Chapter 33: Damnation

After a brief rest, the group entered Zanarkand's Cloister of Trials. Auron, who led the way, stepped out onto the tiled floor, and waited as everyone else gasped at the light that poured out of the floor. "What in the world was that?" Charlie asked, disturbed by the strange display.

"The Trial has begun," the swordsman replied as a screen on the far wall lit up, revealing colored blocks similar to a Tetris game. "We have to match the pattern that appears on the wall to unlock the way forward."

It took a while to figure out the tiles, but they finally managed it, and the walls opened up, revealing several pedestals and a door leading into another room, which turned out to be an even larger puzzle. In the middle of the room, however, were six empty panels surrounding a pit. "So I guess we have to solve more puzzles to get out of this room?" Rikku asked, while peering down the hole.

Auron nodded and returned to the previous room. He came back a few moments later, just as more blocks appeared on the wall, this time in a glyph-like pattern. "This is the same as the last room," he said, before anyone could ask him any questions.

The group fanned out across the room, stepping on various tiles in an attempt to awaken the floor, but had limited success. Meanwhile, Charlene walked up to the monitor, and peered at it closely. "Hmm…I wonder what'll happen if I touch it?" she thought to herself as she reached out to it.

When her hand brushed the screen, it flickered brightly, and then she heard several loud exclamations from the others. "What is it?" she demanded, quickly turning around to see why everyone was yelling.

"Some of the tiles are glowing," Lulu said, pointing to a blue L-shaped tile nearby.

"What did you do?" Wakka wanted to know.

"I just touched the screen up here, that's all," Charlie replied with a shrug.

"Could you do it again, please?" Yuna asked.

"Sure."

The trial went much quicker after that, as only the necessary tiles lit up whenever Charlie touched the screen. Eventually, the six panels in the middle of the room lit up with the glyphs of the various temples of Yevon. "Wait," Auron said, halting everyone before they could get close to the pit. "There is something here."

"What?" Rikku yelped, looking around quickly. "Is it more of those memories?"

Before Auron could answer, the room vanished, replaced by a strange world of blue space full of floating symbols, and in the center of it were the six from the room in the real world. Suddenly, a huge fiend appeared in the middle of the glyphs, and Charlie felt the darkness within her stir at its presence. ::Hello, cousin…:: the demon purred within her mind.

The fiend, a coral colored demon with a scorpion tail, forked wings, and extremely long arms tipped with hooked talons turned toward Charlie and let out a weird shrieking hiss. ::Ah…they let one of you back into the world?:: the demonic fiend whispered in her head.

"What the hell? Are you talking to me?"

::No…he can't even hear you, Charlie…::

::Whoever sent you picked a poor host if she is still in control of her body…:: the fiend said, his voice full of contempt.

::She isn't from this world…:: the demon replied. ::She can't even enter the Farplane! She'll give up eventually and then I'll own this body…::

::Interesting…but it's too bad. I have my own orders, so I must destroy anyone who cannot defeat me…::

"Charlie, pay attention!" Auron barked, snapping her out of the conversation.

With a jolt, the younger guardian returned to reality just in time to avoid being skewered by the fiend's tail. "What the hell is going on?" she yelled, furious at this unexpected battle. "I thought we beat all of the guardians already!"

"Apparently, this one didn't get the message," Lulu replied as she lobbed a Firaga spell at the demon-fiend.

The battle proved extremely difficult, as only people standing on the glyphs could strike the fiend, and only three people could stand on them at one time. To make matters worse, every hit made against it caused it to retaliate with a sweeping attack, using its elongated limbs to slash at the three glyphs in front of it. Then, as Charlie, Rikku, and Kimahri took a turn against the thing, two of the glyphs lit up, glowing an ominous shade of blue. One was off behind the fiend, but the other lay beneath Kimahri's feet. "Kimahri, watch out!" Rikku cried out.

Unfortunately, before the Ronso could do anything, the glyph exploded, sending him flying into the air before landing in a crumpled heap. "Oh hell!" "Kimahri, are you all right?" Charlie called, after diving out of the way of the fiend's stinger again.

The Ronso didn't answer, and Rikku quickly traded places with Yuna so she could cast healing spells, and Charlie traded places with Wakka. Finally, once Kimahri was revived, Yuna turned her attention to the demon, raised her staff over her head, and shouted, "Holy!"

Suddenly, eight spheres of brilliant white light appeared, spinning around the fiend in a tight circle and rocketed skyward, only to rain down on the beast like a swarm of meteors. Shrieking in agony, the monster thrashed wildly, fell limp, and sank beneath the glyphs before exploding in a burst of blue light. Once it vanished, the real world returned, and an elevator rose from the hole in the floor. "Yuna…we're here," Auron said, turning to look at her.

