Chapter 16: Catastrophe

A Crusader commander walked into the area and saluted the maesters. "It is time at last," he reported, "We must tell the Al Bhed outside to begin the operation at once." Then he turned to Yuna and the others and said, "The fiends may break through, so be prepared to defend yourselves."

Everyone quickly readied themselves for battle, as Kinoc stepped out onto the platform protruding over the ledge and raised his hand. "Will Sin come?" Yuna asked the commander.

"Sin always returns for its spawn," the old man replied with a grim smile. "Just to make sure, we're going to encourage them to call out to it."

"You won't have to. It'll come," Auron said, impassive as always.

"Why is that? Is it because Sin is supposed to be Jecht?" Charlene thought to herself. "If that's really true, then why did he bring ME here?"

A low hum rang through the air, followed by a loud crackle as a huge surge of electricity flowed through the cage full of fiends. The beasts roared loudly in pain as everyone watched their torment. Suddenly, the ground rocked under a massive explosion as the wall of the cage blew apart. When the smoke cleared, a monstrous Sinspawn composed of the smaller fiends slithered out of the remnants of the cage and bellowed in insane fury. "That wasn't supposed to happen!" the commander shouted in dismay.

Just then, the huge mutant rushed forward and swatted the old Crusader with a massive, shield-like pincer, crushing him instantly. Charlie tried very hard to keep from throwing up as the Sinspawn flung the commander's bloody remains over the cliff and renewed its charge. Then it halted as Lulu lobbed a Water spell at it, striking it on the underside of its long, snakelike neck. While it was distracted, Kimahri rushed forward and stabbed at the face sticking out of its chest, but it managed to block the attack with its pincers, and then knocked the Ronso away. "Kimahri, are you okay?" Charlie called, dodging a swipe of one of the giant claws.

The silent guardian nodded once, got to his feet, and reentered the fray, this time assaulting the shoulder joint of the right pincer. Auron quickly joined him, and together, the two of them managed to hack off the beast's arm, which quickly disintegrated in a cloud of pyreflies. Shrieking in pain and rage, the mutant Sinspawn's head thrashed about wildly, and then it spat a huge glob of greenish goo at its attackers. The disgusting blob hissed loudly as it burned its way through the ground, and Wakka shouted, "Hey, that's the same trick that Sinspawn used back in Kilika!"

When the monster acted as if it would spit again, the blitzer chucked his ball at its head, momentarily stunning it and halting its attack. Charlie then dashed inside the reach of its remaining pincer and slashed it across the face with her sword before rolling out of the way again. The wound she inflicted was not deep, but it was enough to further enrage the fiend, and it retaliated by unleashing a wave of crushing darkness on the group. Before it could unleash another attack, however, Yuna got to her feet and raised her staff to the sky. "Everyone, stand back!" she shouted, twirling the staff around.

The rest of the group quickly got out of the way, as Ifrit burst from the ground in a wave of crimson flames and roared in hellish fury. The fire demon then launched itself forward in a spiraling flip and tore great bloody rents in the Sinspawn's armor with its scythe-like talons. The beast roared in agony, and then swiped at Ifrit with its remaining claw, and the two titans traded blows like a couple of stubborn boxers. Finally, the demon unleashed a great gout of fire directly in the face of the fiend, which, after much shrieking and screaming, collapsed to the ground and did not move, save for some slight twitching. "Uh…is it dead?" Charlie asked, as Yuna sent Ifrit away.

Before anyone could answer, a huge shadow appeared beneath the waves and slowly approached the shore. Suddenly, the waters parted, and Sin rose from the depths, its many eyes flickering brightly beneath the rapidly pulsing dark armor. The Crusaders on the beach restlessly waited for the go-ahead from Lucil. There were several loud booms, as the Al Bhed fired their cannons at Sin, tearing chunks out of its armor. The pieces then fell into the ocean, where they quickly morphed into strange mixtures of fish and spider and rushed toward the shore.

