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: Just to warn you lot, huge chapter up ahead, broken into three. =p
Last chapter, Shuyin honoured his mentor's memory and bested the shadow. Little by little, the true intentions of the shadow are being realised, but there are many factors still left unaccounted. What is the next step for our villains and what, in the end, is the overall scheme? Paine seems to have accepted Shuyin as an ally and is wholeheartedly ready to face the threat with the new team. The sides are drawn and the protagonists seem to have the advantage. What do our former lead characters make of it, though? Can their adversaries find any doubts left to exploit?
Spira: The Eternal Discord
Chapter 29: (Part I) The Persistence of Love
Tidus
This recent turn of events really didn't thrill me. Besaid was attacked twice now and the first time was very personal. At least, we found out that Wakka had taken Vidina and Lulu to an Herbalist in Kilika for some better potions to treat her wounds and had stayed there for the moment to show Vidina the neighboring island. That brought me some comfort knowing that my friends, especially those two who were so close to Yuna, weren't a part of this episode.
After Dark Shuyin left, the pyreflies covering the temple disappeared, too, from what Letty said, back down through the cloister. Yuna told me that Shuyin was able to control the whole Farplane when he went crazy so it figured his remaining bits could do the same. But that was a big problem. It meant even the people in the Farplane might be at risk down there, or at the very least, that this guy had a limitless supply of pyreflies to help him out. Really, our only comforting notion was that Yuna beat this guy before and now we had one of them with us for more backup.
"I can do it." Shuyin said after his dark half left us.
"You sound sure." Paine followed very close after.
"You can thank Rikku here for my renewed confidence." He replied, "I can do it. We can put an end to both of them, figure out what's been going on, and then we'll all get on with our lives."
"That sounds like a fairytale." Yuna muttered, walking towards the Celsius.
"Yuna…" I started to say, putting a hand out to reach for her.
"Fairytales are always nice." Shuyin continued for me, "We'll finish this once and for all. This will be the last calamity we're forced to endure."
But even I didn't believe that. The destruction of Sin was my only goal back then. The moment I came from my own Zanarkand, my peaceful life was over. It was after I arrived on Spira that I saw how horrible the world really was, one conspiracy after the next and lies on lies while in front of it all was a huge monster storming through everything it wanted. Lives were lost almost like an expectation. Even after killing off that Seymour, things didn't change. We avenged Jyscal Guado and saved Yuna from entering a marriage with psycho boy, but there was still Sin, and then Bevelle itself. More death and destruction, then more sadness, and the end of Isaaru's stint at being summoner were what followed that happy moment with us stuck in Via Purifico. Oh, and after all that, I find out that to save Yuna would mean to die myself because it would end Sin forever and also end the dream world I came from. I made up my mind to go for it for Yuna's sake, but even that wasn't the end of it. I disappeared off the face of Spira, but Yuna had to go through more ridiculous moot. It ended up getting me back in the fray and we both expected that to be it, all of us actually. And no, this came right after. More Seymour, more death, and nothing that looked like an end in sight. Did I even think I could consider Shuyin's hopeful words to be true anymore? Maybe it'll just have to end bloody.
"Our latest recordings show an abnormality in the Macalania Woods area. It's very faint, though. Maybe it isn't the guy, but…" Buddy reported to us a few hours later.
"Why take the chance? Besides," Shuyin continued, "It still is a pretty place, isn't it?"
I turned my attention to the guy and eyed him curiously. What was he trying to get at? "Let's get going then."
Shuyin looked back into my eyes with a strange look, "We'll split up when we get there. Smaller groups could scan the area quicker and we'll still be close enough to regroup if the shadow really is there."
