Chapter 22: Treachery

Macalania Temple was an oddly shaped building suspended from the ceiling of a frozen cavern high above the actual lake, and the only visible way to reach it was through a narrow and winding walkway of ice. When the group actually tried to enter the temple, however, a monk dressed in heavy blue robes blocked the entrance. "Halt!" the monk cried, glaring at Rikku. "The likes of her are not welcome in this hallowed place."

"She is a guardian," Auron replied, frowning at the priest.

"An Al Bhed, a guardian? Preposterous!"

"I've decided to be Yuna's guardian now, and that's all I want," Rikku said.

"And that's all one needs to be a guardian," Auron finished, shouldering the monk aside.

The would-be door guard eyed Rikku suspiciously, but finally stepped aside. "Very well, but if anything happens, I will hold you personally responsible."

Everyone ignored him and entered the great hall of the temple, which was full of people eagerly celebrating Yuna's betrothal. The celebrants included Shelinda, who rushed up to Charlene with an overjoyed and frighteningly vapid smile on her face. "Ah, there you are! So Lady Yuna IS getting married!" she cheered, giving the guardian a slightly accusatory look. "You shouldn't kid around about these things, you know!"

"Whatever," Charlie replied, irritated by the acolyte's delight.

"You're not happy?" Shelinda asked, clearly confused. "Why?"

"Because Yuna is marrying a psycho, you idiot!" "I don't know. I'm just not the celebrating type, I guess." The young woman looked around the chilly great hall for a moment, and then asked, "Where is Yuna, anyway?"

"I believe she's gone to the Cloister of Trials with Maester Seymour," Shelinda replied as the others turned around to catch her answer.

The six of them abandoned the acolyte in favor of running up the steps to Cloister, but suddenly, a scream rang out through the frigid air as a nun burst into the room, a look of panic and stunned disbelief on her face. "Lord Jyscal! A sphere in Lady Yuna's belongings!" she shrieked before collapsing to the floor in a faint.

"Well isn't this just great! What the hell was the little fool doing digging around in Yuna's things, anyway? Nosy little bitch!" Charlie mentally growled as she followed the others into the chamber the frightened nun came from. "Oh well, at least we get to see what's on that damn sphere after all…"

Once in the chamber, Auron picked up the sphere, handed it to Charlie, and said, "This may well answer a few questions."

Nodding in agreement, the young woman placed the sphere on the floor and quickly turned it on. It flickered violently for a moment, and then the tiny image of Lord Jyscal appeared, standing in the Thunder Plains with a somber expression on his face. "What I am about to tell you is the unclouded truth," the departed maester began. "I swear it on my honor as a Guado. Listen to me very carefully, for I shall tell you the truth about my son, Seymour. His mind is closed even to me, a maester of Yevon, but I can feel flames of darkness burning in his heart. He is using Yevon, the Guado, and even the summoners. If he is not stopped, he will surely bring destruction and chaos to Spira. I will leave this world soon, killed by my own son, but I do not fault him. Because I was not wise enough, he has suffered, and become twisted. I could not protect him and his mother from the world and its cruelty. I will accept death as punishment for my deeds, but whoever is watching this…I implore you to stop Seymour! Stop my son!"

The recording finished, the sphere darkened again, leaving everyone in the room standing in thunderstruck silence. "Wonderful," Auron said, finally breaking the quiet.

"Will Yuna be all right?" Rikku asked, her jade eyes filled with worry.

"Without us, no," the swordsman replied, striding out of the room.

Kimahri and Rikku quickly followed him, and when Charlie moved to join them, Wakka yelled, "Where you goin'?"

"You saw that sphere! Seymour's a murderer!"

"But he's a maester!"

"So that makes him above the law now?"

"But…"

"But nothing! You can stay here if you want, but I'm going to help Yuna!"

…

Charlene caught up to Auron in a tunnel of brilliant white ice, but was confused when she noticed Kimahri was nowhere to be found.. "Kimahri's gone on ahead," Auron said, answering her unvoiced question.

"Oh, okay."

Just then, Wakka and Lulu finally showed up, but before the blitzer could run by, Auron caught his arm and said, "We will protect Yuna from anyone…even a maester."

"This can't be happening!" Wakka groaned.

"If he truly is at fault, it must be done," Lulu sighed.

They quickly ran into the next room, where Seymour and a pair of Guado lackeys waited on the other side. The maester clearly heard the group enter, but did not turn around. "Seymour!" Charlie yelled, drawing the Brotherhood. "I'm gonna kick your ass, you sick son of a bitch!"