Lucil raised her sword, and with a great yell, the Crusaders charged, meeting the fiends at the waterline with a thunderous crash of steel. As the battle raged on, Charlie shouted, "How in bloody flaming hell are we supposed to defeat something that BLEEDS monsters?"

Auron, suddenly alarmed by something, yelled, "Look out!"

Just then, Sin loomed out of the sea, dropping the strange pulsating armor and revealing its true form. A massive bubble of dark light appeared around it, and then surged forward, engulfing Crusaders and fiends alike and blowing them to atoms. The bubble continued onward without stopping, and soon all Charlie could see was brilliant white light that faded into deep blackness.

…Flash…

Charlie lay on her side on a huge dark rock in the middle of an ocean of blood. Seymour stood nearby, knee-deep in the scarlet flood, laughing in insane glee as he slowly shifted back and forth between his real form and that of the giant snake from her previous nightmares. Then the blood vanished, leaving behind a seemingly endless plain of bones, and the great black wolf appeared as if from nowhere and attacked the serpent. Suddenly, both of them vanished, and the voice of the little boy in purple rang out, "Charlie, wake up! You have to wake up now!"

…Flash…

Charlene woke up, lifted her head to look around, and nearly blacked out. Corpses and bits of corpses littered the beach, the sand between them soaked with blood. Her head spun as her mind ran around in tight little circles. "Oh my God! This is just like the nightmare back on the ship! No, it's worse than that! Oh God!"

She got to her feet and lurched to the waterline, where she promptly fell to her knees and emptied what felt like everything she'd ever eaten into the red-tinged waves. When her stomach finally ran out of things to throw up, she wiped at her mouth, got to her feet again, and staggered back up the beach, trying her best to keep from screaming. Charlie walked on mindlessly, as if she were a zombie, until she almost tripped over rather familiar-looking body. Gatta was propped against the wall of the cliff, his eyes unseeing and head lolled at an unnatural angle. "Oh no…Gatta, no!" Charlie whispered, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. "I was going to see if someone would keep an eye on him…but I forgot. Gatta, I'm so sorry! You died because of me…"

The young woman turned away from him, and saw Sin floating there, almost as if it were watching her. Then the monstrosity turned away, renewing its pulsating armor, and headed out to sea. "Oh no, you don't!" Charlie shouted, furiously giving chase, "You get your big ass back here and fight me, goddamn it!"

The young woman dove into the water and swam after Sin, in her anger forgetting that it was a million times bigger than she was and could crush her like a bug. She continued to swim, ducking and dodging through the sunken ruins of a city, when suddenly she grew dizzy, her movements slowing until she finally blacked out.

…Flash…

Charlie stood on the edge of a strange empty meadow, surrounded on all sides by leafless, crystalline blue trees. She looked up at the sky above, and gaped in astonishment at the endless blue-streaked black that shot by as if the land was falling endlessly through space. Suddenly, the ghostly images of countless Crusaders walked back and forth through the field, and one of them, eerily enough, was Gatta. "That's impossible! Gatta is dead!"

All the ghosts vanished, replaced by the boy in purple, who sadly shook his head and vanished. Then, a blitzball appeared, rocketed forward, and whacked her in the face. Charlie flinched away from the ball, and then realized that the scenery had changed and she now stood on a platform in the middle of an empty city, a great sigil burning in the background like a bonfire. In the middle of the platform stood a dark haired, scarred man with a red bandana, clad only in a pair of black shorts and a metal armguard. "You…you're Jecht, aren't you?" she asked.

He nodded, but didn't say anything, and Charlie yelled, "Why the hell did you bring me here, huh? Did you think that you could just snatch me from my home and just toss me wherever you wanted?"

Jecht shook his head, and then a ghostly image of Tidus appeared next to her, flickering violently between past and present. Charlie looked at it, and suddenly felt an alien wave of deep and abiding sadness wash over her. "This feeling…am I feeling Jecht's sadness?" "Tidus…is gone now," she told him, her voice subdued. "Something happened that wasn't supposed to, and somehow I ended up in Zanarkand because of it."

