35 Ignorance was Bliss

The gentle snow that had fallen all day had transformed into a heavy storm. The wind was at our backs, though, so it was easier to run. As we fled, I kept looking behind me. Before long, in front of us, I could see a huge form blacking out the entire sky. The others saw it too, but we kept running towards it. My adrenaline was wearing off, and I was starting to feel the pain of the icicles that were still lodged in my back.

That all went away, though, when I realized what the thing in the clouds was. "Sin!" Wakka shouted. Yes, it was Sin. I though for sure that my old man was here to kill us. I never thought in my childhood that he would hate me so much that he would want to kill me. None of us knew what to do. We couldn't escape the creature if we tried, so we just stopped moving.

It was strange. Everything in those short moments was magnified. I looked at Yuna; her eyes danced in terror. I moved close to her, though I knew that I could not protect her. The sounds all became louder. I heard the Hymn of the Fayth, a woman's voice sung it this time. It was so nostalgic. Then a thought hit me, right out of nowhere. Jecht was Sin; Sin was Jecht. My old man was listening to the hymn. He sung the song all the time in Zanarkand.

"Why is it just floating there?" Wakka's hushed voice sounded like thunder. "It's not attacking us." I didn't really think about my reply, but I said it anyway. "I think he likes the hymn." They all looked at me, and Auron gave me a warning glare. "Why do you say that?" Yuna whispered. "Because look, he's so calm." Suddenly, without warning or explanation, the hymn ended. Sin roared. "No!" Auron yelled. The same wind that pulled me up into Sin at the beginning of this nightmare, consumed us. Everything blurred into white in front of my vision. I heard the cries of my friends as I lost awareness of what was happening.

When I could see again, we were all together in a dilapidated city. It was cold and dank. I had a headache from wondering what was in store for us next. Everyone was in utter shock, except for me and Auron. "We-we're not dead!" Wakka stammered. Even Lulu was so surprised that she was speechless. Kimahri looked around with an open jaw. Rikku squeaked in fright. "What do we do now?" Yuna was breathless.

"We wait." Auron was unmoved, though when he first thought that Jecht was going to kill us, even he had been beyond anxious. Nothing happened, we were just standing there, waiting. "Maybe...Sin took us somewhere...Like he took me to Besaid at the beginning of the pilgrimage." I offered. "I don't know." Yuna murmured. Since there was nothing to do, I decided to ask Yuna right there.

"Yuna. Why'd you do it? Why did you agree to marry Seymour?" She looked away, apparently ashamed. "I wanted to confront Maester Seymour about his father, Lord Jyscal. I wanted to convince him to turn himself in to Yevon's judgement." "But in exchange for marriage?" I still could hardly believe it. "Yes, if that's what it took." She answered. "What did he say?" Auron muttered, almost as if he wasn't asking a question. "He didn't say anything... Now, I don't even think it was worth it...I'm sorry. I should have told you what I was going to do...Do you think Yevon will allow me to continue my pilgrimage?" Yuna looked around at the dismal surroundings.

Auron stepped right in front of Yuna, staring her down. "The fayth are the ones that give power to the summoners. Not the temples or the teachings. If the temples try to stop us...then we will defy Yevon if we must." Everyone gasped, and Yuna covered her mouth, taking a step back. "Count me out." Wakka announced. "We have to atone, to make up for the sin that we have committed. There's no way I'm going against Yevon!" Lulu clasped her hands and bowed her head. "We have transgressed, and must face our punishment."

I couldn't believe those people! The guy kills his dad, who also happened to be a Maester of Yevon, plans to marry Yuna, and then tries to kill us all, and they thought that we had sinned! And besides, I was the one who did the honor of actually killing him. If anyone sinned, it was me, and there was not a chance that I was even a bit sorry. I was glad. I was glad that I had saved Yuna from his evil clutches.

