A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or X-2

Last Time:

Ged gave Lenne a strange look as he took the gray plate back. "Yes, well, Takoire, you have rooms 117-118, and if you don't mind," he said as Lenne walked away, "what's up with her?"

"Thanks a lot, Ged. Um… Lenne... That's an interesting question." Takoire watched her as she walked into a hallway. "But you have no idea."

It was still night, and the moon and stars shone brightly. Lenne laid awake in bed, staring into the darkness, unable to sleep at the upcoming task. She imagined over and over again how tomorrow would play out. Would she pass the test? Or would she utterly fail? Maybe she should have undergone summoner's training? But did her Spira even have that time?

She tossed and turned, unable to find sleep. In frustration, Lenne climbed out of bed and walked to the bathroom. She turned the faucet to cold and splashed the water on her face. Fixing and combing her hair, she cleaned her clothes, exiting the room. To her surprise, just as she was closing her door, Takoire was doing the same. Spotting him, she looked at him confused. "What are you doing up so early?"

Seeing her, Takoire barely looked off guard and answered with a quick retort. "Well, I could ask you the same question."

High Summoner Yuna's daughter rubbed her eyes. "I couldn't stop thinking about later so I thought I'd go out and get some fresh air."

"Well," Takoire gave an intriguing smile, "that's nice. The only thing wrong with that is the fact that you'd probably get lost."

She laughed softly. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Any place in particular you want to get to? Even though you've kind of lived here your entire life, and at the same time this place is kind of new."

"How long do we have before sunrise?"

Starting to walk back towards the lobby, the Abes captain shrugged. "I'm sure we have a couple hours, maybe a little less."

"There's this place my family goes to. My dad calls it my sanctuary because I go there for hours at a time when I need some thinking space."

Takoire scoffed. "I like blitzball, but being so good at it means I don't have any thinking space." Lenne gave a sympathizing face as Takoire studied her for a moment. "You talk about your parents a lot. You must really care about them."

Exiting from the building, Lenne gave a small, sad laugh. "Well, my mom's always trying to help people and sometimes she's even a pushover, but she's just too nice now and then. And my dad," Lenne laughed softly, "he's a complete goofball. I can't get him to be serious about anything. I hear stories about how he was the best guardian in the history of summoners, but I really can't picture him that way."

"You and your dad are close I take it."

"I guess, when I was a kid he taught me blitzball, and when I got older, he taught me a few moves from when he was a guardian."

Reaching a silent main road, Takoire stopped and Lenne followed. "Like that move you did against that fiend, you never did tell me what it was called."

"The blitz ace, but it took me a little while to get it right."

A group of people passed Takoire and Lenne, who gave the blitzball player a strange look. "So out of pure curiosity and not wanting to stand here anymore," he looked around, "let's find this place you're looking for, shall we?" The two began to continue there walk. "My parents and I didn't get along at all, it was like, they wanted me to be somebody I really wasn't, like, I was a mistake in the family."

Lenne listened to him sympathetically. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

"I always wanted to play blitzball, and I didn't like what they had planned for me. Apparently, that didn't sit well with them."

"Even though you're captain of the Abes? From what I can tell, everyone knows who you are Takoire."

He shook his head. "My parents wanted me to be known in a different way," after a moment of pondering, Takoire put on his usual cheery face, "but on the other hand, how do you usually get to this place?"

Lenne thought on his sudden change in mood for a moment before deciding to suppress her curiosity. "Well, first I climb up the cliffs, and then there's this part that I cleared out, even my dad doesn't know it's there, if you crawl underneath some of the ruins, there's a cliff that has a great view of the ocean."

Takoire stopped and looked at Lenne for a moment, who gave him a curious look. After studying her, he took her by the hand. "Come on, I wanna show you something." They walked past a few buildings until they reached a clearing where nothing was built.

"Where are we?" Lenne asked, glancing around. "There aren't any lights around here." Feeling Takoire's hand holding hers, she blushed slightly. "Uh, Takoire, could you… uh… could you let go of my hand?"