Smaller groups at a time like this? What was he thinking? He was sort of right about that tactic. After all, Dark Shuyin was running scared. We could all see it even with his terrorizing the populous methods. Then there was that other problem to deal with, but he was weak and conniving so far. The thing that worried me was why all this was going on now. If Areth was around so long, he could have resurfaced with Shuyin when Yuna was taking him on before. At that point, wouldn't that have made Areth an ally? Besides, he was only around as an unsent because he hated the guy so when Shuyin went back to the Farplane the first time, why wasn't Areth sent by that? What was really going on here?
"We'll be in Macalania soon. Focus." Paine commented, tapping a shoulder into me and gazing at me from the corner of her eyes.
"Did we pick groups yet?" I asked to change the subject.
"Do you really need to guess at that?"
She pointed to Rikku following Shuyin to and fro and I instantly noticed Yuna's eyes on me from her seat at the database. Paine walked over to where Buddy sat and began talking about paths while Shuyin focused on the map globe, talking to Rikku about something in a whisper.
Macalania…
We escaped with our skins intact, but Yuna lost something. I could already tell her faith was shaken. Yevon had betrayed her. I felt like I should do or say something-anything... But nothing came. I was just as lost as she was.
Landing in Macalania, Shuyin and Rikku would be the first out and, for the first time, I saw that Shuyin was keeping close, too. After we were all off the Celsius, the pairs were set. Walking up the nearest tree, I remembered the past. Two years ago, this was where we settled to accept the aftermath of what happened in Bevelle. This was when we found out that Yevon vouched for Seymour's life even though he was a patricidal murderer and had already been killed and turned into an unsent. This place was where we felt lost about where to go.
"Hey, Rikku…" I started, the young Al Bhed being closer to the tree than I was.
"Think she'll quit her pilgrimage?" Rikku said, telling me that she knew what was on my mind, "Hey, maybe you should go talk to Yunie."
Looking further on, I saw her standing in the center of a beaten path, the same path she'd taken to the spring. Shuyin nodded for the two of us to take that route while he and Rikku would take the opposite path and Paine and Buddy would survey from higher up. As we all left for our areas, there was a chill in the air, the atmosphere felt smothered yet scant. It was dying. The woods that meant so much to me and Yuna were dying.
I walked ahead of her after a while, when the light of the spring began to show through the trees. I took a moment to look at a certain spot right before the water. It was where Kimahri was standing two years ago. We had just gotten out of a bad situation and Yuna wanted to be alone. The stoic ronso kept his distance, but agreed that I should make an attempt at talking to her about things. The news hit her hard and, for me, I just wanted to keep her safe by this point. Yevon was making it quite clear they wanted to keep up the rouse and sacrifice her to bring one more Calm to trick Spira into another hopeful cycle. I didn't want to let her be another tool in their schemes. Nothing would change, nothing would be accomplished, and the girl I gave my heart to would be dead because of it. I couldn't let that happen so I started talking. I wanted to get her off her destiny. I just wanted her to be safe.
"Suteki da ne…" The words echoed behind me.
Yuna walked over slowly, her soft gaze held to mine. When she got close enough, I took her hands in mine and we looked back out into the water. For a while, I fell back into the past, when we were still fresh on our first and most important mission. I wanted to go back there, back before we had this unending struggle of a life, before old enemies came back again and again to pester us.
"Futari te wo tori aruketanara." Yuna continued, her eyes never leaving the spring as mine turned to her.
My eyes started scanning the area, taking a long look at the woods around us. Roots were coming loose from the ground and drying up. The other plants were curling up and crumbling. Bringing my attention back to the beautiful former summoner next to me who was still looking out into the spring, I put a hand under her chin to lift her face up to mine and pressed her lips to mine. The woods would always be special to us even if it would only survive in our memories.
Suteki da ne
Futari te wo tori aruketanara
Ikitai yo
Kimi no machi ie ude no naka
Sono kao
Sotto furete
Asa ni tokeru
Yume miru
As we separated, her eyes wandered from my lips up to my eyes before she moved into me, pressing her hands against my chest and leaning in. "The woods are dying…" She whispered.
