EPISODE 6:

AFTERMATH

Like the legend of the Phoenix

All ends with beginnings

What keeps the planets spinning (uh)

The force from the beginning…

-from Get Lucky, by Daft Punk

CHAPTER 26:

IXION'S STORY

Hermione, Harry, and Ron were all being checked out in the Hospital Wing by Aerith, Pomfrey, and Snape. A formidable trio who wouldn't accept any excuses of backchat, even the sweet-natured Aerith. Save for McGonagall, the other Hogwarts staff members had gone back to bed. Cait Sith was perched on Jenova's shoulders, while Dumbledore and Flamel discussed something quietly in a corner.

Ron was easily the most shaken by the experience. He had, after all, been dead, even if it was for a short period of time, and he had come face to face with Voldemort shortly before that. Hermione was also shaken: like Ron, she had been conscious when under the spell Voldemort had cast on them. Nothing like a bit of mental rape and the inability to help their friend to cause some psychological trauma.

Ironically enough, the one holding up best was Harry. He had changed back into his usual self, the Jenova-caused features fading away. He was aching somewhat from the after-effects of Voldemort using Shadow Flare on him, but he had been healed of the actual damage. The battle itself wasn't as hard, nowhere near the battles against Sephiroth. If anything, he was more worried about his friends than himself: they had been controlled by Voldemort and used against him.

Thankfully, both Ron and Hermione were free from the curse, Snape declared. Jenova had helped him remove it from Hermione, and it seemed that when Ron died, the curse died with him, and didn't come back when he was revived.

Flamel finished his discussion with Dumbledore, and then walked over to them. "I daresay you three have many questions. Please, allow me to speak, and you will get most of them answered before you ask them."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then nodded. Hermione frowned. She had been told by Harry and Ron that Flamel wasn't human, that he was a Summon, called Ixion. But if Flamel was willing to tell them, then she would listen, and have to wait until she could ask questions.

Soon, Flamel began to tell his story. And what a story it was…

Long ago, there was a world called Spira. And one day, it was consumed by war, a war between two city states, Bevelle, and Zanarkand. Bevelle used great war machines, or machina, while Zanarkand had powerful summoners, mages who could summon powerful magical beasts. As the war began to draw to a close, Zanarkand was close to losing, so a last-ditch effort was conceived to save them.

The population of Zanarkand were changed into special statues known as Fayth. The purpose of this was towfold. The first was to preserve what was left of Zanarkand in a dream state of the city's prime, the populace in a dream of the city at its peak. The second was to use them as a means of empowering their greatest summoner, Yu Yevon, with the ability to stop Bevelle, by turning him into a vast summon creature, Sin.

Yu Yevon, cloaked in Sin, won the war against Bevelle, but at a high price: his humanity died, and Sin became little more than a rampaging monster, one sustained by the Fayth of the people of Zanarkand. Yu Yevon's daughter, Yunalesca, and her consort, Zaon, found a way to quell Sin temporarily, with Zaon becoming an extremely powerful Aeon or summon creature. Zaon and Yunalesca perished, but Yunalesca came back to life as a revenant known as an Unsent, and, upon learning that Sin would always come back, possessing the Aeon of the one who vanquished it, Yunalesca decided to make this the penance of the people of Spira, and of Bevelle in particular, helping to found the Yevon religion, banning most sophisticated machinery, save for a few examples.

Centuries passed, with many Fayth being created. Ixion was merely one, a man who volunteered to become a Fayth in the Djose Temple. Many of the summons Harry had become familiar with had their origins as Fayth on Spira: Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut. And they weren't the only ones. There were others, like Valefor, Yojimbo, the Magus Sisters, and Anima. But the Fayth began to despair of the situation on Spira. They knew that Yevon and Yunalesca had been corrupted, that they falsely believed that appeasing Sin was better than destroying it outright. Of course, neither the authorities of the Yevon religion nor Yunalesca believed that Sin could be destroyed. The Fayth behind the Aeons knew that there was a way: destroy every Aeon and every Fayth after destroying the essence of Yu Yevon within Sin.

