Chapter 14 To Zanarkand
Kinny, Zen and reluctantly Seymour who Kinny had seem to forget about had walked through the porthole that Arkinlae had made and came face to face with a tall neon sign near to the outside of a house. A house that didn't look like from anywhere in Spira. At least not at their time. Seymour seemed to know where it was. He frowned as if he couldn't believe it. Zen then looked at all the neon signs and high-rise buildings. The city was lit up even though it was already dark. Zen from that could guess where it was.
"Zanarkand!" he exclaimed Arkinlae nodded.
"Zanarkand one thousand years ago."
People had been running towards the house before they came and were now standing there cheering for some reason. At the back was a woman not far from Arkinlae's age. She was certainly younger than Zen.
"Her!" Zen exclaimed, "The one at the wedding." He ran over to her and tried to give her a push. To his surprise he went right through the person.
"Huh?"
"What were you expecting Zen? It's a thousand years ago. You two didn't exist then."
"So we've gone back in time? How?" Zen asked Arkinlae
"I can't explain."
"Hey if you could do this then why didn't you do it for Operation Mi'ihen? We could have stopped people dying."
"These are events that already happened Zen you can't change things. Only look and reflect on them. And this the first time I've done it"
(Play FFX: Prelude.)
At that moment the crowd went wild with excitement.
"He's here!" A kid cried out.
"Oh my elements it's him, it's really him. Oh I'm going to faint." They heard a teenage girl breathed as if she couldn't believe it.
Zen, Kinny and Seymour looked as a boy about Zen's age walked put of the house his spiky blonde hair going in a downward direction just below his ears. A bit of hair wafted in his face. All three knew who it was.
"Tidus!" Zen shouted
"Him no it can't be." Seymour breathed as if it was impossible at the same time as Zen.
"Not exactly, we knew him as something different then." Arkinlae moved through the crowd and stood behind a girl in a pink top.
"Can I have your autograph?" she asked the boy
"Of course." He answered back, just as Tidus would have done.
"Good luck tonight." Said the other girl in a blue outfit
"Nothing to worry about." He replied, "Oh if I score a goal. I'll do this." He raised his arms up in the air and pointed sticking out his thumbs as well as two index fingers. "That will mean it was for you okay?"
The two girls giggled like schoolgirls and blushed.
"What seat?" He asked
"East block in the front row." One said
"Fifth from the right." The other added.
"Gotcha."
The boy then walked over past more adoring fans till some boys were in his way. They wanted one thing.
"Can you sign this Shuyin?" One kid asked eagerly jumping and handing his blitzball to the boy.
"No prob." Shuyin took the ball and signed it.
He must get tired of doing that all the time. Thought Zen.
"Please." Cried another kid not wanting to be left out.
"Alrighty."
"Me too!"
"Take it easy."
Shuyin then after signing all the balls knew it was time he had to go. However he was surrounded by adoring fans and one of the kids had taken to balancing his blitzball on his head.
"Well gotta go cheer for me."
"…Two three." The boy said knocking his ball so it came of balance and then catching it.
"Teach us how to Blitz!" the three boys chorused.
"Hey I gotta a game to play." An obviously hassled Shuyin replied
"Then teach us after." The boys would not be moved from their goal.
"Maybe tonight?" Shuyin wondered knowing it was the last thing he want to do after a hectic, but none the less enjoying game. He looked over at the blue woman almost as if it was her decision.
"You can't tonight." She told him
"I mean tomorrow." Shuyin replied almost relieved
The boys then circled their arms round their head doing none other than.
"Why do the prayer gesture to someone like him?" Seymour said to himself laughing at the boys. Arkinlae though got the real laugh.
"You are so ignorant. That isn't a prayer, it never was, it's the blitzball sign for victory."
Arkinlae then used a force and Seymour, Zen and her flew after Shuyin. They got a brilliant view of Zanarkand. It was like the sphere at Guadosalam but more real as you could touch everything apart from the people. They saw a tall building in front of them as they were in the air it had a picture of a man about 20.
(Play Tidus' Theme.)
