Disclaimer: Square-Enix Incorporated owns all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include. All other materials, such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera, all belong to Zeshin-kun.

Author's Note: Not a single review! And here I thought the last chapter was the action people have been saying I'm lacking in this story! Well, if that didn't do it for you lot, maybe this next chapter will. Shuyin's out for the while, but the rest of them are hitting it hard, with perhaps another recruit. This battle marks the first in what this story will offer in the future and I hope I started it strong.

Last chapter, Shuyin and Tidus figured they were headed into the final battle in Bevelle. Stop Dark Shuyin and Seymour, one two punch, right? Well, they were wrong as Shuyin's not his old sadistic self. He's been distracted as we've seen in many of the chapters. He's unsure of his place and Dark Shuyin seized the opportunity to strike. Now that Shuyin knows his weakness, will he be able to work in a new game plan? Naturally, this will be handled later as Shuyin's a bit worse for wear, but keep that in mind everyone. In the meantime, let's hope Tidus understands that just because he's the key to this mess, it doesn't mean it'll be an easy clean-up.

What's in store for them? Keep reading to find out!

Spira: The Eternal Discord

Chapter 18: To End Dreams

Yuna

After Bevelle, we recovered Shuyin and took him back to Besaid to get him some intensive care. While we were all distracted by Seymour, Shuyin's dark side did something horrible. For some reason, our Shuyin was acting strangely the moment we arrived at the ruins of Old Bevelle. None of us really comprehended how much that affected him until I noticed how the fight was going. I'm sure everyone expected him to have difficulty fighting himself, but when I watched him, there was definitely something wrong. He moved slower or reacted too late. Whatever happened to him at that moment, it allowed his dark self to…

Back on Besaid, my love helped bring Shuyin's unconscious form into the village. Lulu had been moved to the temple to provide her better care with the elders. That's where Shuyin needed to be. Paine and I were escorting, Paine's face expressionless, though I could sense a stern distress in her. The strong stoic warrior bottled up all her emotions for over two years because of that man and resolved to push all her pain onto him. This only to have him come back a reformed hero of sorts, which undoubtedly changed a lot about her decided outlook. I think she would have tried to hate him still, but with the real star player from the real Zanarkand Abes, I don't think she could commit to it. Shuyin's return was letting her regain what she lost two years ago and now his life was in jeopardy.

That was Paine. Then, there was Rikku. My cousin was in pieces. As soon as she reached Shuyin, sobs flooded from her and never stopped. Even at this moment, she was still on the Celsius, inconsolable. Of all of us, she'd gotten the closest to Shuyin, mostly because of her link to Kirin, which I believe was also a way for the former unsent to redeem himself. From the stories my cousin told me, Kirin was everything to him since they were children. Taking that role onto Rikku, he probably wanted to make sure he could do for her what he felt he didn't for his friends in the past. Either way, his stunt had Rikku wrapped up with his life so his injury had become her personal scars.

A few hours later, once Shuyin's condition stabilized, I found my way back to the beach where he was waiting, though not really for me. Judging by how he just stood there, knee deep in Besaid's warm waters, looking further out into the night, he seemed to be troubled by something. Slowly, I made my way to him, hoping that I could be of some use given these circumstances that felt to have little inclusion for my part.

He noticed my presence before I even touched the water, taking a slight sigh before gazing up at the stars to say, "The dream that can end dreams. I guess I've got another job to do."

"We both do. I'm the only one who can eliminate Seymour. Isn't that how it was before?" I tried to console him, praying that the cause of stopping the former Maester allowed me a place in their internal struggle.

"Yuna, Shuyin's weird prophecy from the fayth… I want you to know that if…" But I cut him off right there.

"Seymour's stopped and sent, then we'll defeat that shadow and be rid of all of it."

"Yuna…"

"No, that's how it is and that's all we need to think about." I exclaimed.

