A/N: Sorry to that one reader. But Squall nor the others won't be showing up in the story. It's just Zell, alone. He's telling Squall the story though. Squall will in the very last chapter of this story. Anyway, in this chapter, it's one of Zell gets to find out about what would happen to Yuna if she continued the journey. It's not going to be too pretty because he starts to think things he shouldn't.
Chapter 12.
Tromell and his assisstants ran forward and bent down beside Seymour. Everyone stepped back to let them get to him. Wakka looked down at his hands with guilt. "What….what have I done?" he asked. Tidus looked around. "Wait a minute! It's not our fault at all! Seymour struck first! He's the bad guy!" he said. Tromell stood and looked at them.
"You did this?" He asked with shock. Auron nodded to Yuna. "Yuna. Send him." He said. Yuna nodded and stepped forward but Tromell held out his hands. "No, stop! Stay away from him, traitors!" He ordered. The assisstants pick Seymour's body up and hurried out of the room. Tromell hurries after them. Yuna fell to her knees looking pained. "Traitors?" She asked. Wakka shook his head. "We're finished." He muttered. Tidus shook his head. "Now hold on just a minute! Seymour's the bad guy, right? We'll just explain to everyone what happened!" He said.
Auron shook his head. "It won't be that easy….Let's get out of here." He said. They all hurry out of the chamber and down the icy tunnel. They came to the exit where they found a series of guards and Tromell blocking the exit. Yuna looked frightened. "Please….." She begged. Auron stepped forward. "Give us a chance to explain." He spoke. Tromell shook his head. "No need. I already know what I'll tell the other Maesters." He said. Auron's brow furrowed. "Meaning?" he asked. Tromell blinked and shook his head. "Lord Seymour was the leader of the Guado before becoming a Maester." He said. Zell growled and cracked his knuckles. "You're not letting us go." Tidus muttered. Tromell looked surprised. "Let you go? Lord Seymour would never forgive us if we did." He said.Rikku jumped forward. "Wait, wait! Jyscal's sphere! We can show it to them!" She said. Tromell smirked. "You mean this?" He asked holding up the sphere. It had been utterly destroyed. Zell's eyes went wider. There was no way out without a fight. "The Guado take care of Guado affairs." Tromell said looking to the guards. Kimahri snarled. "Away!" He roared. Auron dashed forward. "Run!" He yelled.
Everyone ran forward. Zell had to slam his fist into a guard's face as he ran by because he almost grabbed Rikku from running by. They all ran out of the temple and kept running. They ran as fast as they could back to the lake when two Guado caught up and then there was a rumble that shook the ground. Something slammed into ground right in front of them. It was a giant creature. Zell looked up at the giant ape like thing. "What is that!" He exclaimed. Everyone huddled together as if to protect one another. "That's a Wendigo! They're nasty things, ya!" Wakka exclaimed. Zell's eyes went wider. "Man, that's uglier than the ones in my world!" He said. The Wendigo roared and attacked. Everyone had to scatter because it swung it's fist. The Guado hurried forward to along side the Wendigo. Zell shook his head. "Let's take these ugly things out once and for all!" He said.Everyone charged and began fighting the Wendigo and the Guado. The Guado became very annoying when they casted Berserk on the giant beast and it began going wild. It almost knocked the crap out of Wakka, sending him flying onto his back with a bloody lip. Everyone had to jump back and try to get away from it as fast as they could. And it even punched the Guado to death. They hadn't expected that would happen. Everyone was exhausted already from attacking the creature. Even Auron. He was slumped over holding his side. He had received a nasty blow in the side. "Man….this….is….is not good." Tidus gasped as the Wendigo took it's rage out on Ixion, the new Aeon that Zell was already liking. Zell was nursing a cut on his forehead. "Man, I'm starting to wish Irvine was here at the moment." He said. Lulu looked at him. "Why?" She asked.
Zell turned and looked at the Wendigo. "Irvine had this way with Wendigos. He could take one out pretty fast because of his shotgun. He was a sharpshooter." He said. Wakka grumbled something about filthy Al Bhed weapons while shooting Rikku a dirty look. Zell figured that Wakka found out because of the Al Bhed earlier. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Wakka, will you stop it! Look at where we're at them moment! We're fighting a nasty Wendigo whose…." He cut off. Everyone blinked and looked at the look on his face. He had a shocked look on his face as something came to his attention. "Zell, what is it?" Yuna asked. Zell growled to himself and then slapped his face with both hands as he held his head. "You idiot, Zell! How could you forget!" He snarled. Everyone looked at him with startled looks."What! What is it, Zell!" Tidus asked.
