The Son of Auron: The Hope of Spira
Chapter 15
The Shrouded Mind
Tidus, Yuna, and Jack stood apon the steps of Mi Yevon's palace, facing the great doors of light.
"This is it guys," Jack said. "Once we step through these doors, there is no going back."
"We're ready for this, Jack," said Yuna.
Tidus spoke up, "We've overcome challenges greater than this before, we can handle it."
"Are you sure, after all we're dealing with the one who created Sin," Jack said.
Tidus didn't respond but walked up to the doors and pushed them forward.
At the moment they opened, a bright flash of light exited from within the great palace, then it was gone.
Inside the temple, stood a figure in the dark. It said, "Looks like they have arrived sooner than I though. No matter, I will crush them."
The trio walked cautiously through the great halls.
The entire time, they didn't encounter a single threat which made them even more cautious.
Finally, they reached the throne room, where the walls were glittered with stained glass windows of angels, demons, and one particular window over the throne bearing the image of a human-like creature holding a sword and bearing a pair of white angel wings.
"Be on your guard, we're not alone," said Jack.
The two comrades raised their weapons in response.
Then a great laughter rang out, echoing around the room.
The trio looked in the source of the noise coming from the throne.
It was a great seat built between the feet of a statue appearing to be Mi Yevon.
The huge statue was in sitting position, with her hands held out in front of her as if holding an imaginary bowl.
Unfortunately, the face could not be made out due to a great deal of decay and weathering down.
In the throne's seat sat a figure hidden by the shadows.
"Show yourself Mi Yevon!" Tidus said.
Jack cut in, "I don't think that's Mi Yevon, Tidus."
"Why not? Who else could it be?" Tidus said back.
Jack continued, "Well, think about it, with us being the only ones capable of destroying her, along with her plans to destroy the Farplane core, I don't think that she will be just waiting for us."
"Right you are, Scythe!" said the figure.
"Didn't think it was her," Jack said.
"Why'd they call you Scythe?" asked Yuna.
The figure stood and began to walk towards them.
It spoke, "Let's just say we go back a long way."
As it said this, the window's light unveiled the speaker to be Seymour Guado.
-
Not even the smallest space was unoccupied by the soldiers and merciless fiends.
Not a pocket of air was undisturbed by the clashing of weaponry.
Not a single blade of grass was unbroken from the heavy armor and skins of the trampling feet.
Seymour Guado (Remember, the other one!) stood watching from his barracks, guarded by the most fearsome of creatures.
Kimahri and Rikku dueled back-to-back, Kimahri with his spirit lance and Rikku with her gauntlets.
An Elder Drake suddenly pounced on the two and forced them out of their secure stance.
"Rikku must run! Kimahri will hold them off!" Kimahri shouted.
Rikku said, "No way, Kimahri. I won't leave you on your own to fight an Elder Drake!"
Kimahri didn't protest but charged at the beast.
Rikku then began to assist him by launching long range missiles from her gauntlets.
Meanwhile, Cid was tinkering away in a hidden nook with the machina-disabling device left behind by Lonar-Boris.
"I've tried every damn button but this one!" He said to himself, hitting a small glowing green switch on the side panel.
Looking up, he noticed many glowing green lights appearing all across the battlefields, each one emitted from a different machina soldier.
He beamed with pride, expecting the machines to fall to pieces or shut down, but his smile vanished when a series of explosions erupted from each machina.
Screams of terror and pain followed this.
That was when Cid realized the truth.
"That no good lying bastard!" Cid shouted in anger. "This was no deactivator, it was a self-destruct device!"
Seymour beamed as thousands of soldiers suddenly lay still from the effects of the explosion.
A possessed Guado soldier standing next to him said, "Mission accomplished, sir."
"So, Lonar-Boris was defeated," He said. "He gave Cid the bait and served his purpose. He is now free of his pain."
Suddenly, the guard next to Seymour fell to the floor with a knife in his back and a voice behind him cut in, "But your pain is about to begin, Seymour!"
Seymour turned to face the unknown intruder.
"So you're the traitor of Yevon who tried to kill my son. You must also be the one who tried to take my place as Sin." Jecht said.
Seymour grinned, "Yes, that is correct. Unfortunately, your son was able to stop me, but my… other side will finish him this time."
Jecht laughed and said, "I'm not worrying about him, kid can handle himself. But if your other self is fighting him, I guess that leaves you to me."