"The Hall of the Final Summoning," Yuna said, mostly to herself.

"Go."

The summoner nodded, and then stepped onto the elevator and went down alone. As everyone waited, however, the room went dark, and Jecht's voice rang out from the past. "Huh? What do you mean no Final Aeon?" he said, sounding angry.

The lights came back on, and the elevator rose again, with a distraught Yuna still on it. "Sir Auron! Everyone!"

Without a word, the six guardians joined the summoner on the elevator and descended into the Chamber of the Fayth. The room looked like the one in Bevelle's temple; only the ceiling had partially collapsed, shattering the glass covering on the fayth statue. "Something isn't right here…" Charlie mentally noted, staring at the statue with unease. "The statue's supposed to sing, isn't it?"

"This isn't a fayth," Yuna told everyone, shaking her head sadly. "This is just an empty statue."

Suddenly, the back wall of the chamber vanished in a burst of pale blue light, and the ghostly priest from before appeared. "That statue lost its power as a fayth long ago," he calmly explained. "It is Lord Zaon, the first fayth of the Final Summoning. What you see before you is all that remains of him. Lord Zaon…his soul is gone."

"Gone?" Wakka exclaimed.

"You mean there is no Final Aeon?" Rikku asked, looking confused.

"Fear not," the old man said, as if calming a small child. "Lady Yunalesca will show you the path. The Final Aeon will be yours." He stepped aside and pointed at the glowing blue light behind him. "Go to her now. Inside, the lady awaits."

Having delivered his message, the ancient priest vanished, leaving the group to make their decision on their own. Yuna started toward it and Charlie said, "Hold on a moment, Yuna!" She then turned to Auron, and asked, "Auron, you knew about this, didn't you?"

"Yes," he calmly replied.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rikku demanded, shaking a fist at him.

"If I had told you the truth, would it have stopped you from coming?" he asked.

"Yuna," Kimahri began, turning to look at the summoner.

"I'm not going back!" she irritably replied.

"Kimahri knows this," the Ronso said. "Kimahri goes first. Yuna is safe. Kimahri protect."

Having said his piece, Kimahri walked through the wall of blue light, followed by Yuna, and then everyone else. The light led them to a large, lavishly appointed chamber that looked like it was once used for religious ceremonies. Scores of pyreflies floated near the ceiling, looking like living stars, and Charlie stared up at them, until Rikku yelped, "Someone's coming!"

Charlene turned to the staircase on the other end of the room as a ghostly woman with white hair and a metal bikini gracefully descended the stairs, stopping halfway down. "She's been around for a thousand years, and still dresses like that?" Charlie thought, remembering the sphere of Zanarkand and Yunalesca at Seymour's house. "Or did the stupid outfit rust so much that it won't come off?"

"Lady Yunalesca," Yuna gasped, slightly awestricken by the ancient summoner.

"Welcome to Zanarkand," Yunalesca replied, nodding acknowledgement to the group. "I congratulate you, summoner. You have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow you with that which you seek." She raised her arms in a grand gesture. "The Final Aeon…will be yours. Now choose…" She lowered her arms and walked down the stairs, gave Charlie a curious look, and then continued to speak. "You must choose the one whom I will change to be the fayth of the Final Summoning."

At that, everyone, except Auron, gasped, completely taken aback by such an announcement. "How in the world can that even be possible?" Charlie thought, stunned.

"There must be a bond between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies," Yunalesca continued, ignoring everyone's amazement. "The bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends…if that light is strong enough, it will conquer Sin. A thousand years ago, I chose my husband, Zaon, as my fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon." She paused, smiling gently at Yuna. "There is nothing to fear. You will soon be freed of worry and pain, for once you call the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate and final liberation. Your father, Braska, chose this path."

"Death is final, all right," Charlie thought, "But if it's so great, then why is she clinging here instead of going off to the Farplane?"

Before she could ask the question aloud, however, Yunalesca turned and walked away, and Jecht, Braska, and Auron of the past appeared in the chamber. "It is not too late!" Auron cried, his voice and expression full of anguish. "Let us turn back!"

"If I turn back, who will defeat Sin?" Braska asked, turning to face Auron. "Would you have some other summoner and his guardians go through this?"

"But…my lord, there must be another way!"

