Saidan no Hitsuji
Chapter Twelve: Canta
Per Me (Sing for Me)
By Seishuku
Skuld (skuldchan@gmail.com)
It's Spring
Break! I'm trying to get as much done as
possible! ^_^ Yay for Spring Break! Anyhoo...hope you
guys enjoy this chapter, it's mostly thought and angsting.
^_^ **sweatdrop**
And for
those of us who had Auron as our highest affinity
level, here is his moment of glory! When
he jumps off the airship first! ^_^ w00t
w00t!
tempra la cetra e canta
il inno di morte
a noi si schiude
il ciel
volano al raggio
strengthen
your lyre and sing
the hymn of
death
the sky
opens to us
they fly to
the ray of sunlight
-NOIR: Canta
Per Me
~*~*~*~*~
A singing
ship in the sky, a world joined by one voice, one purpose, one song. I stand now in the corridor outside the
My breath
nearly stops as I think of him, and I see him flash a kind smile in my mind's
eye. He always loved the Hymn, he told
me it brought him a sense of peace, a quiet serenity he'd never been able to
find before. He'd asked me to hum it to
him a few times, and he'd always fallen asleep in my arms. I told him it was a song to soothe the souls
of the dead. But some in this world know
better than to take Bevelle at its word.
In truth, it
is a song that Zanarkand had sung in defiance of Bevelle during the war.
Its origins became lost to the people, and it somehow became a song of
defiance against the religion of Yevon. How ironic, as most things go in this
place. Then Bevelle
declared it a song to calm the dead, and wrote it in its scriptures. I exhale my breath, my shoulders shaking with
laughter. The maesters
of Bevelle are quite clever.
I look up, a
presence unfolding in my mind. Jecht. He comes to
meet us in battle. I feel that much of
him has slipped away during our journey, his control over his actions is now
only tenuous at best.
"Sin!"
I hear the Al Bhed pilot shout as he spots Jecht in the distance.
He is drawn by the forces of fate, to our ship, our son, and my
presence. He is placated by the Hymn, it
calms him, it makes him docile. The
children run past me, to the deck of the ship.
Tidus is still in the bridge, speaking with
Cid. I hear his determined voice echo
along the hallway I stand in.
"If we
can't get through the mouth, we'll rip open a new one! You with me?"
I
smile. He is still childishly
determined, but I know he will follow through with his words. But it hurts me that he cares not for Jecht, but only for defeating him. It may be a manifestation of his hate for his
father, or it may be that he has seen the death that prowls in Spira's shadows. It
is probably both.
There are
more voices, and then Tidus runs out, the glow of
adventure on his face. He stops when he
sees me unmoving against the wall. He
pauses for a moment, unsure of what to do.
I showed him a small bit of my memories after Yunalesca's
defeat; I showed him why I came to him in Zanarkand. In that little bit, undoubtedly, he learned
of my relationship with Jecht; how much he meant, and
still means to me.
I glance up
as Tidus looks at me uncertainly. He knows who we are going to fight, and he
wonders if I will join him and his friends.
He extends a hand out to me.
"Come
on, Auron, let's go," he says, a dazzling smile
on his face.
I grunt and
take his hand. We run to the deck of the
airship together.
***
We're at the
top of the world, where the Hymn can clearly be heard. Tidus pulls out the
sphere that Yuna dropped in Zanarkand.
"You
don't need this, anymore.
Right?" He throws it
overboard with all his strength, and it disappears, lost from view. I smile.
I wonder if he knows what that really means.
The airship
starts shaking, and I no longer feel Jecht, he is
replaced by an insane madness. I inhale
sharply, my head turning up to look at the sky.
Yevon.
He is here.
"Hey
guys?" Wakka
looks around, uncertainly. He feels it
too. "That's not good ya?"
Sin stares
at us, its myriad of eyes focus straight at us as it forms a giant ball of
violet and black light. The seas beneath
it broil and froth, all the clouds in the sky gather as Sin opens its giant maw and the energy ball
grows, shooting out in every direction, enveloping it. Sin's power throws us to the deck; the
children and I fall hard, our breath knocked out of our bodies. The ball of light splits into pieces with a
roar and fly through Spira. I lift my head slightly to see them cutting
through ocean, air, and land.
There is a
moment of terrible oppressive silence, as we rise to our feet. Young Rikku looks
about her, and her jaw drops when she gazes at the vision before her. The water, the clouds, the land is cut into a
perfect circle by the passing of Sin's beam.
