Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy, and frankly, I really wouldn't want to.

Thank you for all the reviews, your encouragement is important to me.

Alright, I shall be blunt. This story is not a canon-fic, it's not a story of happy love, and it's most definitely not the most uplifting thing you'll ever read in your life. What this story is, is a satire. Plain and simple. So I bid you, take it for what it is and expect nothing more.

Please enjoy and please review.

Tears of a Forgotten Summoner

Chapter Thirteen: A Story of Downfall

To say that Yuna was speechless was an understatement. To say that Yuna was frustrated was also an understatement. To say that Yuna was angry was a potentially dangerous understatement.

How dare he talk to her like that? He addressed her as if she were nothing but a common bar maid, and worse. She was the High Summoner!

Her measured steps transformed into a stalk as she came back into the room where Rikku and Paine waited. Vaguely she remembered that there had been some strife between them, but she disregarded it, their problems couldn't be as pressing as the new development, and beside the point, the disagreement seemed to have been forgotten.

What was worse was that she didn't know how to fix the problem at hand. Nothing seemed to help, it all just seemed to make him more and more angry with her. Scattered thoughts made their way to her, he was just being mean. Of course she didn't deserve what he told her, there was no truth to it. She was perfect in every way. Strong, determined, beautiful, she had it all.

But if that was true, why did she feel like she was lying to herself?

---

Tidus took deep calming breaths. As much as he hated to admit it, talking to her like that made a lump rise in his throat and his eyes cloud. He shook his head, but it was necessary. She needed to hear this, she needed to know what she was really doing, and then, and only then, would she have a chance of understanding and destroying Schism. He leaned back against the wall, allowing himself to slide down it and into a sitting position.

"Why are you doing this?" a physical voice echoed his concerns and he couldn't stop himself from jerking slightly as his gaze swung to fall on the Fayth, who, by all accounts, should have faded after the separation from the Aeon.

Tidus opened his mouth to ask, but the boy put up a hand, preferring to answer without the question.

"I am here because Schism is here. It is back and it is gaining power quickly, that alone is enough to tie me here for a little longer."

The young man's mouth formed a silent 'o' and he looked away, but the Fayth wasn't finished.

"You didn't answer my question. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to Yuna?"

Tidus sighed, "She needs to know her impact on all of this. She needs to assume blame."

"Is that really all of it?"

The blonde man flinched, even now the Fayth knew him too well.

"You think that if you hadn't disappeared, you could have stopped this from happening," it was a simple statement, no question.

"Yes," the man answered without emotion, resigned.

"You love her."

"Yes," again the answer was flat.

"And you blame yourself for what she has become."

"Yes."

"Yet why must you hurt her?"

"Damn it!" Tidus exploded. "You know why! This isn't the Yuna I knew! This isn't the Spira I knew! And—"

"You think that you can't fix it," the Fayth said calmly. "It is true, Spira has degraded since three years ago."

"Degraded? People have immediately abandoned their morals and started tearing at each other!"

The other shook his head, "Tidus, we're not talking about Spira."

"Then what the hell are we talking about?"

"Yuna."

Tidus's anger immediately deflated and he allowed himself to slip once more, boneless, into a sitting position, quiet.

"I've seen you over these years, ever since Schism's first attack… you've changed, you've made yourself change, but I can still see the real you in there."

The blonde man made a nondiscriminatory grunt, waiting for what must come.

"And you've never been so much yourself as you have been with Yuna by your side."

The grunt turned into a growl.

"You know I'm right."

"Look at what she's become!" he snapped. "Look around you! The woman I knew cared about Spira, the woman I knew was ready to throw it all away for Spira!… The woman I knew wouldn't have thrown away her duties when Spira needed her most…"

"How was she to know that her actions were bringing Schism closer to full awareness?"