At first, he seemed to want to finish what he set out to tell me, about how should this episode take him away from me again, he'd strive to find another way back, even though we both knew the chances this time would be even smaller. Looking into my eyes told him all he needed and he offered a warm smile and a slight nod instead. After taking a breath, I walked over to him and pressed myself onto his chest, hoping to never lose the kindness of his embrace.

"So, first things first, huh? We'll have to deal with Seymour if we're going to have a chance at Dark Shuyin. Where would we go for the guy, though? We've run out of nostalgia for the guy."

"No we haven't." I said, thinking aloud, "We've run out of spots you all knew about, but there's one more place we haven't thought of."

"Where?"

"Bikanel."

"Why there? You told me all that's over there is a dig site ever since…" And then he figured out my meaning, "Home."

"I was held there with Dona and Isaaru when Rikku and Uncle Cid devised that plan to save all summoners." I told him, my mind revisiting those terrible moments, when the guado under Seymour ransacked the Al Bhed's home, killing so many of Rikku and my uncle's loved ones, and did so without even an ounce of remorse.

"And Seymour was the one that ordered the guados to attack. You think he'll think about it, though?"

"As long as that past remains with us, he'll be there." I told him, hugging him closer, "That's all he is now, a lurker stalking what we want to leave behind."

For the rest of the night, we comforted each other, him putting aside the mysterious words of the fayth and me holding off the returning worry in my heart. Both of us knew we were thinking the same thing: Would he be leaving after this like he did last time? Both of us prayed that wouldn't be the case. Both of us wanted to end this story right, put a stop to the sacrifices and spiral of death. Still, both of us understood how much of a pipe dream it was.

The next day, we set out to get things started strong. With Shuyin still in recovery, we were short an offensive player. That's when Paine came in with the notion that we'd be going to Bikanel, garnered post of Gippal of the Machine Faction. Seeing how he was aptly removed from play during the mission to Bevelle, Paine guessed he would be pretty fired up and ready to take down the Shuyin who was truly a threat. Making contact with him was difficult, though. Following Bevelle, he'd gone on a binge and was presently hung-over and not very accommodating to messengers. Five of his group who tried to help us gather him ended up in a heap. Finally, Paine decided we should just skip asking and just leave for Djose, pick him up kicking and screaming… or rather groaning and whining since the screaming would only agitate his condition, then head off for Bikanel.

We had brought Beclem along with Leblanc and her two henchmen, Ormi and Logos since they wanted to help. Nooj remained in Bevelle to oversee the restoration of the ruins, but made a point to enlist his services in the future should require it. Mostly, we all believed he wanted a shot at a Shuyin that had more semblance to the one who possessed him for so long. In any case, apart from Gippal, it seemed our "forces" had been assembled to face the unsent pair.

Leblanc complained to Beclem and Brother about where she and her men had to stay while with us on the Celsius. Despite the fact that the Celsius was only meant for six, technically three considering Shuyin's telling that this airship used to belong to two Al Bhed from his time, Leblanc didn't seem to care that we just didn't have the room for everyone who wanted to come along. Buddy was working with Paine on the "attack pattern" to use in Djose when we were to acquire the Machine Faction's leader.

My love, in the meantime, was back in the cabin with Rikku. My poor cousin, she'd been bawling through the night, unable to make sense of what was happening. I was the same way two years ago when we found out the truth behind the Yevon teachings. In fact, it was actually him and Rikku who'd kept me from straying from my goal, even if their words meant otherwise. I found that I wanted to fight Sin to protect them, these two wonderful people who somehow had the courage to face the unknown or face a threat far too terrible for such a young age. Actually, just about a month ago, I was in the same rut. Having lost him in the end made the Eternal Calm hardly worth it. Then, it had been Rikku that showed me the sphere and pushed me to become a Sphere Hunter. It was Rikku that kept my spirit high when I found out it was really Shuyin on the sphere. And, it was Rikku who saved my life in the end, bravely throwing herself over me to plead for my life. She had no idea what Shuyin could have done. It would have been the simplest thing for what he was then, to ignore her pleas and murder her on the spot. Now that I was finding myself a chance to reciprocate my cousin's selflessness, I realised I couldn't.

