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batsutousaiTitle: Crooked Wings
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: T
Pairings: Tidus/Seymour
Warnings: AU, major canon-fuckery
Summary: On that fateful day when Yunalesca faced Sin, only part of her died, and the part that stayed alive finds itself in Spira a thousand years later.
Disclaim Her: Ugh. Translating of Al Bhed. *stare* If it's bold, it's Al Bhed.
A/N: Whereupon I make shit up about the guado culture and how they handle criminals.
I hate how the guado just up and gave up when Seymour went bat-shit in the game. It's like, over a thousand years of culture, and the minute a leader vanishes, you idiots are at a loss of what to do with yourselves? Even the Al Bhed managed better than them, and they were constantly under attack and losing people. I just...that will never make much sense to me.
Also, had a couple comments about how unlikely the sending would be to affect Sin. Hopefully Yuna's explanation will curb some of those. (Also explain my twisted little headcanon in regards to them.)
This chapter hasn't been reread/beta'd, same as the last one. I'm stuck sitting an info tent at Sakura Matsuri all day tomorrow, and I've a D&D game on Sunday; figured I'd post this before I head for bed tonight, just so I don't have to worry about it after my busy weekend. :P Anyway, it's not like any of you ever bitch about my mistakes. (One of you smartasses is about to leave me a review pointing errors out, now, aren't you? Assholes.)
Kings and Queens of Promise
-0-
Cid had to let them off at the north bank of the Moonflow, there being no closer landing site to Guadosalam, with the Thunder Plains proving an impassable obstacle to the north, and the forest to the south of the underground city being too closely packed for a safe set-down. Those travellers on the bank turned to watch with wide eyes as they stepped off, and a number tensed as they caught sight of Seymour, but no one made to attack, with the airship still nearby.
Before they could head into the forest, two guado wearing what Tidus was beginning to recognise as the garb worn by Seymour's personal guard approached them. They cast unimpressed eyes over Tidus and Auron, then inclined their heads towards Seymour. "Lord Seymour. We are to accompany you to Guadosalam," one of them offered.
The two guado had clearly been dispatched to ensure Seymour went straight to Guadosalam and whatever justice await him there, rather than as a protective detail. Still, Seymour politely replied, "I will be most grateful for your company. And please excuse Sir Tidus and Sir Auron's presence as they attend me in accordance with the wishes of their respective summoners."
"Of course," the speaker of the two guards replied before motioning that Seymour should join them in walking into the forest.
The airship didn't leave until the party had vanished into the trees, continuing to serve as a deterrent against any attempts of heroism. Up on the bridge, as they pulled away, Yuna wrung her hands in front of herself. "I hope they're okay," she whispered.
Rikku, standing next to her cousin, squeezed Yuna's shoulder and put on her best smile. "They'll be fine," she insisted, even though her stomach was in knots. "Tidus and Seymour'll keep each other safe, and Auron can take care of himself."
"Tidus and...Maester Seymour?" Yuna repeated, turning confused eyes on her cousin. "But, I thought–"
Rikku waved her hands between them, rapidly, grimacing. "Ignore that! Let's just– Hey! You were asking about that mix of items I'd taught Tidus?"
"Oh, yes, I suppose..." Yuna agreed and let herself be drawn away, a part of her still mulling over Rikku's remark.
-0-
Four more guado guards were awaiting them at the entrance to Guadosalam, with Tromell. The elderly guado nodded to Seymour and said, "Lord Seymour, I must ask you hand over your staff and allow us to bring you to a meeting of the elders."
"Of course, Tromell," Seymour agreed with a smile, before handing his staff over to Tidus, who took it with an uncertain look. "If I may request Sir Tidus and Sir Auron be shown to accommodations for the length of their stay?"
Tromell zeroed in on Tidus with the sort of focus that made a chill go down his spine. Tidus replied by narrowing his eyes and resettling his uncertain grip on Seymour's staff so he could use it as a bludgeoning weapon, if necessary. Tromell nodded and motioned towards one of the guards who had brought them from the Moonflow. "See the guardians to the château and instruct the servants to see to their comforts. Until they are sent for, they may not leave the château."
