Sacreda Chapter 4: Three Strangers and a Map, a final fantasy x-overs fanfic

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3. Three Strangers and a Map

The chalice that once contained liquid medicine was still smoking. Each puff of smoke slithered up to the ceiling, consuming the room in a cinnamon- like fragrance, and making it appear as if it was home to some spiritual ritual. It made Yuna feel drowsier than ever. Even though her holographic horn had disappeared and the pain with it, the medicine had instead filled her head with emptiness and a definite drowsiness.

What was worse was not the fact that Yuna's head felt like it was detached from her body but that Lulu had chosen this moment to debrief Yuna about Sacreda. She was joined by a new companion this morning- a cactuar who had once been spinning about; now sleeping under the influence of either the chalice's smoke or Lulu's constant speaking, Yuna couldn't tell. She herself was slouched over a wooden chair trying to make sense of anything her guardian was saying.

"… This pre-pilgrimage is not to be taken lightly," Lulu stressed for the third time since appearing at Yuna's door, "We will have to journey to receive the equivalent of the aeon and here it is called an eidolon. In order for you to defeat Sacreda's practice Sin you must get every one of these equivalents from each place we visit. Ark is the name of your first, we will do whatever it takes to get it…"
Yuna understood in some distant part of her mind but the rest of it was asleep. Like a programmed robot she nodded her head and tried to appear alert. Lulu seemed satisfied with this response and continued.
" There are three journeys to undertake to receive each one's summoning creature. Each of them are the most powerful of their kind. Once you have them all, it is only you and them- us guardians will not fight with you. It is up to you to prove you are worthy of aeons."
"I understand."
Yuna finished the conversation and the door of the room opened. It was the rest of her guardians and Garnet, her arms full of gems.

"If you require Ark, you must first seek Hades. He lives in a place called Memoria, a place made up from people's memories. I must warn you that the monsters there are extremely tough so I would equip." She handed them the contents of her arms leaving the guardians (including Lulu) and Yuna completely bewildered.
" These gems are what you need to learn abilities. Luckily for you these are from my journey so most of the skills are learned apart from the eidolons. You just need to equip them to you…"
" Your journey?"
Yuna's face lit up and she put down the handful of gems she had been handed.
" …Your Highness, you fought Sin?"
" No, I fought Kuja and Nectron…"
" Kuya and Neptron?"
Yuna found this extremely interesting that someone else had gone through a real pilgrimage and wanted to talk about it.
" So you really went through a real pilgrimage?"

Garnet sighed and sat down, realising that Yuna didn't know very much about her world at all.
" It wasn't a pilgrimage, as you put it, but a journey. I learned about my real roots and about things I would have never found out if I hadn't gone… I hope I have become a good Queen because of my real experiences mainly because I have seen the world and learned about the sort of person I want to be-"
" And you didn't die?"
Yuna's mouth accidentally spilled out the 'd' word before she could stop herself and there was a long awkward pause, much like the one aboard the S.S Spektril at the mention of the word nobody wanted to say.
" Yuna, remember that this is a different world with different people in it and with no real sin to terrorize them," Lulu's voice said, quieter than usual, and Yuna could see her head was bowed as if to not to look straight at her. " Remember the Sin here is not a big monster but one created by the temples for you to practice on, it does not affect life here."

Yuna could feel her eyes swelling with tears of a single thought of a world without Sin but she managed to pull them back before they trickled down her cheek.
" My apologies. You are most lucky. N-N-Now where do I find this Memoria?"
Garnet pursed her mouth deep in thought, blissfully unaware of the full extent of Spira's terror.
" That's the problem…. you can't. It was once above the Iifa Tree but it had a violent reaction and is extremely dangerous…"
"So now what?" Lulu interrupted, a bit too sharply.
Garnet bit her lip and thought further.
" You could come see my friend. I should take the airship if that is the case…"
"Yes," Yuna replied and she followed Garnet out, her head still fantasizing of a world free of Sin and making her more determined then ever to bring the Calm.

Down a stone spiral staircase and just beyond a statue of a knight, it wasn't long until they saw the massive airship hovering silently awaiting its passengers to board. Yuna felt excitement in her stomach that was to take a ride in it, much like when she had taken her first ride in a shoopuff. She stepped up feeling nervous and her guardians and Garnet followed.

" Where to?" the cloaked man with the moustache asked once everyone was settled, his hands clasped around the wheel of the ship.
Yuna watched Garnet closely and she thought she saw a slight quiver in the Queen's throat and a tear in her left eye but at the next moment it was gone.
" We should head to Lindblum Theatre District," she said softly, turning away quickly as if she didn't want anyone to see her and she took off in the opposite direction of everyone else.

