Standard Disclaimer. I do not own FFX or the characters in it. They are owned by Square-Enix. I do own this story, and my original characters. The song "We Are the Champions" was performed by Queen.
After they had visited the temple the day before, they had only explored a small portion of the woods before they had returned to the open area between the Travel Agency and the temple for the airship to retrieve them. There hadn't been a lot of time to explore the wonders of the Macalania Woods. Because the airship couldn't actually land in the woods, they had to choose, either to start at the frozen lake, or start at the southern end, near the Thunder Plains. They chose to start from the southern end the next morning, mostly because there were a couple of members of the group who still had nightmares about freezing on Gagazet. The Thunder Plains side was a lot warmer. They planned to stay in the woods for several days, collecting fiends for the Arena, so they had packed bedrolls and camping gear, as well as a few days worth of food and clothing.
Yesterday afternoon, Mercy had been too full of her meeting with the fayth of Macalania to pay proper attention to the woods of Macalania. Now, she looked around her in awe. Once they were completely inside the forest, she stood and tilted her head back, turning around slowly to see everything she could. "Is this place…natural?" she asked breathlessly.
"What do you mean by that?" Lulu asked impatiently in return. "These are the Macalania Woods. They have always been like this." Her tone implied that the older woman's question had been an exceedingly stupid one.
Mercy chose not to take offense. "I mean, there's nothing like this where I come from. There were parks in our Zanarkand," she turned to Tidus, who nodded, "with stands of trees. Auron and I went camping in the hills outside the city, and there were forests, with huge trees, but nothing like this. Not these crystals. Or those paths, like that one, over there," she pointed to a translucent path that stretched into the distance high over their heads. "Are all the forests in Spira like this one, or is this one special?"
Yuna answered her gently. "The Macalania Woods are special. There are no other trees like these anywhere in Spira. There is no place where these crystals grow, except in these woods." The summoner paused, then continued in a softer voice, "My father used to tell me stories, when I was a little girl, of the wondrous creatures that lived here in the secret places, that came out at night to make beautiful music for good little girls." She sighed wistfully. "I guess I always thought this place was magical, because of his stories."
Lulu stood beside Yuna, and slipped an arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "But Yuna, you know there are legends about the origin of the Macalania Woods. How much of those legends is based on truth, and how much on fantasy and wishful thinking, no one knows." The mage stopped, and considered for a moment, then continued. "There is some power here. I can feel it. But it could just be natural. We are still very close to the Thunder Plains, after all."
They continued moving forwards as they spoke, and arrived at a place where their path branched into three: two ground-based trails led onwards, one to the right, one continuing straight ahead. A third road pointed left, and nearly straight up. Now that they were at the base of one of the overhead trails, Mercy could see that these paths were not merely translucent, but that they positively glowed with energy. I don't care what anybody says, she decided, that has to be magic. It has to be.
Standing beside the road, in between the two land-bound paths, a woman and a young boy were quietly arguing, as the woman's eyes continuously searched down the paths nervously. The party stopped when they reached her, and Tidus struck up a conversation with her, just being his normal, outgoing, insatiably curious, self. The woman didn't want to trouble them, but the more she tried to withdraw from the conversation, the more Tidus pushed. Her boy, her son as it turned out, did not help the situation, as she was forced to divide her attention between the young man who genuinely wanted to help her, and her own son, who was bored with just standing around waiting for his dad to arrive, which turned out to be the crux of the problem. The woman was waiting for her husband to meet them, and he was late. She was afraid that he had confused their meeting place, but she was certain that if she tried to search for him, he would arrive just as soon as she left, and they'd never find each other, so she had to stay put. Unspoken was the problem of her son's impatience, which was clearly testing her own patience to its limit. She had to catch his arm twice while she was speaking with Tidus, so her dilemma in that regard was all too obvious. In the end, she requested that if they did see her husband while they were traveling, would they please let him know where his family was waiting for him? Tidus promised that they would.
They chose to take the right hand path first, but found few fiends along the way. They came to a milling stop at a crossroads, not quite certain which way to turn.
Yuna blocked the right hand path, saying, "There is nothing this way except a spring. There were no fiends here before. It is…a peaceful place. I do not think we need to visit…this time." She glanced up at Tidus for a moment, and blushed furiously, then cast her eyes to the ground. Mercy found herself wondering what happened the last time someone visited that spring.
