Dark Summoner

From a bird’s eye view, the cove in which the Crusaders and the Al Bhed had set up their operation looked small. Tidus didn’t understand how anything the size of Sin was going to get in there, let alone hide. But that was the point wasn’t it. To draw him out of the water long enough to kill him. The blonde guardian still didn’t want to believe that his father was down there… inside the monster, waiting to be killed. He held on tight as Harry’s Aeon banked against the wind and turned sharply, heading back for the Mi’Ihen Highroad.

The Crusaders hadn’t given them a second glance as they’d walked out from the paths that lead to the old road. They’d been nearly frantic about the preparations for the operation. They did however; need to be careful of the other Summoner present. Dona, whom they’d encountered in Kilika, was standing with her guardian Bartello off to one side of the Gate. They’d been refused access and the Summoner was grumbling darkly about special treatment. It was obvious too most, she was resentful of Yuna’s fame and heritage. Even so they’d hung back so Harry could call Athena.

It had surprised Tidus at first to find that Athena was actually the Aeon Yuna called Valefore, although there was one big difference between Valefore and Athena.

Harry’s was bigger.

Athena had loomed over them and was large enough to carry their entire party if need be. Also there was a presence around the Aeon that Yuna’s didn’t have. It was ancient, old and powerful beyond measure, and currently, he was on it’s back checking out the battle site, much to the alarm of the crusaders and the Al Bhed. But then again, seeing a big bird with a rider flying around a military operations site would seem suspicious after all. He just prayed they didn’t recognize him and try to shoot him down.

Athena gave a loud screech as it suddenly banked in the wrong direction and headed toward a large outcropping in the rocks. It wasn’t far away from where the crusaders where tormenting a cage full of Sin spawn. Tidus leaned over what could be considered the Aeon’s shoulder and looked down only to feel his bones go cold with dread. Standing in the command center below Maester Seymour had to resist the urge to smirk and he spoke wonderingly to the female Summoner standing at his side.

“My… that is an Aeon, is it not?” Yuna followed his gaze along with the rest of the command center’s current inhabitants. Unlike Seymour she couldn’t withhold her reaction. She gasped loudly.

“Valefore!” She breathed before she noticed the rider. At first she didn’t get a close enough look but the Aeon wheeled through the sky and she caught a glimpse of blonde hair.

“Tidus!” She gasped out again. Seymour faked a confused look.

“Tidus?” He asked and Yuna, startled, dropped her eyes back to him as the Aeon glided away, toward the Mi’Ihen highroad and out of sight.

“Tidus is one of Summoner Harry’s guardian’s.” She explained eagerly, a faint frown crossing her features as she said her rival Summoner’s name. “If he was riding the Aeon it means they must be nearby.” She concluded correctly. Seymour smirked mentally.

“Indeed it seems that that is the case, but with the operation, we can do nothing.” Yuna looked disappointed, she’d wanted to go and capture the traitors of Yevon almost as badly as Wakka had. Seymour turned away and went to speak with his own guardians as Wakka came forward. Lulu watched as Seymour quickly instructed the two Guado that followed him everywhere and dismissed them.

‘This isn’t good.’ She thought as she watched them leave the command center. The black-mage had the feeling that they where going to go after Harry, but there was no way she could know for sure without going after them herself. Lulu sighed at her dilemma before leaning against one of the rough supports made to hold the material that qualified as walls. She’d let them go. There was nothing she could do and she wasn’t about to leave Yuna with a sweet talking bigot like Seymour. Harry and Tidus could handle themselves.

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Athena was crouched low in the ravine, out of sight of the highroad as Tidus reported back everything he’d seen during his impromptu flight. O'aka had produced a map of Spira and spread it out over the ground while everyone had taken seats on the ground and nearby rocks.

“So…” Harry began to speak from his place by the crouched Aeon. “Is there a way through this we can take without actually encountering any of the fighters?” He asked looking at all of them. Both Tidus and Auron shook their heads.

“Given these plans, however basic,” Auron said, ignoring the blonde’s dirty look, “The only way through would be to fight.” Harry looked at him for a moment before looking down at the plain black staff in his lap, deep in thought. He still had the feeling that they needed to be there, but there was still his self-imposed compulsion to keep his new guardians from coming to the same fate as his old ones.

“Alright then.” He sighed, getting to his feet and shaking the pins and needles from his legs. “If there’s nothing else for it then we’ll have to join the fighting.” They could all see his reluctance. Quite frankly most didn’t blame him for it. They put away the maps and Athena hopped toward a wider part of the ravine before she spread her wings and took to the skies. Soaring majestically above them and out of sight, disappearing to wherever Aeons went when they weren’t needed as they made their way back to the opening to the northern area of the highroad. There was no one around. People had cleared out or crept into the operation while no one was there to guard the gate. Even so, as Tidus took the first few steps out into the open they where surprised when a pair of extremely long limbed humanoids stepped out of hiding.