"That doesn't matter. She should have known that her actions weren't the best for Spira… Before now there were three factions, tearing at each other continually, they were close to war. But instead of trying to stop the problems, she went off on a side path that Schism created…"

"Who can blame her? Schism is a very persuasive entity, it probably showed her something that she wanted very much."

Tidus flinched, "Me."

"This isn't about her at all, is it? You blame yourself for leaving. If you hadn't—"

"I could have warned her about Schism, she would never have gone down that path, she wouldn't have abandoned her morals, and those three factions would have been put at rest by the High Summoner."

The Fayth shook his head, "There's no way that you could have stopped all of this. Spira itself is degrading, all we can hope to do is salvage what is left."

Tidus didn't answer, instead heaving a sigh and looking away from the purple cloaked little boy.

---

Yuna paced the bridge, ignoring Brother's constant attempts to start conversation. There had to be something missing, something that she hadn't considered, and the break in battles here as they held Sin at bay was just the time she needed to find out what. Paine and Rikku stood nearby, lost in their own thoughts, only stopping occasionally to tell Brother to stop bothering them.

"Yuna," a soft voice called, startling the woman from her thoughts and drawing her eyes immediately to the small Fayth that had just entered the bridge.

The High Summoner felt a flush rise in her neck, she had forgotten about him… she had honestly had no idea that he was still on the ship.

"I would like to speak with you," the Fayth observed the other two Gullwings move to their leader's side and nodded. "All of you."

After looking briefly at her companions, Yuna nodded to him, moving to follow when the Fayth turned and phased through the door.

Brother, curious, tried to follow, but Rikku held up a hand, "You know you have to stay here. Watch Sin."

Dejected, Brother watched them go, once again alone on the bridge.

---

"So," Yuna said quietly when the Fayth stopped in a common room and turned back to look at them, "what did you want to talk about?"

The Fayth gestured to three chairs and the Gullwings got the hint, settling in them, "I want to tell you a story."

"A story?" Rikku piped up, more than a little confused, this wasn't exactly the time for stories if her reasoning was correct.

"Yes," the little boy nodded, "this is something you need to hear. The Story of the Downfall of Zanarkand."

"We've all heard it," Paine said simply, wondering at what the Fayth meant by this.

He shook his head, "Not this one. This is the true account. I know. I was there."

Yuna swallowed thickly then allowed herself to lean slightly forward, "Tell us…"

The Fayth took a deep breath, as if collecting his thoughts, then began.

---

A thousand years ago a sprawling metropolis occupied the northern part of Spira, a city called Zanarkand. This city was the Summoning capital of the world, schools were built for the very purpose of teaching students to summon ancient spirits. Also, Blitzball thrived there, and the most worry the people of this peaceful place had was who was going to ultimately win the Blitz tournament this year.

Unfortunately, in having all this magical support from Summoners and the like, the city didn't have the opportunity or need to employ much machina…

---

"Wait a minute," Rikku interjected, her brows knitted delicately in genuine confusion. "Wasn't Zanarkand known as the greatest Machina city?"

The Fayth bowed his head solemnly, "In those days, no it wasn't. Don't worry, all we become clear."

---

Anyway, this city was one of the most powerful in all of Spira, in fact, it's only rival was Bevelle, the greatest of the Machina cities. Peace reigned and fiends and war were very far off, no one even worried about them in those days, but this peace didn't last nearly as long as we would have hoped.

Forty years before the fall of Zanarkand, there were three boys born in the Summoning City. All three were very ambitious boys, all three knew what they wanted and how to get it, all three desired to be the most powerful in their own field. But, in addition to that, these boys were also very defiant of their elders, and that led them to discover something the Great Temple of Zanarkand had suppressed for the safety of their people long ago.

A little lost spirit in the bottom levels of the temple, one sickly and weak. It had no power at all and the little boys took great pleasure in taunting it, but still it did not fight back, it could not.

The only thing it could do was plant suggestions in their minds, and so it did. It promised them power, wealth, skill, told them that all they had to do was call upon him for a single wish and all their dreams would come true.