"How gracious," Auron murmured.
Tidus pressed his mouth tight and glanced up at Seymour. The half-guado nodded towards the guard preparing to lead Tidus and Auron away, his own face nearly expressionless, save for a flicker of worry he couldn't completely suppress in his eyes. He'd warned Tidus and Auron, on their way from Bevelle, that they wouldn't likely be allowed any say in his punishment at the hands of his people, drily commenting, "The guado take care of guado affairs," so the division wasn't unexpected, but that didn't mean Tidus had to like it.
Seymour looked back towards Tromell as the two guardians were led away, motioning for his retainer to lead the way to his judgement.
Tromell nodded and the guards fell into position around them, leaving Tromell to walk at Seymour's side as they turned to the meeting space where non-guado were never welcomed, and Seymour was only barely tolerated. A group of three elder guado – Yuu, Naoki, and Kaede – sat in a line, facing a single, lonely chair.
Seymour walked up to the chair and settled into it without any sign of hesitation. Inside, he was torn between wanting to run away and the urge to kill everyone in reach. It was only the knowledge that any sign of non-compliance would see Tidus punished in his place that allowed him to hold himself steady, and he was, at turns, grateful to and furious with the guardian for so effectively slipping behind his defences.
The guards settled themselves between Seymour and the two exits from the room, steel-tipped claws held at their sides, but bodies held just tense enough that, should it be necessary, they could jump to the offensive. Tromell, for his part, came to stand at Seymour's shoulder, an ally that Seymour hadn't expected, and could not bring himself to trust would remain, once the truth was laid bare.
"Seymour, you have been accused of the murder of your late father, Jyscal," Naoki intoned. "This accusation comes from the humans of the Order of Yevon, but the stated crime is a guado concern. How do you plead?"
Seymour closed his eyes, knowing he could brush this off as Yevon's lies, an attempt to discredit his people in the eyes of the humes. But, too, he remembered Tidus and Gina, who had demanded the truth from him and still stood at his side. He opened his eyes and looked over the tribunal, then quietly stated, "I am guilty."
There was a moment of disbelieving silence before Tromell brokenly whispered, "Lord Seymour."
"I warned against letting the half-hume live among us," Yuu, who had never made it a secret how much he detested Seymour's rapid rise to power in the vacuum his father had left, snapped. "He is as base as the rest of his race, as much a waste of our thoughts as his mother."
Seymour stiffened, very carefully folding his hands together so it was harder to lash out.
"You say such as if humes are the only ones capable of committing murder," Kaede said, her tone careless, as if her own sister hadn't been murdered by a guado struck with some unnamed madness before Seymour was born, a story that was often whispered behind closed doors.
Yuu turned a glare on her, and she replied with an absent little smile.
Naoki ignored his fellow elders' stand-off, asking, "For what reason did you do Jyscal harm?"
"It was a return on the harm done to myself and my mother," Seymour replied, ignoring the other reason, the one he knew Yuu already suspected him of. While that truth may have helped him with Gina, it would only damn him here.
"What harm?" Yuu demanded. "There was never any harm done to–"
"My mother caught ill in Baaj," Seymour reminded them quietly, unable to completely hide his lingering anger over his childhood misery. "Had we remained in Guadosalam, or, indeed, gone nearly anywhere else on the Spiran continent, she would never have caught ill."
"Baseless accusations," Yuu insisted.
"It is true," Naoki offered, continuing to ignore Yuu, "that Baaj Temple is in much disrepair, but Aimi was the only one residing there to have caught ill–"
"My elders, if I may?" Tromell interrupted in a respectful tone. The three elders pinned him with sharp gazes, as surprised by the interruption as Seymour was. Once certain he had their attention, Tromell offered, "The inability of humes to fight off illness has long been common knowledge. It's the reason they stick so to the coast and shun both the underground spaces we guado prefer and the chilled reaches the ronso laid claim to. Indeed, my late wife did tell me that Lord Seymour was prone to boughs of illness, eased by retreating to darker spaces, which are numerous, under the constant clouds. Such attempts on Aimi's behalf, however, only ever worsened her condition. There is very clear record of these trials in the notes of the guado who resided in Baaj at Lord Jyscal's request."
