Chapter 38: Yuna's Final Aeon
Operation Mi'ihen ... It was a disaster that left Tidus at a loss for words. To see first-hand Sin's destruction ... First Kilika, and now this ... How much more could Spira take?
"Don't you run away from me!" he had angrily shouted at his father before racing into the water and trying to swim after him. The ruins on the bottom of the ocean floor were a testament to another city long ago destroyed by Sin. Anger boiled through Tidus's blood as childhood resentment consumed him. His body began to change with his darkening mood, becoming long and serpentine. He flicked a thick, scaled tail and raced to catch up to the enormous aeon. Blue spines on his back and fins at his ribs helped him cut through the water like a torpedo. He raked black talons across Sin's hard shell, making it spin back toward him. Then, his long, golden-scaled body coiled around it to choke the life from it. Sin cast a spell that burned against the serpent's white underbelly, but he refused to let go, constricting even tighter. But with Sin's second spell, Tidus saw himself dissolving away into nothing. No ... He couldn't lose to Jecht - not after everything he'd done to him as a kid - not after everything he'd done to Spira.
"No!" Tidus sat up in a cold sweat. He wasn't underwater at all. He'd been sleeping on the sofa in one of the Djose temple's guest rooms. But his heart thudded mercilessly against his lungs until his senses came back to reality.
Everyone else from his party had crashed for the night in other places throughout the same room. But at his shout, they sat up and squinted at him with sleepy, annoyed faces.
Tidus groaned at the nightmare and let his head drop into his hands. It was the first time he had dreamed about that since leaving Zanarkand, but this time it was more vivid, more detailed, more real. What were these dreams? Were they something more than a symbol of his feelings about his father? He thought of the Crusaders hit by Sin's magic and touched a hand to his chest to make sure he was solidly here. Then, he growled in frustration and hit the sofa.
"Man, this floor was just beginning to feel comfortable, too," Wakka complained and shoved Tidus's leg out of his way to roll back over. "What'd you have to go and yell like that for, ya?"
Auron had been sitting against the wall beneath a multi-colored window that looked more gray than colored in the dim light of night. Lifting his chin, he stared at his former ward with expectation. "The dream again?"
"Yeah," Tidus reluctantly admitted. "Sin was in it this time. Sin is what I was chasing."
The room was silent while everyone considered their own nightmarish experiences with Sin, both today and in the past. "Sin leaves scars on the mind," Lulu spoke from her place on the bed across from the sofa. "We all have them."
The door to the room opened, and Yuna poked her head through. "Is everything okay in here? I was tending to the injured in the hall, and I heard someone yell."
"Just a bad dream." Tidus shook his head. "Sorry for waking everyone up."
Yuna tip-toed into the room and crouched beside him at his knee. "I can give you some tea mixed with dream powder if you're having trouble sleeping."
"Or I could always hit him up-aside the head with my blitzball. That'll knock him out," Wakka muttered from the floor.
Tidus frowned and used the foot draped over the side of the sofa to give his friend's back a small kick.
Yuna laughed lightly behind her hand. "Well, if you need anything to help you sleep, let me know. I'm going into the temple's great hall next to see if they still need help in there."
"You're still working? Aren't you tired?"
"Yes, but ... there's so many wounded. The temple is completely out of space, and some of them won't last until morning if I can't heal them tonight."
"But if you don't get your rest, you'll run out of energy to cast your cure spells."
"I know, but I can't rest until I've done everything I could. So many were lost today."
Tidus was concerned because Yuna wasn't the type to complain about her own needs. "Well, when you come back, wake me up again, and I'll let you have the sofa."
"I'll probably just sleep in the great hall." She smiled up at him before straightening to her full height. "No more bad dreams, okay?"
"No more bad dreams," he accepted the healer's orders. "I'll dream of you instead, okay?" he added with a cheesy grin.
Yuna blushed and smiled, putting a hand to her warm cheek.
Auron shook his head.
"Oh, for the love of ..." Wakka muttered under his breath.