Auron stepped into the silence, and pointed to the road ahead, gruffly announcing, "That road leads to Bevelle, and back to the Calm Lands. That is not our path, now. I thought our intent was to explore the woods. We should turn around, and go back."
Just then, a caravan rolled up behind them, both led and surrounded by guards, including a squad of warrior-monks from the temple. "Step aside, step aside, you're blocking the road," the outrider began, pushing at Wakka with the flat of his sword. "We have supplies for the Palace, and we must not be delayed," the guard-captain continued, full of his own self-importance.
Wakka opened his mouth as if to protest, and Lulu practically shoved him off the path to the left. Everyone else scrambled to follow, until they found themselves in what Mercy could tell were familiar surroundings for the rest of them. It was the place where they had camped the night after they escaped from Bevelle, although she had no way of knowing that fact.
Auron stood alone in a corner of the campground, and his wife decided that he looked like he was lost in thought, or memory, and that it was one that pained him. She left the others and moved to join him. "What is bothering you?" she asked, brushing her hand against his arm.
He stared over her head, at the others. They were in the midst of a discussion with someone, hopefully the husband of the woman they had met earlier. He dismissed the present concerns, and turned his mind back to the past. He closed his eye, brought the night back to his mind, and his heart. "We camped here, the night we escaped from Bevelle," he began quietly. "I had lost my faith, so long ago. But…the others, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu…they had glimpsed the true face of Yevon for the first time…and had found it corrupt. Their faith in the temples was shattered." He opened his eye, and met hers. "And I hurt for them more than I had imagined was still possible." He turned his face away, and blinked rapidly for a moment, then re-focused on her. "And Kinoc had just been killed, and…although he was part of it, I still wanted to grieve for the friend I had lost."
Her body was between him and the others, blocking their view. She laid her right hand over his bare left hand, cradled in the sling of his jacket. He looked down at her hand over his, and the tight expression on his face eased a fraction. He went on, "The night we camped here, Yuna went to spring on the other side of the road, alone, to…think, she said. Kimahri went to keep watch over her, but I knew he would not intrude. I expected that we would be declared traitors. I do not know what Yuna thought." He took her hand between both of his. "I sent Tidus to her that night. I knew he would attempt to convince her to give up her pilgrimage. That night, if he had succeeded, I knew that I would not try to convince her otherwise."
Mercy gasped in shock, even as she filed away another tidbit of information about this mysterious spring. "I'm not sure I believe what you just said. You mean you were willing to set aside your duty? After ten years?" Her voice slightly bitter, she continued, "If I'd known that's what the secret was, I'd have found a temple to declare me a traitor a long time ago." She saw instantly, from the look on his face, that she had wounded him, and she tried to take the words back, bringing her other hand up to clasp around his, murmuring apologetically, "I'm sorry, love, I shouldn't have said that," as she did.
"No, I'm sorry," he said in a voice suddenly choked with emotion. "Was I that bad?" he asked, full of concern. He wanted to hold her, but the others were too close by, and kept looking their way, trying to figure out what was going on. He felt exposed, both to them, and to his wife.
"No, love, you weren't that bad," she reassured him, caressing his hand between hers. "It wasn't like that. Your duty made you who you are. Without it, you wouldn't have come to me. And…you didn't really talk about it much, except at the very beginning…and the last three months. But I could always tell when you were thinking about it. The expression on your face…I just knew. And I always knew it was there, waiting, and that one day, it would take you away, and that there was nothing I could do to stop it." She squeezed his hands tightly, blinking back tears.
He squeezed back, rubbed her fingers with his. Then he spoke in a softer voice. "The night we camped here…I dreamed of our wedding. I remembered thinking then, that if you were here, that you would be 'Lady Mercy' the second the judge pronounced us husband and wife. I remembered wishing desperately that there were a way to get you here. And I woke up reaching for you next to me. And here you are." My gift…my miracle, and, he suddenly decided, much more important than my dignity. He pulled her into his arms, and hugged her close for a few moments, resting his cheek against her hair. He heard her soft sigh, as her arms slid around his back, as she held him just as tightly.
As soon as he lifted his head, she looked up into his face, smiling gently. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you, too, my lady," he answered, his voice low. Then he released her, and she stepped back. He paced forward, next to her, and they returned to join the others, discovering that the man who had captured everyone else's attention while they had been occupied had been the father of the impatient boy they had met at the earlier fork in the road. Yuna expressed the hope that the father would rejoin his family before the boy managed to escape his mother.
