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: Aw, only two reviews this time? Well, that's okay. I see the view ticks still pulling higher so I know you are still reading this, my lovelies. Well, thanks to habbo's bombtastic solution, my muse has now crawled itself back to me and we may continue. Don't worry Haruka! I wouldn't keep you waiting too long. *notices the last update was nearly a year ago* ... =D
We last left off with Shuyin finally opening up about his past *depressing life, I know* and drawing the parallel from Yuna, which may play a part in the future. However, right now, we have the matter of Shuyin's personality to deal with. You could tell from before that he's not even considering his new life anymore, which is a problem. Suicidal tendencies aside, he's distancing himself from everyone again as the supposed final chapter looms, but could this only play into Dark Shuyin's plans?
Spira: The Eternal Discord
Chapter 22: Shadow's Fall
Shuyin
Yesterday's conversation with Yuna felt nice. I stopped telling about myself the moment my parents died. Only Kirin knew after that. It wasn't until Lenne that I started back up again, letting her know exactly who I was and where I had come from. And then they were both taken from me. For the next thousand years, I became a recluse again, further pushed by torture inside that cave. It had been so long since I even reviewed the course of my life myself, let alone talk about it with anyone else. Seymour's final defeat allowed everyone to gain some peace of mind and I suppose, it allotted me some comfort, as well.
Our one remaining enemy was still out there and he was everything I wanted to forget I ever was. Yuna has spent her nineteen years praying for an end to the madness and it hadn't been answered. It was just like my own life, nineteen years abominated by peers, downplayed by my father, haunted by ill deeds, and through it all, nothing ever solved itself. There were moments of joy, tiny specks of hope that maintained my humanity and compassion, but eventually, they were swatted like flies, too. That was my life. My failures forced the tragedy to continue on and plague these future generations. It needed to stop once and for all. Once my dark half was obliterated, Yuna and the rest could live in peace and Spira could progress undaunted.
"You're not alone."
"Kirin?!" I gasped, standing up into the morning sun, "No, just you again, huh?"
Yesterday, after Yuna left with my better half, Rikku had opted to stay and talk to me about the victory over Seymour. At first, I thought it was just to celebrate, but I underestimated her again. Instead, she wanted to go over a few things. One was me.
"Is your head together?" Her typical cheerful demeanor abruptly turned the moment the two left us.
"Of course it is. I know our objectives and I know how to accomplish…"
"That's not what I mean, Shuyin. We can stop Dark you, but we're not… I'm not going to let you do whatever it takes and get yourself hurt again."
"Rikku… You know I'm not meant to stay, right? Sure, it's been a month and I'll admit to hoping I had another shot at living a full life, but that's just not fair and it's not going to happen."
"That's what I mean. You saw what happened. Even if my plan didn't work the way I really wanted, we already see that you're the stronger one. The shadow's hung up over the past and still reliving the entire episode. It's you who is truly free of it if you just let yourself be."
"I don't think it's really my choice, Rikku. The shadow's just another nuisance, sure, but there's a reason I was brought back from the dead and I'm not going to kid myself that it was done on my behalf anymore."
To that, she walked over to put a hand on my shoulder, "This is what I'm talking about. You're still forcing yourself back there. It's not about what brought you back or why. You're doing it to yourself. We'll stop your evil half. Then it'll be over."
If only it could be that simple, Rikku. Walking further along the deck, I took in the sunrise with a deep breath and revealed the sphere I was keeping with me. It was the same one I uncovered in Old Guadosalam when this whole event began. I had been fiddling with it on my own time to see if I could hear the entire conversation it held, but it hadn't been successful. Too much wear and tear on it made it impossible to recover the original message, which irritated me.
"What were you two talking about?" I asked aloud.
Replaying the sphere, I stubbornly kept reading into the motions. What was Yu Yevon doing with Lenne? Where was she? Was I back just to put an end to the scars of the past? If that was the case, nobody else was necessary, were they? I was brought back to fix the problem I let happen. Still… the sphere still bothered me. What were they saying?
"I'll get to the bottom of this." I told the sphere, clutching it tightly.
Suddenly, a loud siren sounded and Brother came on the speaker to tell me they had received an alert. I rushed back down and hurried to the computer where Gippal had answered the call.
"He's at Djose." He uttered, taking a second to notice my arrival, "Your friend's at Djose."
"Gippal, I'm sure…" Rikku tried to say.
"We have to go right now."
"Look, we are, but you have to calm…" My better half began to tell him.
"No, those guys down there are my responsibility! If anything happens to them, it's on me."
At this point, I decided to speak up, "No, whatever the thing does, it's on me, no one else. I get it, you're concerned about your people in the Machine Faction. We'll be there as fast as we can, but this wasn't expected. He's obviously getting desperate and that makes him more dangerous. He knows he's out of options. I'm sorry, but there's going to be casualties."