Seymour's grin didn't change, "I now see where your son receives his arrogance, I am well more than an adversary for you, even if you were once Sin."
Jecht withdrew a pair of one-handed swords (like Tidus' weapon) and said, "You better be able to back that up!"
Seymour withdrew the same sword he used to fight Jack at the Bajj Temple and said, "Well then if it is a death you seek, I have no choice but to grant it to you. Pity that you couldn't experience the living world very long after being in the Farplane so much, but like I said, it is your decision."
With that, the duo charged at one another.
-
Jack lunged at Seymour, summoning a dagger at the same time.
Seymour simply held up a hand and deflected the blow.
Jack retreated back to where Tidus and Yuna stood.
Seymour shook his head mockingly, "Three against one? That doesn't sound very fair."
He then looked up in delight, "I've got it! Allow me to even up the odds."
Suddenly, two dark pools of dark mist appeared in front of Seymour.
Then, two fiends, both unfamiliar to Tidus, Yuna, and Jack, leaped out from within its depths and faced the opposing trio.
"You may not recognize these fiends before you," Seymour said. "Long ago, while the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle raged on, the unsent dead took a new form of fiends. When the war ended, so did the creation of the new fiends. Those that remained were eventually wiped out. These are the last of those fiends. They are so special because of their incredible power and speed."
He indicated to the fiend on the right. This fiend was a Tonberry as tall as a man and bore a jeweled cape and crown. In its hand, rather than a lantern was a golden torch.
Seymour continued, "Allow me to introduce the Tonberry God. And this one," he said motioning to the other, "is the Master Wendigo."
The Master Wendigo bore pair of demon's wings and four massive arms. It also wore an iron mast with the mouth, nose and eye regions visible.
Jack turned to Tidus and Yuna and said, "I will handle them, you need to go and search for the core entrance. It will probably be in a cathedral like room because the summoning of the entrance requires a holy presence to stay active."
"How do you know this?" Tidus asked.
"There's no time to explain, you must hurry! Once you find it, wait for me. Just try to avoid all forms of danger if you can, now go!"
Yuna and Tidus didn't argue and dashed down the corridor as Jack turned to face the fiends.
Seymour smirked, "So, wanting to take us all on? Well, I'll show you some mercy by simply watching you fight the fiends. Let's see what you have learned since I taught you."
"OLO EOPIA!" Jack said sending the sword from out of his hand.
"Ah, I remember that sword well throughout your training. Too bad it is useless without its sister," Seymour remarked.
"RHIANON!" Jack said and replied, "You'll find I'm full of surprises."
"So, you did encounter young Kinos, and managed to defeat him as well," Seymour said.
"If you knew that he had the sword, then why didn't you kill him when you had the chance?" Jack asked.
"Because we expected him to win due to his seemingly superior strength to you. Mi Yevon gave him the Emrys power like yours as well. The only difference between his Emrys power and yours was that when his is withdrawn by the giver of the gift, the host would die. In other words, he would die with both blades." Seymour explained.
Jack growled, "I have had just about enough of your trickery! You will be destroyed Seymour, by either these blades of by something else, but mark my words, you shall die before Mi Yevon succeeds."
With that, he charged at the two fiends before him, swords outstretched at both sides.
Olo Eopia missed the Tonberry God by a few inches from a quick dodge but drew blood in the Master Wendigo's fur.
Jack spun to meet many clawed swipes from the Master Wendigo's four arms, and deflected many of them. The last few strikes though met him head on and sent him into the clutches of the Tonberry God.
Jack managed to wrestle free from its grip and slashed at its shriveled hands, leaving behind severe cuts.
He was still slicing at the beast when the Wendigo's next punch sent him to the floor.
Jack slowly sat up and began wiping the blood from his mouth but soon was sent to the floor again by the Tonberry's Karma attack.
Feeling slightly drained of strength from the previous attack, Jack struggled even more to rise to his feet.
He saw the Master Wendigo run to the other end of the room and circle around to charge at him.
As it began to gain speed, Jack saw the Tonberry God preparing another Karma attack.
He dashed as fast as he could at the monster to prevent the attack and succeeded as he plunged both of his swords into the Tonberry God's heart.
As the slain beast crumpled to the ground, Jack was flattened by the Wendigo's charge.
This time, Jack found his body almost unable to get up again and as he tried desperately to regain his strength, he heard a snapping of fingers and the strong arms of the Master Wendigo lifting him off the floor.
