Chapter 11
The group then headed out across the ruins of Zanarkand and soon after arrived at the Yevon Dome. A man stood at the entrance to welcome the strangers.
"You have journeyed far and long to come here. State your name, Summoner." He says.
"I am Summoner Yuna from the isle of Besaid."
"It is clear from your eyes that it has been a tough and tiring quest. Very well. This place is not what it used to be but Lady Yunalesca shall come greet you personally. Your guardians are also welcome too. Go now. She awaits your visit." The man said making the sigh of Spira's prayer.
Yuna returned the prayer then faced her guardians. "I'm ready. Let's go now." She told them.
The group then headed in the Dome when shortly reaching a memory......
"No!! You can't mother! If you go, you'll become a Prayer Child, just like the others." The young Guado boy yells.
"If can't be helped. You must summon me and someday defeat Sin, when your time comes. If you do that, everyone will accept you." the older woman told the young blue haired boy.
"I don't care about everyone else!! Nothing else matters if your not here!" cried the boy as he tries to hold his mother to prevent her from leaving him.
"I'm so sorry......I have no time left." Says the mother and the memory fades away.
"HEY!!! Wasn't that.........!?!" Rikku began.
"Seymour." Tidus finished.
"Interesting." Lulu said.
Yuna sighed. ".........Let's continue on."
After another short distance they reach yet another memory, this one a bit more familiar to one of the group members......... "You know, Braska.........we don't have to do this." The image of Tidus' old man, Jecht spoke.
"Please, try to understand." Braska pleaded.
"Alright, but I won't say it again. Maybe not, but I've said it hundreds of times. Let's go home, Lord Braska. We..........we can't let you die." Auron said sighing.
"Are you having second thoughts as well?" Braska asks.
"What are we suppose to think about?" Auron questions angrily.
"Your mourning for me will be a glad time.......for I will drive away sadness. By defeating Sin, Spira will be rid of its misery. Please understand that Auron." Braska finishes then the memory fades out.
Entering a building on their walk through the Dome, they come across the man they met at the entrance.
"The key to the Prayer Child is just beyond here. In the beginning, it was Lord Zeon that first became the Prayer Child for the Final Aeon. However, he never became a statue. Now, sadly, he has passed onwards." The man spoke to the group of travelers.
"He passed away!?" Wakka asked amazed.
"So that means..........we can't get the Final Aeon!?" Rikku yelled at the old man surprising herself with the tone she had taken.
"Fear not for Lady Yunalesca will grant you a new Final Aeon. Uniting as one with the Summoner, a great power will be born. Now go. Go and see Lady Yunalesca." The old man told them then vanished.
"Wait a second. Auron, you knew this from the beginning, didn't you?" Tidus asked annoyed at Auron's unwillingness to warn them ahead of time.
"I did." Auron simply said.
"Then why didn't you tell us!?" Wined Rikku who was also fed up.
"So you could see the truth for yourselves." Auron responds.
"Yuna?" Kimahri starts.
"I'm not going back." Yuna says even before a question is started.
"Kimahri knows. Kimahri will go ahead, protect Yuna." Kimahri tells everyone stepping through the blue barrier, which led to Lady Yunalesca's room.
Once everyone was through,
"Something's coming!" Rikku says worriedly. "Lady Yunalesca........." Yuna says as she recognizes the person who enters from yet another set of doors.
"Welcome to Zanarkand. Your journey has been long but you have finally arrived at your last destination. Well done Summoner. Now, allow me to grant you my highest blessing. The Final Aeon, my ultimate power. The power that will destroy Sin and rid of Spira's sorrow. Now choose. Who will become your Final Aeon?" Yunalesca speaks to the Summoner.
"What?" Yuna asks.
