Disclaimer: I have never, and will never own Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, Paine, Baralai, Gippal, Auron, Shuyin, Lenne, Kimahri, Jecht, Yu Yevon, or any of the other extras, NPCs, or major characters I just forget to mention. They all belong to Square. I just own the plot of this story.

Thank you to Syncopative, as always, you keep the story going.

Please review! Do you like this story? Hate it? Indifferent? Do you wish I'd do something better concerning the story? Please tell me, if you don't, then I won't know how to write so that you'll all like it. So please, please review, I really want your opinions.

Sorry for the comparatively long wait, I had a few problems fleshing out the chapter this time, so please let me know if it sounds forced, any suggestions are appreciated very much.

Tears of a Forgotten Summoner

Chapter 5: The Second Sinner (bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?)

Tidus closed his eyes and looked away from the sea as another gust of wind ruffled his bangs.

He sighed slightly, "So it begins."

A slight whining reached his ears, and the man turned, unafraid of the fiend he saw standing there. It was a wolf, a rather large one, too, with thick gray fur and jaws that looked to be able to crush bones, if not swords. But now this proud creature did not look quite so fearsome, in fact, it looked to have inherited the fear that Tidus should have felt at its presence. A sorry sight it was, to be sure, its fur sticking up everywhere in a nervous reaction, its tail between its hind legs, and head lowered in submission.

Sighing again, Tidus held out his right hand, enticing the canine-like fiend toward him. The creature responded immediately, slinking obediently to the man's side, sitting back on its haunches. Tidus allowed the animal to lean against his leg, the man's right hand tracing invisible patterns in the thick fur.

Tidus couldn't blame the wolf. It knew what was coming, it knew that Schism was near, and obviously it knew to be afraid of that coming.

Poor creature. A fiend, condemned to be feared by all.

The hypocrites had no idea what was really going on.

They were making fiends by sending them to the Farplane. They weren't saving anyone, only twisting their souls. Tidus shook his head, they didn't even know what they did. The people of Spria didn't know they were keeping a piece of Schism alive, they didn't know that their sacred rituals were started centuries ago by the Sinners to appease Schism's fury.

Spirans had no idea that Schism had turned so many of their own people into fiends a thousand years prior, they had no clue that now their Sending opens a small fissure in Schism's sleep, enough to send a little of its presence through and expose those Sent to its being, in the process making them fiends.

They didn't know. It wasn't there fault. They were not to blame.

Wrong.

It pissed Tidus off how corrupted this world has become, and it was only going to get worse because of the ignorant sheep-like people of Spira. He would have done anything to return this world to its original form, but there was nothing he could do about that now, at least, nothing he knew to do.

The fiend beside him flinched violently as a fat drop of water splattered on its snout. Tidus looked at it lazily as more water followed the first raindrop.

Wind summoned the water. Go figure.

"Rain comes with the guarantee of destruction," Tidus lifted his head slightly, enjoying the feel of the water on his cold skin. "How will you take this, Summoner Yuna?"

---

"Hello, Yuna," Auron broke the silence between them, his soft words somehow reaching her above the howling wind.

"B-But …" the shocked silence had dissipated, but that didn't mean that Yuna knew what to say. The absence of words between the Summoner and her guardian should have lasted until she herself was dead and gone, but here he was. Alive, seemingly solid, judging that he was blasted with leaves and sand, the same as her.

"But?"

"Y-You're …" a hand came up to point at him.

"Dead? Yes, I know," the man's voice was painfully polite, dripping with sarcasm. "Thank you so much for reminding me, I had forgotten."

"But …" Yuna's voice was barely louder than a squeak and she was ashamed of it, "how? …"

He simply smiled at her, an eerie twist of the lips that made a shiver run up the girl's spine.

A slight sprinkle of rain started to fall, carried on the violent winds.

