Dark Summoner

Night had fallen by the time they where ready to move. The stars shone brightly above the city and they felt more determined than they had in a long time as they set out along the familiar broken roadways. Tidus laughed to himself, half expecting to see a billboard with his father’s face on it, but they didn’t. Some of the Fiends had wondered down from the mountain over time and had grown large in the ruins, great purple Behmoths and great jelly like darkness flans made the trip more dangerous than it aught to have been but they took on every monster, confident that they could win, each guardian having been through the revelations that they had what it took to succeed.

Pyreflies danced in the air around them and where they flew the city glowed, their lights bringing out the Illusion of that it had all been like before as Tidus opened his mind and let it fill the gaps. Harry walked in the middle of the group with Yuna who had been quiet ever since Tidus’s harsh words on the mountainside after the battle with Seymour.

“…I don’t think I can do this.” Harry heard her whispering and looked to the side. She had her head down, watching the ground as she stepped over and around obstructions in the path. Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Do what?” He asked and Yuna jumped, startled that anyone had actually been listening. She blushed before she waved a hand around her.

“This!” She said in the same low tone. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I heard you and Tidus talking. Will you really try to destroy Lady Yunalesca?” Harry was momentarily taken aback by the demand but didn’t let it show on his face. He turned to look at their destination, the Blitz stadium he now recognized, just like Tidus had, even if he’d only been there for a little while as it came down around him.

“…Yes.” He answered her last question. “I never followed the beliefs you where raised with. To me this whole system is corrupt, messy and totally unnecessary. People got along on their own, long before Yevon came about. There are three beats that the entirety of humanity dances too and two of those have already passed.” At this Yuna looked confused once more.

“Three beats?” Harry couldn’t keep a small smirk off his face as he looked out at the ruins. It was an old theory, one that was continually proven with most major events in history. He’d seen it working at least once, but on a far smaller scale than now. The three steps where War, Peace and Revolution, in that order. An example would be Voldemort. He had risen to power quickly and terrorized the wizarding community until the fateful day he had been defeated by a kid who wasn’t even out of diapers. Then had come the ten years of relative peace until Voldemort had risen again, triggering change and the second war, starting the cycle over.

He never did answer her question aloud, instead choosing to look at the skies. Here in the north, far from all forms of civilization the sea of stars seemed endless. They shone so brightly it felt as though he could reach out and touch them. Sorting through the masses he felt a pang of nostalgia, the only other place he had seen the stars so clearly was Hogwarts and more specifically, in the great hall. On a clear night, the enchanted ceiling seemed to magnify the stars showing the constellations and even the edges of a distant galaxy, far clearer than what was visible from the atmosphere. Harry felt a smile creep over his lips as one star in particular jumped out at him.

Sirius.

It twinkled merrily in the sea of light and Harry could imagine his godfather behind that twinkling star, cheering them on with every step that took them closer to their ultimate goal. At the thought he couldn’t help but feel somewhat lighter. All to soon they arrived before the ominous domed structure and the whispered chatter between the guardians came to an abrupt halt.

There, waiting by the entry was an old man, dressed in the robes of a preist, but these where very different from those of the preist’s of Yevon. His back hunched with age the old man took a few halting steps toward them as they stopped in formation at the bottom of the ramp, Harry’s group hanging back slightly.

“Journeyer’s of the long road! Name yourselves!” Yuna, already knowing what to do bowed deeply.

“I am Summoner Yuna. I have come from the Island of Besaid.” The old man peered at her from under bushy white eyebrows and muttered out loud.

“Your eyes, my dear. They show me the long road you have traveled.” Yuna didn’t say anything, simply meeting his gaze stoically. The old man nodded in approval. “Very good. You have journeyed well. Lady Yunalesca will surely welcome your arrival. Go to her now, and bring you guardians with you. Go.” He didn’t move but Yuna nodded and her group threaded past him and into the dome. The old man peered shortsightedly down the ramp and Harry found himself taking a few tentive steps toward him. He squinted, looking at his features intently, trying to place where he had seen them before.

“And you, Summoner…?” The old priest inquired and Harry frowned, where had he… Tidus gave him a mental prod and Harry shook himself out of his musings.

“Oh, I am Master Summoner Harry Potter, First Summoner of Hogwarts.” The old man looked at him for a moment before the name appeared to sink in and all of a sudden his expression changed.

“Bless my soul… Harry?” Harry got an intense feeling of de’ja vu. He knew this person!

“… Dennis?” The old man’s eyes lit up with an energy that belied his appearance.

“Harry!” He croaked out and moved forward, reaching out to touch him, to feel that he was really there. They locked gazes and slowly the childish expression of awe on the old man’s face became more and more pronounced. “It’s really you!” He gasped out and Harry couldn’t help the small smile that flitted across his face.

