Indigo Wings Part II

---

"It's too bad that Adrian cancelled our party!" Juka said to Albatross as the two walked through the Luca town square a bit later. Kevi had retreated to the hotel, and Adrian had said that, although she would comply to staying the night, parties were strictly prohibited. "This really sucks."

"I guess," Albatross laughed. Albatross had asked Juka if she had wanted to take a walk with him before Adrian demanded they all go to sleep. It was still the middle of the day, and the sun was still shining overhead as people excitedly talked of the Auroch's victory in the tournament. "But hey, this isn't so bad, right?"

"Where are you guys going after this?" Juka asked her Yevon Priest friend.

"Lord Mika wants my attendance in Bevelle," Albatross told her. "So we'll be heading there via the Mihen High Road."

"We're heading that way too!" Juka said excitedly. "Maybe we could go together!"

"Sorry Juka, but we have to get there A.S.A.P," Albatross said with an apologetic frown. "We'll be escorted by the Chocobo Knights."

"Oh, I see," Juka grinned, elbowing Albatross in the arm. "Mr. Fancy Pants is getting special treatment, huh?"

"Hey, no way!" Albatross laughed. "To tell you the truth, I'd rather just walk. But Mika will saw my head off."

Juka laughed at that image. The two walked down the street, past the Sphere theater, and now were in the main hall of the tournament stadium. Crusaders still lined the area, looking for any sort of fiends left over from the attack earlier. "Let's take a walk along the docks," Albatross suggested, pointing to the left hall. "What do you say?"

"Sure, why not?" Juka asked, smiling at her friend. "Sounds fun!"

---

"There, that's better," Ashnigh smiled as she finished healing Lairon's arm. The rest of the gang were assembled in a hotel room in Luca, and Ashnigh had just finished healing a burn on Lairon's arm that he had received from a fiend.

"Thanks Ashnigh," Lairon smiled. "I owe you."

"No, it's my pleasure," Ashnigh smiled warmly and looked over to where Adrian was sitting, looking at her hands and thinking hard. "What's wrong Adrian?"

"I'm thinking about Maester Seymour's aeon," Adrian said.

"I thought that it would still be on your mind…" Ashnigh sighed.

"You mean Anima?" Lairon asked. Adrian turned to Lairon, as did Ashnigh. "Anima is Maester Seymour's personal Aeon. Only he controls it. No one knows where it actually resides."

"That's amazing," Ashnigh murmured. "But…the Aeon…Anima was it?"

"Yes."

"It isn't like the other Aeons," she shook her head. "It seems almost…pained. Not like the others. It seems like it's fighting reluctantly."

"Who knows?" Adrian murmured, turning around. "All I know…is that that power I felt was the greatest power I think I'll ever feel."

"And you want it?" Lairon asked, smiling.

"Yes," Adrian nodded. "But not for the reasons you think."

"Then what reason?"

Adrian paused, looked at her hands again, and clenched them into tight fists. "To understand…what it truly is."

---

"Hey you! Don't just stand there! All of this is your fault! Gettin' swallowed by Sin! Ending up here in Spira!"

Juka's ears perked up, and she looked to her left as the two passed by one of the docks. She gasped to see it was the same blonde haired guy that she had seen running by the area before. He was shouting at an older man that she had also seen at the stadium…was he the one that had been with Luna?

"Not being able to go back to Zanarkand--everything, everything! I'm telling you, it's all your fault." The blonde haired guy's voice subsided. He was no longer angry, but now…almost disappointed.

"What is he talking about?" Juka whispered to Albatross.

"Come."

Juka nodded as the High Priest made his way behind a stack of large crates to listen more intently. Juka followed him and hid as well. The conversation continued, and the two listened intently.

The older man laughed, and Juka looked at Albatross anxiously. However, Albatross didn't return her gaze. He was too busy looking at the man and the boy, his eyes sharp and intent. Juka also returned to the conversation.

"Who are you, anyway?" asked the blonde youth, "You knew my old man, didn't you?"

"His…father?" Juka whispered. "What's he talking about with all this 'Zanarkand' stuff?"

"Shhh," Albatross quieted her, and Juka nodded, remaining silent.

"Yeah," the older man replied.

"And you also knew Yuna's father?" Lady Yuna's father…Lord Braska. The last High Summoner to have defeated Sin. So this man was obviously extremely important.

"That's correct."

"Hey man, no way!" the blonde guy interjected, "There's no way. That just impossible!"

"Nothing impossible about it…" the man murmured, looking out at the sea. "Jecht, Braska, and I... Together we defeated Sin, ten years ago." Juka gasped. So this man was actually Sir Auron, the legendary guardian of Lord Braska, along with Sir Jecht. "Then I went to Zanarkand...where I watched over you. So that one day I could bring you to Spira."

'Bring him…to Spira?' Juka thought, furrowing her brow. 'I don't get it. Where could he have come from?'

"Why did it have to be me?" the youth asked.

"Jecht asked me to." Juka gasped. Everyone knew that Sir Jecht was dead, right? Had it been the man's dying wish for his son to come to Spira? But then again…

"I…" Juka shook her head. "What about Sir Jecht? Is he dead too?"

"Nope! He's alive!" Luna smiled and Juka once again fell over.

"You idiot! Everyone knows he's dead! He died along with High Summoner Braska! Only fools think that he might still be alive!"

"But he is!" Luna frowned. "And everyone knows he's alive too!"

"No they don't!" Juka snapped. "He's dead Luna! You're just being silly!"

"I am not, I am not!" Luna shook her head, almost shaking her cap right off of it. "Look at the statue!" She pointed to Jecht's statue. "Look at it! Really look at it!"

