Notes: How was your Halloween?
"What do you mean?" Wakka asked as the four proceeded into the Dome to follow after the Aurochs and Ronso.
"Don't you think that just maybe this isn't Shuyin?" Paine offered.
"Liya said it herself." Wakka hesitated. "Or at least who ever possessed her or whatever. 'He haunted this world an entire millennia', that's what she said."
"But Shuyin had no reason to return." The Praetor replied. "He had finally gotten what he wanted seven years ago. He had gotten Lenne back."
"But what if the Fayth had lied?" The Blitz Captain stopped in his tracks. "I can't believe I just said that."
"The Fayth do not lie." Kimhari crossed his arms over his chest.
"But what if the Lenne that took Shuyin back to the Farplane...was just a lie?" Wakka tried to bite back his tongue to keep suck words to himself. But they refused to be held down. "What if she was just an image created by the Fayth to finally stop him. What if he never saw Lenne again?"
Paine bit back her lower lip. She had never thought of that. None of them had ever thought of that. But the theory did carry weight. A weight so heavy, that it was no longer possible to avoid. But why would he seek this sleeping Fayth?
He will not rest until she is awakened. To give him life once more.
But why would he seek to live in a world where Lenne was absent? Why would he go through all this trouble in order to never see her?
"We should go." Kimhari interrupted the silence. "Time wasted. We must find Liya." He moved on without another word as the three humans remained fixed in place.
Wakka couldn't believe that he had actually spoken against the Fayth. That they could have somehow lied. Seven years ago, he would have beat himself up over the fact. He would have stopped on this 'pilgrimage' and turned back. Shaking his head, he slowly followed suit with Kimhari and ventured further into Zanarkand.
"What if he's right?" Baralai murmured.
"What if he's wrong?" Paine replied coolly.
"But what he said carries a lot of merit." Baralai turned to face her. "It's not like it would be the first time the Fayth have ever...lied."
I resent that comment.
Turning, they found the Bevelle Fayth.
It's not like our lies are intentional.
Baralai made the first move to speak, but the child raised his hand to silence the Praetor.
I don't know who he is. We've been too busy trying to keep Liya safe.
"What is so special about her." Baralai asked. "Sir Auron told us she was a replica of something from a thousand years ago. You can't tell me you're actually cloning people."
We do not have that power. But she is an echo through time.
"Why was she chosen?" Paine asked angrily. "Why did he chose her for this?"
Because she is the only one who can safely enter the Chamber of the Fayth. And there, all dreams will meet their creator.
"What do you mean?" Baralai raised an eyebrow skeptically.
Exactly has it sounds.
The three stood in perfect silence for several long, drawn out moments. And the Fayth never faltered in keeping his gaze even with the pair.
None of us had memories like she had.
He moved forward, walking between them, to make his own way into Zanarkand, slowly fading as he progressed.
"I'm getting tired of these riddles." Rikku finally said as she stopped. "What is it all supposed to mean? Why can't anyone just tell us exactly what is going on!" She shouted out to the Chamber.
"Up ahead, is the passageway." Yuna's arm raised from her side and pointed to the door at the end of the chamber. The door that led up to the top of Zanarkand where they had battled Yunalesca. "It will take us down into the hidden Chamber."
Rikku moved quickly until she seized her cousin by the shoulders. "Yunie!" She cried. "Snap out of it!" She turned to face the chamber once more. "Let her go! Leave her alone!"
The only response that the Al Bhed received was the bitter silence of the past. She dropped to her knees and beat her fists against the stone floor.
"Rikku." Gippal set his hand on her shoulder and she batted it away.
"Don't." She growled. "Don't even..."
Come on Shu, hurry it up.
Everyone froze at the voice. A voice so gentle, and yet so haunting.
She had him by the wrist and was dragging him forward into the Chamber. She giggled as he tried to repress the grin that was trying to consume his lips as he did his best to drag against her. He bit back the smile and turned his face towards the sky to avoid her.
She stopped and gave him a hard pull. His footing failed him and he stumbled forward into her, knocking her over.
Thank you Mister Wonderful.