Our moment would be ruined by another intruding voice in the distance, "Ah, but the power of love endures all things."
"Who's there?" I called out, Yuna bringing up her guns as I reached for Brotherhood.
"Just a passerby." The voice replied, letting me see that he was hiding behind a tree to my right, "Unlike you, I've never had any memories here."
"Areth," I growled, "Not like anybody'd want to have memories with you anyway."
Yuna moved uneasily in my arms while Areth drew nearer, saying, "Are you so sure?"
"Yea, you're one of the guys that started that whole Machina War business back then just like those old coots upheld Yevon even though it was just a lie. Who'd want anything to do with you?"
"Stop, he's telling the truth, but I don't want to hear it." Yuna interjected, pointing her guns at the unsent.
"Yes, Trista was a special lady. Did Shuyin tell you about her? Doubtful. I guess he rambled a little of it to that Al Bhed instead and you got your information from her. What did he say, I wonder?"
"Nothing that surprises me now."
"You demonize me too quickly, my dear." Areth purred, taking a few more steps toward us until Yuna fired two rounds at his feet, "You're so taken by the man, aren't you?"
"I've seen the good in him. I'll protect that."
"You think it's that simple, don't you? He was a good man, a man in love with that Lenne, and it was only because he was stuck in a cave as an unsent that made him cruel?"
"Yea, we already heard this story. It's ringing in my ears still and you guys are talking it to death." I finally added, readying my sword.
"Well, that's a fact. It's because that's all he'd want you to know. He wouldn't want you to see him for what he truly is. You know about Trista, my dear, but I don't think he's even told you how she died." Areth continued, emphasizing the last part of his statement.
Yuna was visibly taken aback, but held her guns at him regardless, "I don't care about that. I saw the goodness in him from what you yourself showed us in the Calm Lands. You can't hide that!"
"Oh no, of course not. You were unfortunately at that event. No, that was more for Shuyin, to show him how far he'd fallen." Areth pressed on, this time Yuna not firing to stop him, "You've seen it, haven't you? That's why you're not shooting anymore. You want to know the truth?"
"Like we'd trust any of your words anyway!" I shouted, dashing to him and swinging for his head.
Brotherhood passed through and he was gone, but I could still feel him. From the clash we had before, I knew he couldn't be trusted. He was crooked even in a single lock between our swords. There's no reason any of us had to listen to a thing he said, but Yuna was already troubled by it.
"And she should because she knows better." His voice echoed again, though he stayed hidden from me, "Let me tell you; let me enlighten you. Trista died because of your new friend. Well, it was a special situation, but the things he did just doesn't fit your happy picture of what he was like back then, does it?"
Pyreflies came out of the surrounding crystals and started circling around me, Yuna warning me about them too late for me to react. Areth appeared behind me, but caught my arm when I turned around to attack. Looking at me with that same creepy smile, his pyreflies swarming all over.
"Alright, you've got me. What…"
"He tried to kill her, you know. The man you are with is a known mass murderer, a real head case." He said, letting go of my arm and walking a few steps into the distance, "I would keep a watchful eye."
With that, the swarm fled and so did he, swept out by them. Meanwhile, Yuna came up to my side as I could only look on. He was lying, right? That or he was spinning the story, but there was no chance what he said was legit. I would've been confident in believing that, too, if Yuna wasn't looking up at me with worried eyes. What was going on?
Chapter 29: (Part II) Unlikely Alliances II
Shuyin
Rikku and I hadn't turned up anything on our route and when we found Paine and Buddy, it was clear that nothing turned up. By this point, it was obvious I wasn't one to be relieved by that. The Celsius sensors found a signal here and each time it did, we found an enemy in the vicinity. This couldn't be any different and I wasn't about to let another "incident" hinder my chances at staying. I had a new home waiting for me once this blemish was taken care of and I was going to finish it and move on with my life.
