Chapter 32: Onward
The party continued through the gloom of the cavern for some time, searching for the exit and fighting fiends as they went. "How long does this cave go on, anyway?" Charlie asked as they stopped at a Life Spring.
"Oh, don't worry, you're near the end, young guardian" said a warm, purring voice.
Startled, everyone turned around and found a large, silver-furred Coeurl stretched out on the ground between them and the path ahead. "Are you the next trial?" Yuna asked.
The great cat turned its violet gaze toward the summoner and said, "Yes, I am Hodai, the second guardian of Zanarkand. Since you're all here, I take it you have passed Magosha's test?" Everyone nodded silently, and the fiend continued to speak. "My trial is different. All I will do is ask you a riddle, and all you have to do is answer it correctly. If you give me the correct answer, I will let you pass, but if you give me the wrong answer, I will kill you all. Of course, you can also refuse to answer, and you will be free to leave the way you came. Do you agree to these terms, summoner?"
"Yes," Yuna replied.
Hodai got to its feet, stretched, and said, "Very well, here is my riddle: What bites without teeth, howls without a voice, rises without legs, and dies without ever having life?"
Charlie blinked, and then looked at the others. "I have no idea. How does something die without living, anyway?"
"Or rise without legs," Rikku added, looking very bewildered. Then she turned to Auron and asked, "Hey, don't you know the answer?"
"It asked a different riddle the last time I was here," the swordsman replied.
"Could it be a snake?" Wakka suggested. "They don't got no legs, ya?"
"They don't howl, either," Lulu said, shaking her head.
"Bites without teeth…" Yuna muttered. "Kimahri, do you have any ideas?"
"Kimahri not like riddles," the Ronso rumbled, folding his arms and glaring at Hodai.
The Coeurl blinked its purple eyes benignly at the group, but did nothing else. "If you give up, you can always turn back," it said.
"No," Yuna answered. "We have to keep going. We will solve your riddle."
"Yeah, if we can ever figure the damn thing out," Charlene mentally grumbled, sighing aloud as she did so.
"That's it!" Lulu suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone.
"What's it?" Wakka wanted to know.
"The answer to the riddle is 'the wind'," the mage replied, looking over at Charlie. "It came to me when she sighed just now. The wind can bite without teeth, howl without a voice, rise without legs, and die without life."
After Lulu's amazing proclamation, everyone whipped around to stare at Hodai, who looked startled at the sudden answer. "She's right," the cat said, stepping out of the path. "You've passed my challenge, so you may go forward. Congratulations, and good luck with the next trial."
With that, Hodai faded, and then dissipated into a cloud of pyreflies, leaving the exit open. "So why didn't you make a suggestion, Auron?" Charlie asked as they walked up the path.
"I'm not good at riddles," he replied, not looking at her.
"So…who solved the riddle the last time you came through here, then? Braska, or Jecht?"
"Jecht wasn't good with riddles, either, so Braska solved it by himself," Auron said with a rueful chuckle.
…
Finally, the seven of them made it out of the cave, and paused as the orange light of the slowly setting sun washed over them. In their path, however, stood a huge, white-scaled dragon with four flightless wings made of gently waving tendrils. The great fiend immediately noticed them and let out a low, rumbling growl. "A summoner's party, I see," it said, its voice a guttural snarl. "Since you're here, you must have passed Magosha's and Hodai's trials. I am Hogoten, the last of the guardians, and my trial is a test of your power. If you wish to continue to Zanarkand, you and your guardians must defeat me in battle. Do you wish to do so?"
"Yes," Yuna replied, brandishing her staff.
Hogoten laughed loudly, ruffling its strange wings as it did so, and said, "You have a lot of spirit, summoner. I think I'll enjoy this battle after all."
