Author's Note- Another reviewer! I think I'll respond to Uchiha Aywin right here, while we're on the subject of reviews. The reason why I had the impression that the Yevonite religion (and Sin) existed during Lenne and Shuyin's time, was because there WERE summoners and fayths during the Machina War. I assumed that because of that, it would only be sensible for pilgrimages and Yevonites to exist at that time as well.
It turns out that I was actually right about the pilgrimages, but wrong about the Yevonites. Summoners during Lenne's time only acquired Aeons so that they could assist Zanarkand in the Machina War, not so that they could defeat Sin. In FFX-2, Shuyin was Lenne's only guardian—so there were definitely summoners during that time.
People only came up with the idea of Yevonite churches so that they could cover up the mistakes they made in the past and hide them from the Spirans. In the game, it was Yunalesca who spread the news about the Yevonite church and how a summoner could kill Sin by gaining the Final Aeon. So it was probably at least a good 10 years or so after Lenne's and Shuyin's death that Sin showed up.
But—who cares.
MOVING ON.
Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PILGRIMAGE OF A THOUSAND YEARS! This chapter is dedicated to the celebration of your one-year anniversary! n.n;;;;;
Chapter Seven: The Machina War
"Are we there yet?"
"Nope."
"…are we there—yet?"
"Nope."
"…NOW are we there?"
"No."
"…what about now?"
"No!"
"…are we—"
"NO, DAMN IT! SHUT THE F—"
"Shuyin!" Lenne cried, stopping the guardian from carrying out his curse. "We are followers of Yevon, you know. We can't just go around swearing at—!"
Shuyin sighed. "Alright, alright," he said. "But someone PLEASE hurry us up to Djose… We've been traveling for days since Kilika, with little rest." He yawned.
"Djose shouldn't be far from here," Auron stated in his low voice. When the others stared at him questioningly, he said calmly, "I've…visited there before; I should know." No one added further question; apparently Auron had a past of which he wasn't keen to inform them. Still, to reassure the others that Auron's judgment was indeed correct, Rauke nodded approvingly.
By now, days of nonstop travel had passed since the group had departed Kilika. Of course no one was able to keep exact track of time, for the days and nights of journeying had caused the whole experience to be a huge blur, but they could estimate.
After leaving Kilika, the group had had to avoid stopping at Luca (even if there WAS a "fighting tournament" that was supposed to take place there soon) and continue on with the pilgrimage. Of course Darian had forced everyone to promise that they'd return to Luca after the pilgrimage ended, and Shuyin wasn't reluctant to agree with him, but for now, Auron had advised them, it was smarter to get a good head start on the pilgrimage. And that meant no unnecessary stops until they had made decent progress—and that wouldn't be for a while, at the pace they were going.
They had traveled through the Mi'ihen Highroad and Mushroom Rock, which, according to Auron, had also existed during his pilgrimage with Yuna. Lenne found it interesting, and extremely suspicious, that such places could exist for
"Wait a minute. Is that it over there?" Reina inquired abruptly, pointing ahead.
They looked—and were shocked and dismayed. Evidently Djose was not very large, even though this time period was indeed the Age of Machina, when the use of machina thrived the most. In fact, Djose was hardly large enough to be called a city or town; all it consisted of was a Yevonite Temple, a very small field in front of the entrance to said temple, and a pathway that seemed to lead to other Spiran places.
But that was not what had shocked and dismayed them:
A small ways from the temple of Djose was what looked like two different armies raging war against one another, one of them seemingly winning over the other. One side was truly brutal, their swords and other weaponry clashing with the weaponry of the other side, but the other side had a smaller number of warriors, and was obviously not as skilled in combat. Lenne stared, gasping with renewed horror as she recognized a certain symbol on the apparel of the weaker side—
Was this—? Could it be—?
"Oh my god…" she breathed, overwhelmed. "What IS this!" That symbol! It's—from…
"ZANARKAND?" Darian shouted, creepily completing her thought.
"…this is a war," Shuyin concluded, equally dismayed at the sight; they had most definitely not be expecting this. "But—why? What's happened?"
Auron seemed to be thinking hurriedly. "What year did you say this was, again?" he asked Reina urgently.