"You must choose a single brave soul to be changed by my power. Changed into the Prayer Child for your Final Aeon. The power of the heart, the power of a strong bond, these are what make up the Final Aeon. But only one bond closely to the Summoner can become the Prayer Child. It is their mutual feelings that become the light to defeat Sin. I choose my husband, Zeon, 1000 years ago. He became a Prayer Child, and I received my Final Aeon. You must release all of your sorrow for when you bring forth the Final Aeon, your life ends. And as your life ends, so does sorrow. Your father Braska, choose this same path as well and in the end defeated Sin. Do you understand?" Yunalesca explained.
"If we need someone to become a Prayer Child, I volunteer." Lulu says calmly with a touch of love yet sadness in her voice.
"Me too Yuna!" Wakka joins in.
"You don't get it! That is just what our fathers did. It got peace for a bit but that's it! It won't break the cycle." Tidus explains before someone made a stupid mistake.
"Listen, we defeat Sin and keep Yuna from dying. Its just not gonna happen brudda. That would be more then we could hope for." Wakka tells Tidus.
"If we try for too much.........we end up losing it all." Lulu says sadly.
"No! But I want it all!!" Tidus yelled
"Now you're being childish!" Wakka told him.
"What difference would it make? Maybe I should say it like an adult then. It doesn't matter how I say it! Doing it like this won't change anything! They know that they can just throw away a Summoner but I won't have it. And what Auron saying about there might be another way.........I think its true." Tidus said reasonably.
"Infinite possibilities.........you'll think of something?" Rikku asks.
"Yes. I'll go speak to Yunalesca." Tidus says taking a step forward before Rikku could stop him.
"And you think asking her will solve anything?" Wakka asks stubbornly.
"Of course not.........I don't know.........But if this is my story.........if this is my good-for-nothing story it'll go the way I want it to or I'll end it here myself." Tidus says once again taking another step forward towards the doors where Yunalesca waits but was stopped again but this time by Yuna.
"Wait. You say this is your story. But its my story too you know. So don't say it like that. Take things slowly, don't rush off with them or we'll regret the outcome no matter what happens. So.........please don't. I will decide.........I will decide on my own." Yuna says surprising Tidus with the strength in her voice that is usually calm and gentle with a touch of determination.
"Yuna, stop it." Tidus yells surprising the entire group that was staring at the two with a tone he had taken with Yuna. He then places his hands on her shoulders. "You can't do this. I won't let you. I won't let you go sacrifice yourself to Sin. Were trying to change things the way everyone else tried. If we don't do this differently then all your sacrifices will be in vane." Tidus explained.
"I know........." Yuna said calmly.
"Were going to do this together. " Tidus told her then looked back at the others. "All of us. "
As the eight of them entered the rooftop where Yunalesca awaited, it began.
"Have you decided who shall become the Prayer Child? Who have you chosen?" Yunalesca asks sweetly.
"Before that, tell me something. Will Sin always be revived after it is defeated with the Final Aeon?" Yuna asks.
"Sin is immortal. The Aeon that defeats Sin, then, itself, become a new Sin.........thus must occur the rebirth." Lady Yunalesca explains.
"So that is how my old man became Sin........." Tidus mumbled to himself adding another piece to the puzzle.
"Sin is Spira's unfortunate fate, its forever predictable destiny." Yunalesca continued hearing Tidus quiet voice.
"Forever!? But wait! Can't Sin's rebirth be stopped when people atone for their sins?" Wakka asked, hoping that all his religious teachings had been nothing more then lies.
"Would Spira ever attain such purity?" Yunalesca asked shrugging her delicate shoulders.
"That's not an answer! Yevon teaches that Sin can be gone with complete atonement. Those teachings.........they were Spira's only hope!!!" Lulu said stepping in.
"Hope.........is comforting. You should forget such sorry teachings and accept the truth!" Yunalesca said stubbornly.
"No! Stop lying to us!" Tidus yelled up at her.
"It's not the only something to rely on. Braska sacrificed his life because he believed those teachings! Jecht sacrificed himself because he believed in Braska!!!" Auron said.
