"And the cycle went on."
The group stood in the middle of the hall speechless of what Yunaleska had announced to them. They were now left in the room alone with a decision of who would be chosen to become the summoner's fayth; But there were two of them, so it would possibly mean two people.
"We'll break it!" Tidus replied to Auron's pity.
"But how?" Wakka asked. "What? You got a plan now?"
"Apparently in the end, the summoners aren't the only ones to go." Fang replied.
"If any one of us has to be a Fayth, I volunteer." Lulu said.
"No…wait guys. There are two summoners." Fang said. No one knew what her point was at first, but then even more despair set in the room.
"Then we'll need two Fayth…" Remora replied. "But…Yunaleska said that the chosen person had to have a strong bond with the summoner. The only people that know me more personally are Fang and Auron."
From the sound of their names, Fang and Auron looked at each other with slight confusion. Auron knew that Fang was close friends with Remora, but the names reversed weren't exactly sure.
"Then I'll be the Fayth for Remora." Fang replied.
"Me too! Yuna!" Wakka then shouted.
Tidus moaned. "That still won't change anything, you know? You'd bring the Calm, and then what? That won't break the cycle!"
Wakka sighed a little at his fact. "Listen...you wanna defeat Sin and keep Yuna and Remora alive... you don't want Sin to come back, ya? That is just not gonna happen, brudda, you know?"
"But if you want everything, you'll end up with nothing." Lulu added.
"But I want everything!" Tidus replied, sounding a little whiny.
"Who doesn't?" Fang replied. "There are a lot of things in the world that we want. Some of them we just have to deal with not getting."
"I give up. So what would an adult do, then? They know they can just throw away a summoner, then they can do whatever they like. You're right, I might not even have a chance. But no way am I gonna just stand here and let Yuna or Remora go. And what Auron said about there being a way... I think it's true."
"You'll think of something?" Rikku asked.
"Yeah. I'll go ask Yunaleska. She's got to know something."
"Remora, I know this your first time ever hearing about Yunaleska, let alone meeting her in person. Can you trust her to help you out?" Lulu questioned.
"Yes. If she defeated Sin long ago, then she must know a lot. I don't see why anybody would reject her." Remora replied, staring up the stairs.
"And I'm not sure myself," Tidus started. "But I have to try. This is my story. It'll go the way I want it. Or it'll end here."
"Wait." Yuna said. Everyone turned towards her. "You say it's your story, but it's my story, too, you know? It would be so easy...to let my fate just carry me away...following this same path my whole life through. But I know...I can't. What I do, I do...with no regrets."
Yuna nodded towards Remora and they both walked up to step through the door, everyone else following from behind.
The next place that everyone had reached was actually what looked like little ruins of what was previously a room but was now a topless dorm. The sound of shoes clacked as everyone walked across the brick floor until they reached a giant glowing circle. It wasn't too long after Yunaleska stepped out from a void to greet them once more, a gentle yet mystic aura surrounding her.
"Have you chosen the one to become your Fayth? Who will it be?"
Yuna stepped a little more forward. "Might I ask something first?" Yunaleska tilted her head up a little. "Will Sin come back even if Remora and I use the Final Aeon to destroy it?"
"Sin is eternal. Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin itself...thus Sin is reborn."
"So that's why Jeckt became Sin..." Tidus said.
"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is...never ending."
"Never-ending? But...but...if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back, ya? Someday, it'll be gone, ya?" Wakka asked, slightly hesitant.
"Will humanity ever attain such purity?"
"Uh..."
"This...this cannot be! The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope all of these years!" Lulu cried out.
"Lulu, remember that Yevon ignored their own teachings." Fang stated.
"Hope it...comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it may be."
"No...!" Tidus said. Remora thought he was going to fall to his knees. Just when the suspense increased, the image of the young Auron appeared once again, looking more ghastly than before. He had then looked up at the direction where Yunaleska was standing and slowly drew out his sword.
"No! Where's the sense in all of this!? Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them!"
"They chose to die...because they had hope." Yunaleska replied. The younger Auron had then cried out and ran towards Yunaleska with the sword in his hand, looking more real to Remora than what he was supposed to be. Yunaleska zapped at him when he was a foot away from her and he immediately fell far across the floor. Motionlessly, he laid on the ground, beginning to fade once again. "Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people of Spira hope. Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow. Now, choose. Who will be your fayths? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"
There was a dreadful silence before it finally broke when Remora and Yuna spoke at the same time.