He had his arms folded and looked stern. It was as if he was surveying Zanarkand and all he possessed. He didn't look like any normal person though. It was as if he was split in half down the middle one half of him had pure white skin with short spiky hair a bit like Shuyin's. The other half of his body was pure black. As was his hair just below his shoulder One of his eyes on the black side was yellow, the other sky blue. He was wearing from what they could see dark purple robes and had a blue sweatband on around his head. Arkinlae and the others set down and saw Shuyin looking up at him. He frowned and made a grunt as if he couldn't care less about him. He started to run down the walkway. Arkinlae knew where he was going. It was not long before she and the others were floating along to a big stadium. They heard a blitzball announcer talking about the upcoming game.
"I was in a coffee shop signing up for the last of the Zanarkand Militia Volunteers when I heard the news. Our hero Yevon gone, vanished into thin air. He must have been the biggest morale booster for our army at that moment, I knew how sad I was heck we all were that day. Zanar I says to myself what are you thinking? I went running straight back home we sat up talking about the war all night. Whoa didn't mean to reminisce folks. Anyway 1 year later and the Bevelle signing of the peace treaty is today! The two teams that are going to play for the entertainment are of course the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes. In just one year he's become the teams number one player! He's Zaonlec's blood and the new hope of blitzball what kind of super play will he show us today? Will he have legendary skills like his father did as Fayth of Zanarkand? I don't think I'm the only one excited here folks."
Arkinlae, Seymour and Zen had been looking back at Zanarkand from the top of the blitzball stadium. They then saw Shuyin and so did many screaming fans.
"Make way make way! Coming through sorry!" the fans still persisted to chase him eager for his autograph, "Hey I'm gonna be late!" One girl even grabbed his sleeve as if she was going to whisk away the Abes star player at that very moment. Shuyin though was not so enthusiastic for that to happen. "Hey let go of me!" He finally managed to run into the stadium and there were many sad cries from the fans as he entered.
"Come." Arkinlae said to Zen holding out her hand and pulling him up. Seymour had preferred not to sit.
"We're not going to watch the game?" Zen asked disappointedly
"That is not what I came here to show you."
Arkinlae then made them take off again. Maybe flying isn't that much fun after all. It's getting kinda annoying. Zen thought. They landed on a high rise. You could just about see the stadium lit up in all its glory.
"Oh well there's no one here lets go an watch the game." Zen said hoping to also make Arkinlae laugh. Arkinlae though wasn't laughing; Zen just thought they were here to see Zanarkand for the minute.
"She'll be here." Arkinlae told him, "3…2…1."
The person came precisely on that second. It was the blue water girl seen at the wedding and outside Shuyin's house. There was a great cheer from the stadium and it seemed to open. The girl here however was not here for the festivities. She watched as on a walkway some people in army uniforms were sneaking down side streets. They were not from Zanarkand.
"Zanarkand fools they think we're here to sign a peace treaty. Commander commence the attack." A voice was heard down a communicator
"Sir!" the man replied, "Lieutenant signal the battle group to de-cloak."
Some screams where heard among the cheers over at the blitzball stadium and guns shots where heard as well as more screams.
"They're here." The girl said to herself, "Time for our revenge."
(Play FFX Otherworld.)
Go now, if you want it
An otherworld awaits you
Don't you give up on it
You bite the hand that feeds you
All alone, cold fields you wander
Memories of it cloud your sight
Fills your dreams, disturbs your slumber
Lost your way -- a fallen knight
Hold now; aim is steady
An otherworld awaits you
One thousand years--you ready?
The otherworld it takes you
Go, go into the sand and the dust and the sky
Go now there's no better plan than to do or to die
Free me, pray to the Fayth in the face of the light
Feed me, fill me with sin -- now get ready to fight
You know you will
You know you will
You know you know you know you know that you will
You know you know you know you know that you will
You know you will
Fight fight fight
Fight fight fight
Fight fight fight
Fight fight fight
Hope dies and you wander
The otherworld it makes you
Dreams they rip asunder
The otherworld it hates you
Free now -- ride up on it
Up to the heights it takes you
Go now if you want it
An otherworld awaits you
The girl started to sang the same thing Arkinlae had sung at the wedding only another voice took over on some of the other verses. What did it mean? As this was a different time period Zen couldn't think how it was relevant at all to the wedding. As she was singing the girl held up her hand and a massive tidal wave approached Zanarkand and it formed into a huge sphere at the girls command. It then sent out at it's own will several dozens of water bullets that slammed into buildings forcing them to crumble. The water from the bullets swept through the city. The girl then started walking along the streets in front of the waves as if guiding them. Arkinlae Zen and everyone else followed. The sphere of water was pulling things towards it by some force and engulfing them and growing bigger and bigger. The girl then stopped by the blitzball stadium, which the sphere also gave no mercy. Seymour watched in total amazement and admiration. Shuyin was lying on the floor unconscious. Dozens of fans were running for their lives behind them lying in the stadium were several dead soldiers. Seymour recognised the uniform. It still hadn't changed even today. Bevelle. Shuyin stood up shakily stated to run to find out what was going on. Then he saw the girl.
