Disclaimer: Fire in the hole! Blows up Disclaimer
A/N: This is one of the more critical chapters in the story. More hints to Tidus' clouded past will be revealed, and a little twist occurs here that leads the story in a rather different direction than the game went.
Chapter 14: Raising Hell
The sky was a deep velvet black, and the many stars shone like glittering crystals on it. Yuna knew that this was her last chance to see such a beautiful sight. After this, there was no turning back.
The final leg of her journey. The last chapter in her story.
"Yuna! Snap out of it and keep up!"a voice yellingin an aggravated tone snapped her back to reality. Realizing she was lagging quite far behind the party, she quickened her pace and uttered a hurried apology before scurrying to catch up.
Soon, they reached the temple. Or at least, what was left of it. Suddenly, an elderly-looking man came out of the shadows.
"Traveler from afar. State your name." He said to Yuna.
"I am Summoner Yuna of the Isle of Besaid."
"Look into my eyes, child." Yuna complied.
"You have traveled many leagues and suffered much hardship." He stated after staring into Yuna's eyes for a while. "But now, look. The great temple of Zanarkand lies before you. Your journey ends here. Now come. Let me bring you to a place where you can rest your weary bodies."
He led them to a small sitting area. Just as he turned to leave, he noticed a familiar-looking sword sheathed on somebody's back.
Turning around for a better look, he recognized it.
It was the Rebellion.
Only one person had ever wielded that sword in his time, and that person was the son of the Legendary Jecht, Fist of Zanarkand.
And the Rebellion was mounted on somebody he also recognized. The very same person still wielded it. But how could he still be… It had been 10000 years!
"That is… the Rebellion, no?" He hesitantly asked Tidus.
Tidus nodded.
"What's it to you?" Tidus asked him.
"It… never mind. I must be on my way now." The old man hurriedly departed from the room, leaving a sleeping party and a confused Tidus.
Tidus was baffled past the point of being baffled. How come nobody of his generation knew of the Rebellion and Ebony & Ivory, but all the old geezers he met recognized them? He didn't have time to brood over this. Right now, he had to come up with a plan to save Yuna. He couldn't let her die. The only way she was going to die would be dying with him.
If nothing else worked, he would have to grab her and run off. Tidus continued racking his brains, but all he drew was an empty blank.
Goddamnit! Why does it have to be this way? Why does she have to die? I can't let her do it. I have to save her! Tidus thought to himself. But no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't think of something.
Pulling at his hair in utter furstration, he searched for something to vent his anger on. Picking up a rusty metal cabinet, he flung it at the flimsy wall, producing a sound effect that was music to his ears. He stormed off in search of glass to break-an even better sound-leaving behind a party that had been frightened out of sleep by his little tantrum.
A/N: The stupid Cloister of Trials...In the game, I just wished I could blow down the freaking door. Now I can.
Rikku stared at the shut door that stood before the party and its goal. Normally, Rikku would have enthusiastically volunteered to blow it up with plenty of C4 explosives. But now, she lied to the party, insisting that she had run out of demolition charges.
"Quit lying. We know you have some of it in your pockets. You're always dying to blow something up." Auron said.
"Honestly, Auron. I'm out. No explosives." Auron countered that statement by grabbing Rikku's ankles, hanging her upside down and shaking her like a rag doll. Tons and tons of C4 explosives tumbled out of her pockets.
"Out of charges my ass." Hauling all 57 C4 charges towards the door, Auron set them all on 10-second fuses and scurried back to cover.
4.
3.
2.
1.
BAAAAAA-OOOOOOOMMMMM!
When the dust cleared and the debris stopped falling, the party stepped out cover and admired the ten-foot-wide and twenty-foot-tall hole that Auron had created.
Stepping onto the lift in the next room, they moved on to the chamber of the fayth.
They were greeted with a spectaclar sight. Lady Yunalesca herself strode out of the chamber of the Fayth, her long flowing white hair touching the ground, with Pyreflies dancing around her.
"Welcome child. Your journey is now over, daughter of Braska. But before it ends, you must choose," said the unsent.