Mercy and Tidus looked at each other, and Mercy rolled her eyes. Tidus started to laugh. "Not much hope there," he replied, grinning.
Tidus was right. By the time they returned to that fork in the path, the parents of the boy had found each other…but the child was nowhere in sight. Tidus immediately struck up a conversation with them, while most of the party ranged around. At first, neither parent seemed to want to admit that the boy was really gone, or that there was any problem that they couldn't handle themselves.
"The solution is obvious," Auron muttered to Mercy, "we split up and search while they remain here. But how long will it take them to admit it?" he continued grumpily.
Mercy raised her eyes to the treetops, in exasperation. Thank goodness we're too far away for anyone to hear him, she observed gratefully. "Auron, if she thinks she's imposing on us, this is going to take twice as long," she hissed back at him. "So shut up and stop looking like a thundercloud!" He blinked at her in astonishment, and tried to school his face into a more neutral expression. "That's better," she whispered in a softer tone. "Poor woman, she has enough to deal with between the boy and her husband."
He half turned to face her, as she continued to face forwards, watching Tidus handle the scene with the young parents. "What about you? You have to 'deal with me' every day," he challenged.
She turned her head to look up into his face, then her eyes swept over him, lingered on his mouth as she licked her own lips suggestively, then her gaze grew warmer as her eyes continued to fall, down past his shoulders, chest and abdomen, to linger again at his groin. Her fingers pulled her tunic slightly away from her neck, as though the garment had suddenly gotten too warm for her, exposing the upper swell of her breast. His eye followed her hand, and saw that her nipples had budded visibly against her shirt. "From my perspective," she whispered seductively, "dealing with you has its…compensations."
He swallowed, hard. "Not tonight," he growled in frustration. "We will be camping with the others, remember?"
And you think we're going wait until we're back on the ship? I don't think so, she decided. "We'll just have to…think of something," she replied, grinning wickedly.
He let his hand rest at the base of her spine, as he stared down into her eyes, and the valley between her breasts. "We had better…or you will distract me too much," he agreed, his voice low.
Just then, everyone else turned, as Tidus concluded his conversation with the lost child's parents. The party drew together to decide on a search strategy. "Okay," Tidus began. "We know the kid isn't on the path we just came through, so that leaves the other three."
"There are no fiends on the sky paths," Lulu stated. "At least, there were none on either of my pilgrimages. That road is relatively safe," the mage concluded.
"Then we split up," Auron decided. He met Mercy's amused gaze. I know, he thought at her. But this has gone on far too long. "Tidus, Rikku, you go up the sky path. Kimahri, and Yuna take the south road. The rest of us will head north, deeper into the woods. When you find the boy, return here and send up a spell, or Rikku, you must have something in your kit that will substitute. Now go!" he ordered.
In less than half an hour, a grenade exploded high in the sky, and they hurried back to the meeting point through the winding paths of the woods. Mercy was glad to rejoin Tidus and the others, both because it was clear that he and Rikku had found the boy, and because she wanted a few more people as a buffer between herself and Lulu. I know I'm going to have to settle things with that girl one of these days, Mercy decided, but not today. She's so suspicious of every move I make, it's downright annoying. And what's up with her and Wakka? Or should I say, Wakka and her? I'll have to ask someone…maybe Rikku will tell me. I think Wakka cares for Lulu a lot more than he lets on. Poor guy.
The boy's parents were very grateful to have their son returned to them, but Tidus was eager, in fact, he was practically bouncing off the trees, to return to the place where he and Rikku had found the child. The second they were out of hearing range of the kid's parents, he started jabbering a mile a minute. "Look, guys, we have to go back up there. You have to see this thing. It's one of those crystals, but wow! It's bigger than any of the ones we saw when we came through here before, and…"
Auron interrupted him, "We are not here on a sightseeing trip. There are no fiends on the upper paths."
Tidus cut him off. "But Auron, something happened up there. Let me finish. When we found the kid, my pack, something in my pack, started humming. It started to shake so much; I thought it was going to jump off my back right there. It was just like the way that mirror reacted to the box the old guy gave us at the Arena, but it was lots stronger. We've got to go check it out. It might be important," Tidus finished breathlessly.