Hearing her request, Takoire's face flushed, and he quickly dropped her hand. The lack of lighting prevented the other to see each other's face. A fact both Takoire and Lenne were grateful for. "Um… yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure you were following me. Like you said, there aren't any lights around here." Takoire took a look around and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, this is called the summoner's bluff."

"How come you brought me here?"

Takoire shrugged. "I'm following a hunch." The young man pointed towards a building. "Does that look familiar at all? Anything around here look familiar?"

Lenne circled the nearby building and studied them hard. "It kind of does, but then again, it doesn't."

He gestured to Lenne, although he knew it was still too dark to see. "Keep going..."

"It's like seeing something that you've known your entire life, but you've just gotten it restored, and it looks brand new. It's kind of weird, like going back in time."

"Like you did?" Takoire suggested. "It would make sense anyway." Lenne continued to look around but shook her head. "What? You don't think it's possible?"

"No, I do, but it sounds too important for someone like me. I've always lived my life in my parents' shadow, I guess. People have always expected me to do something great, but I've already told you that, and no one wants to hear that."

Standing back as if to judge her, Takoire looked at Lenne. "Come on, like I said earlier, maybe you will." Lenne only scoffed at him. "Lenne," Takoire said, turning to a serious note, "it's been bugging me. How was Zanarkand destroyed?"

Lenne walked to the edge of the cliff and stared into the seemingly black water. "It was the war with Bevelle, Zanarkand was hopelessly outnumbered. So, Yevon created the ultimate summoning that would destroy Bevelle. Yu Yevon created Sin, and in the process, destroyed what was left of the city."

"And then Sin plagued Spira for a thousand years, right?"

"Yeah. For centuries a summoner and their chosen guardian gave their lives so that Spira could have a temporary peace. My grandfathers, both of them, one was a summoner and the other his guardian, died that way."

"But what did your mom and dad do that made them so famous, Lenne?"

The young woman smiled as she recounted her father's tale. "My dad, Tidus, it didn't really settle well with him to see my mom die right in front of him. He had supposedly vowed to find a way for my mom to defeat Sin without actually having to die. My dad eventually convinced the others as well, and they found a way to defeat Sin permanently."

Thinking on her words for a moment, Takoire spoke. "Come over here for a minute."

She looked at him curiously for a moment before she walked towards him. "Why?"

"I wanna show you something." They walked towards a lone, short wall with carvings that could not yet be seen. In the center was a smooth circle with nothing in its center but decorative writing around the rim. "There's a legend in Spira called the Prophecy of the Summoner of Yore. There's a part in every city of Spira, and the one in Besaid says that when the Summoner of Yore touches this stone, their summoner's brand will engrave itself in the form of a chokin."

"Wow," continuing to look at it, but daring not to touch it, Lenne closely examined the artifact as Takoire stood by the edge of the cliff, enjoying the breeze with his eyes closed. Inhaling deeply, he opened his eyes and saw a glimmer of an orange tint on the water.

"The sunrise…" Takoire's eyes widened in alarm. "Lenne! We need to go now!" Without thinking, he grabbed her arm, leading her into the city. "Suzaku appears just as the sun has risen and that's the only time when someone can beckon Suzaku to become a summoner."

Without realizing it, Takoire had caused Lenne to brush her hand up against the landmark and neither noticed the light radiating from the stone. As the light faded, a chokin was left behind with a rising sun and a setting moon over the ocean.

Within a few minutes, Takoire and Lenne had dashed through Besaid and crossed over the series of bridges. They raced past parts of the island that Lenne knew her home to be. Natural vegetation engulfed the land with the exception of a sanctuary built on the spot where Lenne recognized the temple of Valefor to be.

Out of breath, Takoire and Lenne stood before the largely built structure. The two had run against the sunrise, and Lenne, still tired and out of breath, turned to Takoire. "W-What are we waiting for?"