Gippal didn't want to hear that, though. He quickly turned and lifted me by the collar, his eyes glaring to show that he didn't really want excuses for the deaths we knew we'd find. Looking back at him, I offered him my calm and stern gaze in order to pacify him. I wasn't the enemy despite how many of them felt that way.
"Let's just get to Djose."
Brother and Buddy accelerated the Celsius to the out of the way temple, but the alert was already the first sign that we'd be too late. If we were lucky, some of them would take refuge somewhere secluded. If I knew the shadow, it wouldn't seek out its victims. All it wanted was to send a message to me. It wanted to finish this, too, but it was desperate and hoped to end it on its own terms. Its attacks would be sloppy and it really lacked any plan. The fight itself wouldn't be anything difficult, but it knew that already so it was lashing out to lie to itself that it wasn't finished yet.
Once we arrived at Djose, Gippal rushed in first, bursting through the doors despite all our pleas for him to remain calm. He began frantically searching for his group, which was already the first sign something was wrong. The entrance to the temple was unguarded. There wasn't a single person outside. Upon entering, the main hall was empty. While Gippal ran to and fro, the rest of us cautiously scanned each area on the lower level without any results. There were no machine, no equipment, and no evidence there was ever any people. Looking up was enough to tell everyone where I was thinking everyone was, though I wasn't holding my breath on finding any survivors.
Jerking my head to the side, I motioned for my better half to lead us into the Cloister of Trials. Taking up the left corner, he signaled for me to approach and I took up the right before he entered. As we made our way into the hall, I noticed two bad signs that I was sure Gippal wouldn't appreciate. One was a scorch mark, a very deep scorch mark that indented the wall. The other was a smear of blood right beneath it, but it wasn't a clean smear. Sighing, I already knew what we'd start seeing soon, but there was no choice. It was here and I could end the madness right there. I wasn't about to hesitate.
Gippal was the first of us into the next room. He'd seen what I had guessed at the moment we opened the doors. Up against the far wall were several members of the Machine Faction… to a certain degree. Most of them had been scorched beyond recovery, flesh and wear burned into the wall. Other charred marks lined the remaining walls, twisted metal and shorting wires littering the ground beneath them. Gippal began walking towards the back toward the electrical net, but I quickly stopped him. The Blitz Ace went in his stead and turning to us, gave me a look to show that I was right in stopping him. We proceeded up the elevator only to see a few more burns along the floor and walls, a few more bodies, and pieces of machine still vibrating with electrical sparks. Yuna proceeded to the stairway leading up to the Chamber of the Fayth, her twin pistols held out in front. The rest of them proceeded, but I stayed behind. There was no need to proceed further. My problem wasn't here. It already possessed what it wanted.
"Shuyin! Help!" Rikku screamed from the chamber.
I hurried up to find a group of the Machine Faction huddled around the center of the chamber, a net of electricity pulsating around them. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine had already changed to Black Mage, but no Thunder spell was strong enough to break Aeon magics. After a few attempts at absorbing the energy into our swords, my better noted that it was bending each time and only hugged the captives tighter the more we tried to break it.
"What are we going to do?" Gippal growled, frustration building in his voice.
"We'll have to find him quick." I mumbled, looking back at the stairs.
"How? We received the alert almost an hour ago. He could be anywhere." Yuna said, staring at the electrical prison.
"No, he's here." I muttered, heading back outside.
Once I reached the elevator, the rest of them, minus Gippal, caught up and headed down with me. We left the temple quickly, me leading the pack. I knew what Ixion was and why it had been chosen first. It was the Aeon I'd used most extensively during my tenure as an unsent. It was also one of the Aeons who was cornered in its temple; the shadow knew where I had gone wrong and had gone out of its way to mitigate such mistakes. Ixion needed space to roam, space to use its assets to their fullest. Our challenge was much more difficult this time. The shadow had not the conscience I still carried while I was unsent. Not only did we have open terrain to take on the Aeon, we had to handle it swiftly because we didn't know how long that field would last.
Searching around past the bridge, I traced the steps I thought I would have taken back then, which told me next to nothing as I was still invested solely in the destruction of Spira. I wasn't sure what motive my abandoned pyreflies had, if it could have simply been revenge for my disowning them. The rest of them scoured the surrounding area beside the temple, but it was quiet. Yuna's next words made me fear the worst.
"What if he's not after anything? What if he just wants everyone to die?"