"So? Humes have a poor constitution," Yuu agreed. "What fault lies with Jyscal?"
"Aimi did request her exile be to Bikanel," Kaede commented, "but it was thought the Al Bhed would be unwelcoming. Too, guado don't do well with the rigours of the desert, as well you know, Yuu, and Jyscal could hardly condone sending our people to such a hell."
"Better to lose one hume than four guado," Yuu returned carelessly.
Seymour ground his teeth together, struggling to remember why it would be a poor idea to attack his greatest opponent among his own people.
"Now who bows to their baser instincts?" Naoki offered, and Yuu turned a narrowed gaze on him. "You do great disservice to Jyscal, suggesting the life of the woman he loved was as nothing."
Yuu waved a careless hand at that. "Humes are as nothing to us."
"My grandson would be happy to cite blitzball rankings to dispel that theory," Naoki returned.
"Blitzball," Yuu scoffed.
"Then allow me to cite the history of the Calms to you, brought only ever through the actions of a summoner," Naoki said, his voice hardening. "The only summoner with guado blood is not even full guado–"
"Yevon would never have allowed any but humes to become summoners," Yuu shot back, undaunted.
"It is not to Yevon to decide who may follow the path of summoner," Seymour interrupted, because he was the only one in the room qualified to debate the subject, and it had too-long been his duty to educate the guado in regards to Yevon's teachings. "The temples can turn away summoners they don't care for, in truth, but there is no requirement that one collect other aeons to create the Final Aeon." He hadn't.
Kaede let out a noise that sounded suspiciously close to a laugh. "We are not here to debate the importance of humes in regards to our own people," she reminded the two male elders, her tone bland. "Seymour has admitted to his crime of murdering his father, his reasons aside. For murder, it is custom to exile the accused, but that seems to have been the catalyst."
Yuu let out a disgusted sound. "You can't suggest we let him walk. What if he decides to kill someone else?"
"You're welcome to stand in his way," Naoki said, quiet enough that they could all pretend he hadn't spoken.
Kaede turned her gaze to picking at the fraying edge of her shawl. "Then what would you suggest, Yuu? Require him to bring the next Calm as atonement for his sins?"
Yuu straightened, his eyes glinting. "Oh, but you do have access to a Final Aeon already, don't you?" he remembered. "Jyscal excused you from completing the duty of your pilgrimage, and you have killed him. Is it not true justice that your punishment would be the very fate he saved you from?"
Naoki and Kaede traded uncertain looks, but Seymour took the offered punishment with gratitude. "And should I survive my confrontation with Sin?" he asked. "Would you, then, consider me absolved of my crime and free to continue my duties as they have been?"
Naoki and Kaede turned suspicious looks on him, but all he needed was for Yuu to blindly agree. The other two didn't seem determined to see him suffer for his father's death, not the way Yuu did. A minor punishment, perhaps, but not the cessation of his life.
Yuu let out a scornful laugh. "Oh, certainly. If you return in the Calm, after having faced Sin, and you're not unsent, we'll forget your crimes and leave you to your misdeeds."
"Very well," Kaede agreed when Seymour looked at her.
"If this is acceptable to all, then it shall be," Naoki said, frowning.
Seymour inclined his head. "Then you will excuse me as I leave to make preparations for the quest laid before me."
Yuu motioned towards the guards and they obediently moved away from the doors.
Seymour wasted no further time in leaving the meeting space and returning to the château.
"Lord Seymour," Tromell pleaded when he caught up to Seymour outside the meeting space, "I do not believe this course of action–"
"Tromell," Seymour interrupted, stopping and turning to face his long-time assistant, "if you will, I would have those guards capable of the sending to meet with me as soon as possible, before I am forced from Guadosalam."
"Lord Seymour?" Tromell replied uncertainly.
Seymour touched his retainer's shoulder. "I am on a quest to truly destroy Sin, Tromell. High Summoner Yunalesca – Lady Gina – has a plan."