"It certainly is happening fast …"

Yuna stared at him as if he had just risen from the grave … Bad analogy. But despite that, Auron didn't seem to notice, in fact, it was as if he had forgotten she was there in the first place.

" … There must've been a catalyst for Schism to appear."

"S-Schism?"

Auron's uninjured eye met her bi-colored ones, staring her down, "Yes, Schism."

"What is Schism?"

The smile returned to Auron's lips, chilling her to the bone, "You will know soon enough."

Then the heavens opened up and rain poured down on them.

---

Cid allowed himself a self-satisfied grin as one of the new recruits scrambled away, bowing constantly, mumbling incoherent apologies. The man shook his head, his grin turning into a smirk, it was always good to start off the day with some constructive criticism, helped get the blood pumping and, well, needless to say, that crew member wouldn't be so negligent with his deck swabbing anymore. Kills two birds with one stone, always a good way to accomplish tasks, in his opinion.

He sighed slightly, he had a full crew, busy with new shipping runs that Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj had given him, and being paid quite a bit for his trouble. His daughter was successful and was out of his hair, his niece right along with her.

In short, life was good, and aside from the unseasonably strong winds tossing his ship about, this was shaping up to be a great day.

His long strides took him to the bridge, as per his everyday routine, pride building up as he watched his crew snap to attention at his presence.

Cid held out a hand as he walked to his position near a glowing navigational sphere in the middle of the room, expecting the normal multi-page report of progress. His self-satisfied smile surfaced again as he felt the parchment brush his fingertips as the officer handed it to him. He leafed through it, skimming the figures that appeared on the page. The pattern of numbers and letters were in the regular order, everything looked in its place. Perfect.

Cid leaned forward slightly to study the navigational sphere, a finger tracing the path they would take, the other hand toggling the view settings so that he could see individual measures.

If his maps were right (they've never been wrong before, so why should that change?), they should be clipping the Zanarkandian ruin's outskirts within the hour, then proceeding right along the Gagazet Mountains, through the Calm Lands, over Macalania Forest, to arrive at Bevelle at approximately twelve o'clock the next morning. Two hours after they had been expected to pull in.

The Al Bhed frowned, they were behind schedule and it simply wouldn't do to be late on their first run to the headquarters of the now united forces of Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj's factions, in fact, it would be downright disgraceful. His fingers flew over the touch-board at the base of the blue sphere, reentering coordinates, adjusting the flight path.

One of his officers glanced over at his Captain, interested as to what needed so much attention, but didn't have a chance to get a very good look for Cid straightened at that moment, a contented smile on his face.

Seeing his obviously curious employee, Cid made a small grunt, a sign for him to tell his concern and get it out in the open. But before the officer could even open his mouth, Cid had already forgotten him in favor of announcing the changes to the entire bridge.

"In checking our flight path, men, I have found a slight discrepancy," Cid folded his arms behind his back, and allowed his eyes to slid over every person in his presence, seemingly talking to every one of them individually, one of the man's specialties.

The crew exchanged bewildered looks, the plan had been fine the morning before … Well, before their captain had taken that unscheduled stop at Bikanel because he claimed he had found a genuine treasure map …

"It seems if we continue on this course, we will arrive at our destination too late, and thus I have shortened one of the loops we will be flying this morning."

The original officer crept forward a little, behind Cid, trying to get a good look at the revised flight plan …

"Instead of flying past Zanarkand—"

"We're flying over it!" the officer nearly shrieked.

A murmur ran through the bridge's crew members, disapproval crackling through the air. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't bad luck to fly over Zanarkand, no, walking under a ladder or spilling salt was bad luck. Flying over the cursed ruins was something more along the lines of karma suicide.

Cid observed the reaction calmly, trying to take into account that these were Al Bhed that had never, until recently, been away from Home before. It was quite a shock and Cid understood completely, even though he had lived outside of Home for most of his life.