We would discover Yuna and the other me returning from their path and met them back at our starting point. While I found it normal for Yuna to be relatively silent about things, the other guy not uttering a word got my attention quite easily. While he had his serious moments, they weren't without due cause and this wouldn't be much different. They found the anomaly. They found one of those two and the conversation wasn't good.
"Hm, if it's nothing, then what's with the blush, Dr. P?"
Looking to my right, I saw that Rikku had taken to pestering Paine about some topic I hadn't been of a mind to eavesdrop on, unlike me, but nobody in this group ever picked out slights. The conversation that I was aware of by then did provide me with enough cover to get an idea moving. I needed to make sure we weren't moving forward in doubt. Doubt, I knew, was a vantage point for the shadow. I knew it because it had always been a vantage point for me, too.
"Hey, what is going on with you two?" Yuna interjected, walking closer to Rikku and Paine while Buddy went back aboard the airship.
They began making idle conversation, my interest only peaked at seeing the faintest of blushes on Paine's cheeks, which my other half was far more intrigued by thus waking me from my own bemusement. Moving on, I stepped closer toward him and took surprising notice that he had already turned his attention to me. Was he developing the sense of awareness on his own?
Putting my concentration on the task at hand, I walked over and said, "Hey, let's talk," and took him aside, back along the same route he and Yuna had taken.
Amusingly, rather than leading him, it almost felt as though he was hoping to speak with me himself. Once we were out of visual range of the others, he grabbed my arm more forcefully, though he immediately loosened once he realized what he had done. Surely a sign, I figured he'd seen one of them and they'd plagued his naive mind with something. While it was one of the innocent characteristics I had lost to grow up for Yu Yevon's war, but it was a cost I grew to resent and therefore respected it in him. Now, I needed only protect him from succumbing to the same events that lost it for me and eliminate them from happening again. At the moment, that meant I needed to build his firm stand like he showed with Seymour. Fortune was with us when the former Maester was around as my better had personal enmity for him. Areth and the shadow were more coercive and only had my word to say they were the antagonists of this episode.
"I wanted to…" I began.
"I know. I think I do, too."
Taking me by the arm again, he led me to a brilliant spot that reminded me of… well, something I probably shouldn't have been reminiscing over with a man, but the memories still flooded anyway until… "So I know you were in the Machina War, but did you tell us everything?"
"Which one of them was it?" I immediately asked, looking into the water.
"Did you tell us everything?"
"No, of course I haven't. Listen, there were a lot of events that occurred back then and a great many of them weren't proud moments." I told him, "I'm sure either of them could have told you that. I'd assume it was about how 'shadow' I was before I died."
"You'd know."
"I would and I can honestly come forward with it now, especially now when we can't afford doubts." I said, turning back to him, "I'm a murderer. I'm a horrible murderer and I've killed in vengeance without remorse in the act only to come out of that violent trance to regret what I'd done. You want to know the only difference between the me before and after death? That regret. That is the me you're speaking to right at this moment. The shadow is the part of me that killed and maimed for the sake of malevolent glee. To be honest, I'm surprised you don't have at least an inkling of it, but perhaps you're the improvement on the original."
He was not amused, "Yea, so it was all true?"
"Yes."
"You know, Yuna seemed shook up from hearing it."
"Kid, she was probably afraid you'd take it the wrong way. When I was unsent, I deliberately showed her the worst of my past."
"And you did that because…"
"Listen, your head has to be clear, understand?" I stated, firmly grasping him by his shoulder as my eyes glared hard into his, "I know you're scared for Yuna. I know because I was there. Bevelle, Machina War; I was there. Takuma was right. I let Lenne take away my focus and I ended up failing her anyway."
"I'm not too sure it's Yuna that's fogging my mind." He replied, his eyes fixed on me.
"Fine, clear those thoughts away, too. It's not going to be useful in the coming fights if you're still worried about me… again."
