Chapter 8

The morning brought on another foot of snow, and Rikku shivered from the snow falling into her boots as she walked. She knew they were high up the mountain, and probably really close to the summit. The group had gotten up at dawn, and Rikku walked near Yuna. She felt it too awkward to walk next to Auron, knowing that he possibly cared about her in a way different than what she thought.

Tidus suddenly hollered, which brought Rikku out of her thoughts. She gasped when she saw what Tidus was gaping at. It looked like a bunch of people were stuck in the wall of the mountain. They all glowed.

"What the heck are all these?" Rikku asked.

"They're fayth," Yuna said, then gasped. "And it looks as if someone is using them all!"

"Who would be using all of them at the same time?" Lulu asked. "Who wields that type of power, and who are they calling?"

Rikku looked over at Auron and walked up to him. "You know something, I know you do! Please, just tell us already!"

He walked away from her. "Stop looking to me and others for knowledge, Rikku. This is your journey as well."

"But—" she began, but Tidus cut her off.

"No, he's right. This is our story. No, this is my story."

He touched the wall of fayth and suddenly dropped to the ground. Rikku screamed at the surprise and knelt down next to him, as did Yuna.

"Oh, no!" Rikku exclaimed. "Hey, what's wrong? Wake up, wake up!"

Tidus remained passed out in between her and Yuna, and Yuna put a hand on his face. "Please, wake up, Tidus."

"He's going to be alright, ya?" Wakka asked.

"He'll be fine," Auron said. "We're all exhausted."

Rikku glanced up at him and gave him a look that said, 'You definitely know something.' He shook his head and turned away, indicating he wasn't going to giver her an answer. He put a hand to his head and sighed, like he was in pain. Rikku stood up and walked over to him, trying not to let her nerves get the better of her.

"Hey… you alright?"

"Yes, I just feel a little light-headed."

"Don't faint on us like Tidus!" She looked over at her friend who was still lying on the ground. "Oh…" she whined. "What's wrong with him?"

"I said not to ask too many questions. Your questions will be answered in time."

"When?"

"Just be patient." He brought a hand to his head and winced. "Ahh…"

"Hey, you're not okay."

He looked over and met her gaze, his gentle. "You care a lot for your friends, Rikku, to a fault. It's an admirable quality, but… now… just let it go. You'll learn everything when the time is right."

Desperation jolted through her body, and she grabbed his arm. He looked at her in alarm. "I can't let it go, don't you get it? I can't let it go when you're the one I care about the most out of everyone!"

He stared at her after that confession, and she instantly let his arm free, horrified that she revealed that.

"Hey!" Wakka exclaimed and she and Auron turned see Tidus standing. "What was that all about, huh? You scared us!"

"Sorry, guys," Tidus said. "I just blacked out and… I dreamed. Uh, nevermind. I'm fine. Let's keep going."

The group moved on, and Rikku lagged behind and gripped the blanket around her. She couldn't believe that she let her feelings slip out! What did he think about it? Was he repulsed? Did he think it cute that a girl her age had feelings for him?

Some time passed, and they all came to a cave, and they all had to swim through to get to the other side. Dripping wet, Rikku held out the black blanket, allowing it to dry. She sighed in frustration. "So much for being warm for the next while until it dries," she muttered and spotted Auron stop and talk with Yuna. She heard Auron mention Yunalesca, and her heart jumped in shock when she heard Auron say that Yunalesca was another unsent like Seymour and Maester Mika!

"Why does everyone have to be unsents?" she asked herself, but the group heard her.

"Lady Yunalesca is there to guide the summoners," Lulu explained. "As an unsent, she can be alive as long as she needs to."

"But… I thought unsents turn into fiends when they're alive for too long."

"It depends on the person," Auron said when he and Yuna reached them. "If they have a dark heart, it will not take them long to wither away into a monster, but if they are of a good heart, and have good intentions, then the time between when they die and become fiends is longer."

"Oh, so Seymour has no hope, ya?" Wakka asked.

"No. He is too far gone. He was even in life."

They continued on and had to fight a fiend on the way out of the cave. Rikku ran out in front of them panting. "Can we rest a little?"

"No need," Auron said. "We'll reach the summit soon."

"Exactly. Soon means that there isn't much time left until…"

Emotion gripped her throat and she turned from everyone, not allowing them to see the tears in her eyes. Someone walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked through teary eyes at Yuna. Rikku embraced her cousin, hugging with all her might, wishing that it would somehow make the time pass slower.

"You are such a good person, Rikku," Yuna said into her shoulder, and hugging her warmly. "But you know I have to do this."

"I know, I just wish… there was another way."

The two young women embraced longer, and Auron passed them. Rikku watched him walk on with the others. She looked back at Yuna.

"I guess we should go."

"Yes," Yuna said, and they separated. "I am so glad that you care about me so."

"Are you nuts, Yunie? Of course I care about you—you're my cousin. I love you."

