A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Fifty-Three

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

Last Time:

The blonde-haired guardian's eyes shot open. Normally a pale red, a certain glow seemed to be emanating from them with a look of strict fierceness written on his face. He let go of the dagger.

"Darka!" Lenne yelled.

But he was fine. He was actually calm and suspended in the air. The red glow that had begun in his eyes had now enveloped his entire body. Darka held out his hand, parallel to the ground. "Level," he said in a voice that was not his.

Immediately the airship obeyed and leveled, coming to fly beneath Darka's feet. A look of bewilderment was written on the three others faces.

The bird shrieked again.

Darka turned quickly and glared icily at the creature. "How dare you attempt to harm those in my domain!" Darka's voice bellowed. It was hard and as icy as his eyes had become and demanded that it be listened to. "You who follow orders blindly and weakly gave your souls to be used, be gone! I banish you from my skies!"

With a wave of his hand, the creature erupted into pyreflies.

The Crimson Knight of Besaid's comrades stood up and stared at him in awe.

"Darka?" Garren asked, touching his Besaid counterpart's shoulder.

Lenne's eyes widened. "That's not Darka…"

Garren quickly withdrew his hands as Darka turned.

"It's Suzaku…" Takoire finished, staring at Darka. "Suzaku's possessing Darka's body…"

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Darka, or what appeared to be Darka, stared at his hands, turning them over and staring at them curiously. He touched his purple and blue clothing with his fingertips, as if discovering the sense of touch for the first time. He ran his hands through his blonde hair and turned to the three nearby with a look of slight amusement.

"It has been many centuries since I have possessed a body, and even when I had, I have never become entirely accustomed to the feelings that come with it. In my form as a natural aeon, I have certain advantages, but the same can be said for this body," Darka spoke, his voice calm and deep. "Although, just having a body sometimes is not enough. The body of my high summoner allows me certain abilities compared with any other body I were to possess."

Lenne looked at him hesitantly. "Where's Darka?"

Suzaku looked up. "He is here, underneath. He has allowed me to use his body as a vessel."

Takoire bowed his head. "May I ask why and how you are here?"

Suzaku turned slightly. "You are Takoire, guardian of the ages." The former blitzball captain turned his head away. "You do not recognize that name."

"I don't," Takoire returned.

"Why not?"

The black-haired guardian frowned. "I don't believe you're born into something, you earn it. Nothing as important as leadership or a prophecy should be born into. There is no such thing as destiny. It's all choice."

The aeon smiled lightly. "Do you not remember what the Cheribum told you?"

Garren cleared his throat, a look of confusion plastered onto all his features. "Uh… sorry. But me being the only person who's not a summoner or summoner's guardian, I'm still kind of confused. I don't mean any disrespect, but I'm still wondering about Takoire's question. Why are you here?"

Darka's head shook. "Sareth's madness is tipping the balance of power, and the aeons will not stand by. The creature that attacked your ship was a soul trapped by Sareth to serve him. You call them fayth."

Lenne's eyes widened and shook her head. "No… the fayth give up their souls freely. That's the only way they can become fayth, because they gave them up freely."

"No," Suzaku answered. "True, giving their souls up freely gives them a slight bit more power, but the user does not necessarily require the person's consent. Sareth has created new fayth in addition to those that already were. I have come to tell you that the natural aeons will help you in your fight, but there is one condition."

"What?" Takoire asked.

"Our powers are limited to our domains," Suzaku answered. "Once we land, I will be useless to you and will leave this body. My powers lie with the sky, Byakko fire, Genbu earth, and Seiryu water." He paused. "I am beginning to take a toll on your friend's body."

"One more question," the high summoner continued to insist. "What about the Cheribum? Why doesn't he do anything to help us?"

