Chapter 78 – The Past Still Holds Secrets
Wrapping her arms around herself, Lenne gazed around the cavernous void surrounding her. Remnants of the foreign religion bewildered her. The machinery in what had been the Cloister of Trials inside Bevelle Temple hummed along, operating as if summoners would still come to test its puzzles. Its glowing white lights provided the only substantial illumination in the massive chamber. Little thoughts sprouted in her mind, vestiges of Yuna's memories from her time as a Yevon summoner. To Yuna, the appearance of such machina shocked her—a blasphemous use of forbidden technology. Yet to Lenne, it served as a reminder of just how much the ancient city relied on technology in all facets of life.
She stepped onto a mechanized gondola with Rikku and Paine. With boredom in their eyes, they both seemed disinterested in surveying the Cloister, unlike Lenne. It rumbled and whined when it came to life, ferrying them across what looked to have been a maze in the past.
"Just what was this grandiose maze supposed to serve?" she asked.
Rikku glanced over at her without making eye contact. "Summoners on their pilgrimage had to go through the Cloisters to get their aeons."
"Did Yuna come through here?"
"Oh, she did alright," replied Rikku. "But by now she had become disillusioned with the whole Yevon thing. This place really exposed all their lies."
"It's so strange that these Yevon believers took Bevelle as their center but banned all machina. The Bevelle in my time relied on it so much everywhere in life. Like in Zanarkand, it was just a part of the culture."
Rikku shrugged. "I never followed any of that. Al Bhed were the bad guys to Yevon."
Lenne turned her head toward Paine. "How about you? Were you part of Yevon in the past?"
"Uh, me?" Paine stumbled to find her words. "Well, I guess you could say I was."
"Were you a summoner?"
Paine laughed. "Not even close. I recorded for the Crimson Squad. You could say they were supposed to be an elite fighting force for Yevon."
Lenne glanced at the large sword strapped to Paine's back. "That seems fitting."
"Didn't get to do much fighting. We were betrayed by Yevon."
"Betrayed?"
Paine's expression sharpened. "At the time Yuna was battling Sin, one of the maesters had us investigate a spirit deep inside a cave at Mushroom Rock. Didn't know at the time that spirit was Shuyin."
Lenne gasped. "Shuyin? What was he doing there?"
"Other than him wandering around pissed off, I'm not sure. Maester Kinoc wanted what he knew about Vegnagun. When we encountered him, he . . ."
"What happened?" Lenne felt her throat tighten.
"He got into our heads. Most of them ended up killing each other," explained Paine with no emotion in her voice.
Lenne closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"Hey, we don't blame you," said Rikku. "But we've seen who Shuyin is now."
Lenne's shoulders slumped, and a tear ran down her cheek. "My fear has always been that the man I loved no longer existed. The shadow which remains in not the Shuyin I loved."
"Shuyin is somewhere between sinister and insane," said Paine. "But he doesn't know you're alive. Especially how alive you are right now."
Rikku nodded. "Yunie always held out the hope that if he knew, maybe the real Shuyin you remember would emerge."
"Thank you. I appreciate the kind words, but I've always been a realist. I hold no hope that the Shuyin I knew still exists," Lenne whispered, rubbing the tears from her face.
She stood in silence, letting the buzzing of the machina she rode on fill in the empty space with sound. Rikku patted her on the back, a gesture she appreciated. Continuing through the Cloister, she searched for Isaaru with her new friends. Focusing on the man Shuyin had recently possessed provided a welcome distraction for her. Her path ended in a circular room. Strange glyphs lined the walls, more remnants of the dead religion that had encompassed Spira for nearly a millennium.
In the center of the room, a giant steel dome covered most of the floor. The purplish hue from the ambient lights around the room's perimeter shaded the otherwise dull grey of the dome with some color. She walked around it, noticing large metal bolts attaching it to the floor. A loud clang startled her. Rikku had kicked the dome and yelled something in a foreign tongue to it. Lenne snickered when she saw Paine, standing behind the Al Bhed girl, shaking her head.