She giggled. "Thank you, Rikku. And, I wonder… if I'm the only one in the group who you love."

Rikku's heart jolted. "W-what?"

"Nevermind."

The two walked on and joined the group. Not a lot of time passed before the ruined buildings of the ancient city of Zanarkand came into view. Rikku gaped at the view as she and the others rounded and they could see the entire city, with the sun setting over it in soft pinks and oranges, like a painting.

"Oh, wow…" Rikku mused in awe. "Beautiful…"

They walked down the mountain and entered the city, and made a camp near some ruins. As the sun set, and the sky became dark and ridden with glittering stars, Rikku stared at the little fire in the middle of the circle they were sitting in. She noticed Tidus stand and walk away a ways. That led her gaze to land on Auron, who had his gaze on her! She let out a small gasp and looked away. Her cheeks heat up at what she revealed to him earlier.

"I would like to move on," Yuna said to everyone.

"Right," Auron said and stood up. "We should move when it's still dark."

The group prepared to leave, and Rikku stood up and hooked the dry blanket to her back. She looked around her at the darkened ancient city, and at the sea of stars in the sky.

"Oh, wow, I really can't believe how pretty this place is. I mean, for an ancient city."

She followed the group and intentionally came up next to Auron, and a few glowing pyreflies buzzed around. Her breath caught up in her at those little lights grazing his face, and the backdrop of the starry sky and ancient ruins around him…

"Would you like to say something?" Auron asked, and she jumped out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh, um… I just wanted to talk to you about something. I mean, before we have to battle Sin and everything." She took a breath of courage. "About what I said a little while ago while Tidus was passed out… and also, what you said when we were sitting at the fire up in the mountain…"

"Not now," he said suddenly, in a stern voice "We need to focus on Yuna and getting her through this."

"But we have to talk about it. About why you're suddenly so protective of me, why you stood in the way of Seymour… and gosh, why you said you liked my hair better down." She looked down at her boots she walked in dirt, and said in a small voice, "And why I said I care about you the most out of everyone."

Auron let out a sigh of frustration and stopped, as did she. He turned to face her, and she could see the seriousness in his features. "Rikku, now is not the time to talk about all that."

"Then when?" she demanded. "I feel like my heart's gonna burst with fear that Yunie will die, and with my very unexpected feelings for you."

He remained silent, and the pyreflies buzzed around. He shook his head. "Rikku," he began, his look weary, "I don't want you to get sidetracked before we go in and defeat Sin. You need your mind in the right place." He took a step to her. "I promised you that all would be revealed when the time is right."

She stared at his tinted glasses, and saw a hint of his brown eye in the low light. "But… I thought you meant all my questions regarding Yuna not dying, and things about the pilgramage."

"I meant everything. Now—let us move on and help Yuna do what she came here to do."

She nodded, realizing she had no choice. "Alright."

He walked on and she stared after his red back. Her body ached with the desire to know how he truly felt, if their last conversation and everything that has happened in the past few days wasn't any indication. She sighed and followed everyone. Auron was right. She and everyone needed to focus. She needed to put her feelings for Auron, and whatever was going on between them, to the side and focus on Yuna, and hopefully find some way to save her.

The group reached what looked like an entrance to some type of crumbled temple. A priest was there and demanded to know who they all were. Yuna introduced herself and the group, and they went on in. As soon as they walked in, they were met with the tremendous spectacle of a ruined building, its ceiling gone, revealing the starry sky. People started to pass them, but they were transparent. A woman spoke of a Lady Yocun. When they were gone, Rikku asked in a fearful voice,

"W-who were they?"

"Our predecessors," Auron answered.

"They spoke of High Summoner Yocun," Lulu said in awe. "That woman guarded High Summoner Yocun? That was hundreds of years ago!"

"This dome is filled with pyreflies," Auron explained. "It's like one gigantic sphere—people's thoughts remain here. Forever."

"So… we could see people who have walked through this place before?" Rikku asked. "Like… we could see Yunie's dad?"

"It's possible."

They moved on through the ruined building, and Rikku tried not to trip on anything. When her foot hit a rock, and she about tripped, a strong hand took her arm and steadied her. Her heart jumped when she saw that it was Auron. He let go and walked on, and she followed after, frowning. She hoped that they could talk again.

A couple transparent people came into view again, only one of them was only a child… a child who looked dreadfully familiar.

"Use me and defeat Sin," the woman with him said. "Only then can you be truly accepted."

"I don't want to!" the boy said. "I need you, Mother, no one else!"

"Holy—" Wakka started. "That was…"

"Seymour!" Rikku exclaimed. "When he was a kid!"

Now she knew why Seymour was so bitter—his mother took him to Zanarkand and begged him to use her as a fayth to defeat Sin, as to be accepted as the half-breed he was. He was forced to see his mother die. That could scar anyone. Rikku suddenly felt a sliver of sympathy for him—he just wanted to be happy and have his mother, poor man.