"Please be silent," he replied, not turning around. "Lady Yuna prays to the fayth."

"Why don't you make me, you crazy bastard?"

Seymour turned around and gave Charlene a chilling smile as he stepped down the stairs, and it took all her self-control to keep from recoiling from that look in terror. "Me and my big mouth!" Suddenly, Yuna emerged from the Chamber of the Fayth, and gave everyone a surprised look. "Yuna, we're here to help!" Charlie yelled, not taking her eyes off Seymour as he turned to face his betrothed.

"But why…?" the summoner asked, looking quite upset.

"We saw what was on Jyscal's sphere."

"You killed him," Auron growled, glaring at Seymour.

"What of it?" the Guado calmly replied. "Lady Yuna, certainly you knew of these things, did you not?" When she made no response, he asked, "Well then, why have you come here?"

"I…I came to stop you!" Yuna yelled, her eyes burning with righteous fury as she joined her guardians.

"I see. You came to punish me, then." The twisted maester slowly walked forward, holding out his hand to Yuna, but she quickly backed away. "What a pity." He stopped and laughed softly, as Auron and Charlie quickly positioned themselves in front of the summoner while the others closed in behind her. "Ah, of course. 'Protect the summoner even at the cost of one's life.' The Code of the Guardian…how admirable," he said as his two lackeys moved to join him. "Well, if you're offering your lives, I will have to take them."

Seymour drew a warped parody of Yuna's staff seemingly from thin air and pointed it at the group, a cold and horribly evil smile lighting up his face. "Good God, you'd think he'd be pissed that we plan to fight him, but the crazy bastard just looks as if we invited him to tea or something!" Charlie thought as she suppressed the urge to panic in the face of the maester's demented calm.

"Maester Seymour, I trust my guardians with my life, but they are also my friends," Yuna said, stepping forward to join the battle. "I will not stand by and watch them be hurt! I will fight you, too!"

"Yeah!" Charlie cheered, feeling her courage renew itself in the face of her friend's determination.

"Maester Seymour!" Wakka pleaded, clearly wanting to avoid any conflict.

"So be it." the Guado replied, ignoring the blitzer's entreaty and lashing his staff through the air.

In response, a spire of ice burst out of the floor and exploded, showering everyone with frozen debris. Yuna did not flinch, but raised her own staff and said, "You may be a maester, but I will still fight you!"

"Your eyes, they burn with resolve…" Seymour breathed, as if he beheld a wonder. "Beautiful!"

Numerous spells flew through the air and created a hectic rainbow of light and power as the Maester, his flunkies, and Lulu all cast their magics as fast as they could, leaving the others to dodge them with varying degrees of success. Wakka bashed one of the Guado, distracting him from his spellcasting long enough for Charlie to get inside his guard and run him through with her sword. As the bodyguard fell limp, Seymour turned and blasted her with a Watera spell. The force of the magic hit her like a brick wall, flinging her into the air, and then back to the ground.

…Flash…

Charlene lay in the darkness, crushed beneath the weight of the giant serpent as he pinned her down with his massive coils. "Stay down," he hissed, taking great pleasure from her frantic attempts to get loose. "Surrender to me and make it easier on yourself."

"Charlie, get up and fight," whispered a flash of blue the shade of a summer sky.

"All your pathetic friends are gone, so there's no reason for you to fight me," the snake continued, as if he did not hear the whispering.

"He lies!" exclaimed a flicker of sooty crimson.

"You lie!" she screamed, fighting to get free.

"Do I? Take a look around you and see for yourself." The shadows retreated, revealing an empty chamber. "You see?" the snake asked. "They abandoned you, Charlie! They left you here! What kind of friends would do that?"

"Don't give up!" called a spark of stormy green.

"SHUT UP!"

"Why fight me when you're all alone?"

Suddenly, time stopped, and the boy in purple appeared, with more flashes of colored light ranged behind him. "Charlie, this is a dream," the boy told her. "Your friends are still fighting Seymour in the waking world, but you have to wake up and help them or you're going to die."

The realization that a dream held her captive made her angry, and she felt something fueled by that wrath slowly stir inside her. "You're a goddamned liar, Seymour!" she growled, somehow shoving him off her as time started again. "This is just a dream, and my friends didn't abandon me!"

