A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Thirteen

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

Last Time:

He rolled his eyes. "What about you? When are you getting fitted?"

"Fitted?"

"You know…" Kiron motioned with his hands, "summoner's rank? Shows you've passed the tests of both Suzaku and Byakko…."

"Oh," Lenne said, fiddling with her silver necklace, "I don't need to, I have this."

Finally pulling it out of her shirt, Lenne held it out towards Kiron and Takoire, the first of the two running his fingers over it. "This is amazing, Lenne. I heard about this stuff from my history lessons. They're supposed to be nonexistent these days."

Lenne's eyes opened wide. "Really?" She looked down on her silver necklace; a new chokin had formed on it since last night, a roaring tiger. "I got this in Besaid when I was supposed to be fitted."

Standing on the side, Takoire looked at the necklace. "I've never seen chokin of this craftsmanship before. It's beautiful… I wonder how it would look when it catches the sun." He smiled. "As your guardian, I have a responsibility to make sure you keep that necklace out of your shirt. Anyway," Takoire laughed, "it brings out your eyes."

Walking into the room was a young, dignified looking man who seemed to be around the same age as Zaon. His dark brown hair was held up in a ponytail and his blue eyes seemed lively and honest. "Welcome to Byakko's Temple, I am Ryak, head summoner of this place. Of course, as new summoners of Byakko, we extend our hospitalities to you, and uh…" the summoner called Ryak began to drift. "Takoire? Seru?"

Takoire and Seru's eyes widened in alarm as they shook their heads frantically before Lenne, Kiron, or Zaon noticed, but it seemed that Head Summoner Ryak hadn't taken the hint.

The former blitzball player walked up towards him. "Long time no see, Ryak!" With his usual cheery smile, he put his right hand on the summoner's shoulder and held him close, his voice barely audible. "Speak not of the past my old friend. Seru and I will explain all later."

Pulling away, it seemed that Ryak had gotten the message as Seru came walking in his direction, taking him into a hug. "Ryak, it's so good to see you!"

Ryak looked at them both with an extremely carefree smile, switching his view back and forth between Takoire and Seru. "I… I had no idea you two knew each other."

"Oh," Seru laughed glancing at Takoire, "Sir Takoire? I just know him through coincidence. He's Lenne's guardian and our two parties have been traveling together."

"And Lenne is also your summoner?" Ryak asked.

Takoire stepped up. "Mine, I'm Lenne's only guardian. I get her all to myself."

Lenne pushed her guardian aside jokingly. "That's what you think." She said to her guardian, giving him a half-glaring look. She turned her attention back towards Ryak. "I'm Lenne."

The prince of Zanarkand stepped up as well and held out his hand to the temple's summoner. "Prince Kiron of Zanarkand. Seru is my guardian."

Ryak looked at him the same as before. "Tell me, do you prefer the title of prince or lord?"

Kiron shrugged with a carefree demeanor, his blue hair falling over his eyes as usual. "I prefer Kiron when I'm not on official business."

The head summoner of Byakko nodded. "That's good enough for me. But as I was saying, you and your guardians are welcome to stay here as long as you need. You are summoners of Byakko now and are always welcome here."

Watching him, Lenne laughed, motioning to Takoire and Seru. "Why don't you three catch up? Kiron and I will get out of your way, and I'm sure Zaon won't mind, will you?" The golden armored guardian only grunted. "So I'm interpreting that as a yes. I swear, Zaon has his own language he expects everyone else to learn. Anyway," looping Kiron's arm in her own, "Kiron and I have some talking to do."

Takoire looked worried. "I'm not bossing you around or anything, but are you two going to be all right on your own?"

She winked at him. "We're in Byakko's temple after all. We'll be fine." Directing Kiron and herself out, Lenne waved. "I'll see you guys at dinner!"

Seru bit her lip anxiously, yelling to Zaon at the last moments. "Make sure they don't do anything stupid while I'm not there!"

"We'll behave," Kiron said lightly.

"Be careful!" Takoire added.

Together as Lenne and Kiron rounded the corner, they heard Ryak's voice say, "So… you guys wanna tell me what you're doing here after five years?"

"That's-That's quite a tale you've told me, Lenne," his every word dripping with disbelief. Lenne couldn't help but understand his reluctance.

"Look, Kiron, I get it completely if you don't understand. I have trouble believing it myself. But, it's the truth, as unrealistic as it may seem."

The two newly christened summoners of Byakko walked together within the woods that helped make up the aeon's temple. The trees were packed closely together, and as a result, made it sometimes difficult to see with the lack of direct sunlight. Although there was a worn path, with occasional shrubs lucky enough to have direct sunlight, it made looking for the path even more difficult. It seemed they had been walking for hours in the dense forest as Lenne let her tale unfold. They had never been attacked by any fiend, leading them to believe that Byakko somehow protected his woods from the creatures.

The air was quiet with the exception of their voices, a few birds, and the rustle of the bushes here and there, creating a peaceful and serene environment.

"It's not that at all, Lenne. I've known you for a good while now, and it almost seems to make perfect sense under the circumstances. It's just… the thing that bothers me the most is that you say Zanarkand is destroyed in your time." Lenne nodded grimly. "And Bevelle?"

Lenne shrugged. "It's the center of Spira."

The prince of Zanarkand shrugged as well. "Ech, Bevelle's nothing to be worried about."

"Oh, but it is…" a deep voice said.

