To Love & Lost

Chapter 3: I Am Become Death

(Warnings: T, no triggers]


The remainder of the trip to Baaj was by no means languid, the damages endured on part of the Evrae catastrophic. The entire deck of the fuselage needed to be replaced, the torpedo launch bay reforged and the enormous gun replaced—thankfully, while plausibly reparable for the extraordinary talents of the Al Bhed, it was fortunate it was to Baaj they were headed, around the site where the Fahrenheit had been discovered in the first place. The plan had been set: while Yuna and Rikku explored what they could in the ruins proper, the enormous treasure freighter would temporarily house the Fahrenheit while replacement parts were salvaged.

"Dang nabbin' beast of Bevelle! This is gonna cost us a goddang fortune to repair," Cid exclaimed whilst he read the extent of the damage inspected upon by his crewmen, many having disembarked from the airship to begin preparations for a dive. Yuna held her chin with concern, canting her head before she saw a wily grin split his features. "'Cept, maybe this ain't so bad after all! Mark my words, girls: we're gonna bring back the old girl better than ever before. She'll be a lean, mean Sin-fightin' machine!"

It warmed Yuna to see her uncle's spirits still remained intact, even as Rikku waved her cousin over to the platform where their small vessel was stationed. It was almost hard to believe the Al Bhed had come so far, this freighter being far more enormous than the treasure ships she'd encountered just a few years ago. Rikku noticed Yuna's open admiration and grinned. "Maybe we oughtta get you into treasure hunting. Not just for spheres, but real Al Bhed-worthy level stuff. Might do you some good," she observed with a frank giggle, eliciting a bit of a flush from Yuna.

Yuna politely waved her hand dismissively, smiling sheepishly. "Knowing you, you might just see it happen. Oh, you just love taking me on wild adventures, don't you, Rikku?" she teased gently back, features relaxed.

"Hey, you're one to talk, taking me on another sorta-Pilgrimage!" Rikku sniped back, poking her tongue out petulantly before swiveling her gaze to gander at the foggy silhouette of Baaj lapped at by a seemingly endless, melancholy gray sea. Rikku shuddered and reflexively rubbed her crossed arms for friction in a semblance of maintaining warmth. "Brrrr! Man, this place still gives me the creeps. Honest, I think another camping trip on the Thunder Plains would be more bearable than this place."

Yuna nodded in quiet accession. It really was creepy, wasn't it? Distantly, she remembered that Cydia and Seymour had been sent to live here, of all places, in a long and lonely exile. She could only imagine how it must've been for the woman, so far away from her husband with no friends in sight except for those who likely came with provisions. And now I'm going to this place again, too, Yuna thought to herself, reflexively shivering as she swallowed down her faint trepidation. You'd think years of being in even Bevelle's underground would've warded this foreboding feeling away, but if anything it only bolstered it.

A crewman leapt from the freighter to the helm of their small tugboat, waving at them to indicate its readiness for both girls to board. "You ready, Rikku? There's really no turning back, huh?" Rikku groaned with a fall of her head, shaking it as to though to ward off nightmarish thoughts.

"Let's just get this over with, Yunie. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can get some nice zango to munch on." For once, Yuna agreed. With or without the inclusion of the spiced jerky Cid was adept at preparing.

Before they could board, Cid perched his hands on each girls' shoulder, leaning down to confidentially accommodate for the height difference. "Now, you girls keep those CommSpheres up and runnin', y'hear? Second something goes wrong or you wanna leave, we'll come lickety-split! Anything big and bad creeps outta that place and we'll blast it down."

Yuna smiled, turning and smiling gratefully up at her uncle. "You can count on us, Uncle! Besides, don't you trust Your Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings?" she quipped with a teasing smile and slight pose, one Rikku wrested his grip from to mirror the pose, both girls shoulder to shoulder. Cid couldn't help but laugh at their old antics, eliciting a sunny grin from his niece. Waving them off, bidding some last farewells, their pilot helped them on board.

The disparity between how much the sea bobbed their much smaller vessel like a cork compared to the stolid solidness of the freighter was enormous, Yuna wobbling before she was safely deposited, Rikku leaping enthusiastically aboard even if its swell on a cresting wave upset her landing a bit. Huddling within the small cabin, both girls rode near a window they closely observed their passage, the occasional Sahagin flashing its dorsal fins before plunging back into the depths. Releasing the tethering ropes, the vessel thrust away from the freighter and gradually receded back into the fog. Save for the lights dotting along its exterior, it looked like a derelict ship lost at sea before disappearing into the fog altogether. Rikku propped her jaw on her hands as she looked out, blinking slowly but surprisingly quiet. Yuna's attention pivoted towards their pilot, he in the same state. Even if she had a mind to instigate a conversation, her mouth remained clamped shut.

She must've dozed off as Rikku furiously poked her arm, shaking her some as the priestess blinked away her sleepiness. "Wha, huh?" she queried sleepily before shaking it off. "Oh, are we there?" Blinking owlishly at Rikku, the blonde nodded and chirped confirmation. Trepidation seemed enough to awaken her, a remedy for the lingering tiredness as it swirled electric in her gut. It was no anticipation of fiends that roused her, but what they might discover.