"And they died for what they believed. The Yevon teachings and the Final Aeon are the light of hope that shines on Spira. If there were no hope, life would be nothing more then sorrow. Now choose. Who will become the Prayer Child to renew Spira's hope?" Yunalesca said motioning to the six guardians.
"No one." Yuna said looking over at Tidus and then back at Yunalesca. "I thought it was alright that I would die. I would have gladly died for the people of Spira. I'm not afraid to die.........to give my life for my cause but no more. The Final Aeon is a false tradition that should be stopped. It's a fake that never changes anything!" Yuna told her.
"No, it is Spira's only hope. You're father sacrificed his life so he could give that hope to the people. To forget sorrow." Yunalesca said trying to steer Yuna back to what she saw was the righteous path.
"No.........my father............MY FATHER WANTED.........to make Spira's sorrow go away. Not it up with lies!" Yuna told her with a tone in her voice.
"What is the point of fighting sorrows that cannot be stopped?" Yunalesca asked.
"That's exactly what my father wanted to do. So I want to complete that task that my father couldn't. Life.........without sorrow. I live and fight for that day. Maybe its destiny that can't be changed now but someday, I will conquer it. And I will do so without using false hope!" Yuna spoke, determination filling her voice.
"Poor creature. You would throw away hope. Well, in that case.........the least I can do is to relieve you from the sorrow you suffer from, before you sink into total despair. A death submerged in the light of hope, rather than life in the black of sorrow. You shall forget all your sorrows!" Yunalesca concluded, her voice full of unneeded and unwanted pity.
"Everyone this is it. Now you must decide. Relent, and die? Or live and fight sorrow? Listen to your heart and write your own story!" Auron commanded preparing himself to fight.
"If Kimahri does, who would protect Yuna?" Kimahri said stepping forward also ready to fight.
"I'm with you all the way Yunie!" Rikku yelled also jumping forwards.
"Fighting against Lady Yunalesca? You gotta be kiddin' me........." Wakka grumbled.
"You could always run." Lulu asked smugly knowing Wakka's answer before he even said it.
"If I ran now I could never forgive myself. Even if it kills me." Wakka replied.
"My thoughts exactly." Lulu said stepping forward for battle with Wakka by her side.
"Yuna. We'll continue both our stories, together!" Tidus smiled despite all that was going on.
The battle commenced like expected and they fought long and hard making sure each other was remained healed but none of them held anything back. Finally with Yuna's grand summon Bahamit took down Lady Yunalesca.
"If I die.........the Final Aeon dies with me." Yunalesca cried as she fell to her knees.
"Then we'll find another way to defeat it." Tidus assured.
"Foolish boy.........there is no other way. Even if you did.........If you somehow defeated Sin.........The immortal Yu Yevon will continue to linger on." Yunalesca yelled.
"Yu Yevon!?" Wakka asked suddenly unsure.
"Yes.........Oh forgive me, Zeon. When the light of hope is gone, Spira shall descend into a spiral of sorrow........." Yunalesca cried to the heavens, as her body began to fade away into nothingness.
"No way.........can that happen?" Yuna asked looking to her left at Tidus.
"Don't worry, its not going to." Tidus responded, strength and integrity filling his voice once more.
"Well, what should we do now?" Rikku asked.
"We defeat Sin. We do it without the Final Aeon, and we won't let it come back, either. Now we just gotta figure out how." Tidus replied with a smile.
The group started to head out of the Dome.
Outside, Tidus was the first to exit the Dome and when he looked out at the surroundings, he was confronted with the face of Sin as it peered down at him calmly.
'Father.........No Final Aeon anymore.........But we'll do it somehow. Just.........give me a little more time.' Tidus thought to himself. Sin then turns around slowly and slithers away.
The others exit the done and watch in amazement as the shadow of Sin against the sunset.
As they watch the retreating form of Sin, the airship from the Al Bhed Home swoops down to accept its new passengers.
And there you have it folks. Chapter 11 complete. Don't forget to R and R. Thanks a lot. Well see ya all in the next chapter.