Chapter 8 – Will the Nightmares Ever End?
Yuna sprinted down an unending corridor with Tidus in lockstep beside her. It seemed to stretch out unnaturally, never coming to an end. For a moment, she caught a glimpse into his ocean-blue eyes. Confusion consumed her—what chased her that they needed to run for their lives? Unlike her terror, determination burned in his gaze. Stumbling over her own feet, she almost lost pace with him. Using her hand to regain her balance, she rushed forward, reaching out her arm to grasp ahold of his. As quickly as the endless grey corridor stretched on for eternity, Yuna arrived at its end. Only the terrifying face of a gigantic machina showed through the shadows. Sounds of soldiers' footsteps clattered behind her. Overcome by dizziness, she fell into Tidus' arms. He embraced her tightly, the determined look in his eyes replaced by hopelessness.
The faceless soldiers appeared into sight, emerging from shadows with their guns aimed directly at the two lovers. Tidus' grip grew firmer around Yuna. She stared into the barrels of the guns, awaiting the delivery of her end. The guns fired their echoing shots loud enough to torture her ears. The bullets ripped through her body like icy daggers. A swift wave of numbing cold washed away the maddeningly sharp pain of each bullet. Her vision blurred, but she could still see Tidus crumble to the ground with her. The last of her love evaporated into dust with no recipient left to give it to. As she faded away, a teardrop fell from her eye.
When she faded back into consciousness, she found herself engulfed in complete darkness. Yuna rose to her feet, frantically looking around for Tidus. Belting out his name, the black void surrounding her devoured the sound of her voice. Nothing but her own body, illuminated by an alien light source with no origin, showed in the darkness. She spun herself around and around until a solitary beam of light revealed Tidus to her. Suspended from the darkness, cold steel chains wrapped around him. She tried to run to him but found her body paralyzed. All she could do was emit a feeble squeak from her lips. Tidus' eyes opened, and he gave her a tearful smile. The chains pulled him further into the darkness.
In a whisper, he said, "Sing for me, just one more time . . ."
With a horrifying shriek, Yuna sat up stiff in her bed. Rubbing her sweaty forehead, she tried to subdue her heavy breathing. Covering her chest with her hand, she felt its pulsating reverberations beating with haste. Every night this recurring nightmare had plagued her. Ever since the Gullwings failed to discover the sphere in Bevelle, she had been tormented by this. She swallowed hard, her other hand still shaking in her lap. All of her dark dreams coincided with the discovery of the ancient weapon slumbering underneath Bevelle.
No one else meandered in the cabin with her, so no one had been alarmed by her sudden outburst. She wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes. Sighing solemnly, she labored to rid her mind of those horrid images. She felt a thousand years of sadness quelling inside her heart. To her, this dream seemed almost like revisiting a memory. Yuna knew the dream had no counterpart in reality. She repeated this phrase to herself until she regained control of her emotions.
Above on the bridge, Rikku, Brother, and Buddy hovered around the Sphere Oscillo-finder having a pow-wow. Paine stood calmly gazing over Shinra's shoulder. He enthusiastically put on display all the cool things he could do with his newly developed technology, especially this new idea of networking CommSpheres all over Spira in some sort of voyeuristic fashion. Yuna entered the bridge, trying to look cheerful enough to mask the pain still antagonizing her. Brother informed her that they would be heading to Guadosalam to check out some sphere signals Shinra acquired this morning. Yuna nodded, hiding her distaste for returning to sphere hunting so soon after she had failed in Bevelle.
Her disdain spread when they came up empty-handed in Guadosalam. The girls searched around for hours, questioning everyone in the town except LeBlanc. The mansion's proprietor had left town days before. Even Brother, Buddy, and Shinra got in on the action. They talked to every Hypello who worked for Tolbi in town. None of them had even a clue to give them.
"This has to be the stupidest idea you've ever had yet Brother," growled Buddy, tired of listening to the babbling Hypello.
"Sorry, it seemed like a good idea," Brother whined, defending himself.
"That automatically makes it a bad idea," joked Shinra, handing Brother a low blow.
"Frydajan . . . E's kuehk pylg du dra Celsius," Brother pouted, sulking his way back to the airship behind Buddy.