"Choose what?" asked Yuna.
"Who shall be chosen as the Fayth for the Final Aeon?" Yunalesca asked.
"I thought...but the textbook said..." Yuna was obviously too stunned for words.
"Do you honestly believe all the scripture says? Mind you, more than half of it is bullshit the Bevellians made up. I will be waiting in the next room. Come look for me when you have made a decision," with that, Yunalesca turned on her heel and left.
"My gosh, how did it turn out like this?" asked Yuna, her eyes brimming with tears.
Wakka and Lulu stepped forward.
"I'll do it." They said at the same time before throwing strange looks at each other.
"I'll do it." Kimhari stepped forward. "Kimhari willing to sacrifice for Yuna. Kimhari willing to sacrifice to bring peace to Spira."
"There has to be another way!" Tidus cried out, having bottled up his frustration for so long, "This isn't a movie or some fanfiction where there's only one way through! There has to be another way! I'll go ask that bitch again."
MCA: It isn't?
"And what if there isn't another way?" Auron asked quietly.
"Then death will be my apology! I'll be the final aeon." The whole room went quiet at this. Yuna was the first to speak.
"Tidus, I..." Tidus cut her off.
"Don't try to stop me Yuna. If you're gonna die, I'll die with you." Tidus stated so firmly that Yuna didn't protest any further.
"He's chosen his destiny. Let him be." Auron said.
"So, have you chosen who will be the fayth for the final Aeon?" Yunalesca asked. Yuna nodded, but first, there was something she needed to know.
"Lady Yunalesca, I have to know, is there another way?" Yuna asked. Yunalesca paused for a moment before shaking her head sadly.
"If there was another way, we wouldn't have to sacrifice Summoners and I wouldn't have chosen this path. Now, who is to be converted into the fayth? Step forth!"
Tidus stepped forward to meet his destiny. As he entered the weird circle drawn on the ground, he felt very apprehensive. Had he made a mistake by volunteering? As soon as the thought entered his head, he banished it. No. He hadn't made a mistake. This was how it was meant to be. Allowing the magical forces that Yunalesca had summoned to lower him to the ground in a somewhat-lying down position, he felt something stab the back of his head and drill all the way into his brain.
Screaming out in nameless pain and agony, he started to hope that he would black out. But blessed oblivion did not await him. He was kept painfully awake, agony unlike anything he had ever suffered beforeassaulted his body from all directions. Pure white light started to shine out of his eyes and still-screaming mouth.
It took Auron and Wakka's combined strength to hold back Yuna from charging Yunalesca and disrupting the ceremony. Yuna's eyes were flooded with tears as she watched Tidus writhe and twist in invisible bonds as he continued screaming.
She couldn't take it anymore. Breaking free from Auron and Wakka's grip, she charged at Yunalesca.
Slamming headfirst into her, Yuna didn't regret sending Yunalesca to the floor. The column of white light that was about to envelop Tidus and finally end the ceremony receded and faded away.
Even while lying on the floor, Yunalesca still maintained barely enough control to keep Tidus aloft. His tortured screams had died down, and she slowly lowered him down onto the floor, where he was promptly carried away by Kimhari. Turning to Yuna, she asked in a very calm but very I-am-so-going-to-kill-you-for-hitting-me voice, "Why did you attack me?"
"I can't let him die. I musn't. If there is another way, I'll find it. And even if there isn't another way, I'll make one! And now, you're just an obstacle in my path. An obstacle to be removed." Yuna said determinedly.
"So be it. I do not wish to fight you, but now, by attacking me, you have branded yourself and your guardians as heretics. Therefore, you must die." Yunalesca said ominously. A dark aura started to surround her. "Feel the power of the Dark Side."
"Oh yeah? Bring it on, bitch!" Rikku yelled.
And with that, the party charged.
A/N: Five minutes later...
Nearly the entire party, including Kimhari, lay on the floor, broken and defeated. Yunalesca was simply too strong. The only one who still stood undefeated was Auron, and he was reletively unharmed, but most of it was due to the fact that he had not fought at all.