The Tidus image disappeared and Jecht hung his head, as if to say, "I know and I'm sorry". Then he looked up and pointed at her, and before she could say or do anything else, a brilliant gold-white light flashed, taking the world into darkness.

…Flash…

Charlie woke up, lying on her back in the bloodstained sand, pyreflies swirling over her head like a sky full of living stars. She slowly sat up, fighting the dizziness that threatened to plunge her back into the world of darkness. "I'm…still alive? Yes, I'm still alive, and still on Spira." Charlie looked around at all the bodies of the dead Crusaders, and saw Yuna among them, dancing feverishly as she sent the souls of the dead to their rest at the Farplane. "So many people needlessly died today, all because Fat-Ass and Creepy knew this would happen and did nothing about it! They let these poor bastards get themselves killed in a hopeless battle! Poor Yuna…she shouldn't have to perform the sending for these people! They shouldn't have had to die!"

Suddenly, Auron's voice snapped Charlie out of her angry reverie. "I see you're still here."

"What?"

"Many stories ended here today…but yours goes on, I see."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" "Man, he's really obsessed with stories, isn't he?"

Instead of answering her, Auron turned on his heel and walked away, his heavy boots crunching the sand. Charlie muttered several foul obscenities under her breath and got to her feet. She started to follow him, but stopped when she spotted a flicker of blue out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell is this?" she wondered aloud, walking up to the source of the light.

Charlene carefully cleared away the sand, and then a burst of blue light gushed out of a small hole in the ground. "Hey, it's a Life Spring!" she exclaimed as the azure glow washed over her, gently sweeping away her exhaustion.

"It must have been dormant beneath the sand all this time, until Sin's attack awakened it," Lulu said, striding over and touching it. Then she gave Charlie a concerned look and asked, "You were near Sin again! The toxin…are you okay?"

The young woman nodded and then went to find the others. Auron stood several yards away, glaring at Kinoc through his dark sunglasses. "A swift retreat," he said, his voice icy. "Satisfied?"

"What do you mean?" the portly maester demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Those who turned from Yevon died while the faithful live on," the swordsman replied.

If Kinoc was surprised that Auron had seen through his little scheme, he did a good job of hiding it. "The past ten years have changed you, I see," he said, his dark eyes flashing.

The two men glowered at one another a moment longer, and then turned and walked away, anger clear in both their postures. Charlie ground her teeth in barely concealed rage, struggling to keep her promise to Auron and not punch Kinoc in the nose. "That sorry son of a BITCH!"

Just then, she noticed Yuna standing there, performing the prayer as Kinoc departed. Charlie started to call out to her, but then Seymour sauntered up to the summoner, an all-too fake look of concern plastered across his face. "You do not look so well," he said, lightly laying a long-fingered hand on Yuna's shoulder. "But now, more than ever, you must be the people's strength, their confidence."

Yuna made a small choking noise, as if she were about to cry, and Charlie growled as she saw a small smile play across the Guado's lips. "That sick bastard's enjoying her pain! Goddamn creep!" She shuddered as she remembered the dream of him standing in the blood, laughing his head off.

Seymour quickly renewed his look of false sympathy, and said, "Anyone else would be expected to show their sorrow, but you…are a summoner. You are Spira's hope. Until Sin is defeated, you must not relent. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand," she sadly replied.

"Are you afraid?" he asked, the slight smile once again ghosting across his lips. When she returned the smile, he said, "Yuna, take me as your pillar of strength, as Yunalesca had her Lord Zaon."

"What a friggin' crock that is!" Charlie thought, trying not to gag. "I don't know what that guy's deal is, but it definitely isn't anything that'll help out Yuna, that's for damn sure!"

Seymour then removed his hands from Yuna's shoulders, stepped back, and bowed. "Lady Yuna, until next we meet, farewell."

With that, the Guado maester departed, and Charlie let out a rather loud sigh of relief. The young woman then turned and found Auron standing in the shadow of what was obviously a giant busted machina. "Why are you over here skulking in the shadows like some kind of weirdo?" she asked, trotting up to him.