"You're such an idiot sometimes," remarked Paine.
Rikku rolled her eyes. "You know I hate this place! We're at a dead end, and we haven't found Isaaru yet. Where could he be hiding?"
Lenne knelt by the back of the dome. "Maybe underneath this thing. It looks like this bolt is unfastened."
Paine hustled around to her. "Huh? Yeah, you're right. Check that other one, Rikku."
"Yup, this one too!" Rikku declared.
"Great, looks like we might be going down there again," grumbled Paine.
"Down?" questioned Lenne. "Just what is this dome covering up?"
"This was the Chamber of the Fayth. It's where the aeon in Bevelle slept, or something like that. After Sin was gone, the aeons went, too. Now, just a big hole leading to the underground is left," explained Rikku.
Lenne felt her hands tremble. "Underground? You mean . . ."
"Yeah, where Vegnagun used to be," said Paine while placing a hand on her shoulder.
Rikku's eyes bulged. "Oh! Geez, sorry, I forgot you probably have bad memories from down there."
She ducked back when she looked into Lenne's eyes, which displayed a horror far beyond the immensity of Rikku's statement. Clutching her hands together, Lenne reeled back from the steel dome. A violet picture of herself reflected on its metallic surface, marred by marks of age and spots of rust.
"If you don't want to go down, you don't have to," Paine said.
Lenne slowly shook her head. "No, I'll come, too. It's important that we find him."
"Are you sure?" Rikku asked, looking up at her with sad eyes.
With a smile, Lenne said, "I am."
Paine pointed to the bottom of the dome. "It's going to take all of us to lift this up. Grab a bolt!"
Kneeling by the loosened bolt in the back, Lenne grasped its clasp. She lifted in tandem with Rikku and Paine, using all her strength to force the dome to budge. It screeched against the floor, shifting little by little. Giving it a final shove, it relented its space above the hole. A cloud of dust swirled up into the air, concealing what lay below until it settled. Lenne coughed and waved her hand in front of her to disperse the dust in the air. She leaned over the hole, revealing a view into Bevelle's shadowy underbelly.
The air held a familiar smell of mildew and oil. It hung in her nose, causing her to retract herself before queasiness overtook her. She closed her eyes, and memories of a thousand years ago flashed in her mind. When she reopened her eyes, she saw Paine fastening a rope to one of the empty clasps for the dome.
"Here's our way back up," she said with a smirk.
"Yeah, good idea," said Lenne.
Rikku punched her fist into the flat palm of her other hand. "Alrighty! I'll go down first and scout things out."
"Feeling adventurous today?" joked Paine.
"No time to be scared if we want to get Yunie back!"
Lenne watched Rikku tug the rope twice before descending into the abyss below. She folded her arms while she waited for Rikku to signal all clear. The waiting exacerbated her already tense state. Little shivers tremored through her like electricity until Rikku's voice faintly called for them to join her. Swallowing hard, she motioned for Paine to descend first. Lenne rubbed her hands slowly together, building up the courage to climb down the rope.
She blew out a breath and slid down the rope with her eyes closed until her feet touched the ground below. Even before she opened her eyes, the acidic smell in the air harkened to the day long ago she had ventured here before. Gazing out from the small platform she stood on, the restricted complex loomed in the distance. Tiny red lights blinked on the security towers. She watched stray machina, creations born out of war she battled in the past, wander aimlessly around.
"Well, we're back here again, Doctor P," stated Rikku with a grin.
Paine rolled her eyes. "Why are you calling me that again?"
"Eh, it felt appropriate."
"Where do you think Isaaru went from here?" asked Lenne.
Rikku rubbed her chin. "Hopefully not far. I really don't want to go all the way down in here."