"No one." They both said, but then Yuna spoke for herself. "I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira, and I would die for them. But no more! The Final Summoning...is a false tradition that should be thrown away."
"No. It is our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give that hope to people. So that they forgot sorrow. Vera would have done the same thing if the people's hearts weren't pure with hate of her."
This time Remora spoke out. "From what I've learned, Vera was a high summoner, and the reason for her escape was to protect me from getting hurt; To raise me as the next summoner. I know I might have act foolish around her, but now I'm glad that I was wrong, for it was her intent to keep me safe all along. You have no right to say that she left Spira in vain."
"And My father... My father wanted...to make Spira's sorrow go away. Not just cover it up with lies!" Yuna said.
"Sorrow cannot be abolished. It is meaningless to try."
" My father... I loved him. So I... I will live with my sorrow, I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow, in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don't know when it will be but someday, I will conquer it. And I will do it without...false hope."
"We don't need a Final Aeon to defeat Sin. As long as we have faith somewhere in our heart, no matter how big or little it is, no matter how far inside it is, its stronger than sorrow and false hope. Its the only true way to defeat Sin. That is what everyone taught me...since I realized that I was cared for." Remora said. Yunaleska lowered her head a little, yet her expression remained the same.
" Poor creature. You would throw away hope. Well... I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair. Let me be your liberator."
The light beneath Yunaleska had suddenly beamed up, and what looked like silver veins had sprouted out from behind her, surrounding most of her figure, making most of the tension in the area high. Everyone was ready for offense.
"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!" Auron shouted, speaking for everyone. Kimahri ran forward.
"Remora and Yuna need Kimahri. Kimahri protect them."
"Well I'm fighting!" Rikku shouted.
"I can't believe we're fighting Lady Yunaleska. Gimme a break!" Wakka said. Fang ran next to him.
"Are you feeling...regret?" She teased.
"You can always run." Lulu replied.
"Ha! I'd never forgive myself No way--Not even in death! Ya?" Wakka replied to them, smirking.
"Those were my thoughts, exactly." Fang said, Lulu then nodding in agreement.
"Yuna! Remora! This is our story! Now lets see this thing through together!" Tidus shouted, running in between the two summoners. Yuna nodded as did Remora, before the showdown with the legendary summoner began.
v EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PREVIEW OF FUTURE FANFIC 'The Lifeless Leech' v
So people, we all know that the battle with Yunaleska is a long one, right? Dun lie to me. It took me at least 30 minutes to beat her, so it might take as long for the gang to fight her in this story. But while we wait, I'm going to give you a sneak preview of the first chapter of my next upcoming fanfic 'The Lifeless Leech', which based on Kingdom Hearts. Enjoy it while you can!
And she woke up without warning. She had no idea where she came from. It was just out of nowhere, that she had awoken from a possible sleep, maybe even a rebirth, inside an unusual looking town. It was around night time the way she saw it, and most of the buildings had very luminescent lights flashing from around them. Something about the air she was breathing, her surroundings, her figure, and most of her senses, felt very familiar. Why couldn't she remember it. Her hair was blonde, reaching down to her mid-back, which a few red and black streaks. Her eyes were sharp green and her skin was slightly tan. Something about the way she looked flashed back at her. Something happened before she found herself in the city. Something terrible. She wore nothing more than a black plain tube top, white and black plaid mini skirt, black leather wedged boots that went up to her knees, and a necklace. The end of the necklace had a heart charm dangling from it. She held her hand out in front of her, showing a sterling silver ring around her middle finger, and it made her wonder if it meant anything special. She rethought a few things to herself; She might have been just a regular city girl that might have blacked out momentarily, or maybe she had gotten an amnesia. There were many possibilities to a situation as such, but for some reason she felt...uncomfortable, making it feel necessary for her to over think things. She was in a sitting position in what looked like a dark alley though, despite that she could tell that there could be a whole town waiting for her if she stepped out of the blackened hall, and was also surrounded entirely of broken glass and trash. She also realized something else. She felt her worry increase by a bit in each second passing, yet she didn't feel her heart beat speeding up in any way. In fact, she put her hand to her chest in curiosity, and didn't feel a heart beat at all. She thought it had to be a dream, even though she felt as though she just woke up from a very long lasting dream. This was all too weird for her, and so she decided to investigate a little of the town. Stepping out of the alley, the light had shown a little more clearly, and suited nicely with the night sky. For some reason she felt as though she had more than five senses, and she felt a little more fresh than usual, if there ever was a 'usual'. Not many people were around, just a couple of people standing around a stairway and near the entrance of a bar which didn't look too appealing. There was also a little...creature that was pacing around the tiled ground. It was small, kind of sand colored, and had a big red nose and purple wings on its back. A big red pompom hung from its head, twirling around from each little step it took; but what the hell was it?
