While they were walking up the stairs, Yuna whispers into Tidus' ear: "You knew that Sin is your father, did you?"
Tidus nodded silently.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a sad voice.
Tidus sighed. "Because... I thought you might quit the pilgrimage... and my father doesn't want that. He is being controlled against his will, he's forced to kill... he wants it to stop."
"And... can you do it? Helping defeating your own father?"
"No problem with that," Tidus shrugged. "If I don't do it, Sin will never disappear, right?"
They reached the top of the stairs and stepped through the double doors. Behind them, a wide stone platform was floating in the darkness, and it looked like they were in outer space. The whole place was illuminated only by the light of the stars.
In the middle of the platform, Yunalesca awaited them.
"Well then," she greeted them. "Have you decided? Who is going to be your Final Aeon?"
Ranma stepped forward. "Before she decides, we have something to ask you: Is it true that Sin can't be really defeated?"
Yunalesca smiled. "Sin is eternal. Every Aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in its place. And thus is Sin reborn..."
"Oh, I get it," Akane said. "That's how Tidus' father became Sin."
Wakka seemed pretty upset by now. "But... if we atone for our sins, then... someday, Sin will surely disappear, ya?"
"Will humanity ever attain such purity?" Yunalesca asked.
"I thought so," Ranma grumbled. "All this babbling about atonement and hope is nothing but a big lie to cover up the reality, right? What's the big meaning of this? Why granting the people the Final Aeon, letting summoners and their guardians sacrifice themselves, when in the end, Sin never disappears?"
"Hope is... comforting," Yunalesca replied. "It allows us to escape fate, however tragic it may be."
"Enough of this," Ranma snarled. "Just answer my question: Is there a way of defeating Sin forever?"
She smiled enigmatically at him. "No..."
Yuna felt her hopes falling down. "Why? Why did I try so hard to become a High Summoner, if everything is in vain? This... this false tradition... it should be thrown away!"
Yunalesca shook her head. "No, it's our only hope!"
"You know, that's not quite true," another voice said. Out of thin air, the image of Bahamut's fayth appeared.
Yunalesca gasped. "Y-you!"
The boy smiled. "Why are you still clinging to this old game? Us fayth were longing for a change of these ways for a long time now."
"The Final Summoning is the only thing that gives the people of Spira hope," Yunalesca snapped. "Are you saying we should throw our hope away?"
The fayth shook its head. "No, but this is false hope. There is another way of defeating Sin, you know that."
Yunalesca's face darkened visibly. "I... I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, really? I believe it's more the fact that it is your dear father who came up with Sin... Yu Yevon himself!"
"Say what!" Ranma shouted. "Yevon... is Yunalesca's father? And if his cult is teaching the people how to destroy Sin, and his own daughter gives them the Final Aeon... what's the meaning of all this?"
"I can't believe it," Yuna whispered.
"Yu Yevon was once Zanarkand's greatest summoner," Bahamut explained. "And when the summoners couldn't defeat Bevelle's mighty machina army, he came up with a plan... He summoned a mighty armor around his body, called Sin. Sin was so powerful, he could easily destroy the Bevelle army. But, at the same time, he also destroyed Zanarkand. And to honor her father, Yunalesca came up with the idea of the pilgrimages and the Final Summoning. She also spread Yevon's teachings in Spira. That's why the temples forbid the use of machina... Yevon is afraid of another war like that."
"That's why you don't want Sin to be destroyed forever," Tidus growled at Yunalesca. "Because he's your father."
"My father was the savior of Spira," Yunalesca hissed. "He deserves to live on eternally. He has to remain inside Sin, to remind the people of their sins. They never must start another war like that."
"But this brings to Spira is the Spiral of Death," Bahamut said. "All Sin causes is death. Sins kills people, guardians die on the summoner's pilgrimage to Zanarkand, and by becoming the fayth for the Final Aeon, and by using this Aeon, the summoners die themselves. Even the maesters of Yevon are dead people... that's not a very good solution, dear sister..."
"Sister?" Yuna gasped.
The fayth nodded. "That's correct: Before I merged with Bahamut to become an Aeon, my human soul was also a summoner... the youngest summoner of Zanarkand. I was one of many summoners that didn't agree with my father's plans... that's why we didn't join him when he and his followers created Sin."
"You always were a coward, Bard," Yunalesca shouted. "Instead of supporting the ingenious plan of our father, you betrayed him. Everyone else was supporting our cause."
"Have a look around, dear sister," Bahamut alias Bard said. "See what happened to Zanarkand. Death is no solution. We have to free Spira from the clutches of father's madness... and yours! Besides, I'm not the only one that didn't agree with him..."
And after he said that, the images of the other fayth appeared next to him. The fayth of Ifrit, Shiva, Ixion, Yojimbo and Valefor.
Yunalesca smirked. "Efro, Sheena, Izmael, Yosuke and Valeria... I should have known. All this time, you have been hiding inside your temples, helping summoners... isn't that the same what I did?"
