "But they did not leave Spira." With that, the Eldar Ronso followed his comrades and proceeded down the pathway.
She is protected by the ice aeon, now.
Were the Fayth still present in Spira? Had he actually spoken to the Macalania Fayth? Had it really not been a dream after all?
The Auroch captain sighed and ran a hand through his red hair. The hopeful though that the Fayth still watched over them lingered in his mind as he too followed his party.
"Down there!" Paine cried over the loud hum of the Airship. She pointed down at Zanarkand. At the small bodies moving forward into the Dome. She set her hand on the captain's shoulder and he lowered the ship until Wakka and Kimhari came into view.
The pair had stopped to stare up the small ship that descended towards them.
When the hatch opened, Paine moved forward, garbed in black leather and ready for battle. Behind her, Baralai stepped forward, dressed in a similar fashion.
"We think we may know what's going on." Paine offered quickly.
"What do you mean?" Wakka pressed.
"We went to the Farplane." Baralai explained. "We spoke to Sir Auron and he told us that this character who's kidnapped Liya escaped the Farplane."
"We know that. Liya said that in Besaid." Wakka replied. "It's Shuyin."
"Are you sure?" Paine asked.
"You're not afraid." She murmured. "Are you?"
He stared wide-eyed back at her. Ice had molded to her small frame, and she now stood beckoning him into flames. Her arm returned to her side, and she tilted her head. Her cold eyes bore into him and a faint smirk formed on her face. She turned on her heel, and slowly progressed deeper through the hall.
To his amazement, as she moved forward, it was as if the flames cowered against the walls away from her. Just ahead of her, she heard the faint sound of a voice. A voice singing a hymn that Spira had abandoned.