Chapter 26: Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Some time later, the guards returned and hauled Charlene and Auron from their cell and were led into a room where they saw Yuna and the others standing beneath several platforms, being looked down upon by Seymour, Kinoc, Mika, and an elderly Ronso maester. "The High Court of Yevon is now in session," the Ronso said, his green eyes staring coldly at the summoner party. "The sacred offices of this court seek nothing but the truth, in Yevon's name. To those on trial: believe in Yevon and speak only truth."
"Uhh…who is that?" Charlie whispered to Lulu.
"Maester Kelk Ronso," the mage replied, as if it answered all the mysteries of the universe.
"Oh."
"Summoner Yuna, you have sworn to protect the people of Yevon, true?" Kelk asked.
"Yes," she replied.
The Ronso gave her a thoughtful look, then said, "Then consider this: you have inflicted dire injury on Maester Seymour Guado, and conspired with the Al Bhed and joined their insurrection. These traitorous and unforgivable crimes disturb the order of Yevon. Tell this court what possessed you to participate in such violence."
Yuna stared up at the maesters, who gave her various expressions of smug superiority in return, and then said, "Your Grace…the real traitor is Maester Seymour! He killed his father, Jyscal, with his own two hands!"
Astonished, Kelk whipped around and stared at Seymour. "What is this?"
"Haven't you heard?" the Guado asked, clearly not caring about the accusation.
"Not only that, Maester Seymour is already dead!" Yuna quickly added, giving her "husband" a look of pure loathing.
"It is the summoner's sacred duty to send the souls of the departed to the Farplane!" Lulu said. "Yuna was only doing her job as a summoner!"
"Grand Maester Mika, please send Seymour now!" Yuna pleaded.
The withered old man stepped around Kelk, to the front of the podium. "Send the unsent to where they belong?" It was not a real question, but more of a thought.
"Yes!" the summoner nodded fervently, but stopped when the ancient maester began to laugh. "Maester?"
"Send the dead, hmm?" Just then, several pyreflies floated around him as his body turned transparent. "You would have to send me, too."
"What?" Wakka all but shrieked.
"Holy crap!" Charlie thought, as her eyes grew wide as dinner plates. "Is everyone in this god-forsaken place a corpse?"
"Grand Maester Mika is a wise leader," Maester Kelk calmly explained. "Even in death, he is invaluable to Spira."
"Enlightened rule by the dead is preferable to the misguided failures of the living," Kinoc added.
"Maybe so, but the dead don't have the same kind of priorities as the living, either!"
"Life is but a passing dream, but the death that follows is eternal," Seymour said.
"Men die, trees die, beasts die, and even continents perish…only the power of death truly commands in Spira. Resisting its power is futile," Mika concluded, staring down at Yuna with unreadable eyes.
"But what of Sin?" Yuna cried. "I am a summoner, my lord, like my father before me, and I am on a pilgrimage to stop the death that Sin brings! Are you…are you telling me that, too, is futile?" The young summoner was clearly angry now. "Grand Maester Mika, I am not alone! All the people who have opposed Sin…their battles, their sacrifices-were they all in vain?"
"Not in vain," Mika slowly replied, as if to a young child, "No matter how many summoners give their lives, Sin cannot truly be defeated…the rebirth cannot be stopped. Yet the courage of those who fight gives the people hope. There is nothing futile in the life and death of a summoner."
"Never futile, but never ending," Auron said flatly.
The Grand Maester nodded, and then said, "Indeed, that is the essence of Yevon."
"Lord Mika!" Yuna cried, but the undead old man ignored her protests.
"Yevon is embodied by eternal, unchanging continuity, summoner…"
"No, that can't be right!"
"Those who question these truths…" Here, he paused for effect. "They are traitors!"
"Lord Mika!" Yuna screamed again, but went unheard as the guards rushed in and hustled her and her guardians back to the holding cells.