Their pilot had temporarily moored them on an outcropping of stone that fed into a path that led into Baaj, still entrenched in a smoky fog that only the ground-level appointments were made visible of. The ancient edifice stood alone and proud, if lonely above the ruins of what were once a grander city. Yuna swallowed down her trepidation that replaced itself with a braver anticipation, following Rikku as the more intrepid of the two was the first to alight to the land. Yuna followed suit, and when their pilot received confirmation they'd landed safely, they waved him off as the vessel gradually disappeared back into the fog.

Beginning their leaps and bounds over the stony outcroppings like stepping stones, Rikku asked conversationally, "So, what are we lookin' here for anyway? Treasure? Some sign of Tidus, maybe?"

Yuna landed solidly on her feet, facing Rikku once they matched paces. "Mhm. That, and if the fayth are back, Cydia might have some answers for us. I think she's of one of the only Final Aeons that didn't get used in the Final Summoning. Maybe she knows something, if she's back. We'll just have to wait and see," Yuna surmised, receiving a hearty smile from Rikku.

"It's alright if you don't really know what we're doing, Yunie. Guardians always follow their sum—er, priestess wherever she goes no matter what, right?" Rikku amended cheerfully, smiling brightly at her cousin. Yuna nodded and returned the smile brightly before sobering, both girls continuing on their way.

The stopped before the entrance, Rikku already attacking it with her Godhand after minutes of frustration trying to open it. When a final blow was rebuffed, the recoil sent her landing on her rear, the blonde exclaiming, "Oh, poopie! How the heck did Tidus get in this dumb old place, anyways?!" she huffed in frustration, righting herself back to her feet.

Yuna held her chin thoughtfully before her gaze ascended, seeing a flapping and mottled curtain buffeted by the wind at least four stories up. Tapping Rikku's shoulder and pointing at it, the girl's gaze followed Yuna's finger. "There! We'll climb up there," Yuna said, gaze still locked above. "And...let's not make it a race to the top, please?" Her smile was sheepish at Rikku.

"Aw, spoilsport," Rikku pouted before windmilling her arms to warm up. "No problemo, though. This'll be a slice of cake."

Yuna was thankful the facade of the spire was just craggy enough for runnels and cracks to have formed for purchase, proving to be rather perfect means of ascension. Though climbing was neither girls' fortitude, they weren't exactly poor in the area, either. It was only a few minutes later before Rikku poked her head through the aforementioned window, sputtering as she whacked the nuisance curtain aside and pinned it between a lodging of a felled wardrobe and the wall, huffing in satisfaction before tumbling through and hauling Yuna helpfully through, the priestess climbing over the windowsill with relative ease.

It was just in the nick of time as a streak of lightning bolted across the sky, darkening in its wake as Rikku started in surprise, rain beginning a torrential downpour that coldly berated where they stood too close. Yuna's breath misted before her, the cold of Baaj just dawning as her skin began to prickle with goosebumps. She didn't need Rikku's prompting to turn towards a doorway that led into the upper galleries that encircled the foyer Tidus had found years before, Rikku following suit as both girls gazed below, only to be haunted by what was seen.

A lone fire crackled forlornly amid the bed of rubble, at the epicenter of the clearing. Yuna herself stared on in horror while Rikku gaped in shock, both forgetting to breathe for a moment. Laying on his side and presumably asleep was none other than Seymour Guado, a gaudy and vibrant contrast to the dull ruins that spanned in a wide radius around him, the cascading water that coolly fell to the ruined ground below loud and stifling, something Yuna was grateful for when even the slightest whispers carried loudly. The shock faded for a strange sensation of worldliness, a surreal and distant pity she'd felt even then. To think, this enemy that attacked her Home and the Ronso had been brought back while a true hero had been taken away made her clench the railing with a dull ache in her breast. Tempestuous hate was such a slippery thing for her to think of grasping on for very long.

Rikku tugged Yuna away by her arm as Yuna suppressed a gasp, mouthing, "What?" at Rikku while taking a cursory look back.

"Yunie, we have to leave!" Rikku hissed lowly, expression frantic. "The last thing we need is that bozo getting all creepy-crawly over you! You know how he was!" Yuna's expression faltered, but she understood. From the first time they'd really spoken, it'd become more apparent. Of how his diminishing sanity had evolved the potential of something tender to fiendish possessiveness over her. Like dark claws that had clung to her while the sun was within such close reach.

"I'm sorry, Rikku...but I can't. I came here seeking...something, and he might be it," Yuna said with a quiet sense of resolve, Rikku pouting and glancing worriedly towards the banister that plunged down to him. Before she could whine otherwise, Yuna promised, "If he tries anything, I'll send him. The aeons aren't here anymore, and it's us against him. He wouldn't stand a chance!"

Rikku heaved a sigh, nodding her head numbly. "Alright, but the second he does anything, we're moseying, answers or no!" Yuna smiled reassuringly and nodded, seeming enough of a vote of confidence for her cousin.