Jack tried to escape from its grip but its arms bound him tightly and he was also too weak to try very hard.
He could only watch as the creature brought him up to Seymour.
Seymour examined the struggling boy before him. "Look at yourself, Jack. Look how pitiful you are before me. I gave you food!" Seymour yelled and slapped the boy and continued. "I gave you power!" he struck him again. "I gave you a life! And what did you do to repay me? You deserted me, and left me with temporarily nothing. Now look at what I have to do. If you had remained loyal to me, then there would be someone else in your place, but NO! You had to be so stubborn like your father!"
Jack raised his head with a piercing glare as Seymour continued, "I could kill you now, as easily as an bug under a boot, but I have better use for you."
Jack suddenly regained a bit more strength and struggled even harder against his captor's hold but it proved useless.
As he watched his sight go pitch black, he unexpectedly passed out.
-Nearby, a few minutes later-
Tidus and Yuna continued to search the halls for the cathedral but found them to be lost.
"We've been here before, this is hopeless!" Tidus cried out in frustration.
Yuna shook her head in agreement but the two still searched.
Finally, Tidus stopped in his tracks and called Yuna back.
He motioned to a small crevice in one of the stone walls, one about the size of a finger and shaped like a Yevon symbol.
Tidus traced the carving and suddenly found the hall they had once taken change into a new hallway leading higher into the palace.
"Man, talk about your all time luck," Tidus said with a smirk.
"No time to joke now Tidus," Yuna said. "Let's go!"
The two took the new path and found themselves on the right track, finally.
They stood within a large church-like room with bells hanging from the ceiling.
The one thing that drew their attention from the rest of the room was a great circle drawn at the front podium. Within it was a series of illegible words in a strange kind of language.
"I guess this is it," Yuna said.
Tidus responded, "Yeah, I guess we have to go get Jack."
As he said this the two large double-doors in the back of the cathedral creaked open and like the palace entrance, light poured out from its opening.
In the doorway stood a boy, wearing a blue robe, gloved hands, and a ring bearing a pair of angel wings.
His scruffy brown hair covered a lot of his face due to it being tilted down, as he seemed to be staring at the floor.
He had many tears and rips in his robe but as he stood there, they began to mend themselves back to their old self.
His cuts on his face and hands did not heal, on the other hand.
"Jack, we were so worried!" Yuna said.
Jack didn't respond but Yuna continued, "Does this mean Seymour is dead? Were you able to handle those nasty looking fiends single-handedly?"
Still, no response.
"Are you alright?" Yuna asked as she began to walk towards Jack.
As she approached, Jack looked up and Tidus shouted out, "Yuna! Back away!"
"OLO EOPIA!" Jack cried sending the sword straight for Yuna.
She luckily ducked, just in time as it passed right over her and sunk itself into a nearby wall.
Jack dismissed the weapons and summoned it again. (This is to bring the weapon back to him saving him the hassle of getting it; in case you weren't following me too well.)
Yuna retreated back to Tidus and looked back to face he attacker.
Jack's eyes burned a fiery red as he smirked wickedly at an astonished Tidus and Yuna.
-
Wakka continued to duel the seemingly endless wave of fiends.
As he was killing a flan, he felt his overdrive fully powered up and it was just in time as an enormous Ochu approached.
Before he was about to attack with it, he thought to himself, "Wait, what about that thing Jack taught me? Oh yes, I remember now."
He began to focus all of his energy onto his arms and his weapon.
The ochu suddenly whipped him with a tentacle but he still tried to concentrate as his hands and blitz ball began to acquire a faint scarlet glow.
Then, feeling a sudden burst of strength, he lunged forward, throwing the glowing ball at the monster at a terrifying speed, where it hit it, ricocheted back, and he threw it once more.
As he felt his energy about to fade, he threw it one last time, leaped forward, caught the ball midway as it came back, and slammed it into the beast, slaying it with a fearsome blow.
He looked at the ball in delight and said aloud, "Jack, when all this is over, remember me to thank you… a hell of a bunch, ya."
Turning then, he continued his assault on the fiends.
-
Seymour stepped out from behind the door to stand next to the boy.
His voice seemed quite jolly as he said, "Looks like the 'Great Hope of Spira' isn't so great anymore now that he is under my control!"
"Seymour stop this!" Yuna cried out. "Let us be, you gain nothing from this!"