The remaining Gullwings traversed Guadosalam interviewing its denizens in hopes of picking up clues. Yuna trekked up the incriminated pathway to the top of the town near the entrance into the Farplane. Curiosity tugged at her thoughts. She hadn't ascended the stairs to the Farplane Gate in two years, nor had she even thought about taking a journey there. She didn't know how she might react if an image of Tidus appeared to her. Against her better judgment, she shuffled her way to the entrance. A sentry standing guard blocked her entryway, explaining that since the Eternal Calm began, conditions in the Farplane Gate had become too turbulent to allow visitors to enter. Partly frustrated and partly relieved, Yuna complied with the sentry's order and walked back down to meet up with her friends near Leblanc's mansion.
"What a waste of time. That shopkeeper gave me the worst info," complained Rikku, following Paine and Yuna back to the airship. "Let's get outta here."
A buzzing sound fired from Yuna's CommSphere, "Yuna, are you there? Come quick, we've been robbed!"
"What do you mean?" a startled Yuna replied.
A more sensible voice came across the Commsphere, "Buddy here. It seems we were paid a visit by LeBlanc and her goons."
"Huh! You're kidding?" yelped Rikku. "I thought she was out of town."
"Afraid not. She ripped us off of that half-sphere we found a while ago."
Yuna looked sternly at Paine, who read her mind exactly. Paine clenched her hand into a fist and smacked it into her other palm.
"We're on our way back," stated Yuna while scowling. "Then we can talk about taking our sphere back."
Back on the Celsius, Buddy and Shinra greeted the girls with a little gift from LeBlanc. Buddy played the message LeBlanc left them on her way out of the Celsius. Yuna eyed Paine unconscious clutching the hilt of her sword. She could feel her friend's anger radiate off her body.
"Alright, we take our sphere back!" yelled Yuna, standing straight and pointing to the rest of the team.
"Sure, but how?" asked Paine, raising an eyebrow.
Yuna paused. "Umm, well . . ."
Rikku broke out her famous warrior pose. "We'll sneak in! All we need is some syndicate uniforms and we are set!"
"Again? We just did that in Bevelle. You remember how that almost went," questioned Paine, shaking her head.
"Why don't we just, I dunno, nab some? I am sure LeBlanc has her goons all across Spira looking for spheres. All we need is three," answered Yuna, smacking her fist into her open hand.
"Yeah!" shouted Brother, twirling his arms about. "That's a great idea, Yuna. It's decided, we're off to steal some clothes!"
The Gullwings, minus Rikku, all marched to their positions. Rikku pouted with a cross expression on her face. "Hey, that was my idea!"
They set course to their first hunting ground, Mushroom Rock Road. Through the grapevine, Shinra caught wind that LeBlanc had some of her gang searching for spheres along the rocky road. Upon arriving, a glum Clasko greeted the Gullwings. His shoulders slumped in front of him. Yuna wasted no time in asking him if he knew anything about the LeBlanc Syndicate.
He paused to scratch his head, then answered, "Well, I think they hijacked the hovercraft from the Al Bhed people down the road. Maybe you want to check that out?"
Yuna smiled and waved goodbye, once again squandering no time in hunting for uniforms. Sure enough, just down the road, two of LeBlanc's goons stood next to the hovercraft attendant. She marched right up to them without thought of stealth or strategy. Noticing her approach, one of the goons wiggled at them tauntingly.
"Look, it's the Dullwings!" he laughed.
The other one continued the foolery. "Sorry, no hovercraft for you. We're renting it for LeBlanc's mission. Tough luck, Dullwings!"
Rikku clamored something extremely offensive at them in Al Bhed. The hovercraft attendant turned ten shades of red upon hearing her comment. Not understanding a word of what Rikku said, the two goons cackled as they revved up the hovercraft and sped away. Paine crossed her arms and stomped her foot into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt. Yuna peered at the hovercraft, growling to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two of LeBlanc's female goons running by them in the opposite direction.
"Oh man, I can't believe you lost it! LeBlanc is gonna give us the heel!" The one female goon cried to the other.
"I didn't lose it! I just misplaced it," the other one stated. "It must be down here somewhere."
