Chapter 3: Kiryu, Master of the Skies

Danielle watched the others fight against Sin's monsters, but they were getting beaten by the monsters. When the group on the deck as defeated, more would take their place. "Yuna, summon Valefor!" Wakka shouted, throwing his ball at another of the monsters and killing it.

"I can't! He's too weak from fighting the garuda we encountered earlier!" she replied, casting a spell to heal Tidus. Wakka muttered darkly under his breath, taking out another creature just to have more come in.

Danielle grew worried. Yuna couldn't keep casting those healing spells, and the creatures on the deck just kept on coming. They would shoot down from Sin's fin, so if they hit that… But that would leave them wide open to the monsters. There had to be something she could do to help. But what? She didn't have a weapon, and she wasn't exactly a magic user like Lulu and Yuna. So what could she do? The anger and helplessness built up inside, and it was all she could do to stop herself from just shouting and hitting something. That was when she heard a voice from all around her, whispering softly.

Summon him. Call the aeon of the skies.

Her eyes went wide as an ancient power flowed through her body. It was the same power she had felt within the temple, but much stronger. Warmth spread all through her, and Danielle closed her eyes, knowing what she had to do. As the green symbol that represented Besaid appeared, spheres of light shot out from the ground into the sky. Danielle tilted her head to look up, watching in awe as a winged beast, the aeon Valefor, flew down towards the ship. He hovered beside her, and while she was looking up at his face, she could feel the stares of the people around her. A name came to mind, and she whispered it softly.

"Kiryu." The aeon nodded its head slightly and flew up in front of Yuna's group. It sent a sonic blast at the massive fin that rose out of the water and flew over one of the monsters on the deck's attacks.

"Pull back!" Danielle heard Yuna say. "Valefor can dodge the Sinscales' attacks. You don't need to fight anymore."

Danielle thought hard. Could Kiryu really do this fight on his own? She had to have faith that the aeon could win. The Valefor flew over the creatures called Sinscales and ripped at the fin's flesh with his talons. This pattern of attacking and avoiding the Sinscales continued, but nothing seemed to be happening. Danielle started to get worried. A harpoon was stuck to Sin's fin, so it was dragging them with it. They had to stop it soon before something happened. "Finish the fight! Use his Overdrive!" Yuna shouted.

Danielle looked over at her, confused. Overdrive? What the heck was that? But her aeon understood, and he nodded his head. Energy built up in his mouth, and a thing ray shout out across Sin's fin. All along the line it cut, bursts of fire shot up, engulfing Sin's flesh. Sin jerked away, tearing off the harpoon launcher that had been attached to it. Everything fell silent, and it seemed that everyone was safe. Everyone except Tidus. He was nowhere in sight. Wakka dove off the side of the ship into the water, apparently going after his friend.

Now everyone looked back at Danielle and Kiryu, who was now hovering beside her. Danielle's mouth went dry, and she struggled to try and think of what to stay. Kiryu looked Danielle in the eye and let out a low crooning sound before he flew off. As he left, she suddenly felt fatigued and fell to her hands and knees. Summoning the aeon had sapped her strength, and her body wasn't prepared to handle something like this.

Gentle hands helped her to stand, leading her over to lean against the bulkhead of the bridge. There was a strange warmth throughout her body, and her tiredness went away slightly. Shaking her head, she looked up to see Yuna with her rod in hand. On either side of her were Lulu and Kimahri. While the Ronso's face betrayed none of his emotions, both Lulu and Yuna both looked uncertain and confused.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a summoner…?" Yuna asked softly.

"I… I didn't know… I didn't know I could actually do it…" As Danielle stared down at the deck, feeling numb. "I thought the fayth was just saying stuff… Saying I was a summoner and I had to help Spira… I really didn't think it was true…"

"The fayth? You saw the fayth of Besaid Temple?" Lulu's eyes narrowed slightly. "We only knew of one summoner who was entering the temple, and that's Yuna."

Yuna looked thoughtful for a moment. "So when you were entering the temple, you saw the fayth, too…?

With a soft sight, Danielle stared up into the blue sky. "Yeah, I did…"

"But why didn't you tell us?"

Danielle hesitated. "Because…" She struggled to think of the right words. "I wasn't sure at all… I thought you would be mad because I hid it from you guys…"

Yuna stared intently at her, looking hurt. "Maybe we would have, but not as much as us finding it out this way. You can trust us, Danielle."

Signing heavily, Danielle turned away, walking slowly towards the cabin. Yeah, maybe Yuna was right… But she had probably lost her friends' trust now. It wouldn't surprise her. How could you trust a person who didn't even trust herself?

"Danielle…" As Yuna said her name, she hung her head low, descending down the steps into the cabin. She couldn't face them now…Not after what happened. They would be in Kilika soon. When they arrived, Danielle would quietly leave them, never troubling them again.