"Let's go," Auron said and they moved on, but didn't travel long before more transparent people came into view. Yuna gasped.

"Father!"

Rikku stared in awe at the image of Lord Braska, Jeckt, and a young Auron.

"Lord Braska," Jeckt said, "you don't have to do this."

"Thank you for your concern."

"Fine, I've said my piece."

"Well, I haven't!" young Auron exclaimed. "Lord Braska, let us go back! I don't want to see you die!"

Rikku gasped and looked over at the real Auron, who has his head turned away from the scene. He didn't want his summoner to die just as she didn't want Yuna to die!

"You knew this was going to happen, my friend," Lord Braska said.

"I know," said young Auron. "But I can't accept it."

Lord Braska chuckled. "I am glad that you care for me so. But I have a duty to kill grief itself. I will defeat Sin and lift the veil of sorrow covering Spira. Please understand, Auron."

The young Auron looked as if he was going to cry, and Rikku wanted nothing more than to go and embrace him, but she knew that he was just a memory. She looked over at the other Auron. He had his back turned.

The memory disappeared and they moved on. They made it to an opening in the floor, and Yuna went down. Rikku stood near the hole, and Auron pulled her back. She gave him a look.

"Careful," he said.

"How come you never said that you didn't want Lord Braska to die just like I don't want Yunie to die, huh?"

"I never felt it necessary."

"Necessary? Of course it was necessary! It would've given me some comfort knowing that you felt the same way as me regarding summoners giving up their lives."

He couldn't respond to her because Yuna came back up. "Sir Auron! Everyone! You have to come!"

They all went down and found a case with a stone statue inside of it.

"This is only an empty statue, not a fayth!" Yuna said, and an elderly priest, most likely an unsent, came out and explained that the soul of the person who was in there before is gone.

"What?" Rikku asked, bewildered. "Then, there's no Final Aeon?"

"Lady Yunalesca will show you the path," the priest said. "The Final Aeon will be yours with her guidance. Go. The lady awaits you."

He left and Tidus turned to Auron. "You know about all of this, didn't you?"

"Yes," Auron said.

"What?!" Rikku exclaimed. "You should've told us!"

"I told you before that your questions would be answered. Would it really have stopped you from moving forward?"

"I'm not going back," Yuna said.

"We know," he said, and the group traveled more into the building until they came into a room with a large set of stairs going to the top. A beautiful woman with long flowing silver hair stood at the top, only dressed in what could cover the most private parts of herself—Lady Yunalesca. She stepped down to greet them.

"Lady Summoner Yuna," she began, "I congratulate you on arriving safely. Now I will grant you what you seek—The Final Summoning will be yours. Now, choose. You must choose the one who I will change. That person will become the fayth for the Final Aeon. There needs to be a bond strong enough to bring that light that can vanquish Sin, such as a parent to a child, a lover to another, or a friend to a friend. For me, I chose my husband, since we had that strong, loving bond. When you call the Final Aeon, your life will end—it is the ultimate liberation. You father Lord Braska chose this fate. Chose wisely, Lady Yuna."

Yunalesca left them, and they all stood there silent. Rikku remembered Seymour telling her in Bevelle what Yunalesca just had to Yuna. Her chest ached at knowing that Yuna had no choice at this point—her life was going to end. There was nothing they could do.

Figures suddenly appeared, and several of the group gasped at seeing, again, Lord Braska, Jeckt, and the young Auron.

"Please, Lord Braska, let us turn back!" young Auron pleaded to his friend.

"If I turn back, who will defeat Sin? Would you have some other summoner and his guardians go through this?"

"But, my lord… there has to be another way."

"This is the only way we got, now," Jeckt said. "Fine, make me the fayth. I've always wanted to go home and make my kid a star, but… that is a dream that is never going to come true, so… make me the fayth."

Rikku gasped and covered her mouth in shock. She looked over at Tidus, who was scowling. Did he know about this?

"This way, I will make something of myself," Jeckt said, and young Auron stepped in.

"Don't do this, Jeckt! If you live, there may be another way. We'll think of something! I know we can! Please, you know that Sin will come back and your deaths would be for nothing!"

"There will be a period of peace for all of Spira," Lord Braska said. "That is worth dying for."

"I'll think of something, Auron," Jeckt assured. "I will find a way."

He started laughing and the images vanished. Rikku looked over at the real Auron and saw his head bowed, his face completely covered by his tall collar. He really was just like her… desperate to find another way to defeat Sin without the summoner and their chosen person dying.

"If you have to choose someone to be your fayth, then I volunteer," Lulu said to Yuna.

"I will, too," Wakka added with a fist pump to his chest.

"But… there really isn't any other way?" Rikku asked, pleading with all of them, hope still in her eyes, despite what they witnessed. "There just has to be. Jeckt said he would find another way!"

"This is the only way," Wakka said.

"No, there needs to be another way so Yunie won't die!" Tidus exclaimed. "I'll go ask Lady Yunalesca. She has to know something."