"The rat prince of Zanarkand does have something to worry about when it comes to the great city of Bevelle. Zanarkand will soon bow down to it," another voice rasped, this time coming from an opposite direction.

Kiron spun around, pulling out his staff, while Lenne did the same with her sword. "Who's there?" Kiron yelled, the darkness hiding the voices' sources. "What do you want?"

A new voice laughed gruffly. "Use your head, Prince Kiron, think. You can't see us, but we can see you. Neither of you have your guardians are protecting you. And you, Prince Kiron, are an heir to Zanarkand."

From all sides, tree branches were snapping, leaves crumpling, the serene sounds of the forest disappearing under the thunder of countless men's steps.

"I have to say, princy boy," another said, "I don't know who your friend is, but don't worry, we'll take good care of her."

Kiron's eyes enflamed. "How dare you!"

A ray of sunlight escaped the trees, giving Lenne a glimpse to who exactly had surrounded them. "Kiron," she whispered, "they're wearing Bevelle armor."

He gritted his teeth. "Assassins."

One of them smiled as a circle of Bevelle warriors surrounded them completely. "Hey, that little Zanarkand freak finally got one!"

Kiron gripped his staff tightly. "I think I can handle about a fourth of them, what about you, Lenne?"

She held her sword equally as tight. "About half, and that's really pushing it."

They closed in slowly, each with a smirk engraved into their faces. "There's no room to summon," Kiron couldn't help but notice, "what are we going to do?"

Lenne gave a small, sly smile. "Maybe for you."

"Huh?"

"Remember that stuff I was telling you about? My Spira, our aeons, my parents, stuff like that?"

"Yeah, so?"

Lenne tucked her sword under her arm. "So, I think I might be able to conjure something up."

Winking at the group of Bevelle warriors, Lenne spun her sword in the palm of her hand by its hilt until she stabbed it into the ground, a red circle forming itself around the sword.

The ground beneath all of them began to give way, and all except Lenne looked around in a panic, the shaking becoming more and more violently by the second.

A great being suddenly broke out from under the earth, carrying Lenne on its shoulder, the summoner's brand on her wrist growing brighter. Large in size, the creature's brown coloring matched the forest's, but its bright orange mane looked as if it were on fire.

Hoping off its shoulder, Lenne looked up at the being proudly. "Sweet, I guess I can summon Ifrit too."

Kiron looked at her utterly terrified. "What-What is that thing?"

She smiled. "Remember those aeons I was telling you about from my time?"

"Uh huh…"

"This is one of them." Lenne looked at Ifrit growling at the Bevelle warriors. "Hey, Ifrit, I could use a hand."

The aeon growled loudly, and Lenne thought she heard a certain amount of anticipation in its growl. Without warning, its mouth opened and a ball of flames seemed to grow in it. Suddenly, it was released at the group of Bevelle warriors, their armor giving them little or no protection. Ifrit turned and fired again until the last threat became nonexistent.

With a look of satisfaction in its eyes, Ifrit grunted exhaustedly.

Lenne's eyebrows burrowed. "Okay… I guess I could use a fireball…"

"Lenne! That was amazing!" Kiron said, coming towards his female counterpart but not daring to come any closer to the being. "But, what is it?"

"I told you already. It's only Ifrit. He won't hurt you." Kiron gaped at her, but she didn't seem to notice, she was too busy looking at the surroundings. "Look at this."

"Look at what?"

Walking over to a tree with a burnt soldier sprawled out under it, Lenne stepped over the carcass, touching the bark of the tree. "This tree. I know Ifrit's meteor hit it directly, and all around us. The only trace we fought are these bodies."

The prince shrugged. "This is Byakko's forest, I can't see him letting any damage come to it."

"Right," Lenne said, not consciously listening, rubbing her fingers together, "we should probably get back. We don't know if there are more."

"I agree, but we can't get back anytime soon. We're quite a ways."

Lenne turned to Ifrit who was resting on the ground dutifully watching Lenne; she smiled at the aeon. "You couldn't give us a ride could you?"

Ifrit grunted and lifted its head. "What are you doing?"

"Come on," she returned, climbing onto Ifrit's right shoulder.

"What!"

"He won't hurt you," Lenne repeated, she held out her hand. "Now, let's go."

The head summoner of Byakko and two guardians walked together on the lengthy sidewalk that surrounded Byakkos' forest. Priests and nuns would nod to Ryak as they walked, only needing to nod his head in return as a form of courtesy. No one knew what had just occurred within the very forest they all revolved around.

Until something seemed to spring forth from the forest. The three looked up immediately, but the sun glared down on them.

With a loud crack and a cloud of dust, Ifrit landed on the grass leading to the forest and roared. Ryak and the others found themselves running to see what had happened, only to find Kiron and Lenne getting off a giant creature's back.

Takoire couldn't help but give his summoner a smirk. "Another one of your aeons I'm guessing, Lenne."

She smiled cleverly at him. "Takoire, Ifrit. Ifrit, Takoire."

The aeon again roared aloud, this time, catching even more bystanders' attention. Takoire looked at it with a grim and skeptical look. "Ifrit…"

With a nod towards Ifrit, Lenne smiled. "Thank you."

Ifrit waved one of its arms away and jumped back briefly before he pushed back on his legs, disappearing to wherever he came. Ryak ran to the spot where Ifrit had been and looked around in amazement. "What-What was that thing!"

Lenne just smiled and glanced at Takoire who was laughing nearby. "Just Ifrit."

Author's Notes:

Final Revision