Without another word, the great dragon swept its tail at the group, scattering them as they attempted to evade the attack. As it stepped back, Lulu hurled a Blizzaga spell at it, causing it to writhe as shards of ice pierced its flesh. Enraged, the fiend charged forward, raking at the black mage with its talons, but she managed dive out of the way at the last moment. Meanwhile, Wakka hurled his blitzball and hit Hogoten in the face, making it pause long enough for Lulu to make her retreat and Rikku to throw a grenade. "You're going to have to try harder than this," the dragon roared, fanning its wing-tendrils skyward.
Bluish-white bursts of light fired out of each of the tendrils, sailed through the air, and rained down on the group like the wrath of the heavens. When the dust cleared, Rikku and Wakka were on the ground, Kimahri was sheltering Yuna, and Auron, Lulu, and Charlie were getting to their feet. "Well, that was unpleasant," Charlie muttered, before picking up her sword and charging the dragon.
Hogoten noticed her oncoming assault, and whipped its tail around at her. Charlene managed to stop short and barely evade the attack, and brought her sword down on the offending appendage. Dark red blood and several pyreflies leaked out of the wound she made, but other than that, the attack did not do much, other than keep the dragon's attention on her. Hogoten's sapphire eyes glowed brightly as a burning orange sigil blazed around its now gaping maw, and a large beam of red-gold light fired straight at Charlie, blowing her off her feet and filling her mind with a strange blankness. When the when the odd paralysis finally wore off, Yuna was hovering over her, casting healing spells, while Kimahri and Auron simultaneously lashed out at Hogoten. "Are you okay?" Yuna asked, as Charlene got to her feet.
"Yeah," she groaned, shaking her head to clear it. "That thing's breath sure packs a wallop."
As if in response to her comment, the dragon-fiend unleashed another burst of its breath weapon, this time at Auron. Unlike Charlie, however, the swordsman managed to stay on his feet and retaliated with tremendous overhand strike. Hogoten flinched away at the last moment, and Auron's heavy blade sheared through one of the dragon's horns, instead of its skull. Before the guardian could make another attack, the dragon quickly batted him away with a massive talon, only to take a heavy blow from Kimahri as the Ronso vaulted into the air and crashed into the beast, impaling his spear in the base of its left wing. Hogoten let out a terrible, ear-splitting roar and thrashed wildly about in an attempt to dislodge Kimahri from its back, while Lulu launched a volley of spells at its head.
Hogoten finally managed to throw Kimahri to the ground, and immediately raised its wings to fire a counterstrike at the party. The rain of lights exploded on the group, this time throwing everyone but Rikku to the ground, and the Al Bhed gave the others some time to recover by throwing a bomb at the dragon-fiend. The explosive detonated, causing a chain reaction that created several large bursts of flame similar to Lulu's spell-frenzies. When the explosions stopped, and the smoke cleared, Hogoten readied yet another breath attack, but let out a roar of pain and surprise when Shiva appeared and slammed a burst of ice in its face. The icy aeon quickly followed that attack with several savage kicks, but before she could follow up with the finishing blow, the dragon knocked her backward with its tail and roared, "I'm not out of this fight yet!"
It then slashed at Shiva with its talons, striking the aeon a terrible blow, but before it could move in for the kill, she turned the tables by casting Blizzara and summoning a spire of ice that impaled the dragon through the chest. Hogoten thrashed wildly as numerous pyreflies leaked out of its body at a rapid pace, and then the dragon exploded in a burst of light, leaving the party alone on the mountain trail. As Yuna dismissed Shiva, Rikku slumped forward and put her hands on her knees to keep from falling over. "Hey, can't we rest a little?" the thief asked, panting with exhaustion.
"No need," Auron impassively replied. "We reach the summit soon."
"I know, that's why I want to stop for a bit," she quietly said, "Soon means that…that there's not much time left."
"Rikku…" Yuna began.
"Fine," Rikku said, cutting the summoner short. "I'll think on the way."
The little thief walked off, leaving the rest of the group to follow her. Charlie lagged behind, lost in thought. "Poor Rikku…she's really taking this hard. Not that I blame her. There's got to be a way to help Yuna."
