Chapter 1 Meeting Yuna
Zack walked up the stairs to the temple, cuz' the inn keeper suggested he should visit the temple to pray the fayth for surviving an attack by Sin, today he decided to wear his normal clothes, despite all the strange stares he got the day before. He'd strapped his sword onto his waist, once he reached the stone before another set of stairs; Zack looked out to the ocean.
The same ocean was in his dream, where he reunited with Aerith and Cloud and met that strange woman, the wind blew the same way in his dream. Zack put his hands in his pockets, continuing up the stairs until he reached the temple. He wasn't surprised to find it was a stone temple.
People walked around on the stone ground, Zack looked around and saw another set of stairs leading into the temple. He walked down the stairs and into a dark room lit by candles. People prayed at salutes, kneeling. Zack walked up to a salute, did the prayer gesture that the inn keeper taught him.
"Well, well, the rumors are true." Zack saw a woman in a light yellow dress behind him.
He stood up and put his hands behind his head, looking at the salute where he prayed. "And who might you be?"
A man standing behind her shouted, "Donna!" He was a muscular man, with short brown hair, tattoos spread across his chest. "I'm Barthello, her guardian!"
"Calm down, big boy." Zack said. "Zack. What rumors are you talking about, Donna?"
"Oh, nothing. By the way, a summoner from Besaid is coming here. A young girl." She put a finger on his mouth, making him blush and his hair stick out everywhere. Then she and Barthello left the temple.
Zack stayed like that for what seemed like entirety but in reality a few minutes. Then he shook his head and went back to praying. After he prayed, he looked around, and found a temple summoner.
The temple summoner told him more about Sin, the summoners, and explained the pilgrimage the summoners and their guardians got to stop Sin. Turned out, summoners journey to find the Final Aeon, the only summon to stop Sin.
"Okay and where is the Final Aeon?" Zack asked.
"Zanarkand, the city of dead," the temple summoner told him. "Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago by Sin."
Then Zack heard something outside, when he asked what it was, the temple summoner told him it was Sin, attacking the village. Zack wanted to fight whatever Sin was and protect the village, but he felt like he couldn't.
After a few hours, Zack walked outside and looked into the horizon. The sun was going down; he covered his eyes from the bright light. Zack sighed, he had been in Spira for almost a day, and all he saw was the sunset and sunrise of the world. So he decided to return to the village, taking the same path he took to the temple. But when he got to the village, he was shocked by what he saw.
Houses were nearly suck into the water, docks stuck out of the water, people cried for the ones they lost, Zack hopped onto the pieces of woods to try to get to the only dock that seemed usable. A boat floated in, Zack stood in the crowd as he watched people get off.
First there was a man with flaming red hair, a group of men followed him, a boy with spiky blond hair caught his eye, and for a second he thought he saw Cloud, but it wasn't him. Then what looked like a huge cat appeared, behind it was a woman with black hair in a black dress. Zack though she was the summoner Donna told him about, but she didn't say what she looked like. Then someone else appeared who really caught his eye.
It was a girl around seventeen years old, she looked so beautiful, with short light brown hair, and Zack didn't seem care that one of her eyes was green and the other was blue, she was dressed in a white kimono top, with a yellow strip around her waist, it connected a long purple skirt. On her feet were black boots, and on her arms were sleeves disconnected from the top. Zack was starting to wonder if he was in some weird future.
Two of the elders in the village walked up to her and talked, he heard the word 'sending', and wondered what it was. He followed the group to another side of the dock, and stood quietly. The girl was talking with the elderly woman, against the setting sun's light Zack noticed just under the shallow water dark spheres, and realized they were bodies, wrapped in shrouds and dressed in flowers.
'This must be like a funeral in Spira, mostly in Kilika,' Zack thought, looking around him and seeing the villagers weeping. He saw the black haired woman and blonde haired boy walked onto the dock, and turned his attention to the girl, who being given a staff by the huge blue cat. He couldn't help but noticed a glow surround her body, and thought she looked more beautiful.
