III

Chapter 23

Their plan was ruined when they realised that the airship of the two al-bhed men wasn't functional. Josh tried to start the engines of the big machine, but it would only make a lot of noise, and then it just stopped. He repeated this process a couple of times until the engines didn't respond at all. And to make things worse, the al-bhed men had escaped, only Yevon knows how. They were stuck in that desert, lost in the Home's ruins for some days now. Fortunately, there was some food in the stolen airship, but it wouldn't last much longer for the two of them.

Inside the airship, they were trying to make some plan to get out of the desert, when they heard another airship landing close to the place they were. Ject immediately walked to one of the many windows of that airship to see what was going on.

- Seems like a ticket to get out of this sandbox - Josh said, cheerfully.

- Hhmm... just in time... - Ject said in a whisper.

- Come on. - Josh said, as he got up and grabbed his weapon - Let's see if their airship is any better than this one.

- W-wait, what? - Ject asked, confused - You wanna steal that airship too?

- What? You think that if we ask nicely they'll give it to us? - he asked back, sarcastically, and than laughed - You didn't think that we were just going to ask them to go back, did you?

- Hmm., well... - he said, embarrassed - don't you think we're in enough trouble already?

Josh looked incredulous at Ject, and said:

- Yeah, that's exactly why we shouldn't just talk to whoever is in that airship. What would we say? "Excuse me, but our thievery went wrong and we got stuck in the desert"?!

Damn, he was right. If they just tried to talk to these newcomers, they would probably be sent to prison for stealing an airship.

- Well, I guess we really have to do this the hard way.... - he surrendered to Josh's idea.

- Ah! - Josh laughed - You're gonna need to get rid of that guilty thought if you wanna live well in Spira!

Ject just sighed, resigned.

The two blitz mates got out and started walking towards the new airship. It was medium-sized and short in height (probably with only a couple of floors). The design was very aerodynamic, it looked like it could reach high speeds, but it was all flat at the top, like if the top area was all a big deck. It was all red, except for a logotype and some letters painted in both sides of the ship; it said SPC-YLV.

- Oh, no,.... this is bad... - Josh said, worried and both stopped walking.

- What? - Ject inquired. - Something wrong with this ship?

- Yeah. I recognise this design.... It's a military ship.

- I see.... - Ject wondered why there were military ships in Spira, while there were no wars; at least that was what he thought. - Is Spira at some war or something?

- Not really, these ships aren't used to fight in wars now. But they've become the favourite airships for the SPC... - Josh looked at Ject, who was obviously lost in that conversation - Sorry, SPC stands for Spiran Peace Corps, also known as the "Ex-Crusaders". Basically, when Sin was defeated, there was no reason for the Crusaders to continue existing; instead, they formed a new military group, the SPC. Their job is to keep peace in Spira, at the towns and stuff like that... In this case, it's a ship of the Youth League, hence that "YLV" part, it means "Youth league Volunteers".

- So, basically, they are the ones who will arrest us if they see us, right? - Ject concluded.

- Right.... - he was now thinking hard to make up a plan. Attacking the crew of the ship was out of question, the SPC were always armed (specially the ones from the Youth League) and travelled in large groups. Maybe the wisest choice in this case was to keep hidden. His train of thought was interrupted by Ject's exclamation.

- Look!

- Quiet, you want them to hear us?!

- Look who just got out of the ship! - Ject said, pointing in the direction of the people who had just walked out of the military ship. Annoyed, Josh directed his look to them, and , to his big surprise, he saw Marckus and Tidus, both holding a riffle like the one he had.

- What?... - it was all he could say.

- Hey! Over here! - Ject had climbed to the top of a pile of rock and wood, and was waving to his son and Marckus. Tidus waved back and said something to Marckus, who directed his look to Ject.

- There you are! - Marckus shouted.

Josh and Ject walked towards their companions and their airship.

- It seems that the desert didn't swallow you two after all! - Marckus said, laughing while giving a friendly slap at Josh's shoulder. Tidus was with a much more serious and worried expression, and just nodded his head to greet his father.