The older man considered for a moment. "I agree. It does sound like it is worth 'checking out', as you said." A half smile flickered across Auron's face for a moment, and the younger man blinked in surprise. "Lead the way," Auron finished, gesturing to Tidus with an outstretched arm.
Tidus led them up the glowing, translucent walkway. Partway up, Mercy made the mistake of looking down at the path between her feet, and discovered that she could see clear through to the forest floor, too many feet below her to even want to think about. She stumbled in surprise, completely uncertain about where to put her feet next, and Auron had to catch her arm before she fell. "Don't look down," he whispered. She chewed on her lower lip and nodded hesitantly.
Tidus led them to the right, when they came to a branching of the path, and practically ran up to a gigantic crystal pulsating with prismatic light, as he tore the pack off his back. He knelt at the base of the crystal, both his arms buried in his pack, which was visibly rocking now, as he tried to find the cloudy mirror among his spare clothes, potions, and extra food. Mercy stared at the crystal in awe. I want to touch it, and I'm afraid to, both at the same time, she thought. I wonder if I could feel the light pulse, if I touched it? Could I tell if it were live, or construct, or magic? It's so big. It couldn't have just grown, could it? There can't be a seed for this plant. It must be magic. But why? I wouldn't understand how it if hit me in the head, but I'd love to know why. It must have been important. Maybe…it still is.
Tidus finally located the mirror, wrapped inside one of his extra shirts. He unwrapped it carefully, and stood, holding it in his cupped hands as he faced the giant crystalline structure. The mirror began to glow with light, as though it were reflecting the light from the crystal. When Tidus turned around and showed them the mirror, they all looked at it in wonder. Now, it was not merely reflecting the crystal's light; it had actually absorbed some of that light. The mirror had become some sort of a mini-crystal, and it was lit from within, it glowed even when Tidus covered it with his hands. He started to replace it in his pack, but his pack started humming and shaking again. "What now?" he grumbled. "The map, the map," Rikku exclaimed. "Yeah, right!" Tidus practically shouted, as he drew the old parchment out of his pack. In the new light of the mirror, they could all read the map. At the top the title read "Celestial Weapons". The map had three symbols repeated all over it, and at the bottom, the symbols were identified as either "Weapon", "Sigil", or "Crest". Beside each symbol on the map itself was one of three words, 'Seek', 'Quest', or 'Challenge'.
"Deciphering this is going to take some time," Lulu declared. "We should go back to the ship tonight instead of camping here, so that we can work on this map."
"Agreed," Mercy seconded. Lulu looked at her in considerable astonishment. Mercy shrugged. When the witch is right, she's right. Why argue?
They gathered around the map after dinner, in the room that Mercy now always thought of as the "conference room".
"Okay, it's a map of Spira. But what's a celestial weapon when it's at home?" Mercy asked, puzzled.
"Must be like Lord Mi'ihen's sword, like that guy said on the Highroad," Wakka offered.
"Yeah, I think that's it," Tidus agreed eagerly.
"He must have had a lot of friends," Mercy replied, somewhat sarcastically.
"Other heroes, over the years, may have also left their legacies behind," Yuna responded, more reverently.
"I think you're right, Yuna," Lulu agreed.
"So," Mercy went on, "I guess we just have to hope that there is a weapon for each of us. We'll know when we find them. Meanwhile, we have three sets of symbols: weapon, sigil, and crest. Weapon is obvious, but what about the other two? And why would they break the weapons apart?" Okay, I know I'm talking too much. But I honestly don't know. How will I find out, unless I ask?
"To dim their power…or their legend." Auron pronounced. "But we have already located most of the crests. Everyone, get the ones you have and return here." Once everyone piled back into the room, they were able to match the crests to the locations where they had been found. All of the locations had been marked with the notation 'seek'. Two remained, one in Luca, one in Guadosalam, although they had no clues yet as to which weapon, or which member of the party, each crest belonged to, if any. "Each of these was found easily, in the location specified on the map. There was no test, no trial, no puzzle," Auron continued. "This must be the meaning of the 'seek' notation." Mercy put her hand on his arm, and caught his eye. We have done enough, she thought at him. You, my love, have probably already done more than your share. He blinked rapidly for a moment, as he realized what he had been doing, that he had been 'directing things' again. He nodded to his wife, and her mouth curved in a tight smile. He folded his arms across his chest, physically withdrawing from the discussion.