" The Theatre District? Where's that?" Yuna asked, more out of a need of conversation rather than for fact. It wasn't as if she knew where it would be even if someone did tell her. Nobody did- Garnet had vanished, her guardians knew as much as she did and the man behind the wheel was concentrating on the journey ahead. Yuna sighed and twisted the silver pendant on her necklace. She could no longer think of anything else to say. Shutting the door behind her, she left the room and made her way down a corridor until she reached a door with sounds of machinery from the inside.

THE ENGINE ROOM

it read, each letter peeling but readable.

Looking through the small round window, Yuna was amazed. She had never seen engines like this before. In Spira, the cogs were turned by chocobo power but here she could see the machinery puffing out smoke, a coal fire blazing red and machine parts moving the cogs like human arms. It was when she looked closer, she saw a shadow of a person.

" The Queen?" Yuna gasped quietly, not sure if she was allowed to watch the sight that lay in front of her. The shadow was not proud nor gracious, it was bent over with its head in its hands and there was sobs over the noise of the machinery. Yuna, for the first time, had realised that no matter how important a person was they were always human but watching a Queen cry silently was shocking to her. Garnet summoned a mythical monster, Garnet spoke with such authority, Garnet was the people's joy… Garnet is… crying.

Yuna wasn't sure what to say or do but she guessed that Garnet would want privacy whatever she was crying about and she turned around...
" Yuna."
She nearly jumped a mile as the outline of Lulu stood behind her.
" Where is Her Majesty?"
" Er..."
Yuna's eyes wandered discreetly back to the window- Garnet was gone.
" It doesn't matter," Lulu said quickly, "That man with the cloak- Cid- informs me that we have arrived and we should leave at once."

Yuna nodded and, with Lulu walking beside her, they made their way back to the cabin.
" Are we ready to go?" a voice called from the inside, belonging to Garnet.
" Your Highness!" Yuna exclaimed to a Queen, not the crying silhouette she had seen in the Engine Room. " You're here?"
" Of course."
Her bright brown eyes shone as she wrapped a red cloak around her shoulders and left. Yuna decided that whatever she had been upset about was nothing now or that maybe she had made a mistake.
" Yuna, let's go too."
Lulu put a hand on her summoner's shoulder and led her out of the airship.

Outside, Yuna could see a building with a clock integrated upon its top and she was beginning to wonder who this friend of Garnet's would be. She could see her now, surrounded by some odd-looking characters. There was a woman in a bonnet and dress, a man dressed in what looked like an animal skin and a large man with some sort of Viking hat over his head.

" Ya all seek Zidane. Well I don't know very much about that..." the woman was saying in a strange accent, her eyes nervously darting from the Queen to her fellow companions to the Queen again.
" He's not here, Y-Your Majesty?" the man with the Viking hat said, seemingly unsure on how to address his royal visitor.
Garnet nodded and turned away, her eyes filling up like brown oceans.
" You all hate me do you not? You think I wanted it to end like that. I did not ask to be royal you know," she said quietly, her voice upset but still with a posh accent.
" Oh Dagger... I mean Your Grace," the woman started.

Yuna watched this conversation with great interest. Was it possible that there was more to Garnet than just her duty? It looked as though these people once knew her, now hated her? Yuna wondered if that was the reason that she had cried.
" I must speak with him. Just tell me where he is," Garnet said firmly.
" I'm here."
Yuna watched as something that looked like a man crossed with a monkey came out from the building.
" But Zidane... you said... " the man with the animal skin cried.
" Forget what I said. Thank you but I don't need you all to be here... I'm sorry."
Garnet took a deep breath and faced him.

" We should leave too," Yuna said suddenly to her guardians, watching everyone else but Garnet and Zidane scatter.
" Wait!" the woman in the bonnet cried, chasing after them, " Can I help you at all?"
Yuna looked up and smiled politely at the woman before them.
" The name's Ruby," the woman announced, "You are?"
" Yuna. I'm a..."- she paused anxiously- " Summoner?"
" Like Dagger then."
" Who?" all the guardians but Kimarhi exclaimed in unison.
Ruby seemed to overlook this outburst and she brushed a strand of blonde hair from her eye.
" You travel with Garnet, what d'ya all need?"
" We are looking for a Memoria," Lulu started, seriously. " We seek the Eidolon Ark."
This seemed to amuse Ruby and she laughed a little.
" Don't know much about this summoning lark. I'm an act-tress darhhhling!"
Yuna sighed in disappointment. " You know nothing then..."
" Didn't say that. I hear a lot of punters and well... Zidane talking about it. Used to be on the Iifa Tree then the reaction happened and well it was gone I guess. I hear that it emerges in places where memories are strong. That's all really. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use but good luck and... if you wanna bed for the night I could put ya all up."
"Thank you…" Yuna responded, her thoughts beginning to drift elsewhere.