He sighed, no matter how they tried to avoid thinking about it, the reality was that they did lose Home, and many of their people with it. And that wasn't the worst of it, only the beginning. Without their city, thousands of penniless Al Bhed were displaced into the world, most with absolutely no where to go. Hundreds starved, many more died of exposure in the deserts surrounding their Home.

In this way, Cid was glad to train these misplaced people meaningful skills, a way to survive and eventually support themselves…

…But still, he wished that they'd be just a little less superstitious.

Sin was gone, defeated by the new High Summoner, peace will now reign supreme in the Eternal Calm. The threat of Vegnagun is year old news, a threat destroyed yet again by the High Summoner. Everything was finally getting back in order; people were picking up the pieces of their lives and were moving on.

When would they learn that there was nothing to fear?

---

Rikku jumped slightly as a stray drop of rain fell onto her bare arm, chilling her to the bone. She looked out the window, still lounging about Wakka and Lulu's house, unable to sleep the hours away or get anything that took an ounce of concentration to do. Paine, Lulu, and Wakka had long since left the room, preparing dinner and caring for Vidina. But still the teenaged Al Bhed could only think of her cousin, waiting endlessly for her to show up at the doorstep, laughing and aplogizing for her tardiness, perhaps with wild leaf filled hair due to the wind.

True, the villagers that had visited the beach had come back unscathed, just a little windblown and spooked, and Yuna was a big girl. She had saved the world twice from utter devastation, for crying out loud. She'd be fine.

Right?

At a loss for what to do along with the twitches running up and down her nervous system, Rikku started sporadically rapping the tips of her fingers on the doorframe. She had opened the door itself just a few cracks, observing the increasing water flow from the skies, in fact, if this kept up, Besaid might have its first ever natural flood.

Rikku shook her head, it didn't make any sense, it hadn't rained like this in Besaid for decades, perhaps centuries. In fact, in pretty much all regions of Spira, the weather seemed to be fixed, sunny or dark, warm or cold, calm or, Rikku shivered slightly at the thought, thundering. Why now was the climate suddenly changing?

Something was wrong, that's why. Rikku could sense it acutely, something was definitely not right with this.

Unable to stand it any longer, the girl pushed the door open, fighting against the wind outside.

"Going out?"

In that incriminating position, Rikku would have started at any voice, no matter who, and that was exactly what she did, jerking violently upright and jumping from the door. The girl whirled to meet whoever had caught her in the action of disobeying direct orders from Wakka and Lulu, trying desperately to make up a plausible excuse, and was met with Paine's slightly amused face.

"You didn't answer my question, Rikku. Are you going out?"

If Rikku hated anything more than thunder, it had to be trick questions.

The Al Bhed's mouth worked furiously for a few moments, until Paine held up a hand.

"It's alright, you don't have to answer, I know what you were doing."

Again, the younger girl's mouth opened and closed without any voice, looking remarkably like a fish, but the silver-haired woman seemed to get the general gist of what Rikku wished to say.

"But don't worry, if I were to drag you back to Wakka and Lulu, I would have to drag myself as well. Let's go find Yuna."

Rikku nodded emphatically, and together, two thirds of the Gullwings ran out into the rain to find their leader.

---

Cid wasn't sure what woke him up from his light nap in his quarters. It might have been the whistling wind, or the constant thrumming of rain on the hull of his airship, or maybe it was the fact that beyond outside influences, the ship had gone completely silent and the air hung heavy and stagnant in his cabin. Whatever it happened to be, he sensed immediately that something wasn't right.

The man rose, taking the time to glance at a small time-keeper he kept with his belongings, he had slept barely an hour. Mentally, he cursed his lax routine, if he had been more vigilant and hadn't insisted on a nap, he would have already known what was going on. He stalked to his door, waiting for the hiss that signaled the door opening to let him out.

It didn't come.

Puzzled, Cid punched a code in the small touch-board, but got no response. The man's brow furrowed partly in agitation, partly in worry, there must've been interference on a massive scale to affect the ship's features in this fashion. Cid could only hope that it came from a benign source.