"Let's check out the security towers," said Paine. "He might be hiding in one of those."
"How did you get across before, Lenne?" Rikku asked. "We slid down this chain."
Lenne chuckled nervously. "I summoned an aeon to fly across. It also helped me battle the machina . . . which I see are still here."
Paine grunted. "Yeah, Yevon kept the old machina down here. Relics of the long-forgotten war."
"Alright then, let's keep moving," said Lenne with a sigh.
Rikku gave her a gleeful smile and hopped on the chain. She glided down its metal links with ease, surprising Lenne. When Paine did the same, she gritted her teeth—how crazy are the Gullwings? At that moment, she appreciated all the risks Yuna took for her sake even more. As her friends had done before, Lenne stepped onto the thick chain. She extended her arms out to balance herself, walking down the chain because she did not have the confidence in herself to slide like her companions. They had far more adventuring skills than she ever had.
It felt like an eternity, but Lenne reached the restricted area without falling to her death. She exhaled deeply, leaning over to expel all the fear she held with her breath while crossing. Once she collected herself, she looked around, searching for a sign of Isaaru or lurking machina. Her eyes located neither. Only the towering cone-shaped security tower loomed in her field of vision.
Its lamps bathed yellowish light over her arms and legs, washing out the color of her clothing and skin. The matte grey hue of the metal in its construction mirrored the soullessness of the entire underground. She walked up to the entrance door, brushing her hand against it. It prickled her hand with its coldness. A streak of discoloration ran diagonally through the middle of the door. She remembered passing by it long ago, and somehow it remained just the same. Unlike a millennium ago, no soldiers streamed out of the building to hunt for her.
Rikku scoffed. "It looks like the way down isn't activated."
"You're right. There should be plates for us to jump on," Paine said.
"Let me remember how we did this before," mumbled Rikku while tapping her foot.
"I'll check inside here while you figure it out," said Lenne, pointing to the tower in front of her.
She didn't wait for her companions' approval before entering. Walking into a narrow, circular chamber, she glanced around, surprised by the small space. Abandoned weapon racks rested together in a pile beside the door. Dust-covered crates cramped much of the room. Trying to maneuver around them, she tripped over a clutter of debris on the floor. She caught herself against a ladder leading up to a second level.
Lenne climbed up and pushed open a rusted hatch. She poked her head in enough to look up into the second floor. A random assortment of dismembered machina parts littered the floor. She pushed aside a pile of robotic arms and climbed up. A light overhead flickered on, activated by her motion. She recognized every machina model in the room, even though they were just disparate spare parts. These machines had tried to kill her many times long ago. A fact she would never forget.
Her eye caught a chest peeking out amongst a tall pile of metallic junk. She lifted off the refuse, happy to throw it all against the walls. A tiny jolt of satisfaction swelled in her with each crunch the metal made upon impact. With enough of the chest revealed, she popped open its lid. To her surprise, it contained a solitary sphere. It glowed with a murky burnt-orange hue.
She picked it up in her hands, gazing so intently at it that the rest of the world blurred away. Its light swirled dimly at first before brightening, like lava oozing out of the earth. Bringing it up close enough to her face to see her own reflection, Lenne didn't notice the tower quake or the muffled explosions blasting outside. A relic of the past, the sphere matched her own age.
A nearby blast shook the piles of dismembered parts enough to topple them over. The shrill clanging of a thousand fragments of steel filled her ears, jolting her out of her examination. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized the sounds outside signaled a fight—sounds familiar from her battles outside of Zanarkand.
She rushed down the ladder and exited the tower, greeted by a towering beast hovering out of the center of the restricted area. Red lights flashed all around, and the buzzing of alarms echoed across the underground. Rushing out of the tower, Lenne located Rikku and Paine on the other side at the far security tower.
