So here I am again, offering you another chapter of this ungodly story. This was one of the hardest parts to get through. Now we're on track to the finish. But, it might still take a while. Lucky for all of you, I'm on vacation and I'm bored, so if you give me the right incentive, I might get more done. I really just did this for Rikku, because it's been a long time and I thought, why not? Of course, I don't know if anyone remembers any of what's going on anymore, it's been so long. No matter. Here it is, chapter 19, the next step.

Chapter 19

The Next Step

"What do you mean he's still in Bevelle?"

"Please, calm down, Lenne!"

"You left him there!" Lenne shrieked, struggling to get at Kijo. The man sat silently in the command tent, looking at the ground, emotionless. "How could you leave him there?" Lenne screamed through her tears. "I love him! He could be dead!" She stopped struggling and the guards holding her arms let go. "Oh god…oh god he might be dead." The summoner fell to her knees, small sobs causing her to shake. Tears fell from her eyes.

"He might be alive," Kijo said softly. He looked up at Lenne. His face was pale. "Lenne I…I had no…" Choice? No. He had a choice. He had chosen to leave Shuyin behind. "It was too dangerous to take him with me," Kijo finished lamely.

"Well I'm sorry to do this," from the other side of the tent, Lady Yunalesca interrupted. "But we need to focus on the bigger picture." She looked at Lenne, who remained silent, sobbing to herself. "I'm sorry for your loss Lenne, but we may have lost something much greater." With that, she turned her regal gaze on Majo. "Is it true. Are you certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that my fathe…Lord Yevon did…whatever it was you said?"

Majo sat beside Kijo, his face even paler than his friends. "Yes. Lord Yevon decided the war could not be won and used all the lives of Zanarkand to create the ultimate weapon." He looked at Lady Yunalesca. "I'm sorry, but your father orchestrated it all himself. No one else has that sort of power."

Lady Yunalesca remained silent. Her eyes were hard. She was an impressive leader, holding her calm like this.

"Then that thing…that…sinful weapon...can we use it?"

Kijo stood up quickly, pushing his chair back so fast that it clattered to the floor. "Are you insane?"

"Kijo!" Majo shouted, appalled at his lack of respect.

"Shut up!" Kijo yelled, silencing Majo. "Lady Yunalesca, with all due respect, that thing can't be used. I don't care if we could control it, do you realize what that is? It's the souls of everyone who lived in Zanarkand, crushed together like a bunch of…I don't even know, but it's wrong. It's like using the dead to fight for us. Can you honestly do that?"

Lady Yunalesca remained quiet, her icy gaze holding its own against Kijo's fiery stare. After a long time, she sighed.

"You are right. Now is not the time to think about the war."

"The war is over!" Kijo shouted.

"Do you think Bevelle will agree to that?"

"We don't know if we never try!"

"We've already send word to Bevelle. We've asked for a cease-fire," Zaon spoke up from beside his wife.

"And what did they say?" Kijo asked pleadingly.

There was a long silence. Lady Yunalesca was the one to break it.

"They refused."

"Then surrender!" Kijo screamed. "It's over! Zanarkand is gone and this war is the reason! What are we protecting!"

Lady Yunalesca stood up, putting her hands on the table and glaring at Kijo.

"Our pride, commander Kijo!"

Kijo was silent. He looked at Lady Yunalesca, then to Majo, then Zaon, and finally down at Lenne.

"That's all?" He finally asked quietly.

"Is that not enough."

"No," Kijo said without hesitation. He turned and put a hand on Majo's shoulder. "I'm leaving. I'm going to appeal to Bevelle myself. Majo, are you coming with me?"

Majo looked up, his dark, sunken eyes glazed over. No one here knew the gravity of the situation. Zanarkand was gone. Bevelle was not willing to leave them be. But more than anything else, that sinful weapon could not be controlled. It would destroy everything in the world. There was no escape. But no one would believe him if he said anything. Yunalesca's ridiculous pride would never let her believe that.

"What aren't you telling us, Majo?"

Majo snapped back to the moment to find Kijo looking him in the eye. Leave it to Kijo to see through him. Majo nearly laughed.

"That sinful thing can't be controlled. Not by anyone. It's not a weapon of Zanarkand. It's the enemy of every living thing in the whole world. It needs to be destroyed."