Tromell's eyes widened and he searched Seymour's eyes for a moment before he gave a quick nod and hurried off.
Seymour continued the journey to the château alone, passing the guards standing to either side of the door with barely a glance; they would be informed of their changed duty by the guard captain, in time, and nothing Seymour might say would affect their actions, not disgraced as he was.
Tidus was pacing in the main hall when Seymour stepped through the front door, and the relief that flashed across his face when he saw Seymour was...almost soothing, in a way.
"Oh thank fuck," Tidus said, hurrying across the hall and wrapping his arms around Seymour.
Seymour found himself returning the hug with equal strength, as relieved to see his lover unharmed as Tidus had clearly been to see him. He took a moment to breathe in the scent of Tidus, letting the strain of facing down the elders drain away. "We'll be fine," he caught himself whispering.
Tidus looked up at him, his eyes suggesting he'd very much like to lose the ability to breathe because he was too busy kissing Seymour, when a throat cleared from the direction of the dining room.
"I see you survived," Auron said drily.
Seymour nodded and regretfully pulled away from Tidus. "Indeed. My punishment is to be facing Sin, as I was meant to do before I was excused to become a priest of Yevon."
"A death sentence," Auron commented.
"Not this time," Tidus insisted, stalking across the hall to where Seymour's staff and his own sword had been left leaning against the wall.
"A fact which I didn't care to disclose," Seymour admitted with humour. "Tromell is collecting those few members of the Guadosalam guard who are trained in the sending; once I have spoken to them, and seen to hunting down something warmer for you, Tidus, we should head for Macalania Temple."
Tidus grinned at him as he handed over Seymour's staff. "Oh, yeah. How long should it take for the guards to get here?"
"Not nearly so long as I might wish," Seymour admitted, reaching out with his free hand to run over-sharp nails lightly over Tidus' lips.
Auron let out an irritated noise and let the door to the dining room slam behind him as he retreated.
Tidus laughed and caught Seymour's wandering hand with his own. "We might as well go raid your wardrobe now; he's going to insist we leave as soon as we're done speaking to the guards."
"You do know him best," Seymour agreed and let himself be led up to his room, where they behaved and only hunted down something warm for Tidus before returning to the hall, where the five members of the Guadosalam guard who could perform the sending, the guard captain, and Tromell were awaiting them.
"Thank you for coming," Seymour offered as he started down the stairs to the ground floor.
"Tromell says you're asking after those of the guard who can perform the sending," the guard captain said, her expression shuttered. "Also, the elders say you need to leave Guadosalam within the hour."
Seymour nodded, having expected that. "Sir Tidus," he said, motioning to where Tidus was a couple steps behind him, "has devised a way to defeat Sin for good, one which High Summoner Yunalesca believes will work."
The hall was dead-silent, the guards all staring between him and Tidus like they weren't certain whether to believe them or not.
Seymour glanced back at Tidus, who looked startled for a moment before wrapping himself in the sort of easy-going persona that those familiar with the spotlight developed. He flashed an easy smile at the guards and said, "So, the thing about Sin that no one ever really thinks about, is that his body – his armour, you might call it – is made up of pyreflies, of which there's always a ready supply around him. It occurred to me that the one thing that can even vaguely affect pyreflies is–"
"The sending," on the the guards realised, shrinking back when the captain shot him a look.
"Exactly!" Tidus agreed, undeterred by the interruption. "I think that, if we were to perform a mass sending right next to Sin, we'd get rid of his armour, giving us a clear shot at his core, and once we destroy his core..." He trailed off, leaving it for his audience to complete the thought.
"No more Sin," Tromell whispered, turning to stare at where Seymour had come to stand at the back of the group, leaving Tidus to manage his audience alone. Tromell's eyes spoke volumes about his respect for the hume he'd been inclined to ignore when they'd first met.
Seymour nodded at the elder guado, allowing a hint of a victorious smile.
"But how can you hope to catch Sin long enough to perform a sending?" the guard captain asked. "As soon as it realises what's happening, it's going to retreat."