The three boys scoffed at that as well, they all had exactly what they wanted, and they needed nothing from this tiny whelp of a spirit. The first boy valued youth and strength, which he had plenty of, he would be handsome and strong and that was what he most wanted. The second boy valued political power, but his father was one of the highest ranking officials in Zanarkand, and so the boy had plenty of power by association and a bright future as a politician. The third boy valued summoning power, but, despite being an orphan, he was already being hailed at the Temple as the brightest prodigy that they had seen in years, and so he also needed nothing from the spirit.

But the spirit was patient, waiting as the boys grew and forgot about the little spirit, waited as they achieved their dreams and then wanted more, all the while whispering to them of the wonders he could provide.

---

Brother grumbled endlessly. What was so great about Tidus anyway? Nothing! He himself was no less a man than that blonde pansy, more so even. Yet why did Yuna insist on clinging to him?

It was maddening and the man didn't like being pushed aside when he was obviously the superior choice. What could he do though? What could he try to make her notice him?

—It's just so unfair…—

The whisper was so like his thoughts that he didn't even question that it might not be his own.

"Yeah, unfair," he agreed out loud, unconsciously listening.

---

Then ten years before the fall of Zanarkand, the three men realized something. Their dreams weren't going to be forever. Already the first boy's youth and strength was lessening, new, younger men were stronger and he found himself being swept aside for them more and more often. The second man had climbed the ladder for thirty years and had arrived at the top, but with that achievement came the realization that he could go no further. The third man was still very powerful, yet younger students were cropping up, all of them with the potential to knock him from his pedestal.

All three were starting to despair, all three were shamed and secretly fearing the day that they knew would come. The day that they would have to step down from their dreams.

In that desperation the spirit whispered to them, told them that there was still a way to become what they had always wanted, and in their misery, they clung to that hope.

---

—You deserve her. You have always deserved her. More than that other man. You just have to show her that you are better.—

"How?" Brother demanded, his voice suddenly vehement, grasping at the hope that his problems with Yuna could be solved forever.

—It really is simple,— the voice whispered soothingly. —Don't you see it?—

"See what?"

—The truth. Yuna does not want you. She wants only Tidus.—

The budding hope that Brother had been cultivating up to that moment squashed in an instant, replaced by something like anger, but the voice spoke again.

—But there is still a way… There is a way for your deepest desire to become reality.—

"Tell me what to do," the man said immediately, without hesitation.

---

In the end, they gave in to the spirit. The tiny wisp offered them one wish each and like the fools they were, they took them.

The first man wished of course for eternal life. The second man had become obsessed with the power that the machina city Bevelle held, and so he wished that Zanarkand itself would become more powerful and influential than Bevelle. The third man wished that no one could surpass him, that he would be the most powerful summoner that had ever existed.

They all got their wishes, but not in the way that they would have hoped.

In the beginning, the three did not notice any difference, but slowly, their wishes came true. The first man was in a near fatal accident, but walked out unscathed. Some of Zanarkand's buildings were reinforced with the machina technology. The third man received a boost of power that he hadn't in years. Everything was going well, the three believed themselves at the top again… they didn't know how ironically right they were.

As the years passed, subtle flaws began appearing in their perfect lives. In a cruel twist of fate, the first man's wish made him impervious to everything, except for time. Zanarkand was no longer gaining power so much as it was being contaminated. And the third man started to realize that he wasn't so much summoning for the prestige and power anymore than the fact that he had to summon.

The people of both Zanarkand and Bevelle were in a state of constant fear; the secret wish that the second man had asked for was slowly but surely switching the two great cities' roles. Entire roads disappeared, others appeared out of no where, appliances changed before peoples very eyes. Houses collapsed, a gross amalgam of machina and mortar, and worst of all, the relations between the two cities degraded, Bevelle accusing Zanakand of working strange magic on both cities. Bevelle feared that its greatest machina secret would be revealed, Vegnagun.