The conversation would end there, though it wasn't like looking at me from the corner of his eye the rest of the night wasn't enough of a clue that it hadn't ended there. As I had said my peace and needed to concentrate on just what those two were scheming, I pushed that potential chink in the party aside and allowed Rikku to distract me. My thoughts traveled to the future and what the shadow had left and exactly why Areth had chosen to return, if he had any coherent motive now as an unsent. The shadow had pulled cheap maneuvers with the Aeons like I had done in my stint as a sociopath. It just stemmed into an original path by combining the Aeons with things, our first clue having been Anima's Aeon-fiend forms. The "Byakko" was the next example of this, but the latest one had it combine an Aeon with itself. So far, we'd forced it to expend the Anima it shared with Seymour, then Ixion, Shiva, and Trista's Special Aeon. That still left Ifrit, Valefor, Larea, and Bahamut. I knew the dragon would be used last as any Shuyin would have to deem it a last powerful stand, but the other three could be used in any sequence. At the moment, the best bet would be if it possessed Larea again. As a fayth, she'd have some control of herself despite possession and I may be able to help her restrain it for us to defeat.
"And then there's Areth." Rikku started suddenly.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked of her.
"You've been babbling for a while after I made that joke." She replied.
"Is it just me or have the tables suddenly turned?"
"Oh, that's fun." She said excitedly, jumping to her feet, "Do I get to tease you about being cute then?"
And so we left Macalania and headed for Besaid on the Celsius to wait until further developments arose. Rikku continued to pester me about my slip earlier and I indulged her glee. It had been some time since I allowed myself to be a true human and I now fully accepted my rebirth. I would not lose my life this time. This time, I would finish it right, I will find Lenne, and I would solve this plight once and for all.
While still en route to Besaid, I managed to gain my still needed distance from the lot, from Rikku, and stood on the deck of the Celsius looking out at the rising sun. Regardless of grievances, doubt, or concern for what might be in the end, the sunrise was my hope. My new life had begun and it would glow. For the moment, I needed only concentrate on that. In keeping with that, my next move was to formulate a plan and we had two enemies that were enemies themselves. This could play a vantage point for us, but we'd need to learn how to use it. Thus far, the two had only arrived on their own and there were no overlaps. Somehow, if we could bring those two together, I knew we'd find an ally in either. The better choice would be as Rikku had attempted before, to convert my other half. Seeing Areth about should bring back the same memories of hatred and rage that fueled me into becoming it and, truly soulless or not, it couldn't deny its origins. On the other hand, Areth's bitterness towards me should be equally deep and seeing the end result of his last bout with me, perhaps he'd want to defeat that which defeated him first. If I knew his arrogance, he wouldn't consider me a threat to him now, a typical human against an ageless unsent, but the shadow, the one that nearly destroyed us all, that might raise his sense of mortality. However, I had less experience with this Areth than I did with my dark self. The shadow was a completely free individual from who I had been in life. What was an Areth without his inhibitions? What drove him and what did he fear? Therefore, our best outcome would be the shadow. Also, it was profitable for another reason that I would not admit to myself just yet.
As the choice was my other, the idea came back to Aeons. It was clear that was what he was targeting and I already had it in mind that Larea would be the best choice when we acted on that scheme. When I was an unsent, she was the one who tried her hand at coercion and reasoning hardest. It would stand to reason that she would also be the one to contemplate and consider the same in reverse. While she stalled, we could subdue her host.
"But I will not be possessed again." Larea's voice echoed throughout the open space.
"That's a pity." I simply replied aloud, "I figured you were our best shot at ensnaring the shadow."
"You were wrong." She stated as her body slowly formed out of an approaching mist of pyreflies.
"Well, if you're not going to even take part, I can surely see that. Still, this leaves us with the dilemma of just how else we could do it."
"You were wrong about my power to undermine your dark side. I have doubts that I could contain myself should he take over."