Seymour seemed taken aback by this, "I will gain a seat of power next to Mi Yevon, to rule Spira and the fiends that have conquered it!"
Tidus cut in, "At first, she will convince you of this, but when she no longer requires you, she'll destroy you!"
Seymour was fuming and shouted, "YOU KNOW NOTHING OF ME! Scythe… eliminate them!"
Jack stepped forward and drew his sword forward.
Then, he attacked.
-
As Seymour leaped and swung his blade, Jecht summer-salted under it just in time.
He spun around and sliced at Seymour just as he was about to land.
The ex-maester was able to bring his sword behind him a block the attack as he landed in a crouching position.
Then, they resorted to stationary strikes as they continued to deflect one blow after another.
Seymour swung at Jecht's legs but the warrior quickly leaped into the air as it passed beneath him.
Jecht gained the offense from there as he struck with one sword and followed with a swipe from the other.
At first, Seymour was able to hold them off, but soon, he began to weaken and several of the strikes pierced his robes and left deep gashes in his flesh.
Seymour hissed in pain but shook it off as he discarded his robes.
Jecht was taken aback by the series of blows ensued from Seymour.
He soon stumbled to the floor from the intensity of Seymour's attacks.
As he felt his fingers involuntarily release his swords, he watched as Seymour raised his blade high above his head.
The sword would have surely split his skull in two if it hadn't been blocked by the large double-handed sword an in away from Jecht's forehead.
"Your rein is about to end Seymour," Auron said calmly.
Seymour scowled at the new intruder as Jecht barreled rolled out from beneath the blade and rose to his feet once more.
Seymour once again stood in fighting position but he knew his chances of victory were out of the question.
He managed to deflect a few of the swings from Auron and Jecht, but his strength soon left him as their continuous blows connected into his chest and back.
With a blood soaked chest and his breathing growing fainter by the second, he managed to sputter the words, "You can kill me now, but I will still be alive."
Auron brought his sword above his head and said, "We leave that matter in the hands of our sons."
With that said, he brought the blade down on Seymour's twitching form.
Apon his death, the traitor's body dissolved into dust.
Jecht sheathed his swords and said, "What took you?"
Auron slightly grinned but went serious once again, "I was fighting along with Braska not too long ago, when we were separated. I didn't think him to be dead and then I saw you entering Seymour's barracks and figured he was with you."
"Sorry, aint seen him," Jecht replied. "He'll be all right Auron, I'm just worried for our kids."
Auron said, "They can handle themselves. Your son has plenty of experience in this sort of situation and Jack has been training for the moment almost his whole life."
Jecht shrugged and then shouted, "Let's go, those fiends aren't gonna disappear."
With that, the two dashed out of the barrack and back onto the battlefield.
-
Tidus and Yuna raised their weapons in preparation for some kind of awesome attack but were surprised by Jack's method of combat.
He simply strolled leisurely towards them, with his weapon swinging loosely at his side.
"Yuna, let me handle him, you go after Seymour," Tidus whispered.
Yuna protested, "But Tidus, I don't think you can take him by yourself, seeing all he has overcome on his own."
Tidus whispered more sharply, "Look, I think Seymour will be weaker because he is currently controlling Jack. That is another key factor. Seymour is controlling Jack meaning that he won't have full access to all of Jack's abilities. It's like fighting a younger Seymour."
Yuna still looked worried but began to wind around the two towards the doorway where Seymour stood.
Jack then quickly closed the distance between he and Tidus with a mighty leap with his blade raised.
Tidus quickly dove to the side to miss the attack and just barely raised Starblade just in time to deflect Olo Eopia's next slash.
As the two fought on Tidus cried out in desperation, "Jack, snap out of it! It's me, Tidus!"
Jack simply ignored the call and continued his assault as Tidus tried his best to defend his life and prevent himself from hurting Jack as well.
Meanwhile, Yuna had gotten past Jack and now stood before Seymour.
Instead of showing worry as she had expected, he was grinning.
"You would kill your own husband?" he questioned.
"I would never marry such filth! It was you who married me," Yuna said fiercely.
Yuna caught a slight twitch in Seymour's smile but then he spoke once more, "Point made, yet still, I am unable to be killed by you. Consider me immune to you. That puny walking stick you even bother to carry won't even wrinkle my robes."
His grin grew even wider, showing more of his pointed fangs.