“Yeah, It’s me…” He answered somewhat weakly and Dennis Creevy, now aged at well over a couple of thousand years let the first grin cross his features in what had to be nearly as long. At least since his brother’s last visit but Collin was wondering around Spira under an assumed name these days, but right now, Dennis felt more complete than he had in years.

“I knew, I knew you weren’t dead.” He babbled in a manner that was at odds with his rather stately appearance. “Collin didn’t believe it either but you’ve been here the whole time haven’t you.” Harry looked down at his hands and nodded.

“Yeah.” He said quietly. “There really wasn’t anything left after…” He trailed off but the ancient wizard seemed to understand. He nodded along with the Summoner’s word’s before seemingly brightening.

“Oh Harry! I wish you could have been here sooner! We built this place you know, it was built for you. We all remembered what you told us, but now it’s gone…” Dennis looked quite saddened as his withered face turned to look out at the ruins. Harry closed his eyes and shook his head, another smile creeping on his lips.

“It’s okay Dennis. I can see it.” The old man stopped his childish rambling and simply smiled before he nodded.

“Very well then, I think Lady Yunalesca is waiting. You’ll want to be careful though, I think she was descended from Malfoy.” The last bit had been hissed behind a hand in such a way that made Harry laugh. Dennis seemed pleased with himself before he looked around at the others. He met their gazes before nodding in approval but didn’t move aside for them to pass, instead he looked at Harry again.

“Uh… before you go… might you…?” He trailed off once more but the question of what he wanted him to do was more than clear as a few pyreflies formed around him. Harry wasn’t at all surprised at the revelation and offered a nod. Dennis Creevy smiled one last time, but it didn’t leave his face after. “Say hello to Collin for me when you see him Harry.” He croaked out around the grin as Harry stood back and began the opening moves of the sending. “It was an honor to see you again Master Summoner.”

If he’d heard Harry gave no indication as he continued the simplified version of the dance. One that did not hold the same heart wrenching sadness or the same kind of power used in the mass sendings they’d seen previously. As Harry made the final twirl of his staff the old man seemed to regress, the pyreflies leaving him one by one until only a small ghost of a grinning little boy, swamped in an oversized moleskin overcoat remained.

‘I’ll tell everyone you said Hi.’

And just like that, he was gone. Harry continued to stare at the spot where he had stood, smiling to himself before Auron cleared his throat loudly behind him. Harry didn’t jump at the sound but beckoned the others forward.

“Lets go get Yunalesca, shall we?” His words, however flippant, brought the reality of the situation crashing back and they all wore grim expressions, their hands lingering over weapons as they began to make their way up the ramp and into the shadow of the dome. It was time to lay the dead to rest.

-----------------------------------------------

The inside of the Zanarkand dome was lit with pyreflies as they entered. The faint light of the stars filtered down through the cracks in the roof and they could easily pick their way along the wreckage through the gloom. Footsteps echoed with surprising clarity and they could hear Summoner Yuna walking ahead of them.

“Hey Harry… who was that?” Rikku spoke up as they found a piece of wreckage that had probably been a pillar and used it to scramble across to a larger, flatter section. Harry skipped down after her, avoiding holes in the stonework.

“That was an old friend.” He answered, a smile forming over his face. “Dennis Creevy. He and his brother Collin attended Hogwarts at the same time I did. In the beginning they used to annoy me to death, and Collin even went as far as to follow me around with a camera for his first few years in the school.”

“Ye mean to say, you knew that old fellow back there when ‘e was a kid?” O'aka queried as he heard the conversation. Harry nodded.

“Yeah...” His voice trailed off a second later though as a light flashed and suddenly they found themselves looking at another group of people. They looked like crusaders, all of them wearing some form of armor. One crusader standing off to the side stepped toward the woman in the center and saluted.

“If it might benefit the future of Spira…” her voice echoed through the air around them, dulled like the voices they could hear in a recording sphere. “I will gladly give my life. It is the highest honor for which a guardian might ask.” Her expression was visible through the apparition and Harry could see her look soften. “Use my life, Lady Yocun, and rid Spira of Sin.” As she saluted once more the shadows of their predecessors faded, the pyrefiles that had made them vanishing in to the gloom.

“She said, ‘Lady Yocun’, didn’t she?” Gatta asked, looking around at them with something like awe in his eyes. “She guarded High Summoner Yocun!” Auron smirked at his expression.