"That thing is still my father," Lady Yunalesca said coldly. "I can speak with it. I can control it."

"No one can. You're fooling yourself. It will need to be destroyed, but nothing in the world can do that."

A smile spread over Kijo's face. It was a complex expression. Hope and hopelessness all mixed into one with fear and excitement all packed in as well.

"There is something," he said quietly. Then he clapped his hands. "Lady Yunalesca!" he said excitedly. "Do whatever you wish, though I suggest you leave Zanarkand be, nothing we can do and there's nothing there for us now. As for me, I'm resigning. I'm going to Bevelle. And I'm taking these two with me." He motioned toward Lenne and Majo.

"I can't allow that," Lady Yunalesca said coldly.

"I'm sorry. I wish you the best, honestly. But you're not my Lady anymore. There's not Zanarkand, and you're not in charge of me. I'm truly sorry. Now let us go. We don't want any trouble."

Lady Yunalesca's eyes flashed and she raised her arm. "Ifrit." There was a flash of fire and darkness.

"Lenne, Majo! Run!" Kijo shouted.

"What for?" Lenne sobbed. "Why should I go with you?"

"Because we're going to Bevelle. And we're going to save your boyfriend while we're there."

The fire and darkness surrounded them entirely and Kijo could hear a howling sound. He felt something grab his hand and looked down to see Lenne holding onto him.

"Then let's go." And they were out of the tent.

Majo sat inside, as the flames rose higher and the howling grew louder. His heart was pounding. Everything was changing. Absolutely everything. Zanarkand was gone, Yunalesca was attacking them. Kijo had resigned. But still, that man was in motion. Always moving forward. This was exactly how he was, how he'd always been.

But it was a lie. It couldn't last. It couldn't. Majo knew this. The world was changing too rapidly. Everyone would be lost in the chaos. And if not, their sin would destroy them. It was over.

But his blood was boiling. His legs were tense. His body was aching to follow Lenne and Kijo. He could feel himself splitting apart. Live in the lie? Or give up on it? Something grabbed his shoulder.

"Let's go!" Kijo shouted.

Majo was up and out of the tent just as Ifrit materialized. The three of them were running. They made it out of the camp and to the front battlements. Behind them, the sound of Ifrit's pounding gait was closing in.

"Lenne! We can't outrun it! Do something!" Kijo screamed.

"Me?" Lenne shouted back in disbelief.

"You're the summoner!"

"Alright!" Lenne's hand pointed out in front of them. There was a surge of power and then… "Bahamut!"

The air condensed above their heads and the clouds parted. High in the air, the great dragon Bahamut flew down at a breakneck pace.

"Everyone jump when I say so!" Lenne shouted. "And hold on!"

"You're serious?" Kijo yelled incredulously. "Oh I like you, Lenne. One hell of a sense of style!"

Behind them, Ifrit was gaining quickly, but Bahamut tore past him, flying at an incredible speed.

"Jump!"

All three jumped just as Bahamut came screaming under them, They grabbed on as hard as they could and he was up again, soaring above the ground, out of the range of Ifrit's fire.

"Haha!" Kijo laughed. "Brilliant!" He looked over the edge of Bahamut's wings to see the ground flying by beneath them. "Yunalesca won't follow us. We're in the clear!"

Majo looked over the side as well, staring out toward Bevelle. "We're not actually, Kijo."

"What do you mean? Bevelle should be on low level alert after that thing appeared and we asked for the cease fire. What do you mean?"

"Look. It's a different kind of anti-air defense than usual."

Kijo turned his attention toward Bevelle to see a large creature soaring through the sky straight toward them. It snaked through the clouds like a great snake and as it grew closer he could make out green smoke trailing from what looked like a large beak.

"What the hell is that? Some kind of Valefor?" Kijo asked Lenne, not turning away from the creature.

"Don't insult the aeons," Lenne responded harshly. "That's not Valefor. It's not any sort of aeon."

"Then what the hell is it?" Kijo yelled. It was getting closer, and more and more aspects of it appeared to be dangerous.

"The reason we didn't just fly our aeons into Bevelle in the first place," Lenne said, her eyes narrowing. "Bevelle's heavenly beast, Evrae."