Before the Dawn
Six.

We'll trace our footsteps in the sand
And just walk away... baby someday
Now I don't know how a heart beats
But I sure know how one breaks
"Maybe Someday" – Bon Jovi

I exhaled shakily. "This is..."

The pilgrimage looked at each other nervously, and Auron started walking again, just like I remembered he had. He'd been here before. The summoner brushed back her brown hair, and swung her hands forward, in a style that might have been inspired by me. She nodded at Kimahri, who started after Auron. The entire group followed, walking straight toward us. I moved to the side, but saw that Tidus hadn't.

He stood in front of Yuna, and lifted his hand cautiously. Instead of the smile and embrace my mind wished for, she walked right through him, and continued toward the temple.

"Tidus," I whispered. He still kept his hand up, as if instead of passing through him, Yuna was still standing there, just failing to take his hand.

I set my hand on his arm, and gently pushed it down to his side again. "It's just a memory, like last time we were here."

This is what I had been afraid of. When I saw the pyreflies, my mind had raced to both the Den of Woe, and this spot two years ago. Our predecessors, from Seymour and his mother to Yuna's dad, had greeted us. I thought for a moment, what if our memories were preserved here?

Then, I remembered coming here with the Gullwings. Why were the memories here now, if they weren't a few months ago?

"You need to get to the Chamber of the Fayth," Shinra's voice once again broke through an awkward moment.

"I don't suppose there is an easier way in," Paine communicated. I admired her ability to be collected and whatnot even after something like that.

"Why?"

"We've got a different sort of fiend here."

We heard a bit of clacking from the keyboard, then, "I'm not seeing anything."

"We'll just get to the Chamber as fast as we can," Gippal sighed. He turned to Tidus, and patted him on the shoulder. "I know you want to forget--"

"No," Tidus shook his head. "Let's just go."

I frowned. The tension in the air had eased, but when Tidus spoke, the air seemed to become crisp and cold. Of course Tidus didn't want to forget...

"It's strange," Paine said after a moment, breaking my thought. She started to walk toward the temple again. Almost involuntarily, I followed. I didn't know if I wanted to face that part of my life. The part of my life that included Yuna was over, and I just wasn't ready to start a new one yet.

"What?" Gippal asked.

"When Wakka spoke, I was thinking the same thing. It's just like the Farplane," Paine continued. "But those were your memories, they just seemed to fit my thoughts."

I looked down at my boots. "There are places where pyreflies cling to people's memories and make them eternal." I remembered Yuna saying this when...

"Do you think we'll see a lot from the pilgrimage?" Tidus asked.

I didn't know. I sure hoped not...

We entered the temple, which was still as ruined as ever. "I've never been here," Gippal looked up at the sky that was visible through the ceiling. "I don't think it'll be my memories."

"And I was only here with the Gullwings," Paine shrugged. As she spoke, three kids ran through us, causing me to screech, startled.

"So where do you think the 'key' is?" one of them turned to the other two.

Paine laughed, "I remember running around here chasing monkeys and spheres."

I smiled a little, but my heart was still pounding in my ears. "To think it was only a few months ago."

We wandered through the temple, but only saw a few apparitions of Leblanc's goons running around. I hoped that this was the only thing we had to see.

Everything was happening so fast. I wasn't sure what to do. When we reached the Cloister, I thought that maybe this was all just a crazy dream and I'd wake up before I saw Yuna again.

We walked our way through the last Cloister, and I could feel the tension rising again. My stomach was in knots.

"There's something I should probably tell you guys," Shinra's voice echoed in my ear. His tone was almost nervous, which scared me a bit. Shinra was always cool and collected, especially for a kid...

"That doesn't sound good," Gippal replied, sounding anxious.

"Well I didn't think it was important before, but judging by the high level of spectral pyre activity in the building, I think you need to know. It's likely that this connection might be severed if you do succeed in traveling this other realm."

"What?" I gulped. "How are we supposed to get back if you don't tell us?!"

"The Fayth, I imagine." The anxiety had faded already from his voice, and was quickly replaced by his sort of smug, bored tone.

My brow furrowed and I glanced at the others, who had the same anxious look on their faces. "What are we just supposed to walk up to them and be all, 'Oh hello Mr. Fayth, can you please send us home?'"

"That sounds about right."

"What!" Tidus yelled. "Even if that did work, we can't just call on them whenever we want! There aren't any temples in Zanarkand for us to find Fayth. There were never Fayth in Zanarkand!"

Shinra took no notice of the fact that Tidus was yelling, but continued. "You don't have to worry about getting home, all right? I'll be able to handle that. But if you do get into trouble along the way, I won't be able to help you because I doubt that even my inventions couldn't travel to a Fayth-based realm."