“Guado.” Rikku growled out faintly as she slipped into a defensive stance in front of Harry and O'aka. Auron tensed beside them and shifted his grip on the sword he’d been carrying over his shoulder for most of the trip out of the ravine.

“Halt! You’re coming with us!” They commanded holding their hands in front of them like they where going to cast a spell. Tidus took a step back and glanced at them warily.

“And what if we don’t want to?” He asked, gaining a bit of bravado as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword. The Guado didn’t answer verbally. Instead they took his words as resistance and got ready to fight. Auron and Tidus readied their own weapons as Rikku and O'aka pulled Harry defensively behind them. The Guado made some movements with their spindly fingers and all of a sudden they where staring at a small horde of Fiends. It didn’t take Tidus long to make the connection between the presence of the Guado and the fiends summoned to the stadium in Luca.

“It was you guys wasn’t it.” He murmured, getting a sharp look from Auron. Tidus just scowled and brought up his blade to deflect a charging Fiend before leaping into the fray. They got caught up in the fighting very quickly so they didn’t notice when the Guado left their guard posts at the back of the horde and made their way toward Harry. Rikku and O'aka had been pushed away by the fiends, leaving Harry to fend for himself. The dark haired Summoner was surrounded by a magical shield, which deflected their attacks. He was casting strange spells through it to stop or immobilize the fiends. He was so caught up in trying to keep the creatures off Rikku and O'aka that he failed to notice the Guado moving behind him until it was to late. His concentration and the shields where shattered as long limbs grabbed him and jerked the ebony staff from his grasp. He let out a yell in shock as the Guado guard snapped it over one knee before they began to head back toward the Command center.

“Tidus!” The Summoner struggled in his captors grip as the blonde noticed his predicament.

“HARRY!” Ignoring the shouts from Auron and the others he left them behind with the remaining fiends, running as fast as his legs would take him in the direction the two Guado had gone. As he ran a cold fury began to settle over his mind. People shouted as he crashed though in the Guado’s wake and some of the guards challenged him as the sight of the sword in his hand but the blonde threw them off like it was nothing. The small remaining sane part of his mind was laughing bitterly as it remained focused on his distant target. He was going Berserk without the help of any black magic spell. All that mattered was protecting Harry and he’d taken it to heart, literally.

Tidus dodged a Chocobo knight but didn’t recognize her as Elma. He jumped onto the lift that lead to the command center and stopped. Harry wasn’t on it…but a Guado was. The second had obviously gone on with Harry. The blonde’s expression was calculating as the lift began it’s accent toward the next level. For a few seconds there was no movement then a fiend burst into existence between them. Having no patience, Tidus quickly stabbed the leaping wolf and used it’s momentum to send it over the railing and to the ground far below. He turned back to the Guado but he wasn’t fast enough. A long fingered hand swung out toward him and smacked him across the face. He turned with it but the blow threw him off balance. Tidus lashed out again but this time nothing was going to work. The Guado knocked his sword from his hand and launched a sleep spell from him fingertips. It hit him dead on and as he faded into the magical sleep he felt the lift shudder to a halt.

The small sane part of his mind cursed from here to kingdom come.

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SPLASH!

Tidus come to, cursing and spluttering as a mild water spell was cast over his head. The cold shock brought him reeling back to reality.

“Aaaghhh!” He uttered a noise of alarm as he registered the fact that he was tied up with an exorbitant amount of ropes. Still feeling out how far he could move he looked up as a shadow fell across him. Two seconds was all the time he had to get ready for the blow as a smirking Seymour tossed Harry into his lap. The blue haired Guado looked down at them haughtily as Harry rolled off him and propped himself up against the rock face they sat before, his side pressed tightly against the blonde’s.

“I’m glad you’re finally awake, now we can begin our little chat.” If looks could kill the older man would have been six feet under with the glare Tidus shot at him. However, that wasn’t the case and the Maester threw his head back and laughed.

“You’re defiance is actually quite refreshing.” He said arrogantly. “When everyone just gives me what I want there’s no fun to be had.” Both captives wished they could have smacked the smirk off his face at that point.

“Now…” Seymour purred darkly. “Who are you?” It was the million-gill question everyone had been asking since they’d reached Spira. “You, a Summoner…” He said looking pointedly at Harry. “And you, Sir Jecht’s son.” Seymour turned his piercing gaze to Tidus who’s glare increased nearly tenfold. The Guado ignored him and turned back to Harry.