She had started walking towards the stairway slowly, and it wasn't too long before she realized that she was being...stared at. She turned around curiously to see if anyone was looking at her, for a brief glance or a rude stare, but everyone was doing their business, and the little white thing was still pacing back and forth. One of her thin eyebrows raised and the other sunk as she looked in the other available directions. Nobody was around that seemed to increase the suspense. She thought that she was just nervous being around a town she's never been in before, but as she continued up the stairs and pass an accessory shop, her tension rose a little higher, and continued to look around cautiously as she roamed around. So much was going on, but it felt so empty to her, but it was almost as though someone unseen was watching her, and she's only been in the town for a minute or two; at least that's what she thought. She reached a point where she was in front of two giant doors, figuring that they led to somewhere else other than the town, and she hoped there wouldn't be a lot of people around the next area. She walked up closer by two steps and put her hands on the metal bar frame.
"If you don't want to put yourself in any more harm, I suggest you don't move any further."
The voice was dark and cold, and it made a few shivers go through her spine. She turned around, despite that she was a little bit afraid to do so, to see who was talking to her. Unfortunately, she didn't see the exact face, but just a whole figure entirely cloaked in a long black jacket. She couldn't see his face, since his hood was up, shadowing anything underneath it, but she did see two long thick strands of silver hair hang out of the hood. The whole figure was slightly tall and built too. She wanted to know who he was, since she didn't see him lurking around before, but she was too startled to say anything.
"...Poor girl. Lost physically and mentally. It pains me to see a new Nobody that is clueless in thought."
'Nobody' seemed like an insult to her, but if she was nobody, then why did he sound so curious about her. She could only shift her leg close to her other as the hooded figure walked a little closer to her.
"You're not speaking at all. Are you that frightened of me? Of this world? I'm only here to bring you home."
At that, she blinked a little, and she realized that she did have a voice after all. "...Home?"
The hooded figure chuckled a little at her question. "Yes. I understand your high tension, and the fact that you...have no heart. It's dangerous for a newborn to walk around a place he or she doesn't know so carelessly."
She placed her hand on her chest, realizing that as crazy as he sounded, it seemed true that she had no heart. She felt no beat or pulse on the surface of her chest, but then it confused her even more. Without a heart, wouldn't she be dead?
"But tell me, girl. Do you remember your past at all? Do you remember your family, your home? What about your name?"
All of the questions seemed to depress her a little, since she really didn't know where she came from, let alone anything before she found herself in this town. "I...don't know."
"Nothing at all?"
"...No." She said. Her head lowered since she felt weighed down from so much that she couldn't think of, or remember. The figure was then in front of her, and she looked up to see if she could find any more features about him. She could only see a little bit of his skin color, something very dark, but his eyes were golden and extremely sharp as they looked down at her.
"Your hope is not lost, I will tell you that." His eyes rolled a little to the side. "But you're not trained enough to wonder alone, which is why I'm taking you to our headquarters with the rest of our kind."
"Our kind?" She repeated in question. For some reason when he said that at first, she found it necessary to glance at the unknown little creature she passed a moment ago, but that was out of the question. "Who...and what are you?"
"Your leader." He replied. He then reached up, pulling his hood back off of his head, and shown his face to her. His skin was brown and most of his hair was slightly spiked, long, and silver. His eyes seemed to stick out the most to her. "And its about time that you realize who you are...Rexa."
"Rexa...that's not my name...it's...-" But despite that what he called her seemed incorrect, she didn't even know if she was right or not. She stopped mid-sentence, thinking he mistaken her for someone else, but that was it. Everything else he described seemed a little too reasonable. "...is it? Is that really my name?"
He didn't respond, but from the look of the way that his lips curled upward and his white teeth shown, she immediately had a feeling that he was not lying to her.
Did you all enjoy the wonderful preview of my next fanfic? =] Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for it to actually be developed. But luckily (or unluckily) for you all, Illusion To Reality is almost done. I predict it'll be finished in 3-4 chapters, but once that's done, I will start working on The Lifeless Leech. Now then, back to the story. You'd figure that Yunaleska got her butt kicked by now.
v NOW BACK TO THE STORY v
The little glass white gem flashed as Yunaleska was on her knees, the group surrounding her cautiously. She looked up and stared at Yuna and Remora at the same time as it looked as though she was getting weaker by the moment.