Zell shook his head and spun around. He ran towards the Wendigo and rose his hand. He was casting a spell. "Esuna!" He yelled. And the green lighted spell fell over the Wendigo making it slow down and look confused. It looked around with confusion. Everyone stared. "What is he doing?" Tidus asked. Auron stood straight and hurried forward. "He's giving us a chance to attack again only this time it's not going crazy." He said. Everyone hurried after him and they began their next rain of attacks. Zell threw a Sleep spell at it and it fell asleep but woke up when Wakka threw his ball into it's face. Finally the monster roared and slammed it's fists into icy ground of the lake and huge cracks appeared under their feet and the Wendigo started to fall. "Run!" Auron yelled turning to run off the ice. Everyone hurried after but it was no use. The ice cracked every where and they all fell through the cracks, and it went black for them all for awhile.
Zell groaned as he started to come too. He felt very cold. He could feel water around his legs. The SeeD opened his eyes and saw the sky way far above him but also the walls of the trevas they had fallen into. He heard the others somewhere near by but not too far. Zell groaned again as he tried to sit up. He felt achy. He must have been sitting against the hard ice covered stone for awhile. Zell looked down and found an inch deep pool of water. It was very hazy and there were a lot of pyreflies.
There was a strange melody again. It was the same song from inside the temples and when he met Sin. Then he found a shadow over him. Zell looked up and saw Rikku. "Hey, you okay?" She asked. Zell rubbed his head. "Yeah. I'll be okay. I've had worse." He said. Rikku smiled and shook her head. She bent down and grabbed Zell's arm helping him to his feet. "Thanks." He spoke. The Al Bhed nodded and looked around with a sigh. Zell looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked. Rikku shook her head. "It's Wakka. He found out that I was Al Bhed and now he won't even talk to me. Every time he looks at me it's always a dirty look." She said. Zell blew out a sigh. "Oh, don't worry. Give him some time and he'll get over it. He'll figure out that your not that bad." He said. Rikku looked at him and smiled.
"You think so?" She asked. Zell nodded. "Yeah. I mean, come on. Yeah, you tried to kidnap Yuna and almost killed me, but your okay." He said. Rikku gave him a look. "I don't know either to take that as a compliment or what." She said. Zell grinned. "I was teasing, Rik. Your pretty cool." He said. Rikku smiled slyly. "Do you remember the last time you teased me?" She asked raising a fist. Zell groaned and stepped back. "Your not going to punch me again are you?" He asked. Rikku smirked. "Keep it up and I will." She giggled. Zell laughed. "Anyway, how's everyone else?" He asked. Rikku shrugged folding her arms. "Other than being cold, we're fine. Yuna just woke up and told us why she went to see Seymour. She wanted to talk to Seymour about turning himself in for killing his dad for exchange of marriage to her. I think it was just plain stupid of my cousin if you ask me." She said.Zell tilted his head. "So you are related." He said. Rikku nodded. "Yes. We're cousins. Her mother is my aunt and my dad is her uncle." She said. Zell nodded. "I get it. Anyway, what're we going to do about getting out of here?" He asked. Rikku shook her head. "Not sure. We're still trying to figure that out. Kimahri says we just climb but it's not going to be that simple trying to get out of here. We're going to Bevelle to talk to the Maesters to get out of trouble." She said.
Zell folded his arms. "You know, it's really not going to be easy doing that. We killed a Maester. Do you obviously think that they'll listen to us after what we did?" He asked. Rikku shook her head. "No. But what choice do we have?" She asked. Zell shrugged. "Guess your right." He said. He looked up listening to the music. "So, what's that sound? Is that coming from the temple?" he asked. Rikku nodded starting to walk. The SeeD followed. "It's called the Hymn of the Fayth. Yuna says it's the gift of Yevon. It suppose to soothe the hearts of the faithful." She said. Zell smiled a little. "I like it. It's very peaceful. I mean, I don't usually listen to opera or anything like this, but it's nice." He said. Rikku giggled. They found everyone standing close to each other listening to the singing too.Suddenly it went quiet. It was a deafening silence. Zell looked around. "Hey, why'd it stop? Is it because I said I don't usually listen to opera?" He asked. The ground started to shake a little. "There's something here!" Wakka said. Auron looked down. "The ground." He said. Everyone looked down and saw it under them. Everyone gasped.