- How did you get this airship? - Josh asked, clearly admired.

- We were given this ship! Pretty nice, isn't it? - Marckus answered, proud of himself. - Come on, let's go inside so I can explain all to you guys.

The group walked inside the ship, to the main room where all the controls were in. Celia was there too.

- Hey, look who's here. - she said, mocking them, and then she showed them a journal - Congratulations, you made it to the first page of The Post.

- What?! - josh grabbed quickly the journal from Celia's hands and stared at it. It featured a picture of himself and Ject inside the stolen airship, along with a text whose title was "Al-Bhed Airship Stolen at Sanubia".

- How did this go to the news so quickly? - Ject was intrigued.

- Well - Marckus started, as he sited down on one of the chairs of the room - Apparently those two al-bhed guys who you knocked out were here just to fix their big airship, but they knew that he ship wouldn't be capable of making the trip out of Sanunbia, so they took a small emergency micro-airship inside the main airship. When you caught them, they used that emergency ship to escape and told the SPC everything.

- Of course! - Josh was now mad at himself. How didn't he think about that before? It was very common to have small backup airships within the main airships, for emergency cases.

- Don't be so hard on yourself, if it wasn't for that, we would never find you. Plus, we got this airship, that is way better than those crappy ships that the al-bhed use! - Marckus laughed.

- Right... - Josh sited on the ground.

- So, how really did you get this airship? - Ject asked, hoping he wouldn't hear the word "murder" in the way (apparently Marckus' way of solving things was always with violence...).

- It was pretty easy actually. We heard about the story of these al-bhed men, and then the SPC started to gather a team to investigate it. So we just pretended to be from the Youth League, and we volunteered to do the job!

- Some guys from the SPC are so naive that is almost impossible to believe. - Celia added - they didn't even ask for any ID.

There was a moment of silence, until Ject finally spoke.

- So, what now?....

- Now... - Marckus said - I think that our best option is to stay here. No one will come here in a while, after the news of those two al-bhed being stolen...

- We could make our plans here without anyone to bug us.- Celia added.

- I agree - Josh simply said.

Another moment of silence. Suddenly, Tidus, who had been silent and apparently distant from the whole conversation, and was still holding his gun firmly in his hands, spoke.

- I, ahmm.... I'll go out for a walk, to catch some fresh air... - he said, a little bit shyly.

- Alright. Don't waste too time, though. We have work to do. - Marckus consented.

- Sure, don't worry... - he said while walking towards the exit door of the ship.

When Tidus was gone from the room, Celia said:

- This kid freaks me out. - and then she remembered that his father was still in the room - No offence, Ject.

- None taken. - he said, almost in a whisper.

- We better watch out, I think he's getting paranoid or something. - Marckus added.

- What do you mean? - Ject didn't like the way the conversation was going.

- Oh, nothing special - Marckus said, defensively - I just think that he is too worried about all this... He needs to understand that what we do is for our own good...

Ject thought about starting to argue with him to defend his son, but he decided to stay quiet. He understood Tidus' paranoia. During the time he spent with Josh, Tidus probably spent with Marckus; that was enough to make anyone paranoid.

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After walking the first miles of the road, Yuna started to regret the fact that she didn't accepted a ride. Her feet were starting to hurt and she decided to take a break; she sited down on one of the many rocks that populated the Djose Highroad, and rested her head on the rocky wall. She remembered walking on this road before, during the pilgrimage, right after the failed Operation Mi'Hen; but making the same road again this time felt a lot different; maybe because she was alone, because she didn't have all her guardian fiends with her, she felt more tired. But she was almost there, just a few miles away from the temple where, hopefully, she would find Marckus.

She watched a few people passing by, most of them using some sort of mechanical transport, the same kind that she saw in the Mi'Hen Highroad; apparently, the Al-Bhed started using those and renting them to the people who didn't want to walk on the long Highroads. In Mi'Hen, there were still a lot of people walking, but here, she was almost the only one doing it. At the start of the road, she was offered a ride, but she refused; she wanted to walk, to have time to think. Right now, sitting on the cold rock, she thought about how Spira had changed so much, and how she had been missing everything.