After briefly rubbing his hands together, the man grasped small grooves cut into the smooth surface and started to pull, putting his entire body behind his hands, prying the door open inch by inch.

Not wasting time, Cid jogged easily down the unusually dark halls of his airship. The lack of light didn't bother him as much as it did others, though, he knew this ship top to bottom and backwards, it would be a good many years until he was unable to find his way from his cabin to the bridge.

The door to the bridge required the same treatment as the one in his cabin, but with some physical persuading, he was granted admittance to the control center of his ship. The first thing he noticed, ironically, was that the brilliant blue navigational sphere was flickering like a lightbulb with a short. But, even more unusual than that, none of the crewmembers were moving at all, they just stood in their places, shaking and staring.

Cid moved swiftly to one of the seated crew, shaking the girl's shoulder briskly, "What's wrong! What's going on? Answer me!"

It was a few moments until she turned slightly to meet his gaze, two glistening tear streaks on her face, "I-I knew we shouldn't h-have taken that p-path…"

He snarled slightly, knowing full well that he would be getting nothing meaningful from her at this time. Cid stalked quickly to the officer in charge steering for this shift, observing the same stunned expression on the man's face.

"Speak up, man! What's wrong?"

Slowly, the man took one stiff hand from the wheel and pointed toward the main viewport ahead, Cid following his gaze to lock upon the dark, all encompassing clouds that seemed to be cradling the ship.

The elder man sighed, sure, it was hard to get used to live in the clouds, but this was ridiculous. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, turning back to his officer, then regretted the taking time for the action moments later when shrieks rose from his crewmembers.

"It's the cursed ruins!"

Cid whirled in time to see some of the clouds clearing, and instead of the clear mid-evening sky he expected to see, he saw a nightmare.

Zanarkand was wrapped in darkness, a pool of that same eerie blackness beneath it. Large bands were peeling off, reaching up into the sky, flailing for something to hit.

Cid stood in awe for a moment, "I'll be damned… It really is cursed…"

His crewmembers only whimpered, a prelude to 'I told you so' if Cid had ever heard it.

The ship sailed sluggishly along its predestined course, right up close and personal with the dark bands. For a moment before Cid could gather his wits, he only stood there, watching in horror, but that soon passed as his ship rocked violently, as the darkness neared, shaking Cid out of the siren-like trance.

"Come on! Move! Turn the ship!" Cid's own voice sounded foreign to him, a desperate plea in that hung unanswered in the thick air.

Cid growled slightly in annoyance, pushing his officer roughly away, taking the wheel and yanking it violently to the side, making the whole ship shudder and groan, but the gears seemed frozen in place and the rudders only responded partway. The ship turned, preparing to flee, just in time to get caught in the back with one of the columns of darkness, hurled forward with unimaginable force.

The man gritted his teeth, trying desperately to steady the ship, but it was no good, they were heading away from darkness, but they were out of control.

Clouds blinded the path as Cid wrestled with the controls, but the rudders didn't respond at all. Time seemed to stop and the man became painfully aware of everything around him, from the dry feeling of his eyes, to the roaring in his ears, to the sweat he could feel on his palms. The clouds opened up, and he saw that mid-evening sky he had wanted, that and the beautiful glistening sea…

The sea that was heading for him at a dizzying speed.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Cid was able to form words, "Brace yourselves!" He himself flattening against the unresponsive wheel.

There was a crash.

And then all went black.

---

Author's Note: Hello again, thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it, and since you're here, please click that purplish-blue button down there and tell me what you think.

This was the longest chapter yet… Please let me know what you thought of the panic and action scenes, I'm notorious for either making them melodramatic or lack-luster, so please let me know how it turned out.

Please let me know if the plot is going too slow, or if you're confused, I'll be happy to take your advice and answer your questions.

Next chapter: The Third Sinner

Rose Northe