Pushing past my troubling thoughts, I waited for Djose and left with Paine to meet the weathered Machine Faction head. Gippal greeted the two of us with a groan and a sloppy wave that ended up pulling his shoulder off the edge of his bed as he gave a longer, louder groan over the act. His quarters were in shambles, sheets and pillows tossed about as if a chocobo had just rampaged across it in frenzy. There were papers strewn, some torn, across the floors and desks, even a couple sheets on the backside of our hung-over friend's head.

"Ladies, a pleasure." He told us with his face buried in his pillow, "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Get up. We need you to help wrangle up a couple of unsent and I'm sure you're going to want a piece of at least the one." Paine immediately stated.

"Oh? Is that right, Dr. P? I thought you guys turned coat on us on that issue."

"You pegged the wrong blondie, blondie."

To that comment, Gippal gave another groan, rubbed his head over his pillow, grunted a few more times, and finally got up, hair like a chocobo's nest. With his eyes barely open, he trudged into the shower and groaned several more times while he was in there.

"I-is he alright?" I asked Paine.

She only smiled and huffed, "Believe me, this is Gippal on a good day. You should see him after he's been through a day of training rounds."

"That was Crimson Squad classified information, Dr. P!" Groaned Gippal.

"Team's long disbanded, private."

Being just a spectator to their amusing conversation just wasn't my style, so I added, "If you don't hurry up, we'll be handling all the action without you. Think your manly points can take that deduction?"

"My my, Yuna, getting the hang of pushing his buttons, I see." Paine mused, eying me with a grin.

"I'm learning from the best."

"You two done yammering 'cause we got a jackass to slam." Gippal interrupted, coming back to us while drying his hair.

Our united team headed off together for the deserts of Bikanel, high hopes for keeping our hard-earned Eternal Calm. When we arrived, I was relieved to know we weren't expected just yet. There was still time to prepare and arrange our formations. After Brother landed, Leblanc, her men, and Beclem immediately took off to mingle, although Leblanc was moreover out to get away from the Celsius. Buddy wanted to do some maintenance on the airship anyway. Paine had gone to reminisce with Gippal, as he called it. With Rikku still trying to keep it together with the help of my love and her brother, I decided the best thing for me to do was follow suite and mingle.

I went over to where Nhadala was normally stationed to get the latest on the local happenings. What I heard was pretty interesting. Apparently, our old resource center, Shinra, was helping with the excavations in order to aid his research. Shinra had been involved with research to put Spira's abundance of pyrefly energy to use and make a future of machina cities possibly. He had already estimated that we'd not live to see it, noting how long such research would have to take. Still, I was an adamant supporter of his endeavor because of how highly my love had spoken of Zanarkand. Though, I now also dreamed of a glowing Spira that never slept because of another star blitzer for the Zanarkand Abes. Ever since that day in the Moonflow, I had a desire to see for myself if the machina cities were really as good as Shuyin made them out to be.

"So, where is he now?" I asked Nhadala.

"Oh, he should be around. He's got a lot of zeal for just a kid."

"Yes, he can be pretty single-minded when he wants something done. Last time, it was the comspheres."

We spoke for a few minutes before our little friend arrived, hopping in for a hug as soon as his goggled eyes recognized me. He explained his reason for helping the excavations was to uncover some workable machina that could harness the energy of the Farplane like he had wanted. He knew that ancient machina from before the time of Sin powered themselves by absorbing that energy, but since we weren't allowed the gift of machina during Yevon's rule, he didn't have enough information to start building on his own.

"Have you had any luck yet?" I asked him.

"No, a lot of stuff out here's just junk, but I did find some stuff Nhadala and the others could use so it's not all bad."

"It sounds like you've put a lot of effort into this."

"I know I can figure the basics out, Yuna, I just know it. All I need is one working generator."

I hugged him close, "Then I wish you good luck."