Just ahead, Wakka stopped, noticed Charlie had fallen behind, turned around, and said, "Hey, come on, let's go."
Charlene gave the blitzer a pained look. "We really are almost there, aren't we?"
Wakka nodded. "We've come a long way."
Auron, apparently listening to the two of them, chuckled loudly. "What are you laughing about?" Charlie wanted to know.
"You remind me of myself," the older guardian replied, turning to face her. "Before, the closer I came to Zanarkand, the more I wondered…when we arrive, Braska will call the Final Aeon. He will fight Sin, then die. I thought my mind was made up long before, but when I stood here, my resolve wavered."
Wakka looked a little stunned at that announcement, but quickly recovered. "Huh, never would have figured. Legendary guardians choke sometimes, too, ya?"
"Legendary guardian? I was just a boy," he said, his expression unreadable. "A boy about your age, actually. I wanted to change the world, too, but I changed nothing. That is my story."
With that, Auron turned around and walked away. Charlie watched him leave, and felt a quiet kind of sadness stir her heart. "The way he said that, it sounds like he's still in a lot of pain over it. I wish I could do something about it…"
…
A few minutes later, Charlie caught up with the others just as they reached the summit overlooking Zanarkand…but not the Zanarkand Charlie knew. This one was in ruins, a necropolis a thousand years old…both beautiful and sad. "Yuna, I say no!" Rikku cried, her voice quavering with barely suppressed tears. "If we go down there, then you'll…"
Yuna shook her head. "Rikku, you're a true friend, and I thank you, but I must go…down to Zanarkand."
"I'm not saying we shouldn't go, but shouldn't we think about it some more? There's gotta be some kind of way we can save you, Yuna!"
"All my life, I knew this moment would come."
"Yunie…" Rikku whimpered, trailing off as tears threatened to overwhelm her.
Yuna stepped forward to embrace her cousin, unknowingly dropping a sphere as she did so. "Thank you, Rikku," she said, continuing to hug her. "Thank you for everything."
"Don't say that, Yunie!" the Al Bhed replied, stepping back. "It's not over yet!"
"Tell Cid I said thank you."
"No, you can tell him yourself," Rikku said, looking away.
"Please…" Yuna pleaded.
"Yunie, don't say that because we're gonna see each other again, okay?"
Yuna nodded silently, and then walked away, with first Kimahri, and then everyone else falling in step behind her. Meanwhile, Charlie remained behind, and picked up the sphere Yuna dropped. "This looks like the one Jecht left behind in Macalania," she murmured, looking at it closely. "I wonder what's on it."
Before her conscience could berate her for snooping, she quickly pushed the button on the base of the sphere and watched as it began to play. At first, all it showed was the Mi'ihen Highroad Travel Agency when they had stayed there so many weeks ago, but then it turned toward the sunset, and Yuna began to speak. "Sir Auron, Kimahri told me when my father wanted me taken from Bevelle to Besaid…it was you who told Kimahri, right? I had always wanted to meet you some day. I'm truly glad I had that chance."
"This must be Yuna's video-will or something like that…"
"Having you as a guardian is so great an honor I don't know how to thank you," the recording continued. "Perhaps if I defeat Sin, that will be my thanks to you. That's what I'll do. Yes. I will challenge Sin, I will defeat Sin. If you are all there watching this, then I guess Sin is already gone…and so am I, I suppose. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you, Sir Auron. Kimahri…" here, she paused and giggled. "Do you remember the first day we met? I was only seven. My father had defeated Sin, and all Bevelle was celebrating. Everyone was saying what a hero my father was. I was so happy…but when night came, it occurred to me: my father had defeated Sin, and now he was dead. Now, I was all alone. I couldn't sleep, so I wandered into town, away from the celebrating crowds. I stood on the bridge in Bevelle where my father and I had parted. Standing there, alone, I could see the fields where he had fought Sin. Then, you appeared, Kimahri. You said you were looking for the daughter of Braska, remember? At first, I was so scared, until I realized what a gentle person you are. You weren't used to talking to children. When I told you I was Braska's daughter, you said you would take me as far from Bevelle as you could…that it was the wish of a man facing death. I…I think I cried then, because that…that was when I knew my father was dead and I would never see him again. You just held me, without saying a word. I cried when we got to Besaid, too, when you tried to go after leaving me in the care of the temple. I held on to you, crying, 'Don't go! Don't go!' And you listened, Kimahri. You stayed. Kimahri, thank you. Thank you so much…and I've always liked your broken horn.