"Is he…alive?" the boy asked, and Juka looked up. Her question was about to be answered.

"It depends on what you mean by "alive". He is no longer human. But then...I felt something of Jecht there in that shell, couldn't you?" Juka looked at Albatross, but Albatross was so engrossed in the conversation that he paid Juka no mind. She was forced to return back to the conversation, still confused, but fear knotting in her stomach. "You must have felt him when you came in contact with Sin."

There was a pause, and Juka almost let out a huge gasp as she realized what Auron was insinuating. Sir Jecht's son also looked as though he had realized it. He stepped back, shocked.

"It can't be…" He muttered.

"It can't be..." Juka repeated, her eyes wide.

"It is," Auron turned to the boy, a cold stare on his face. "Sin is Jecht."

Juka backed away, knocking over a crate in her rustling. Albatross turned to her, and then to the other two, but it seemed as though they hadn't noticed.

Juka was already running, Albatross right behind her. She had to tell someone, anyone, about this. What was going on? Sir Jecht, the beloved guardian of Lord Braska, was actually Sin? And his son had come from Zanarkand in order to see his father? It didn't make sense to her, and she didn't know where she was going, or what she was doing. The next thing Juka realized, she was sprinting towards the hotel, only one thing in mind.

---

"Sin is Jecht!"

Juka slammed open the door to their room and screamed out what she had just heard to the people currently conversing amongst themselves. They turned to look at her, and Juka had to catch her breath before continuing. "I-It's…It's Jecht. Sir Jecht. He's…actually…he's actually…"

"Sir Jecht, legendary guardian of Lord Braska, is actually Sin."

Juka looked up to see a very hardened faced Albatross staring at the room of people, who were currently looking extremely confused. "Sin has an identity. And it is none other than Sir Jecht."

"You're nuts!" Tai shouted, standing up, his eyes wide. "What's all this talk about?"

"Yeah! I don't get it!" Briu shook his head. "How can Sir Jecht be Sin? Why would kill all those people?"

"I know as much as you do now," Albatross said, narrowing his eyes. "But I just know one thing; Sir Auron did not lie. Sir Jecht…is Sin."

"He's RIIIIGHHHT!"

The group looked up to see none other then Luna hanging from the light fixture on the ceiling, smiling widely and tapping her boots together. She jumped down, knocking Lairon and Ashnigh off of the sofa and claiming it for herself. "Sin is Jecht all right! 150 percent certain!"

"How would you know Luna?" Spiler asked, looking at the energetic Black Mage.

"Where's Kevi?" Ashnigh asked, getting up and rubbing her tail bone. "He should hear this too…"

"It's not you actually believe it Ashnigh?" Tai asked, looking at her oddly.

"W-Well…Sir Albatross says it's so," she said, looking at her shoes. "I don't understand much…but…but the least we can do is take this information to heart."

"I agree with Ashnigh," Lairon said. "Something like this…could be valuable against Sin."

"I really don't care what Sin happens to be."

The group looked up to see that it was none other then Adrian that had spoken. She was currently staring out the window the hotel room, her eyes blank and translucent. "I'm not going to be pretend that I'm not surprised, but the truth is, I have to defeat Sin, no matter what."

"And there's one more thing!" Juka said, stepping forward. "The blonde guy with Sir Auron was actually--"

Albatross squeezed Juka's shoulder, and Juka stopped, turning to look at Albatross. He didn't give her a look, but squeezed her shoulder again. She gave him an odd expression, confused as to why he was urging her to keep Sir Jecht's son from Zanarkand a secret, but she trusted the Maester-to-be and turned to the group. "He…was…actually the guy we saw the other time. Adrian and Albatross were with me. He must be a companion…"

"I don't see why that matters," Briu shrugged, and Adrian turned to look at Juka, who was averting her gaze. "Anyway…about Kevi…"

"What about me?"

The group looked up to see Kevi walk through the door, a dark expression on his face. "I heard most of it. I've been standing behind the door for awhile. Don't worry, no one else heard."

"Good," Albatross nodded. "Katrina, Lairon, we have to get going. Maester Mika is expecting us."

"You're not going to--" Juka began, and Albatross smiled at her.

"This will be our secret," he told them all, surveying the group as Lairon and Katrina got up to join him. "As friends. I'll be in contact."

With that, Albatross, Lairon, and Katrina walked towards the door, Kevi moving out of the way to let them go. Lairon smiled at Ashnigh as they left, and Katrina made a face at Tiffa as she left the room, Tiffa making a rather rude gesture in response.

Soon, the three were gone, leaving only the sullen summoner and her guardians in the hotel room. "So…" Juka looked at her shoes. "What now? Should we…find Sir Auron again?"

"Nah!" Luna shook her head. "Wouldn't be worth it. He won't talk to no one but me, and he hates me anyway!"

"Then I guess we're stuck when it comes to this lead," Kevi sighed, sitting on an available chair. "What do we do?"

"There's only one thing we can do," Adrian remarked, turning her head to have her eyes meet her entire group. "We keep going. Tomorrow morning we head straight for Djose Temple."

"I bet…" Juka began, and everyone turned to stare at the young girl. "If I could find that blonde guy again…I could talk to him…about Jecht."

"What makes you so sure?" Adrian looked back at Juka, her eyes narrow.

"Well, I dunno," Juka sighed, shaking her head and tapping her foot. "I've run into him two times already, haven't I? Maybe it's fate."

"I don't really care much about fate," Adrian muttered. "For now, I suggest we keep our eyes on the prize. And that is Sin."