Hovering between them, the giant flying serpent waved its hooked claws in the air. Its flapping wings forced the air behind it to rush against Lenne, pushing her off-balance. The fiend fired a blast of icy magic at Paine, exploding in a cloud of white crystals in front of her. She watched Paine flop to the ground before rising back up to a knee. Terror consumed Lenne, not knowing what to do to help her friends. She had nothing to summon and no weapons to attack with.
Then she glanced down at the glowing sphere still clutched in her hand. During her midnight chat with Shinra, he gave her a strange device he created—the same one that connected Lenne's soul with Yuna two years ago. Having no other options available, she held her breath and implanted the sphere into the Garment Grid. Pyreflies erupted out of the sphere, engulfing Lenne in a cloak of sparkling pink light.
New power shot through her veins. When the bright light subsided, she noticed the strange clothing she wore. Her top looked like a blue sailor's uniform, with a white ribbon and white trim. Her black lace skirt shifted to a long blue skirt with a slit in the front. Her boots turned blue with dark pink laces and a pink visor adorned her face, tinting the world in a rosier color. Tingling energy sparked off her fingertips.
The towering fiend continued its relentless assault on Rikku and Paine, firing a barrage of fiery arcana at Rikku. She danced and twirled out of the reach of each explosion before sliding onto the ground. Utilizing her newfound powers, Lenne teleported herself in front of Rikku, imposing herself between Rikku and the fiend.
"What the—Lenne is that you?" Rikku asked.
Lenne looked behind her with a smile. "Shinra's inventions are amazing! Let me take care of this monster."
Out of her hands, Lenne fired two bolts of energy. They streaked through the air, leaving a dazzling trail of gleaming light behind. Both bolts crashed into the hovering fiend, pushing it backward. It countered by shooting a streak of electricity at Lenne, the thundering blast echoing throughout the enormous chamber. Lenne clamped her eyes shut and crossed her arms in front of her, taking the attack in full. Electricity sizzled all around her, causing all the hairs on her skin to stand up until the blast fizzled away.
Peeking an eye open, she watched the bright electricity fade away before slowly uncrossing her arms. The smell of static filled the air, but she felt no harm to herself. Her clothing showed no electrical burns, and her arms and legs looked the same. Out of anger, the fiend swiped at her with its curved claw, impacting Lenne in the chest. She braced herself, again using her arms as a shield. The strike smashed against her, but an invisible barrier absorbed most of the force. Outside of a little prick, she felt no pain from the attack.
Footsteps clattered beside her. Out of the corner of her eye, Paine ran next to her, her body bruised and battered. Splotches of frost still clung to her leathery clothing. She held out her sword in her hands.
"I'm not sure what you found, but I'm glad to see you!" she declared.
Lenne smiled. "I'll explain later. Let's kill this fiend first!"
"I'm with you on that," said Rikku meekly from behind.
The three girls wasted no time in engaging with the fiend. Paine struck first, slicing at its curved claws, creating a diversion for Rikku to lob a pair of grenades at its head. Two powerful explosions rippled across its head and torso, causing it to squeal in pain. Lenne conjured a glowing ball of energy in between her two hands before launching it at the fiend. The blast consumed it in a shimmering show of white-hot psychic power.
Though shocked and worn down, the fiend roared, firing off more counterattacks of its own. A series of fireballs blasted the platform, charring the metal flooring. Rikku and Paine managed to dodge out of the way. Lenne stood her ground, absorbing the arcane attacks, undeterred because of the newfound power of her dressphere. With the air superheated around her, she fled to the edge of the platform, hoping to find a reprieve from the stinging heat.
The fiend turned to face her. It curled its long talons together, forming a spinning cloud of magic in front of itself. In an instant, a black and purple circular blob blinked into existence in front of her. Flying out of it, a masked figure emerged laughing at her. It swiped at her chest with its hand of blades. Lenne jerked herself backward, desperately trying to avoid its strike. Her left foot slipped off the edge of the platform and she lost her balance, falling off into the endless abyss below.