"Wakka, Lulu…I'll never forget my days spent with you, growing up in Besaid. We always played together, us and Chappu…that's why I was always so happy, I think. And when you refused to let me become a summoner and I did it anyway…I'm sorry. I've always wanted to apologize. You know, when you tried to stop me then-I was really happy. I could tell you really cared about me. You were like my big brother and sister. No…I think you really were my big brother and sister. What else…I love watching you play blitzball, Wakka. I even love it when you scold me, Lulu. Really! I guess that leaves…the newest guardian…
"Me?"
"I just…I know we haven't known each other long, but I'm glad we met, and…"
"Hey, why are you out here all by yourself?" an all-too familiar voice cut in, startling Yuna and causing her to turn off the sphere.
Charlene looked down at the now-quiet sphere, put it in with the rest of her belongings, and whispered, "Yuna, you're going to tell us all of this after you beat Sin, because we're going to find a way for you to beat it without dying!"
::That's what you hope, anyway!:: the demon hissed at her, cackling wildly within her mind.
…
After Charlene caught up with the rest of the party, they followed the winding trail down into the ruins of Zanarkand, and made camp just outside the central part of the city. Charlene looked around in the fading red light of sunset, and noticed that the area looked very familiar. "This is where the opening scene of the whole game takes place!" Charlie realized, staring wide-eyed at the path ahead. She turned around and opened her mouth, fully prepared to announce this to the others, when her conscience berated her. "That's not a good idea! Do you really want to tell them that this is all a video game, and that they're supposed to be fictional characters? They'd all think you've lost your last marble! Anyway, Auron didn't feel very fictional when you were making out with him down in that ravine, did he?"
Charlie quickly slammed the door on that train of thought and turned around, blushing hotly and doing her best keep from looking at Auron, who stared broodingly into the small campfire nearby. Eventually, the sun completely set, and twilight deepened into true night. Millions of stars twinkled overhead, and Yuna got to her feet, picked up her staff, and said, "Let's go."
Without saying a word, everyone followed suit, and made their way through the broken streets as pyreflies streamed by like the arms of a small galaxy come to rest on the earth. "Looks like the Farplane," Wakka commented, watching another cluster of pyreflies float by, on their way to an unknown destination.
"Close enough," Auron tersely replied, not looking at anyone.
They continued forward, picking their way through the rubble, and fighting various fiends that came looking for an easy meal. After facing the trials of the three guardians, however, the smaller battles were surprisingly easy, and eventually, the seven of them made it to the ruins of an ancient blitzball stadium. "This is the place where Tidus died…and I was dragged to Spira…"
Suddenly, several pyreflies grouped together, and took on the form of an ancient-looking priest. "Journeyer of the long road, name yourself," the ghost commanded, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"I am the summoner Yuna," Yuna replied. "I have come from the island of Besaid."
The old man edged closer. "Your eyes, my dear. Show me the long road you have traveled." He peered into Yuna's two-colored eyes for a long moment, and then said, "Very good. You have journeyed well. Lady Yunalesca will surely welcome your arrival. Go to her now, and bring your guardians with you. Go."
Having said his piece, the ghost walked away, vanishing as he did so, leaving the party to pick their way through the wreckage of the stadium. They did not travel far, however, before a pair of ghostly women in Crusader garb appeared before them. "If it might benefit the future of Spira, use my life," said the first woman. "It is the highest honor for which a guardian might ask. Use my life, Lady Yocun, and rid Spira of Sin."