“This dome, as you can already see, is filled with pyreflies,” The older guardian explained and the others listened carefully. “It resembles a gigantic sphere, peoples thoughts can and will remain here. Forever.” Even as he spoke there was another burst of pyreflies coming together and an illusion appeared like a ripple along the stands, creating an audience of thousands that stared down into the central arena. In the center was a transparent platform and on it where much younger versions of the Creevy brothers, what looked to be a Weasley and a few other distinguished looking muggles and wizards.

“… we welcome you all to the opening of the Zanarkand Dome! And now! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Let the First Harry Potter Memorial Blitzball Tournament, begin!” The crowd burst into roars of approval as the pyreflies dispersed once more. His guardians looked at him in various stages of shock, amusement and incredulity as Harry raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“Whoa…” Rikku breathed out a moment later as the shock began to wear off. “You where certainly popular.” Harry sighed and Tidus began to laugh at the long mental stream of curses.

Similar visions of the past, remembered by the pyreflies for all those thousands of years showed up, including the sight of a young Seymour who openly wept as his mother said she would give her own life to help him. They were very close to the other side when they caught up with Yuna’s party. They had stopped to watch a scene playing out among three familiar figures. Braska, a younger Auron and…

“Jecht.” Tidus murmured but no one looked at him.

“Hey, Braska.” Jecht said. “You don’t have to do this.” Braska turned his head lightly to look at him from the corner of his eye.

“Thank you for your concern.” His voice held no hesitation. He had long since gathered his resolve to face the end. Jecht made a face, he didn’t look like he agreed but he didn’t argue either.

“Fine. I said my piece.” Auron looked from Braska to Jecht, an incredulous expression on his face.

“Well I haven’t!” He all but yelled, stepping closer to Braska, his face a mask of pain. “Lord Braska, lets us go back! I don’t want to see you die!” Braska turned fully and looked at the former monk and through him to the older Auron who watched with a blank expression.

“You knew this would happen my friend.”

“Yes, but I…” Auron’s shoulders slumped in dejection. “I cannot accept it.” Braska smiled back at his guardian, but it was a smile full of sorrow.

“Auron, I am honored that you care for me so. But I have come to kill grief itself. I will defeat Sin, and lift the veil of sorrow covering Spira. Please understand, Auron.”

It was then that the vision ended and Harry couldn’t help but look their Auron. His face was still blank but it didn’t hide the old air of sadness around him. Yuna and the others had moved on and they did to. Following the trail that ran through the long hallway that ran beneath the stands, clear of debris. In some places the stairs had crumbled away and in others rubble blocked the entries of numerous side corridors that ran like a maze, half crumbled over time but somewhat intact, like the Via Purifico. Ahead of them at the entry of the temple, a new illusion had formed the three figures they’d seen outside. They stood side by side at the doorway, hesitating to go down the stairs beyond.

“Are the trials ahead?” Jecht was the first to break the silence.

“Probably.” Braska replied shortly.

“Here too, huh? Gimme a break. I was expecting, you know, parades and… fireworks!” Jecht made an attempt to smile and from behind Tidus growled faintly and shook his head.

‘The same old Jecht.’ He thought to himself with a surprising lack of venom to it.

“You can ask for them after I defeat Sin, then.” Braska replied in a soft voice they nearly had to strain to hear. Then, without another word they turned to the door and vanished.

“…We’re here.” Auron murmured quietly and they looked down the stairs. Yuna gave a hesitant look between the door and Harry who was standing quietly in the back before she stepped away.

“Yuna?” Lulu’s voice held an enquiring tone, but the female Summoner kept her head down.

“You go.” She said at last, the comment directed at Harry. Green eyes looked up in surprise but Yuna didn’t meet them. In a very quiet voice she answered the unspoken question that hung in the air.

“…I… I think I knew, from before I met you, that I wouldn’t be able to defeat Sin.” Lulu and Wakka gasped in surprise. Harry’s head tipped to one side in silent confusion. What was she going on about? The ashen brown haired girl was gripping her staff with white knuckles. “I’ve tried so hard to try and tell myself that I could do it, then you came and I now I think I understand what I’ve been feeling all this time. You go… and we’ll watch behind.” Now everyone was staring at her. Wakka was spluttering indignantly at her words.

“But Yuna, we came all dis way… for nothin’?” The girl shook her head hard.

“No!” She protested. “Not nothing.” Finally looking up she held the same expression of determination that the memory of Braska had worn, a stubborn look that spoke volumes toward her resolve. “I believe Sin will be defeated soon, I’m more sure of this than I’ve ever been. I believe you can do it, Summoner Harry and I will do everything I can to help you.” It was with a start that Harry realized that this was the first time since she had discovered his identity that she hadn’t used his full title to address him. She was deadly serious about every word she said.