“I do find it strange that you should be named after one of the greatest figures in the history of all Spira.” Harry looked at him like he was mad. Spira? How was he a part of Spira? If Seymour saw his confusion he didn’t give any sign that he noticed it. “Of course, not many people know of the Master Summoner Harry James Potter. The first Summoner of our glorious age!” He broke eye contact and paced before them, shooting pensive looks out at the cove from the small recess they where hidden in. Both Tidus and Harry shifted uncomfortably at where this was going. Silently Tidus met Harry’s eye when the Maester looked away and noticed panic there. Suddenly the blonde was mad. This guy was freaking out Harry and that just didn’t swing with him. It didn’t take long for him to locate his blade sitting well out of reach behind the two Guado guards who had attacked them in the first place. Now… how to get to it…

His thoughts didn’t get any further than that as a lightning bolt from the basic thunder spell crashed down on his head. It started as a tingle, but a moment later he was almost writhing in pain as the electrical current gave his organs a good jolt. He’d thought, almost, as the ropes at his wrists and ankles prevented a fair bit of movement on his part, but that didn’t stop him from screaming. Standing above him Seymour gave a small noise of disgust.

“Pathetic. I would have expected the Son of Jecht to be able to throw off the pain from one lightning bolt quite easily.” Tidus was panting faintly as he growled under his breath.

“Yeah, well I’m not my father.” He spat out furiously, his limbs still twitching with residual shock. “There’s a big difference, besides, that gigantic moron couldn’t feel a damn thing he was so tanked.” Seymour gave him a shrewd look before he waved to his guardians and Tidus was shocked again for the hell of it.

“Watch them!” Seymour ordered as he made his way to the path that lead back to the command center. “If they try to escape knock them out, we’ll take them with us back to Guadosalam after the operation, Sin will come for its Spawn after all.” With that he disappeared down the path and a few minutes after that there was an unearthly shriek as the cage full of Sin spawn was shocked by electricity. Tidus felt Harry shuffling toward him again, the Summoner having been pushed away when they’d shocked the blonde.

“Are you alright?” He asked. As stupid as the question was Tidus couldn’t bring himself to snap in reply. Still, he nodded before everything suddenly went quiet out in the cove. One of the guards went to the edge of the recess and looked in the direction of the command center only to come stumbling back to his post a moment later.

“The sin spawn has escaped its cage.” Harry and Tidus overheard his harsh whisper. “We must go to Lord Seymour.” The other Guado looked at the trussed up Summoner and his guardian before having a hand in their direction. Another thunder spell crashed down on the both of them before the Guado nodded.

“They won’t be moving, let’s go.” The pair left their prisoners, running down the path and out of sight. As they left Harry quickly sat back up and looked down at where Tidus lay looking much worse than before. Outrage built up in his chest at the sight of him twitching like that. Power that didn’t belong to him reinforced his weakened limbs for a few seconds but it was enough to snap the rope that bound his hands. As fast as the surge had come it went and Harry fumbled with the ropes around his legs before going to work in the blonde’s bindings.

“Come on Tidus, don’t pass out on me.” He muttered as he rolled him onto his back and checked his pulse. It was weak and erratic.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” He cursed and looked around for something, anything that would allow him to cast magic. The hopeless panic he’d felt when Ron had almost died welled up inside him and it took all his self-control in order not to start crying. Then to make matters worse a brief pain shot through his scar before the mixed feelings of anger and concern pounded through his skull. Almost dreading what he would see he twisted his head around in order to look at the new being that was shuffling into the cove, practically roaring its fury. Something Seymour had said before he’d left came back to him then.

“Sin will come for its Spawn…” Harry whispered before looking back down at Tidus. “Did he come for you?” Even unconscious the blonde’s animosity toward his father showed as he groaned and shook his head. Harry just propped him up as best he could until his eyes fell on an object that their guards had forgotten about in their rush to leave.

Tidus’s sword.

Gently laying his guardian back on the ground Harry scrambled to his feet and stumbled to the red tinted blade. He struggled to pick it up but managed nonetheless. Harry brought it back to the blonde and held it out over him, closing his eyes in order to concentrate.

“Cure!” His magic channeled through the blade but it had none of the control he normally had with his staff. Harry quickly dropped it off to one side and looked down into the blonde’s face as he triggered scan. The Scan spell was passive white magic, therefore didn’t require a focus since it was cast directly into the body. Harry gave a small sound of relief when he saw the results of the healing spell. It had worked better than he’d expected. The damage to Tidus’s nerves and heart had been repaired, he would feel sore for a while, but he should be able to get up so they could get out of here.