Enraged, the serpent's eyes flickered in cold fury as it reared back and struck at her…

…Flash…

Charlie's eyes snapped open and she lashed out with the Brotherhood, stopping the oncoming blow of Seymour's staff as it rushed toward her head. Surprised, the twisted maester paused, giving her the time she needed to aim another strike at him, opening a long, diagonal wound across his chest. His expression still eerily pleasant, Seymour stepped back and raised his bloodstained hands in the air. "Feel my pain!" he cried, the light of madness flashing in his eyes. "Come, Anima!"

"Anima? Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like where this is headed?" Charlie thought, backing away as a huge anchor dropped into a hole in the floor in front of her.

Slowly, the anchor reemerged from the darkness, bringing with it the huge aeon that single-handedly defeated the marauding fiends of Luca. Anima let out a roar of agony as it glared at the group, its one green eye blazing with insane hatred. "Oh, Fayth, lend me strength," Yuna intoned, raising her staff above her head.

The summoner then brought it down in one great sweeping motion, as several enormous, diamond bright shards of ice landed on the floor behind her. As she stepped back, the glassy image of a person descended among the great fragments, solidifying into the form of a coldly beautiful woman with snow-white skin and sapphire hair and eyes. With a flick of her wrist, the icy woman flung off her sky-blue cloak, shattering the ice around her. Yuna caught the flying piece of material, and then cried, "Shiva, help us, please!"

Shiva nodded, and then launched herself at Anima, unleashing a series of savage kicks on the immobile aeon in her fury. Anima, in turn, let out an ear-piercing shriek followed by a burst of energy the color of blood and shadows. The blast threw Shiva to the ground, pale blue blood dripping out of various cuts across her body, but she quickly got to her feet and went on the offensive again by dropping a ball of ice on her opponent's head. No one was exactly sure how long the fight went on, but finally, Seymour lost all patience and shouted, "Anima, show them all the bliss that is Oblivion!"

In response to its master's command, the dark aeon let out a long, piercing cry as a hellish crimson and black hole appeared, swallowing Shiva. Then the hole spread wider, plunging the entire room into an unholy darkness that threatened to destroy the sanity of all who stayed in it too long. "What the hell is going on?" Charlie screamed, or maybe thought, since she was no longer sure what was possible in the dark plane. "What's happening?"

Finally, reality snapped back into existence in an explosion of sickly-looking dark blue light, and Shiva reappeared, burnt, bleeding profusely, and only barely hanging on to life. The aeon refused to give up, however, and retaliated by raising her left hand and unleashing a blast of frigid air on Anima. As the wind continued to blow, larger and larger ice crystals erupted from the floor as the temperature continued to drop. Suddenly, the wind stopped, and Shiva snapped her fingers, shattering the ice and sending razor-sharp shards into Anima's body.

The twisted aeon let out a final cry of agony, and then Seymour sent it away in a cloud of greenish-black smoke. The maester stared blankly at Yuna and Shiva for a long moment, as if he could not believe that the two of them defeated his aeon. "That power that defeated Anima…" he began, his almost colorless eyes burning with the light of madness although his pleasant expression had not faltered in the slightest. "It will be MINE! Firaga!"

With that, a huge wave of fire burst from the floor around Shiva, destroying the unfortunate aeon, and then the Guado continued his assault by launching a shockwave of black wind at the group, pushing everyone back several paces. "Holy shit! I think he's finally snapped!" Charlie yelled, struggling to her feet as the howling gale subsided.

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED HERE!" Seymour roared, turning and catching Rikku by the throat when she tried to sneak up on him.

"Mad ku uv sa!" she wheezed, fighting to pry the twisted maester's over-long fingers from around her neck. (Let go of me!)

Instead of releasing her, Seymour tightened his grip, completely cutting off her breath. "Do not presume to give me orders, little sand-rat!" he shrieked.

"Let her go!" Wakka yelled, cocking his throwing arm.

"All of you put your weapons down and back away or I will break her neck!" the mad maester spat, shaking poor Rikku like a rag doll.

Just then, the blue-faced Al Bhed summoned the last vestiges of her strength and slashed Seymour across the face with her battle-claw. Shrieking in pain, the Guado dropped his hostage and clutched at his face, which now had twin shallow gashes running down it diagonally from his left eyebrow to right jaw. Yuna rushed to Rikku's aid and healed her, while everyone else converged on Seymour, but he lashed out with another burst of dark wind, pushing them back again. "How much longer can he possibly keep this up?" Charlie muttered under her breath while narrowly avoiding the spires of ice that erupted from the floor.