He looked over at the entry to the trials and took a few steps toward it, his hand loosely clasped behind him as he looked down, his eyes reflecting his turbulent thoughts. Tidus made a small noise of confusion at one point, staring at Harry’s back. He seemed to get upset before the emotion was pushed away and the blonde nodded to himself before backing down.

The other’s wished, not for the first time, that they could hear the silent conversations that passed between the Summoner and his Guardian. Yuna looked at him, a faint hope rising in her expression as Harry finally spoke.

“So, another Summoner would become a Guardian simply because she could feel it?” Everyone looked a little more than startled as he said this and Yuna nodded determinedly.

“I want to help.” She stated with a tone of finality. “Nothing else matter’s anymore.”

Harry rolled his eyes as he turned back.

“Even if it means leaving everything else behind?” Another nod and Harry felt himself grinning.

“Alright then! Come on, we have a Malfoy to discipline.” He span around quickly and dashed into the darkness with a laugh. Yuna and her guardians (Now Harry’s guardians) stared in shock after him as his original Guardians moved toward the stairs. Rikku snickered before she grabbed Gatta and O'aka and went to find Harry. Auron followed them to make sure they didn’t destroy something and Tidus came to a stop in front of Yuna as she became aware once more. He looked at her like he was peering into her soul before he turned around.

“You heard him.” He grunted out stopping expectantly by the entrance to the trials. Lulu moved without hesitation, followed by Yuna, Kimahri close behind her. Finally there was just Wakka. The red head looked from the door to the blonde and back, making unintelligible noises as he did so before he came to a stop and slumped hopelessly.

“I’m not gonna have a choice, ain’t I.” He said after seeing Lulu and Yuna follow so easily.

Tidus just laughed.

-----------------------------------------

The first room of the trials had been pitch black until they had passed the doorway and suddenly it was lit by the dim lighting of generators that had long since failed to work to their full capacity. On the opposite wall from the door an ancient television screen flickered to life and in the haze of static they could just make out the multicolored geometric shapes that where displayed.

“Ohhhh.” Rikku looked rather awed at the use of machina and stepped out onto the floor to get a better look but as she did so the floor suddenly lit up. With a tiny shriek she jumped away and they all looked down to find a pattern of squares lit up bright turquoise green on the smoky gray glass floor beneath their feet. When they looked carefully they could see faint glimmers on some of the tiles around them and they stepped away from the green shape only to have it go dark.

“We need to stand on the tiles to light them up…” Harry murmured, stepping on the glittering tile again so the shape lit up, stepping back had the same effect as before and the light faded. “But if we get off them, they go dark…” He looked at the screen and then at the floor before going to the next glittering tile and stepping on that. He smiled, understanding the simple challenge.

“Everybody step on the glowing tiles until we’ve found the ones on the screen!” He ordered and they went to it. Before long they’d found the necessary tiles and they chimed, playing a few simple bars of the Hymn of the Fayth. That seemed to be a signal and the ruins gave a faint tremor before a panel opened into the back wall. The next room of the trials was much the same as the first, but instead of just random shapes, the screen displayed a pattern that had to be made. It was a long a tedious task, especially when the power that made them run flickered, resetting the magical floor grid.

Eventually they finished it and the large circular hole in the center of the floor was unsealed. The eight or so guardians sidled up to it and peered down into the darkness of the next level, apprehensive as to what they would find. They heard a few distant strains of music before their world suddenly tipped out of focus. A bright flash of light overtook them and they found themselves standing on a ring of transparent platforms.

“What’s happening?” Gatta yelled out in confusion from his place atop a platform. There was another flash and only six remained in the ring. The other four having been transported to large floating rocks that had appeared as the real world had faded. A frightening abyss stretched on forever around them but they did not have the time to examine their surroundings as something began to emerge from the center of the ring.

Rising up from where the entry to the next level would have been had they still been in Zanarkand was a fearsome creature. Its elongated body had no appendages other than a head and two long arms that ended in large wicked looking scythes of bone. Solid glowing eyes glared at the three guardians’ before it, seemingly ignoring those that stood outside its range of vision. There was an uneasy pause as they all stared, but then as if another unseen signal had been triggered the Spectral Keeper threw back its head and roared!

The few that could covered their ears, desperately trying to block out the screech before they where all jarred into action as it lashed out at the three closest. Tidus leapt out of the way, straying dangerously close to the edge of his transparent platform as he did so. Auron managed to deflect the bulk of the damage with his bracer while Wakka was forced to duck. It was just luck that they weren’t hit by that swipe.