"Tidus, lie down. Shut up. Go to sleep," Kimahri rumbled a warning from his place on the floor on the other side of Wakka.
"Sweet dreams." Yuna slipped back through the door, closing it behind her.
In the darkness, Tidus lay back down on the sofa and propped his hands behind his head. Closing his eyes, he pushed aside all thoughts concerning Sin and sea dragons. Instead, he thought about the stars in the sky ... and Yuna.
))((
Kaila gasped in disbelief. "Yuna got married? But—"
"To Anima's son, Seymour," Bahamut confirmed.
The female Fayth became incensed. "How could she marry someone like Seymour when she's got someone like Tidus right under her nose? Is she blind? I practically gift-wrapped him for her!"
"Yuna married Seymour for a chance to send him. They killed him in Macalania Temple because he murdered his father and then threatened them. They're fugitives from Yevon now."
"Fugitives?" Kaila quieted with worry. "I hate that my spirit isn't strong enough to wander far like yours. I wish I could see them. Yuna can't forsake Tidus for anyone else. We worked too hard on him. He's perfect!"
"What's perfect for you might not be perfect for Yuna. However, she doesn't seem to be complaining too much." Bahamut smirked and cast a spell over the water below the houseboat. Pyreflies drew together in an illusion of Tidus and Yuna speaking in a small spring in the woods.
Kaila ran to the edge of the boat and leaned over the rail to watch in wide-eyed wonder. Then, she looked over her shoulder to Bahamut. "How did you—"
"They're camping undercover in Macalania Woods right now. But earlier tonight, they were swimming in this spring. Its water is filled with pyreflies, so I was easily able to preserve the memory of what happened to summon it here."
Kaila looked back down at the vision on the water's surface.
Yuna allowed herself to drift on the water's surface, floating free. "What'll I do if I give up my pilgrimage?"
"Hey! Zanarkand! Let's go to Zanarkand! Not the one in Spira, the one I'm from. Yeah, we can all fly there. Everyone can go! Then, we'll have a big party at my place!"
Yuna stood upright in the water, sharing his enthusiasm. "And then we could see blitzball!"
"Yeah!"
"Your Zanarkand Abes would play. We could all watch you play, in the stadium all lit up at night. I'd cheer and cheer 'till I couldn't cheer anymore!" She grinned as her hands hit the water.
"Right on!" he agreed, glad to see her cheering up again.
Yuna paused. "Well ... what about after the game?"
"We'd go out and have fun."
"In the middle of the night?" She blinked as if this was unheard of.
"No problem!" He laughed lightly at her reaction to that idea. "Zanarkand never sleeps!" Tidus lifted his chin to the sky and looked at the pyreflies and stars that sparkled overhead. "Let's go to the sea before sunrise. The city lights go out one by one. The stars fade." He lost himself for a moment in his memories of home and spread his arms over the water. "Then the horizon glows, almost like it's on fire. It's kinda rose-colored, right? First, in the sea, then it spreads to the sky, then to the whole city. It gets brighter and brighter until everything glows." He paused, able to see it in his mind, or at least the way it looked before Sin destroyed it. "It's really ... pretty. I know you'd like it."
"Mh." She sighed slightly and saddened again. "I'd like to see it ... someday."
He looked away from the stars and turned to face her. "Well, you can, Yuna. We can both go!" Though her back was to him once more, he saw a tear drop into the water and ripple away from her toward him. "Yu ..."
"I can't." She began to cry. "I just can't!" Tears trickled down her face, one after another. "I can't go!" Yuna's shoulders shook with soft sobs.
Tidus looked lost, wondering how to comfort her. Then, moving closer to her, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yuna ..."
She looked up to meet his eyes and tried not to cry anymore, but the tears wouldn't stop.
Only a breath away, Tidus kissed her. Yuna was wide-eyed in surprise for a moment, but he didn't notice. And she didn't resist. So, drawing his arm across her shoulders, pulling her closer still, he followed the first kiss with another.