Yuna healed us all before continuing. "We must go to Bevelle. We must speak with Maester Mika, and explain what has happened. There is no other way, I think." Wakka nodded. "I agree." The rest of us more grudgingly consented. "So it is decided." Auron stated. "Now we must find the way to get out of here." Easier said then done, I thought. As if on queue, some kind of gas floated up from the ground, sending us all into fits of coughing, and eventually knocking us out.

I woke up in a small pool of water, in the middle of a seemingly endless desert. Rikku was already sitting next to the pool, and Wakka was on the far side away from her, with his arms crossed. I climbed out, and Wakka told me, "Rikku appeared a while after I did. Let's just wait. Maybe the other's will show up." So we waited. Next was Lulu, then Kimahri, and finally, Auron. We waited hour after hour, with no Yuna. With every passing moment, we all grew progressively worried. No one knew what to do. When the sun was reaching its peak, Rikku spoke up.

"Um...I need to tell you all something. I knew where we are. We're on Bikanel Island. I know every cactus in this desert. There's a place that we Al Bhed call home near this spring. Yuna's got to be there! She must have come up first, and some other Al Bhed must've come and rescued her." "Rescued? You mean kidnapped!" Wakka countered. I rolled my eyes at the two's stupid antics. "What does it matter, as long as she's safe? Come on, Rikku, lead the way."

No one bothered to question how we got there. We all just knew that somehow, we'd made it out of Sin alive, and now all that mattered was getting Yuna back, and making sure that she was safe. We traveled for maybe half an hour, all the time with me worrying that Yuna would appear while we were gone, or worse, that she had appeared somewhere completely different.

It wasn't long after that, that I began to sense that something was terribly wrong. I heard loud crashes and smelled smoke, coming from a distance. Rikku started running, though it was difficult to run up and down the sand dunes. When we crested a particularly large one, there below was a huge compound. There were small fires everywhere, and fiends were on the rampage.

"Yuna's down there?" Wakka uttered. "Of all the places! Let's go." Lulu rushed down the dune, without any grace. We charged after her, and I soon took the lead, galloping down the sand mountain. We fought fiends left and right, though our group had become very strong, and we each had our own technique, so we practically tossed aside the fiends.

"Where's Yuna?" I yelled over to Rikku. She looked past me at a young Al Bhed man. "Keyakku!" He looked at her, and at that moment, a fiend wolf jumped on him from behind, and bit the back of his neck, crunching it. "No!" Rikku cried. Kimahri threw his spear at it, and it dispersed into pyreflies. It was too late though, the man, Keyakku, was already dead. "Rikku!" We all turned to see a bald man approach. Rikku ran to him. "Vydran! Fru tet drec? Fru'c yddylgehk ic?" The man shot an oncoming fiend before answering. "Dra Kiytu! Drao lysa vun uha uv dra cissuhanc. Fa luimth'd cdub dras!"

"It's the Guado! They came for Yuna!" Rikku wailed. The bald man went back into the fray, shooting wildly at the fiends. "This way!" Rikku shouted. "To the summoner's sanctum!" Deeper in their home, there were more Guado than fiends, but most of them were already dead or injured. The ones that weren't didn't stand a chance against us.

Everything in their home was utterly destroyed. Fire was all consuming, and dead bodies, both Al Bhed and Guado, were piled up everywhere. It was chaos. We stopped at a large door, and Rikku fought with the many locks. "This place is done for." Even Wakka was sad. Rikku kept working. "You're right...You're right Wakka. This is the only place we Ah Bhed can live in peace...Why'd it have to turn out this way?" Rikku finished the third lock and started on the fourth. Whatever was in this room, the Al Bhed didn't want anyone getting in.

"Rikku, what is the summoner's Sanctum?" Lulu asked urgently. Rikku's reply was quiet, ashamed, even. "The Summoner's Sanctum is where we keep the Summoner's. We keep them safe there." "You kidnapped them." Wakka was too tired to be angry, or at least that's how it sounded to me. Rikku glanced back at Wakka, then back to the fifth lock. "I know it's against the teachings and all that..." Wakka interrupted her. "I get why you did it but..."