"The Al Bhed have an airship," one of the guards realised, and Seymour suspected he'd been on Bikanel. "Fill it with people performing the sending and just follow Sin around when it tries to get away."
"Exactly," Tidus agreed. "And, to get rid of Sin, the Al Bhed are happy and willing to pick up anyone who can perform the sending, no matter what history lays between us." He looked over the gathered guards, meeting everyone's eyes, and Seymour knew he'd made the right choice in leaving it to his lover to gain the support of the guard. "Can I – can we all – count on your assistance?"
"Absolutely," the guard captain agreed, and her people all smiled. "Where are you gathering everyone?"
Tidus glanced towards Seymour, frowning faintly. "The airship, though they have trouble landing near Guadosalam. Seymour, Auron, and I are headed to Macalania Temple, to gather the priests, and we'll probably have the airship pick us up there, if you want to travel with us?"
"I expect we'll have gathering points in Luca and Bevelle," Auron added from the dining room doorway. "The airship isn't large enough to keep so many people on board long-term, but we can always plan to pick up people from two specific places when we have enough gathered to go after Sin."
The captain nodded and turned to her people. "Collect equipment for a long stay-over. Two of you will accompany Lord Seymour, Sir Tidus, and Sir Auron in travelling to Macalania Temple, while the other three of you will head straight for Bevelle to secure lodgings."
The guards dispersed to follow their orders, and the guard captain turned to Seymour as Tidus finished walking down the stairs to join him. "Tell me this will work," she demanded.
Seymour met her desperate gaze and promised, "This will work. We will save Spira."
"We'll give Spira a future worth living for," Tidus added quietly at his shoulder, and Seymour inclined his head, agreeing that he'd discarded his original plans for good.
The guard captain bowed to Seymour, lower than any guado had ever bowed to him in his life, and whispered, "Then go with the blessings of all we guado, Lord Seymour."
"Thank you," Seymour whispered in response, and when Tidus caught his hand, he gave it a grateful squeeze.
-0-
When Cid announced they were approaching Besaid, Yuna requested, "Could you drop us on the beach? I don't want to scare anyone."
Cid shrugged. "If that's what you want," he agreed, and Rikku made a face at the controls she'd been staring at over Brother's shoulder.
"Sooner to temple, sooner to next," Kimahri rumbled.
"What he said!" Rikku agreed, giving up on tormenting her brother and turning to skip back towards the sphere oscillo-finder. "They're going to have to see the airship eventually anyway, if they're going to get on it, right?"
"But now? Without any warning of our intentions?" Yuna replied, expression troubled.
"It could be like your Gina in Bevelle?" Brother called back.
Rikku grinned, remembering what Tidus had told her about the rapid warming of the Bevelle welcoming committee once they'd realised who was disembarking. "Wouldn't the best way to show them to trust the airship, be to let them see you're riding it?" she suggested.
Yuna frowned and looked down at her fingers. "Like it was for Lady Gina in Bevelle?" she murmured, quiet enough that Rikku almost missed the comment.
"Yeah. They know you here, right? So, if they see you're riding around in an airship, they'd be more willing to give it a shot. I mean, Wakka only got on because you were getting on."
"And that black mage made him," Cid added, and Rikku had to cover a grin.
Yuna stared out the front viewer at the clouds surrounding them for a long moment before giving a cautious nod. "There's a hill above the village, with an old stone monument on it. That should be the easiest place to access near the village. Right?" she added, looking at Kimahri.
The ronso gave a solemn nod. "Truth."
Cid motioned Yuna forward, manipulating the sphere oscillo-finder to bring up an image of Besaid from the sky, focussed on the side of the island that the village was on. Before he could ask, Yuna pointed with one finger to the crossroads she'd meant. "There."
Cid nodded and set about sending the coordinates to Brother, so he could land them. "Do you want us to wait and take you straight to Kilika?" he asked once he was done. "Sounds like the other two are on foot for a couple days, anyway."
