Chapter 13 – Stories of the Past
Pyreflies filled the air around where the Celsius landed, parting like foam on top of the sea to accommodate the airship's landing. Dusk neared and the stars began to glimmer in the darkening sky. The parade of clouds sauntered off into the distance, taking with them the rainfall it had poured on Zanarkand. Watery reflections danced with shadows on the surrounding ruins. A cool breeze tickled at Yuna's cheeks, occasionally ruffling her hair. The pit of her stomach tightened into knots every time she step foot in Zanarkand. Her anxiety never subsided, even though Yuna kept reassuring herself she had grown from this. She disappointed herself for not truly overcoming the emotional waves this desolate ruin evoked within her.
Cid's little tourist attraction had gone up in smoke; only monkeys and decadence remained. Everything stood still and tranquil in Zanarkand, save for the chittering of those little monkeys scurrying for food or lost gil. For the Gullwings, and especially Yuna, this was preferred.
Zanarkand had a different meaning for each of the girls. Glad the girls talked on this subject before landing here, Yuna recalled each of their feelings. In Paine's mind, the crumbled ruins only held a historical essence of a city long dead. As pyreflies dazzled along the horizon, there lay no urges of grief or despair for her. She wasn't caught up in memories. It wasn't as if she held no appreciation for the history of this place. Just glancing at Yuna made her understand what sacrifice and turmoil transpired here. Without actually experiencing it firsthand, an understanding was all it would be.
Rikku took this place closer to her heart. It was only two years ago, far more distant than it felt, that she battled beside Yuna to vanquish Yunalesca. Conjured up with the pyreflies were her suppressed feelings of unease. This was the place where Yuna was to die for the final summoning. If it hadn't been for Auron and Tidus, she might have lost her cousin to such a tragic waste. She hid her sadness of the past well, via her goofy smile. She would do anything to prevent feeling such trepidation again.
For Yuna, nothing had changed in the two short years since her journey here. A mix of emotions continued coursing within her veins, swelling as they approached the hill where she and Tidus spent what she believed would be their last night together. Lingering in her mind, the thought of cheating fate pricked her like a thousand stabbing needles. Both Tidus and she were destined to die and to bring forth the final aeon. It had not come to that in the end, thanks to her beloved guardians. Yuna could nearly sense his presence in this place, creating an illusion of nostalgia for her. His voice almost spoke to her in the gentle breeze brushing across her face. She yearned to be with him again.
"You okay, Yuna?" asked Paine, grabbing her by the shoulder.
She jumped and abruptly snapped out of her trance. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Stay sharp girl, we're in the ruins now. With the tourists gone, the fiends have probably come back out to play," Paine warned, then walked ahead of Yuna.
Yuna glanced down at the ground. What was Zanarkand like so long ago, she wondered? She longed to know what Tidus knew as his home, even if it was only a dream. The stories he told her, brief as they were, painted a picture of a sprawling city bustling with life. People and machina coexisted without conflict.
Just as expected, the inside of the ruins stood exactly as it did two years ago. Pockets of pyreflies lit up the otherwise dark platforms and buildings. Not desolation, but calm lay across the ancient landscape. The murmuring of fiends whispered in the distance. Their sounds echoed off the twisted metal and stone ghosts of former structures. The shame of wasted destruction wept from the buildings where people once lived and dreamed. In her mind, Yuna could picture children playing in these streets. Their cheerful voices filled her ears.
A different sound scratched up the side of one of these vestiges. A head popped up in front the of girls, giving them quite a scare. Paine's reflexes kicked in as she charged head first at the instigator. Nearly slicing its head off, the figure yelped and fell off what it was climbing. Looking down at it, Paine suddenly realized it was no fiend.
"Issaru? Is that you?" she called tenuously, swiftly retracting her sword.
The shadow of his hand rubbing against his head showed on the ground. "I am alright, I think. You gave me quite a startle!"
Yuna ran up to see what just happened. She gasped when she recognized the shadowy figure of Issaru sitting on the ground. With a devious cackle, Rikku walked over to assess the situation.
"Um, Paine," Rikku said teasingly. "You might want to ask questions first from time to time."
"Hush you!" she barked back, chasing the giggling Rikku away.
Yuna climbed down a dislodged metal beam, reaching out her hand to help Issaru. "Here, take my hand. I'll help you climb out."
She lifted him off the ground, and the two of them climbed up to where she just stood. Issaru issued a sigh of relief and dusted himself off. He bowed apologetically to them for the accidental surprise.
"I'm truly sorry for catching you off guard, Lady Yuna."
Yuna waved her hand. "No, no, it's our fault. I'm sure you weren't expecting anybody to be here."