" Yuna, you tired?" Wakka asked, after a momentary pause.
" No but don't wait up on my account. Just go," Yuna answered, only half listening as she watched Garnet and Zidane closely from the side of her eye.
" Kimarhi will be here with you. We are going to the newly-built theatre according to Ruby. It's just behind there," Lulu continued. " … Yuna?"
Yuna stopped watching the couple and turned around, realizing her guardians wanted her to go with them. She reluctantly left.

She wasn't sure why, but she was finding it interesting to watch the weird relationship between the Queen and the rat-like thief. The young royal had been very upset previously, no matter how well she looked now and Yuna found herself wondering if it was to do with this. She knew that it had nothing to do with her but still, as she and the other guardians walked nervously into the theatre, she couldn't help but to think about them.

" Ya all made it!" the voice of Ruby yelled enthusiastically and Yuna quickly forgot about her previous thoughts. " Welcome to the newly-built Lindblum Theatre! Please sit down. Can I get you anything? "
In amazement, everyone watched as Ruby pulled a painting of some famous actress and down came a mini-bar.
" What about you?" she asked Yuna handing her a cocktail.
" Er... I'm only seventeen," she replied, feeling stupid and leaving Ruby to laugh in her usual way.
" Hey, course you are but a li'l cocktail won't do no harm now."

Yuna accepted it only after Ruby had insisted and, putting it down on the mahogany bar's surface, she looked about her. In the front of the building was a massive stage lit up by lights of several colours. It had thick velvet curtains at each end while in the middle there were vast rows of padded seats. Yuna guessed that it had once been run-down as in the corner, she could see a little bad brick and plaster work as well as several sheeted objects smothered in thick layers of dust in the dark corner.
" As you can see we're not quite open for business yet. We've got a theatre in the Business District too but it's a little smaller," Ruby commented, looking as Yuna's eyes darted about the place.
" It looks good," Yuna added not before the door suddenly flew open and in came three weird looking creatures leaving Ruby to abandon her and serve her customers.

" What can I get you boys?" Ruby winked, drying out a glass.
" Hmph... a Memoria would be good," the one in the middle with an overly-large fuzzy nose said, his voice low and gruff.
Yuna heard the word 'memoria' and closed in to listen.
" Well maybe just the Theatre's Finest then," he grumbled, handing Ruby over a handful of gil and turning back to talk as she brewed up their order.
" I think I've pin-pointed in on the map," another one of the group said, with a voice that sounded as if it had been subjected to hours of cruel dictionary reading and he reached into his pocket to bring the map out. "I'd say that it's up near Treno, no wait my calculations are not in order... "
His crooked finger scanned down the map's crinkled surface and suddenly, it dotted furiously on a point, nearly going straight through the paper.
" And?" the third and last one to speak cried, his eyes flaring up in a combination of both excitement and nervousness.
The man with the intelligence sighed and, leaning the map against the bar's wood, he murmured in some other language leaving the other two in a furious rage.
" You brought the wrong map?" the man with the weird nose yelled, furiously accepting Ruby's cocktail (and spilling some over the map)
" Don't be mad! I thought I brought the right one, honest!"
The second member of the trio was now whimpering like a helpless puppy dog and Yuna watched as the other two thanked Ruby and took him by the back of the collar outside, the door slamming behind them.

" Not m' regulars," Ruby commented and she lifted the glass up. " Hey, looks like they left their map! Euwwh!"
She tried to shake off cocktail droplets that had fallen onto its surface but, no matter how much she tried, they wouldn't budge.
" Cloth time," she added and, leaving the map, she stalked off in search of something to mop up the spilled drink from her bar.
Lulu clutched at the now-rolled up map and stretched it out.
" That's weird…" she began. "The map rolled up but the cocktail droplets have not turned into stains. They're still wet and in droplet form."
She prized a fingernail into one and was surprised to feel that they didn't move anywhere.

" Let me see."
Yuna pushed her way past Kimarhi's large fur coat, that was blocking her view before, and began to study the map. She became aware that one was moving- now both were moving. She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
" They're moving?" Wakka stated the obvious, also furiously squinting his eyes as the two droplets made their way to the middle of the page, joined and quickly formed into a red stain.

" You don't think..."

"It's very possible... could it really be a map for…"

" Memoria?" Yuna finished off the excited gasps and her eyes glowed. " Maybe. It's a lead but I should pocket it before they discover it's the right map."

It was then, after Yuna had carefully placed the map in between the folds in her yellow bow, that Ruby entered holding a cloth. " What a mess, eh?" she said, mopping up the spill carefully. " I hope you're tired now 'cause I'm closing for the night!"
Lulu nodded and Ruby seemed glad of this.
" Well, I've made up your rooms upstairs. Oh what a great pity there wasn't any shows on tonight... you'd enjoy them."
She stopped talking and turned around- everyone was already gone.

(Please review! Thanks for reading! o:D )