"Sin is Jecht," he replied, as if that were the answer to all the mysteries of the universe.

"I don't know what that has to do with my question, but yeah, I guess you're right."

"Sin IS Jecht," he repeated. "He came here for you."

"WHAT? He killed a whole boatload of people to come stare at me? I don't even know him!" Charlie shrieked.

"That's what Sin does," Auron calmly replied

"What, it kills people so it can gawp at some funny-looking girl?"

"No, it kills people for no particular reason," Auron snapped, glaring at her. "He wanted you to see that…and you shouldn't talk about yourself that way."

"And since when do you care about my self-esteem?" Charlie demanded. Then she stopped and shook her head. "On second thought, don't answer that. I don't think my sanity could handle that along with whatever else you're about to tell me. Anyway, why does 'Jecht' want me to see what Sin does?"

"He wants you to kill him," he replied. "As long as he is Sin, Jecht will keep killing. He wanted Tidus to stop him, but…"

"But he died, and I ended up here in his place," Charlie finished, giving him an inquisitive look. "How in the world do you know all this, anyway?" Instead of answering, Auron chuckled and walked away. "Hey, don't run away from me!" she shouted after him.

"You're the one running," he responded, not turning around.

"Oh really? And just what am I running from, then, Mr. Know-It-All?"

Auron stopped and turned around. "Yourself."

Charlie stared at the swordsman's back as he walked away, gaping like a landed fish and at a complete loss for words. "I seriously do not know what to think of this guy! One moment he acts like he might actually drop the 'Cold Stonehearted Soldier' act, but then he acts like he doesn't give a fat damn about anything but the pilgrimage! He's crazy...he just has to be! Of course, that makes me and everyone else just as loony, since we all trust him." She shook her head and sighed in exasperation. "Well at least he doesn't give me the creeps the way Seymour does."

…

A few minutes later, Charlene caught up to the rest of the group, who were standing near a busily spellcasting Shelinda. "She may be a spineless pansy, but she's definitely good at White Magic!" They departed again as soon as she arrived, following the trail of wounded Crusaders up the long road to Djose Temple. The sight of so many wounded and dejected soldiers, combined with the seemingly barren scenery, created a nearly overwhelming aura of depression that weighed on Charlie's soul like an anvil. "God, I wish I could go home!" she thought unhappily. "I'm not doing anyone any good by being here! Everyone else is ten times the guardian I am, and they'd be a lot better off if I wasn't here! They're just too nice to say anything, that's all."

"Hey you two, hurry up!" Yuna cheerily shouted, snapping Charlie out of her despondent reflection.

"Us two?" The young woman looked around and realized that Kimahri walked next to her, quiet as always. Then she turned her attention back to Yuna, who was laughing merrily at a joke Wakka had made. "Well isn't she just 'Ms. Happy-Go-Lucky' all of a sudden!" Charlie commented, confused by the seemingly inappropriate attitude.

Kimahri walked past her, but then turned around and stopped. "In dark times, she must be," he said, his voice a deep, rumbling bass. "She must shine bright. Now are dark times. Yuna tries hard."

"Holy shit, he can talk!" The young woman's eyes grew wide at this startling revelation, and she had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping open in awe. "Maybe we should help her then," she suggested, recovering from her shock."

Kimahri shook his head. "If we worry, she tries harder. Do not frown."

The Ronso turned and walked away again, and an extremely annoying song popped up in Charlie's head as she asked, "So what you're saying is 'Don't worry, be happy'?"

"Kimahri try, too," he replied, facing her again.

"Okay, then smile!" she said. "Come on, put on your 'happy' face!"

The Ronso folded his arms and lifted his lips in what had to be the most frightening smile in existence! It looked like he was about to run toward the nearest living thing and kill it. Charlie flinched, then smiled weakly in response. "If he had smiled at me like that back in Besaid, I'd have probably dropped my sword and run for my life! Good God, he looks like he's gonna eat someone, smiling like that, but at least it's genuine, unlike certain other people I know."