Seeing that it was temporarily occupied Lulu, who had been standing on a platform behind the Keeper, charged a spell through her Moogle before letting it loose. A glow appeared somewhere below the beast and seconds later there was an explosion that rocked it, causing it to lash out violently from side to side as the Flare spell did its damage. The creature extended a scythed arm as it span around, landing a glancing blow on Wakka and just narrowly missing Rikku before it faced Lulu head on.

The black mage took a step back in surprise at it’s speed and looked around for a way out when a stream of lead pumped into the beast’s side. It roared in fury and pain before the ground under Gatta’s feet began to glow with a strange Rune. He looked over at Harry for an explanation, looking oddly hopeless before the ground beneath him exploded violently.

“Gatta!” Rikku yelled from her place on one of the six platforms. The distraction cost her dearly as the Spectral Keeper rounded on her, poisoned claws biting deep into her back.

“Accio Rikku! Accio Gatta!” The two shot through the air as the others in the ring around the Fiend all began to attack at once, nearly driving the beast mad in their efforts to hurt it as much as possible. Meanwhile Harry lowered his two injured Guardians to the ground and waved his staff again. “Mobilcorpus.”

Yuna shrieked as she was lifted bodily into the air and floated toward the large platform Harry stood on. After seeing two of his young friends going down like that O'aka jumped into the fray, yelling out a wizarding curse Harry had taught him.

“EXPLODRA!” There was another great boom as the explosion curse hit and everyone had to look away as the remains of the Spectral Keeper’s head splattered to the ground around them. The others stared, somewhat stunned by the Black Mage’s actions as the world around them reverted back to the dimly lit room in the Cloister of Trials. The guardians that had been on the transparent platforms had in fact been standing on the seals around the hole while the others where standing at different places around the room. Even while he cast Curaga on Rikku for the second time Harry couldn’t help but smile at O'aka. The ex-merchant crossed his arms over his chest as the corpse of the fiend turned to pyreflies and nodded to himself in a self satisfied manner that had a rather sadistic undertone. Wakka just inched away from him, thinking that all Harry’s guardians where downright scary.

He was so much like Ron when he was younger that if he didn’t already know that his first red haired guardian was squirreled away somewhere, bound to a piece of stone just like the other Fayth, he would have begun to believe the Theories of Reincarnation.

As they picked themselves up after the fight there was a mechanical whir of motors and out of the hole emerged a platform. A smaller block of stone slid up from the side, creating a bridge connecting the platform to one of the large symbols.

“I guess that’s the way down.” Harry murmured, more to himself than anyone else, yet, in the dead silence of the temple they all heard. Faint strains of music began to play somewhere in the distance. The Hymn of the Fayth could still be heard… even here.

Taking a deep breath Harry moved out into the platform. It bobbed a little in the air as the others crammed themselves on behind him. This time, there where no nasty surprises waiting for them as the lift shuddered and began the decent. The plain gray stone of the shaft rose up around them and soon the dim light of the trials above flickered out, leaving them in darkness. Rikku and Gatta shifted restlessly as the ride seemed to take an eternity, but then, the elevator began to slow and a faint light appeared from below them. The walls gave way in front of Harry and the platform stopped smoothly, waiting for them to disembark.

“Huh? What do you mean, No Final Aeon?”

They looked at each other when they heard the voice of Jecht ringing out from ahead and subconsciously quickened their pace, bursting out into another small room in time to see the the last of the Pyreflies from the most recent illusion disperse. However, below their feet, the mystery of what Jecht had been referring to was solved.

Within a crystal stone, was a sweeping statue of the figure Harry remembered seeing in the temples.

Lord Zaon.

The stone was cracked beyond repair and the two Summoners could feel that the Fayth had long since left for the Farplane.

“It isn’t a Fayth…” Yuna confirmed Harry’s thoughts. “Just an empty statue.”

“The statue lost it’s power as a Fayth long ago.” Harry looked up abruptly when he heard Dennis speaking from the other side of the broken stone but felt himself relax when he realized that this version of him really was just an old memory, the Pyreflies where merely trying to explain the unspoken questions with the absence of their old guide. “It is Lord Zaon, the first Fayth of the Final Summoning. What you see before you is all that remains of him. Lord Zaon is… his soul is gone.”

“Gone?” Wakka burst out as Harry’s original guardians, bar Auron, gained the sudden understanding of why. The memory held up a hand, not really interacting with his surroundings as he stared dead ahead.

“Fear not,” He answered a question from some invisible Summoner of the past. “Lady Yunalesca will show you the path, the Final Aeon will be yours. The Summoner and the Final Aeon will join powers. Go to her now, inside, the Lady awaits.” With that the memory bowed and turned, vanishing through the wall behind him. The Pyreflies vanished as well leaving them alone.

“So that is why Jecht became what he became.” O'aka muttered more to himself than anyone else. “They do something here that involves the guardians, don’t they.” The ex merchant looked at Auron who nodded slowly.