Suddenly, he began to grasp his chest in pain as he knelt to the floor.
A strange token, about the size of one's hand exited from his torso and fell to the floor.
Yuna picked up the final relic as Seymour still writhed in pain on the floor.
Remembering what Yunalesca had said, she took haste into breaking it in two, which she accomplished quite easily and spilled its contents over Nirvana. (Her weapon, not the band.)
As the last specks of dust began to settle, the weapon started shining a bright mauve color.
As she watched her weapon begin to change, she felt a clawed hand grip her shoulder and she was wheeled to face Seymour, now back on his feet.
Before he could strike her, Yuna swung at him with her weapon, but it sunk through his skin.
Fortunately, as it was passing halfway through his midsection, the glowing began to face, and the weapon took its true form.
Yuna could tell this by the new gaping whole in Seymour's stomach.
He howled in pain as she removed the weapon, but to her surprise, he didn't bleed.
Seymour casted cure on his wound and slowly began to regain his posture. He seemed to have read her mind, "Oh, I'm not bleeding? That's because I am the living image of Seymour's dark soal and I am by far superior to the natural from that which I separated from. It seems he has just been killed, for that is why I was suddenly inflicted with such pain out of nowhere."
Yuna held up the weapon in defense and Seymour said, "Ah, your weapon's true form. Perhaps you have seen it before."
Yuna examined her weapon to discover it to be the same staff used by Yunalesca on her pilgrimage.
It was also the weapon used by Zaon when they battled in Zanarkand only smaller.
Seymour continued, "Too bad it won't save you against my power!"
-
Jack's eyes slowly opened as a dim light came into focus.
Remembering the events that had just happened he sat up quickly and looked around the room.
That was when he realized that he was not in a room at all.
He stood on a large tiled floor that went on beyond Jack's sight.
Above him was only darkness other than a dim light emitted from the floor.
"H-hello?" he called out as his voice echoed all around him.
"Hello?" a different voice called back.
"SHOW YOURSELF!" Jack yelled out.
"As you wish," the voice answered.
A single black pyrefly appeared in front of Jack.
"Are you Seymour?" Jack asked.
"I am a servant of the lord Seymour," it answered.
"Where am I?" Jack asked. "Where are Tidus and Yuna?" "Did Seymour kill me?"
The pyrefly seemed to chuckle and replied, "It would be quite a bother to explain the whole thing to you in words, so why don't I just give all the information to you through telepathy."
Without warning, the tiles that Jack stood on glowed a bright red and Jack gasped loudly.
"Possessed!" he cried and the pyrefly nodded.
"I'm fighting Tidus!"
The pyrefly nodded.
"And this place is really-" he started.
The pyrefly finished for him, "Yes, it is your mind. You are a prisoner to it."
"Please," Jack cried. "Let me out of here!"
The pyrefly shook its head and said, "No, I'm sorry but that would make Lord Seymour quite angry, and my purpose is to prevent that."
Jack growled out in frustration and kicked the floor in disgust.
Right when he did this, all of the tiles in the room suddenly glowed bright red and the pyrefly said, "Well, looks like we have unlocked another memory from you, let's just see what it is."
The dark room and the tiled floor suddenly vanished into a vast grassland, soaked by rain.
Jack recognized the place to be the Calm Lands and when he turned, he dropped to his knees.
Before him was the great beast, Omega turning away from the carcass of a young woman to face down a little boy bearing no weapon but a whittled stick.
The child lunged at the beast over and over again, but it simple blocked his petty attempts and threw the boy into the rocky wall. But he kept rising once more to attack the monster over and over again even though it was a fruitless attempt.
"Oh please, more rubbish memories, this will not aid Seymour," The pyrefly said as the scene vanished and returned back to the dark tiled surroundings.
"Something wrong?" the pyrefly asked seeing that Jack was weeping.
Jack whirled around sending a punch straight for the pyrefly but it connected with some kind of invisible wall.
"Now, now, let's not get aggressive in here. In case you forgot, I control your mind and that means, my rules are limitless. So let's just be calm, and you may live longer than I plan," the black insect scolded.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU DAMNED SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA STRANGLE YOU IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!" Jack screamed out.
The pyrefly began to speak once the echoes ended, "My what a rude mouth! I will not tolerate such nonsense!"
Jack tried to yell out again but found himself unable to open his mouth.
"There, that's better," the Pyrefly said proudly.