Quit you're complaining. He snapped and pulled her up to her feet.
She stood up and pressed herself against him, lightly brushing her lips against his, then pulling away as he tried to deepen the kiss. She smiled and he pulled her closer.
Think that was funny? He asked.
Oh no, Mr. Shuyin. She smiled, then bolted from his arms. She ran up the stairs and through the door with him on her heels. But this is!
Tidus moved first after the pair. Followed closely by Yuna.
Gippal turned to look down at Rikku. She swallowed and reluctantly gave chase.
The stars are so beautiful up here. Lenne said as she pointed to the dark sky.
It had never been this way before. It had always been dark without anything. Tidus had always thought that it had been some sort of shift in the dimensional barriers. But it had a strange pink glow; remnants of a sunset. He thought of the sunset he used to see in Zanarkand. He could only imagine they were exactly the same as Lenne and Shuyin had once seen them.
Look. She pointed to the sky. That's Pleiades and...
That's Orion. He pointed to the cluster near by. And that over there is Draco.
Okay smarty-pants. She giggled.
He moved towards her and slipped his arms about her waist allowing her to settle back against his frame.
It's so beautiful. She murmured again.
You run a close second place.
Hey! She smacked him in the arm playfully.
He smirked. This'll be our place then.
The couple slowly vanished and beneath where they stood was a crest. It was the same crest Yunalesca had proclaimed her defeat. And if memory served Rikku right, not long ago, this had merely been a gaping hole that appeared an endless void.
Why had the crest been recreated?
Yuna moved forward without a word and stood upon the crest. As she did, light faintly came to life and she turned her white eyes on them. She didn't need to speak in order for them to follow.
Rikku stared at her cousin for a long time. When were they going to let her go? With the four on board, the crest erupted in a beam of light and slowly shook until it was able to descend into whatever waited for them in the dark.
She moved forward and the flames coiled at her icy presence. The cold was beating from her heart and flooding her bloodstream with the deepest chill Liya thought she could ever endure, and yet at the same time, the cold felt so natural. She noted her body temperature and the breath that came from her body in puffs of cold, but something just felt right.
The hymn guided her through the twisting corridors towards the immaculate door that bore a crest that blazed with fire. But she had never seen the symbol presented before her. She had seen the mark of Yevon throughout her entire life, but she had never seen this image before. Her brows knitted in confusion as her mind raced without her permission.
Without thought, her arm rose from her side and slowly reached out to touch the crest. From behind, she heard him make his way to stand behind her.
"It wasn't too hot for you." She said. "Was it?"
He said nothing, only waited. She couldn't be sure it he had heard her or not. Or if he just didn't care to respond. And she herself, didn't care if he never spoke again. A power surged through her, from core to tips and she felt a strange sense of relief.
She pressed her fingers against the symbol and the flame cooled and hissed away as ice spread across the crest. The ice worked its way across the door's surface, dipping into ridges and holes along the way. It climbed up and splintered until the whole cavern glowed.
When the light faded away, so did the door. And within, lay the Chamber of the Fayth.
Before she knew what was happening, he seized her by her arm and forced her forward. As they stepped through the doorway, she felt the cold leave her body. The cold was quickly replaced by the natural warmth her body was so used to.
The sudden change forced the breath from Liya's lungs and she collapsed on the floor. He released her and she splayed her hands out to support herself as she tried to regain her breath. Drawing on what her father had taught her during blitz practice, she tried to calm herself and forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. In through her nose, and out through her mouth.
When she regained the stable ability to breathe, she opened her eyes to find herself lying on a sort of bubble of glass. And beneath her, the stone carving of a woman's body, face down with her hair spread about her. The hair was caught up in braids and twists. The garment the statue wore was simple, a thin string tied at her back and another about the back of the neck. And about her waist, Liya had trouble making out what it was it wore.
She had seen this before and her heart broke in her chest. She thought they would have been here by now. She thought they would have stopped him before they had reached this final destination. Yet here she was, lying within the chamber, staring down at the statue of the unknown Fayth that slept in the quiet of Zanarkand.