"Sin!" Yuna gasped. Everyone but Zell, Tidus and Auron started to panic. They just stared down at Sin. "The toxin! Watch out!" Lulu cried out. Zell just stared. He bent down placing his hands on the ice looking at the beast. Sin turned a little and Zell got to see one of it's eyes. It was looking up at him. The eye was full of sadness, fear, depression. It hit Zell with the absolute truth.
"I'm not exactly sure what made me think that.
But it must have been the eyes.
I realiezed that Sin...Jecht wanted this to end.
He really wanted to die. To end his suffering of being a monster like Sin.He was depending on us to end his suffering.
I didn't believe him at first when I first came here.
I thought he was crazy. But now that I get another look
at him, a look up close, I could see that…..that he wasn't
crazy. I knew that I had to help him by helping my friends."
Zell just stared downward at the monster staring upward. Every thing seemed to go quiet. He could still hear the others panicking but not as much. Zell sighed as he looked down at Sin. He nodded to him. "Don't worry. I'll do it. I'll help end your suffering. We will." He whispered. The eye seemed to soften as if Sin understood and everything went white for Zell. He then fell into darkness.
When Zell came to, he was feeling the warmth of the sun. The air was hot. He could feel sand under him. He opened his eyes and looked up at the blue sky and the hot sun. Squinting he rose his hand to shield his eyes. Zell used his other hand to push him up and look around. He was in some kind desert. Nothing but sand dunes and sand for miles and miles.
Zell stood and started looking around. "Where's everyone?" he asked. He shielded his eyes with his hand and began looking around for anyone or thing. He then started to walk up a sand dune to see if he could see anyone. There was nothing for miles. Not even a body of water. Zell sighed shaking his head. "Man, this is not good. Where'd you drop me off, Jecht?" he asked out loud. He looked down at his watch and pressed a button. A compass appeared on small screen. He was looking to the Southeast now but he turned and found North. "Which way should I go?" He whispered looking around. He decided to just head North and hopefully he'd find something or someone.He began to walk. He walked on and on. He tripped on sand a few times falling to his knees but he would get up and walk some more. It was beginning to get hopeless for him. He climbed another sand dune to look around. Again nothing. Except….except something in the sky. Some kind air ship maybe. Zell began jumping up and down trying to get the ship's attention. He didn't care who it was but he needed to get out of the desert and get some water.
"Hey! Over here! Down here!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He waved his arms hoping that it would get their attention. It drew nearer and nearer but it wasn't stopping or slowing down. Zell shook his head and held up his hand. "This will get your attention." He said and flung a Flare spell up in the sky. The Flare exploded right near the ship making who ever was driving it jerk go right over Zell. The blast of the wind caught Zell and made him fly backwards a little and ended up rolling down the sand dune into a heap. Zell sighed covered his face. "I'm going to die out here. There is no hope." He muttered as he listened to the engines of the airship roar away. But then they seemed to come back. Zell quickly stood and looked up. The airship was coming back! It was the strangest airship Zell had ever seen but he was happy to see it. It was just hovering there though facing him.He waved his arms to get their attention. "Hey! Help me out here! I'm lost and I need help!" He yelled jumping up and down. The airship lowered a little more and a ramp opened up. Zell started walking towards it hoping that they were letting him on. Then he saw someone running off with a few people behind them. Zell's eyes went real wide on who he saw.