"You don't give yourself enough credit."
"Neither have you. How much freedom did I have when last you possessed me? Your mad rage is something not even the strongest fayth can fight. This is why you became such a problem for us before."
"An oversight then. Fine, so what might you suggest we do to quell the storm?"
"Perhaps…" Larea tried to suggest before current events pulled us both away.
Yuna came on the speakers, "Shuyin! Hurry down here! We've discovered a new signal!"
Nodding to my friend as she faded back into pyreflies, I headed back to the lift and took it down to the bridge. Upon my arrival, Rikku greeted me with a bodily roadblock. Catching her, I proceeded with her to where Brother had gathered the others.
"There are new signal therein Bevelle! It isn't can be confirmed who we are being fighting, though." Brother tried to announce, making outlandish gestures in a failing attempt to compensate for his poor speech.
Together we headed off to the city that had become a focal point of climactic battles as of late. If everything went accordingly, my dark self would be our signal and we'd be able to vanquish at least one nemesis. The trip to Yevon's capitol was boring and long. Not a single person wanted to talk about the impending fight or its consequences. It was hard enough to predict just what a disturbed mind such as what mine used to be could come up with let alone how difficult it would be to defeat. Still, if everyone was scanning the scars of battles past, they'd hold back an all-out offensive and any weakness on our part would be an opening for him and we were at a crucial moment that couldn't afford mistakes.
"Listen. This is Bevelle. There is a good chance we know the Aeon the shadow might use or the reason why Areth might be there." I exclaimed to the group, "There can be nothing to hold us back. We go in, we fight our hardest, and send whichever one it is to the Farplane. This is a good opportunity for us, but it is extremely dangerous all because of location. Either one of them choosing Bevelle means they are desperate and praying for salvation. That makes them worse than ever. They will try anything to save themselves because they already know fighting us directly can't work. Have you all got that?"
For a while, no one would make a sound. They were all too frightened of eventualities and doubtful of their own capabilities against an enemy that had haunted them so long… and who's countenance had just openly commanded them into war.
"When we overcome the threat, I will send it. I promise." Yuna finally replied, breaking the silence.
"You know my sword could always use the action." Paine added.
"Good. We're here." I told them, turning around.
Outside, Bevelle's towers greeted us with matching reds to the Celsius and Brother began to bring us down. Suddenly, the entire airship was rocked backward by some gush of force, the resulting thermals strong enough to lift the ship upward. When I regained myself, I heard Rikku gasp and approached the screen. A short distance away, the central spire exploded in streams of blue light, debris flying everywhere as if a rain of stone. I grabbed Brother and shoved him into his pilot's station, ordering him to take us to it. As we neared, both myself and my better distinctly identified wailing and dying fiends being ensnared by the streams and broken down into pyreflies.
On collective instinct, we all rushed to the deck to get a direct view of what was occurring. Below us, Bevelle's central spire displayed an enormous chasm filled only with the light. The captured pyreflies began swirling about the light, seemingly being absorbed into it. Eventually, the amorphous figure rose to the airship's altitude, a smaller figment darkening a portion of it at the top. As the blue light dimmed, the smaller shape came into focus, revealed to be our intended target, my dark half.
"It's amazing what a little elbow grease and jumbled fiends can make, isn't it? Say hi to the newly-refurbished heavy-upgraded Valefor." It mused.
Valefor?
"You monster!" Yuna gasped, eyes welling with tears.
"What'd you do?!" Her love growled, pulling the former summoner to him.
"How could you?" Rikku added, shaking her head in disbelief.
I knew a part of them had to have hoped this creature was still in some way me, but what they never considered was how cruel I could be without the inhibitions of my heart and soul. Turning Valefor into this polycephalic abomination was hardly a creative notion for the me without compassion.
"He could because he doesn't care. He doesn't care about anything. It's what I fooled myself into believing when I committed all those atrocities." I sternly stated, my eyes never leaving the living nightmare that the shadow was.