He nodded. "Yes, that's correct. Since Cid left, there's been a severe decline in business. So, I had to close the attraction. After seeing how things have become, especially for the monkeys that reside here, I felt it was for the best."
Rikku nodded her head furiously. "Exactly. Ugh, what was Pops thinkin'?"
"Now what are you going to do?" questioned Paine.
Issaru rubbed his hand on his chin. "Good question. I suppose I'll stay here for a while and guard the monkeys. Guess you could say I've become Zanarkand's lone defender."
Rikku chuckled, while Yuna swayed with her arms behind her back. Paine folded her arms and hinted a smile at what Issaru just said.
"I must ask, what are you three doing here?" he inquired, continuing to rub his chin.
"Well, we are looking for a sphere. Shinra found a signal from deep within the Zanarkand ruins," answered Yuna.
"Ah, of course. I keep forgetting you're a sphere hunter now, Lady Yuna."
"Do you know where we might look for a sphere?"
Issaru began tapping his foot, thinking deeply for a moment. He hummed to himself, which seemed to jog his memory.
"Not really, I've been to about everywhere here," he explained but paused. "Wait, now I remember. There's one place I haven't been to. It's down that way a good bit."
He pointed to a large, cave-like opening in one of the giant skeletal structures to the north. A tower archway opened up to an even larger entrance. The remnants of a large sign, broken into many large chunks, lay scattered below the arch. Light only showed a few feet into the open path.
"I only traveled in a short distance before I was attacked by fiends. I can't say how big it is, or what's inside, but it must lead to someplace quite deep within Zanarkand. I imagine it's your best bet for locating a sphere here."
Rikku launched her fist into the air excitedly. "Cool Issaru, thanks for the tip! That must be where it is!"
Paine gripped her arm. "Whoa, calm down. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Paine dragged Rikku by the arm so they could get on with their mission. Rikku waved gleefully to Issaru, who smiled lackadaisically back at the funny Al Bhed girl. Yuna asked how they were going to see in the dark. Rikku had just the little machina contraption to solve that dilemma. Out of her pouch came a small, cylindrical device. With a click, a sudden stream of light came forth, highlighting some deprecated images in front of them.
The beginning of this superstructure comprised a long hallway, with walls coiled and coarsened from an eternity of decay. Long years of exposure to the elements rotted away at the walls. The smell of rust filled the air, burning at Yuna's nostrils. After some sniffling, she came upon an enormous, metal door, brittle from long swatches of orangish rust eroding its integrity.
"Stand back, I'll take care of this," firmly announced Paine, as she braced herself.
With a heavy, powerful swoop, she sliced the door in half, revealing a cavernous room. A cloud of dust poured out, gagging the girls half to death.
"The air in here must be a thousand years old!" Yuna managed to choke out.
Rikku covered her mouth and pointed her flashlight around the room. Mainly empty, save for a few indistinguishable masses of clutter laying around, Yuna scanned her eyes across the entire area. There was nothing but rubble here. Rikku stumbled upon another door on the other side of the huge room. Stepping cautiously over the debris, the girls went into the following area.
This room was tiny and congested compared to the others. Along the wall opposite of them was a large control booth. Rikku walked up closer to examine it. Moving some of the junk that had collected on top of it over the centuries, she discovered an array of switches, dials, and knobs.
"Hey, I wonder if any of this still works?" she joked, poking randomly at the buttons.
One of the screens on the panel flickered suddenly. A dim, fuzzy image appeared on it. Rikku pointed her flashlight at it, trying to make out what the image portrayed. She called over to Yuna to come and take a look. They both squinted at the screen.
"Can you make the picture any brighter, Rikku?" Yuna asked, almost pressing her nose up against the screen.
Rikku shrugged. "I dunno, this thing is really, really old."
She twisted every knob and pushed every button she could find, but to no avail. She barked furiously at it in Al Bhed. Shaking her head, Paine finally walked over to take matters into her own hands.
"Step aside, I'll fix this," she stated as she thwacked the panel as hard as she could with her fist.
The panel crackled, and a deluge of sparks burst out of its seams. Much to Rikku's amazement, Paine's brute force worked. The screen lit up brilliantly. Yuna immediately gasped as she stared at the little monitor. Where ever this camera was positioned, it relayed the image of a gigantic arena, with a magnificent stage. In the background, she was able to make out what she thought could be an insignia of some kind.
"It looks a lot like the stadium in Luca ya know," commented Rikku, pondering out loud.
Paine agreed, "No kidding. Where is this place?"
Yuna turned her head to look sternly at Paine. "I don't know, but we better find it. I have a feeling that's where our sphere might be."