"Ahhh! What is he doing?" Kaila fussed, grasping the boat rail. "She's married now! He said he'd never do anything like that, but he's got just enough Shuyin left in him to kiss someone who's already taken!"
Bahamut chuckled at Kaila's reaction. "Well, technically, she's a widow because she married a dead guy. But that's not the best part. Listen to this." Bahamut froze that illusion and brought up another of them sitting on the shores of that same spring.
"I'll continue," Yuna said as she watched the pyreflies."I must."
"Hm," Tidus commented.
"If I give up now, I could do anything I wanted to, and yet ... even if I was with you, I could never forget."
Tidus paused to think about what that meant for the journey ahead. His expression said that even though he didn't want her to do this, he couldn't let her do it alone. "I'll go with you."
She turned to him, surprised. "Hm?"
"I'm your guardian," he dogmatically reminded her. "Unless I'm ... fired?" He gestured a cut across his throat.
Yuna giggled at his delayed doubt about whether a guardian kissing his summoner was permissible. "Stay with me until the end. Please." She bowed politely with her request for him to continue being her guardian.
Tidus turned his gaze back to the water in front of them. "Not until the end. ... Always." He turned his chin to give her a wry smile.
"Always then." She bowed in polite gratitude. After a moment, Yuna stood, so he stood with her. "Maybe you should head back to camp first."
"Roger!" He stared into her eyes for a moment but then smiled and turned to walk away. He went slowly, looking up at the floating pyreflies below the stars. He seemed disappointed that she had dismissed him, so when a small whistle pierced the silence of the night, he immediately ran the short distance back to her.
Yuna giggled at his quick response. "Wait. I'll go with you."
He nodded, glad that she had changed her mind about walking with him, but she still remained a few shy paces behind. Tidus purposefully slowed his stroll and cast a small glance over his shoulder, casually stretching his hand behind himself toward her ... just a little.
Yuna saw the gesture and quickened her pace a few steps to catch up … just a little. Hesitantly, the shy summoner reached for his hand.
Tidus smiled to himself as his fingers interlocked hers. Now they could walk back to camp.
Bahamut's illusion faded.
A smile curled Kaila's lips, and she dropped her chin onto her fist as she propped her arm on the rail and gave a contented sigh. "See? I told you. He's perfect."
"And this means that if Yuna makes it to the Final Summoning, Tidus will volunteer to be the Fayth for her Final Aeon to protect her." Bahamut smiled with hope. "If he can defeat Yevon before the attempt to possess and merge with him, maybe she won't have to die."
Kaila's smile faded slightly, and she nodded with sad agreement. The sacrifice of the Final Aeon is what this experiment was all about. And it was going better than they expected. But with the end of Yuna's pilgrimage drawing closer, Kaila couldn't help but feel uneasy with their plan.
))((
Tidus's first look at the ruins below the summit of Gagazet held him spellbound. Even in the pretty orange and pink sunset-painted sky, Zanarkand was pale and lifeless. It was true. Everything they had said was true. He could never go home. His home was dead.
Earlier that day, he had touched the wall of the fayth, and it changed his life forever. One touch had swept him into the dream, where Bahamut met him on his houseboat.
"The people ... What, they're all dreams? Me, too?"
They moved to a different part of the deck. "Yes, you're a dream of the Fayth. Your father, your mother, everyone ... All dreams. And if the Fayth stop dreaming ..."
Despite what his senses told him, despite what he had always believed, despite all that he had experienced … he wasn't real. Tidus shook his head. "No! So what if I'm a dream! I ... I like being here!"
"We've been dreaming so long. We're tired. Would you and your father ... Would you let us rest? Both you and your father have been touched by Sin. Sin, the one around whom all Spira - the spiral - revolves." Bahamut vanished.
Tidus looked for him, and he reappeared in the distance. "What are you saying?"
"You two are more than just dreams now."
With the memory of re-entering Dream Zanarkand fresh in his mind, Tidus continued to ponder what Bahamut meant in saying that. More than just a dream, yet still a dream? He tried to understand, but he just couldn't. And he couldn't tell anyone else. This was worse than telling them Sin was his father. What would Yuna think of him if she knew he wasn't real?