I cut in. "Well, I sure don't get it. They might get hurt on their pilgrimage, so you kidnap them? I mean, if the summoners don't do their job, who will beat Sin? You want to protect them, I know. But guardians are there for that. If we guardians do our job right, our summoners will be safe."

Rikku looked back at me. Everyone looked at me. "Right?" I asked. No one answered. Rikku broke through the last lock. We rushed into the room, surprised to find Isaaru and Dona, among a couple other people who were dressed in the summoner's garb. I looked around, desperately searching for Yuna, but it was for naught.

The room was almost completely demolished. It had once been luxurious, I could tell, but now it was in shambles. There was an enormous hole in the wall, rubble and fire everywhere, and Al Bhed bodies scattered across the floor, among a few Guado.

Dona walked up to us. "She's not here. Wait where you are until we perform the sending." "They died, protecting us. It's the least we can do to give them a proper sending." Yuna wasn't there. The Guado had been there. It only brought me to one conclusion. If the Al Bhed hadn't brought Yuna here, the Guado wouldn't have found her, and she would be safe with us. I turned angrily to Rikku. "Why couldn't they trust the guardians to protect the summoners? You Al Bhed have no right to stop their pilgrimages!" Rikku waved her arms at me. "The pilgrimages have to stop! If they don't, the summoner's might defeat Sin! Yunie could, but then she...Yunie will die!"

I shook my head. I didn't know what she was saying. "You don't know, do you? Yuna didn't tell you? The summoners journey to get the final Aeon. With the final Aeon, she can beat Sin, but then...even if she calls it, then the Final Aeon's gonna kill her! Even if she defeats Sin, it will kill Yunie too!"

I got dizzy. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't want to believe it was true. I looked at Auron. "Tell me it isn't true!" "It is." His voice lacked any emotion. I spun around, searching everyone's faces. My breath came in short bursts, I felt like I was suffocating. "Was I the only one who didn't know?" Everything was just like a nightmare. I could hear the sound of metal crashing against metal, gun shots, crackling fire. I shrieked and fell to my knees, covering me ears.

"Lulu! How could you? How could you? Isn't she like a sister to you? I thought you were family." I jumped up. "Wakka, why don't you do something?" Lulu stepped forward. "We tried to stop her! But she follows her heart."

I was sick. Images of the past months zoomed through my mind. So many times I had laughed with her; I told her that we could go to Zanarkand together! I told her all the things we could do there! But Yuna, she just smiled. Tears poured down my face. I was pounding my fist against a wall as hard as I could, but the pain did nothing but confirm that that was not a dream. "I won't let her die!" I yelled as loud as my voice would let me. "I'll find her!"

Some hidden speaker in the ceiling started blaring announcements. "Rikku! Kad du dra yencreb! E's majamehk Rusa!" "No!" Rikku cried. "Hurry! We have to get-we have to get underground! All of us!" Rikku rushed out. Everyone followed. I stumbled after her, blinded by my tears. I fell on the steps, cutting my shin, but I got up and kept running.

Soon we reached wherever Rikku wanted to take us. The bald man from before was shouting something into a microphone. I ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Where's Yuna? Where is she?" He pushed me away. "What'll you do when you find her?"

"I...I don't know! I didn't know a thing about what a summoner is supposed to do. I told her all those things without even knowing. I've got to tell her I'm sorry! And I won't let her die! Somehow, I'll save her! So where is she?" He turned his back on my pleading. "Peh! I don't know! But we're gonna find her!"

The ground beneath us trembled violently, and there was a thunderous roar. We rose from the ground, and soon I realized that we were in an airship. I had only been on one once before.