Yuna nodded. "Of course. But, if Lady Gina or Maester Seymour call you while you're waiting, please see to them and don't worry about us. We can take the S.S. Liki to Kilika, if we need to."
"Sounds good!"
"We'll be landing shortly," Brother called back. "We should be down by the time you get down to the ramp."
"Come on," Rikku said, waving towards Yuna and Kimahri. "We're almost landed."
"Okay." Yuna gave a quick bow to Cid, then followed Rikku from the bridge, Kimahri following.
There was a small welcoming party of three men and a woman awaiting them when they disembarked, all breathing hard, like they'd just run up from the village. They were all dressed in a hodgepodge of Crusader armour, with the one wearing the most complete set in the lead. They all carried guns, but they immediately lowered them upon seeing Yuna, and the one in the lead, who looked vaguely familiar to Rikku and whom Yuna clearly recognised, breathed, "Lady Yuna?"
Yuna offered a smile that looked a little sad. "Sir Gatta. It's good to see you made it back to Besaid."
The young man gave a tight nod, his mouth twisting with a parody of a smile. "Yeah. Decided the best thing for me was to keep Besaid safe, you know?" He motioned behind him at the group of three other people, one of whom was grinning widely at Yuna, while the other two had much smaller smiles. "Training up a new group of Crusaders."
"Oh!" Rikku realised, finally figuring out where she'd seen him before. "You were at–"
Kimahri touched her shoulder and shook his head when she looked up at him.
Rikku flushed and looked down at her feet. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Gatta replied, though his voice cracked, showing it clearly wasn't fine. His people all shot him concerned looks behind his back, one of them biting her lip, as though she wanted to offer comfort, but knew it wouldn't be welcomed.
Yuna cleared her throat and straightened. "Right. Sir Gatta, this is Dame Rikku, guardian of Lady Gina, and my cousin."
Gatta's shaky smile vanished entirely, his eyes tracking over the empty space behind the three. "Wakka and Lulu?" he asked carefully.
"They're in Bevelle, with Lady Gina," Yuna promised, and Gatta's whole body seemed to droop, relief coming off him in waves. "We decided to...divide and conquer, a bit," Yuna added.
Gatta straightened again, his eyes tracking up, towards the airship behind them, but it was one of the men behind him who asked, "Divide and conquer, Lady Yuna?"
"Yes." Yuna nodded. "Sir Tidus, Lady Gina's other guardian, came up with a way to destroy Sin–"
All four of the Crusaders let out shocked noises and eyes flickered between Yuna and Rikku, as though uncertain who was of greater interest.
Yuna's faint smile brightened. "Yes, I know. But we need some help to do it."
"We need as many people as can perform the sending as we can find!" Rikku burst in, barely resisting the urge to bounce in place.
"The sending?" the female Crusader replied, before she, Gatta, and one of the males all looked at the other male.
The Crusader under scrutiny hunched his shoulders slightly. "I'm trained," he admitted.
"That's wonderful!" Yuna gushed, and the man looked grateful for her enthusiasm. "We're going to send Sin."
"Send...Sin?" the other male Crusader asked, frowning. He traded confused looks with the sender.
"Sin's body is made up of pyreflies, you know?" Rikku offered. "That's why, when you attack him, he drops fiends, even though there weren't any sign of them before."
"Oh," Gatta breathed, his eyes gone wide.
"But, you can't send fiends," the sender pointed out. "You've gotta hit them first, then they sort of...send themselves."
Yuna nodded, looking vaguely uncertain herself. "I know, and I thought the same too, at first, but then it occurred to me that Sin's...body, it's not a fiend. It's... What does Tidus keep calling it? Armour?"
Rikku gave an uncertain nod. "Yeah. There's..." She shook her head. "It's complicated."
Yuna shot her a frown, but continued explaining, "When it's armour, it's the same as pyreflies over the Moonflow, or around the entrance to the Farplane. You know how they celebrate the Calm by sending on either bank of the Moonflow?"
The Crusader who could send's eyes went wide. "I've heard about that! It sets all the pyreflies off, doesn't it? The only time the moon lilies aren't covered in pyreflies."