Tidus studied the map again, looking at the Calm Lands area closely. "Look here, the Arena is marked three times, once for a weapon, and twice for the sigils, whatever they are. They all say 'challenge'." He stopped to think for a moment, then went on in a rush. "Hey, I wonder about that chest the old man gave us, the one we couldn't open. I bet the mirror will open it now. And, I bet that either one of these weapons is in it, or one of the sigils. We should check tomorrow. Capturing fiends for the arena must be one of the challenges."
"We should test your theory in the morning," Lulu replied coolly.
In the morning, the airship dropped them by the Calm Lands Travel Agency. Although no one wanted to cross the Calm Lands on foot again, most were willing to indulge Tidus' desire to race the Chocobo Trainer again, and then ride across the Calm Lands on chocobo-back. Rikku was keeping her hand in at haggling in Al Bhed with the shopkeeper at the Agency, while most of the others were watching the trainer's assistants set up the course for the race. Mercy watched her husband stalk along the sidelines in impatience. She didn't have to hear him to know that he was muttering the words, "Waste of time" under his breath. He must have driven the rest of them crazy, she thought. He must have been relentless. He probably gave them the impression that nearly everything was a 'waste of time', possibly including sleep. None of them could have known that his perception of 'time wasting' can be a little bit elastic, depending on whether he is a participant or an observer. He can't bear to be still, any more than Tidus can. It's something they have in common. Underneath the surface, Auron's reserve against Tidus ebullience, they have quite a lot in common…and they would both prefer to walk barefoot over a bed of hot coals rather than admit it, she thought, as she smiled to herself.
The race was about to begin. Mercy walked over to Auron, hooked her arm through his, and dragged him over to where everyone else was standing to watch the progress of the race. They all cheered Tidus on, except for Auron, who kept his arms folded across his chest during the entire race. But even he smiled when the young man beat the trainer by several tenths of a second. Tidus jumped off his chocobo, and hurried towards them, sweaty, wind-blown, and flushed with victory. Yuna ran to meet him, and threw her arms around his neck. Mercy watched Tidus' face as he folded his arms around her in return, and nuzzled his face into her hair. There was something in his expression, and in his manner, that told her that the moment meant much more to him that appeared on the surface. He lifted his head for moment, and his eyes met Mercy's, and she saw that his eyes were full of unshed tears, then he buried his face in Yuna's hair again. Mercy wondered again, what is going on with them? This is killing him. Lords and Ladies, she's not worried about getting pregnant, is she? Don't they know how to prevent that, or delay it…or something? Or is she afraid someone would stop her from going on with this, as soon as they knew? Doesn't she have anyone she can go to, for advice? I think…I never thought…I don't know…Not that it was ever a possibility…But I think I'd take the risk…so that I'd have something of him…just in case. Oh damn it all to hell, anyway. Mercy turned her face into Auron's sleeve, and blinked away her own tears.
They rode next to the Arena, and established that Tidus' theory was correct, at least so far. The chest proved to contain a staff, inscribed with runes that named it "Nirvana". It was clearly a weapon for a summoner. Yuna held Nirvana, and they all gathered around her, and tried placing each of the crests, one by one, next to the staff, to see which belonged to it, if any. Only when Yuna held the Moon Crest near it, did they hear a faint resonance. "I think we need to return to the crystal in Macalania to merge the weapon and the crest," Yuna said uncertainly.
"I agree," Lulu responded swiftly.
Tidus turned to the fiend handler. "You got any other prizes for us?"
"Not until you bring me some more fiends. I got some really interesting stuff for you, if you restock my whole place, though," the old man answered.
"All right!" the young man replied eagerly. Then he turned back to the others. "Look, there are two more places marked as 'challenge' in the Calm Lands, a weapon in the northwest, and a sigil near the travel agency, but the only challenge I know of is racing the chocobo trainer. Let's go check it out!"
The expression on Auron's face was almost pained as he looked at his wife. Mercy just shrugged in response, but she had to smile at Tidus' enthusiasm. He was on the right track, after all. She just wondered how long it was going to take to beat the chocobo trainer, at least twice more, it seemed. Tidus hadn't had a great deal of luck, so far, and nothing had resulted from his triumph earlier that day. She decided to 'rescue' her husband, at least temporarily. "Why don't we check out Yuna's idea first? I'd like to see what happens when the crest and the weapon are merged. We can ride to south end of the Calm Lands, and then come in through that path we tried to take yesterday. You said it led here, didn't you, Auron?"