Darka's head fell. "The Cheribum does not interfere in Spira's affairs no matter the circumstances. He will not help you," as he finished, Suzaku took a step back, Darka's body straightened, and a glowing crimson seemed to step out of the young man's body. The shimmer of a body stood behind the Crimson Knight for only a second before it disappeared, and Darka collapsed.

He groaned, Takoire and Garren catching him. "Ugh… I feel like the life's been sucked out of me. What happened?"

Lenne stared at him curiously. "You don't remember? Suzaku was possessing your body."

"Sir Garren," the pilot's voice started over the comm., "is everyone all right? What happened to that thing?"

The Crimson Knight of Bevelle grimaced, still holding up his Besaid counterpart. "Peachy, just peachy, Kurai. Land the ship as close to the temple as you can. We're on our way back inside now so just be a good little pilot and get us there alive."

The pilot answered back, "Yes, sir."

Darka continue to groan, holding his head.

Takoire led them down towards the lift. "Give it time, it'll come back to you. You just need some sleep. It takes a lot of energy to house an aeon in your body."

"Ugh…" Darka continued to groan. "Why the hell did I get made Suzaku's head summoner?"

Takoire put on a smirk. "Maybe it was your eyes, Darka."

His summoner spun around to look at him. "His eyes?"

"Yeah," the guardian answered simply. "Haven't you ever noticed? The head summoner's eyes almost always match their aeons' color. Not many people have red eyes you know."

Darka scoffed. "Glad to know somebody appreciates me for my good looks," finishing as the lift doors re-opened. The guardians parted a way for the four.

"Huh…" Lenne looked shocked. "Darka, did you just make a joke?" He stayed silent. "Cheribum… I never thought I'd see the day. I've known you since I was nine, and I've never heard you so much as a utter a joke."

Entering into the main body of the airship, Garren and Takoire laid the Crimson Knight of Besaid down onto a bed off on the sides. "You are staying here," Garren ordered.

"What?" Darka began to sit up, alarmed.

"Garren's right," Takoire countered, beginning to walk off.

Darka continued to protest. "Hey!"

The Crimson Knight of Bevelle ignored him, yelling into the crowd of summoners and guardians. "Okay, listen up! You all need to know what you're going into! Sareth has created new aeons using innocent people and has imprisoned their souls unwillingly to create new fayth! He has already attacked our airship with one of them! If anyone does not want to go down, speak up now, no one will think of you any less!" The airship stayed silent. "Kurai?"

"Yes, sir?" the pilot responded over the comm.

"Circle around the temple as long as you can, but do not compromise the Bahamut's safety. Got it? Drop us off and get back up into the air."

"Yes, sir!" Kurai answered.

Garren turned back to those who surrounded him. "Okay, people, this is it! Let's go get the temple back!"

As if to fit his speech, the airship rocked slightly, hitting the ground. The doors slid opened.

"If any of you find Sareth," Takoire yelled out, "under no circumstances are you to take him on your own! You find either myself, Sir Garren, or High Summoner Lenne! Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the group of guardians yelled back.

Garren nodded in approval. "Move out!"

The guardians and summoners jeered, running out from the airship.

Lenne, Garren, and Takoire were the last to leave. The two guardians turned to the high summoner, standing with her sword in her hand and her eyes closed as she breathed in deeply.

"You ready?" Takoire asked.

Her eyes shot open, an icy blue aura suddenly engulfing her like a flame. She nodded her head. "Yeah."

The three ran out from the shelter of the Bahamut and threw themselves into the battle without hesitation.

As Garren and Takoire immediately ran off to aid already outnumbered guardians and summoners, the temple caught Lenne's eye first. The simple structure had caught fire and was spreading rapidly; everyone was too busy fighting to notice. She could see guardians and summoners fighting against a few rampage fiends and other unknown creatures, some looking like simply enlarged fiends while others were vicious looking beings of elaborate colors, and it seemed the guardians and her summoners were having the most trouble with the latter.