For a moment, I began to agree with her, but I couldn't let myself keep to that belief. I wanted to end it. I wanted it to be over and the shadow was the last step. For the next few minutes, it seemed as though Yuna was right and those Al Bhed back in the temple would die, but the quiet eventually ended with a stray bolt striking the bridge as I crossed back. My eyes wandered to the water and noticed it begin to boil, the Aeon electrocuting it as it rose from the depths.
"We always wanted to be the White Knight, didn't we?" My own voice asked me, plummeting from the sky to mount on its steed.
"This is the end for you." I replied, unsheathing my sword.
The rest of them quickly assembled next to me. Commanding the Aeon, my dark half had it kick up the water, swiping it with its horn to splash us with it. It was a smart plan, but Yuna and the rest were ready. Spherechanging into Psycher and Time Tripping everything in the vicinity, they saved us from the electrified water and gave us a free shot at the enemy. Nodding over to Paine and Yuna, I and my better were lifted and launched via their respective Telekinetic ability. Clasping hands, we began spinning, swords held out as we carved straight through the two of them. If this had been a typical fight, we might have ended it there, but the shadow pulled itself out of the temporal hold and deflected each of our strikes as we passed. Time resumed and it immediately scooped more water up to send our way. Rikku teleported in, using her Lightning Eater power to absorb the water before teleporting all three of us back to solid ground. Yuna and Paine hit Express and made to subdue the two by themselves, but Ixion merely launched Aerospark into them, slowing their haste while the shadow used its pyreflies to erupt the water, the force alone pushing them into the air. Once again, Rikku used Telekinesis and pulled them back to safety. Meanwhile, the Blitz Ace tapped me in the shoulder and noted that we'd need to get them to a better location to continue the fight. Together, we began leaping across the expanse in rapid succession, alternating our attacks too often for either of our targets to react well enough. Finally, following the Blitz Ace's last pass, I managed to bat a distracted shadow off toward the temple before taking Ixion by the reins.
"Smart move." The shadow muttered, picking itself back up.
I rode a struggling Ixion toward it, kicking off it in a backflip when I was close enough to send the Aeon straight into master. Wary of my move, it disassembled into a cloud of pyreflies and wrapped around the Aeon, cushioning it and turning it around to mount again. Charging into me, it tried to gore me, but I was just there to allow my better to come in from the side with a sidewinder kick. The Psychers activated Excellence and began swirling about, firing their sparks at the two the moment they began to recover and I jumped in with a hard dropkick to send them into the temple. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were the first to enter and went after the shadow too eagerly. It immediately used its own Hit & Run, finally ending that tactic. Without the protection to electrical attacks that the dressphere afforded them, the shadow worked quickly, mounting the Aeon once again. Commanding Thor's Hammer and using its Force Rain, it pulled apart the concentrated overdrive with each stream, sending them across the entire room. We were all sent screaming into the walls of the temple, the bolts searing anything they touched. I was lucky enough to have a weapon immune to the effects, but everyone else had become pinned. The sight told me enough about what the shadow must have done to the members of the Machine Faction, that knowledge angering me greatly.
"Oh, not affected by Ixion's spark, eh? Don't worry. I'll be right with you." It taunted, intensifying the Aeon's attack.
Pushing against the attack with my weapon, I tried to make it to him until I saw into the distance. Smiling, I looked back into my dark half, "Actually, I think we're cutting this short."
Grinder tore through the neck of Ixion moments later, ending the Rain of Thor's Hammer. Before the shadow could respond to Gippal's surprise attack, I unleashed my own Force Rain, blasting it through the back of the temple as it retreated into a stream of pyreflies.
"Are they alright?" I asked him.
With a slight nod, we set off to opposite corners to attend to our allies. The overdrive had been most effective on my better with the water properties of Brotherhood, but Paine had managed to spherechange to Festival Goer, making use of its Wall ability to protect her from accumulating fatal injury. Turning to Gippal, I saw that Rikku was perfectly fine, having used her thief's dexterity to flee from the onslaught following the initial blow. Yuna had reverted to White Mage to use Vigor for as long as she could.
"That wasn't fun." My better grumbled, slowly getting up.
"And we didn't stop him." Paine added.
"Shuyin?" Rikku asked of me.
Glancing over at her, I simply walked over to the back of the temple where I had sent the shadow. Yuna would note that summoning Ixion would probably be the first of many, which was a good supposition. It took dream boy to figure out what I was thinking, though.
"Heh, sounds like he's getting desperate." He said.
"Shuyin?" Rikku asked me again, a few footsteps telling me she was approaching.
Staring out into the sky, I recalled the events of the day and thought about how it would all be finished soon.
'I'll finish this, Shuyin. You're running out of places to hide.'
Author's Note: Ixion, eh? Well, falling on old tactics is a good way to go when you've run out of options. Still, why Ixion? Poor Gippal, he probably just redecorated, too. Tune in next time to see what else is in store!