Yuna nodded. "Yes. They all come back after a couple hours, but Sir Tidus and Lady Gina think it'll work." She glanced at Rikku, as did the four Crusaders, as though expecting she would fill in the holes that she'd just been uneasily dancing around.
Rikku sighed and slumped. "There's a person, inside the armour, summoning..." She winced, unwilling to get into the truth of Tidus' existence and trying to think of a lie that wouldn't have them probing further. "...summoning something, I dunno. But, if we can get the armour out of the way, even for just a little bit, we can take care of–" She stopped herself, looking up at the disbelieving stares, aware that telling them that Yevon was inside of Sin might not turn out well.
"There's a...person?" Yuna asked, her expression turning horrified.
"Yeah. He–" Rikku swallowed, remembering Gina's matter-of-fact way of dropping the truth of where Sin had come from. "He lost control, never meant Sin to be so...horrible."
"That must be hell," Gatta said, sounding as horrified as he and others looked.
Rikku nodded, because no matter how Yevon felt about the uncontrolled destruction of his armour, he'd been forced to kill his own daughter, or at least a part of her. That– Rikku couldn't imagine what it would feel like, being unable to stop something you should have had control of from killing your own family, couldn't imagine living with the guilt after.
Yuna took a deep breath and brought up her fist between them, her expression turning determined. "We're going to free him. We're going to stop Sin, for Spira and that summoner."
"Yeah!" the Crusaders all shouted.
Rikku nodded, her throat tight. She wished Gina could be here, could see how these people were willing to help her dad, even without know who he was.
"Let's get down to the temple!" Gatta ordered. "We've got to get the priests!"
"And convince them all to get on the airship," Yuna added quietly enough that the Crusaders wouldn't hear her.
Rikku grinned at her. "That'll be the best part," she insisted and Yuna covered her mouth to muffle a giggle.
-0-
The announcement of Seymour's pardon and the request for people capable of the sending had ended on a good note, with all of Bevelle cheered by the promise of a way to destroy Sin, and Kinoc invited Gina and her two borrowed guardians to meet with the warrior monks who had been trained in the sending.
"Not everyone is capable, of course," Kinoc had said on the way to the gathering, "but when someone joins the warrior monks or the Crusaders, they're always tested. Some, when they find out, become summoners, but a lot of them stick it out as fighters, because they don't have the will to make the journey, or they're unfit for the life of a summoner. Those that stay, we make sure they're trained to perform the sending, because there's not always a summoner or priest around, especially when you're patrolling between Luca and Yevon-Djose Temple."
"That makes sense," Gina had agreed.
The gathering had gone well, and there'd only been a slight hesitance about doing the summoning from the airship, but they all got past it quickly enough. Though, Gina hadn't expected these men and women to have trouble with machina transport, not having seen how much machina was still being used in Bevelle.
After, they'd been invited to dine with Kinoc and Kelk. The ronso maester had commented, over the meal, that there were two ronso capable of the sending, explaining, "It is in our blood as much as it is in the blood of the other races of Spira, but we have not had teachers before Yevon accepted us. It is not our way to sacrifice ourselves for anything, so summoning and sending, both, have been ever out of our reach, but it is a far better thing, knowing our brothers and sisters will not become the fiends we have learnt the ways of."
Gina nodded. "There were ronso living in Zanarkand, during the war," she offered. "I know of only one who trained to be a summoner, and she had always been more inclined to hitting things with her spear, than to summon an aeon, no matter the level of danger."
Kelk inclined his head. "Summoning and magic, these have never been the arts of the ronso, any more than they are the arts of the Al Bhed."
"It would be a boring world, one wherein everyone had the same talents, I think," Gina offered.
"And there's always blitzball," Wakka pointed out. "Magic and summoning aren't so good for that, you know."
Lulu let out a sigh, while Kelk and Kinoc both laughed.
Gina rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Sir Wakka, for that indispensable piece of wisdom."
"It's true!" Wakka insisted.
"Coming from the captain of the Aurochs, I'm not sure how much weight it carries," Kinoc commented.
"We got a win this time!" Wakka complained.