(Play FFX Hurry!)
"Huh? Kin!" he ran towards her, "What are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you." She replied and Arkinlae said her words along with her. Zen looked at Arkinlae frowning. How did she know she was going to say that?
"What are you talking about?" Shuyin asked clearly not having a clue.
That's just what I was thinking mate. Zen thought.
The girl ran off and Shuyin hastily followed. He saw people frantically running in the opposite direction to him. He looked round. Kin as he had called her seemed to have disappeared. Time then seemed to freeze. Everyone had stopped moving. Shuyin looked around in confusion. A boy in a purple coat and hood with tanned skin appeared shadow in front of Shuyin surrounded by shadows of others but he did not know who it was. Arkinlae knew who it was but it took Seymour and Zen a little to realise he was a Fayth. Then they remembered they had seen him at the wedding.
"It begins." The child said
"Wha?" was all Shuyin's reply to the child
"Don't cry." The child said as he saw Shuyin looking around at his beautiful almost decimated home. Shuyin then saw Kin a few feet away from him looking around. Instantly Shuyin knew she was the only person who knew what was going on. Time unfroze and people resumed running and cries could once again be heard.
"Hey wait!" He called running to Kin she looked over at him. "Hey not this way!"
"Look." Kin told him looking at the sky. Shuyin looked he gasped when he saw the sphere totally overwhelmed
"What the…?" he breathed
"They call it 'Sin'." Kin told him
"Sin?" Shuyin said obviously baffled by the word.
Something then shot out of the sphere and landed on a nearby building. Hundreds of small pods ejected from the tentacles and landed on the ground. They opened up into the bug like creatures Zen had seen on the boat from Besaid. Sinscales. Zen looked at Kin, she was standing there un-phased by the creatures. This is to perfect. Zen thought and look at her that Kin person doesn't seem disturbed at all by Sin attacking her town. That's the girl who's inside Kinny. What does she want?
Shuyin started to try to fight off the Sinscales, but failed and fell back on his backside.
"Take it." Kin was holding a long straight blue sword out to him Shuyin took it and held the blade in wonder high above his head, he then found out how heavy it was and nearly dropped it.
"A gift from Yevon." Kin told him just as calmly as she had always done. She definitely knew what was going on.
"My brother!" Shuyin exclaimed almost as if he couldn't believe it. He started swinging the blade at the Sinscales. They began to move backwards and Shuyin fell backwards again before getting up quickly. Kin came by his side to join him.
"I hope you know how to use it." She said calmly again, but you could see the urgency she would use saying it, as she was weapon less. Weapon less, but deadly as Zen and Seymour soon found out.
"These ones don't matter we cut through!" She told him.
Shuyin nodded and ran up and decapitated a Sinscale. It burst into pyreflies immediately
"Wateragara." Kin said. The next Sinscale melted into pyreflies and the two ran on Kinny, Zen and Seymour following. They came face to face again with more Sinscales.
"Don't bother going after all of them cut the ones that matter and run." Kin said
Shuyin again chopped another Sinscale. Kin saw she could use much weaker magic against these. They were weak, but enough to destroy the people of Zanarkand who had never seen things like this before.
"Wateraga!" Kin used the weakest magic she knew. Another Sinscale down and they ran. Two more were eventually taken down and then they both went into a dead sprint more Sinscales dropping behind them. Shuyin heard a noise and he stopped to look at Kin who still ran on over the bridge. Shuyin followed and they came face to face with Sin Ammes and three Sinscales.