…
Separated from the others yet again, Charlie and Auron now found themselves in a cell reminiscent of a large birdcage. "Well that certainly turned out great!" the young woman snapped as she paced her side of the cage like a tiger. "I should have known that those bastards weren't going to let us go!" Then she sighed and sat down, wincing as her ribs twinged. "God, I hope Yuna's okay…"
"She's strong, she'll make it," Auron reassured her.
::No, she won't…:: the voice within her laughed. ::She's been betrayed by her faith, just as she will be betrayed by YOU!::
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Charlene mentally screamed at it. Finally, it fell silent, even though she could still feel it lurking within her. "She'll make it…" she muttered, "But only to die! Auron, why in hell is everything in Spira about dying?"
"Ah, the Spiral of Death," Auron said, sadly shaking his head. At her confused look, he continued to speak. "Summoners challenge the bringer of death, Sin, and die doing so. Guardians give their lives to protect their summoner. The fayth are the souls of the dead, and even the maesters of Yevon are unsent. Spira is full of death. Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death. It is a cycle of death, spiraling endlessly."
"But…that's just wrong…" Charlie softly replied. "This can't possibly go on forever, or there'll be nothing left of anything." She looked up at Auron. "Is that why you wanted Yuna to face this? To show her what is happening to the world?"
The swordsman did not answer her, but then, he didn't need to. He said everything he needed to say in the sorrowful expression on his face. The two of them sat in silence for a long while, until Kinoc showed up, along with two more flunkies. "Come out. Your sentence has been decided," he told them, his voice full of barely suppressed glee.
"Sentence?" Auron scoffed. "Don't you mean execution?"
"Really, now what person would execute a dear friend?"
"You would."
Charlie stared at the two men in silent awe, as the tension in the room grew thick enough to cut with a knife. "Oh dear…I think I just witnessed the death rattle of their friendship…and it's a lot sadder than I thought it'd be…"
…
After Charlie and Auron left their cell, the guards took the two of them in different directions. The younger guardian sighed disgustedly at her "escort", and then looked around the room they had brought her to. It was dark, and the floor at the far end dropped off suddenly, into a pool of deep water that held a tunnel in its depths. "Looks like you're next!" one of the guards taunted, shoving her into the water.
Her ribs and skull pounding, Charlene managed to make it to the surface, and shouted, "Hey, what the hell am I supposed to do now?"
"Get going or stay there and drown, I don't really give a damn!" the guard yelled back. "I'm sure your friends are still down there…if they haven't become fish bait by now!"
With that, the Yevon soldier sauntered off, braying like a drugged donkey and leaving Charlie alone in the gloom. "I'm supposed to be executed and they throw me in the swimming pool? How lame can these guys be?"
After what seemed like hours of aimless swimming, the young woman finally ran into Wakka in an air pocket. "Ooh, you made it!" the vertical-haired blitzer cried, clapping her on the shoulder.
"So…what the hell are we supposed to be doing down here again?" she asked, glad to see someone she knew.
"We're probably supposed to just give up and die down here."
Charlene snorted in contempt, and then looked around. "Hey, where's Rikku?"
"Right here!" the Al Bhed said, popping to the surface with a blitzball and the Brotherhood in hand. "Would you believe those guys? Apparently, they use this place as a garbage dump as well as an execution! There's all kinds of stuff littering the floor down there!"
"Well, at least we won't be unarmed anymore!" Charlie said brightly.
"Yeah, but…hey, where's Yunie?"
"I haven't seen her since the trial."
::And you'll never see her again, because you're all going to die down here!:: the voice hissed, as it renewed its struggles to break her walls of ice.
"Maybe we should wait here, ya?" Wakka suggested, inadvertently snapping the afflicted guardian out of the battle in her mind.
"No, it'd probably better if we head for the exit and wait for her there," Rikku responded before diving underwater again.
…
Off in another part of the temple, Mika, Seymour, and Kinoc stood alone, discussing the effects of the trial. "How fares the Ronso maester?" Mika asked, although it was obvious that he did not care in the least.
"It seems my father's murder troubles him," the Guado replied with a slight smile.
"Ever the Ronso: hardheaded, hardly useful," the ancient maester cackled.
