A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Thirty-Five

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

Last Time:

Takoire grimaced. "Go!" Lenne looked as if her duty and her heart were tearing her to pieces. "Lenne!"

"I don't want to leave you!" she yelled, a harsh wind coming from the rip.

He looked just as torn as her. He caught her in a tight embrace and whispered so she almost couldn't hear him. "I don't want you to…" He kissed her gently and whispered into her ear, "I love you," and pushed her into the crack.

She stayed visible for a moment, and he watched her whisper back, "I love you, too…"

"I'll find you!" he yelled. "I'll find you!"

And then she was gone.

The rip closed, and the Cheribum disappeared. Time resumed where it had left off, and a dozen soldiers came running towards him.

Takoire fell to his knees, his eyes welling with tears.

"I'll find you…"

"Sir Garren! What do we do?"

"No one shoot!"

"But, sir!"

"That's an order!"

Lenne strained to sit up, her whole body riddled with pain. Her head was still bleeding from being hit with the rifle, and her arm was still flowing blood from cutting herself. She felt as if all the energy she had left had been sucked from her as she collapsed in her attempt to stand up. What happened? Where was she? What was going on?

"Lenne!"

Someone ran towards her and helped her up, a familiar voice filling her ears. "Lenne! Lenne, you're all right! Everyone's been worried sick!"

She looked up at the owner of the voice and found herself looking at her cousin Garren. His light brown hair was shortly cropped and had typical Al Bhed eyes. He looked exactly as Lenne remembered him. He still wore his traditional Crimson Knight uniform of purple and blue. In fact, it looked somewhat like a strange mixture of Zanarkand and Bevelle royalty.

"Garren…" she muttered.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, applying as much pressure as he could to Lenne's arm.

Lenne winced as she found herself on her feet. "How long have I been gone?"

Garren lifted his cousin toward the garrison of armed guardians. "A little over two months."

Two months, that was how long she had been gone from her view…

A deep roar shook the ground, and Lenne looked behind. There was the Cheribum, its eyes reddened, and the temple of St. Bevelle was no more; nothing but rubble.

The parental smile Lenne had seen the aeon wear only minutes ago was gone. Replaced by fury.

"Wait!" Lenne yelled, suddenly noticing the guardians. "What are you doing!"

He growled. "I've tried for two months to figure out how we can end this peacefully, but I've reached the end of my rope. This thing has already killed three people. I'm not willing to risk anymore lives."

"You can't do that!" she cried out, pushing the Crimson Knight away.

Garren turned to her confused. "What are you talking about? You don't know what's happening, Lenne. Let me take you home."

"No!" She ran back to the Cheribum, still cantering insanely.

"Lenne," he yelled, "come back!" Garren raced after his cousin but stopped a few feet from her, fear of the Cheribum reflecting in his eyes.

"Don't you get it?" Lenne asked, standing before the Cheribum. "It's an aeon!" She ground her teeth together, unable to decide what she should do. "What happened?" Lenne sighed frustratedly. "Some Summoner of Yore I am… I have no idea what to do…" Absentmindedly, she reached for her chokin necklace and ran her fingers over it, a habit she had gained in the past months. There was something different about it. Lenne pulled it off her neck and stared. There was her summoner's brand, Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryu… and the Cheribum. The aeon must have changed her necklace when it sent her back. She stared at it as a light began to emanate from it. It grew brighter and brighter, and the sheer force of it took all the strength in Lenne's arm. "What the-?" Lenne was forced to point it away, and the ray of light landed on the Cheribum's forehead. It calmed.

"Kokon! Listen to me! Look at what you're doing!"

The Cheribum resisted, thrashing its head and pounding its hooves on the ground.

"Listen to me!" she tried to reason. "I am the Summoner Lenne from a time when Zanarkand is no more! You are the Cheribum Kokon! You've got to remember…"

The aeon paused for a moment and blinked. It relaxed, and the red began to disappear from its eyes. Its human face turned from ferocious to remorseful. Its face became a portrait of stunning realization as it become conscious of what it had done.

And to the surprise of the hundreds of people watching, the great creature bowed its head down to Lenne and spoke in a clear booming voice, "I-I am sorry."