It then changed the subject, "Listen, just relax. There's nothing you can do to get out of here, so quit trying. In the meantime, let's just see how Tidus is going, shall we?"
With that, a great sheet of glass appeared in front of Jack.
He suddenly felt a great force pulled him down and he landed in a chair. A pair of shackles fastened themselves around his knuckles, preventing him from escape.
The glass sheet suddenly lit up to show a first person view of Tidus with his sword drawn, battling the viewer.
He lashed out but the watcher blocked it with a sword of their own. That's when Jack realized that he was seeing the battle through the eyes of his possessed body.
Tidus continued to deflect the endless blows issued from Jack and attempted an occasional strike that always failed.
As he fought, he began to notice that he was about to be cornered between the walls.
He tried to change course, but Jack wouldn't allow it so he cut him off and steered him back on course.
Tidus tried to fight even harder to get out of the trap, but he still failed.
Soon, he felt cold stone prevent him from going any further.
Jack attempted a side slash, but Tidus luckily deflected it.
Jack tried it again but it was again deflected.
Finally, Jack lost his patience and wrapped one hand around Tidus' throat and began to suffocate him.
Tidus tried to escape but couldn't as he clutched at Jack's hand to pull it off with his other hand still grasping his own sword.
Jack raised Olo Eopia and sunk its blade into Tidus' right shoulder.
Tidus cried out in pain as his blood began to trickle down his arm and chest.
Jack grinned as he pushed the blade in further, putting Tidus through more pain.
Jack was planning to kill him slowly, as slow as he could.
-
Yuna swung her staff at Seymour but his hand prevented it from connecting.
She tried to swing again, but Seymour chanted, "SLOW!" before she could complete it.
Seymour stepped out of the rod's way as it inched forward every few seconds.
He began to circle her cackling in her ears.
"You see, Yuna," he said. "As long as I serve Mi Yevon, my power's are unmatched by all mortals ever to set foot on Spira!"
He then cast darkness on her, and then inflicted her with a zombie spell.
Snapping his fingers, a regen spell engulfed Yuna.
She slowly cringed in pain as it began to slowly steal her life from her.
He then cast silence to prevent her from healing.
"It is pointless, Yuna," he said. "Death is the greatest gift one can give. Why not accept it willingly as I did?"
She slowly began to blindly wander forward, and failed to realize that she had exited the chapel doors and was nearing the edge of the balcony out side.
Below the balcony, far below the platform on which the entire palace rested was a great pit, in which drifted an endless number of reapers. (You know, that weird looking guy that hits you with the blade when somebody casts "death")
Seymour saw this and followed closely behind her.
He then stepped in front of her, still keeping up with her pace and whispered, "Why even bother looking for me, you are powerless."
Yuna seemed to scowl behind the black cloud in front of her eyes due to the mockery.
He continued to step closer and closer toward the edge though, searching for Seymour.
Finally, she was a foot away from falling and she stopped abruptly.
Seymour stood beside her but leaned in front of her and said, "Yuna, you were so beautiful, such a pity that that has to go to waste."
She slowly lifted her hand up to her face as Seymour, who was about to push her the rest of the way, stopped and frowned in confusion.
Two of Yuna's fingers reached her lips as she blew into them as hard as she could, sending a loud whistle echoing all through the Farplane.
Tidus, though very weak as Jack tightened his grip on his neck, heard the call and looked away from Jack and to the balcony where Yuna stood.
Using his remaining strength, he hurled Starblade straight toward the open door way.
Seymour turned to see what Yuna had done, but before he realized what, Starblade lodged itself into his chest, also sending Seymour flying backward from the force of the blow.
Stumbling off the balcony, he plummeted into the gorge of death.
Yuna used a remedy on herself curing all of her conditions and looked into the pit to see if Seymour were still alive.
Just as her head peaked over the edge, a huge wave of black pyreflys rushed past her and hovered in mid air.
She stood back upright and faced them, but all they did was swirl around in small circles.
Finally, they formed an image, one that Yuna recognized to be the face of Seymour.
At first, the face just stared at her then it said, "Whether or not I am here to see it, Spira will fall. Mi Yevon will succeed and you, Lady Yuna, you and your accomplices shall suffer the most horrible kind of death imaginable from Mi Yevon."
He stopped speaking for a moment then he uttered one last word, "…Pity."
Then, each black pyrefly froze and plummeted into the pit until none remained.