Meanwhile, Kimahri had taken a spike in the left shoulder, but charged anyway, clearly intent on nailing Seymour to the wall with his spear. However, the Guado turned and caught the Ronso with a thunderbolt, throwing him to the floor. Auron took advantage of the maester's distraction and rushed him, sword flashing brightly in the chill light. Seymour turned and managed to fend off the first couple of blows with his staff, but finally, it shattered under the swordsman's assault with a resounding crack. His weapon gone, he stepped back, seeming to think that the guardian would not strike down an unarmed man, but he was gravely mistaken.

Auron did not stop his attack, but lunged forward and ran the lunatic through with what looked like the full length of his blade. Seymour's eyes widened in shock as the guardian yanked the sword out again and walked away. Blood pouring from the hole in his stomach and from his mouth, the demented Guado dropped to his knees, and then looked up at his killers. "Yuna…you would pity me now?" he asked as the summoner stepped forward, a sorrowful look in her eyes.

Then the light faded from the maester's eyes, and he keeled over backwards, unmistakably dead. Solemnly, Yuna knelt down beside him and gently closed his eyes. As Charlie watched, a great swell of pity surged up within her, but whether it was for Seymour and his madness, or Yuna having to fight him, she could not say. Suddenly, the door leading back into the ice-tunnel opened, and Tromell entered the room, followed by a pair of female Guado clad in long robes. "Lord Seymour!" the elderly attendant wailed, quickly shuffling down the stairs when he spotted his master lying in a pool of his own blood. "What happened here?"

"What…what have I done?" Wakka cried, staring down at Seymour's body in horror as the Guado trio rushed over.

"Hey, this isn't our fault!" Charlie yelled, glaring at the blitzer. "That crazy bastard attacked us!"

"You did this?" Tromell asked, looking aghast at the guardians.

"Yuna, send him," Auron said, ignoring the elderly Guado's cry of horror.

"No, stop!" Tromell yelled, moving as if he might shove Yuna. "Stay away from him, traitors!"

Then the two assistants hauled Seymour to his feet and dragged his dead body out of the room. Their boss followed them, shooting the party a dirty look before disappearing beyond the door. Yuna dropped to her hands and knees in shock at what Tromell called them, and whispered, "Traitors?"

"We're finished," Wakka groaned, shaking his head dejectedly.

"Wait just one damn minute!" Charlie shouted. "Seymour's the one who tried to kill us! We just defended ourselves, so we didn't do anything wrong! We can just explain what happened, can't we?"

"It won't be that easy…" Auron replied, looking around at the bloodstained room. "Let's get out of here."

…

"This is just great!" Charlie grumbled, staring at the full expanse of the true Cloister of Trials. "Why did this stupid thing decide to reappear now?"

"Whenever someone leaves the Cloister of Trials, the enchantments in the temple reset the tests for the next summoner to pass through," Lulu knowledgeably replied. "The only thing we can do now is complete the trials and find our way out of here.

Charlene sighed, but chose not to say anything else as she explored the room, slipping and sliding on the icy floor. Finally, she made her way to the far wall, where she found a diamond white sphere with tiny ice crystals floating around it. "I know I'm going to regret doing this…" she sighed inwardly, picking up the frosty orb.

Just as it had in the other temples, time came to a stop, and a disembodied voice rang out in her mind. ::Welcome, Charlie.::

"Hey, who are you? Are you with the others? You aren't going to give me some kind of annoying advice about opening up to others, are you?"

The voice, quite obviously female, chuckled, ::Yes, I work with the others, and I know you do not want the advice, but I will give it to you anyway. Whether you decide to heed it or not is entirely up to you…::

"Oh God…"

::Those walls of ice you insist on building do their job quite well, but they will not stand forever:: the voice said, ignoring Charlie's groan. ::You may not like that idea, but just remember that your walls keep out love as well as pain…::

"Oh yeah? Who the hell said anything about me loving anyone?" Charlie shouted, not realizing that time had started again.

She turned around, and found everyone staring at her with the usual "Freak Show" stare. "Charlie…did you hit your head or something?" Rikku asked, warily eyeing her friend.

"Uh…I didn't say that out loud, did I?"

"Yes…" Auron said tersely. "Now let's go."

With that, the swordsman turned on his heel and stalked off, muttering dire threats under his breath. Charlie thought about telling him to turn around and say whatever he was grumbling to her face, but then decided against it. Finally, the group managed to reopen the tunnel and escape into the great hall, where they found Tromell and several Guado soldiers waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Please…" Yuna pleaded, seeing the grim expressions on their faces.