But first thing was first, the Macalania temple had refugees sent to it days earlier, and there was a high possibility that most of the refugees were in the temple. Lenne closed her eyes to everyone around her and put herself into deep thought. She had summoned Seiryu's essence on her last moments on the airship, but most of it had gone into her sword. The truth was that if she channeled any more into her own body, then it would have been more than she had ever held on her own.

The icy blue aura that had surrounded Lenne intensified around her. Lenne's senses suddenly intensified as well, her body becoming aware of more and more everything around her. She waved her hand casually towards the temple.

Within seconds, a wall of water came up between the stone and flame before crashing down onto the second. She waved her hand a second and third time, the process repeating itself until the roaring flames had gone down into nothing more than some smoldering ruins.

As soon as Lenne was convinced that the flames were no longer a threat, she fell to her knees in exhaustion. Every muscle in her body was overused to the point where she couldn't move. She had a headache rivaled only by the headaches she shared with Takoire. She stared at the snow beneath her.

"Ah… my favorite high summoner," a cynical voice said. Lenne didn't have to look up to know who it was. "Fancy meeting you here. Who knew Spira was so small?"

It hurt to lift her head, but she did it anyway. "Shut it you psychopath."

Sareth knelt down on one knee and smiled at her. He brought his hand to her face, but Lenne could only manage a feeble attempt to push him away. "You have beautiful eyes, you know that, don't you, Lenne?"

"Don't touch me," she growled.

He continued. "I'm sure my brother adores your eyes. I'm sure every time he looks into them he just falls right in." Lenne struggled to get away, but he grabbed her by the chain of her necklace. "You could have prevented all of this you know. All those years ago, you shouldn't have put up a fight. You should have just let me become your guardian. But you chose destruction, didn't you? You chose my brother over me… and look where it got you."

Lenne only continued to glare at him. "If I had to make that choice a thousand times over and knew what would happen every time, I'd still choose Takoire!"

Then she heard it.

"Lenne!"

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She was lying helplessly in his brother's grip. He had to do something. He looked down at his ring and frowned. He'd pay for it later, so would she for that matter, and he'd have an even shorter time to stay, but he had to do it. He didn't have a choice.

Closing his eyes, he tapped into the uncontrollable power within his ring and felt it surge into his body like a river that had been held back by a dam.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye to everyone else, time almost stopped to a standstill for Takoire as he ran as fast as he could to his summoner and brother. With a roar of anger, he rammed his body into the once ruler of Bevelle. "Sareth!"

Normal time resumed as Takoire knocked Sareth to the ground. Throwing out his right arm, Takoire pulled out his dagger and thrust hard into his brother's stomach.

A wall of shimmering light surrounded Sareth for only a few seconds, but as Takoire's knife went through it, the sharp edge became dull and the luster of the metal had turned to rust and crumbled as it touched Sareth's clothing. Sareth's shielded dissipated soon after before he stumbled a few steps back and whistled loudly.

Bahamut's dark form fell on them, kicking up the loose snow around him. As Sareth climbed onto the once great aeon's back, Takoire pushed Lenne away.

"Get away from me!" the guardian yelled at her.

Takoire stared at her for only a moment until he clutched the summoner's brand on his shoulder. He suddenly broke out yelling, falling to his knees and clutching his head. He screamed out in pain.

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Lenne watched her guardian and fell next to him, looking for someway to help him.

Abruptly, Lenne realized something. All she had was a mild tension in her head. She was barely feeling the effects of Takoire.

He was blocking her.

She shook him. "Why are you doing this!" Lenne demanded, but he didn't hear her. "You're gonna kill yourself this way!" she continued to yell at him. "Stop blocking me! You're gonna kill yourself faster if you keep all of it to yourself!"

Takoire promptly stopped shaking and looked up at Lenne. His eyelids beginning to slowly droop until he eventually slumped over in his summoner's arms.

Lenne's eyes widened as she shook him again lightly. "Takoire!"

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Author's Notes:

Final Revision