"However," Seymour added, "The summoner Yuna, daughter to High Summoner Braska, and her otherworld guardian…they may be of some use to us alive."
"No," Mika snapped, turning away from him. "They have disturbed the order of Yevon. They cannot be allowed to live."
Expressionless, Seymour bowed to the Grand Maester and said, "I understand."
"Let it go, Seymour," Kinoc snapped, apparently guessing his fellow maester's thoughts. "No one thrown into the Via Purifico has ever survived."
"Yet there is always the small chance that they might," Mika thought aloud, before returning his attention to the other two maesters. "Place guards at the exit. Have them kill any who emerge."
"Leave that to me, sir," the Guado replied, bowing once more.
"First your father and now your bride?" the old man chuckled.
"Allow me to do this because she is my bride."
"Wait, I will go too," Kinoc added, as the Guado made a small bow.
"You do not trust me?" Seymour asked, a dangerous light in his eyes.
"Would you trust a man who murdered his father?"
"Very well, as you wish."
Seymour strolled out into the corridor, Kinoc close on his heels as they summoned several guards, both Guado and human. They continued in silence, stewing in their hatred of one another, when they bumped into Isaaru as he rounded the corner. "I'm terribly sorry about this, Your Graces!" the summoner cried, bowing and gesturing repeatedly.
"You are the summoner Isaaru, are you not?" Kinoc asked, his face lighting up as a brilliant idea struck him.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Lord Isaaru, I have an important task I want you to take care of for me…" the portly maester said, oblivious to the barely contained madness in his "partner's" eyes. "Lady Yuna and her guardians have been charged with treason and banished to the Via Purifico."
"I had heard rumors, milord, but surely they were only that?" Isaaru cried, aghast at the news.
"I am sorry, but it is true. Unfortunately, there is the slight possibility of the traitors escaping, so I want you to guard the exit and take care of anyone who tries to come out." When the summoner did not reply, Kinoc looked the young man in the eyes and asked, "You are a faithful servant of Yevon, are you not?" When the summoner nodded, the maester continued, "Good, then I can trust you with this task. You have your orders, so carry them out."
Isaaru bowed again, and then sprinted toward his new destination. Once he was out of earshot, the plump maester turned to Seymour, gave him a nasty grin, and said, "There, the problem is solved."
The undead Guado gave him a contemptuous smile, and said, "Poor deluded fool, do you honestly think that Lord Isaaru is capable of defeating a summoner of Lady Yuna's potential?" He nodded once, and then the Guado soldiers surrounded the human maester, cutting off any means of escape.
"Seymour, what do you think you're doing?" Kinoc demanded, glancing around nervously.
"And did you believe that I would let you put her, or Lady Charlie to death, when I have a much greater purpose for them?" Seymour continued, ignoring his adversary's protests. His cold eyes blazing, the unsent maester raised his hand, now engulfed in darkness, and hissed, "Kinoc, I have suffered your interference long enough, and now I think it is time to deal with you…once and for all!"
Kinoc tried to run, but Seymour's minions kept him from fleeing. No one else was around to hear his cries for help as the darkness around the Guado's hand congealed, and then took on the demonic form of Harbinger, the spirit of death. The frightened maester tried to scream again, but his breath caught in his throat when Harbinger reached into his chest and plucked out his soul as easily as a ripe fruit. Kinoc fell to his knees, reaching toward the little spirit, but fell short of his goal when it crushed his soul sphere like a rotten egg. The light fading from his eyes, Auron's former friend fell forward in a lifeless heap, Seymour's cruel laughter accompanying him into the all-consuming darkness.
…
Back underwater, Charlene, Wakka, and Rikku continued to swim down the tunnel, hoping to reach the exit before they died of old age, but the light that guided them turned out to lead to a large chamber with a locked gate on the other side. Charlie would have sighed, if not for the fact that doing so underwater is bad for one's health, so instead she decided to watch Rikku as she worked on picking the lock. Suddenly, the entire room shook violently, as hundreds upon hundreds of pyreflies appeared and swarmed together until they formed the dragon, Evrae! "Oh God, this is like a really bad horror movie! What is this, 'Revenge of the Fifty-Foot Zombie Dragon from Spira'?" Charlie thought as she drew her sword.