The roof about the airship slid apart, allowing us to rise into the sunlight. The Al Bhed were bellowing various strings of their language at each other, clearly, they were very unhappy. Soon, they all in unison began to sing a rendition of the Hymn of the Fayth. "What is going on?" Lulu turned to Rikku. "We-we're gonna blow up our home."

"What? How?" Wakka was already literally shaken up about being in an airship, but he also knew that there was only one way to blow something up. "With the forbidden machina!" The bald man proudly announced. "Nayto? Vena!" "Ah, wait!" Wakka couldn't stop them if he wanted to, which, he did. Out of the windows, we could see huge missiles careening towards the home. The bald guy cackled; he was the only one of the Al Bhed who was not lamenting the destruction.

"Who is that, anyway, I whispered to Rikku." She looked at me sadly. "That's Cid, my dad, leader of the Al Bhed." "What are you talkin' all hush-hush about?" He proceeded to march over to a giant sphere in the middle of the spacious cockpit that we were all standing in. "So, how are we gonna find Yuna?" I followed him and gazed into the sphere.

"Don't worry! We're using a sphere oscillo-finder. If she's out there, we'll get her." If she's out there. Those words scared me so much. I don't think I would have been able to bear it, if she was dead. I struggled to maintain control over my emotions.

Cid poured over the sphere for a few moments, pressing buttons and frowning profusely. I just stood there and watched him, breathing deeply. The other's didn't do much either. Auron stepped near us. "After rescuing Yuna, then what. You want to keep her safe, correct? Would you seek to stop her pilgrimage?" Cid had an unusually loud voice. "Of course! If she continues this fool pilgrimage, she will die! Sure as if you killed her yourself." I rolled my head back, trying to relieve some of the terrible pressure I was feeling. I couldn't handle this conversation.

I glanced at the sphere oscillo-finder, and was both horrified and overjoyed at what I saw. "Yuna! Look!" Every gathered round. Yuna stood on a balcony overlooking a great city. I was horrified because of what she was wearing. It was without a doubt, a wedding dress. "Where's that?" "It's the palace of St. Bevelle."

"Well, let's go get her! Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!" I clapped my hands for emphasis. Cid yelled at the driver, Rikku's brother, the crazy mohawk guy.

The ship quickly gained a considerable amount of speed, making everyone stumble to regain their balance. I looked over at Auron. "Why is Yuna in a wedding gown?" "Yeah, didn't we...take care of Seymour in Macalania?" Rikku's voice squeaked like that of a little child. "Seymour's as dead as Lord Jyscal was. But he also died an unclean death. He was stabbed in the back." Auron gave me a pointed glare. I wanted to hit myself. So Yuna would end up marrying a dead guy cause I killed him by stabbing him in the back!

I paced back and forth until Rikku's brother said with great excitement, "Bevelle! Fa'na lusehk ib uh Bevelle!" "Kuut, ku vycdan!" Cid leaned on the dash board. I could see the city in the distance, and we were quickly closing in on it. There was a magnificent and grandly decorated palace that could be seen from far away, and I assumed that was were Yuna was. My heart was pounding wildly. As we neared the palace in our airship, I could clearly see a legion of guards, and they definitely saw us.

I also saw Yuna and Seymour. Then the guards opened fire, and we started plummeting towards the ground. "Go, go! Get outside, I'll go close to the bridge, you can jump on!" Cid pounded something into the control panel while Rikku's brother steered the ship in the right direction. We rushed outside onto the deck of the ship. The wind was relentlessly buffeting us, and we ended up lying down, clinging to the deck just to stay on.

Cid shot anchors into the bridge below us, so I jumped on, to skate down to get closer to Yuna, faster. It was easier said than done. The thick wires bucked and whipped back and forth. I got on and started down it, but then the other one swung towards me, and I flipped over it. On its rebound, I jumped from the one I was already on, onto it, and rode on it to finish my slide. The others waited until they could get directly from the deck onto the bridge. I don't know how we all got there without getting shot dead. But somehow, we did.