5 When People Die

"Hold on!" One of the two men at the harpoons shouted. The other one tensed his muscles and let out a short battle cry, preparing to shoot.

"One, two, THREE!" Both men grunted as they jerked back on the triggers to the harpoons. Two large, sharp spears flew towards Sin's fin, and embedded themselves deeply between its tough scales. There was a thunderous roar as Sin swam forward. Our ship was flung about in the sea, the water was churning around us. Though we couldn't see Sin's body beneath us, I could feel the huge monster swimming below us, its movement causing the water to boil. The people were howling their prayers to Yevon as they clung to the edges of the ship, and some couldn't hold on. I watched a small child be flung into the sea and disappear under the water. People were rolling across the deck, trying desperately to grab onto anything in sight. Sin pulled us along, and the wind pounded against my body. My heart felt like it was in my stomach, we were flying along at a speed faster than I had ever gone on anything, even a chocobo. Sin didn't pull us under the water, it simply kept swimming at full speed towards Kilika. The sail of the ship tore down the middle from the pressure. The sea water was spraying into my eyes and mouth and nose, and I could hardly see. I don't know how long we went on like that. We clung to the ship for our lives. I heard people screaming and crying. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and the ship bounced wildly in the sea before the water around us finally calmed. After a moment, I released my grip on the side of the ship as I realized that Sin was gone. I could see Kilika in the distance, and I saw that the harpoon's anchor had been torn from the ship's deck. Sin must have torn it out when it swam away. I looked around and saw that all my guardians seemed to be alright, but there were many injured civilians lying on the deck in heaps, and I didn't see Tidus anywhere. The dead bodies of Sin's spawn dissolved into pyreflies and flew off, disappearing into the sky. I scanned my surroundings, and then ran to the nearest injured person, kneeling down and laying my hands on her forehead. I prayed, begging Yevon to heal her wounds. After several moments, I felt a sharp pain in my side, and I groaned, while keeping my hands firm. After several seconds, the pain subsided, and the woman opened her eyes. She had been healed. I ran from body to body, healing the wounded. When I came to a young man, he was lying in a pool of blood, gasping. I prayed, but it was no use. After several more gasps, he didn't take another breath, he died, drowning in his own blood. I bowed my head in mourning briefly, before continuing on, healing as many as I could. Though I tried the squelch the fear, it was rising in me. I knew that Tidus had been bleeding badly. I wondered if he had made it.

Wakka was getting nervous too. "Yuna! Where's Tidus? He's gone!" I knew that if he had fallen into the sea, there was nothing I could do to help him, so I just kept running from person to person, healing them. I blocked all thoughts of him from my mind, knowing that if my mind wasn't completely focused on my prayers to Yevon, I would not be able to heal the wounded. As I traveled through the broken, torn bodies, I saw a young girl who had been shot by several poisoned spines, and she hadn't made it. I felt sick when I looked at her.

The girl must have been only about five years old. My eyes stung, but I tried to ignore the grief, to get used to it, knowing that I would see much more of this until I was able to bring peace, to defeat Sin. Kimahri saw that she was no longer living, and he silently carried her over into a corner of the ship and laid her with the growing pile of bodies of those who had died. As I traveled through the bodies, healing them, I came upon a heap of several people. I gently pulled the person off the top of the pile, healed him, and continued to heal each person, one at a time. I was feeling very weak, each time I healed someone, their pain was transferred to me while I was healing them. The pain drained my strength, but I knew that there where only a few people left to heal. Most of the people that I had already healed where still dazed, but the captain had remained miraculously uninjured, and so we continued to move towards Kilika, though it was slow, because the sail was so severely torn. I rolled the last person from the pile over onto his back, and was shocked to see Tidus. He was so terribly injured and that he was almost unrecognizable. I covered my mouth, and gasped, before sighing in relief at the fact that at least he was still on the ship.