“You knew there was no Final Summoning?” Yuna asked and Auron looked at them all over his glasses.

“I have been here before.” He reminded them. Yuna made a little ‘oh’ sound and blushed as she remembered that he had indeed been there before, with her father.

“Has everyone got what they need for battle?” Tidus’s voice cut through the conversation like a knife and they jumped, hands going to weapons almost automatically as they where reminded of their purpose for coming all this way.

Then with Kimahri and Tidus in the lead they moved through the illusionary wall and into a room that was oddly lit. Odd, because there was natural sunlight streaming down around them into a room that looked very much like a temple, well that wasn’t entirely unusual but the fact that it was night time and they where a good couple of hundred meters underground, was. They prowled right to the edges of the room, their eyes flicking to take in every detail in their view. Rikku found a few old chests that looked as though they had been left from the days when this had been a real temple, she promptly ransacked them and horded the goodies in his thigh holster with the other things she’d been collecting.

Well, she had a little kleptomania problem… but that was no biggie… right?

Ahead of them a short flight of stairs lead up to an ancient looking door. The carvings and paint that had once covered it where chipped and cracked and in one place they had been scratched out, only to be replaced by the words ‘Weasley was here, 5389’.

Harry shook his head in exasperation and sighed when he saw that.

Footsteps suddenly began somewhere behind that door, sounding faint under the powerful hymn of the Fayth.

“Someone’s coming!” Yuna exclaimed, peering into the darkness and gasping when she saw just who it was. The woman that had emerged from the old doorway was one of the most beautiful any of them had seen. She was tall and slender with long silver hair that cascaded to the floor around her it was that long. Golden half lidded eyes stared at the group blankly as bare feet reached the top step. Her pale, nearly translucent skin, glowed in the faint light of day that somehow reached them and her clothing was so sparse it was indecent. Looking around at those accompanying him Harry noted their reactions. Yuna, was staring at her namesake in awe and close beside her Lulu was merely glaring with the faintest stirrings of contempt in her gaze and posture, Tidus’s face was carefully blank, completely unaffected by the new arrival and slightly behind him, Auron was much the same. Toward the front of the front of the group Gatta, Wakka and O'aka had glazed looks and the red head was drooling slightly while Rikku seemed half torn between staring and slapping Gatta about the head. Even Kimahri was shifting uncomfortably in place.

Harry looked back at Lady Yunalesca himself and was nearly knocked over by the force in which the psychic wave hit him. For a dizzying moment it was like he was sitting in the top box of the Quidditch world cup with a horde of Veela running around the pitch below before reality slammed back into place and the enchantment ceased to effect him.
Tidus gave him a concerned look when Harry stood up straight and shook his head to make certain it was clear.

Lady Yunalesca, their Great ‘Dead’ Summoner, had been a Veela.

Joy.

Not wasting another second he strode over to Wakka and O'aka, clipping his staff to his belt as he went and bringing up his hands before…

WHACK! WHACK!

…Belting them solidly around the back of their heads.

Rikku followed his lead and did the same to Gatta, effectively shaking him out of his trance and causing him to join the other two bobbing around and clutching their skulls to fend of the newly budding headaches.

Yunalesca looked faintly amused.

“Ahhh, so you know what I am.” The woman’s voice was omnipresent and almost gentle as she addressed the male Summoner, but behind her words she was pushing toward him with all her power. Harry anchored himself in his link with Tidus and glared right back.

“Of course I do.” He drawled. “What kind of wizard would I be if I didn’t know?” He asked darkly and Yunalesca looked at him serenely.

“A wizard? It has been so long since a wizard has graced these halls. Only the Summoner’s come here now.” She sounded vaguely regretful and looked at Yuna as she finished speaking, but her attention returned to Harry as he snorted, loudly.

“Turn off the charms.” He said in deadpan. “No one is going to fall for them now, you dead old hag.” For a split second after he said that something like anger flitted across the Ancient Summoners expression. She blinked and the emotion vanished but it was all to clear that Harry’s comment had undoubtedly made her mad. She ignored him completely, turning to the only other Summoner in the room and addressing Yuna instead.

“Welcome to Zanarkand, I congratulate you, Summoner. You have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow you with that what you seek. The Final Summoning will be yours. Now, choose.”

The silence was almost deafening.

“Choose?” Yuna asked aloud. She had already given up her pilgrimage but that didn’t halt her curiosity.