His hand went to his pocket. Unzipping it, he removed the small, blue memory sphere that he had found at the top of the mountain summit before heading down the road into Zanarkand. The rest of the party had gone on alone, and he had stayed behind to view it, not knowing it was Yuna's recorded messages to all of her guardians. It had saddened him to watch it, but he turned it on and forwarded it again to the part where she addressed him.
"So, this is what it feels like. It's a much more wonderful feeling than anything I had ever imagined. Wonderful ... but it hurts, sometimes. I wonder. I ... I just want to say thank you for everything. Maybe, ... maybe that's why it hurts. When I ... When I think about us never being together again at all ... I'm afraid."
It had been recorded all the way back at the high road, the day before riding the chocobo. Why hadn't she said something to him sooner? Tidus clenched his teeth but continued watching.
"No, I shouldn't say that. I'll do that part over. Um, ..."
"Whatcha up to?" he had asked, approaching from behind.
Embarrassed, Yuna fumbled the sphere to quickly turn it off.
Turning the item over in his hands a few times, Tidus knew he should return it to her. He wanted to confront her about the confession. But he also wanted to throw it into the sea because she was saying goodbye. Maybe he would throw it into the sea, just as soon as he found a way to keep her alive.
))((
Also on the road to Zanarkand, Kaila had been waiting impatiently for their illusion's return, along with his summoner's party. It had been so long since she had seen Tidus, she almost ran to hug him as soon as she spotted him coming down the mountain slope from the Fayth Scar. It was good to have him within range of the dream again. But as he passed through her and paused behind the group to review and agonize over the sphere in his hands, she realized he wasn't his usual sunny self anymore. "You told him, didn't you?" she guessed, glancing toward Bahamut, who followed behind him.
"He touched the magic in the Fayth Scar and fell unconscious. He's still an illusion, so it was easy to draw some of his pyreflies into the dream with me. It was time he learned the truth about himself, now that they're here. I decided against telling him about Shuyin, though." The boy saddened. "Tidus doesn't want to give up what he's gained in the real world."
"Can you blame him?" Kaila looked at their illusion with full sympathy for what he must be feeling. "This goes beyond any betrayal Shuyin ever knew. Tidus's whole life is a lie. But he once told me he would be willing to let go of himself if he thought it could spare a loved one. I'm sure he will still do the right thing in the end, for her sake."
))((
Soon, Tidus would be entering the broken streets of the city where he only thought he once lived. He would be passing through real ghosts trying to save a real world he had never even been a part of until this journey began. It was strange, knowing he was only a temporary means to an end, created for the sole purpose of killing his own father. Tidus sighed and gently returned the sphere to his pocket. He would decide what to do about it later. Drawing a breath, he hopped down from the ruins and crossed the road back to where his companions were camping.
They had picked up one more member to their party after crossing the Moonflow, before the incidents that led to their arrest in Bevelle. Rikku, the Al Bhed girl he had met on the ship, turned out to be Yuna's cousin. Desperate to save her cousin's life, she had been the one who told him the truth about Yuna's pilgrimage. Now, Rikku sat at the campfire, telling an animated story about their first meeting in the Baaj ruins. Tidus smiled to himself, listening to her first impressions of him after he told her he was from Zanarkand. Storytelling, he supposed, was a means of calming everyone's nerves. It was a means of delaying the inevitable end of their journey. However, as he listened to Rikku's story, Tidus realized he had created his own, just like Auron said, when he pulled him from the dream. Encouraged that he had some control over his own destiny despite what the Fayth had planned for him cheered him enough to join his friends again.
"Hey, gimme a break. That was my first time fighting one of those things. My Zanarkand never had fiends, or Al Bhed, or ronso, or chocobos. I'll always remember the first time I rode a chocobo, though." He grinned at Yuna, and with a short hop, he crouched behind her to bury his face in the yellow, floral bow of her kimono. "I'm closing my eyes, so I can't see anything!" he mimicked her with a falsetto voice.