I placed a shaking hand on his forehead and started to pray. With every passing second, my pain grew, until I could hardly stay upright. My whole body was shaking, until finally the feeling slowly ebbed away, and I toppled over, exhausted. I lay there, staring up at the cloudless blue sky. I was in total shock, now that I finally had a chance to slow down and realize what had happened. We had cheated death. We were alive…most of us. I would be able to continue my pilgrimage to bring peace to Spira…

I fell asleep lying on the deck, but I was soon awakened by Wakka, shouting. "L-Look at dat! Sin's attacking Kilika!"There were terrified shouts coming from the bow of the boat. I sat up, and the ship was starting to tip slightly forward, because everyone on the ship except the captain was at the bow of the ship, looking towards Kilika. Floating in the air, some ways away from Kilika, was Sin. Sin was almost as large as the whole island. It was gathering water from the sea around itself into a massive sphere. Once the sphere had grown to twice the size of the Kilika, the water flew in a massive tidal wave across the island. We were too far away to see the results, but now doubt, many people died in those brief moments. Once the attack was over, Sin swam into the sea, and disappeared. The ship was filled with sorrowful wails and crying people. I retreated into a corner, and sat, staring into nothing, trying to escape from the horror that was constantly unfolding around me. The constant death and fear that had been going on for the past thousand years. Someday, maybe, I could end it. Eventually, the sound of mourning quieted and all was silent, except the lapping of the waves on the sides of the ship. People were sprawled out all over the ship, all of us were drained from the day's ordeals. As I gazed around, my eyes fell on Tidus. He too leaned against the side of the ship, staring hard at the wood deck, frowning. He appeared to be okay. We all continued to sit in silence for several hours. So many thoughts passed through my mind, though every time a thought replaced the one before it, I forgot the previous one. I could hardly think, my mind was spinning, my whole body stung from the healings. Without meaning to, I announced my thoughts.

"I will defeat Sin. I must defeat Sin."Though my voice was barely above a whisper, I might as well have shouted it because of the silence around us. I received a few grateful glances, but nothing more.

When we finally arrived at the dock at Kilika, or, what was left of it, the sun was setting. The water was red with the blood of all those who had lost their lives that day, and with the sunset, the whole sea was the same scarlet shade. It sickened me, but I made sure to appear tranquil, knowing that if the people could see a Summoner who still had hope, even after all this, maybe it would bring them some small measure of peace. Once the ship's ramp lowered, I walked slowly onto the dock. It seemed as though there was still some survivors, though not many. An elderly couple approached us, stepping over small gaps in the wooden boards the made up the tattered dock. "Greetings. I am the summoner Yuna. I have come from the temple in Besaid."

I noticed now that the woman was crying, clinging to her husband's arm. Now that they were up close, I could also see that both of them had many minor cuts and scrapes, and the man seemed to have a broken arm. It was hanging limp by his side, and was badly bruised and bleeding a little. As I was taking in the sight, the man began to speak.

"M'lady Summoner. Thanks be to Yevon." His voice was strained, as if he wanted to break down and cry, like his wife beside him. She looked at me through her tear filled eyes, but said nothing. I was suddenly afraid, realizing what I must now do. Forcing myself to remain diplomatic, I forced out the words. "If there is no other summoner here, please allow me to perform the sending."

The woman perked up a bit at hearing this, and a very small smile grew on the man's weathered cheeks. "Thanks be to ye." The woman nodded, agreeing with her husband. "Our loved ones…we feared they would become fiends." I shook my head, reassuring her that they would not. I turned to Wakka and the others. "Please. Bring the dead. I can send them with the others." Wakka nodded sadly at me, and he placed his hand on Tidus' shoulder. "C'mon."

Tidus followed him along with the blitzball team and a few other men back onto the ship. More of the village folk had gathered at the dock by now, gazing through teary, curious eyes at the summoner and her party. Some were carrying their dead, and others were carrying injured. Most were already dead, though. I hurried over to the small group, and placed my hand on the forehead of a small boy, bracing myself for the pain. I prayed, but I felt no pain. I struggled, squeezing my eyes shut and concentrating as hard as I could. After several moments, I realized that I did not have enough strength left. I rose shakily to my feet, and quietly spoke, though my words rang out like a gong in the group of silent villagers.