However, Evrae was different this time, as it was now wingless, emaciated, and a particularly hideous shade of dark green. The dragon-fiend let out a terrible roar and dove at the group, apparently intent on ripping them to very small pieces. The trio managed to get out of the way, but unfortunately the only escape route they had led back the way they came, and that was a dead end. Not wanting Evrae to trap them in an even smaller space, the group remained where they were, attacking the undead fiend from various angles.
In response to their annoying, but rather ineffective assault, Evrae lashed out with its whip-like tail, knocking all three guardians into the opposite wall. Both Charlie and Rikku sank to the floor, dazed and in pain, but Wakka managed to shake off the worst of the attack and dove after the girls, intent on aiding them. Apparently, the dragon recognized the blitzer as the reason for its first death, and rushed after him, shrieking with insane rage. Wakka healed Rikku, and just pulled a second Potion out of his pocket, when he looked up just in time to see Evrae's jaws as they closed around him. The wyrm then gulped its victim down, and turned its attention back toward the girls, but before it could attack again, it went into violent convulsions and dissolved into pyreflies, screeching in agony all the while.
Once it was gone, Rikku swam over to Charlie, who had finally recovered from the attack, and at her questioning look, pointed to where Evrae once floated, and then nearly drowned accidentally when she saw Wakka swimming toward them with a big grin on his face. When he reached them, he held up the now-empty Potion bottle and both girls blinked in surprise as they realized what, exactly, killed the dragon. "Evrae was a zombie, so it must've died when Wakka dropped his Potion inside it. Weird, but at least it's out of our hair now!"
…
Finally, Charlene, Rikku, and Wakka escaped from the watery maze into the clear night air outside the temple, and found Yuna, Auron, Lulu, and Kimahri waiting for them. "Yunie!" Rikku cheered as she enthusiastically hugged her cousin. "You're all right? We were so worried! It's good to have you back!"
"Thank you," Yuna replied, gratefully returning the embrace.
"Yuna…I…" Charlie began, but fell silent when she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around, and felt a shiver of fear run down her spine when she saw Seymour, accompanied by his Guado flunkies and Kinoc. Suddenly, the soldiers let go of the human maester's shoulders, and he fell flat on his face, unmistakably dead. "Kinoc!" Auron cried, his voice caught between rage and sorrow.
"Holy freaking hell!" Charlie shouted, not knowing whether to jump for joy or run for the hills.
"I have saved him," Seymour explained, a manic smile lighting his face as he stared down at Kinoc's corpse. "He was a man who craved power…and great power he had, but he feared losing it. Trembling at unseen enemies, he spent his days scheming petty schemes, chased by his fears, never knowing rest." The insane maester looked back up at the group. "You see…now he has no worries. He has been granted sleep eternal. Death is a sweet slumber; all the pain of life gently swept away…ah, yes. So, you see…if all life were to end in Spira, all suffering would end. Don't you see? Do you not agree?"
He turned all his attention on Yuna, who stepped back in response to his gaze. "That, Yuna, is why I need you. Come, Lady Yuna…come with me to Zanarkand, lost city of the dead. With death on our side, we will save Spira, and for this, I will take from you your strength, your life, and become the next Sin. I will destroy Spira! I will save it!"
As he spoke, Charlie felt the darkness within her shiver, as if in sheer delight. ::Master…:: it purred as it fought to make the guardian abandon her friends. ::We must go to our Master…::
"No! He's not my master, you freak!" Charlie mentally growled, driving the shadowy being back as she stepped between the summoner and the psycho and then drew her sword. "Leave her alone, you sick bastard!"
Then Kimahri pushed past the both girls, whipped his halberd around, and drove its spike deep into Seymour's heart. The undead maester stared down at the spear, and then muttered, "Unpleasant…" Then he looked up at Kimahri and said, "Very well, I'll grant you your death. You seem to want it so."