Yuna came up to my side, "What's our move?"
"We fight." A voice cooed from behind.
Pyreflies descended onto the deck of the airship and took the form of my old nemesis, "We show them we're not afraid."
I glared at him as he gazed over to me, "Isn't that what our brave hero always says?"
Chapter 29: (Part III) Of SusanoO and Yamato
Tidus
From worse to even worse. Seriously, it was like we were in a vid game and some random guy was having a good time turning our lives into plot twists. The evil version of Shuyin Frankenstein'd himself a super Valefor with four heads and just as we were going to get at it, Areth added himself in.
"Okay, Shuyin and I can take care of the unsent faster ourselves. You guys go after that thing and we'll come help as soon as we can!" I shouted, already on my way to Areth.
"By the way," I heard Shuyin's voice behind me, gloating, "this thing over here's got the combined oversouls of a few old friends: Chac, Evrae, even the Master of Despair itself. Valefor, aren't you looking ever more useful at last. Rather major, like a Major Numerus."
Stopping in my tracks, I turned just in time to see Dark Shuyin deliver the punch line, "To account for the heads."
It was safe to say we were all dumbfounded by his show. The guy was completely off his lid taking all of this as a joke. Shuyin told us he was dangerous, but it was difficult to keep that in mind with our enemy cracking jokes and making puns. Areth took advantage of that, firing a shot straight at my head. Shuyin leaped in front at that point, deflected the bullet, and kept moving. He was the only one who wasn't affected and was mission-bound to go after Areth. Right at the start, he accelerated into Slice & Dice speed and went to work, but Areth was ready for that. Sticking his arm out to the side, his one sword shattered into a dozen shards at the first strike. The shards then took on a life of their own and ran interference on all the following strikes Shuyin made. At the end, the damaged shards turned into pyreflies and gathered to reform the original sword. I took my turn then, cartwheeling into a flip and hitting him with Spiral Cut.
Rather than block, though, he just stood there and took it. At first, his body looked to be sliced cleanly in two, but he popped into a cloud of pyreflies and I couldn't see anything for a while. A short while later, the cloud cleared, but I found myself in what I could only say was the Farplane. In the distance, I saw what I could only say was Seymour slowly walking towards me. Raising Brotherhood, I took a swing at him only to have it deflected by some kind of invisible barrier. After a few more tries without success, I tried to dodge him and figure out what was going on, but that just took my focus off my footing. Following one more step backward, I felt a weak point in the rocky ledge. Seymour immediately lunged forward to take the advantage, his long fingers stretching out to shove me off completely.
"Get a hold of yourself!" He said, his voice sounding strangely.
Instead of pushing me, Seymour grabbed my arm and pulled me back to stable ground. Looking around, he stalked a few steps forward and away from me. Before I knew it, he pulled his staff on something behind him and made a clash. Pyreflies immediately burst from the staff and we were back on top of the Celsius.
"What happened?" I asked Seymour.
"It's an illusion. Figures a lying and treacherous snake would be granted such a power." Seymour said, his body dissolving until it was a more acceptable source.
"You spoil everything." Areth's voice purred at the far end of the airship, "Lucky for me, it was still good enough to arrange this opening."
With that, I saw the flying hydra lurch from the sides of the airship, splashing across its width to force Shuyin into the air. Looking around, I saw that Yuna and the others were in their Special Dresspheres, but all three looked in bad shape. The fiend was difficult to say the least. Getting over to Yuna, we decided to regroup and corner Areth first.
Each of the girls used their machine to encircle him and prevent him from using his illusion while I charged up for Energy Rain. Again, Areth just stood by and let our plans play forth. When I finished charging, I ran in and kicked off him, sending my bolts of energy all around him. As it accumulated, Areth only watched and dissolved into a stream of pyreflies before the overdrive could hit him. Still, with him gone, we needed to get back to the Major Numeral Uno thing.