Before the other woman could make a reply, the two of them vanished, leaving the group alone again. "What…what was that?" Rikku asked, visibly shaken by the sudden appearance.
"Our predecessors," Auron replied, refusing to look at anyone.
"She said 'Lady Yocun,' didn't she?" Lulu asked, her red eyes filled with confusion. "Wait! She guarded High Summoner Yocun?"
"This dome is filled with pyreflies," Auron explained, still looking away. "It's like one gigantic sphere. People's thoughts remain here…forever."
"Auron seems really upset," Charlie thought as they resumed walking through Zanarkand's ruined streets. "It must be really hard on him, having to come through here again."
Suddenly, a dark-haired, grey-eyed woman, and a small boy with spiky blue hair appeared. The boy's eyes were full of tears as he looked up at the woman, who was obviously his mother. "No, Mother, no!" he cried, shaking his head. "I don't want you to become a fayth!"
"Seymour…he looks so sad…" Charlie thought, her heart full of pity.
Seymour's mother shook her head at her son. "There is no other way," she told him with a sorrowful expression on her face. "Use me and defeat Sin…only then will the people accept you."
"I don't care about them," little Seymour wailed. "I need you, Mother! No one else."
His mother winced, obviously in a great deal of pain. "I don't…have much time left."
The specters then vanished, just as quickly as they appeared. "Hey," Wakka began, looking startled. "Wasn't that…"
"Seymour?" Rikku supplied, looking somewhat startled, herself.
"Man, this place is really creepy!" Charlie commented, as ghostly images of Auron, Jecht, and Braska ran by, passing through her as they did so.
The group hurried down the street and managed to catch up to their phantom predecessors. "Hey, Braska, you don't have to do this," Jecht said, clearly not happy about what would soon happen.
"Thank you for your concern," Braska replied, turning to look at his friend.
"Fine, I said my piece," the blitz star said, folding his arms.
"Well, I haven't!" Younger Auron said, his expression one of anguish. "Lord Braska, let us go back! I don't want to see you…die!"
"You knew this was to happen, my friend," Braska said with a sad smile.
The swordsman hung his head. "Yes, but I…I cannot accept it."
Braska chuckled sadly, and shook his head. "Auron, I am honored that you care for me so, but I have come to kill grief itself. I will defeat Sin, and lift the veil of sorrow covering Spira. Please understand, Auron."
The images faded, leaving everyone alone in the ruins yet again. "Auron tried so hard to change Braska's mind, but failed," Charlie noted, absently staring at his back as he walked ahead of her. "Is he hoping that we'll be able to stop Yuna?"
::Go ahead and hope, fool!:: the demon crowed. ::In the end, it won't do you any good. They are all going to die!::
"Shut up," she snarled aloud, startling everyone.
"Charlie, who are you talking to?" Yuna asked, giving her friend a worried look.
"No one," she quickly replied. "I…just got a stupid song stuck in my head, so I told it to shut up…"
It was a lame excuse, but apparently, it worked, since no one questioned it. The seven of them continued walking, and finally made it into a long corridor full of stairs, at the top of which was a Life Spring, a door, and the ghostly images of Jecht, Braska, and Auron. "Are the trials ahead?" Jecht asked, a little impatiently.
"Probably," Braska replied as he touched the Life Spring.
"Here too, huh? Gimme a break." The blitz star shook his head exasperatedly, and then said. "I was expecting, you know, parades…and fireworks!"
"You can ask for them after I defeat Sin," Braska laughed, before vanishing through the door.
Then Jecht and Past-Auron vanished, too, and Lulu said, "So, there are trials here, as well?"
Auron nodded in agreement, and then walked through the door, leaving the others to catch up. "Zanarkand has a Cloister of Trials, too?" Charlie groaned, smacking her forehead in disgust. "Give me a break! Weren't those three guardians bad enough?"