Seymour

My plan is perfect. I know it is. I have had two years to develop it while residing here in these flowery lands. The brightly lit pyreflies dancing around me; dancing around my environment. I know that I can use the pyreflies for sinister means. Yu Yevon had possessed several Fayths and shielded their Aeons with pyreflies to create an armor. An armor called Sin.

I know that I should be able to possess the Fayth, just like Yu Yevon did; and, just like this 1,000-year-old soul did. The one that looked so much like one of those pitiful mortals I fought two years ago. I had been following the events that transpired the past two years. I watched as Yuna, my beloved who was to be my partner in cleansing the world with Sin, had continued her adventure to find him. The one who foiled my plans. The one who she fell for, instead of me. The one who hailed from an 'Other World'. The Son of Jecht.

He was here in the Farplane too, so I knew her attempts at finding him on Spira were futile. I never did interact with him much while he was here; his father and friends would often avoid any area I was residing in. This is something souls can do on the Farplane, I guess. But no matter, my plans did not involve the dream from Zanarkand or his friends. My plans do involve someone very similar to him, though. The man from the real Zanarkand. And based on what I have seen recently, I know exactly how to make that look-a-like comply to my plans...

Lenne

'Finally, I'm with Shuyin again'. These were my first thoughts upon arriving in the Farplane. I had spent 1,000 years condensed into a sphere, only to experience the world through others who wore the dressphere I possessed. My heart and soul jumped for joy when Yuna picked up that sphere. I felt a connection with her, and I could tell we had much in common. She felt like a kindred spirit to me. I could tell that she would be the one to end my suffering at last.

I turned to Shuyin and see that he is not meeting my gaze. His eyes are fixed on the ground. "Shuyin..."

He was remaining silent. Is he ashamed of what has happened the past one thousand years?

My intuition is typically correct. I have a knack for empathically intuiting what people are thinking and feeling. I think that comes from my being an ancient soul, a former summoner and a mage. It took him a minute or so before he looked at me. But he quickly averted his gaze downwards again. "Shuyin, please talk to me."

I placed my hand under his chin and gently lifted it up towards my face. I could see sorrow in his eyes. It reminded me of the night we died. The look he gave was a mixed bag of emotions – sorrow, despair, defeat, guilt, anger (though he showed no anger towards me – his anger was directed at the guards who were prepared to assassinate us). His gaze held a very similar display of emotions, minus the anger. I could see he was still filled with despair. I tried my best to show him I was not angry or upset with him. We stood in silence, starring into each other's eyes; we were studying each other's current reactions. I finally let out a sigh and hug him tightly. This seems to have done him in, as he began sobbing into my shoulder. I held his head tightly against me, rubbing his head and back in a soothing fashion. I felt tears forming in my eyes as well, but I was not going to further upset him by crying. I had to remain strong for him.

You see, Shuyin was always...well, how should I put this? A very sensitive soul. He got flak for this from his dad all the time. He tended to call Shuyin a 'cry baby'. I didn't see Shuyin as such. I saw him as a man with deep feelings and was very expressive in displaying the emotions he felt. But this was true to an extreme for Shuyin – he had a difficult time processing and expressing himself appropriately. Myself, on the other hand, had practiced how to hold my feelings in. Granted, this wasn't exactly healthy either. I do admit I take this to an extreme in the other direction. In a strange way, though, I think we balance each other out. This is why I had to be strong right now.

"Shhh, it's okay. It's over now." I whispered to him. I do not want him to suffer any more than he has.

"I failed you. I killed so many people. I..." Shuyin finally spoke before sobbing again. He was feeling extreme guilt that spanned a thousand years, starting with their deaths and lasting to the final attempt to utilize Vegnagun. It is true he killed many people as an unsent, but this wasn't Shuyin's actions...not really. The Shuyin I knew had died the night we were murdered. And I don't mean this in a literal 'his body died' sort of way. I mean his personality. The man I had fallen in love with had died, and the unsent which rose from the ashes of the fires of hatred was the one Yuna, Rikku, and Paine had encountered. It wasn't Shuyin. It was anger, rage, and despair taken form into an apparition. Fortunately for me, the real Shuyin was still residing in the unsent. He was just sleeping. He was waiting to be resurrected.

"That's all passed now. That wasn't you who committed those murders." I paused to reflect on the events of the past several months. "It was your despair mixed with the pyreflies that have been manifesting for one thousand years."

Shuyin began to calm his crying; his sobs became smaller sniffles. "I failed you..."

He's still not hearing me. "Shuyin, please. I told you that was a thousand years ago. We can't look back on that now."

I'm beginning to wonder how I can convey this to him in any other way he may be able to fully believe. In truth, I forgave him that night of our murders. I know he was trying to do what he thought was right, and he was doing it for me. He could have succeeded in it if I hadn't have stopped him. I just could not bring myself to let him sacrifice himself and all the residents of Bevelle to stop the war. There had to be another way of ending the war without sacrifices being made...

"I'm so sorry." He sighed into my shoulder.

"It's okay. I love you." I whispered back to him. We stood together like this, entwined in an exhausted, yet relieved embrace. We had both suffered so much for the past thousand years.

"How heartwarming..." an unfamiliar voice stated.

I turned to look towards the source of the voice. A man stood a few feet from us. He appeared to be a multi-racial being, possibly Guado and Human? Something about his presence was threatening. Shuyin, also sensing his hostility, went from defeated in my arms to guarding the path between the Guado and myself. He was going into protective, guardian mode.

"Stay back, Seymour." My love warned. Apparently, he was aware of the identity of our intruder.

Seymour gave a low laugh. "I have a proposition for you, Shuyin. One that you can't turn down." His voice sounded menacing. My heart began to race. Can he do anything to harm us here on the Farplane? Surely, he's just a spirit now; just like us. He can't do anything to hurt us.

"Fuck off." Shuyin growled. I felt a bit uncomfortable hearing him cursing at our companion, but he sensed this man meant to do us harm; so, I shook off my discomfort to focus on keeping us both safe.

Seymour gave that same laugh a second time. He finds this amusing, I guess. But we don't. "Please leave us in peace." I warned.

Seymour shook his head and stated, "you are not the ones to be making demands here."

I watched as he extended his arms to reveal a blank, lifeless sphere in his right hand. He pointed the sphere towards me, and suddenly I felt a rushing sensation of flying towards him. I felt my pyreflies disperse and travel into the sphere. Once more I found myself trapped in a spherical cage, unable to witness the world around me. My spiritual essence had been confined to the sphere he held in his hand. Then I knew no more of the world. My consciousness faded to black.

'Oh Fayth, please. Not again.'