Everyone laughed, including Yuna. Although, she did give him a deserved push for his teasing, making him fall on his backside. Laughing with everyone else, Tidus rested his elbows on his knees and tried to remember as many details as possible about her, his friends, and this place. Even if he wasn't real, he had real memories that he could take with him to wherever dreams went when their surreal lives were done.
))((
"Welcome to Zanarkand." Lady Yunalesca greeted them inside the ruins at the Chamber of the Fayth, which they had just discovered, was empty. "I congratulate you, summoner. You have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow you with that which you seek. The Final Summoning will be yours. Now, choose." The unsent spirit gracefully descended the stairs and spread her arms.
"You must choose the one whom I will change to become the Fayth of the Final Summoning." Everyone in the group gasped, but Yunalesca remained reserved as she explained. "There must be a bond between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin."
Tidus thought the woman sounded a lot like Seymour. Both of them thought the only way to end the suffering was more death. And when Yunalesca explained how she used her husband to summon the first Final Aeon, and pyrefly memories of Jecht's voluntary sacrifice appeared in her wake, Tidus's water dragon visions came back to him. It hurt to understand his dreams now. The Fayth wanted him to become the next Final Aeon so he could break the cycle. He could almost feel their eyes on him, watching. And he knew he should step forward and volunteer. It was what he had been created for; it was the only reason he lived. But if he became the Final Aeon, Yuna would die. Nothing would change. And then her death will have been for nothing. Hadn't he learned, somewhere in his past, that dying together accomplishes nothing?
He didn't want to disappoint anyone, but it didn't make sense. How could he break the cycle if he was trapped within it? There had to be another way—a way that would end all sacrifices, now and in the future. He refused to step forward. He wanted no part in their cycle.
))((
Kaila and Bahamut hid in the shadows, anxiously awaiting the Final Summoning transformation as they had so many times before when this pilgrimage came to this end. Yuna and her guardians debated this unexpected turn of events, and all of them were willing to become the Fayth of the Final Aeon—all except Tidus. He argued against it, insisting there must be a way to change things.
Bahamut frowned and began to fear for their entire plan. "Why isn't Tidus volunteering? Surely he knows by now it's supposed to be him."
"Maybe he's afraid to die," Kaila whispered for fear that Yunalesca would hear them. "That's understandable, right?"
"But he's the only one who stands any kind of chance against Yevon's possession. It has to be him! If he doesn't volunteer, maybe Yuna will choose him, right? Because she loves him. Their bond is the strongest." Bahamut seeped through the walls into the summoning chamber as Yuna took all of her guardians with her. Kaila silently followed.
Inside the other chamber, Yuna and her guardians argued with Yunalesca about the teachings of Yevon—the promises, the lies. The unsent high summoner began to grow impatient with their delay. "Now, choose. Who will be your Fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"
Everyone was silent while they awaited Yuna's decision. "No one," Yuna finally answered, stunning them all. "I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira and would have gladly died for them. But no more! The Final Summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away!"
Standing behind her, arms folded at his chest, Tidus's eyes closed for a second in silent relief. Yuna had refused to sacrifice him, or anyone else. Drawing a steady breath, he opened his eyes and focused a stern, dangerous glare on Lady Yunalesca, one that might as well have come from a water dragon.
The Fayth gasped and looked at each other at a loss for words. That had never been done before! Not in a thousand years! They had given Yuna the best Final Aeon anyone could imagine for her chance to defeat Sin, and she chose to throw that chance away!
Bahamut gripped the hood covering his head. "What are they doing? It's not possible to defeat Sin without the Final Aeon! None of the rest of us are strong enough to defeat Yevon! This is so totally screwed up!" Upset that all their hard work and plans were falling to pieces, the boy kicked the wall, but his foot passed through it.
Kaila pulled him back down and hushed him as Yuna and her guardians argued more with Yunalesca.