It was the Fayth of Bahamut (ironically, the massive dragon king was a young boy when he became a Fayth) who set events into motion, albeit as the result of an accident. Somehow, one of the citizens of the Dream Zanarkand crossed over into reality, an arrogant Blitzball player by the name of Jecht. When he made the pilgrimage along with a summoner called Braska and a disgraced warrior called Auron, his new perspective on events in Spira gave the Fayth hope they hadn't had in a long time. Jecht was the one to volunteer to become the latest so-called Final Aeon, and Braska died. Auron died too, after confronting Yunalesca over her lies. But he also became an Unsent, and with the help of what was left of Jecht's consciousness within Sin, collaborated with Bahamut's Fayth to begin the process of stopping Sin forever, even if it meant that the Fayth, and Dream Zanarkand, would perish with it.

What eventuated was a complicated series of events. The son of Jecht, Tidus, was drawn by Auron and Sin into Spira, just as Braska's daughter, Yuna, was about to begin her own pilgrimage to stop Sin. Along with Auron and a group of other travellers, they embarked on their voyage, with many events happening along the way. When they found Yunalesca, and learned the truth behind the futility of what was happening, they decided to try and destroy Yunalesca, and thus the only means of creating a new Final Aeon. After a bitter struggle, they succeeded. But Tidus soon learned what he truly was, little more than a dream brought into physical existence. He was willing to fade away, as long as Sin was destroyed for good.

Spira was saved from Sin, but at a high price: the Fayth were destroyed, their essence scattered to the winds. Tidus faded away, though a couple of years later, what remained of the Fayth were able to bring him back into existence(1).

The essences of the Fayth may have been scattered, but they found themselves unable to perish, instead, their essences ending up on many a world. They became summon creatures once more, Espers and Eidolons, creatures at the beck and call of powerful summons. The Planet was only one of the worlds where the seeds of their essence had settled.

Ixion and Valefor were amongst those whose Summoning Materia had been taken during the Cetra Exodus across to Earth. And there, they went from master to master…until they fell into the hands of one Nicholas Flamel, and his wife, Perenelle.

The Flamels were different for the time. They were quite forward-seeing for magic users, and they were amongst the few who, by this point, had any accurate knowledge of the Cetra Heritage. They also treated magical creatures with an attitude that would be liberal even now, and summons were no exception. Ixion and Valefor found it refreshing to speak to mortals who treated them like members of the family, rather than as (at best) servants. And the four of them shared an impish sense of humour, a love of pranks both vulgar and sophisticated.

As the years went on, however, the Flamels began to worry about their charges' futures. And their experiments in alchemy, and creating the fabled Philosopher's Stone, had failed. But the Flamels hit upon an idea, the greatest prank of all time, and one that would conceal Ixion and Valefor's true nature for centuries to come. They deliberately spread rumours that they had found the Philosopher's Stone, and soon, Ixion and Valefor, having changed their appearances to match younger versions of their masters, were seen publicly.

The real Nicholas Flamel died in 1418, his wife having died in 1397(2). Despite this, the Magical World believed that these were faked deaths, as Ixion and Valefor still appeared in public under their human guises. Of course, their Summon Materia had to be concealed, for even the cover story of the Philosopher's Stone led many to covet it…

"…leading us, in a roundabout way, to here," Flamel concluded.

Those present gaped at each other, save for Jenova and Dumbledore. In fact, Jenova had an amused look on her face. "I remember you and your wife. I know you were brought out to fight me when I first arrived on the Planet. I remember the sting of Thor's Hammer, and your wife's Energy Ray." Jenova chuckled. "Oh, how the times have changed. I'm now on the side of the angels, even if I couldn't exactly be called one(3), while you've been masquerading as a human."

"Wait…" Hermione mused. "So you and your wife are Summon beings? But you said you were once human. But you come from another world."

"Indeed. Spira does not belong to the same dimension as either the Planet or Earth, but are parallel worlds, each with human beings on them. Our essences, our souls if you will, were trapped in the Fayth statues. Willingly, at least at first…until we saw the cycle on Spira continue, ad nauseum. Ifrit, Shiva, Bahamut, they all originated on Spira. Other summons came from elsewhere. It is my belief that our names were all that spread to this world: here, my name is associated with a rather unflattering fellow from Greek myth. Of course, I am both more, and less, than human now. I don't even remember what I looked like before I became a Fayth. My essence is bound forever to the Materia Harry now has with him, the stone I led others to believe was the Philosopher's Stone."

Harry looked down at the blood-red crystal. For a moment, he contemplated the sanguine orb, before reaching it over to Flamel. "You should have it back, sir. It's yours."

