A/N: This will be mostly Legend of Dragoon territory, at least for the moment. I haven't made up my mind as to what I'm going to do with the rest of the FFX crew, although I will say that the Aeons will feature prominently. And for the first and only time I will say this, this is AU, in some cases massively so. So please don't complain if something seems off, because it probably is. However, I will correct myself if someone points out an actual continuity issue that I didn't intend to work out the way it does. Thank you, on with the show.
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me. All things Final Fantasy X related are the property of Square Enix. All things Legend of Dragoon related are the property of Sony Computer Entertainment, LTD. As such, I am not making a profit off of any of this.
Of Aeons and Dragoons
Prologue
"You are the dream of the Fayth. Everyone, your father, your mother, they're all dreams. And when the dream of the Fayth ends…"
"Stop. I believe you, just don't end me."
"We've been dreaming for a long time, we're so tired. But you and your father just won't let us sleep will you. The two of you have brought up Sin. Sin as at the heart of Spira's spiral of death."
"I don't understand what you're saying!"
"The three of you are nothing more than dreams."
"Open your eyes, please!"
Yuna's voice started to make the dream recede. Finally only the Fayth child remained in front of him, and he too started to fade.
"Just a second and then you can go."
By now the entire dream had faded into a blank, white light. The child's voice seemed to be coming from all around him now.
"You cannot be a dream without an ending…"
SCENE BREAK
Tidus coughed violently and sat up. The world swam back into focus. The first thing he saw was Yuna, trying heroically to hold back tears.
"Finally, what a relief."
Tidus got to his feet and looked around. All the guardians looked at him with identical expressions of relief, except for Auron. Auron just stared at him. Tidus looked away, then back again. What did he mean, you three? The only dreams should be Dad and me. What did he mean? Oh well, not time to worry about that now. "It was only a dream guys. Don't worry, we need to keep moving."
Yuna nodded and started back up the trail, the rest of the guardians following. Rikku grabbed Tidus and whispered into his ear, "You found out something, didn't you? Something bad."
"Not now Rikku"
Rikku grabbed his arm and pulled him along up the trail. "Yes now, we need to think of some way to save Yunie, and what you learned might help."
"It won't. It has nothing to do with her."
"But..."
Tidus shrugged off her arm and hurried up the mountain. Rikku just stood there for a few minutes, lost in thought. Then she looked up and ran up the trail, yelling, "Wait up guys!"
The Yevon Dome
"Wait Auron, wait a minute."
Auron turned as Tidus walked up behind him.
"So you figured it out then?"
"You're… already dead?"
"Yes. After Sin was defeated, I came back here to fight the real enemy. The fight was in vain, as it turns out. I limped down the mountain to Bevelle, but Yuna couldn't heal me. I've been fighting the pull of the farplane ever since."
Tidus paced back and forth momentarily, before everything finally clicked in his mind. He spun back towards Auron and yelled, "It's you!"
Auron looked confused. "What's me?"
"You're the third one that the Fayth was talking about!"
"What?"
Tidus started gesturing with his arms, as if unsure what to say, before he finally made up his mind. "Look, when I was unconscious, the kid Fayth from Bevelle was talking to me. It turns out that the Fayth statue was actually the last summoners of Zanarkand, dreaming to keep the city alive when they couldn't stop Bevelle from destroying the city. He told me, 'You three are nothing more than dreams.' I couldn't figure out what he was talking about before, but now it all makes sense. You're the third."
"And the other two are you and Jecht?"
"Yea makes sense doesn't it?"
"But to what end? And how do you know that anyway?"
"It would explain why you could enter the dream of Zanarkand to find me."
Tidus quickly filled Auron in on the rest of the Fayth's message. Auron looked pensive for a moment before finally responding. "So when Sin goes, we go?"
"Pretty much. Not a lot we can do about it. But I've been thinking about it. Why worry? All we need to do is be there for Yuna at the end. After that, whatever happens will happen."
"Best not to think about it. Lets catch up to the rest of the group. We will meet the end when it comes."
As they walked towards the rest of the group, Auron felt something change in the air around him. He glanced back towards the center of the chamber and saw the wall ripple, and he felt a rush of air, almost as if it were leaving the room. He shrugged and figured it was probably just some leftover magic from the fight with Yunalesca, and then moved to catch up to the group.