“Ughhh…” Tidus began to wake as Harry knelt down again and hovered close to his face.

“Tidus.” He whispered. Blue eyes opened and stared at him oddly before everything came flooding back to him.

“Harry! Are you alright?” He asked urgently, ignoring the screaming pain in his muscles to grab the Summoner in a desperate hug. Harry just let him do so until the blonde backed off and looked around. “What happened?” He asked as he spied his sword next to them and picked it up. He struggled with it like Harry had but replaced it in the sheath the guards hadn’t thought to remove. Harry turned slightly and pointed to the opening. They climbed to their feet and limped to the entrance of the alcove, only to stop when they saw the carnage that was stretched out below them.

Chocobo knights and Crusaders where fighting along the edges of the water as a wave of fiends rose to meet them and above, on the cliffs, large cannons where firing rapidly at Sin. The great monster himself loomed above the chaos like a harbinger of death as a mix of horror and rage swept away most of Tidus’s coherent thoughts. Only the feel of the Summoner helping him stay upright prevented him from going nuts again. He couldn’t help but shout out helplessly as Sin’s shield, the magic preventing him from being hit, blasted out toward the attackers, destroying the ground forces. There was nothing they could do but watch as the Al Bhed machina at one end of the cove began to fire. A radiant beam of red light and plasma shot from the end of the crane like structure that held the weapon in place. For a moment it looked as though it might be working as the shield around Sin buckled under the force of the energy. Tidus willed furiously for the weapon to work and hurt his father, if he could even be called that anymore. But as if just to spite him the energy field was suddenly reinforced and it exploded outward once more.

A cataphony of screams and cries of pain were all that was left in sin’s wake as it turned and left the cove. The danger passed. Tidus and Harry just stared for a long time afterward as the surviving Al Bhed and Crusaders scrambled to find those worth saving. A shuffle up the path along the cliff face brought them out of their trance. Harry looked to see a crusader shuffling toward them and it was Tidus who recognized him.

“Gatta?” He asked in a strangled tone. The dark skinned islander looked up with dead eyes, barely even registering their presence as he stumbled into them. Tidus took his arms from around Harry to catch him and settled him down on the stone ground. How the young man had managed to get up here in his state confused them.

“What happened Gatta?” Harry asked, kneeling down in front of him and prying his hands away from his face. Gatta looked at him unseeingly.

“He’s Gone… Luzzu is gone…” He said listlessly before his lip curled and his nose crumpled as he tried to fight off tears, but failed miserably.

“That’s it, I’m going to kill my old man!” Tidus declared in a growl filled with utter loathing. Harry let go of Gatta’s hands and stood up to face him.

“We’ll kill him later.” He declared equally as fiercely, “But right now we have to get out of here. We’re not ready to face Sin yet and if you haven’t noticed I don’t have a staff anymore.” Harry’s words where like a bucket of icy water that extinguished the larger part of his rage. The blonde sighed. No matter how much he wanted to go after him his father would just have to wait. He met Harry’s eyes before looking down at the weeping Crusader… he wasn’t any older than themselves…

“Let’s go.” He said tiredly reaching down to hoist up Gatta without hurting himself again. “We need to find Auron and the others.” Harry nodded and got on Gatta’s other side as they shuffled down the path in an awkward sideways single file line.

Long after they’d gone the Guado would return and find only the cut ropes to say they’d even been there to begin with.

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By the time they found the lost members of their party they’d discovered just how absolute the carnage was. Crusaders lay everywhere, either dead already or on the brink of passing into eternal slumber. Tidus was fuming silently while Harry wore a stony expression that spoke volumes. Rikku had been ready to leap at them as they approached but stopped when she noticed the cloud that loomed above them all, she wisely remained silent as they came to a halt.

“It’s time to leave.” Auron said in his blank monotone. Harry looked up and nodded but didn’t move. Instead he let Tidus take Gatta and walked over to O'aka where he riffled through the pack on the surprised merchant’s back. Rikku was about to ask what he was doing when he pulled out a short pole. It was one of the staff materials O'aka had picked up in Luca. The sandy wood didn’t fit Harry’s dark look as he approached the beach.

“He’s going to send!” O'aka gasped out. He was right to. Harry didn’t walk out on to the water this time. Instead he kicked off his sandals and stopped by the water’s edge. As he began the dance waves of power swept out to take hold of all the souls of the dead. The will behind his movements was wild and unfocused but it was effective nonetheless. The bright motes of light, the pyre flies, flocked to him, it shook the others to see just how many came when he called. He was mid-way through the dance when Tidus heard a pained grunt from behind him. Letting Gatta slump to the ground he turned his head to one side and searched for the source. It came as no little shock to find that it had been Auron. Alarmed the blonde turned fully and nearly ran toward the rock wall that the old guardian had backed up to. Auron clutched his chest, his expression twisted into a grimace as he squeezed his eyes shut behind his sunglasses.