“You must choose the one whom I will change… to become the Fayth of the Final Summoning.” Those who understood the meaning of her words all set her with icy looks as she made her way delicately down the stairs, bells and bracelets at her wrists and ankles jingling softly with every step. “There must be a bond, between chosen and Summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning Embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends.” At these words the eyes of the guardians all drifted to look between Harry and Tidus. “If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin. A thousand years ago, I chose my husband Zaon as my Fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon. There is nothing to fear. You will soon be frees of worry and pain.” Yunalesca’s words seemed frighteningly familiar now.

“For once you call forth the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate and final liberation. Your father, Braska, choose this path.” Yuna lowered her head at the words and refused to look up, not giving a single indication of the fact that she’d even want to respond as Yunalesca drifted back toward the door from which she’d come. They shut behind her with a thunderous tone of finality and almost as if they where taking a cue from the undead Summoner the pyreflies spiraled into a new illusion in their midst.

“It is not to late!” The ghostly figure of Auron from so long ago half yelled, showing none of the living Auron’s cool. “Let us turn back!”

“If I turn back who will defeat Sin?” Braska asked in a bitter voice. “Would you have some other Summoner and his guardians go through this?”

“But… my lord, there must be another way!” Auron pleaded but Jecht cut into the conversation.

“This is the only way we've got now!” The other two stared at him and their unseen audience noticed the grizzled Blitzballer’s fists clenching convulsively at his sides. “Make me the Fayth.” He ground out and the younger Auron’s eyes widened slightly. “I been doing some thinking. My dream is back in the other Zanarkand.” He crossed his arms over his chest and continued in a much lower voice than before. “I wanted to make that runt into a star blitz player. Show him the view from the top, you know. But now I know there’s no way home for me. I’m never gonna see him again. My dream’s never gonna come true.” Then he shrugged. “So make me the Fayth, I’ll fight Sin with you, Braska. Then maybe my life will have… meaning, you know.” It was almost odd to hear him sound so sincere. The blonde at Harry’s shoulder had a blank face that gave away no thoughts, but Harry could just hear what was going on in his mind.

“I saw your view.” Tidus murmured to himself, but no one else heard. “And it had little meaning for me either.”

“Don’t do this Jecht!” Auron was pleading with the other illusion. “If you live… there may be another way! We’ll think of something, I know!” Jecht turned toward the red clad guardian impatiently and gave him a half frustrated look.

“Believe me, I thought this through,” He growled out, as though he couldn’t believe Auron was questioning him on this. Then, like a light being switched off Jecht’s fire seemed to vanish, leaving behind and empty looking man in his place. “Besides… I ain’t getting any younger, so I might as well make myself useful.” Braska’s gaze sharpened as he looked at his guardian.

“Jecht?” The brunette reacted loudly, his head shooting up so he could look Braska in the eye, the fire returning.

“What! You’re not gonna try and stop me, too?”

“Ah, sorry.” The family resemblance between him and Yuna became obvious with his apology. Yuna said it much the same way. “I mean… thank you.” He finished rather pathetically. Jecht gave him a crooked grin and looked over at Auron.

“Braska still need’s to fight Sin, Auron.” He paused and for a moment they where all still. “Guard him well. Make sure he gets there.” Auron was gaping at him, trying to speak but no words seemed to escape. Than Jecht turned away from him and gestured to Braska. “Well, lets go.” Auron managed to find his voice once more.

“Lord Braska! Jecht!” The Blitzer whirled around, half way up the stairs with a irritated look on his face.

“What do you want now?” He demanded harshly and Auron seemed to be actively repressing the urge to wince.

“Sin always comes back. It comes back after the Calm every time! The cycle will continue and your deaths will mean nothing!” Braska, it seemed, did not want to hear this.

“But there’s always a chance it won’t come back this time. It’s worth trying.” Jecht nodded in agreement from his side.

“I understand what your saying, Auron. I’ll find a way to break the cycle.” Auron seemed to be surprised by this and took a startled step back.

“You… have a plan?”

“Jecht?” Braska was looking at him as well now every bit as surprised as Auron. The man just seemed to be making one shocking revelation after another. Jecht was grinning again.

“Trust me, I’ll think of something.” Laughing harshly he pushed open the doors at the top of the stairs and went through. Braska looked back at Auron and hesitated only for a second before he too entered the darkness. The younger Guardian gave the door a look and crashed to his knees, giving out a low moan of despair before the real Auron suddenly surged forward and slashed away the image. Pyreflies broke apart and left but Auron continued the slash away at them before he finally stopped, propping his sword in the rotting carpet so he could lean against it. His tone was weary as he looked down at the spot he had knelt on all those years ago, battling the memory as it continued to show in the privacy of his own mind.

“But the cycle went on.”

The others didn’t know how to console him. They looked at each other then at Harry as he leaned over slightly to see up into his old Guardian’s face.