"Give us a chance to explain," Auron said, glaring at Tromell.

"No need," the elderly Guado smoothly replied. "I already know what I'll tell the other maesters."

"Meaning…?"

"Lord Seymour was the leader of the Guado before becoming a maester."

"Hey, you'd better let us go old man!" Charlie growled, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Get out of our way, before we have to do something you'll regret!"

"Lord Seymour would never forgive us if we did," Tromell replied, clearly unafraid of the young woman's threat.

"Wait, wait!" Rikku shouted, trying to turn things back in the party's favor. "Jyscal's sphere! We can show that to them!"

"Oh, you mean this?" The faithful attendant pulled the incriminating sphere out of one of the voluminous sleeves of his coat, held it high in the air, and then slowly crushed it. "The Guado take care of Guado affairs," he said, smiling at the dismayed expression on everyone's faces.

Charlie blinked in shock at the destruction of the only proof their innocence, and then gritted her teeth as she sought to control the rage bubbling up inside her. "You…STUPID BASTARD!" she screamed, punching Tromell in the jaw with all her strength.

As the old Guado staggered backward, the guards rushed to his aid, leaving the group an opening to make their escape. "Run!" Auron shouted, leading the break for freedom.

The seven of them ran through the ice and snow of the narrow trail as fast as they could, but apparently, it was not fast enough, since they still had to stop and fight as some of the Guado guards caught up to them and summoned fiends to attack them. Eventually, the group made it out of the temple and into the frozen canyon, but the Guado did not relent in their pursuit, forcing everyone to stop and fight yet again. Meanwhile, Charlie struggled against something growing inside her, the same vengeful wrath that stirred back in the antechamber of the temple, only now it was stronger. "What's happening to me?" she silently screamed as her vision filmed with red. "What's going on?"

Suddenly, a stray lightning bolt hit her, her control broke, and her sense of self was lost in an overpowering rage that made her blood sing a song promising violence and death. Charlie threw her head back and howled in a chillingly accurate imitation of a wolf, causing everyone in the area to stop and stare at her. She ignored them, however, and howled again, before charging toward their pursuer and his white wolf. The fiend lunged at her, but instead of stopping, the young woman whipped her sword around, nearly shearing the creature in half, and continued her charge. In a panic, the Guado lobbed a Blizzard spell at her, but she acted as if she did not feel it and fell upon her attacker like the end of the world.

After the unfortunate guard finally stopped screaming and died, Charlie looked around for a moment, as if confused, but then another Guado minion appeared around the corner and she ran to meet him, shrieking like a happy maniac all the while. "Charlie, what are you doing?" Wakka shouted as she cut down the soldier and continued running back toward the temple.

"She's going to get herself killed!" Lulu exclaimed, her ruby eyes wide with disbelief. "Charlie, come back!"

"She cannot hear us," Kimahri said, shaking his head. "Battle is in her blood now. Charlie fights until victory or death."

Everyone stared uncomprehendingly at the Ronso for a long moment, but then the scream of another dying Guado pierced the frigid air, bringing them back to reality, and they turned around and chased after their berserk friend.

A few minutes later, after passing the bloody corpses of at least six Guado, the gang finally caught up to Charlie on the ice-bridge leading to Macalania Temple. The now-crazed guardian was using a live, screaming Guado as a trampoline, hopping up and down in time with the highly disturbing song she was bellowing at the top of her lungs.

Remember when you ran away
And I got on my knees and begged you
Not to leave because I'd go berserk?
WELL
You left me anyhow
And then the days got worse and worse
And now you see I've gone completely out of my mind!
AND
They're coming to take me away, ha ha!
They're coming to take me away, ho ho hee hee ha ha…

At that point, Charlie drifted from the laughter in the song to wild gales of the real thing, ceasing her jumping as she did so. Just then, one of the other Guado edged forward, and she stopped her laughing and pointed her sword at him. "Oh, do you want to die now, Elf-Boy?" she asked, her voice dangerously soft. "I have no problem helping you get to the Farplane, if that's what you want." The minion gulped, then hastily stepped back, much to Charlie's disappointment. "Aw, come on! Don't you want to rescue your friend here from the 'Big Bad Monster'? No? Well, I guess I'll have to come to you and show you stupid elves why the Farplane threw me out!" She took a step toward them, waving her sword in the air. "I'LL GIVE YOU SORRY SONS OF BITCHES A REASON TO CALL ME A MONSTER!"

"Charlie, stop!" Yuna shouted, moving to the front of the group.