For a moment, the water is still and nothing stirs, a perfect point of
impossibility...and then there is a rumbling as the seas crash back down and
the earth trembles and rises up. We all
duck our heads down as the storm passes over us in a hail of ash and furious
uproar.
When it is
gone, we look up, Sin is before us, unmoving and still.
"Damn
you, old man..." Tidus curses his father,
shaking his head and narrowing his eyes.
"Hey,"
Cid's voice breaks the quiet as he speaks to us,
"I saw somethin' shine at the base of Sin's
arm! I reckon it's a weak spot!"
We bring ourselves
to our feet again, holding our weapons at the ready. The ship shakes again, and we see Sin
approaching faster.
"Sin's
pulling us in!" Rikku cries.
"Everyone,
back inside!" Cid orders, but already it is too late.
I run into
battle as Sin continues to draw us closer to him. Soon we are next to him, and I can see his
weakness clearly. I am surprised that
Sin does not attack us full, as he had just shown us his impressive power, but
I suspect that Jecht is trying to his best to keep
his mind during the fight. The people of
Spira continue to sing, though I can barely hear the
Hymn with the rush of adrenaline and the cracking of Lulu's magic.
We finally
defeat Sin's limb, and I am left breathless.
Twin lancets appear at the sides of the airship, and in one foul blast
it takes out Jecht's arm. White and blue sparks fly from the open wound
as I hear Jecht cry his pain. Sin roars, throwing its head back, beginning
to flounder in the air. My heart leaps
into my throat at the wail, I can feel the injury in the voice all to clearly.
This must be
done, I tell myself, my eyes closing, trying to keep my heart from
shuddering. This must be done to free Jecht. This must be
done to rid Spira of Yevon. I can hardly believe what I am doing.
"Got
it!" Tidus cheers, lifting his arm in victory.
"Couldn't
have done it without you!" Cid's voice also has a joyous ring to it. "All right! Everyone look sharp! Time to hit the other side!"
"Easy
for you to say," groans Rikku as the airship
whips around and the battle begins again.
Once more,
we defeat Sin's other arm, and the airship's cannon knocks the limb into the
sea. Now there is white light trailing
from both of Sin's sides, as it floats finless in the air.
"The main gun's busted!" Rikku suddenly gasps. That spells bad news for everyone.
"Dang
it!" Cid's voice says, "all right, back
inside! Time for another plan!"
"No!"
Tidus shakes his head, purses his lips. He started this fight, and he was not about
to abandon it. I smile wryly. I would not have thought him so eager for
battle just a few months before, but he is starting to remind me even more of Jecht.
"We're
going in," he continues.
"Every blitzer knows: when you got the
ball, you gotta score!" He says this last bit with a rush of excitement. The heat of battle has its hold on him, and
nothing can stop him.
I smile
again, if he is so brave, then so be it.
"Foolhardy..." I say, running forward. "But fun plan." Sin just below us. I run to edge of the deck, and look down
below me. It's a long way, but I can't possibly miss it. I jump.
"Hey,"
I hear Tidus calling after me, "Star players
first!"
***
Sin falls,
white sparks trailing from its open wounds as it tumbles to the sea. The people on Bevelle
gasp in horror as they see Sin falling.
We look onward as Sin falls, leaving a huge cloud of steam and dirt as
it crashes. We walk back inside.
There is no
way that Sin can be defeated this easily, I muse to myself, standing on the
bridge, looking at the fallen figure of Sin.
The children talk excitedly around me, but wat they say means
nothing to me. I sigh, exhale my breath
quickly, calming my body after the battle.
The end is soon, I can see Jecht. I can feel bits and pieces of him in Sin
below me, as Yu Yevon forces him to raise himself and
face us again.
"Jecht," I whisper, wondering if he can feel me the way
I feel him. It's been too long, these
years, this journey with Braska's daughter. I am weary, and body feels the aches and
pains it has been put through. The scar Yunalesca gave me ten years ago burns with fury. It reminds me of where I should be, where I
should be going. But I shake my head each time I think about it, I have
business to do, a promise to fulfill.
Tidus and Yuna walk back to the bridge as Jecht
raises himself up again and spreads his glowing white wings like a flower in
full bloom. But Tidus
never forgets to stop and talk to me, the father I've been to him for so
long.
"Jecht..." I tell him, "he's waiting for
you."
He's waiting
for me too.
***
We run to
the airship deck one last time. This
time, we're really facing Sin. Tidus plans to take us in the through the mouth, and I hope
it doesn't come to the words he said earlier.