Rikku smiled at Yuna's premise for further adventure. The girls pushed their way past some garbage to reach the door. This led them outside, but not to a place they'd been before. When Rikku and Yuna traveled the road to find Yunalesca, they had never come across this area of Zanarkand. Two tall buildings preceded a gigantic domed structure—the stadium they must have seen on the camera.
"You know," began Paine in a sentimental voice. "It's amazing when you think about it. Such a desolate place used to be inhabited by thousands upon thousands of people."
Something in Yuna's heart clicked; she faltered to hold back a tear. Some nebulous feelings about this place seemed inconceivably familiar, even though she knew she'd never been here before. The queasy feeling in her stomach worsened with every step she took towards the stadium. She was surprised yet again by another mysterious figure. This time Rikku's reflexes kicked in, as she all but jumped into Yuna's arms from fright. Yuna herself let out a frightened cry. Paine, however, wasn't afraid, because she saw it coming.
"Hey, old man! What are you doing out here?" she called over.
Out of the stadium's shadow appeared the lethargic walk of Spira's favorite old historian, Maechen. Bowing his wrinkly lithe body slightly as to gesture salutations, he walked up to the girls.
"High Summoner Yuna, this is certainly a fascinating place to meet," he quibbled.
She, as well as Rikku and Paine, looked funny at him. "Certainly it is. Um, what are you doing all the way out here?"
The old man sighed quietly, adjusting the cuffs on his green jacket. "An old man like myself has a hard time remembering things. Somehow I got on the subject of Zanarkand's ancient past, but I couldn't remember a crucial element of it. So, I decided to visit this place, hoping to jog my memory."
"And you came out here all by yourself?" asked Rikku, slightly amazed, slightly baffled.
He nodded. "Why yes. The tranquility of this place has done wonders for me. Oh! How much I had forgotten."
"That's good to hear." Yuna smiled, putting her hands behind her back. "Did you remember what you wanted to remember?"
The old man's face perked up at the sound of an interested ear. "Why yes, Lady Yuna, I did. Would you like to hear about this phenomenal structure behind me?"
"Yuna, we don't have all day," whispered Paine impatiently into Yuna's ear.
"Oh come on," she whispered back. "Maybe he'll give us a clue."
Yuna then happily agreed to listen to Maechen's story. Rikku immediately sat down on the ground, realizing it would be a while before they moved again. Clearing his throat, Maechen prepared for his long-winded story.
"Hmm, let me see, where should I begin . . ."
As you all know, ages ago, there was a great war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Each side committed many men and women to fight one another, sending countless people to their deaths. But that is not the focus of this story. You see, during this time, Zanarkand was of course a bustling city. Filled to the brim with ingenuity, commerce, and entertainment, its people thrived like no other!
Among its prominences was blitzball. Legend has it, that their team was so fierce, so formidable, that even in such a time of war, a grand stadium was built to idolize them. Many great matches were won and lost in this stadium. However, that is not the most important fact about this building. Oh, no!
For you see, there was a grand summoner, much like yourself, Lady Yuna. Had she lived in another time, her magnificent vocal talents might not have been wasted. In fact, it was in this very stadium that she performed a magnificent show. Yet, as fact remained, her great skill in the summoner's arts led her to an early death.
Just before a large army of troops was to leave Zanarkand, she was ordered to sing for them, in the hopes of boosting their morale. On top of this prodigious stage, she sang the feelings of everyone in Zanarkand—perhaps even all of Spira itself. Not an eye was dry in the house, or so it was written. For her time—no, any time in Spira's history—she had a soul so full of empathy that she could move any crowd to tears. Her words, and her voice, carried immense power.
It was also said that at this time, the summoner Lenne met . . .
Yuna gasped and leaped at the old man. She grabbed onto his sleeve, almost ripping his arm off.
"Lenne? Lenne! That name . . . who is this Lenne?!" she yelled, shaking him chaotically.
"Please, Lady Yuna, control yourself," he pleaded. "I'm certainly not as spry as I used to be. Such abuse will break my brittle bones."
Regaining her senses, she promptly let go of his arm. Rikku and Paine stared at her in awe of her uncharacteristic outburst. She embarrassedly smiled at Maechen, bowing in apology.
Yuna placed her hands behind her back. "I so am very sorry. I don't know what came over me."
The old man nodded and flapped his hand. "It is quite alright, Lady Yuna. I'm glad to see someone is still charged by an old man's story."
Her eyes stared at the ground. "Please, tell me, who is Lenne?"
"Ah, Lenne. Yes, that is the summoner and songstress I was just talking to you about. Would you like to hear more about her?"
Before Paine could open her mouth, Yuna raised her arm and nodded vigorously at his offer. Leaning her head back onto a pile of rubble, Rikku closed her eyes and dozed off to sleep.
Once again, Maechen cleared his throat and sucked in some air. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes . . ."