The berserk guardian froze in her tracks and turned around. "Y-Yuna?" she asked, looking confused. Then she looked down in horror at the blood on her hands and her sword, and cried, "Oh God, what have I done?"

Suddenly, one of the Guado cast a Fire spell on her, and the mad rage quickly overtook her once again. Charlie whipped back around, shrieking foul obscenities, and prepared to charge again, until Auron threw his arms around her and dragged her backwards. "Let me go! Let me go!" she shrieked, kicking wildly since she could not move her arms.

The young woman continued her frantic struggling, desperate to get loose, until Kimahri walked up and snatched her sword away. Then she let out a scream of rage and kicked him in the shin, just before he hit her in the head with a massive, blue-furred fist. "Don't try to follow us," Auron told the Guado squad as he kept the now-unconscious Charlie from cracking her head open on the ice.

"We didn't plan on it," the lead minion warily replied. "We just want to save our comrade. Go ahead and leave if you wish. We won't try to stop you."

The swordsman nodded, then picked Charlie up, threw her over his shoulder, and led the group away from the temple in silence.

…

Ven Guado watched Lady Yuna and her guardians depart, sighing with relief as they took their maniac with them. "Praise be to Yevon," he intoned. "I thought she was going to kill us all!"

"Begging your pardon, sir, but won't Lord Seymour be angry with us for letting them get away?" asked one of the new recruits.

"They won't get away," Ven explained. "There's no way they'll make it past the Wendigo waiting out in the field." He started toward their fallen comrade, who still moaned feebly, and said, "Come on, let's get him inside before he freezes to death."

…Flash…

Charlie opened her eyes and blinked for a couple moments, thinking she had gone blind, but then realized that she was lying in a dense fog. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud, getting to her feet and looking around. "Where is everyone?"

The lost girl wandered around for what seemed like an eternity, but then the fog cleared and she found herself at the edge of a vast forest, beyond which was an empty clearing. Suddenly, the little boy in purple appeared, but he was not looking at Charlie. Instead, he stared at the opposite side of the meadow, where several glowing figures emerged. "I hope you're happy!" the boy snapped, glaring accusingly at a form in burning red. "What were we supposed to do if she got herself killed?"

"Okay, so I went a little overboard," the crimson image replied, sounding much like the voice from Kilika Temple. "What was I supposed to think? You said she needed all the help we could give her!"

"He did not mean turn her into a rampaging lunatic!" yelled a frosty white light, obviously the one from Macalania Temple. "How is she supposed to help us if she goes berserk every time she gets angry?"

"We want her to open up to the others more, not less!" added the sky-blue figure from Besaid. "She already thinks she responsible for her best friend's death, so how do you think she's going to react when she realizes that she really is responsible for someone's death now?"

"Well…I…" If it were possible for a floating light to squirm, or scuff a toe on the ground, this one would have done so. "I just wanted to help her, that's all," he finally whispered.

"I don't know why, but that red light guy reminds me of Gatta," Charlie thought to herself. "Whoever he is, he sounds really young…not as young as the brat, but he may be around my age."

Just then, another light, the color of steel in sunlight, appeared. "Maybe I should have handled it instead," he said in a rich baritone voice.

The boy in purple shook his head and replied, "No. You were the only one who could give her the necessary skills to properly use that sword." Then, he turned back to the red figure and said, "I know you tried to help her, but that really wasn't the way to go about it."

"Maybe you should tone it down a bit?" suggested a bright green light in the voice from Djose. "The fact that you enhanced her endurance was good, but driving her into a rage went a little too far. Now we'll have to block it out of her memory so she doesn't have a breakdown when she wakes up…"

…Flash…

Charlie awoke lying facedown on the ice out in the field where she and the other previously fought the machina-cannon with no memory of her dream, feeling like her arms and legs weighed several tons and wondering how she got there. "What's going on?" she croaked, struggling to get up when she heard the sounds of a battle. "What's happening?"

Slowly, the young woman managed fight past her exhaustion and get to her feet just in time to see Wakka and Lulu bash what looked like a huge, white Sasquatch with a simultaneous blitzball and Fira attack. The yeti-like creature stumbled backwards, let out a loud roar of pain, and then smashed its fists into the ice before exploding into pyreflies. Suddenly, a loud snapping sound rang out through the frosty air, and the ice beneath the group collapsed, plunging them into darkness.