Then she, turned and ran to where Tidus lay in the cathedral and also where Jack, who had now released him, cowered in the corner of the room, clutching his head and screaming.
-
The view turned away from Tidus suddenly to see Seymour fall into the great pit.
Jack grinned and turned to face the black pyrefly also watching who began flying around in crazed circles, screaming in pain.
Noticing the boy once more, the pyrefly snapped, "You think, you are unstoppable and that light will prevail? Well I stumbled across one memory of yours that will disagree, a memory so powerful, that it has even taken control of you when you didn't even know it!"
These were the pyrefly's last words as it fell lifeless to the floor.
A smooth gray stone suddenly appeared and replaced the glass screen in front of Jack.
Apon it was a series of carved symbols unfamiliar to Jack except one large one in the center.
This particular symbol matched the tattoo on Jack's arm.
Then, all of the markings lit up all over the stone, burning brightly until the rock shattered into pieces.
Jack never saw what was inside it because he suddenly, found himself blacking out.
He awoke seconds later with Yuna and Tidus standing over him.
Tidus was taking several potions to heal the injuries in his shoulder.
Jack sat up suddenly and felt his arms and face.
Tidus reached for Olo Eopia on the ground nearby, but Yuna stopped him saying, "Tidus, no. I think he's okay now."
Jack stuttered, "I-I'm not p-possessed anymore! Honest!"
He looked at Tidus and Yuna and said, "Guys, I am so sorry."
Yuna shook her head and said, "It wasn't your fault. You could not control yourself."
Tidus nodded in agreement.
That was when they took the time to tell each other about what happened to each other.
When they had all finished, each of them was astonished.
Jack suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "We must hurry now, Mi Yevon is close to success!"
Tidus said, "But we can't fight her yet. We haven't reunited your swords yet!"
Jack looked down the hall where Tidus and Yuna had entered and said, "Yes, I must do that first. I just hope my dad was right."
Before Tidus and Yuna could question him, Jack dashed down the hall and out of sight.
Tidus and Yuna then jumped to their feet, and pursued him.
They followed him back to the room they hard started at which was the great throne room.
They followed Jack to the royal seat where he began searching around the cushions and arms.
"What are you doing?" Tidus asked.
Jack replied as he continued to search, "My father gave me a valuable clue after my fight with Kinos. He told me 'They can only be forged by the hands of Mi Yevon.' At first, I couldn't understand what he meant, but now it's all clear to me."
As he said this, he removed a cushion in the back to reveal a small sliding door in the chair.
He moved it aside to reveal a small storage space and in it was a pool of glowing liquid.
Jack reached out and touched the surface to cause a series of ripples in the puddle.
Then the liquid began to levitate in the air and floated from the secret cabinet out in front of the throne.
Slowly, the liquid began to break up into many sections and spread out, forming solid rectangular plates along the way.
Finally, they finished their task and Jack, Yuna, and Tidus stood before a series of stairs, leading up to the cupped hands of Mi Yevon.
"This is it," Jack said. "This is where Callikiller shall be remade."
-
The battle still waged on throughout the Calm Lands and it was more than obvious that the fiends were on the verge of victory due to their increasing numbers.
Many portions of the army mere ordering a retreat while some still remained to fight.
Suddenly, every fiend on the Farplane stopped in their place and did not move an inch.
The soldiers stopped fighting as well to investigate and found the fiends to be alive and well.
Many of the armies were stumped by this strange event.
Only a chosen few knew the cause of it.
"The great battle is about to begin," Auron whispered with fear in his voice.
-
A/N: Well, after a while, I finally updated. Please don't hate me for taking so long but school has been taking a lot of my time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I believe that it is the longest one yet. I'm not surprised if some of you keep questioning the unexplained information in this story like the significance of Jack's tattoo, but it will be answered in the Son of Auron: The Ruba Spheres, once I finish this fic. Anyway, on to the review responses.
Story Weaver1: I'm glad you liked the battles, and now you know what Auron meant. Also, to answer your earlier review, I did change the "hand thing" so thanks for pointing that out.
TheMaster009: Thanks for reviewing. As you can see, the story did not end. Also, I didn't show Auron much in this story, because, well… he was dead.
As many of you have probably guessed, this story is drawing to a close, but it isn't over yet so stick with me and please keep reviewing. The showdown with Mi Yevon begins New Year's Day, 2005.
Callik