"This is the only way we got now," Jecht said, cutting off his fellow guardian's protests. "Fine…make me the fayth. I've been doing some thinking. My dream is back in the other Zanarkand. I wanted to make that runt into a star blitz player…show him the view from the top, you know? But now I know there's no going home for me. I'm never gonna see him again. My dream's never gonna come true, so make me the fayth. I'll fight Sin with you, Braska, then maybe my life will have meaning, you know?"

"Don't do this, Jecht!" Auron begged. "If you live, there may be another way! We'll think of something, I know!"

"Oh, Auron!" Charlie thought, fighting back tears as she watched the expressions on the faces of the two Aurons. "I'm so sorry I ever thought you were heartless! You've lived with so much pain! How do you bear it?"

"Believe me, I've thought this through," Jecht replied, shaking his head. "Besides, I ain't getting any younger, so I might as well make myself useful."

"Jecht," Braska began, only to have the guardian turn around and glare.

"What? You're not gonna try and stop me, too?"

"Sorry. I mean…thank you."

Jecht nodded, clapped Braska on the shoulder, and turned his attention back to Auron, "Braska still has to fight Sin, Auron. Guard him well. Make sure he gets there. Well, let's go."

Braska and Jecht started up the stairs, and Auron yelled, "Lord Braska, Jecht!"

"What do you want now?" the blitz star snapped.

"Sin always comes back," Auron pleaded. "It comes back after the Calm every time! The cycle will continue, and your deaths will mean nothing!"

"But there's always a chance it won't come back this time," Braska replied. "It's worth trying."

"I understand what you're saying, Auron," Jecht said. "I'll find a way to break the cycle."

"You have a plan?" Auron asked, slightly hopeful.

"Jecht?" Braska added, also curious.

"Trust me, I'll think of something," Jecht said, laughing as his and Braska's images faded.

The only image left was Younger Auron, and he shut his eyes and dropped to his knees, overwhelmed by grief. Auron of the present walked up behind the image, drew his sword, and sliced at it repeatedly, yelling in frustration and sorrow as he did so. Finally, the image faded, and Auron hung his head and said, "And the cycle went on."

Charlie walked up to Auron, put a hand on his shoulder, and said, "We're going to break it."

"How?" Wakka demanded. "What, you got a plan now?"

Lulu looked at Yuna, and said, "If one of us has to become a fayth, I volunteer."

"Me too, Yuna!" Wakka added.

"That's not going to stop it!" Charlie cried in exasperation. "Everything…all the pain, all the suffering…it'll start all over again, and you'll have just wasted your life!"

Wakka and Lulu both shook their heads at the younger guardian. "Charlie, listen to me," the blitzer said, "You wanna defeat Sin and keep Yuna alive? You don't want Sin to come back? That is just not going to happen, you know?"

Lulu opened her mouth to add her thoughts, but Charlie interrupted her. "How do you know, Wakka?" she yelled, angry tears glittering in her eyes. "Sure, Operation Mi'ihen was a disaster, but in the thousand years since Sin appeared, hasn't anyone tried anything else?"

A long, pregnant silence ensued, broken only when Lulu finally spoke up. "Charlie, if there really was another way, don't you think someone would have found it by now?"

"Nothing has to change," she quietly replied, drawing startled looks from everyone. "Do you remember the day Wakka said that? He tossed it off so easily, but it's not true. If nothing changes, then the world will stagnate, and eventually rot. In my world, there's a saying: 'God helps those who help themselves.' Maybe your Yevon is the same way? Hell, why don't we ask Yunalesca? She's been here since Sin first appeared, so wouldn't she know something about it that the rest of us don't?"

"You really think she'll help you?" Rikku asked.

"It's better to go and find out than sit and wonder…don't you think?"

Yuna stepped forward and shook her head. "It would be so easy to let my fate carry me away…following the same path my whole life through, but I know…I can't." She looked at Charlie and said, "What I do…I do with no regrets."

The summoner then turned and walked up the stairs, and everyone quickly followed behind her. They walked through the door, and found themselves on an ancient balcony floating in space. Stars filled the sky and rocks orbited the platform like tiny planets, drawing everyone's attention until Yunalesca reappeared. "Have you chosen the one who will be your fayth?" she asked. Suddenly, she paused and stared at Charlie, her curious expression returning. "I was not sure before, but you…you cannot become a fayth," she announced, startling gasps out of everyone. "You do not belong here, yet you still exist. How is that possible?"

Charlie shrugged and said, "I really don't know, but if it makes you feel any better, the Farplane kicked me out for the same reason." "Like I'd really volunteer to kill Yuna, anyway, you hateful cow!"

The ancient summoner gave the young guardian a troubled look, then looked at the rest of the guardians and said, "The rest of you, however, can become fayth." She turned to Yuna, and asked, "Who will you choose?"