She had clasped her hand to her mouth, astonished, but now she removed it and said, "F-fifty years a-after the birth of Sin…"
Something in his mind clicked. "Oh no." He began to run forward, not wasting any time. "Quick! Follow me!" Sprinting, they fled from the battle, into the woods on the left. Following Auron, Lenne and the others hastily moved past trees and other wildlife and emerged from the woods, in an area behind the Djose Temple.
In this area, there were no brawling warriors, nor anyone else who seemed likely to harm them. Instead, there were about half a dozen priests wandering about helplessly, looked very frustrated with the situation.
Darian leaped forward, wanting information, and grabbed one by the arm. "You! What—the HELL—is going on?"
The priest was startled but not fearful. "You don't know? Haven't you seen the battling warriors?"
"No, and yes! Tell us what this is all about, quickly," Darian demanded. "And don't falter."
The priest looked a bit worried—but who wouldn't be, under the circumstances? "Well, if you are not from around here," he said, "I suppose, naturally, you would not know about this. Very well, but after I tell you, you must leave this place immediately; it is much too dangerous for teenagers to linger."
Auron and Rauke stepped forward heatedly, not keen to be deemed teens, but the priest merely shrugged at their presence. Lenne, Shuyin, Darian, and Reina were not pleased at the apparent prejudice of the priest, but did not dare say anything that might stop him from explaining the situation.
"As you may know, the war raging between Bevelle and Zanarkand is beginning to—"
"WHAT?" Lenne interrupted suddenly. "Zanarkand? And—Bevelle? There is no war between them!"
"Hmm? You did not know of it? It was declared merely a few days ago; I suppose it might be rational that news of it hasn't quite spread everywhere. I am very sorry that I must be the bearer of such bad news, but I am afraid it is true: the cities of Bevelle and Zanarkand are, indeed, at war."
Lenne felt herself going dizzy. "But…but…" But she could not protest, for she had now been out on her pilgrimage for what seemed to be about a week. Since then, she had made little contact with the outside world, and thus, news of a war going on between her hometown and Bevelle could not readily reach her. "This—it—cannot be true!"
Reina, Darian, and Shuyin shook their heads helplessly; Zanarkand was their hometown too. How could they not have known?
"I'm afraid it is, miss," the priest said sadly. "The machina-heavy city of Bevelle…and the summoner city of Zanarkand…too many disputes have occurred between them, and apparently one went much, much too far. It resulted in—this war. I'm sorry, but it is true: Spira has become a world of conflict and hatred."
"But then, why would Bevellians be attacking—this place?" Shuyin queried.
"Well…." He sighed. "We think the Bevellians are trying to force the warriors and summoners of Zanarkand to act. They might want all of Spira to realize that they aren't going to back down, and that this war is not something to take lightly. The Bevellians probably want to be recognized—and feared. And in order for that to happen, they must prove themselves powerful—so they have attacked us and attempted to destroy the Djose Temple to make their intentions known."
"And—what would those intentions be?" Shuyin asked.
Auron narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. "Most likely to come up with their own version of the Yevonite religion, and to get all or most Spirans to follow their new religion."
"But…why would they want that?" Lenne managed to ask. "I thought everyone believed in the ways of Yevon!"
"Not everyone," Auron replied shortly.
Lenne was sure that the fact that Auron lived in the future was an advantage for him; with knowledge of how Spira would turn up in years to come, Auron could come to conclusions about what Bevelle might want now. If Bevelle ever managed to convert Spira to another type of Yevonite religion, it would mean that the Spira that Auron had lived in during the future, would be based on that religion. Lenne found this concept hard to understand, but she knew, somehow, that Auron knew a lot more about the past (which was now the present) than he cared to tell.
Lenne shook her head. She was only confusing herself by trying to understand Auron's ways. Because of this, she gave up.
"If you say so," she said.
There was a short moment of silence. To remind Lenne of what they had come here to do, Rauke said shortly, "Aeon."
"Oh!" Lenne suddenly exclaimed, turning to the priest. "I…I'm Summoner Lenne," she explained to him.
"We came here to collect the Aeon at the Temple of Djose—"
"So we need to enter it," Darian concluded, cutting her off.
The priest eyed her warily. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
Lenne rolled her eyes anxiously and called upon the Aeon she had most recently received, Ifrit. The huge creature sprang from beneath the ground and roared, beating its chest like an ape.
