Hi. Spoilers. AU. Yuna x Seymour. I don't own FFX. Rated T or less.
May slow down more. I like to keep quite a bit of story ahead of what's posted here and it's catching up.
The big reveal!
"Your Grace… thank you, for meeting with me." I bowed and prayed hastily.
"It is a favor to our honorable Maester Seymour."
"That is why I wanted to come. When we went to the Farplane, Lord Jyscal was coming out of it! And he gave me a sphere, confessing that Maester Seymour had murdered him…
"Seymour said it was a set up… and then he imprisoned my guardians and now I… I have so many questions. I came here to ask one thing, but,
"Everything is so complicated now, Maester… When I started this, it was simple, pilgrimage to Zanarkand to defeat Sin. It wouldn't be easy but it was simple. I want to do what's right, but that gets blurrier and blurrier."
"Summoner, you are at a delicate age… Everything is complicated at this point." He was saying I'm young? That I'm hormonal?!
"Maester Mika, everything is complicated because we share this world with Sin!"
"The world was complicated before Sin, and it will be after. Don't forget how it was created. Sin is something we can put the blame on. Without it, what of our wrongdoings? What of others'? Our feelings would be torn in different directions… Partly guilt… partly resentment… partly coincidence… and we would have to attribute the correct amount of feelings to each. But with Sin? All blame is put on it. With one word, all else is gone. All guilt, all resentment, all unfairness, is gone. That is simplicity. To rid the world of Sin, people would start to abuse these feelings again… That is why a Summoner must train physically and mentally, must sharpen the body and spirit. You must be prepared to live without Sin, you must be an example of how to wade the complication that arises without a great monster on which to lay all blame. No one can tell you what is right, you must write your own story. I have been alive many, many years, and I still see blurry situations. Summoner, you should be proud of yourself. You have truly held the teachings, and tried to do right, and follow your heart through many a trial. You may feel your load getting heavier and heavier, and you don't know how to lighten it, but I tell you that when you use that strength in your heart to choose Spira and her people, you have won more battles than you know."
I'm taken aback. I don't know how to respond… I look at the floor…
He's right… he's right about so much of it… I see why he has been Maester for so many years… his experience is invaluable…
It still doesn't answer, well, many questions.
"Lady Yuna… I will explain to you Lord Jyscal's death."
The explanation did take quite a bit of history, and knowledge of Spira's affairs.
Seymour was born to a Guado and a human. That had never been done before, not without exile and shame and ultimately death, whether directly or as a result. Jyscal spent his life trying to get the world to accept his family. The world we see now, where we are united, it wasn't always that way.
When Seymour was young, they were plagued with shame and nearly exile. Well,
The Guado weren't necessarily organized to begin with. They are masters of the forest, and have their tree villages. That was really all they had in common. They all lived in the trees, maintaining their own little communities alone. Before the marriage, it's not that Jyscal was a leader, but he was respected.
He was building a leadership in the most organic way, the way leaders are naturally born.
He would visit the separate villages, and sort of… "sell" the other villages' ideas to them, for exchange of their ideas… The best ways to raise certain crops, the strongest binds in the branches, the most potent mixes of herbs, etc… Of course he wanted to make a profit, but more than that he wanted better welfare for the Guado. He saw no reason to be separated, struggling alone.
He was a family man, through and through.
So then, enter the family. So, because of his reputation, they weren't totally exiled. Jyscal was still permitted to freely travel, continue to do what he was doing, so long as Marya and Seymour were not with him.
They struggled, of course. No one liked it, of course. They made it by as best they could. Jyscal tried to throw his weight around for their benefit, it never worked.
Of all the trades that he shared, of all the benefits, one thing that every Guado, every Spiran shared, was Sin.
Jyscal never said it outright… but Marya eventually figured out that that was their golden ticket, no one would deny them… if they defeated Sin. He argued, but she persisted, and he knew she was right.
Seymour was eight.
Marya took him to Zanarkand.
They didn't know what the price would be.
But the more they traveled, the more determined she became, the more driven… she saw only one thing…
Seymour…
Seymour lost his mother.
And he gained Anima.
But he didn't defeat Sin.
He traveled back to his father, defeating everything in his path, pounding it to a pulp, really.
Everything changed, then. Seymour lost his mother. He went back to his father. The Guado still didn't accept him, but now they had a leverage point. Anima. Jyscal's convincing became a little more persuasive. Of course, he was a kind man, he didn't threaten. He mostly offered protection.
Seymour showed a talent for education. His father enabled him to study, to learn as much as he could.
They still weren't accepted, they were tolerated.
The Church offered them a deal. If they let Seymour train to be a priest, to hone his skill with Anima, to be an asset to the Church, they would ensure that the Guado accept them with open arms. Which began a many year long plan.
Jyscal sent Seymour to train under the clergy in Bevelle. The Guado accepted him and dealt with him as long as Seymour wasn't present. They slowly introduced the idea of the Church, of Yevon. Jyscal accepted open-mindedness in place of profit for his trades.
Slowly but surely, it worked. Jyscal was awarded Maester, the Guado were represented in the world.
The world finally accepted Seymour. Finally, they didn't spit at him, curse him, push him around…
Seymour trained diligently in Bevelle. He became a High Priest.
And then he learned, what I also learned, today…
Mika is unsent.