"Might I ask something, first?" Yuna inquired. When Yunalesca nodded, she continued, "Will Sin come back even should I use the Final Aeon to defeat it?"

"Sin is eternal," Yunalesca replied, as if to a small child. "Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in its place…and thus, Sin is reborn."

"So that's why Jecht turned into Sin," Charlie said to herself. "What does it do, pass the title around like a relay baton?"

"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is never-ending," Yunalesca continued, ignoring Charlie.

"Never-ending?" Wakka exclaimed, completely taken aback. "But…but…if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back, ya? Someday, it'll be gone, ya?"

"Will humanity ever attain such purity?" the ancient summoner asked.

"This cannot be!" Lulu wailed. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope all these years!"

"Hope is…comforting," Yunalesca explained with a pitying smile. "It allows us to accept our fate, no matter how tragic it might be."

'That's wrong! Hope should be used to fight fate, not just lie there and let it run over the top of you!"

Suddenly, Charlie felt a chill run down her spine and shivered as the ghostly image of the younger Auron passed through her and confronted the Yunalesca of the past.

"Where is the sense in all this?" Auron demanded, wildly brandishing his katana. "Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!"

Past-Yunalesca smiled. "They chose to die…because they had hope."

Unable to take anymore, Younger Auron charged Yunalesca, his sword raised for a killing blow. Before it could connect, however, the ancient summoner raised her hand, and blasted him with burst of blazing orange energy. The bolt burned through his left shoulder and sent him flying through the air, only to land in a crumpled heap on the balcony floor. "That blow…that's what made the scar I saw at the Mi'ihen Travel Agency!" Charlie realized in horror. "There's no way he should have survived a blow like that…not without being crippled." She turned to look at Auron, and he nodded slightly, just enough for her to see. "Auron didn't survive it…he died…and now he's an unsent!" Yunalesca started speaking again, and Charlie ignored it, holding back a burning rage that welled up in her heart. "That bitch! She took his friends, forced him to watch them die, and then took his life! And now she wants to kill Yuna?"

"Now choose…" Yunalesca said, finally catching Charlene's attention. "Who will be your fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"

There was a long pause, and then Yuna finally made her answer. "No one," she said, shaking her head. "I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira, and would have gladly died for them…but no more! The Final Summoning…is a false tradition that should be thrown away."

"No," Yunalesca said, horrified at Yuna's response. "It is our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give that hope to the people…so they would forget sorrow."

"Wrong," Yuna replied. "My father…my father wanted…to make Spira's sorrow go away, not just cover it up with lies!"

"Sorrow cannot be abolished. It is meaningless to try."

"My father…I loved him, so I…I will live with my sorrow. I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don't know when it'll be, but someday, I will conquer it, and I will do it without…false hope."

"You tell her, Yuna!" Charlie cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

Yunalesca's eyes blazed, and her face twisted with rage for a moment, and then she calmed down and said, "Poor creature, you would throw away hope." Her hair darkened, and then changed into waving purple-black tentacles. "Well…I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair. Let me be your liberator."

Her hair-tentacles plunged into the floor beneath her, and pyreflies swarmed around her as she started transforming. Auron then shouted, "Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!"

"Nice inspirational speech, Chief!" Charlie thought, snickering aloud.

"Yuna need Kimahri," Kimahri said, brandishing his spear. "Kimahri protect Yuna."

"Well, I'm fighting!" Rikku announced, taking up a battle stance.

"I can't believe we're gonna fight Yunalesca. Gimme a break!" Wakka groaned, readying for the fight.

"You can always run," Lulu suggested.

"Hah!" the blitzer scoffed. "I'd never forgive myself-no way! Not if I ran away now. Even in death, ya!"

Lulu smiled and nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Charlie shot Yuna a sidelong glance, and said, "Yuna, let's show her what real hope can do!"

The summoner nodded, and the battle began. At first, all Yunalesca did was fire off small bursts of magical energy, which did not cause much damage, but were impossible to dodge. She made no effort to evade any attacks made at her, though, so she was easy to defeat…at first. When Rikku charged forward to finish Yunalesca off, however, a dark wind surged up around the ancient summoner's body and pushed her away. "What's going on?" the Al Bhed yelled over the howling of the wind.

"How should I know?" Charlie replied, covering her face with her free arm. "Maybe we pissed her off?"