"This is true," Kelk agreed, a rumble of laughter in his voice. "And it is also true that the Fangs have only defeated the Goers five times since they joined the league almost forty years ago."
"It's because they have the stadium," Wakka muttered. "Hard to practise blitzball moves in the ocean."
"Hard to practise blitzball moves on a mountain," Lulu pointed out drily, and Kelk chuckled.
"Oh, yeah. That too," Wakka agreed, somewhat shamefaced.
The blitzball talk got them through the rest of the meal – Gina would never have guessed the two maesters were such avid fans, but it didn't surprise her – and they parted on good terms, save some half-joking ribbing. A couple of acolytes showed Gina, Lulu, and Wakka to rooms they'd been lent for the night, and they traded goodnights before all turning in, intending to head out for the Calm Lands first thing in the morning.
In her room, however, Gina found a mostly-translucent boy in a purple robe awaiting her, floating over her bed. "You're Bevelle's fayth," she remembered, setting her travel pack down next to the door.
The fayth inclined his head. "Yes."
"I wasn't aware fayth could project so far from their crystals," Gina offered.
The fayth inclined his head again. "It is difficult. Will you come to me?"
"Tonight?"
"Please."
"Of course," Gina agreed, and slipped from her room as the fayth vanished.
She didn't bother collecting her borrowed guardians, safe in the palace, and seeing no reason to drag them down to the chamber just so they could wait in the antechamber. No one stopped her on her way and, when she stepped on the glowing platform in the trials, it brought her directly to the antechamber, without her having to run through the trials again.
When she stepped into the fayth's chamber, the decorative door sliding quietly shut behind her, she found the fayth awaiting her. "You can affect the trials," she assumed.
The fayth shrugged. "It is not hard, when they're built around so much machina."
"No, I don't expect that would be of particular difficulty for you," Gina admitted, sitting before the crystal. "What can I do for you, Bahamut?"
"It's about Tidus," the fayth admitted.
Gina couldn't keep herself from tensing. "He'll vanish when we defeat Papa, I know."
The fayth shook his head. "We don't know," he admitted, and Gina narrowed her eyes. "He was touched by Sin – as you were – by the only being that can bridge the world he'd inhabited and this one. He's changed, some, as his father did. But we don't know how, or what will happen if there is no one to dream him."
Gina shook her head. "How does that help in finding a way to keep him alive? Keep him here?" Because she didn't want to lose Tidus, couldn't lose another guardian to Sin, for Spira's sake. But she couldn't force her father to continue his cursed existence, either.
The fayth looked down, as though ashamed. "It doesn't, but it does." He shook his head again and peeked out at her from under his hood. "Anima thinks she has a solution. Maybe. Ask her. Take Tidus and Seymour. And Yuna. She can help."
"Yuna?" Gina repeated, confused, but the fayth had already vanished back into his crystal.
Gina closed her eyes, taking a chance in the silence to centre herself, to sort through the thoughts the fayth had brought forth. She couldn't begin to guess what use Yuna would be – wasn't even sure how to go about informing the younger summoner of the truth, if Tidus would want her to know – but she could guess why Seymour would be necessary, given it was his mother, and Tidus would deserve to know what was going on. But, Yuna?
"Forget it," she ordered herself, the words echoing slightly in the empty reaches of the chamber. "Think about it later. For now, bed. You have an early start in the morning, Yunalesca, and it's not fair to torment Lulu and Wakka by being grumpy. Even if Rikku and Tidus would approve of tormenting Wakka."
As she left, Gina could have sworn she heard a quiet giggle coming from the crystal behind her.
1 - Otherworld ||| 2 - Neither Friend Nor Foe ||| 3 - Sometimes Good-Bye is a Second Chance
4 - Heaven Sent a Hurricane ||| 5 - My Secrets Become Your Truth ||| 6 - Every Clap of Thunder
7 - Throw Your World Away (For Love) ||| 8 - Poisonous Drugs of Hate ||| 9 - Wisdom, Justice, & Love
10 - Turning on a Dime |||
13 - ???
Incomplete
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