Because of the strained relations, armies were built, armies of spooked soldiers that didn't even know what was wrong. Zanarkand found the plans for Vegnagun and decided to train and send a single summoner and her guardian to deactivate it.

Lenne and Shuyin.

Meanwhile, the third man's wish was starting to corrode into onto itself. The power gains that he was making came at the cost of his sanity and his human body, twisting him and ultimately turning him into a monster. The first man of course, was losing more and more hope as the reality of his situation closed in upon him, this fate was something he hadn't wanted, and now with it thrust on him he could only think of ways to be rid of it. Zanarkand's degradation continued, bringing the two cities to the brink of war, then beyond it.

On the eve of battle, all three powers came to a head. The first man, unable to escape his predicament, tried to end it once and for all with his won hand. The very symbol of the second man's wish, Vegnagun, was slowly being converted to Zanarkand's side. With all the summoning of the imminent battle, the third man could not keep himself away, the monster in him truly gaining full control.

Shuyin had the knowledge to deactivate Vegnagun and Lenne was to use her powers to protect them both while he did so. Both of them knew full well that this was a suicide mission, neither one would be walking away, but neither of them, and indeed, the entirety of Zanarkand, knew about the second man's wish.

In truth, the two of them might have had the time necessary to escape had it not been for that wish, and true, this whole catastrophe would not have happened had the wish not been made, but it was done. As Shuyin played syncopation to the machine, deactivating it, the power balance shifted again, this time not only changing material properties, but also the minds of those fighting.

Brother killed father, aeons destroyed their summoners, soldiers killed their captains, and Vegnagun became Zanarkand's for a brief moment.

Although it was only for a few minutes, the damage was done, Shuyin activated the machine. When sense returned to him, Bevelle soldiers had arrived, leveling their guns against them and in desperation, he tried to protect Lenne. They were both killed.

In the midst of all this, the three wishes reached their final test. The first man tried to take his own life, the second man's wish was fulfilled with the activation of Vegnagun, and the third man, in all his glory, burst into the battlefield, killing and devouring many summoners, soldiers, and innocents.

That chaos had been what that spirit wanted, what it had waited for. The crossing of those lines of power made by the wishes, created a magical circle, just wide enough for it to use.

And thus, Schism was born into this world.

---

Yuna didn't know what to believe, as crazy as the story sounded, it made a surprising amount of sense.

The Fayth studied her and spoke softly, "And as you can guess: Those are the three Sinners we spoke of. Auron is the first. Jecht, the second. And Yu Yevon the third."

Rikku swallowed, "So, this Schism is able to plant suggestions into a person's mind? Make them his own?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," the Fayth answered. "But the actual decision is the person's along, Schism cannot force you to give in, he can only suggest."

"And he could be doing this, even now?" Paine put in, her brow furrowed in worry.

"Yes," the little boy said. "But last time it took the course of forty years to bring three people close enough to become his Sinners."

Yuna bit her lip, "What would drive a person to agree to that…?"

The Fayth looked down solemnly, "Surprisingly… it's not that hard for Schism. It offers the person their greatest desire. Only people with a strong sense of self and stronger morals can resist the suggestions completely."

"At least we have time…" Yuna whispered, grateful for every second.

---

—This is your heart's desire… to be something that Yuna will desire… to be strong…—

"Yes," Brother said firmly. "I'm sure."

—Good… You are ready.—

"Just like that?"

—Yes, this is your heart's desire. The power to grant it is at hand.—

"What must I do?"

—Wish it.—

"Who are you?"

—The force that will split this world.—

But Brother didn't hear, he only heard what he wanted to hear:

—It will be done.—

---

A/N: Well, there it is. I'm not happy with this chapter, but I haven't been happy with most of my chapters anyway, so it really doesn't make a difference.

Please review. Flames or otherwise, I would like to hear from you.

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.

Rose Northe