"I guess I was too blinded by my feelings to see..." To see how the world changed around her, how the world was adapting to the freedom of not having Sin creating a constant wave of fear. "So many things have changed... Maybe I should have opened my eyes before..." She inspired, filling her whole lungs with fresh air, and then expired in a long breathe. Only then she realised that the world was really changing, that it wasn't all about him. People change, cities grow... even Besaid was now more that a small village! Only then, she realised that she had really made a difference.

"It doesn't feel empty any more" She felt like a hole in herself had just been filled up, and a wave of happiness invaded her. She killed Sin. For good. She was a heroine.

"How didn't I realised this before?" she asked herself, smiling. But she knew the answer; she was blind with sadness, with the thought of never seeing Tidus again, never feel his touch or see his childish smile... The smiled turned into a frown, and she mentally slapped herself. "This is the kind of thought that has been keeping me blind,... Let me be positive for a while" Positive thinking, it was that what she needed. For once in a lot of time, she was enjoying herself. And it wasn't the kind of joy she had while with Rikku, that one was just pleasant because she didn't have to think. This was different, she was happy because she realized that she was slowly healing from all the events of the pilgrimage. All the death and lies, deceptions and doubts; all that has been keeping her from enjoying the moment, enjoying being alive.

Even Tidus.

Was he worth all this? All the pain he caused her just for the fact of being absent, was it worth more than a year of depression, and an attempt of suicide? What was he? A friend? A boyfriend? Did she even love him, or was he just a violent passion? After all, he was a major reason why Yuna only opened her eyes now, more than a year after the world started to change.

Another mental slap.

Of course he was worth it! "Why am I thinking like this?" She was simplifying it too much. He wasn't just a passion, he was a lot more than that. It wasn't just about Macalania. During the whole pilgrimage her feelings towards him grew. First he was just a cute and nice guy who happened to be from Zanarkand. Then he became something more, a friend maybe. Anyway, he became enough for Yuna to want him to be her guardian. By the time when they were at Mi'hen, she was already falling for him. And from that point, things started to get really complicated. "It was... is a lot more than that kiss in Macalania". Anyway, he was definitely worth it all. Even this travel to Djose alone.

Getting up, se looked around her and, for the first time since the pilgrimage, she was not just seeing, but watching. Watching the rocks, the dirt path beneath her aching feet, a group of men in some of those weird transports in the distance; watching beyond the cloud of depression. She started walking again, hoping she would arrive to the temple before the day turned into night.

Just some minutes after she started walking again, the group of men she had seen in the distance faraway were now just a few meters from her.

- Lady Summoner! You want a ride? - one of the men asked, as the group stopped near her. She thought for a moment, and then decided that she was tired of walking.

- If it isn't too much trouble, I'd appreciate a ride. - she shyly responded.

- No problem, ma'am! - other of the men (who looked more like a teenager, and maybe he really was) said cheerfully.

With this, she sited on one vacant seat, and in a few minutes they were at the temple. On the way, Yuna found that they were a group of volunteers from the Youth League (hence the amount of young boys among the group) that were on their way to a rescue mission.

- Well, not really a rescue mission - one of the men (who, despite being one of the oldest, was only in his 20's) said with a laugh - there is some weird stuff going on, we're just going to investigate. These boys love to fantasise that they're great heroes.

- They're all heroes... - Yuna said, more to herself than to the man. Right now, she felt less heroic than these boys; at least they were enjoying their lives, and doing something productive to make Spira a better place, while she just spent her time trying not to become more depressed.

Arriving at the temple, Yuna quickly noticed that Marckus wasn't there. She was now sitting at the entrance of the temple, dealing with her disappointment and trying to figure out what to do. She had to start looking else where for him, but where? If she only had a clue...

- You okay, lady? - she was waken up from her thoughts by the same man that talked to her before in that day, the oldest men among the Youth League's volunteers and their captain. He looked worried.