The unsent spirit pitied them for throwing away their reward, telling them that it was better to die with hope than to live with sorrow. Finally, Yunalesca decided she had tolerated as much impertinence as she could handle. She couldn't allow them to leave and tell anyone what they had learned: that no matter how many lives were sacrificed, and no matter how hard they tried to atone for their past crimes, Sin would always return. Revealing her fiend form—a giant Medusa-like head covered in skull-faced snakes—Yunalesca attacked. She drained their life energy and turned them into zombies, like the priests and fallen warrior monks she surrounded herself with as her guardians in the dead city.
Without being able to heal their own wounds, Yuna's party used an abundant supply of holy water, phoenix down, and hard hits on the unsent high summoner. They fought back. And … they won.
In the shocking aftermath of the battle, having permanently done away with any hope of ever receiving the Final Aeon, Yuna's exhausted party left the ruins with the same headcount they had when they arrived. The Fayth levitated along the upper wall in the summoning chamber in complete silence for a long moment before Kaila finally spoke again. "Now, what do we do?"
"Zaon got his wish for Yunalesca to join him in the Farplane. But without any way to defeat or calm Sin ..." Bahamut slowly shook his head, at a total loss for ideas about how to salvage anything. "I honestly don't know what to expect next," he fearfully admitted.
Kaila took Bahamut's hand and touched down in the center of the summoning chamber with him. "Talk to him," she suggested. "He's probably just as frightened as we are, and you can follow them anywhere in a way that I can't."
Bahamut stared at the place where Yunalesca was defeated. Not a trace was left. "They killed the aeon before it could even manifest. There's nothing for Yevon to claim." The boy drew a shaky breath and turned to face Kaila once more. "I think I've got an idea how we can still help them."
))((
As they left the interior ruins, Auron told Tidus the last piece of background missing from his story: the truth of his own death. Tidus flinched a little but realized that Auron's undead state is what allowed him to enter the dream and watch over him all those years, or at least it felt like a lot of years. Was he really seventeen? He had no idea how long or short his existence truly was anymore.
Outside the ruins, Sin—Jecht—hovered in the sky above the retreating party. Tidus realized his father had been waiting to meet him in battle and probably saw his refusal to volunteer for the transformation as another failure. Stubbornly insisting they had at least broken the cycle by not taking part in it, he promised they would find another way to defeat Sin without the Final Aeon.
Later, after Yuna's party was picked up by the ancient airship Tidus helped Rikku and her family excavate near Baaj, he found himself asking the same question as the Fayth. "So, what do we do?"
Auron turned away from his companions as they discussed proposals about how to solve their problem now. "We think, and we wait." He walked away.
Just the opposite of how confident he had been in defying Yunalesca, Tidus quirked his mouth, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Two things I'm bad at."
Eventually, they decided to go to Bevelle and confront the unsent Maester Mika. They suspected he knew more than he was telling about the truth behind the teachings. Mika had been mortified to find out they destroyed their only chance to receive the final aeon. He prophesied Spira's destruction and then explained to them who Yu Yevon was: a piece of history Spira had long since forgotten. The unsent maester then vanished, believing his reign was over.
Bahamut appeared to Tidus after that, and Tidus was surprised and delighted to find out that Yuna could see the boy, too. But then again, why shouldn't she? She's the Fayth's summoner. Bahamut told them a little more about their adversary since neither had ever heard of the Church of Yevon's namesake before. Bahamut told them how Yu Yevon perpetuated the cycle by merging with and possessing the Final Aeon, making sure they understood that the ancient high summoner was their ultimate target. Then, he begged Yuna to call on her aeons for help in the battle against him. Tidus remembered what the boy said after that.
"But, you know, when it is all over, we will wake, and our dream will end. Our dream will vanish."
Tidus saddened a little. "Yeah. You've been dreaming a long time, haven't you?"
Bahamut sympathized. "I'm sorry."
Tidus was silent for a moment. Then he answered, "I'm grateful." And he meant it.
Yuna suspected Tidus was hiding something after that, but he had denied it. He still didn't know how to tell her.