"If I die, so does the Final Aeon, and with it, Spira's only hope."
"Then we'll find a new hope!" Tidus replied back.
"Fool. There is no other way. Even if there was... Even if you did destroy Sin... Yu Yevon the immortal would only create Sin anew."
Remora blinked at the new subject mentioned. "Who's Yu Yevon?"
Yunaleska then looked back down, looking helpless. "Ah...Zaon...forgive me...for Spira has been robbed of the light of hope. All that is left...is sorrow." With those last words, Yunaleska then dissolved within the air, and the gem where she kneeled stopped flashing.
"I cannot believe what we just did." Yuna said, sounding shocked. Fang then turned towards her.
"I bet we can do something even more unbelievable."
"We can and we will." Remora replied, smiling.
Rikku then glanced at Tidus. "But what?"
He smiled up reluctantly. "Destroy Sin. So it won't come back, and without the Final Aeon. I don't know how just yet. But I'll find out."
Everyone then left the dome, and walked back inside the hall where most of the suspense began. Everyone walked downstairs and out the way they came. Remora and Tidus were about to do the same, but Tidus blocked their way.
"We need to talk." He said, not sounding very comfortable.
Remora's eyebrows rose a little at his tone. So did Tidus's. "What?"
"There is something you should know." Auron continued.
"Is it about my mom?" Remora questioned. Auron shook his head 'no', but Tidus seemed to immediately found out.
"I know...it's about you, isn't it?"
"I am also an unsent. You are not surprised?" He replied. Remora felt slight pity for him.
"Yunaleska kind of gave it away." She replied.
"When Braska and Jecht died defeating Sin...I just couldn't accept it. I came back here...tried to avenge them. But she struck me down. Somehow I made my way, crawling, down Mount Gagazet. But my strength left me just outside Bevelle. That's where Kimahri found me. I told him about Yuna...just before I died. I've been wandering ever since, never going to the Farplane."
"Auron..." Remora said, taking a step near him, but he held his hand out to halt her move.
"Don't make that face. Being dead has its advantages." Auron replied. He looked over at Tidus then. "I was able to ride Sin and go to your Zanarkand."
"And I saw everything that happened...in my dream back home." Remora said, her head lowering a little.
"And you have been watching over me since then, right? What's the big idea? Why me?" Tidus asked sounding a little frantic.
"It's one of those things that are difficult for me to explain." Auron replied. He nodded towards Remora to remind her the same thing. "Very well. I will show you. My memories." He then kneeled down on the floor, and pyreflies developed all around him, making the room a little brighter, and then there was nothing seen but white, but then another image came into view. A flashback to Braska's pilgrimage had came into view.
"Can I ask you one last favor?" Jeckt questioned, but then he shook his head. "Nah. Never mind."
"Out with it!" Auron had urged.
"Okay. Listen good. Take care of my son. My son, in Zanarkand. He's such a crybaby. He needs someone there to hold his hand, see? Take care of him, will you? Vera has already escaped."
"But how will I get to Zanarkand?"
"Hey! You said it yourself! There must be another way to get there, right? You'll find it!"
"All right, I will! I give you my word. I'll take care of your son. I'll guard him with my life."
Jeckt smiled at his words. "Thanks, Auron. You were always such a stiff, but that's what I liked about you."
The flashback ended, and the hall came into focus again. The pyreflies began to vanish around Auron as he began to walk away.
"That is why."
I wish that defeating Sin wouldn't have took as much thinking as I thought it would. But I guess that's the way it has to be. Doing this job does take a lot of concentration and thought...right?
Everyone stepped outside of the Zanarkand dome, and the sun was risen in the sky by then. Zanarkand looked totally different during the day, but it wasn't the time of day that had surprised Remora. Tidus and her stood on the corrupted road, looking straight ahead of them, for Sin was towering over the ruins, staring right back at him. But Remora had a feeling that it wasn't Sin she was staring at. She figured it was Jeckt staring at them, waiting to be eliminated so that there would be no more suffering in Spira. He must have also seen how much Remora had grown and matured during her trip here, and she probably knew that he wished that he could see Vera one last time before their last showdown would start. After a moment of staring, Sin had then turned around, heading back towards the sea where it rose, and a little airship came into view. The one that the guardians had rode to rescue Remora and Yuna in Bevelle, it came to pick them up. It passed by slowly towards the group as Sin had its back turned towards them as it later disappeared back into the ocean.