- Yes, I am. I'm just a little tired, that's all. - she answered with a smile and raising her eyes to the man.

- If there's anything we can do to help, just ask! - he said, a little bit louder than necessary.

- Yes, thanks. - she said and nodded. While she wasn't being suspicious of the man's attitude towards her, she was still a little afraid that the Youth League didn't give up from trying to get her to join them. She recalled the awful days when she had to attend to all the Youth League captains and New Yevon priests bugging her to "join their cause".

The man walked away, and she decided that she couldn't stay there all day. She got up and walked towards the inn, got herself a room and fell heavily on the bed. On the side table, she noticed a newspaper. "Time to face the world"

Indeed, for the first time in a long time, she was really interested in knowing what was going on in Spira; what changed? What was happening in the world? "What have I been missing?". She rolled to the other side of the bed and grabbed he newspaper. It was the "Luca Post". She opened it randomly, reading just the titles. "Blitzball tournament opens with a blast", "30 new homes built in Kilika", "Secrets Revealed: New ancient spheres found near the temple of Bevelle". Most of these titles were followed by a big text and a couple of photos, but Yuna was too tired to read them all right now. She closed the newspaper, and decided that she was going to sleep, she would think about what to do later. But before she could put the Luca Post aside, something got her attention. The photograph of the first page. She could see a blurry man holding some sort of a riffle, and part of other man in a distant plan of the image. It was this second person who got her attention. Even with the blurry colours and contours, she immediately recognised a shape. A black pointy shape painted on one of the man's torso; the symbol of the Zanarkand Abes. She quickly read the article

" Al-Bhed Airship Stolen at Sanubia

Two al-bhed men who were on the ruins of their once big Home, were attacked and robbed yesterday by two unknown men. The al-bhed report that they were there to search for parts to fix their broken airship, when two men, armed with a riffle and a large sword attacked them, putting them unconscious.

"We had a gun, but I left it on the airship" one of the man said, and added "There was nothing we could do. We had one of them pointing us a gun, and the other just knocked us unconscious". "We woke up later on our airship" the oher al-bhed man told "we were tied up and alone in one of the bedrooms. Eventually we managed to break the ropes and escaped to our emergency ships". Before escaping, the al-bhed men took a photograph of their attackers [see "image 5"], and then fled back to Bevelle, where they reported the crime.

In the following day, a team of volunteers from the Youth League was sent to investigate what happened in the scene of the crime.

As for the attackers, no one knows who they are. According to the victims, one of them has a medium built body, average high and brown hair. The other was tall, apparently very strong and had some symbol tattooed on his chest, along with several scars; he has slightly dark skin and dark brown hair.

If someone has any information about these two individuals, please report at the nearest SPC station."

Yuna couldn't believe in her eyes. "Can it be?..." If she wasn't already lying in a bed, she would certainly fall to the floor. Her mind was racing at the sight of that symbol; and when allied to the physical description of the man... "Ject?!"

"No, it's impossible!..." She was trying her best to think rationally. Was there any chance that someone else knew that symbol? And had it tattooed on his chest? No, there's no way it has to be him.

But how?! That made no sense at all. Ject was in Spira, stealing al-bhed airships in the desert?! "It has to be some one else". But, again, who? Still staring at the article and struggling to understand it, she remembered something that the Youth league volunteers told her earlier in that day. They were going to the Al-Bhed's Home, to see what was going on with the other team of volunteers, who should be back from the desert already. She didn't have to think too much about it: she got up and ran outside, trying to find the group of young men of the Youth League. It wasn't too hard, as they were a lot and very loud. After talking with the captain, it was decided: she would go with the group to Sanubia tomorrow. The captain was more than pleased to have the High Summoner on his team, and she would have a chance to investigate further about this bizarre event.

After all the talking was done, she got back to the inn, and tried to sleep.

End of Chapter 23

I'm really sorry for the late update. But, hey, better late than never, right?

Enjoy! (and I'll try to update more often, I promisse!)