It was Rikku and Tidus running towards him. The others were standing on the ramp. "Zell!" Rikku cried out. Zell grinned and started running towards them waving. "Rikku! Tidus! Thank Hyne!" He yelled running towards them. He started to slow down and so did Tidus but Rikku kept running. Zell's eyes went wide when Rikku tackled him to the ground hugging him. "Zell! We were so worried! We thought you might've died!" She cried out hugging him tight. Tidus laughed standing over the two. Zell pushed himself up and hugged Rikku back. "Hey, I've been looking all over for you guys. Where've you been?" he asked. Rikku pulled away and sat on her heels. "We went to my Home. Where all of the Al Bhed lives. But it was under attack and…" She was saying. Zell stood pulling her with. "Can you tell me later? I think I'm going to have a heat stroke out here. It's so hot!" he said. Tidus nodded patting Zell's shoulder. "Yeah, come on!" They hurried towards the airship.Wakka ran off grinning at Zell. "Hey, man! Glad your all right!" he said stopping next to Zell and walking with them back to the ship. Zell waved his hand in front of his face to cool off. "Man, where are we? And where'd you get this thing?" he asked looking up at the airship. Rikku smiled. "We've had it for a while. We've been trying to figure out how it works though. It's not easy at all." She said. Zell grinned. "Hey, I think I can get it." He said. They began hurrying up the ramp where Auron was waiting with a smirk. "Well, well. I can see it's hard to get rid of the SeeD." He said. Zell gave him a fake glare. "What, you tired of me already?" He asked. Auron laughed and started walking away. The ramp closed and they walked into the cool airship. Zell was looking around. "Man, this is so cool! I mean, our airship is cooler looking but this is sure big." He said.
Rikku frowned and folded her arms. "Hey!" She said with offense. Zell held up his hands. "Hey, it's the truth. Our airship looks like a dragon." He said. Rikku's eyes lit up with interest. "Really! Cool!" She said. They lead Zell into the cockpit where there were several Al Bhed and the rest. Only….no Yuna. Zell looked around. "Huh? Where's Yuna?" He asked. Everyone looked at him and then lowered their heads. "We don't know. We believe she was captured by Guado." Tidus said.
Zell sighed shaking his head. "Some SeeD I am." He muttered rubbing his head. An older man walked up giving Zell a glare. "You know what you almost just did! You could have hit us with whatever you threw at us!" he growled. Rikku gave the man a dirty look taking Zell by the arm and leading him away. "Shut up, pop! He was trying to get our attention!" She snapped and lead Zell to a seat.
Tidus walked up with a cup of water. "Here's something'll that help." He said handing Zell the cup. Zell gulped it down greedily then smiled up at Tidus. "Thanks, man. I thought I was done for back there." He said. Rikku sat down next to him. "Your lucky Brother saw that fire spell you threw up in the sky. He almost missed seeing you." She said. Tidus nodded.Zell looked around. "So, what happened? Where are we?" he asked. Tidus sat down on Zell's other side. "We were on Bikanel Island. The home of Al Bhed. Rikku took us to her Home which was under attack by Guado and monsters. We managed to escape on this airship but had to blow up the Al Bhed's home. But….." He cut off now looking sad. Zell looked at him. "What?" He asked.
Tidus had tears growing in his eyes. "Zell…..there's something you better know before we continue on this journey. Do you want to know why Al Bhed has been kidnapping Summoners?" he asked. Zell blinked looking at him. "What? So the Al Bhed are behind it." He said. Rikku nodded. "But we have a reason. We were trying to keep the Summoners alive." She said.
Zell looked at her. "What do you mean?" He asked. Tidus lowered his head. "Yuna's going to die when this is over." He said. Zell's eyes widen with shock. "What!" He exclaimed. Several eyes turned onto them. Rikku sighed. "The Summoners die if they defeat Sin, Zell. Yuna is going to die if she calls the Final Aeon onto Sin. It's going to kill her too. That's why we were trying to stop the Summoners from reaching Zanarkand. Reaching Sin." She said. Zell looked horrified. "Your telling me….we Guardians are only guarding the Summoners to their deaths?" He asked with pain in his voice. Tidus nodded. "That's right." He said sadly. Zell felt pain in his heart. So this is what they've been doing this whole time. Leading Yuna to her end. He felt his chest tighten at the thought. His eyes then narrowed and he stood. Rikku and Tidus watched him walk right up to Auron."Auron, why didn't you tell me?" Zell asked seriously. Auron stared at him. "Would you have tried to stop Yuna if I did?" He asked with the same seriousness. Zell glared. "Yeah, I would. I don't let my friends die." He said. Auron shook his head. "Summoners make their choices before starting their journeys to fight Sin. Things are different here, Zell. Much different. Summoners sacrifice theirselves to bring peace to Spira." He said.