It took a step back and turned around, walking into the rubble and disappeared from sight.

As soon as the aeon had vanished, Lenne collapsed. Garren rushed to catch her, and she smiled up weakly in gratitude. "Thanks."

"What did you do?" he asked in dumb shock. He helped her up and supported most of her weight, leading her through the crowd.

Lenne struggled to hobble alongside Garren and frowned. "Just reminded someone of who they were."

"So that thing will stop attacking?"

"It's not a thing, Garren," Lenne said bitterly. "The creatures that appeared are natural aeons. Not things."

"Yeah," the Crimson Knight agreed, "that was what Maechen said…"

"Maechen?"

Garren grimaced and nodded. "An old friend of our parents. We went to see him after you'd been missing for a week. He told us a legend of a summoner who appeared just before the Zanarkand-Bevelle war, but she disappeared in Bevelle. Some blitzball captain called Takoire was her guardian."

"Takoire…"

"We'd better get you to Macalania and Kilika so you can take care of those other aeons," Garren said.

She shook her head. "No." Lenne pulled away from him and struggled to stand on her own strength. "No, once the Cheribum has been recognized, Suzaku and the others will calm." She paused to catch her breath. "Tell me, when's the next council meeting?"

Garren looked stunned. "Three days…"

"Notify them that I will be addressing the council. Spira is going to have to go through some changes."

"But, Lenne…"

"No," she repeated, pointing a finger at the head Crimson Knight, "don't interrupt me. Tell all the Crimson Knights to stand down against the aeons." Lenne coughed. "Garren, do you know where Gaia is?"

He shrugged. "Last I talked to her she was still in Djose."

"I need you to contact her and have her meet us in Besaid, but before she leaves, I need her to get everything she has on the Zanarkand and Bevelle royal families right before the war, the Prophecies of Lore, and the blitzball player Takoire." She stopped for a moment. "We need an airship."

Garren motioned to a pair of guardians standing nearby and turned back to Lenne. His cousin had changed in the past two months. Before, Lenne always shirked attention, never enjoying standing apart. While at other times, she wanted to be even more famous than both her parents. But as long as Garren could remember, Lenne was a follower, not a leader.

"Where do you need to go first?" he asked.

"Besaid," Lenne answered simply.

"Why?"

Lenne's voice softened. "I want to go home."

"Ow!"

"There… done."

Garren moved back from his cousin, finishing the last of Lenne's stitches.

The two sat together next to a wide window on the airship Bahamut. Lenne had cleaned up, and all the blood had been washed away except a stain on her shirt Lenne knew was Takoire's blood.

She felt hollow now. Those feelings she had deep down, whether they were happiness, anger, sorrow, they weren't there anymore. It was like a part of her was missing, and she knew exactly what it was.

"Remind me again what you did to get this hurt," Garren said, putting away the cloths and bandages he had used to clean up his cousin.

She shrugged. "I got into a fight."

He nodded his head and frowned. "Yeah… I noticed that. The thing that concerns me is the fact you're as good a fighter as me, and I'm the Crimson Knight of Bevelle."

"I was… slightly outnumbered…"

"Uh huh…" the Crimson Knight muttered, "feel like giving me a ratio?"

Lenne seemed to ponder on it for a minute before answering. "The gash on my head was three to one, all the other cuts and bruises are kind of confusing to count so about seven to two, and the big cut on my arm I did myself in order to summon the Cheribum to take his test.

"Uh huh…. You do know that the cut on your arm is going to leave one serious scar, right?"

Lenne shrugged again. "I do now."

A guardian walked towards Garren and whispered in his ear. The Crimson Knight gave a nod of acknowledgement before dismissing him. Garren turned back to Lenne. "Gaia's about half an hour behind us. I have her on the Ixion."

Lenne looked to her cousin. "You're just pulling out all the stops, aren't you?"

He motioned out the window. "We're coming up on Besaid. Think you can walk?" She nodded, and together they slowly made their way to the main boarding room. "I hate to break this to you, Lenne, but you're big news. Fayth popping out of nowhere after twenty-ish years. You subdued that- what did you call it? Cheribum? Anyway, you got it to calm down which is more than anyone else can say. Not to mention you've had our entire family, and then some, worried sick the past two months."