"I would also like to see the merging of the weapon," Yuna cut in nervously, casting a sidelong glance at Tidus to make sure that he was not upset because she was not taking his part. "So I also wish to return to the crystal."
"Then it is settled," Auron spoke quickly, before the debate could be re-opened. "We will return to the woods now. We should learn more of the nature of these 'celestial weapons' we will be creating. Beginning the process with this staff is the only way we have." He let his hand rest on the curve of Mercy's back for a moment, one corner of his lips turned up slightly. When no one else seemed to be paying attention to them, he whispered, "You probably should not have done that…but thank you."
"You know, you will have to suffer through more of his chocobo races sooner or later?" she whispered back, smiling.
He groaned in pretended agony, "Better later."
They did ride to the southern Calm Lands, leaving their chocobos tethered where the trainer or her helpers could retrieve them later, but they did not take the ground based path Auron had stopped them from using the day before. Instead, they took to upper reaches, traveling over the sky paths. Mercy made sure this time, that whenever she had the urge to look down at the forest floor, she looked over the edge of the glowing trail, and not between her feet the way she had the last time. It helped her to preserve the illusion that the road was solid beneath her feet.
When they reached the great crystal, Yuna stepped up to it hesitantly, with the Nirvana staff and the Moon crest clutched nervously in her hands. As she approached, the prismatic lights shifted, the glow intensified, began to pulse in a faster rhythm, and the lights became brighter, more intense, as the colors changed more and more rapidly, swirling almost too fast for the eye to notice the changes. Mercy squinted against the brightness, and saw that when Yuna finally stood at the base of the crystal, the girl's arms seemed to be rising over her head, almost as though she were being compelled to raise them. It looked like the crest dissolved, or was absorbed into the staff, it was difficult to tell, the radiance of the crystal made it almost impossible to see anything clearly. Then Yuna cried out, and started to fall, the staff still clutched in her hands. Tidus caught her up, and cradled her gently against his heart, while Lulu pried the staff away.
Tidus carried her all the way down, until the path touched solid ground. Then he laid her carefully on the ground, her head pillowed in his lap. Everyone had followed him down, and he searched for Mercy in the crowd, and Auron. She knelt down, Auron beside her, but Auron was the one who spoke. "She has fainted," he began.
"Something happened when the staff and the crest merged," Mercy continued.
"It is like the time you touched the fayth, outside Zanarkand," Auron concluded, addressing Tidus, as he saw Yuna turn her head from side to side, reacting to something that none of them could see.
Yuna's eyes blinked open. "It was so sad," she began, tears running down her cheeks, "but I don't understand what I saw. Or why," she cried as she sat up, leaning against Tidus.
"Tell us," Auron urged.
"I was," she began, in a hesitant voice, "looking over a valley. People were filing in. Dozens of people. A few hundred at most. They were tired; they had clearly walked a long way. Many were hungry, they looked like they had been hungry for some time," she continued sadly. "Some were limping, a few were even wounded, being carried by others. There were a few children. Everyone was in tatters, rags. They looked so hopeless," she cried, her voice breaking, and she took a moment to press her face into Tidus' neck.
"Go on," Mercy said encouragingly, as soon as Yuna seemed to have control of herself again. "We're all listening."
"There was one man, he reminded me of my father, a little. And, he was a summoner. I know he was," Yuna looked at each of them, waiting to see if any challenged her conclusion. When no one did, she continued her story. "He had the staff…Nirvana, I mean. He told them all, 'You know there is no going back, once this is done?' and they all nodded. Then he asked them, 'You are sure?' and, it was so strange, he seemed to look each one of them in the eyes, and they each nodded back, even the children, as he walked from person to person. It was very solemn, and everyone was silent by the time he was done. Then he returned to his place, and nodded once, very sharply, and said, 'So be it. Take your places.' They all moved. Some climbed the walls of the little valley, parents held their children between them. The old, and the wounded hugged the bottoms of the canyon walls." Yuna coughed, and Tidus gave her some water to sip.