“Too strong.” He heard the old man mutter before he looked back to see Harry going through the final steps of the sending. From this distance the former blitzer could feel more than see that the Summoner was crying again. Tidus knew he hated having to do the sending more that he hated watching it. It was just to freaking sad and when Harry did it, it as downright heart breaking. Auron would be fine, the tough old man had lived this long he would live a thousand more years just to spite him. Without a second thought he walked back to the waters edge as the pyre flies made their assent and caught Harry in a hug from behind.

“Now we can go.” Tidus sighed and then let go before looking at where everyone else had gathered around Gatta, even Auron who looked as if nothing had happened.

“Alright, lets find somewhere for the night.”

No one argued.

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They ended up camping out on the cliffs that rose above the Djose highroad. Even with the incident with Sin they didn’t want to get near the Djose temple before everyone had cleared out. It had been a few days now and the Crusaders below didn’t look like they where going to leave any time soon.

“I wonder what Captain Lucil is doing.” Gatta pondered from where he lay on his stomach about two meters to Tidus’s left, staring down at the lightning temple. The blonde just shrugged and made a little dismissive noise.

“Who cares?” He said, back to his old self. It seemed that the berserker state he’d entered when Harry had been taken away was gone… for now. It had been strange and Rikku had been weirded out by the changes it had wrought on him. For nearly a day after the whole incident with he’d been overly violent and short tempered, he’d only calmed down when he’d gotten a hold of Harry again. It was unusual coming out of it and being conscious, after all this hadn’t been the first time. Back in Zanarkand he’d gone nuts a lot, mostly because of his father, but his episodes had been ignored and passed off as childish tantrums. Rage, vindictiveness… every kind of anger you could possibly feel plagued him, sitting just behind a door in his mind. He’d told Harry about it that night and the Summoner had given an odd expression, now he was tromping around the nearby area with O'aka looking for potions ingredients.

Anyway, those thoughts aside, everything had lead up to him laying in the knee-high grass and keeping watch on the temple below.

“Hey!” Gatta gave him a faintly peeved look in response to his previous flippant comment. “It could be important! She usually doesn’t hang around this long. She should have moved north looking for Chocobo’s by now.” Tidus rolled his eyes.

“Whatever soldier boy.” The guardian responded, propping his chin on his hand and looking at the crossroads lazily. “I just wish they’d go already.” Gatta ‘humphed’ but didn’t say anything else. He was another odd character. He’d been a wreck not long ago but now he was running around again like nothing had happened, but Tidus could still see the haunted look in his eyes when he thought no one was looking. He’d had it tough, he was only fifteen, Rikku’s age, and to top it all off his mentor had been killed and the body washed up on the beach for him to find not long after. Still, he’d been vulnerable after the whole shit load of problems that dropped on his head and needed someone to follow, so he’d attached himself to their group. Harry hadn’t complained, nor had anyone else for that matter… well, if you didn’t count Auron’s irritation.

Even though Gatta seemed to enjoy hanging around Rikku he tended to crawl after the grizzled older man, asking questions about fighting and fiends and the rest of Spira in general. Tidus had just laughed, not doing a thing to help.

“You know… I could go down there and take a look.” Huh? Tidus opened his eyes from when he’d drifted off and looked over at the other teen.

“What are you talking about?” He asked as Gatta got a glint in his eye.

“I could go down there and see why it’s taking Captain Lucil so long to get moving. I haven’t been seen with you guys yet so I bet they would tell me if I asked.” Tidus gave him a semi incredulous look before he realized it was probably the only option they had if they really wanted to know what was going on.

“Fine.” He answered at last. “But go run it by Harry and Auron first, and if you so much as slip about Harry’s whereabouts I will hunt you down and decapitate you.” Gatta took the threat in stride as he wriggled away from his post and jumped to his feet, running back to camp. The death threats where normal for him now, just like they where for Rikku. She was their little sister and Gatta was fast becoming their kid brother in the dysfunctional family they’d cobbled together since they’d arrived in Spira.

With a sigh of exasperation Tidus crawled clear of the cliff and stood up, shaking his arms and legs to get the feeling back into them before he made his way back to camp. The crusaders weren’t going anywhere so he really didn’t have to keep watch anymore. He stretched languidly before heading off after Gatta.

Damn that kid was making him feel old.