…

When Charlene next opened her eyes, she was in the ruins of an ancient city, with pyreflies floating around in the haze like living stars and a woman's voice singing the song from the temple. "Where are we?" she asked, sitting up and trying to keep from passing out again.

"I believe we're under the lake ice," Lulu replied, turning around to look at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." The mage pointed up, toward the bottom of a hanging building. "That's the bottom of the temple, which means we've fallen a long way."

"Oh."

Charlie stared at the temple for a little while, before finally getting to her feet and walking up to Auron. "What now, I wonder," he said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, 'what now'?" she cried, gaping at him as if he was insane. "Auron, you mean to tell me that you waltzed in, proclaimed yourself leader of this little pack, bossed us around like there's no friggin' tomorrow, and now you're telling me you've just been playing everything by ear all this time? That has to be the most irresponsible thing I've heard in my life! Everyone's counting on you, you know!"

"A lecture?" he asked, his voice gone dangerously quiet.

"If that's what you want to call it. Look, all I'm saying is that everyone else looks up to you, because you're either older and supposedly wiser, or because of your whole 'Legendary Guardian' reputation, and they'll all merrily follow you off a cliff if you ask it of them, so you need to stop and think about what you're doing."

"What about you?"

"I follow you because I'd like to think that you and I are friends, and I can't just let a friend run headlong into trouble without at least trying to help." The young guardian hung her head and sighed, and in her thoughts, added, "Besides, even if you hated me, I'd still follow you because I have nowhere else to go if I don't."

Auron gave her a peculiar look, but said nothing else, so Charlie went to look for the others and found Wakka lurking in a corner, looking quite obviously upset. "Hey, Wakka…I'm really sorry about what I said about your brother," she told him, her voice almost a whisper.

"That's not what I'm mad about!" he replied.

"What, are you mad about what happened with Seymour? He attacked us and we defended ourselves! We did what we had to do."

"That doesn't matter! I've always walked the path of Yevon…but now I'm a traitor. How could this happen? Damn!"

The blitzer threw an ugly look in Rikku's direction, but Charlie stepped in the way and said, "Hey, it would have happened whether she was here or not, so don't try to blame it all on her, either."

He paused for a moment, taken aback, and then changed the subject. "What happened to you back there?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused. "Back where?"

"When we ran from the temple, you turned around and started chasing the Guado…don't you remember?"

"Wakka…I don't remember anything after we got out of the temple until I woke up and saw you and Lulu kill that Sasquatch." "What happened that has him so freaked out, and why can't I remember it?" Charlie walked away, shaking her head in bewilderment, and went to check on Yuna, who was unconscious and under the care of Rikku and Kimahri. "How is she?" she asked the Al Bhed, who had a worried expression on her face.

"She's breathing fine and all," Rikku replied. "How are Lulu and Wakka?"

"Wakka's pretty upset, but Lulu's just acting like nothing's wrong, as usual."

"She's so together…all grown up, I guess."

"I suppose…"

"Well, just give me five or six more years," the Al Bhed grinned.

"You make it sound like Lulu's an old lady or something," Charlie laughed. Then she turned to Kimahri and asked, "You got any ideas on getting out of here?"

"We climb," was the Ronso's only reply.

"Hey, no changing the subject!" Rikku cried, stamping her foot and splashing water on everyone.

"Only those who try will become," Kimahri said, his gold eyes boring into her green ones.

"Huh?" The Al Bhed was confused.

"Uh…I guess he means you'll have to work at it if you want to be like Lulu," Charlie said.

"Oh, I will!"

"Kimahri think Rikku should stay Rikku."

"Hey!" Rikku protested, approaching the Ronso. "Are you saying that I'll never be like Lulu? Kimahri!"

Charlie laughed, and then Wakka ran up and cried, "How can you laugh at a time like this?"

"Would you rather I break down in tears?" the young woman retorted.

…

A little while later, Yuna had finally awoken, and was now explaining her actions to everyone. "I wanted to confront Maester Seymour about his father, Lord Jyscal. I wanted to convince him to turn himself in to Yevon's judgment."

"In exchange for marriage?" Lulu asked.

The summoner nodded. "Yes, if that's what it took."

"And what did the bastard say?" Charlie wanted to know.

"He didn't say anything. Now…now I don't even think it was worth it. I should have told you all what I was going to do."

"Enough," Auron said, irritation clear in his voice. "Dwelling in the past is futile."

"Hey! You don't have to say it like that!" Rikku cried, turning around and glaring at the swordsman.

"You want to waste time listening to her regrets?" he demanded.