"WHAAH!" The priest jumped three feet into the air and apologized. "Sorry, just had to make sure… Well, if you really insist on obtaining the Aeon of Djose, I suppose you must proceed into the temple. But please—hurry! Our warriors won't be able to hold of the Bevellians much longer, and soon the Bevellians will be able to proceed and destroy the temple.
"Further away from here, in the protection of the woods, we're making finishing touches on an airship, so that by the time the temple is destroyed, the remaining people of Djose can make a quick escape from this place. If you enter the Temple, you must rush, for we estimate that in about 4 minutes, our remaining warriors will be wiped out and the Bevellians will be free to destroy the place."
"…you sure talk a lot," Darian commented.
Auron sent him a sharp look, and then turned to Lenne. "Summoner, you have four minutes to obtain the Aeon in the temple and leave—or you will die. The rest of us, your guardians, shall help the Djose warriors in the battle until then."
"But—can someone come with me? I—"
Reina raised her hand.
Then—Shuyin did too. The others protested, thinking that he would be more useful battling against the Bevellians, but for some reason Shuyin refused to leave Lenne. "I want to make sure she's alright," he said quietly.
Darian raised his eyebrows. "That's not needed. She'll be fine!"
Shuyin glared. "For ONCE, can you just—"
"Can I just what?" Darian snapped.
"Not the time for that," Auron swiftly reminded them. "Less than four minutes left."
"He's right, we have to go! Quick!" Lenne cried. The priest showed her, Shuyin, and Reina a back way into the temple, where they would not be bothered by the brawling soldiers—for now.
"Remember: only four minutes," Darian cried as he, Auron, and Rauke made their way to the site of the battle, leaving the others to their own important duty.
The back, secret entrance was a considerably small tunnel-like route beneath the ground, through which Lenne and the others had to crawl to proceed. Spiders crept up the walls of the tunnel, and Lenne had the distinct impression that the thing might collapse any minute.
Shuyin, who was in front of the two girls, led the way through the tunnel, not daring to pause or start any conversation that might force them to lose time. He, followed by the others, came to the end of the path, took a sharp right, and began to ascend to higher ground.
They emerged from the tunnel and looked around. The new area was naught but a closed square—there was no path to take, no intersections to cross, just a room with no exit. Oh dear, Lenne thought, beginning to worry. Will we even be able to make it on time? There's—
She stopped; something had caught her eye. A movement of some sort—and it wasn't from Shuyin or Reina. She narrowed her eyes and discovered what the movement was:
The walls were caving in.
"DAMN!" Shuyin cried, banging his fists against them.
"Oh, no…." Reina tried to cast a Slow spell on the walls to make them move in a much less rapid manner, but nothing happened. She gasped.
Lenne was horrified. She didn't know what to do. Without thinking, for comfort, she grabbed the nearest object to her—and it ended up being Shuyin's hand. She didn't even notice, but Shuyin's eyes flickered down to look at their coupled hands, and he didn't even think of letting go.
But the walls were closing in more rapidly now, and they wouldn't hesitate to crush the three of them into pancakes.
Shuyin looked up at the ceiling, praying for a miracle—
And saw one. There, seemingly engraved onto the ceiling, was a square. He peered more closely at it and realized that it was actually an exit leading to another passageway. "Look!" he cried, pointing at the thing with his idle hand.
"What is it?" Reina asked hurriedly, noticing the fact that the walls were now so close together that she could hardly stretch her leg out between them.
"Our exit."
Forcing himself to let go of Lenne's hand, Shuyin leaped into the air and rammed his fist into the square. At first nothing happened, but then, gradually, the thing began to open like a trap door, and revealed a new room. Shuyin hopped upward into the room.
"QUICK!" He thrust out his hand and, just as the walls shut together with a SLAM, he flung Lenne and Reina up to his level.
Gasping for breath, Lenne hugged Shuyin tightly, glad to be safe for now. But then Reina was quick to remind them that they only had probably about a minute left.
"Damn," Shuyin muttered. "What now?"
Lenne looked around. There, at the end of the corridor, was a glyph the size of an entire wall. "Do you think…?" she asked, pointing at it uncertainly.
"There's nothing else in this room," Shuyin said. "So that must be it!"