Zell felt disgusted. "That is a load of bullshit, Auron! People shouldn't kill theirselves for something like that! There are different ways to stop Sin!" He yelled. Everyone went quiet. They were all staring at the enraged blonde. Zell looked at Wakka then to Lulu. "What about you guys! Did you know this too! Who else knew! You would rather see Yuna die just so that Spira can be at peace!" He exclaimed. Lulu gave him a dark look. "Of course not, Zell! But Yuna has made her choice. We told Tidus the same thing when he found out. We tried to talk Yuna out of it before she became a summoner. We tried, Zell. It hurts to see that she would die to bring peace. We can't force her to change her mind." She said. Zell shook his head now laughing harshly. "Lulu, that's the only problem. There will never be peace! If Yuna kills Sin, it will only come back again and again! Yeah there'll this stupid Calm thing but there will never an Eternal Calm or whatever." He said.Wakka stepped forward. "Zell…." He was saying. Zell looked at him. "Wakka, I've watched millions of people die trying to bring peace to Gaia. My friends and I did the very same thing you are doing now. We had to fight Ultimecia just to save our future! We didn't lose each other in death! And I'll be damned to hell if Yuna dies doing this! I would rather use My Final Heaven on Sin than watching her summon this stupid Final Aeon thing!" He spat. He turned to walk away.
"My Final Heaven is not that powerful, Zell. It wouldn't kill Sin. But it could kill you." Auron said. Zell stopped. He just stood there looking down the hall. He then turned around looking at Auron with anger. "Auron, Yuna is not going to die. I will see to that. Even if it kills me. I really doubt that there's a way for me to return to Gaia. If I have to, I will use My Final Heaven on Sin before Yuna summons that Final Aeon. I swear to Hyne that I will." He then turned and stormed out of the room.
"I was serious about using My Final Heaven.
There was only one problem. Auron was right.
If I used My Final Heave, it could kill me.
My Final Heaven was my most powerful limit break.
I never used it unless it was a last resort. I've used it once
And it nearly killed me. I was lucky that Rinoa had so many
Curagas to bring my life back up.
But this time, if I used it this time…..there wouldn't be anyone
to save me. To heal me. I would die. But I would rather die
than see my friend die."
Zell was sitting by himself in the hall trying to think. He was hurt that didn't tell him the truth. He always got emotional when this kind of thing happened. He remembered when Selphie lead Irvine and Quistis to the Desert Missile base to stop the missiles from firing on Balamb Garden. He remembered hearing that it had blown up and they weren't sure if anyone survived. He was so upset when he found out. And now finding out that Yuna was going to get herself killed while fighting Sin, he wasn't going to allow it. He would use My Final Heaven before she did something like that. Just then Tidus hurried towards him. "Zell, we've found Yuna." He said. Zell looked up and nodded. He stood and hurried with Tidus back to the cockpit. They saw a picture above the bridge.It was of Yuna in a skimpy wedding dress. Standing beside her was Seymour. He was dressed in an outlandish outfit. There were guards around them and Maester Mika was behind them. They were in a large city with series of staircases and a large building in the rear. There were people all around them.
Tidus looked at the others. "Where was that?" He asked. Zell's eyes remained on the images. "The Palace of St. Bevelle. Heart of Yevon." She said. Tidus turned around and looked at the older Al Bhed. "Gramps, let's move!" he ordered. The Al Bhed, Cid, shook his head and waved a hand. "Easy, Kiddo. Bevelle's defenses are top-notch." He said. Zell snorted and turned around. "What's wrong, dude? You scared? And I thought Al Bhed were suppose to be the brave ones." He said. Tidus nodded. "Yuna's there, so we go and get her! And that's all!" he said.