Valefor's fayth, a young woman with red hair, shook her head. "No, Yunalesca. We were hoping that one day, one of the summoners would realize that Yevon's teaching were anything but a solution. That they would try to find a way of getting rid of Sin for good."
"And now, we have brought a summoner that is different from everyone that stood before you," said Ixion's fayth, the man called Izmael. He gestured towards Ranma. "Ranma Saotome, a man not from this world, he was gifted with the ability of summoning pure Espers, different from us Aeons. They weren't human beings before, so he's not constricted by the traditional summoner's flaws..."
"The ancient summoners from Zanarkand were working together with the Espers," explained Sheena, the fayth of Shiva. "They agreed to merge with the spirits of the summoner's friends or family members after they died a natural death... so they could serve their family and their town even after dying. But, as time passsed, the summoners started more and more to force the spirit of the dead and the Espers to merge and form Aeons. They were imprisoned in the stone statues."
"But with Ranma's help, we hope that humans and Espers will try to live in peace once more..." said Efron, Ifrit's fayth. "Today, most people don't even know that they exist."
Yunalesca's gaze wandered over the assembled fayth. "I should call for my Final Aeon and finish you all off."
"Your Final Aeon if none other than Zaon, our old friend," said Yosuke, the fayth of Yojimbo. "But he agreed to help you just because he loved you. By now, he is only forced to serve you, as he can't escape your mind."
"Just like Seymour did with his mother..." whispered Akane in disbelief.
Bard smiled. "Give up, sister. You can't win this fight. Spira has suffered enough. Go on, tell them how Sin can be beaten."
Yunalesca dropped onto the ground. She wept in desperation. Then, she looked up at her brother. "Fine... you win!"
With teary eyes, she turned towards Ranma and Yuna. "Sin... is merely a shell, an armor, that is protecting my father. The Final Aeon can destroy this shell, but Yu Yevon will summon a new armor, that takes some time. He does so by absorbing the Final Aeon the summoner used against him, and turns it into a new Sin. To defeat Sin..." She stuttered. Then she started weeping again. "I can't do it, Bard! I just can't! He's our father!"
"Our father ceased to exist, dear sister," Bahamut's fayth exclaimed. "His spirit has absorbed too much hatred and sorrow over the past years and turned into something demonic. He wouldn't even recognize us. All he knows is that he wants to survive, and his instinct is what's controlling Sin. We have to destroy him, if we want Spira to be saved."
Yunalesca looked up as she realized how true her brother's words were. She continued: "To defeat Sin forever, the spirit of Yu Yevon must be destroyed. You must go inside Sin and search for him. But... he will only appear if there is no Aeon he can possess. At first, you have to defeat the Final Aeon that he has absorbed the last time... afterwards, he'll try to absorb the Aeons that are nearby. You have to defeat them as well, for only if everyone of them has been destroyed, his true form will appear."
Yuna looked with a shocked face at the human counterparts of her Aeons. "She can't be serious. I can't kill you! That wouldn't be a better solution then sacrificing myself."
Bard nodded. "Of course! That's why we brought Ranma to this world. He has the ability of summoning pure Espers. He has to summon them."
"But won't Yevon try to possess them as well?" Ranma pointed out.
"Yes, that's exactly what we want," explained the fayth. "You see: He cannot possess pure Espers. But after he tries to do so, and fails, he has to appear in his true form. And that is your chance to destroy him. Afterwards, Sin will fall apart and will never terrorize Spira again."
"If it only were true..." Yuna sighed.
"Trust us," Valeria smiled. "The Espers came up with this plan. After all this time of distrust between them and the summoners, they decided to do something about Spira's situation. And we trust in your and Ranma's abilities - we're sure you won't fail."
"But if everything you told us is true," Ranma murmured. "Why did we have to go on this pilgrimage? Why have us going to Zanarkand, if the Final Aeon is not the solution?"
Bard smiled. "You had to visit the temples, Ranma, or you never would have received your Espers. And if Yunalesca herself wouldn't have been convinced of the wrongness of her actions, she would have continued spreading Yevon's teachings. Trust me, everything has happened as it should have... well, everything regarding your pilgrimage, at least..."
"We now leave the rest up to you," said Izmael. "Yuna, we're returning into your mind to prepare for the final battle."
Yuna nodded, and the figures of the six fayth disappeared.
"I knew it," Tidus shouted. "I knew there was something fishy about this whole tradition. I never liked Seymour, and I was right about him. And I never liked Yevon's teachings... and now look at how they came into being."
"I think we should leave immediately and search for Sin," Ranma said. "It's time that he kicks the bucket for good!"
"But, what should we do about her?" Akane asked in a small voice.
They all looked to the collapsed form of Yunalesca. The sister of Bard was staring at the ground while sobbing miserably.
"Leave me alone," she begged. "Leave me alone in my sorrow and despair... Now that you're going to destroy Spira's hope... I have nothing left..."
Yuna uncertainly looked at her friends.
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(Posted Sun, 06 Aug 2006 12:19)
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