She watched helplessly as the masked figure laughed again and flashed out of existence. In what seemed like slow motion, Rikku started running toward Lenne with her hand extended. To no avail, Lenne reached out to grasp onto something to stop her fall, but nothing stood within the range of her arms. Her friends and the fiend disappeared once she fell off the platform, hurdling down into total darkness.
Her speed accelerated the further down she fell. Because darkness engulfed her, she couldn't see anywhere to land or anywhere to teleport herself to until a small light flashed to her right. Her momentum spun her to her right side, where she spotted something that looked like a platform. Using her new dressphere's power, she blinked herself to the flashing light. She crashed onto its surface, smacking hard against what felt like cold steel.
The world continued to spin, even after Lenne believed she had stopped falling. Wooziness claimed dominion over her senses, and she fumbled around, trying to find an object to brace herself against. As she went to stand up, her legs folded underneath her and she toppled back to the ground, passing out from the previous impact.
When she opened her eyes again, more than just one flashing light blinked overhead. She let out a pained groan and tried to prop herself up. She felt two arms gripping themselves around her, helping her rise to a sitting position. Blood seeped out of the bottom of a hastily wrapped bandage around her forehead.
Her sight went in and out of focus, but she made out the rough details of the man tending to her. His disheveled brown hair matched the dirt on his white robe and blue blouse. Kindness readily showed in his eyes, which instilled in Lenne some comfort.
"Take it easy," he said in a hushed voice. "Don't reaggravate your injuries."
Lenne placed her hand against her head. "Thanks."
"I didn't expect to see someone fall down here with me."
"Fall?" She tried to stand, but pain jolted through her body, and she sat back down.
He helped situate her again. "Careful! You took quite a tumble yesterday."
She looked at him in bewilderment. "Yesterday?"
He nodded. "You've been fading in and out for the past day."
She groaned. "This can't be happening. I need to get back to the surface."
"What were you doing down here to begin with?" he asked.
"Um, looking for someone. Then I was fighting a fiend and . . . oh, I hope Rikku and Paine are okay!"
The man's eyes shot open wide. "How do you know them?"
"How? That's a complicated story," she said with a chuckle. "I guess I'm the third Gullwing now."
"What happened to Lady Yuna?" he questioned with growing volume in his voice.
Lenne sighed. "That's also complicated, but she's . . . gone."
The man stood up and paced away from her. A mixture of dread and shock colored his face. Through the pain she felt in her head, she wondered who this mysterious man could be. She hoped he knew a way out of the underground. He blew out a long breath and turned back around.
"My apologies. Your news caught me off guard. My name is Isaaru," he said.
Lenne gasped. "Isaaru? So, you're who we were looking for."
He flashed a solemn smile. "I'm not surprised to hear that."
"Oh, sorry. I'm Lenne," she said. "We were hoping you might have a way to help us bring back Yuna."
Isaaru clearly had no grasp of how he could possibly help. She took a considerable amount of time to explain the situation to him. He remained emotionless during most of her tale, except for when she mentioned Shuyin's name. Each time, he withered in disgust after hearing that word. Lenne couldn't help but cringe inside at Isaaru's reaction, not that she placed blame on him. The damage in Shuyin's wake proved greater than she had realized.
Isaaru held up his hand at the end of her explanation. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but where do you fit into all of this?"
Lenne wrinkled her nose. "That's the most complicated thing. Well, long story short, I am the cause of all of this."
"You are?"
"Unfortunately, yes. A thousand years ago, I infiltrated this very underground to stop Shuyin. He left to steal Vegnagun to stop the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. All because he didn't want to see me die."
"Ah, so love is his motivation," said Isaaru.
"Yes, even after all this time. His spirit is so full of anger and grief, that he turned into the monster you encountered. I became a sphere and rested dormant until Yuna found me. Somehow, our spirits joined together."