With those words, Seymour raised his hand, and suddenly, all his minions, along with Kinoc's corpse disintegrated into pyreflies, which in turn flew into his body. Suddenly, the world turned dark, and when the light finally returned, a terrible sight greeted them. The Guado was now grey and black, with vast stone wings and dark violet armor, hovered in front of his Ronso assailant. Twining around his newly transformed body was a hideous creature that looked like a cross between a demon-skull and a scorpion. "Run!" Kimahri shouted to the others, but refusing to back down from the fight himself. "Protect Yuna!"
"Go!" Auron barked.
"There's no way I'm letting Kimahri fight him alone!" Charlie replied with a shake of her head.
Just then, the swordsman drew his own weapon and used it to block the younger guardian's attempts to enter the fray. "I said go!"
Reluctantly, Charlie joined the others in running down the long pathway leading from the main temple, but then Yuna skidded to a stop, and yelled, "I won't leave Kimahri behind!"
"He is a guardian," Auron replied, clearly exasperated. "Protecting you is everything."
"But we're all guardians," Charlene said, winking at Yuna. "So, I don't know about you, Auron, but I'm following Yuna wherever she goes!"
"Anywhere?" the summoner asked.
"Yes."
"Let's go, then!"
With that, Yuna sprinted back down the road, Charlie hot on her heels until the two of them reached Kimahri, who was still engaged in a fierce battle with Seymour. "Save some for us, big guy!" the swordswoman shouted, lashing at the Guado's minion with her sword.
As the skull-fiend retreated, Seymour stared down at Yuna and, in a hollow voice, said, "It is good to see you again, Lady Yuna, but you don't seem pleased…"
"I'll only be pleased when you're gone to the Farplane!" the summoner defiantly retorted.
His face suddenly twisted with rage, the maester launched a volley of Blizzaga spells, slamming both girls and Kimahri into the pavement. "Get them, Mortibody!" Seymour commanded his minion.
The bizarre fiend slithered through the air toward the Ronso, intent on impaling him with its massive pincers. Before it could reach him, however, Wakka's blitzball knocked it back. "You guys all right?" Wakka asked as he retrieved his weapon.
"Never better," Charlie muttered, getting to her feet.
Just then, Lulu and Rikku showed up and joined the fight with a burst of grenades and spells. "We thought you could use some assistance," the black mage said with a wry smile.
"Thank you," Yuna smiled, before turning her attention back to the fight.
"Fools!" Seymour roared, knocking everyone back with an orange burst of energy, "No matter how many allies you have, it still won't be enough to defeat me!"
Suddenly, Auron stepped forward, anger burning in his eye, and he shouted, "Although he was not the man I once knew, Kinoc was still my friend, Seymour! You will pay for his death!" The air around the swordsman shimmered faintly as he charged toward the Guado, and delivered a heavy horizontal slash capable of shearing a normal person in half. Unfortunately, Mortibody leapt into action, saving its master at the last moment. "Damn!" Auron swore, backing away as the minion regenerated its body.
"Well…that worked wonderfully," Charlie growled, leaping out of the way as the demon darted forward yet again. "Yuna, call your new aeon, quick!"
"Right!"
Yuna twirled her staff through the air, but then Seymour fired a burst of green-black energy and shouted, "I don't think so! Miec yw Perumnurk!"
The pulse struck the summoner and, while it failed to harm her, it prevented her aeon from appearing as well. "He just spoke in the Tietdyrkoi: the language of the Farplane!" Lulu cried, her crimson eyes wide with disbelief. "That is one of the most forbidden things anyone can learn!"
"Why does that fail to surprise me?" Charlie thought as she darted close and stuck Seymour with an overhand strike. The blow was successful, and left a long wound that dripped dark blue blood, but unfortunately it left her wide open to an assault by Mortibody, which latched onto her unprotected back and dragged her into the air. "Let go of me!" the young woman shrieked as she flailed helplessly in the creature's grasp.