"Thanks. You know, Rin's been a big help, too. I got a few diggers working with me."

Rin… We found out that Rin had been hiding a lot of potentially bad publicity about his machina. A lot of them were malfunctioning and attacking on their own due to the upgraded synchronization he'd done to better them. His goal was to profit from what Shinra's research would allow, a method to give power to even a city of machina. It was out of this greed that he turned a blind eye to the haphazard augments on machina. I hoped Shinra was doing the right thing by joining him.

"You think you really need them to help you dig?" I asked, hoping he'd agree and discard that "jackass" as Paine called him.

"I'm just a kid."

I smiled weakly, knowing that I had my own desires to see his designs flourish even if the means by which it happened was through dirty dealings. Shinra took off for his bunker shortly after and I was left with Nhadala. I requested that she watch over the little one to make sure Rin didn't try to pull anything, but I knew it would be a long-shot to peg the crafty businessman.

Suddenly, I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder and turned to see that it was Rikku, eyes still a little puffy from the tears, but overall recovered and even smiling happily. Half of me was thrilled by her recovery, but I knew deep inside that she was just doing it again, putting on a brave face to keep everyone's spirits high. Paine and Gippal were also on their way back and Beclem had rounded up the Leblanc Syndicate. My love, on the other hand, was further into the sands, sword held to the side like he was waiting for an attack to come.

Taking the group over to him, I put my hand on his arm and asked, "What is it?"

"Don't you feel it? I think it's coming." He answered, his eyes wandering back and forth across the desert sands.

"Why aren't you the clever little bloodhound." Seymour's voice abruptly rang out.

In the distance, a wave of sand erupted, the winds created in its wake showering around us. Once most of it began to settle, I noticed a creature I thought we had destroyed approaching. It had twin skeletal bodies of enormous size, but the body it was attached to had changed. Rather than the robed sigil of the Angra Mainyu fiend Rikku, Paine and I had fought before, this one had the head and claws of Anima. The chains that had bound Anima were now binding it to the fiend. Atop each of the skeletal bodies of Tawrich and Zarich stood both Seymour and Dark Shuyin, each with an equally smug sneer emblazoned upon their faces.

"So, uh, this Shuyin's okay to slag?" Gippal quickly asked of Paine.

"You really need to ask?"

"Hey, just taking stock, Dr. P." He answered, holding his hands up, "Don't wanna be conked out again for bad behavior."

"Oh, no need to worry about that. We'll just cut to the chase." Shuyin's demons echoed, leaping from his perch.

Gippal easily defended with the Grinder end of his weapon while Paine struck down with her sword. The failed pre-emptive strike allowed us to spherechange into appropriate attire to deal with an Angra Mainyu enemy. I quickly went Dark Knight, while adding the Iron Knuckle to boost its defensive capabilities, and Rikku changed into an Alchemist for support. Seymour was paired off by my love, Beclem, and the Syndicate, leaving the fused fiend-Aeon to us. Using my dressphere, I launched a Darkness wave to stunt its pending attack while Rikku began frantically firing Mega Potions to keep our strength up. Dark Shuyin, in the meantime, had managed a stiff kick to throw Gippal into Paine in order to engage me and give the fiend-Aeon a chance to charge its attack. Angra Mainyu had been harsh enough on its own, but with the power of the Dark Aeon merged with it, I knew we were in for a challenge.

"How do you like my latest work, Yuna?" Shuyin's shadow purred, his voice reminders of my last journey, "We dubbed it the Angra Anima. Fitting, no? Not just one malevolent being, but two. All for you, my dear."

"Thanks, but…" I responded, breaking our clash to cast Black Sky at him, "I'm not impressed."