"Hmph. I never though I would have to use it. Oh well, there's a first time for everything." He said.
Slowly gathering energy from his surroundings, he started to transform. His muscles started bulging out of proportion, growing to be humongous in size. He grew larger and larger, until he was as large as Yunalesca herself (She's in her third form). Auron's clothes by now had all been shredded by his growth, except for his pants (Think of a brown-coloured Incredible Hulk).
He had finally snapped, letting his instincts turn feral and transformed into what every unsent didn't want to be. A fiend.
Swinging forward a gargatuan fist, the magical shield that Yunalesca had summoned was no match for Auron's brute strength. The meaty ham fist smashed through the invisible shield like a stone smashing through glass and caught Yunalesca straight in her demonic eye. Yelling out in pain, she didn't even have time to prepare an effective defense, let alone mount a counter-attack, as Auron started pounding her demonic form again and again relentlessly.
Finally, after a thorough beating lasting about ten minutes, all that was left of Yunalesca's demon form was an unrecognizable carcass that resembled cow intestines.
Soon enough, that dissolved into pyreflies, and all that was left was Yunalesca's prone form, lying on the floor. Slowly, a trembling hand reached out.
"Now this world is doomed. With my death, there shall be no more Final Aeons," she said, her voice quivering with weakness.
"Lady Yunalesca, when there's a will, there's a way. We will find one," said Yuna, her voice full of determination.
"Even if you defeat Sin, the inner spirit, Yu Yevon, will still regenerate it. What you see is merely the outer shell. Sin is eternal, it will last forever," she turned to face the night sky beyond.
"Zaon...forgive me...I was...too weak...I have...failed...this world..."
Those were her final words. Her hand fell to the ground, her 'corpse' dissolving into pyreflies as well.
Suddenly, the whole place started rumbling. A piece of masonry missed Auron by an inch and nearly landed on Rikku. Quickly picking up Tidus,Auron ranout with the rest of them, the place falling apart right behind their feet.
Just as the party emerged from the temple, the whole place collapsed, making the ruins of the Zanarkand temple seem even more ruined. Tidus, who had regained consciousness by now, looked back at Yuna, who was lagging behind the party, lost in thought. As the airship touched down and the boarding ramp extended, Tidus looked back to where Yuna was, only to find that she wasn't there.
Frantically searching the party, he found that she wasn't among them either. Looking back more carefully, he noticed a dark shape running off...with something white in its hands. Don't tell me it...
Hurrying back onto the airship, he followed everyone to the bridge, intent on telling everyone what he suspected.
Yuna had the sensation that she was flying. What was going on? Where was she? She couldn't see anything, and she had problems breathing.
Whatever was keeping a hold on her head tightened, and she blacked out.
"Okay everyone, I believe Yuna's been kidnapped." Tidus said.
"What? Kidnapped? Where?" Rikku said frantically. The rest of the party shared similar reactions.
"Everyone! Calm down! Rikku, remember that thing that attacked you in the Thunder Plains?" Rikku nodded. "I believe it's after me, and it's using Yuna as bait."
"Bait! I'll teach that thing to use my niece as bait..." Cid started.
"Don't even think about it Cid. This is my fight. Now, the only logical place that thing will take Yuna to would be Mt. Gagazet. We should head there now." Tidus instructed Cid. Cid muttered something about "His fight my ass. That's my niece down there..." under his breath before ordering the airship to set course for Mt. Gagazet.
Tidus leaned onto the viewport, wishing that the Airship could go faster. Yuna needed him. He could feel it.
Hold on Yuna... I'm coming.
Chief: Well, it seems that poor Yunie has been kidnapped by Dachande. Time for Tidus to play the knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress while fighting the mighty and evil dragon.
On a more important note, the next chapter will either absolutely make or break the story.
Review, review, review, review.
A message to Zioncross: I plan on writing a Ryu vs. Predator type of fic in the DOA section after I'm finished with this. What's your opinion on it?
This is the Chief, signing out.