"As you wish," Seymour grinned, gesturing to his minion.
Instead of releasing Charlie, however, Mortibody slammed her into the ground, breaking her barely-healed ribs and causing her to cough up blood. The guardian lay on her side, struggling to breathe and stay conscious as Kimahri impaled the Guado's minion with his spear, pinning it down long enough for Rikku to shove a grenade into its mouth. The bomb exploded, spraying dust and pyreflies everywhere, giving Wakka a chance to slam his blitzball into Seymour's wound, distracting him with pain and disrupting his spell. Auron then lunged at him, intent on giving the maester another taste of the death he suffered in Macalania Temple, but he stopped in surprise when the Guado vanished in a burst of blue flame. "He disappeared!" Rikku shouted in surprise.
"No, he's still here…somewhere," Auron replied, warily watching their surroundings.
Just then, Seymour reappeared high overhead, but no one saw him, except Charlie, who tried give out a warning only to have a frog-like croak come out. "Oh no!"
Apparently, her strange cry made sense to Kimahri, however, because he looked up and saw the maester as he sent a bright orange wave of flame down on the group. "Look out!" the Ronso shouted, flinging himself over Yuna.
The others dove out of the way just as the Flare spell struck, and hit the ground when the shockwave hit them. When the dust cleared, a dome of pinkish light remained, with Yuna, Kimahri, and Charlie beneath it, disheveled, but relatively unharmed. "Damn you!" Seymour shouted, swooping on the trio as he readied another spell.
This time, Kimahri was ready for him, and spat out a ball of flame that struck the undead maester full in the face! The spell fizzled out, but Seymour kept falling like a lump of lead and hit the ground with a heavy thud. Fortunately, Kimahri had grabbed Charlie and Yuna before leaping out of the way, so the falling Guado squashed no one. "Is he dead?" Charlene asked after Yuna cast several Cura spells on her.
The guardian edged close to the fallen maester and nudged him experimentally with her foot. Before she could back away again, however, Seymour let out an inhuman bellow of rage and grabbed her ankle, glaring up at her with a look of insane hatred. As soon as he grabbed her, Charlie felt a strange shock course through her body, sending the darkness within her soul into a state of berserk fury. ::Bastards! I'll kill you for hurting my master!:: it screamed as it hammered her heart's walls. ::I'll drag all your souls into the darkest depths of the Farplane and tear them to shreds! I'll rip out your hearts and eat them as you watch!::
From there, the demon's shrieks descended into an unintelligible roar as it fought to make Charlie turn and attack her friends. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she howled, slashing her sword about like a wild thing, until she somehow managed to land a blow that severed Seymour's hand from his wrist, breaking their connection and forcing the darkness back into quiescence.
His right hand gone, the undead Guado reached out toward Charlene with the left one, snarling like a wild beast. "Ayo zucc ypia li, pudsn!" he shouted, his hand grasping empty air as she jumped back out of reach.
"SICK BASTARD!" she yelled, bringing the Brotherhood down on his head with a sickening crunch. "Stay dead! Stay dead! Goddamn it, STAY DEAD!"
Charlie kept shouting that phrase, as if it were a spell of warding. Finally, he stopped twitching and turned into a cloud of pyreflies and bluish-black smoke, leaving nothing but a large pool of blood behind. Finally, she stopped, gasping for air, and then realized that everyone was staring at her in silence. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "I'm sorry I can't tell you why I flew off the handle like that…but you'd never believe me if I did…"
The silence persisted for a long moment, before Auron shook his head, put away his katana, and said, "Let's go."
…
A few hours later, the seven of them escaped from the city into the crystalline gloom of the Macalania Woods, and set up camp in the most defensible spot they could find. As soon as they finished, Auron left, presumably on a scouting foray, and then Yuna, vanished too, accompanied by Kimahri. "God, I hope she's okay…" Charlie thought to herself as she stared into the fire. "Yevon betrayed her, so what does she have to fight for now? She must feel so lost!"