Mt. Gagazet, The Statue of the Fayth
The purple glow that had surrounded the Fayth diminished slightly. The sleepers were beginning to wake. Two of the statues in the cluster began growing more and more insubstantial until they faded away. A loud thunderclap was heard over the mountain as the air rushed in to fill the gap, while a small amount simultaneously rushed out towards…. Somewhere.
Unknown
Somewhere in the midst of the Multiverse, the barriers separating Spira from the rest of the planes of existence began to thin at a point corresponding to the skies above Bevelle. They stretched, but did not quite reach the breaking point.
Inside Sin
Auron took a pull of his jug, then spat upon his katana. As energy gathered around the blade he shouted, "OVERDRIVE, BANISHING BLADE!" Four dark balls of energy split the air and knocked Seymour backwards, forcing him to one knee. Auron turned and said, "Kimahri, Tidus, finish him off!" Kimahri planted his staff in the ground, folded his hands, and yelled "RONSO RAGE, NOVA!" The spell sent Seymour reeling and flying directly towards Tidus, who spun his sword above his head and shouted, "OVERDRIVE, SLICE AND DICE!" Darting around like a tornado, Tidus' sword cut Seymour to ribbons. Tidus turned to Yuna and said, "Now's the chance, finish him."
As Yuna danced and Seymour's spirit finally journeyed towards the farplane, Tidus felt a slight tingling in his fingers. He looked down, and for a moment he could see through his right hand. Looking up, his eyes met Auron's. As they walked off the platform to allow Yuna to finish her dance, Auron broke the silence.
"It's begun."
"Yea, I can feel it to."
"We don't have much time left then."
As Yuna came off the platform, Auron gathered the group with a wave of his arm and began to walk deeper into Sin.
"Lets keep going."
Scene Break
The barriers stretched again, this time coming within an inch of breaking. On Gagazet, five more sleepers vanished from the Statue. The purple glow grew even dimmer. The Fayth of Bevelle urged the remaining sleepers to continue to dream a little while longer. He could feel that Yuna was almost finished with her task.
Inside Sin, prior to the final battle with Yu Yevon
When the Magus sisters finally vanished. Tidus slumped to the floor, exhausted beyond belief. His last overdrive had taken every ounce of his strength, and it had still taken Kimahri and Wakka to finally take out the trio. As he sat on the ground, he felt the tingling again. This time, his whole arm vanished for a moment. He turned to Auron and for a second he could see right through his body. They're eyes met and an unspoken thought passed between them. Auron stood up and then pulled Tidus up beside him. Tidus looked stricken as he spoke, "Listen up everybody, this is the last time Auron and I are fighting with you! After we're done, we're going to fade away."
The other guardians immediately looked dismayed. Rikku screamed, "No, why!" but the worst for Tidus was the look of heartbreak on Yuna's face. He was about to say something to her when Auron interrupted everyone.
"We can't worry about this now. We have to finish defeating Sin; otherwise all this fighting, the sacrifice of the Aeons, killing Yunalesca, all of it will mean nothing. Now lets go."
A small ball of glowing energy with what looked like a spider in the middle appeared in front of the group. Kimahri immediately lashed out with his spear, tearing a huge gash down the side. As Kimahri stepped back, a green glow enveloped the ball. The group watched dumbstruck as the wound healed itself as if nothing had happened. It was Yuna who figured out what had happened first.
"It's casting Curaga on itself any time it's damaged."
She stepped forward and thrust her staff at the ball. As the wings of Nirvana glowed, she slashed the staff down. "REFLECT."
A green mirror popped into being in front of the ball then disappeared. For a moment no one moved, then Lulu jumped forward and began waving her arms. Energy gathered in front of her then glowed a fierce orange as it coalesced into a flaming ball of energy. Lulu flung her arms forward and shouted, "FIRAGA." The fireball slammed into the spider ball, engulfing it in a maelstrom of destruction. As soon as the fire died down, the green glow reappeared. This time, Yuna's Reflect threw the Curaga back at Lulu. "All right, lets finish this thing," she shouted. Her arms began waving again creating four more giant balls of fire, as the rest of the Guardians readied themselves for a battle that would shake their world to its core.