Cid rose an eyebrow and then grinned. "You two got guts." He turned to the Al Bhed, Zell recognized as their attacker at the Lake, and waved at him. "Cad luinca du Bevelle! Vimm cbaat yrayt!" he ordered. The Al Bhed turned around. "Ruf?" He asked. Zell looked at Rikku who slapped her face. "What a dork." She muttered. "What did he say?" Zell asked. Rikku looked at him. "Brother doesn't know how to fly this airship. We haven't learned yet." She said. Zell rolled his eyes. "Mr. Know It All Zell to the rescue." He said walking forward. He walked over to where Brother was sitting. The Al Bhed looked surprised. "Alright, move out of the way. Or at least let me enlighten you how to fly it." Zell said looking over the controls. Brother looked annoyed. Rikku hurried forward. "Zell! Do you know how to fly this thing!" She asked with surprise.The SeeD snorted. "I'm Zell Dincht. I know how to run any machine. Doesn't matter what the hell it is. It's going to be like learning how to ride a bike." He said. Rikku nodded. "Well, just to let you know, Brother don't know english yet." She said. Zell looked at her. "Then you translate what I say. " He said. Rikku nodded and hurried forward. Zell looked over the controls.
"Okay. This is different from the Ragnarok but I get it." He pointed at a few of the buttons. "This is a turbo speed button. It'll make the airship go faster. And this is how you control the ship." He motioned to the wheel. Rikku translated everything. Brother looked amazed. Zell then pointed at a few more stuff. "Okay, those looks like rocket boosters. They'll help speed up and slow down. It depends on how much velocity you want to use."
He looked over some more buttons. "This looks like a radio system. You can communicate with other airships but you have to know the right channels to talk to any. But I don't think we'll need to worry about that for awhile. We're not talking to Bevelle. We're going there. Let's see….." He paused looking a few levers and buttons. "This looks like the auto-pilot. If you put in the right coordinates, the airship will fly itself right to where you need to go. I think that's about it that you need to worry about for now. Just press that button." He said pointing at the turbo speed button. Rikku told Brother what Zell said and Brother grinned and did.
The airship went extremely fast that it made Tidus fall to his knees and Wakka started screaming at a high pitch that no one knew he had. He began holding onto a chair to keep him from falling back. The Al Bhed were all grinning and cheering. Zell and Rikku was holding onto Brother's chair and grinning like crazy. "All right! This is great!" Tidus laughed as he forced himself to stand.
Cid turned around. "It'll take a while to get to Bevelle but at this rate, we've got at least ten minutes." He said. Tidus nodded. "We prepare for battle!" He said. Everyone began making sure that they were ready. Zell was checking his magic and GFs. He gave a small groan seeing how much magic he had. He was running a little low on the high level magic.
Rikku looked at everyone. "What's Seymour doing alive? Didn't we take care of him in Macalania?" She asked. Zell looked over at her. Auron stepped back into the room. "He is dead. As dead as Jyscal was. His attactment to this world kept him from the next." He said. Rikku's eyes lit up with nervousness. "Whoa, scary." She said. Zell looked out the window. "Then….Yuna must be trying to send him." He said. Auron nodded. "Looks like it." He said. Rikku bit her lip. "Wonder if that will work." She said. The swordsman looked at him. "Perhaps he won't expect it." He offered.
Wakka rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm glad Yuna's okay and all, but what's with those fancy cloths?" He asked. Zell rolled his eyes and shook his head. 'Man, Wakka's more dense than me.' He thought. Lulu sighed shaking her head. "It's called a wedding dress." She said wearily. Wakka's eyes went wider. "What!" He exclaimed. Zell looked at Tidus who was moving towards the exit of the bridge when suddenly there was a crash and the airship started to rock. There was noises from inside. Rin walked into the bridge. "We're being attacked from within. Some of the Guado that attacked Home must have snuck on board." He said. Cid turned and looked at him. "You're awfully calm about it." He said. Rin shrugged. "I am calm about most things." He said. Cid growled. "Fiends! There's nothin' to do but…" He was saying.But Rikku jumped in front of him and imatated him very well. "But destroy the ship and all go down together." She said in a deep voice. Tidus and Zell laughed at her impersonation. Cid blinked. "Huh?" he muttered. Rikku sighed and shook her head facing him. "You gotta learn a little restraint, Pops. If you crash the ship, we can't go rescue Yunie. Leave the fiends to us professionals." She said. Tidus nodded. "Yeah, Let's go!" He said. Zell nodded. Rikku blushed. "Thanks." She said. Rin smiled at them. "Rikku, you've made some very good friends, I think. Good luck." He said.
A/N: Alright. I really hate the next part in the game. It took me forever trying to beat that stupid dragon. Anyway tell me how I did by reviewing.