“We’ll break it.” Harry spoke rather uncertainly at first but there was something different in his tone, something that hadn’t been there before.

“How? What, you got a plan now?” Wakka spoke up, obviously referring to the blundering announcement made by Jecht, a plan that didn’t work. Harry shook his head, his expression becoming brighter with every moment that passed.

“No, we’ve had a plan all along!” He announced, looking around at them all. His eyes shining. “I know this!” They where confused as he began to think as fast as he could and they jumped when he smacked himself in the head for not seeing it sooner.

…Sin…

…Yevon…

…The Dream of the Fayth…

…And the Armour of Immorality.

A scowl marred his excitement as the memories of his own war momentarily took the foreground in his mind, but he didn’t have time for grief and regrets. He remembered every late night study session, every dream, every scrap of information he and Hermione had painstakingly gathered over those frightening last months of the War.

“To become Immortal, to never die…” He muttered aloud so the others could hear.

“He was going to use the Fayth and the Summoners… they would allow him to return, but no, they never knew what they would do… moved the Fayth…” Before he knew it the others had moved back as he begun pacing in the center of the old circular temple. “No Forbidden Aeons because the Fayth where destroyed… couldn’t handle Gaia’s power on their own…”

“Harry?” Rikku broke first and approached him, her green eyes displaying clear confusion. She wanted to know what he was thinking, they all did. The dark haired teen looked up from his thinking, vaguely surprised, almost as if he hadn’t seen her there to begin with. “What do you know?” She asked and Harry gaped at her for a second, unsure of what to say before he grinned.

“I know how to defeat Sin.” He stated clearly and a few of them couldn’t repress their gasps.

“How?” Gatta asked, Harry’s previous excitement infectious. Auron was looking at Harry too, a serious look on his face and the faintest glimmer of hope hidden in his eyes behind a high collar and dark glasses.

“I don’t know why I didn’t see it before! Sin really is an appropriate name. Yevon, all those holy writings you talk so much about, don’t you see it was just a farce?” Those who had been devoted entirely to the teachings, namely Yuna and Wakka, where looking at him like he was mad.

“What?” Yuna blurted and Harry became serious.

“I’ve seen Sin before, but in a different shape.” He explained. “Back at the end of the last war when the worlds began to mix it was because the Dark Lord, Voldemort, had cast some kind of spell to make himself Immortal. The spell was called the Armour of Immorality. It allowed a disembodied soul to possess a holy being and pervert it into an impenetrable armor that could only be defeated by non-magical means, given that any or all magic would be absorbed. The Summoner’s, myself included, would have just given it new and stronger bodies to inhabit had we gone against it and actually defeated it with our Aeons. The only reason that wasn’t tested last time I saw it was because I had something far stronger on my side than just Aeons.” For a second he trailed off his explanation and frowned to himself, ignoring the incredulous looks everyone was giving him.

“I think I still might have that power…” He admitted. “…But it was something I could use only once and there isn’t another way to Summon Gaia again.” Harry looked up and met Tidus’s eyes. He looked at his guardian unerringly but his words where for everyone.

“Yevon, the one who’s teachings you’ve followed all this time. I would bet anything that he used the Armour of Immorality. The teachings, about preventing the use of Machina, and how Summoning was the only way to defeat Sin, they where all set in place so that they would unknowingly maintain his armor, never getting an understanding of how to truly defeat it…” he trailed off toward the end of his sentence and broke his stare looking about at everyone else before the glowing green orbs landed on Auron.

“You where right Auron.” He said slowly. “Yunalesca does need to be stopped. Then, none of the Aeons will be strong enough for Yevon to immediately change. He’ll need far more than ten years to return to the power held by this Sin, and with nowhere else to go…”

“He would be vulnerable to attack at last, and probably destruction.” Tidus finished Harry’s sentence, understanding the gist of the words right away. The other guardians looked more than a little awed.

“You really think that can work?” Rikku didn’t almost dare to hope as she stepped toward them, eyes wide and brimming with emotion. The prospect of finally destroying Sin and living happily ever after knowing that the Al Bhed had been right to use Machina was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. It was scary because as far as anyone could remember they’d all been united in their hatred of Sin. The concept of a world without Sin after all those centuries was just so alien… Harry gave her a determined grin.

“It has to.” He was certain now, he could kick himself later for not noticing it sooner but for the moment everything was falling into place and for once, the reason he had been set on this path was clear. He could figured out how to get close to Yu Yevon’s Armour of Immorality, Sin, later.

Feeling considerably more confident they finally turned their attention to the doorway at the top of the stairs and didn’t hesitate as they headed toward it.

They where going to do this!

They where going to free Spira at last.