Just then, Auron returned to the campsite, and at Wakka's curious look, said, "We're all clear. We will have to avoid Bevelle in the future." Then, looking around, he asked, "Where's Yuna?"
"She said she wanted to be alone," Rikku replied, not looking up from the fire.
"Of course," the swordsman replied.
Realizing that no one planned to stop her, Charlene got to her feet and glared at everyone. "Don't any of you plan on going to talk to her?" she demanded.
"She wants to be alone, ya?" Wakka replied, not looking up. "So let's just leave her alone."
"Let's just leave her alone!" Charlie mimicked, giving the blitzer a look of sheer disgust. "Her faith has betrayed her, and you want to just leave her alone with that? What a great plan! You guys just stay here with your great plan, if you want, but I'm going to see her!"
With that, she stalked off in search of her friend. It was not long before she found her, sitting at the shore of a pristine lake with Kimahri keeping a watchful eye on her from a distance. Yuna heard her footsteps, and started speaking without turning around. "I always thought this would be easier somehow. I thought that everyone would help me, with all my new friends together beside me. I've been trying so hard…"
"Maybe you shouldn't try so hard then," Charlie replied quietly. Then she hung her head, and added, "They told me about it, you know…they told me about the Final Aeon, and what would happen if you called it."
"They did?"
"Yeah…and I'm so sorry, Yuna!" The summoner turned around, but did not say anything, so Charlie continued to speak. "I'm sorry about all those things I said to you about going to Zanarkand and beating Sin. I didn't realize what I was saying, and…I'm sorry if I made you feel sad."
"I wasn't sad," Yuna replied, smiling. "I was happy."
Surprised, Charlie stared down at her friend for a moment, before taking at seat next to her on the shore and looking up at the stars. "Why don't you just stop?"
"The pilgrimage?"
"Yeah! Forget about fighting Sin or summoning…just be yourself. What do you think?"
"Maybe I will…" Yuna mused. "Wouldn't everyone be surprised?"
"Rikku wouldn't. Hell, she'd probably do backflips of joy…and I'm sure Wakka and Lulu would go along with it."
"Kimahri would say yes, too, I know…but Sir Auron…"
"Can get over it!" Charlie added. "He can't make you do anything you don't want to do, so if you decide to quit, he can't twist your arm and make you go!"
"But…what'll I do if I give up my pilgrimage?" Yuna wondered.
"Hmm…that's a really good question. Hey, we could go back to the Moonflow and spend the night! Then we could watch the pyreflies like we talked about back then."
"I really would like to see it someday…" Yuna replied, her voice suddenly subdued.
"We'll both see it! I'll stay here and…" Charlie looked back, and then realized that Yuna was crying. "Yuna, what's wrong?"
"I can't…I just can't!" she sobbed. "I can't go!"
It would have taken a person with a harder heart than Charlie's to ignore the summoner's distress, and she quickly knelt down and wrapped her arms around Yuna, letting her cry on her shoulder. "Oh God, Yuna, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please don't cry!" she said, her own voice quavering as she fought her own tears.
It took quite some time, but Yuna finally stopped crying and let go of Charlie. "I'll continue the pilgrimage. I must. If I give up now, I could do anything I wanted to, but even if I did stop, I could never forget."
Charlene stared intently at the summoner for a long moment, and then said, "I'll go with you, then…unless you'd rather I didn't."
"Stay with me till the end, please."
Charlie stood up again, then reached down and helped Yuna to her feet. "Always. I won't leave you, I promise." "I won't abandon anyone ever again…"
"All right then. Now let's go back to camp and tell the others."
…
The two girls returned to camp a few minutes later, and found the rest of the group waiting for them expectantly. "Sir Auron? Wakka? Lulu? Kimahri? Rikku?" she said, looking at everyone as she called their names. "Everyone, we leave at dawn…and I'm sorry for putting you through all this…and…"
She would have gone on for a while longer, but Auron held up a hand and said, "Enough. You need your rest."
"Yes. Goodnight everyone."
With that, they doused the fire and went to sleep, waiting for the dawn and the new challenges that awaited them.