"Or it can be another trap," Reina put in.
"I'll have to go ahead anyway." Lenne strode forward, then hesitated for some reason. Shuyin smiled at her and held out his hand. "Erm…what're you doing?" she asked him.
"Just take my hand. Like before. I'll help you."
"Before?"
"Just a few moments ago, you—"
"Oh! I didn't realize! I'm so sorry!" Lenne was astonished that she had done this, and a bit embarrassed. But when Shuyin insisted that it was alright, she faltered for moment, and then, without another word, stretched out her own hand, and Shuyin took it in his. Reina stayed behind, smirking slightly, while Shuyin and Lenne strode together to the glyph. Lenne took a breath, then—
"AHHHHHH!"
She whipped around. "What!"
Reina clapped her hand to her mouth and pointed at a wall, which was beginning to smoke. "They—they've—" she stuttered. "They're burning down the temple!"
"NO!" Shuyin shouted, his eyes bulging. "Lenne, QUICK! Touch the glyph!"
"But I—" She didn't know why, but there was something about her current physical connection with Shuyin that made her? I don't care about Shuyin in that manner! So what does it matter?
"Lennie…" Reina whispered. "This temple…is on fire…! It's going to— We were too slow!"
"No, we'll live through this," Shuyin said, determined. "I'll make sure of that. Now, Lenne, GO!"
"Alright." And with that, she thrust her hand at the glyph—
And everything went white.
She knew she was now in the Chamber of the Fayth.
Hurry! a voice said within her. "I—I'm Summoner Lenne Stenning, of Zanarkand," she said firmly and quickly, remembering what Ifrit had told her to do back in Kilika, whenever she entered a Chamber of the Fayth.
Immediately a four-legged creature with a long, golden horn and a very bony structure materialized from nowhere and looked at her. This was evidently the Fayth of Djose in its Aeon form, for the creature did not speak, but merely nodded its head, sensing her distress. Ixion, it told her mentally, evidently telling her its name.
"Alright, Ixion," Lenne said. "Let's go."
->->-
She blinked, and found herself back in the room with Shuyin and Reina. Reina was continually casting Blizzard on the walls of the room, trying to stop them from burning away too quickly, and Shuyin was hacking at the floor, trying to get it to open up and allow them to escape. Nothing was working.
"I've got the Aeon!" Lenne exclaimed. "How do we get out of here?"
Reina was obviously very frustrated. "I don't know—but this—is NOT—working," she said. "But maybe if I just…" She seemed to have gotten an idea. "I know! Lenne…maybe if you and I team up, we can blast our way out of here."
"What? How?"
"Your Aeons, my magic, and Shuyin's...um...support."
Shuyin scowled. "Why do I have to be the magic-less warrior?" he grumbled, but stepped aside anyway.
Alright, Lenne thought, now standing beside Reina, who was concentrating her power on one of the walls. Aeons! Come to me!
Nothing happened.
Oh, no.
She concentrated with all her mental strength, and creamed, out loud this time, "AEONS!" And immediately, Lenne saw a massive bird, Valefor, a bear-like creature, Ifrit, and her newly acquired Aeon, Ixion, line up side-by-side in front of her. Reina, who was to her left, had her staff out, and was staring up at the ceiling, her eyes turning entirely white. The end of her staff slowly began to glow with an incredible intensity, and Lenne knew she was ready.
Not knowing how much longer Reina could hold out like this, she screamed, "AEONS, COMBINE POWERS!" and all three of her Aeons nodded.
Ixion's horn began to glow, and out of both Valefor's and Ifrit's mouths, a large ball of energy appeared. All three Aeons were ready; the front of the room began to brighten. Then, Reina, who had been awaiting her turn, cried out, "DEATH!"
The Aeons, and Reina's powerful Death spell, made contact with the wall—
And the temple blew up.
"Oh my god! What have we done!" Reina cried, staring at the huge mass of rubble that used to be a temple.
"All you did was try to find a way outside of the thing, so we weren't killed," Shuyin reminded her. "After all, the temple was being destroyed by the Bevellians anyway…." He patted her on the back, but, distressed, she cast a Water spell on him.
"Hey—!" he cried, drenched.