Lenne was a great songstress in her time. But beyond that, she was a skilled summoner. I would say she was on par with your level of craft Lady Yuna. Unfortunately for her, as I believe I mentioned before, it was not a time for singing, but a time for fighting. You see after she completed her performance in this very stadium, she was also sent to fight Bevelle. The Machina War was raging in full force during this time.
Oh, but I forgot to mention, it was here that she met the man she would come to love. His name was, well, let me think. Hmm, I don't believe I can recall his name. But that's not important. It was this man that would eventually become the one who attempted to steal Bevelle's weapon of mass destruction: Vegnagun.
Such a tragedy that story was. However, I must save that for another time. You wouldn't want this old man to run out of tales now, would you?
He tipped his head and thanked the girls for listening to an old man's ramble. Paine and Rikku were just happy to be getting on with their mission. Meanwhile, Yuna pondered upon the story which Maechen just told. This feeling of sorrow she felt, as well as the images of this woman—could they all be connected to Lenne?
She thought back to Shinra, and the first new dress sphere they obtained. He said that souls could live in these dressspheres. Could it be then, that Lenne's soul is the one that inhabits her songstress dressphere? When she thought back to the first time she used that dressphere, she immediately noticed a weird feeling. It was as if someone else possessed control of her body. After jumping around like a madwoman in Luca, she hadn't thought about it again. She wondered if that really meant something but quickly pushed it aside.
All that mattered in the present was hunting down that elusive sphere hiding somewhere in Zanarkand. The girls walked closer and closer to the mighty stadium that stood before them. Even in such a decrepit state, it boasted a majestic presence. They could only imagine what it might have looked like a thousand years ago. What Tidus witnessed when he played in a stadium similar to this one.
"Well Yuna, I got a real good feeling this is where we'll find our sphere!" cheered Rikku prematurely.
"Uh oh," murmured Paine. "Better go find some wood to knock on."
Yuna chuckled uneasily, gazing at the tattered, old banner she imagined once displayed the team's name. Although she knew he never played here, Yuna couldn't help but picture Tidus standing proudly beside this. Sometimes her memories of him blurred. At first, it frightened her, but they always came back. Sometimes she felt like she lived in a dream.
"Wanna go inside?" asked Paine bluntly, patiently waiting for Yuna to stop gawking at the half-torn banner.
"Oh sorry," she replied softly.
The small door leading into the gigantic stadium seemed almost a folly. Then again, going in the back door was always a sound strategy. Light cast in from the open door, revealing a narrow hallway. Many doors could be seen on either side, each marked with a letter-number combination. A slight pitter-patter sounded from Yuna's foot, as she bumped into a blitzball long forgotten about.
She knelt, rubbing off the dust and grime with her hand. She caressed it gently like it was a living creature. Its deflated, rubbery form didn't retain its round shape in her embrace. Outside of being an ancient artifact, there was nothing special about it. Yet, to Yuna, it meant so much more. She felt a solemn tear roll down her cheek, splashing onto the ball. With grievance, she shook her head, snapping herself out of such an illogical mood.
Rikku gawked intently at the home team's locker room. Carefully she turned the knob to the door. Much to her disappointment, there was nothing notable in sight. Continuing, she began checking all the lockers, even as dirty and rusted as they were, to find something remarkable. In each one she found nothing interesting at all. A pair of disgusting socks did remain, their fibers mostly disintegrated from extreme age. A lonely shoe, a bottle of some kind of spray, a funky-looking visor—not a single worthwhile item.
"Oh man, where is all the cool stuff? Surely one of those jocks had to have left something," she growled to herself.
In the last locker, she found a jersey-like shirt. It was yellow and had red and black checkers on the sleeves. Rikku smirked in surprise, thanking that her clumsy efforts weren't in vain. Walking back out into the hallway, she found that her fellow Gullwings had left her behind. She quickly darted up the hallway, playing catchup with her newly found prize.
"Lookie what I found! Isn't this thing neat?" she exclaimed sprightfully.
Paine glared irritatedly at her. "There you are? Where have you been snooping?"
"Aw, I'm fine Doctor P. No need to worry," she replied like a brat. "Besides, I found this cool jersey!"
Gleefully, she pointed at the musty jersey she held up in her hand. Paine rolled her eyes while Yuna giggled at Rikku's immaturity. Rikku stuck out her tongue. Then she made fun of Yuna, pointing out that she carried around a dirty, old blitzball. It was then that Yuna noticed some writing on the back of the jersey.
"Hey, turned that back around," she said. "I thought I saw something written on the back."
Rikku looked perplexedly at Yuna for a second, flipping around the jersey. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out the letters.
"Hey, you're right, Yunie. I think it's a name: Shuyin!"