Yuna was the one to lead them down the misty, twilit stairwell still gray from the squalls of rain and occasionally lit brightly by the perpetual lightning storms embroiled in the brooding skies, a brave front forwarded as she openly carried the Nirvana in her right hand as she usually did. She was so much stronger compared to the girl of three years ago, a matured woman who had saved the world twice and was prepared to do so for a third. From porcelain, to ivory, to steel; her will was iron and nothing would shake it off. Seymour wasn't capable of frightening her any longer.

The priestess made no attempt of disguising not quieting her footfalls as she entered the central atrium, visage set with determination and her Nirvana glancing the firelight with its own thrumming power. The Celestial Weapon was unmatched in its power, something she took heart in. She had faced Sin and prevailed. She had defeated Vegnagun and ushered in another time of peace. This time would be no different.

But even under all this bravado, her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw him stir, the man slowly aware that he was not alone. Righting himself to sit, then to stand, pivoting to face his adversary with his usual churlish smirk, it crumbled as soon as he saw Yuna. The former maester's amethyst eyes gradually opened wide and his smirk thinned into a tense line, unblinking for several long moments before their gazes matched and his expression receded into his one of a feline mischief. One she could never bring herself to trust.

"Ah, so the Lady Yuna has come to send me? Why, I'm flattered that you would come all this way to dispatch me," he said frankly, speaking candidly and in the soft, spidery silken timbre she remembered all too well. The last she'd heard of it was a sphere where Baralai and Seymour were negotiating, taking the young man under his wing.

Yuna's expression frosted over, her own voice firm as Rikku stood defensively at her side. "I should send you, shouldn't I? But I have questions, first. You owe the people of Spira, Seymour! You owe them this!" It was strong, the way she spoke. All signs of faltering had died a long time ago.

Seymour laughed softly, a chortle in his throat that made Rikku visibly bristle. She'd never liked the maester, even before his treachery had been made apparent. And with good reason, too. For a girl as readable as she was, Rikku was better at reading people than they gave her credit for, especially times such as these.

"And why should I refuse? Truly, speak your mind, Lady Yuna. I have no reason to decline." His softness and polity were deceptive, but both women knew better.

Reluctantly, Yuna lowered her brandished staff which earned a cant of Seymour's head, but nothing more. Rikku maintained a fierce expression that might've been effective were it not so comical, Seymour unfazed but with his gaze was trained with uncomfortable intensity upon Yuna. "Why did you come back? Why are so many people returning from the Farplane? Why is Sin back?"

Seymour looked surprised at the last, the slight of features that availed it; he was readable if one knew how. "Sin has returned? Hm...I wasn't aware," Seymour's voice lilted, clasping his elongated hands behind his back, head bowed thoughtfully. His profile was glimpsed over his shoulder, gaze meeting Yuna's. "As for the rest, even to that I cannot say. I awoke here just days before with no recollection of anything except...what I last saw while conscious, in a manner of speaking." He didn't need to say anything else for Yuna to understand, but it didn't lessen the harshness in her voice. Well, as harsh as someone like Yuna could get.

"Your mother? What about her?" she demanded, the command in her voice still strong.

"Ah, yes—the aeons. You think they've returned, haven't you?" Seymour simpered, turning back around to face them. "Pardon the disappointment, but I visited her chamber. The statue remains unpainted, dull as when you sent her and the others for good. I think they're quite enjoying their rest in the Farplane. Certainly not enough to want to save Spira again."

Violet eyes seemed so full of condescending when they met with Yuna, it alone sent Rikku over the edge. "You, you...you shouldn't even be allowed to look at her for what you've done! Murdering so many people...forcing us to destroy Home! Yuna's Home, our Home! You destroyed it, killed so many Al Bhed—our people! I bet you have no idea how much she hates you, do you?!" Rikku railed, hands balled into fists and tears erupted from shining eyes. "And I bet Sin coming back is all your fault, too!"

Even though Yuna turned away to avoid his gaze—those eyes she couldn't bare to look into—with her mouth pursed, it alone was enough to confirm that the feeling was mutual, agreeing with everything her cousin voiced that which her heart was too abashed into saying.

She then turned back to look at him, eyes steely. "Seymour Guado, in the name of the Spiran Council and the citizens of Spira, you are under arrest! You will be put on trial for your crimes and executed if you do not cooperate, do you understand?" Though her words sounded so cold, even to her, it was all he deserved.

Seymour himself became unreadable, but submissive. "My fate is in your hands, Lady Yuna," he acceded in hushed tones, Yuna unwilling to meet his gaze even as his continued to search for hers. Rikku bristled and tugged Yuna away from him, glowering defiantly and frowning fiercely, truly enraged. She was drawn away without complaint, all before Yuna lifted her gaze to look conflicted upon him, brows furrowed deeply and old hurts welling in shining eyes that she turned away from before he could look too long.

Straightening, Yuna walked behind him while Rikku was all too efficient in contacting Cid, her gaze hard upon his back. "You took so much from me, but in the end, you returned while he was taken away. It's not fair," she murmured with a quivering lower lip, voice cracking as her throat closed.

Seymour craned his neck, trying to look at her, but stopped and bowed his head. It was all he could do in lieu of the punishment to be meted.