Taydr and Meva
Ever since her father had been killed by Sin, Meva had sworn to become a summoner and defeat Sin for the final time. Her twin sister, Taydr, had wanted to be her guardian. Their father, Atir, had crafted a deadly sword for Taydr. It was a one-handed blade with a skull on the hilt. The sword had gotten them out of many tricky run-ins with fiends. But Meva was not defenseless. Her mother, a priestess, had spent many weeks blessing a staff-blade with all kinds of enchantments. It was not only a magic rod, but a lethal weapon as well. Taydr was so different from Meva. Like her Al Bhed name, which meant Death, she was dark and cynical. She fought with such a determination that matched those twice her age. But she loved Meva with all of her heart. Meva, on the other hand, was like her Al Bhed name, Life. She was carefree, spirited, and lively. But like her sister, she loved. The two were inseparable. They always were out playing in the valley in their small village on the island beside Besaid. That's what had they were doing when it happened.
"Tag! You can't catch me!" screamed Meva as she bounced around, her silvery gray hair hanging around her pale face, making her red eyes stand out. She turned and ran away, being chased by Taydr throughout the grasses.
"Please. I'm just going easy on you so I don't end up wiping your guts off my sword," commented Taydr as she ran after Meva, her long, luxurious, blonde hair falling past her golden face, her swirled emeralds widening from the strain of sprinting. The two 12-year-olds fell in the grass and lay on their backs, looking up at the flawless blue sky.
"When do you think that I can finally pray to a fayth?" asked Meva to her partner in crime.
"Soon. We're going to the temple in Besaid tomorrow, remember?" replied Taydr for the umpteenth time. There carried a conversation about summoning and Sin for what seemed like hours. If they had thought to pay attention, they would notice the sky getting increasingly darker and the winds blowing slightly harder. Only after a gust came that sent the two girls tumbling did they instantly notice what was going on. They drew their weapons and got up.
"Meva, go get Mother. Tell her to hide and hide with her. I'll hold off the Sinspawns," said Taydr.
"I'm not leaving you," replied Meva in a serious tone full of worry.
"Go!" Ordered Taydr.
"What if you don't come back?" whimpered Meva with tears in her eyes.
"A guardian must protect the summoner at all costs, even with one's life," quoted the blonde.
"I can't let you die, Taydr! I love you too much to let you go," cried Meva, defeated. She knew she couldn't win. She would just have to pray to Yevon that her sister lived.
She ran like never before. Turning around to watch her twin strike down a Sinspawn, she ran into one herself. It went down in one strike, and she kept on running. Meva found her mother in a cave, dodging falling rocks.
"Mother!" Meva screamed. Elan looked up to see her daughter safe and sound. This small distraction proved fatal as a large stalactite fell onto her head, followed by other rocks. Meva ran over.
"Meva," she heard, "Live… love… you… Taydr," said the dying woman in short breathes. Finally, her chest stilled, and her hand grew cold. Elan was gone.
"Mother," Meva wept. Her parents were gone. Now all she had was Taydr. But somehow she knew that things weren't going to turn out right. Meva picked up her staff-blade and began the sending dance. As her small feet carried her in circles, her staff-blade twirling, she watched her mother disappear. One by one, the pyreflies leapt from her body and began their ascent to the Farplane. Meva ran out too soon to see one last pyrefly absorb the tears cried by Meva and the bloodshed of her mother.
When Meva got out of the cave, everything was deathly silent. She ran over to where the sisters had been playing tag a few minutes ago. Lying sprawled on the ground with a claw in her back was Taydr. She was still breathing, her eyes glazed over. Meva reached down and turned her sister over. She pulled out an antidote, reviving the poison from the blonde. She reached and pulled the claw out and forced potion after potion down Taydr's throat. The girl's green eyes became bright once again and she smiled.
"Taydr! You're alive! I'm so glad! I love you and I don't know what I'd do without you!" all Meva could do was cry into her sister's bloodstained robe and squeeze her tight.
But all Taydr could do was smile. She picked up Meva's dropped staff-blade off of the ground and handed it to her. Meva took it and began the sending dance, watching her sister the whole time. But this couldn't be right. Taydr was fading and beginning to exert pyreflies. Unable to grasp the fact that her sister was dead, Meva fell to the ground, and never finished her dance. But by the time she got up, Taydr and all the others were gone, like a bad dream.
Meva rolled over and felt the ground. She could feel the sandy earth and the cold metal of Taydr's sword. Suddenly, all of the earlier day came rushing back to her and Meva wept until her eyes were dry. But something snapped. Meva was not the lively summoner that would defeat Sin along with her guardian twin sister. She was now Paine, the lone warrior who would never show or experience emotion again as to never feel more of what she was: pain.
Paine decided to put her staff-blade in the cave where her mother died. It might signify something if she came back years later. She walked in and was greeted by a large red elemental. The most rare of all, it was a blood elemental. Paine took up her staff-blade and struck it. Somehow, the elemental went down in one hit. But after it faded, its one pyrefly flying away, the staff-blade shattered, and all that was left of her mother, was Paine's bloodied robe.
Paine heard the silence and knew for sure that everyone and everything alive on the island was herself. She walked out of the cave, numbly. Picking up her dead sister's sword, she realized that the thought of becoming the summoner to defeat Sin with her sister by her side was no more, a broken dream. Paine vowed to never love again. All it caused was hurt and crush. What more could Sin take from her? Nothing. Paine should gain nothing to not lose it.
She walked out to the shore, her feet being lapped at by the ocean. Taking one last look back at the wreckage of her home, she dove into the water, never to return, with tears in her eyes.