))((
"Good afternoon. How are your Al Bhed studies coming along?" Rin asked as Tidus passed him in the corridor of the airship. Rin was an enterprising Al Bhed merchant and owner of a small chain of travel agency inns scattered throughout Spira's main roads.
Tidus owned a stack of Al Bhed books he had been collecting from the various places they visited. At one time, he had been vaguely interested in learning their language, but now he saw no point. "I'm afraid I haven't been studying much lately, what with Sin and all ..."
"Understandable. If you need help, please let me know. I will be glad to be of service in helping you learn our language."
"Yeah, for a fee." Tidus gave a curt smile.
Rin laughed lightly. "One has to make a living. Are you in need of any supplies?"
"Nah, I'm good. I ..." Tidus paused. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any memory spheres for sale, would you?"
"Ordinarily, I don't, but you are in luck. I always carry one for my own use, so this one has not been used yet. I'm willing to sell it if you like." The blond Al Bhed reached into his pocket and fished out the small, blue device.
"How much is it?" Tidus dug into his pocket for some money he'd earned from catching fiends for the Crusader training center in the Calm Lands recently.
"Five hundred gil, please."
He stopped digging. "What? It's water inside a snow globe. And it doesn't even have any snow! How can it be worth five hundred gil?"
"The water comes from Macalania Woods, where there are a lot of fiends."
"Did you get the water yourself, or did you pay someone else to do it?"
Rin laughed. "A shrewd businessman, I see. I will let you have it for half price and offer a job after you bring the Calm. How does that sound?"
Tidus blinked at the memory sphere. He might not be around after the Calm if they succeeded. "Two hundred and fifty, then." He counted out the gil and passed it into the merchant's hands, accepting his new sphere.
"Thank you for your patronage, as always."
Tidus gave a light bow in response and headed back to his room in the cabin. Inside, he climbed up to the top bunk and seated himself, cross-legged. He wasn't even sure why he bought the memory sphere, really. It wasn't like he could take it with him. Setting the sphere down, he ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his chin in thought. Then, reaching into his pocket, he withdrew Yuna's memory sphere and set it down beside his. After a few minutes, with a heavy sigh, he picked up his sphere and adjusted the distance before turning it on.
"Yuna, um, ... hi." He scratched his head lightly, not sure how to say this, but it was easier to say it to a blob of pyrefly-filled water than to her or anyone else. "You're right. I am a bad liar. But if you're watching this, then … I'm probably ... gone. I found out I'm ... part of the Fayth's dream, so I'm not, um …" He paused to sniffle and wipe one eye. "They said all of the dream would end, including me." He tried to smile through his sadness, but he just wasn't as good at it as she was. "Anyway, I had fun! I enjoyed it. Having a little bit of time here is better than not having any time at all, right? I'm going to miss Spira, but I'll remember it ... and you ... always." His composure slumped, and he dropped his head into his hands. "Who am I kidding? I can't do this." Hearing a knock on his door, Tidus quickly shoved both spheres under his pillow. "What do you want?" He dried his eyes.
Yuna pushed the door open a crack and peered in. "We have a recording of the hymn now. We're ready when you are." They were going through with the attempt to broadcast the "Hymn of the Fayth" to soothe Sin's temperament long enough to get some initial attacks on it, and they had asked at the temple to spread the word for as many people as possible to join in singing the song.
"Cool. I'll be there in just a minute."
She came into the room and grasped the edge of his bunk. "Are you okay? Sir Jecht is your ... I mean … it's okay to be upset about this."
Tidus gave a sarcastic laugh. "After everything he's put me through—everything he's done—you think I'd be upset? He deserves what he's got coming."
Yuna's brows rose, clearly hoping he didn't mean that. Withdrawing her hands, she gave a small nod and turned to walk away. Nagging doubt prompted her to look over her shoulder one more time before offering a concerned smile and pulling the door shut behind her.
Tidus pulled her sphere out from under his pillow. Yuna was going to live if he had anything to say about it.