She sighed. "Big news… Jeez, I just want to go home."

"Well," Garren said, opening the door and letting the stairs fall, "welcome home."

Lenne walked down, and she couldn't help but smile at the sight that greeted her. There were her family and friends of Besaid waiting for her on the beach. Everyone she had been missing from Besaid was standing right in front if her.

At the front of the crowd were her parents. Tidus as calm and relaxed as ever with his hands tucked in his pockets, and Yuna next to him teary eyed with happiness.

Lenne ran to meet her mother and found herself in an embrace she'd been missing in the past months. Through all of the new friends she made, through everything she had seen and experienced, Lenne had missed home.

"I was so worried," Yuna cried into her daughter's arms. "I'm so glad you're home."

Lenne smiled softly. "I missed you, Mom." She looked up. "I missed everyone."

Yuna bit her lip and took a step back from her daughter. "What happened to you?"

"I'll tell you about it later; it's a long story," Lenne said as comfortingly as she could. "Garren helped take care of me on the way here."

Yuna nodded and studied her daughter for a moment. "You've changed so much, Lenne."

Lenne paused and frowned. "Yeah, a lot's happened. Would you believe I'm a high summoner now?"

"I don't know," Tidus answered. "I've seen and heard some pretty weird stuff. You know, like being thrown into what you think is a thousand years into the future."

"Dad," Lenne answered skeptically, "I just spent the past two months a thousand years in the past…"

"Ya, bad example, Tidus," Wakka said, standing with Lulu near Lenne's parents. "How bout when more than half of Spira's leaders were all dead, but they were still walking around and talking, ya? Especially Seymour…"

"Don't forget having a thousand-year-old shade mistake you for the woman he was in love with," Yuna added with a laugh.

Lenne nodded and smiled softly. "Shuyin…"

Vidina walked over to his childhood friend and placed a hand on Lenne's shoulder. "You remember from the stories they used to tell us?"

"Yeah… but I met him," she said wistfully, a strange smile on her face. "It was funny… he freaked out when Takoire quite the Abes… thought he'd make a bad captain for the team."

Tidus touched her on the arm, bringing his daughter back to reality, and motioned to the city. "Come on, we can take at home."

Lenne nodded. "Yeah, you guys go ahead, I'll meet up with you later. There's something I want to do."

Her father nodded understandingly and kissed her on the cheek before moving off. "Just don't disappear again, okay?"

She smiled softly. "Don't worry. I won't, Dad."

Lenne strolled towards the ruins, but not before stopping in front of a blonde-haired Crimson Knight who had tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

"Hi, Darka."

"Lenne," he answered.

"How come you didn't come over and say hi?" she asked.

The twenty-year-old Crimson Knight only shrugged. "You know me, crowds and attention just aren't my thing."

Lenne looked at her friend and found him completely unlike her guardian. He was slightly taller than Takoire and had pale blonde hair that went to his shoulder and was held up in a ponytail. He wore the same clothes as Garren with the exception of how he wore them. His jacket was open and showed tanned muscles while he wore his sleeves rolled up. He didn't wear boots but simpler shoes that Lenne could only guess were because of the difference in weather between Besaid and Bevelle.

Not to mention he was acting the way Lenne noticed whenever she was around. It didn't take a genius to notice that he had feelings for her. Lenne just wasn't sure how to act around him anymore.

"That makes two of us," Lenne answered.

"You headed back to the city now?"

"In just a minute, there's something I want to check in the ruins."

Darka looked unsure. "Do you want me to wait for you?"

She shook her head. "No, go on ahead. You have to be there too, you know."

With a shrug, Darka left for the short trek back to the city, and Lenne continued to climb. She reached the top and found herself looking at her sanctuary. She moved aside some brush and climbed through a small hole that gave Lenne access to the cliff. The summoner stopped to look around for a moment before she began to rip off vines from a lone wall.

Finding what she was looking for, Lenne traced her fingers over the chokin of her summoner's brand on the wall.

"Takoire…"

Author's Notes:

Final Revision