"The summoner began to dance. I've…I've never seen such a dance. I've never even heard of one like it. And as he danced, he moved…he traveled around the little valley, and he touched the people, and the rocks, and the walls…and they…changed." She closed her eyes; trying to recall exactly how it had appeared in the vision she had seen. "It happened slowly…at first," her voice sounded as though it was coming from a great distance, or from far in the past. "Then it spread, from each person that he touched, it spread to the others they touched, one after another, as he danced, around and around the valley. More and more of the people…became fayth. He turned them all into fayth." She opened her eyes. "It was the valley we passed through, between Gagazet and Zanarkand. I saw it happen. He did it with that staff," she finished, her voice shaking. "But who were they?" she asked Auron, hoping that he would know.
"They were the survivors of Zanarkand," he answered, both sadness and certainty in his voice. "When they knew they had lost the war, they chose to become fayth, rather than live as captives of Bevelle." A half-truth, but enough for now, he decided.
"How do you know this?" Lulu questioned, not in doubt, but in an earnest desire to know.
"The archives at St. Bevelle," he answered simply. "The result of their act is recorded. The soldiers of Bevelle found the city empty, and a haunted valley filled with what they thought were 'statues'. I did not know the manner of it until just now, but the conclusion is obvious." He turned back to Yuna. "Did you see anything else?" he asked in a gentler voice.
"Yes," she replied, looking into his face. "The summoner…collapsed afterwards. The next thing I saw, he had changed from his robes into ordinary clothes, and he had cast an illusion spell on the staff, to make it look like a walking stick. He kicked his summoner's robes into a pile, and aimed a 'Fira' spell at them, then he watched until they burnt to ashes. I saw him walk out of the valley alone, tears running down his face." There were tears running down her own face as well, she had been deeply affected by the emotions of the summoner from the past, even though she didn't understand everything that she had seen. She wiped her face with her hand and asked Auron, "He was…beyond lonely. I could feel it, just by watching him. But what did it all mean? Why did I see it all?"
Auron exchanged a look with his wife. They already depend on us too much, he realized. I think I understand some of what the vision meant, but as to the emotions, I hope Mercy will deal with that, for I cannot.
He began, "I think you saw…the reason the staff was broken…the most significant time it was used. A staff that was used to turn hundreds of people into fayth should never be used…casually. It must be very powerful. You should test it, when you feel up to it." He smiled at Yuna, a real smile, warm and kind. It lifted her spirits momentarily and she smiled back.
"Why did I see…a vision…at all, do you think?" she asked that question again.
"Are we supposed to know the significance of each weapon?" Lulu asked.
"Perhaps," Auron agreed. "I believe it is more than that, but I am still uncertain myself," he confessed.
Mercy had been listening, but had concentrated her mental energy on the other part of Yuna's question, why had the summoner felt such desperate loneliness. I know, she thought. Auron knows, Tidus knows…more than he should.
Yuna turned suddenly, and looked straight into Mercy's eyes. "You know, don't you? You know why he was so lonely. I wanted to help him, but I couldn't. I couldn't even understand it completely. Help me understand, Mercy. Please?" she begged.
Mercy laid her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I hope you never understand it completely," she began. "He despaired, because he knew that…he would be totally and utterly alone…for the rest of his life. He was, as far as he knew, the last survivor of Zanarkand. He knew he would have to spend the rest of his life, living a lie, never telling anyone his real identity, never admitting he was a summoner, knowing he'd left everyone and everything he ever knew behind in that valley, when he burnt his robes." Mercy stopped, and looked up from Yuna's face, into her husband's. She reached out, and gripped his arm, high up, where she was sure she'd feel skin under the cloth, and not armor. In that moment, she needed to touch him; the eye contact just wasn't enough. Mercy reached out her other hand, stretched out her arm, slid it around Yuna's slender shoulders, and let it rest on Tidus' back, on the far side. "Yuna," she said softly, the other woman's face close to her own, "none of us will never, ever be that alone, not ever again, no matter what happens. We will always have each other." Mercy felt Tidus' hand extend around Yuna to her own shoulder. She looked up and saw that the others were all looking at Yuna, and nodding enthusiastically.
"Dat's right, Yuna. It won't ever be like that. No way," Wakka agreed. "We help each other. Always."
Trust Wakka to strip a thing down to its essentials, Mercy decided. It won't ever be quite like that. You will not be utterly alone. But there will be nights, Yuna, when the difference won't matter a damn.
End Chapter Thirty-One