Unfortunately, the distraction was long enough and Anima began to wail terribly. As if to cast Pain, it's eye began to glow. Then, a sphere of darkness appeared just over the sand and waves of Pain spanned from it in all directions. It had combined the devastating effect of Pain with Demi's bursts of gravity. I was luckily a Dark Knight, impervious to the attack, but the others were fighting hard to dodge its ferocity. Rikku, knowing it'd be too much, immediately fired a Mega Phoenix to nullify the attack as the unsents took advantage. Dark Shuyin assaulted Paine after dispatching Gippal while Seymour returned to his Seymour Natus form, using the Mortibody to cause even more trouble for us with mass Thunder while he cast a few Flares. I found myself too preoccupied with fending off those nuisances to deal with Angra Anima. It gave the fiend-Aeon time to have Tawrich spew Bloody Breath while Zarich matched it by blasting us with the crippling Glimmer of Despair. Again, Dark Knight saved me, but for the rest, Gippal was helplessly blinded and weakened and my love was shrouded in the deepest fog of Tawrich ability.

Paine was the furthest from us and made out just fine, but engaging Shuyin, even if it wasn't the man who'd fought in the Machina War, was a heavy burden for her. Rikku had changed to Psycher by this point, hoping that it's phantasmal powers could serve us against these forces. Before Seymour Natus could cast Break to stop her, she unleashed Time Trip, stopped all three of our enemies in their tracks.

"Nice one, Rikku!" My love commented, finally free to use his Overdrive.

While Blitz Ace rendered a helpless Seymour into submission, I began casting Black Sky after Black Sky and Rikku began her next trick. Once time returned, Rikku ensnared Anima in a Telekinetic bind, stopping it from retaliating while I continued my assault. My love had bested Seymour, but I would need some time to defeat the fiend-Aeon before I could send him. Meanwhile, things were looking grave for Paine, who still had no support. Even frozen in time, Dark Shuyin had managed not to take a tremendous amount of damage. Instead, he had only bided his energy, now ready for a full out Terror of Zanarkand, which he was all too happy to release upon Paine. Before the spined blitz ball could strike her, though, I managed to intercept, staving off a mortal blow, but taking harsh damage to my armor. Meanwhile, Rikku's powers faded on Angra Anima and, freed, it began wailing angrily. Its eye blazed with red rage and it's claws began collecting power to produce its twisted dimension beneath reality. As we all began to sink into it, so too did Zarich and Tawrich. Warped by the malevolence of this plane, the skeletal being roared with horrifying vengeance and bloodlust. The underside of Anima appeared and broke free of its shackles. The vacant eyes glared daggers of poison into each of us, cackling just before the attack would begin.

Both Zarich and Tawrich spewed massive pillars of fire upon us, each one burning fiercer than the last. Anima's underside began literally twisting the plane, tearing apart our wills to fight on. Once the fire squelched and the dimension returned to as normal a state it could muster, all of us had already fallen, helplessly awaiting the end. As I struggled to gaze at our impending doom, A glow sparked and exploded downward, coiled bands of force pulsing through it to dissolve even the toughest layers of armor.

The light brightened until it consumed all of the dimension and we were all swept into its warmth. When I awoke, I found myself back on Bikanel, back among the rough sands of the midday sun. Getting up, I noticed everyone else was just awakening, also, and a person shrouded by the sunlight was hovering over us in the distance.

With pants of fatigue, a male voice emanated from its visible silhouette, "You guys… need to be… a bit more… caref…"

Before he finished, the figure collapsed onto the sands and Rikku was already upon him, shouting for him to wake. When I finally regained my composure, I walked over only to notice that the figure was Shuyin, our Shuyin, and having followed and saved us had caused his wounds to reopen.

"Shuyin…" I murmured at his fallen form.

Author's Note: Well, how's that for resilient? Anyway, by this point, I'm hoping everybody knows that I've changed my mind about the AU thing and this is now just a sequel to my other fic. That's why I'm tying up loose ends and bringing in factoids about stuff like Rin and Shinra in this one. If anyone has played X-2 INT/Last Misson, you'll know where I'm going with this, but hopefully it'll still be a surprise. =)

Also, noting what's happened here, I'm hoping you guys are wondering about what's in store. Oh yea, Angra Anima is far from the last of the new bits. Kukuku.