Instead, he only pointed at the temple. "Just watch." So she did. The sunrise hit the top of the temple, and the sun fell down upon it. Not only did the chokin glimmer and shine, but as the light continued to fall, it revealed an apparition previously unnoticed.

It started with giant golden feathers and then piercing red eyes followed with a coat of brilliant blood red feathers. The giant bird peered at the two sternly with an almost penetrating eyesight; and it seemed that within Lenne's mind, a deep voice seemed to speak out. 'You dare beseech the great aeon Suzaku?'

Nervously, Lenne turned to look at Takoire who looked as alarmed as she did, although he nodded to her, Lenne had trouble distinguishing it from an actual nod or Takoire was just so nervous he was shaking. Going with her gut instinct, Lenne nodded towards the great bird. "W-We do."

Suzaku stared down at Lenne with no expression whatsoever, its booming voice cutting through the crisp morning air. "And you, I sense within your mind that it is you who wishes to become a summoner." Lenne could only nod dumbly. "And who is to be your guardian?"

Before Lenne could question it, Takoire stepped towards Suzaku and spoke up. "I will."

And again before Lenne could speak, the stern-eyed Suzaku nodded. "Very well, you may take my test. Do you have the courage?"

Hearing the commotion from outside, a group of summoners, guardians, and priests ran to see what was happening. No summoner was expected to take Suzaku's test, so what was happening? Out of all of them, one particular young summoner ran ahead.

Running after him was a man wearing gold traditional armor while chasing after him was a young woman wearing a simple light blue dress. She carried a traditional staff, her light brownish colored hair flowing down her back, only stopping a few inches from her waist. The man in golden armor yelled out after the first. "Milord Kiron, wait! We don't know who is out there!" Reaching the temple's entrance, the summoner called Kiron shielded his eyes as the pair chasing him finally reached him.

The young summoner called Kiron wore loose brown pants with a sleeveless shirt that seemed to be weaved of both white and red. He donned a flowing cloak made up of the same colors that sat on his shoulders. Messy dark blue hair fell in front of his eyes, and the young summoner wore a silver earring on his one ear. He had an excited look on his face. "Zaon, I've told you not to call me your lord enough times. You'll be my brother-in-law soon enough."

"Milord Kiron, you shouldn't run off like that, who knows what danger could come upon you."

Kiron gave him a look of warning. "Zaon, I said it just a few seconds ago, didn't I?"

Zaon gave a stubborn shrug. "Of course."

The summoner gave a smug grin. "Go on…"

The gold armored warrior gave a defeated sigh. "Kiron."

"Very good, Zaon," Kiron turned to the woman on his left who was short of breath. "Seru, do you know who that woman is?" Seru eyed the pair carefully, not seeing them at first, she gasped as her eyes fell upon the blitzball captain. "Something wrong, Seru?"

Quickly, perhaps too quickly, Seru shook her head. "No, Kiron, nothing's wrong. I'm just catching my breath. You run too fast for my taste."

Kiron laugh good-naturedly. "Ah, well, a skill you gain when you're trying to run from your father in the palace. But as I was saying, that girl, do you know who she is?"

"I don't believe I do, Kiron."

The summoner continued to observe the two. "And what about that man, I'm almost one hundred percent sure that it's Takoire, what do you think?"

In a quiet voice, Seru responded. "Yes, Kiron, that's Takoire, I'm sure of it."

Kiron took her answer into account, never noticing the defeated tone Seru spoke in. "Takoire, hm? If my memory serves me right… I wonder what he's doing here…" Kiron drifted off gaining a thoughtful look, he motioned to Seru. "I want to find out her name."

She looked at him unsure. "Even if she does not become a summoner, Kiron?"

The young man nodded. Seru started to leave, but he grabbed her gently on the sleeve.

"And find out if she has undergone summoner's training from another temple or if they're expected; but I'm guessing that won't be the case."

Standing a few feet away from Suzaku, Lenne had gained a determined face. "Okay, I'm ready. Bring it on."

Author's Notes:

Final Revision