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Kilika was a sad sight to behold. Sin had wreaked havoc on the small port. Homes were destroyed, bridges and walkways damaged… Danielle stared at it all with a heavy heart. Regardless of their attempts to stop Sin, he still came to Kilika and destroyed nearly everything. Both Wakka and Tidus had been forced to fight off a creature known as a Sinspawn underwater, so they had been delayed from arriving for a good while. But even if that didn't happen, would they still have been able to make a difference?

An elder came over to their group, speaking to Yuna about some sort of "sending". She agreed to perform it, and he lead her away. Danielle stayed back as they walked away before turning down another path. No one noticed, at least that's what she hoped.

Silently, she walked over to some woods, looking around. There was a cliff edge nearby, and from there, she could see Yuna and the others in the distance. She lay down on the grass, arms folded under her chin, and watched with curiosity. Yuna walked out into the water, and as Danielle squinted to see better, she realized that Yuna was walking on the water.

"The heck…?" she muttered in surprise. "How's she doing that…?" Danielle watched with amazement as Yuna began to perform some sort of dance. Little spheres of light that looked like fireflies began to fly up from the caskets that the people of Kilika released, drifting around the area as Yuna continued to dance. Danielle felt a sorrow deep within. All of these people, dead… And Sin would continue killing, never stopping until a summoner defeated him… She felt more determined than ever to help stop him. Even if no one trusted her, she would still fight. She couldn't just let this continue happening.

Danielle continued to watch silently, frowning a bit. She heard something, voices, all around her. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore them. It was like that day a few weeks back, when she had discovered the truth about her past and her role in the battle with the Ancients. But that was just a side-effect of seeing the monsters. Defeating them had made it go away. Now though… It was something different.

Instead of fighting the voices and just making them work, she allowed them to speak, listening intently for some sort of information, something she could use to find out why she was hearing them. Yeah, it was a long shot, but it was worth a try. What she heard surprised her. It was people, bringing their angry requests to her. They were mad at Sin for taking their lives. They wanted revenge. They wanted her to kill the beast. Their combined anger was so overwhelming that Danielle felt dizzy and sick. It took all her will not to lose her lunch as she tried to shut out the voices once more. Then they stopped, just like that.

Taking deep breaths, Danielle slowly stood up, shaking. Now she was really scared. Never had anything like that happened. And to make matters worse, she heard the familiar moan of a zombie. Blood running cold, she turned around, facing the mummified beast that had appeared before her. The smell of rotting flesh washed over her, making her gag, but she slowly backed away, tried to calm down enough to size up the situation.

She knew what one of Xel'lotath's servants could do. It was dangerous to fight hand to hand, but she couldn't just leave it here to go into Kilika and terrorize the people. With her back to the cliff edge, she dashed forward to get past the creature. Its rotting nails found her arm, cutting a large gash up her forearm. Feeling lightheaded, she brought up her leg and kicked the creature in the back, sending it forward towards the cliff. It was almost off the edge. Seeing her chance, Danielle drove her elbow deep into its back, sending it plummeting into the water.

Danielle fell backwards to a sitting position on the ground, catching her breath. "Why was a Xel'lotath zombie here? There's no possible way she could have called that thing. None of the Ancients could!" She rubbed her eyes, shaking once more. She could feel the blood trickling down her arm, could feel the stinging pain of her injury, but she didn't pay attention to it. Everything was happening too fast again. She had to slow down, try and put together the pieces.

The Ancients had influence in this world, too. One was dead, another was bound beyond the Veil of Reality, and the last was bound within the soul of a living human. There was no possible way that they should be able to summon their minions to this world, yet she had just encountered one. Was something happening that the remaining two were gaining power once more? "No way to know," she whispered. "No way can I risk using magick, and there's no way to contact Alex or even the spirits of the Chosen. I'm all alone on this one."

Danielle let out a frustrated sigh. First it was this whole deal with being a summoner, then she had to deal with her only friends here not trusting her anymore, and now the Ancients were back! She was really getting sick and tired of this. She sat there, hands clasped together, her head hanging down and resting on them. Confused thoughts swirled around in her head, but she made no effort to sort through them. She just wanted to slow down, to rest, to not have to put up with this burden…

She had no idea how long she had been there, eyes closed. But when she finally opened them, the first things she saw were the two thin lines that marked the scars on both of her wrists. Everything else slipped out of her mind as she looked at them, recalling that dark day when she had just wanted it all to end. And she had tried to make it stop herself…

"Danielle?" She didn't look up, but she recognized the voice of Yuna. A tear slid down her face as the memories came back. Alex, screaming her name, the pain that was followed by numbness throughout her whole body…

Yuna laid her hand on Danielle's shoulder, and as she knelt beside her, the grief and sorrow Danielle had held inside came rushing out, and she began to cry.