Yuna deviously smiled at Paine, who immediately smiled back. Rikku chimed in with a big goofy grin of her own.
"Why don't we go find that sphere of theirs first?" exclaimed Yuna.
With no reply needed, the girls darted off in the direction of the female goons. They searched along both sides of the road. Rikku plunged her hands into the soil, digging hole after hole like a gopher. They all felt frustrated until Yuna tripped over something large stuck in the ground. She knelt down, pulling up a golden, shiny sphere. She used the side of her fist to rub off the dirt stuck to it.
"I bet this is their sphere," Yuna declared, holding it up to show her friends.
Rikku strutted up to her cousin. "Score one for the Gullwings!"
The trotting sound of a portly figure wearing purple garbs and a tall, stretched-out figure wearing a blue cloak and coat closed in on the girls. The wide one hopped around frantically, holding his hands to his head in distress. The tall one smacked him in the back of the head, scolding him for being such a moron. Finally, they noticed the Gullwings, who were gawking at them in laughter.
"Uh, ahem," stammered Logos, trying to save face for acting like an idiot. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Dullwings. What are you—"
"Have you guys seen a sphere lying around the road somewhere? I gotta find it!" screamed Ormi.
"Don't be such a fool! Can't you see they have it right there?" Logos barked, pointing at the sphere Yuna held in her hands.
"Oh good, you found my sphere . . ." began Ormi. "But you're not gonna give it back."
Ormi began to sulk and turn away. Logos shook his head, then grabbed him by the arm and jerked him around.
"Look stupid, if they won't give us back the sphere, we'll take it by force," he proclaimed mischievously.
"Huh? Oh right!" Ormi said as he charged the girls.
Logos unholstered his two revolvers and shot two bullets at Rikku. Nimbly spinning herself into a backflip, Rikku dodged his misguided aim and stuck out her tongue at him. Ormi attempted a bum rush targeting Yuna. He instead tripped over his own two feet and fell flat on his face. Paine sprinted over to where Logos shot from and took a massive swipe at him with her sword. He barely dodged it, nearly having his private parts severed from his body. In his haste, he toppled over Ormi, who rolled on the ground like a hog in the mud. Disgusted by their pitifulness, Paine approached the pair of klutzes and pointed the tip of her sword at their heads. Both of them put on their best pity faces and begged for mercy.
"C'mon Yuna, I think it's time to head back to the Celsius," she chuckled, shaking her head at Ormi and Logos.
"You about done, Rikku?" asked Yuna over to a large crevice in the rock.
"Good to go!" she proclaimed, giving her a thumbs up.
Her hands held a genuine LeBlanc Syndicate uniform. A half-naked woman ran crying from the crevice where Rikku had just emerged from. Ormi and Logos were too busy picking their prideless bodies up off the ground to notice. The girls skipped off back home, giggling all the way.
Cheers all around resounded aboard the Celsius. They celebrated achieving a third of their mission, plus they obtained a new sphere as a bonus. Yuna felt the Gullwings were back on track, or at least she hoped so. After a night of joyful merrymaking, she felt the beckon of sleep. She could only laugh so long at Barkeep's sad attempt at simultaneous juggling and drinking. An overcast night shrouded any moonlight to illuminate the Celsius, creating a pitch-black space in the cabin. At first, Yuna lay peacefully in sleep, before dreams encroached on her unconscious mind.
On the tranquil beaches of Besaid, she walked with Tidus, carrying a small basket of food. He thoughtfully spread out a red and black checkered blanket for her to sit on. In his arms she lay, enjoying the caressing motion of his hand through her hair. She could hear a whispery song flutter in the air. The sea, sky, sand—all of Spira drifted along in complete tranquility. She could smile in peace for once.
Out in the distance, hovering above the ocean, a black fog crept towards them. Emerging out from the darkened sea rose a tremendous beast, gushing a spray of blackened water all over them. The two were swept from their feet by the wave. Tidus grabbed Yuna's arm and raised her to her feet. They rushed inland, but the gigantic hand of the beast grappled Tidus, scooping him up from the ground. Yuna screamed, vertigo disorienting her vision. When the spinning ceased, she found herself in the den of the beast.