She stepped onto the water as though it was solid as the dock she was standing earlier. As she stepped, faint ripples under her bare feet appeared, when she got far enough, she looked at the shroud wrapped bodies around her. Taking a deep breath, she began to dance lightly upon the water, twirling her staff high arcs and low sweeps. Zack saw blue lights began to rise from the bodies, trailing tendrils of energy.
"Pyreflies," he heard the black haired woman say. "They make up all living things."
'Pyreflies…… Make all living things in Spira, huh?' Zack continued to stare at the girl, as she danced when the water around her became a rippling fountain that supported her weight easily. Zack thought that she looked more beautiful than before. He just wished Aerith and Cloud was here; standing with him and watching this beautiful dance. The girl stopped dancing with a final sweep of her staff.
The water settled slowly back onto itself, and the girl slowly walked toward the dock, Zack thought he saw two sliver lines fall down her cheeks. The black haired woman walked toward her, smiling.
"I hope….." she spoke in a hesitant voice, but it sounded beautiful to Zack, "I hope I did okay."
"You did very well," the woman said. "They've reached the Farplane by now. But…. No more tears next time, hmm?"
'Next time, huh?' Zack thought. 'No next time, no more people killed by Sin,….. And no more sending for her…..' He stared at the girl, nodding at the woman, looking embarrassed. They walked past him, with the blue cat walking behind them.
"Hey. You okay?" a casual voice came from behind him.
Zack looked behind him and saw the red haired man before, standing next to him was the blond haired boy, and the man was smiling. The boy had his hands behind his head.
"I'm fine." He laughed a little, and held out his hand. "Zack."
"Wakka." The red haired man shook his hand. "Coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs."
"Tidus." The blonde haired boy shook his hand as well. "Nice to meet ya, Zack."
"We better get back to the inn," Wakka told Tidus.
"You're staying at the same inn, right?" Zack asked. If Wakka and Tidus were with the girl, then maybe he could talk with her.
Wakka nodded, he and Tidus walked toward the inn, Zack was about to follow them when he heard a cry, he saw a girl on a piece of broken timbers. Quickly thinking, he jumped onto a piece and picked her up before it broke.
"Thanks to be Yevon," she said, doing the prayer gesture.
"Just be careful," Zack said, ruffling her hair.
Stretching his arms, Zack headed back to the inn, seeing the last scarlet rays of the sun. Pushing the curtain in the doorway, he found the inn empty, Zack assumed everyone went to bed, as he walked to the stairs, he saw someone in the dining room.
It was the girl who performed the sending, Zack walked quietly over to one of the couches, but the girl saw him and gasped slightly. Zack didn't notice and nearly tripped, but he grabbed the arms of the armchair she was sitting in, when he opened his eyes, he found he was nose-to-nose with her, staring into her beautiful bi-colored eyes. Quickly, he got a few steps back and sat on the couch, his face bright red from embarrassment.
There was a long silence between them, their faces both bright red from the event. But either of them looked like they couldn't take the silence any longer.
"Hello….." the girl said in a normal voice.
"Hey……" Zack said back. "I'm Zack……. You are?"
"Yuna," she said, smiling that made Zack blush.
"I met Wakka and Tidus, but who are your other guardians?" Zack asked.
"The woman with black hair is Lulu and the Ronso is Kimahri," Yuna said.
Zack nodded, he swallowed hard and said, "I saw the sending….. It was beautiful……."
Yuna didn't say anything, it seems the mention of the sending upset her, Zack just stared into the fire. Yuna seemed to do the same; there was the long silence between them again. Zack turned to Yuna, the fire seemed to give her the glow she had during the sending.
Yuna got up and bowed, "I'm going to bed, good night."
"Good night……" Zack watched Yuna smile at him as she went upstairs.
He sighed and laid on the couch, and closed his eyes, smiling. Turning on his side, he just wished Aerith and Cloud were there with him, so they could meet Yuna, the summoner.
Oh, please, oh, please! R&R!
Zack: Do it for our cute sensei!
glares at Zack
Yuna: Please... There's no flames...