Isaaru rubbed his chin. "Had I not just been possessed by Shuyin, I dare say I'd never believe what you've just said. However, anything is possible now."
"I'm sorry for what he did to you," she whispered.
He waved his hand from side to side. "I don't blame you. Now that I understand the situation more, it seems the past has scarred you all. I suppose that's not unlike myself or anyone who was part of Yevon."
"I died before the creation of the Yevon religion and Sin, but I believe it was born out of the conflict between the two cities as well."
"Indeed, it was," Isaaru said. "Now my question is what help can I be to the Gullwings?"
"We were hoping you could remember some of the places you had been when possessed by Shuyin," she said.
He sighed and folded his arms together. "It's all very hazy like I just came out of a dream. I can't say I recall much."
Lenne hung her head. "I was afraid of that."
"But I can tell you why I came down here," he said.
"Oh?"
"There was one other sphere Shuyin sought. He became too impatient to search for it here," Isaaru explained.
"What sphere?" asked Lenne.
"I know little of what or how this time travel device worked, but I vaguely recalled in the book Shuyin stole there was a fourth sphere. Purple in color, I think. It was different than the rest."
"Different? Did Shuyin know what it was used for?"
Isaaru shrugged. "If he did, all that knowledge didn't pass on it me. Yet I remember one key detail—it's needed to travel back to the present."
Panic roiled inside Lenne. "The present? Wait, does that mean Yuna and Shuyin are stuck in the past without it?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," he said with reservation. "Still, after he released me, I wanted to make sure he couldn't claim it. That was before I knew he had already activated the device."
"Well, it still might be necessary. Have you found it yet?" Lenne questioned.
"No, but I think it is nearby from what I remember of Shuyin's thoughts. If we can find it, hopefully, we can find a way back to the top as well."
Isaaru leaned over, offering Lenne a hand up. She gladly took it and used his strength to stand up. Her legs still felt like jelly, but she could move them. She followed Isaaru around the platform and into a dark, nondescript corridor. Her mind kept antagonizing her with thoughts of the mess Shuyin made of everything. Happy to shun him into the past forever If it weren't for Yuna, a mix of anger and guilt jabbed at her. More guilt poured on when she realized Yuna had to deal with this torrent on top of her own emotions when Lenne merged with her.
"Are you alright?" asked Isaaru.
Lenne snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Yes, I just . . . have a lot on my mind."
"I'm sure you do," he said with a frown. "I couldn't begin to comprehend the predicament you're in."
"I will make it right," she stated, gripping her hands into fists.
The long, winding corridor descended further underground. The air continued to chill, tingling against her skin. Her eyes stung from the dryness of it. Unlike the levels she had snuck through to stave off Shuyin's pursuit of Vegnagun, little light shined here. She wondered if she would see the sun again.
Emerging from the corridor into another giant open chamber, a bridge connected the path to a tower in the middle. Unlike the corridor, it had many bright yellow lights illuminated like eyes around it. Worn and tattered banners hung from the apex. Though their colors had long since faded with time, Lenne recognized the sigil on the pendants.
"How old is this place?" she asked, not realizing she spoke her thoughts out loud.
Isaaru scratched his head. "No idea. We're so far down, it doesn't look like anyone from Yevon has been here for quite some time."
"Those flags aren't Yevon though," she said. "They're Bevelle. Back from when I lived."
He examined them again. "You're right. I suppose that makes sense, given when this inventor lived. We can cross here and—"
"Wait!" she shouted, pointing to the tower. "Look at that!"
Emerging from either side of the tower, a pair of monstrous machina marched around the parameter. Their bodies appeared to be carved out of stone, and the impact of their feet when they walked shot vibrations through the ground. Even from her distance, Lenne could feel it through her boots.
"Up for a fight?" she asked Isaaru.
He groaned. "Not really, if I'm being honest. You don't look so either."
"I'm not," she said. "But we need that sphere. Let's go!"