"Get out of my town!" Shuyin called drawing his blade
"Some can't wait to die." Kin declared.
Shuyin had no use for his blade, as Kin got in there first.
"Ultima!"
One blast was all it took for the Sinscales and Sin Ammes to loose all it's tentacles. It blew up. Zen and Seymour stared at the power that Kin had. Similar to Arkinlae, only Kinny had never been up against Sinspawn with one companion.
They then continued to run until they reached the billboard of the man they had seen at the beginning.
"What are you laughing at bro?" Shuyin asked accusingly "Kin let's get out of here!"
"We're expected." She replied
"Huh?"
Kin said nothing but just continued float on. Shuyin was obviously tired of this.
"Gimme a break man!" he sighed and followed Kin
More of the Sinscales fell and completely surrounded Shuyin and Kin.
"Hmph this could be bad." Kin said to herself. Not so much looking at the situation she and Shuyin were in, but more like worrying about the distance between her, Shuyin, the Sinscales and the Sphere, which was still sucking things into it's matter. She knew she had to get rid of the Sinscales quickly, but how. She then saw the answer.
"That!" she exclaimed gesturing to apiece of machinery on the side of the walkway, "Knock it down!"
"What!"
"Trust me you'll see."
And there just happens to be piece of machina there. Fayth this is so fake, but what does she want? There were a number of questions rolling around in Zen's head
Shuyin saw he had no other option that to obey. He went up to the machinery and slashed it. It didn't appear to do much damage.
"Protection Decaforce!" Kin said and a water type shield came around her and Shuyin. A Sinscales wings flashed and one fired, but it became absorbed in the shield. Shuyin continued to slash the machinery.
"Wateraga." Kin said and Shuyin slashed the, machinery for the last time. It fell off the side of the walkway and blew up into a huge explosion. It got rid of the piece of walkway with the Sinscales on and the billboard to the side of them began to fall. Shuyin hurriedly moved out of the way. The bridge on the other side was also beginning to blow up. The Sphere was not far from that point. Kin knew she had to act fast.
"Go!" she instructed and she floated along Shuyin hot on her tail. The explosion from the billboard was making its way down following Shuyin so he had no chance of going back. The bridge lay ahead of him, but the gap between him and it was widening. Kin had flown over but then he didn't have the powers of a Fayth. Desperately Shuyin took as bigger jump as he could across the gap. Everything seemed to go in slow motion at that moment. I'm gonna make it he thought, I'm gonna make it. It wasn't quite far enough though. He didn't make it. He grabbed on to a ledge trying for his life to pull himself up. He then saw Kin standing above him and the Sphere still taking everything up. Including the bridge.
(End Hurry! Play This is Your Tale.)
"Kin!" he yelled she was the only one who could help him. However she just stood there looking at him.
"Arkinlae!" he called again but she just looked up at the Sphere.
"You are sure?" she asked it then looking back at Shuyin she then picked him up by the V necked collar of his shirt and held him up almost to her level.
"This is it." She told him, "This is your story, it all begins here." She gave Shuyin a kiss on the forehead and pulled him on to the bridge before herself jumping off. She watched as the sphere swallowed the bridge up.
"Give that to him for me." She told him as he was going. She then looked at the chaos the sphere had brought and walked away from the city Zanarkand not suppressing the urge as she had before with Shuyin following her, to laugh.
(End This is Your Tale.)
All around Kinny, Zen and Seymour it then went dark.
"That was the end. The end of the story. The rest I'm sure you can guess."
"Sin didn't stop, it took over and brought the Spira we know now." Zen said, "But how did the summoners come about. Surely that comes after that."
"It is not relevant. It only needs a simple explanation. And I am telling you my story." She paused, "You've seen the end. If you haven't guessed what relevance that has shown you then you will have a long way to go knowing what significance the beginning has. Now we go there. The beginning…"
AN: Dan da da da da. Dan da da da da. Dan da da da da. Dan da da da! (Tune of Valkyrie.) Whew long for the Zanarkand scene I think 7 pages actually I'm pretty pleased with that. So history repeats itself for Tidus' part. Hope you liked the whole twist with that. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. The beginning what will happen there? Well you'll just have to review and find out. KK see ya