Flamel's response was certainly unexpected. He laughed, a deep, uproarious sound. "I remember when Nicholas tried the same thing. 'This contains your very essence, Lord Ixion, therefore, it is your possession, and nobody else's.' A rare man, who believes a Summon to be worthy of keeping his own focus, to be treated as a person, as family and friend. And my response to you, Harry Gainsborough, is more or less the same as I said to him."

"Which was what?"

"I choose to accompany you, Harry. You are powerful and battle-hardened even for your age, but you are still a child, especially compared to one such as myself. Your trials on this world are far from over, given that Voldemort has managed to escape, and I doubt that your travails on the Planet are over, either. I will not be your servant or slave, Harry Gainsborough, and I am sure that you wouldn't want to think of me as such. But I willingly will accompany you, as a comrade-in-arms, as an ally. You already have many, and many friends. But I am sure you can allow for more." Flamel looked at Ron and Hermione. "I'm sorry that you two have gotten drawn into this. But as long as Voldemort lives, he will not cease to attack Harry, nor will he not try to hurt or kill you two. That you both survived was partially down to luck. You are young to learn such true peril facing you two. But this is what you face if you continue to be Harry's friend."

Hermione glared up at Flamel. "What do you mean, if?!"

Ron nodded. He looked miserable, and scared, but he said, "My family were always in You-Know-Who's black books. My dad supports pro-Muggle legislation in the Wizengamot. I'm scared, I don't think anyone wouldn't be unless they were barmy…but I'm not running away from Harry!"

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "I'm proud of you, Mr Weasley. People all too frequently think that bravery is acting without fear, when in truth, bravery and courage is when you act in spite of your fear. Your parents feared Voldemort, and so too did Harry's parents. We all did, we would be fools not to. Miss Gainsborough, Jenova, Cait Sith and Harry were also afraid of Sephiroth, but they fought him despite this fear, because they knew the alternative was to be feared even more. It is the paralysing effects of fear that people like Sephiroth and Voldemort exploit, effects that should be resisted. One should be cautious against beings of their power, true, and prudent. But just as there is a difference between courage and recklessness…"

"Something many Gryffindors fail to remember," Snape remarked archly.

"Ahem. Just as there is a difference between courage and recklessness, there is a difference between fear and cowardice. Fear is a useful emotion. But it is when it overwhelms us, when it drowns us, that it turns to cowardice." He looked at the three students. "I am proud of the three of you. Despite the fact that we have failed to trap Voldemort, we have set him back significantly. Nicholas tells me that we have drained a significant portion of his power, and it will be some time before he re-emerges, so we have bought some time. Not much, but hopefully, a bit of a breather, as they say."

"We didn't do anything!" Hermione protested.

"Not true. Harry fought to keep you safe and alive, buying time so that we could get ready. Even before then, you went to Harry's aid on more than one occasion. Before he went to the Planet, Harry had no friends, and his family were unpleasant. 'The worst kind of Muggles', I believe Minerva told me, and while that was something of an exaggeration, it had more than a grain of truth. That he has you two is cause enough for celebration. And you also figured out about the Philosopher's Stone, Miss Granger. Even if the truth was somewhat different…"

Ron sighed. "Well, I'll tell you one thing. If I go through something like that again, it'll be too soon!"

Harry couldn't help but agree. That being said, he also knew that it was more than likely that, while this particular misadventure had ended, this was far from his last…

CHAPTER 26 ANNOTATIONS:

And there you have it. I've managed to tie in the story of Final Fantasy X, as well as tie it to Final Fantasy VII.

I'd also like to give a shout out to one of my readers, jgkitarel, for actually posting Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage as part of the Final Fantasy VII Fanfic Recommendations page on TV Tropes! Woohoo! Thanks a lot, jgkitarel! It's been a minor ambition of mine to have my fanfics mentioned on TV Tropes. Hell, it's gotten to the point where I've punched in keywords into the TV Tropes search engine every now and then to see if anything had turned up. God, I'm pathetic. ;)

1. I've probably spoiled, albeit in very broad strokes, the stories of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2.

2. These are the actual years the real Flamels were supposed to have died.

3. I paraphrased Sherlock Holmes' line to Moriarty towards the end of Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall.

CHAPTER 26 SOUNDTRACK:

Ixion's Story: To Zanarkand, from Final Fantasy X, composed by Nobuo Uematsu.