Mt. Gagazet, Statue of the Fayth, 15 minutes later
Once the Fayth of Bevelle had vanished with Bahamut's defeat inside Sin, the statues on the Fayth began vanishing even faster. Finally, as Wakka struck the final blow on Yu Yevon, the last statue vanished from the cluster. The purple light around the Fayth abruptly vanished, then reappeared stronger than ever. With a huge roar, the light gathered into a beam and lanced through the air towards Bevelle.
Airship, The skies above Bevelle
Tidus looked at Yuna sadly as he felt himself start to flicker away. He wished he could have made good on all his promises, that he could have spent more time with this woman who he had grown to love. At least, he thought, I helped her save the world. That must count for something. Yuna looked at him and Auron as if she was losing the only things that mattered to her in the world, although to be fair the gaze was more directed towards Tidus. She took a few steps towards Tidus when a beam of purple light crossed the bow of the airship and detonated, forming a swirling vortex that hung in the air off the bow. The explosion jarred Tidus off his feet sending him stumbling towards the vortex. Yuna saw it happening and ran after him screaming, "Tidus, no!" They collided and fell off the bow, tumbling directly into the vortex.
"Yunie, no!" Rikku collapsed to the deck, unable to believe her eyes. Her cousin had just vanished to who knows where, and she was too shocked to do anything. Auron, on the other hand, acted fast. He took one look at himself fading away, than ran down the bow and leaped into the vortex. As soon as he had vanished, the swirling mess vanished with a thunderous clap of displaced air. The remaining guardians looked at each other, dumbstruck. In one fell stroke they had lost their savior, and none of them had any ideas on what to do next. Finally, Wakka spoke up, looking uncharacteristically serious.
"So, where do we go now?"
Unknown
A flash of light broke through the barrier around Spira, quickly followed by two others. They smashed through another barrier close to their world and then vanished. A tall man and a large dog noted their travels, then turned and vanished themselves.
"So, it is done. Where did they end up?"
"Endiness if I'm not mistaken. The question is, what do we do about it."
"I refuse to abandon Yuna to a strange world."
"That world has guardians already, or have you forgotten why we came to Spira in the first place?"
"Even if she has forgotten, it doesn't change the truth. We cannot simply usurp the dragons of Endiness."
"The three of you aren't helping at all. We need to decide whether we are going to overthrow the legitimate guardians of a realm we abandoned."
"Who said anything about overthrowing?"
"You don't mean—"
"Yes I do. Evil men hold some of the guardians of Endiness. I say we offer our help. None of the guardians have yet awakened, with the exception of the wind dragon and the dragon of thunder. Let us offer to awaken in that realm as the rest of the dragons do. We will aid them only, not usurp their power. As for wind and thunder, Ixion and Valefor should go to those holders and wait until the next time they attempt to use their power, than attempt to break the guardians away from them. Problem solved."
"Something tells me it won't be as easy as you make it sound, but why not. It's not as if we have a better idea."
Hellena Prison
"… just picked up outside the prison Sergeant."
Tidus groaned as he rolled over on to his back. What the hell just happened? And why am I in a cell? He saw Auron and Yuna began to stir as well as a voice called from outside the cell.
"Awake are you, you spying scum?"
"Spying, what the hell are you talking about!"
"Don't play games with me! I know you're from Bale, spying for King Albert. Just wait till the warden gets a hold of you. Hahahahahahahahaha!"
As the guard walked away, Tidus looked at Yuna and Auron. As their eyes met, a shared thought seemed to pass between them.
What have we gotten ourselves into now?
TBC
A/N well, it would have been up earlier, but as usual, real life got in the way. I realize it seems rushed, but the whole point of this was just to get them to Endiness. I realize I'm playing around with how things actually transpired at the end of FFX. Please see my note about A/U. R and R people!
Next Time—"I don't know about you three, but we are in the middle of a prison, we can use all the help we can get."
"Thanks. The name's Tidus, this is Yuna and Auron."
"I'm Lavitz, my companions are Dart and Shana."