I ran over to the edge of the Celsius, but by then I was too late. The warped Aeon already had Shuyin tackling it from the air, playing against the volleys it unleashed at him. From time to time, I saw that Shuyin got a hold of one of the heads and took to standing on the main body, but the tails and heads would be on him too quickly for him to make any effective moves. As he tired, the thing decided to take up more challengers in us and attacked the airship with a pulse of energy.
"What was that?!" I screamed as the airship's surface started to rattle.
"Take cover! The computer's registering it as something called Clione! It…" Buddy alerted from the external speaker, but the rattling got worse and the speaker overloaded.
Slowly, the entire deck started to ripple and white colored pores melted into its surface and began to bubble. Backing away from it, I found the entire deck was coated in the pores. The ship was rattling too much to get to the lift so I really had no options left.
"I've got you!" Yuna said, her Psycher form getting a hold of me before teleporting me off the Celsius.
The next thing I knew, YRP had me, Buddy, and Brother in tow and the entire deck of the Celsius was covered in pillars of blue energy. Having taken all that damage, we could only watch helplessly in the air while it crashed itself into the waters just outside the city below. I knew they would be upset at losing it, but at that moment, Shuyin was by himself on a volatile platform, facing four menacing heads, their respective tails, and a mirror of himself. Whistling, I had Yuna teleport me to Valefor while Paine and Rikku dropped Buddy and Brother off at the wreckage to see about salvaging it. After they came back, Shuyin, Yuna, and I were already on the good part of Bevelle's central tower while Dark Shuyin and his creature from the deep circled around, casting strong spells near constantly. The Psychers took the role of deflecting the attacks using their powerful defenses while Shuyin and I waited for openings.
"When it comes for another pass, I want you to throw me into the air." He finally said as the thing headed back for us.
"Where?"
"Anywhere! It won't matter. Then, get one of the Psycher's to spot you. Wait for my move."
As instructed, I stabbed Brotherhood into the side of the tower and used it for a ledge. Grabbing Shuyin, I waited until I thought the thing was close enough and threw him right at it. My concern was that it would just dodge him and he'd just fall, but while it tried to dodge, Dark Shuyin pulled down alongside to mock the failed attempt. Shuyin took advantage to axe kick a leaning Dark Shuyin, knocking him off the creature and straight down, headfirst, into the pavement below. Quickly, I whistled to Yuna and dove down after the unsent followed closely by the three Psychers. Just before I hit the bottom, Paine froze time for the save and Yuna brought me back out of it. Rikku stayed back and focused all her power to maintaining the stasis field, but we could already see the pyreflies shifting back together. Without another thought, I jumped off a piece of the rubble and signaled that I wanted to go for another Energy Rain. Yuna understood immediately, channeling Entrust to give me her potential, enough for me to charge up the overdrive.
As the pyreflies reformed into the unsent, my bolts of energy surged through the ground and erupted on him. Yuna took the opportunity to shift to White Mage, but before she could start a sending, the pyreflies swarmed back up into the air and to safety. Dark Shuyin escaped us again.
Without much to do, the other two Psychers having exhausted themselves following such abusive uses of their abilities and neither Yuna nor I having a suitable dressphere to take us back up into the air, we were forced to watch the action from afar. From what I saw, the Valefor thing was struggling with our Shuyin, but it was too hard to make out who was winning or how Shuyin was even fighting it.
"What do you think is happening?" I asked nobody in particular.
"The great struggle…" Paine murmured beside me.
"What?"
"It's a tale of Lord SusanoO and the demon Yamato…"
Author's Note: SusanoO and Yamata no Orochi is an old Japanese folktale that I drew some concepts from for Shuyin and Areth in my last story. Next chapter, you get a larger explanation of that and perhaps a better inkling as to what the shadow's goal is.
Happy New Year! ^^