But they had no more time for conversation, for Darian, Auron, and Rauke had just caught sight of them from in the woods, and were now sprinting in their direction. "Hey, you're all alright!" Darian exclaimed, grinning.
"Yeah, we just got the Aeon…but—" Lenne gestured to the destroyed temple. "It's gone."
"Oh…"
But there was no time for grief, and they knew it. "Well…the Bevellian warriors have completed their task, and they're making their escape now," Darian continued hastily.
"Are we going after them, or what?" Shuyin demanded, wanting revenge for all the trouble they'd caused in just a few minutes.
"No! There's too many! Why else do you think we couldn't hold them off for long?"
"So we just let them run away FREELY?"
Auron shook his head. "There's no time left to stop them; one of the Bevellians set a time bomb on this place."
"So…they're making their escape—" Lenne said.
"And now we make ours," Rauke concluded.
And, as if these words summoned him, the priest from earlier came running at the group, from the woods. "The airship is ready! You must all hurry! Follow me!" He sprinted back through the woods, and Lenne and the others followed. Brushing past countless trees, bushes, and—yes—a few fiends, Lenne soon found herself and her guardians emerging from the woods, and entering a small plain on which a particularly large machina airship sat.
"We're getting in THIS?" Darian asked, interested. Of course he was the first to leap inside. Reina took a quick look at her surroundings, then followed suit, and soon the only remaining people in Djose who were not either dead or in the airship were Lenne, Shuyin, and the priest.
Lenne didn't move. She knew her pilgrimage was going by speedily. She had started the journey only perhaps a week ago, and already she had obtained thee-fourths of the Aeons that she needed to acquire before returning to Zanarkand to obtain the Final Aeon and defeat Sin. She was astonished and dismayed by the sudden news of Zanarkand being in war with Bevelle. Things were just happening so quickly—
First, Sin being alive again…then Auron…and now this? The pilgrimage was not going smoothly, she knew that.
…but…
As she took a fleeting glance at the natural forest surrounding her, and Shuyin standing right next to her, squeezing her hand with his, she couldn't help but wonder:
With this new airship, wouldn't the pilgrimage be going by a whole lot faster?
After all…
The pilgrimage had been moving along quick enough when she and her guardians were traveling by foot. What, in Yevon's name, would happen once she began to travel with an airship?
Well, of course the pilgrimage would be over a whole lot sooner, for they could travel from one place to another in only a matter of hours now. But—she now felt—what was the word?—attached to her pilgrimage and her guardians. She had grown close to both of them and knew she would have to let go of them very soon, because—well…
Her pilgrimage would soon be over. All she had to do now was visit Bevelle, and then take the airship to Zanarkand, and obtain the Final Aeon and— Everything would be gone.
She knew that. But couldn't accept it. But then, she thought, the only reason why she'd agreed to go on this journey in the first place was so she could defeat Sin, and save Spira from more anguish. Why should she be so selfish as to delay things just so that she can spend more time with Shuyin?
And also Reina, Darian, Auron, and Rauke, she was quick to add.
But she had to admit—there was something special about her relationship with Shuyin. It was nothing physical, nothing that they said out-loud to each other, but when they looked into each other's eyes—
No, she thought. I'm a summoner! I can't afford to waste my emotion on things like this.
But even as she thought that, she squeezed Shuyin's hand and smiled at him.
Her smiled soon faded away and she said in a cheerless half-whisper, "It's almost over…"
"Yeah, it is." He smiled. "But we'll be alright."
Somehow Lenne had the feeling that when he had said the word "we", he wasn't referring to any of the other guardians: he was referring to him and Lenne.
The priest cocked his head to the side. "Are you going in or not?" he said impatiently. "There's not enough time to dawdle here!" He brushed past them and entered the airship.
"…let's go," Shuyin said, and lead her inside.
She turned around to take one last fleeting glance at Djose, as if saying goodbye to it, before the doors slid closed.
She wasn't really saying goodbye to Djose, she knew; she was really saying goodbye to her past life: The useless, meaningless life she had had without the airship, without quick travel from one city to another, without a sufficient amount of Aeons…
…without Shuyin.
Author's Note- Looks like slight romance is finally kicking in, ne? How do you think I'll convey it? Will Shuyin ever succeed in wooing Lenne? Or will he just blow up? Review, and await the next chapter to find out! n.n;;;