"I…do not have the strength to heal. I…I may be able to perform a sending, though." If I could not, I didn't even want to imagine what would happen. The people let out cries of surprise and fear, and a woman let out a shriek of despair, before clamping her hand over her mouth and whimpering. I looked around at the people before quietly saying, "I…um, I need to perform it on water."

This caused gasps and whispering among the group, but no one said anything to me, for a moment. The elderly man looked at me, as if checking if I was sane. "On…water?" I nodded silently, feeling the stares of just about everyone there. The man finally nodded."This way. We placed the dead in the sea, hoping to delay their change into fiends, not knowing when the next summoner would come through. You can perform the sending immediately." He led me across the dock to a place where there were many bodies, perhaps a hundred, laying in the water. I grew sick, and struggled not to retch as I slipped off my boots. My hands were shaking, and my whole body felt weak. I forced myself to continue, reminding myself over and over again that this is the very reason why I must continue. Iwaited as the people gathered around. Tidus walked by me, carrying the small girl who had been on the ship when we were attacked. Our eyes met. His face was stony, his jaw clenched tight, but his eyes were red, and a single tear ran down his cheek. He laid the girl in the water, and then stepped back away from it, leaning against the railing of the dock. I nodded at Lulu, and she slowly nodded back, her face cold and emotionless, as always. I slowly walked out onto the water. I heard gasps behind me, but I ignored them. I prayed, begging Yevon to give me strength, fighting the doubt that was clouding my mind. I tried to close out all thoughts, other than those of the sending that I was about to perform. Each summoner must learn their own sending; only people destined to become summoners by Yevon are able to perform sendings. I had seen my sending one night in my dreams, and when I woke up that morning, I went to the seashore with Wakka, and I went out onto the water to perform it. Chie had told me that it was the only summoning that he had ever seen to be performed on water. Everyone, including myself was shocked that I was able to stand on the water, but some things simply cannot be understood. My staff materialized in my hands, and I danced.

Wakka placed a hand on my shoulder, and he guided me back towards the ship with him. The Aurochs followed us, along with some other men. As almost always in this strange and terrible world, I did not know what was going on. I didn't know what a sending was, and quite frankly, I was afraid to know.

I followed Wakka, and he led us to the pile of bodies, people who had died earlier in the day. Wakka leaned down and picked up the limp, dead body of a man, and the others each picked up a body. I stood there, numb, staring at the sickening sight. When everyone had left the ship, there was one person left lying there, a young girl, no older than five.

I felt nausea boiling in my stomach, and I ran over to the edge of the ship and heaved what little food I had left in my stomach out into the sea. When I saw how red the water was, with the blood of the village, I retched again, but nothing came out. I leaned on the side of the ship, weak. I realized that they were probably waiting for me, so I stumbled over to the girl's mangled body and carefully lifted her in my arms. She was cold and stiff. I felt my eyes burning with tears, and my father's jeering words haunted my mind, I could hear him as if he was standing right next to me. "What, boy! You gonna cry again? What? Is it important this time?" I growled into the air under my breath, "Yeah, it's important! People are dying!" once again his voice entered my thoughts.

"Heh! Dying, huh! Why don't you do something about it? Oh, I forgot, all you can do is cry!"

"Shut up!" I hissed. There was silence. I thought to myself that I must be going crazy.

True to what my father said, my eyes filled with tears, and I managed to blink most of them away, but one slipped down my cheek. It felt like acid, proving my father's scornful insults. I clenched my jaw hard, and tried to remain calm as I approached the group of villagers, mourning the deaths of their families and friends.

I reminded myself that I wasn't the one suffering here. They were. I had no right to be sitting around, crying like a baby while they helplessly watched their lives fall apart around them. I should help them, and be strong. I made the decision right then and there. I was going to do anything I could to help them. Suddenly, I realized that maybe I had come here for a reason. Maybe I was here because I could do something to truly help them.

I reached the group and saw Yuna sitting on the dock, taking her boots off. She looked up at me, pain evident in her eyes. I tore my gaze away, hoping that she didn't notice my tear, but I was sure she did. I gently laid the girl's body in the water along with maybe a hundred others, another wave of nausea coming over me, and I struggled to hide it. I stepped back, and leaned weakly against the dock as Yuna approached the water.

TidusxYuna Always