Paine sighed loudly. "So is that it? We'll lose contact with you and the rest of the Gullwings after this?"

"Right."

"Let's just get this over with," Paine said quietly. "We don't want to stay in this temple any longer than needed, right?"

I nodded.

We were now outside the doorway that led to the great hall. I didn't want to go in. I really, really didn't. For some reason, I felt that if I watched us save Yuna, I'd realize again that in the end we failed.

I felt a hand brush across mine once, and I looked up. Gippal gave the tiniest smile and winked his one eye.

"Come on," he said. He took my hand this time, and tugged a little. I followed as he started to lead through the doorway. I wasn't sure how to react to his hand-grabbing again, but I knew I needed the guidance to continue on.

We stepped across the threshold, and I exhaled a little. The four of us stopped just inside the room, and looked around.

Nothing.

I let out the rest of my breath.

"Now what?" Tidus whispered.

It was quiet, which explained why Tidus whispered. There was a strange atmosphere in this room, like there were ghosts waiting for us, but they couldn't make any sort of noise.

"Shinra said that something would react with the sphere," Gippal said. He let go of my hand and pulled out the sphere that had contained both the movies of Tidus and of Shuyin.

Almost immediately, a figure appeared at the top of the stairs, and a crisp voice pierced the silence.

"Welcome to Zanarkand."

I sucked in a gasp that sounded more like a tiny scream. Clad only in her ribbon-like clothing was Yunalesca.

"I congratulate you, summoner."

I shut my eyes tight, knowing that we (the pilgrimage) would be nearby. I heard a noise like static on a sphere and I heard her speak again.

"Now, choose. You must choose the one whom I will change... to become the Fayth of the Final Summoning."

I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder and squeeze tightly. Another crackle of static, then she spoke once more. This time her voice was distorted and crackly...

"Death is the ultimate and final liberation."

I opened my eyes. Before me was (as I feared) the pilgrimage. We all looked horror-struck. But we also looked... static-y? It was strange. Like watching an old sphere: a life-size sphere, but an old one. The images kept flickering back and forth, sometimes irregular with the voices.

"The Final Summoning...will be yours." Crackle.

"You will soon be freed of worry and pain." Flicker.

I winced. The hand groping my shoulder was beginning to ache. I looked up and saw not Gippal, but Tidus. His eyes were wide and pained.

"There is nothing to fear." Yunalesca disappeared.

"But I want everything!"

"Now you're being childish!"

"They know they can just throw away a summoner, then they can do whatever they like!"

"You really think she'll help you?"

"Wait." The images seemed to move in slow motion. Yuna turned and faced the pilgrimage-Tidus. Her voice and movement skipped, like a broken sphere.

"What I—What I—What—What-I do, I do-do-o-o-o-do...wi-with n-no regrets."

The word 'regrets' echoed as the images crackled away.

Whichever Al Bhed said, "memories are nice, but that's all they are" deserves to be shot. In the pancreas or the spleen maybe.

I closed my eyes again for a moment. I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"Welcome to Zanarkand."

My eyes flew open. Not again!

But that wasn't...Yunalesca. A tall, thin woman stood before us. She didn't possess the cold aura that Yunalesca had carried. A soft white glow seemed to emit from her as she walked down the staircase toward us.

She wore a silvery blue gown that flowed around her like water. She had bronze skin, and copper brown eyes like her hair that nearly matched the length of her gown. Her eyes searched each of us, and she smiled brightly when she reached Tidus and I.

"Hello Tidus. Welcome back."

"Zaléa?" His jaw fell a little. "How-you-uh-what's-huh?" he rambled.

She looked around the temple and scrunched her nose. "I'm glad the Fayth decided to make our Zanarkand a little nicer." The woman laughed a laugh that sounded... well, as clichéd as it sounds, it sounded like the tinkling of bells. I know it sounds silly, but that's what it was. I've never heard anything like it.

"Let's go somewhere a bit nicer." She lifted her arms, and the glow around her began to spread from her body to the room.

I heard Paine gasp as we watched the phenomenon. As the glow moved out, it changed the room. Well, not really changed it, but fixed it. The rubble that had fallen from the walls and the ceiling was replaced quickly. The dampness that had hung around the room lifted, and lights began to blaze overhead where before there hadn't been anything.

Finally the glow had reached every crevice in the room, and Zaléa put down her arms. She smiled again, "Welcome to Zanarkand."

Author Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed - and for everyone else who has favorited this story or put it on their alert - but I REALLY love reviews! I swear it'll inspire me more to write faster And thanks for your patience. I know I sometimes take too long to update but hopefully it's worth it... Much love!