Sin looks at
us, its eyes moving in every which way, a grisly grin on its face. I feel not a hint of Jecht
in there, and that strengthens my resolve for the fight.
Jecht, I'm
coming to meet you again.
***
Sin's mouth
opens wide, translucent white mist pouring from a gaping hole beneath. It writhes in pain, roaring, and then
suddenly is still as the airship pilot slowly guides us through. Inside Sin is a thousand, a million pyreflies floating about in red and blue fog, crying to us
in their eerie voices.The interior of Sin is a
veritable world of its own, dark and watery paths that lead into visionless
haze.
The children
and I struggle through the interior, through murky and nebulous mazes, a crazed
blue-haired fiend, a dead abandoned city.
Nothing inside Sin is real, I know, but a manifestation of Yevon and Jecht's
consciousness. Nothing is linear, we
jump from one place to the next with flashes of light and losses of
consciousness...until we are where we are seeking to be.
There is a
familiar figure standing in front of me, looking just as he left me that one
cold night in Zanarkand. Looking not a day older than he was ten years
ago, his lithe build framed by the memory of the Blitz Sphere in Zanarkand. The
stadium, the city horizon, everything is exactly as it was, recreated by the
man standing before me. I see the scars
running down his back, and he looks like flesh and blood, the same way I
am. I am the first to walk forward. I waited for this moment for too long. It is all I can do not to rush to him and
take him into my arms, crush him to me and make him a part of me again.
"You're
late, Auron," he speaks first. I hear his voice, and it fills me with peace
and mad desire with a bittersweet bite.
I lower my eyes, look off to the side as I feel the weight of his ten
years upon my shoulders.
"I know,"
I reply, trying to keep my voice from trembling.
I'm sorry, Jecht. All these
years, I kept I thinking about how I should have stopped you, how things might
have been different if you had stayed with me.
But we were fated to do this.
Jecht
turns around slowly and greets his son.
His words with me are over. We
never needed them in the first place. We
both know where we will be before long.
"Hey."
"Hi,"
Tidus replies, tersely, obviously uncomfortable.
Jecht
senses this and chuckles, trying to put our son at ease. "Hah!
You got tall, but you're all bones!
You eating right, boy?" He
tries to joke around like he usually does, but Tidus
doesn't respond, so he turns serious again.
"You've really grown," he says in earnest.
"Yeah,
but you're still bigger," Tidus retorts
bitterly.
"Well,"
Jecht smiles, "I am Sin, you know."
"That's
not funny."
Jecht
laughs, he knows its too late for him and Tidus. He only has one more hope for
reconciliation. "Well,
then..." his arm reaches instinctively behind his neck, "I mean...you
know." He looks at me, and I meet
his gaze. We both nod, slightly,
imperceptibly. "Let's end this."
There is a
small pause, and I glance over at Tidus. He looks as if he's holding his tears back,
about to say something. "Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I hate
you," Tidus bursts out, trying to put all the
years of hatred for his father into that single statement.
"I
know, I know," Jecht sighs. If there was always one thing he never stopped
regretting, it was what he did with his time with Tidus. "You know what you have to do."
"Yeah."
I too,
nod. This is what those ten years comes
to, facing Jecht again, and defeating him as
Sin. I wonder if I can even do it. I took me years to get here, I know cannot
let him down, but...I see him again, and I everything in my body is telling me
I can't lift my sword against him.
"I
can't hear the hymn so well anymore," Jecht
admits. "Pretty soon, I'm gonna be Sin. Completely.
I'm glad you're here now," he smiles, and I know he speaks to
me. He knows what I am reluctant to
do. "One thing though...when it
starts, I won't be myself anymore. I
won't be able to hold myself back. I'm
sorry."
"I
know," I whisper, comforted by Jecht's
assurance. At least, I know what he
wants.
"That's
enough," Tidus cries, unable to bear it any
longer. He thinks he hates his father,
but we both know he loves Jecht, in a deep, dark,
hidden place in his heart. "Let's
finish this, okay?"
"Well
then...let's go!"
Jecht
turns, walking to the middle of the platform we stand upon. He raises his arms in the air, crosses them,
and forms a beam of light. That's when
he loses a part of himself, and I feel Yevon's
madness come upon him. He staggers
backward as the energy sinks into his chest, blue sparks circling around his
torso.
"No!"