"You don't have to say it like that," she repeated, turning to face Yuna again.

"Our immediate concern is Yuna's pilgrimage," he said as if he had not heard her. "Are you willing to go on?"

"Yes," Yuna replied. "But then, do you think Yevon will allow it?"

"The fayth are the ones that give power to the summoners, not the temples or the teachings," Auron replied. "If the temples try to stop us, then we will defy Yevon, if we must."

"Damn!" Charlie exclaimed, surprised at his vehemence.

"I can't believe you just said that!" Rikku cried.

"Count me out," Wakka said, stubbornness clear in every line of his body. "We have to atone, make up for the sins we have committed. Of course…it's not like I ever liked Maester Seymour, ya? No way I'll ever forgive him for killing Lord Jyscal and for trying to do us all in too, you know? But going up against Yevon? No way!"

"What a goddamn idiot!" Charlie thought, rolling her eyes. "The only thing the other Yevonites are going to do is try to kill us for killing that rat bastard! I don't know about you, but I've got better things to do with my time than die needlessly."

"Still, we have transgressed and must face our punishment," Lulu said.

"Oh God, not you too!"

"We must go to Bevelle," Yuna decided. "We must speak with Maester Mika and explain what has happened. There is no other way, I think."

"I agree," Wakka nodded.

"Sir Auron…" the summoner began, turning to the swordsman.

"So it is decided," he replied.

"Will you come with us?"

"I am the troublemaker, after all."

"Exactly!" Charlie added, grinning broadly. "Auron is the master of complicating things!"

"Yeah!" Rikku agreed. "Kimahri roars, and Auron runs off, and…"

"I never asked you to follow me," the guardian growled irritably.

"But that's what friends do," Charlie told him.

"Thank you," Yuna said, laying a hand on the young woman's shoulder.

Auron gave them all a peculiar look, but said nothing, instead walking away. "Man…how can you all act like nothing's wrong?" Wakka wanted to know. "Must got nerves of steel or something."

"You're too edgy," Lulu replied. "Listen to the hymn and calm down."

"The hymn?" Charlie asked. "Oh, you mean the song! Where is it coming from, anyway?"

"It's coming from the temple," the mage explained. "It is Yevon's gift, and it soothes the hearts of the faithful."

Charlie thought about making some choice comment about Yevon, but changed her mind and went to talk to Auron instead. She found him standing alone in a dark corner of the ruins, listening intently to the song as it echoed through the damp air. "Jecht used to sing this song," the swordsman explained when he finally noticed her curious look. "Tidus did, too."

"Back in Zanarkand? I bet it really made you homesick, didn't it?" "I should be homesick, but I guess I'm getting used to being here in Spira. Hell, it's not like very many people would miss me if I never came back, anyway."

"Maybe," Auron evasively replied.

"Hey, since you're from Spira, how in bloody hell did you get to Zanarkand anyway? Did Sin carry you?" When he didn't answer, Charlie nodded and said, "That's what I thought."

Suddenly, the singing stopped and the ground shook, as a huge shadow appeared overhead. "Sin!" Yuna gasped, staring up at the ice overhead.

The rest of the group followed her eyes, and surely enough, the great monstrosity floated high above their heads, but strangely enough, not moving. "What the hell?" Charlie cried as she started to get dizzy. "How did it get up there?"

"The toxin! Watch out!" Lulu cried, right before she passed out.

One by one, the gang dropped to the floor, overcome by the closeness of Sin, until Charlie was the only one left standing. She felt an alien presence nudging tentatively at the edge of her mind, so she looked back up at Sin and asked, "Hey, are you trying to talk to me?"

Just then, her vision filled with white fog, and when it cleared, she was back in the dream-city with Jecht standing on the platform, staring at her in silence. All of a sudden, a ghostly echo of the hymn rang out through the empty air, and Charlie said, "You were listening to the song, weren't you?"

Jecht nodded, and then several images of what could only be Zanarkand flashed before her eyes, almost too quickly for her to register. "You just want to go home? But you can't, because you're Sin now." A foreign wave of homesickness mixed with gratitude flooded through her, and she said, "You're glad I decided to stay, huh? Well, I promise I'll find a way to help you, so just behave yourself a while longer, okay?"

The blitz star gave her a dazzling smile, and then slowly faded away, taking the dream-city with him. Before he disappeared completely, however, he winked roguishly at her as an image of Auron briefly popped into existence, then vanished again. "What the…? Now Sin is trying to throw the man at me? Damn, he must be really bored or something…"