Suddenly, the wind died, and Yunalesca reappeared, now standing on a weird tentacle-platform out of everyone's reach, save Wakka and Lulu. Before anyone could make a move, however, several huge tentacles tipped with skulls erupted from the ground and lashed out at Charlie, Rikku, and Lulu, knocking them down and bludgeoning them. After a moment, the strange appendages retreated, and the three guardians got to their feet. "What the hell was that about?" Charlie growled, only to fall silent when she noticed her left arm.

Instead of its normal color, it was now a hideous shade of green mottled with red, just as Wakka's skin had been back in the last fight with Seymour. Panicked, she looked up at Lulu and Rikku and saw that their skin was the same color. "Holy hell! What is this?"

"A zombie curse," the black mage replied, blasting Yunalesca with a Waterga spell. "It's disgusting, and it causes Potions and healing magic to damage you."

As if to prove that point, Yunalesca cast Curaga on Rikku, causing the little thief to scream in pain. "You three get back!" Auron barked, as he, Kimahri, and Wakka stepped forward to take their places.

The lashing tentacles combined with Yunalesca's magic made the battle far more difficult, but eventually, the party managed to defeat her again. This time, the tentacle-platform rose higher, and then fell backward, as a huge, demonic woman's face burst out of the floor, surrounded by the hideous skull-tentacles. The face's acid-yellow eyes glowed brightly, and a wave of black and red energy blasted its way across the room and slammed into the group, knocking them off their feet. Charlie let out a growl of frustration, as her earlier rage bubbled up again. "This bitch is really getting on my nerves!" she snarled as she got to her feet. She then noticed Auron standing alone against Yunalesca, hacking and slashing at the giant demon-face and its tentacles. "Auron is trying to fight her alone…again…"

Auron chopped off another tentacle, but as it fell, a huge gush of dark purple fluid flooded out of it, hitting Auron in the face and briefly blinding him. Instinctively, he stopped attacking and tried to scrub the blood away, but then another tentacle reached out, bit into his shoulder, and hauled him into the air. "You do not learn, do you, guardian?" Yunalesca asked as he struggled to free himself.

Auron responded by raising his sword and hacking at the tentacle holding him. The blow was not strong enough to sever the appendage completely, but it caused it to drop him on the floor, where the stump of another tentacle swatted him across the room. Yuna quickly ran to his aid, heedless of the other tentacles that swooped down on her. "Oh no, you don't!" Charlie screamed, diving in the way.

Yuna turned from healing Auron and saw Charlie standing in the way, with one tentacle biting into her left leg, while the other had the blade of the Brotherhood jammed through the roof of its mouth. "Charlie, are you okay?" Yuna asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

The guardian looked back at her, with eyes filled with red rage, and gave the summoner a feral grin, "Never better!"

She then jerked her sword out of the first tentacle's mouth, ripping off half of its face in the process, and then turned and chopped off the head of the other one before darting forward to engage Yunalesca directly. Charlene slashed wildly at the demon-face, ignoring the tentacles that lashed out at her. She did not battle alone for long, because Kimahri joined her, and together, the two of them managed to poke out the face's eyes, causing it and Yunalesca to shriek in pain. One by one, the others joined in, adding their own attacks to the fray, until finally, Auron rejoined the fight and stabbed the giant face between the eyes. The face screeched loudly, and then slumped sideways as its tentacles fell lifelessly to the floor. Then the whole thing erupted in a blaze of blood-red light and pyreflies, leaving a normal Yunalesca collapsed on the floor, gasping and struggling to breathe. "If I die, so does the Final Aeon," she panted, looking up at the group in desperation. "And with it, Spira's only hope."

"We'll find a new hope," Charlie spat, her rage subsiding but not completely gone. "One that doesn't involve needless death."

Yunalesca glared at her. "Fool. There is no other way. Even if there was…even if you destroy Sin…Yu Yevon the immortal would only create Sin anew."

"Yu Yevon?" Charlie asked, taken aback. "Who is that?"

Instead of answering, Yunalesca's form faded, and she wept, "Ah…Zaon…forgive me. Spira has been robbed of the light of hope…all that remains is sorrow."

With that, she dissolved into a cloud of pyreflies and vanished. Yuna, her eyes wide with shock, whispered, "I cannot believe what we just did!"

"Well, she didn't give us much choice, really," Charlie said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Apparently, she didn't want people knowing the truth about the Final Aeon…and it makes me wonder how many other summoners she's killed to protect the secret."

"So what do we do now?" Rikku asked.

"We defeat Sin. Let's beat it and make sure it never comes back," Charlie answered. "I don't know how, yet, but we'll find a way to do it." "And maybe we'll find out who the hell this Yu Yevon character is, while we're at it, because I get the feeling that he's the last piece of the puzzle."