Tidus rushes forward before I can hold him back, and
he reaches his hand out to Jecht. A last chance for absolution. Tidus runs fast,
but he does not reach Jecht in time, and he falls
into the swirling energy pool beneath us.
The platform rumbles and all of Zanarkand
erupts in a blinding light that sweeps across the city.
A huge,
flaming fist slams itself down in the platform, and Tidus
jumps away just in time before the other clawed hand grasps the edge. It is Braska's
Final Aeon, a sight I haven't seen in over ten
years. It towers above us, full of rage
and murderous insanity, two great pillars on either side of it, feeding its
fury.
"I
promise this will be quick!" Tidus shouts, as he
pulls his sword out, "Hit me with all you got, Dad!"
Our battle
begins. I shift the Masamune
on my shoulders, the heat of battle rushing to enclose my mind.
"I
won't lose! You won't beat me this
time!" Tidus cries, holding his sword at the
ready. Jecht,
for a moment, seems strangely calmed by his words, but then the madness
overtakes him again and he recedes deeper into Yevon's
disordered mania.
"Jecht," I whisper, "I promise it won't be long
now." The wait is nearly over, and my
imminent release beckons. It fills me
with purpose and resolve, knowing that the end is so near. I relish death coming, almost as much as Jecht. This battle
is to free him from his pain and suffering, to unchain him from Yevon. He wants
this, but every blow I delivered to him kills a part of me as well. I push myself forward, even when Jecht pulls his familiar sword from his chest, even when he
takes me into his fist and crushes me, throwing me back on the ground. It is for him, for the future of Spira. This is my
tragedy, and I am forced to play my part.
Jecht
slams his sword in the ground when he is defeated, his great bulk collapsing
forward. I see Yevon
escaping from him, flying high into the night, a sphere of swirling red and
black light. Only after Yevon is defeated
can have my peace. The hulking
form of Braska's Final Aeon
disappears in a fantastic explosion, shattering to pieces, leaving a faltering Jecht falling to his knees.
I move
quickly, but Tidus moves faster, and he rushes to his
father, catching his fall, and lowering him gently to the ground.
"You'll
cry. You're gonna
cry. You always cry, see? You're crying," but Jecht's
words no longer the hold the menace and contempt it did when Tidus was a child.
"I hate
you, Dad," Tidus sobs, tears running liberally
down his cheeks. I close my eyes,
wishing I could be by Jecht's side as he dies, but I
know that this is his time with his son.
These are their last moments together.
I will get my time, my eternity when Yevon is
defeated. So for now, I will just stand
by the side, and watch Tidus and his last chance with
Jecht.
"Save
it for later," Jecht says gently as Tidus lays him on the cold floor and stands up.
"Right,"
Tidus nods, "we've got a job to do, don't
we?"
"Good. That's right," Jecht
raises himself with effort. "You
are my son, after all."
I smile,
content that Tidus had the time, at least, to forgive
his father. But Jecht's
strength drains quickly, and I know he is exerting every last bit of to stay in
this world.
"You
know..." Tidus said slowly, "For the first
time, I'm glad to have you as my father."
I know that no doubt, Jecht is comforted by
that admission.
"Sir Jecht..." Yuna steps forward
uncertainly, "I should..."
Jecht
shakes his head, makes an attempt to rise to his feet. "No, Yuna,
there's no time!" His time in this
world remains only in seconds, before he would give, and go to the Farplane. I promise Jecht he won't have to wait long for me.
Yevon
circles in the air above us like a vulture, waiting for his prey. We sense its fury, its malice, and Tidus shouts his defiance at it.
"You
stay away!"
"Yuna," Jecht growls, his
life leaving him, "you know what to do!
The aeons..."
::We aeons...:: the violet clad fayth
appears behind us, echoing Jecht's words. He is here to help us, help us defeat the
last vestige that ties them to this world.
He is here to help free the people of Spira.
"Call
them!" Jecht cries, his last words.
::Call us!::
Jecht
falls to the ground, his strength gone.
"Auron," he murmurs, as he lays his
head down, his body going limp, pyreflies flying from
him. I close my eye, look away. It is
too much temptation to go with him. It
tears my heart to see him die before me, just as Braska
died. But I have one last thing to do,
and I cannot see him again until I do it.
"Goodbye,
Jecht," I whisper back.
"Here
it comes!" Lulu gasps, as Yevon closes in. It falls into Jecht's
sword, beams of blinding light flashing everywhere, striking my senses. I am lost in endlessly clear whiteness, and
when I come to, the final battle has begun.