Chapter Thirteen: The Farplane

Tidus had never before seen Lucas as happy as he was now in the company of Ad’alin. Ad’alin gave a history of their first meeting each other as she was with her mother, at the time, selling clothing outside the doors of Bevelle.

“Never, in my life, have I seen a grown man with the goofiest look on his face.” Ad’alin said as she chuckled.

Lucas, who looked away, blushingly, coughed.

“Yeah, uh, well…”

Tidus grinned as he continued to listen to Ad’alin reminisce about that day and the ones that followed up till the time they were caught in bed together and she had been thrown out of Bevelle for “sauntering” her body off around the holy halls. Both Tidus and Lucas gave a deep scowl for this.

When Tidus bid the two of them goodnight, he found the rest of the group either deep in conversation or have already gone to sleep. The only one he found unoccupied was Shuyin, who was sitting by a fire watching the embers crackle. As soon as Tidus joined him, Shuyin looked away.

“What’s that for?” Tidus asked, surprised.

Shuyin sighed, “Sorry. I guess I’m not the best of company, right now.”

Tidus looked around. “Has Lenne gone to bed, already?”

Shuyin shrugged.

Tidus sat in total quiet as he, along with Shuyin, continued to watch the fire. Shuyin soon looked to Tidus.

“I don’t think I’ll go with you all, tomorrow; to the Farplane, that is.”

“I’m not so sure I want to go myself.” Tidus said.

Shuyin looked at Tidus with an arched eyebrow. “Why? I mean, I know my reasons but I don’t see any reason for you not to go. After all, don’t you need to ask this “Cid” about the objects to resurrect Yu Yevon?”

Tidus sighed and then began to tell Shuyin about the Fayth, Auron, Jecht, and all that happened after meeting with the Fayth on Mt. Gagazet, and lastly to the event that happened once he and Yuna had vanquished Sin. Once he had finished, neither of them spoke. It was only until Yuna had joined them that both of them turned their attention away from the fire.

“What’s with the faces?” Yuna asked as she sat next to Tidus.

“Tidus was just telling me his reason for not wanting to go to the Farplane as well.” Shuyin said.

Yuna looked at Tidus and scowled. “I thought we talked about this. Tidus, the Fayth brought you back, what reason would there be to take you?”

Tidus shrugged, “I just got a bad feeling, is all.”

“And you shouldn’t be worrying so much either.”

They turned their heads as Lenne came and sat down next to Shuyin, placing her hand on his knee as she sat down. “You’re better now, Vegnagun’s been dismantled; what else is there to worry about?”

“Yeah.” Yuna nudged Tidus. “You two need to get out of this mood you’re in, otherwise…” She then dug into her bag and brought out one of her Dresspheres and tossed it up and down in her hand, looking mischievously. “We’ll make you boys play dress up for everyone to see.”

While Tidus and Yuna playfully began pushing the Dressphere back and forth between each other, all the while Yuna teasingly reminded Tidus about the last time; Shuyin looked to Lenne.

“Aren’t you afraid of what might happen once we go in there?”

Lenne smiled and cupped the side of Shuyin’s face with her hand as she brushed along the side.

“Not while I’m with you. I feel like I’m at my strongest when we’re together, Shuyin. Separate, I feel like I’m vulnerable.”

Shuyin smiled and took hold of her hand that was on his face and closed his eyes as he guided it once more up and down on the side of his face.

“You’re too good to me.” He smiled.

The following day the group began their decent from the Temple into the hole that led to a pathway. Tidus had felt nervous, more nervous than he had ever has been, as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine led then forward towards Farplane Glen.

Despite his worries, Tidus looked around in marvel at the weird and eerie area that surrounded them. From what he could tell, besides the road they were on, and what he could see ahead, all else in the area was blanketed in complete darkness. As they continued on in they soon came to a place where the path diverged and Yuna had them hop across to a small island that seemed to be floating on its own. Soon, they were jumping across several islands until they came to a stretch of land. Here, Yuna had them pushing several islands across until they formed a pathway that had them continuing on to a larger strip of land.

Tidus noticed Yuna sighing as she glanced around at the area.

“What is it?” He asked.

Yuna closed her eyes, “It’s nothing. The three of us had a fight here with an Aeon that had gone horribly wrong, is all.”

“Shiva.” Paine nodded.

Tidus’ memories went into overdrive as he remembered Yuna acquiring the Aeon during her pilgrimage.

“What happened that made them like that?” He asked.

Yuna then began to tell him of all the occurrences that had happened after they had defeated Sin. How all the temples were plagues with dark illusions of the Aeons she had once worked so hard to acquire and how she, along with Rikku and Paine, had to fight every one of them.

“That’s so horrible.” Lenne said behind them. “What had caused such an evil thing to happen?”

Yuna shrugged, “I don’t know for certain. My gut feeling is that when the disturbance had effected the Farplane, the Aeons that once were obtainable at the temples, become corrupt copies of their, once, proud forms.”

Lenne still looked terrified of the concept of what happened while the group continued on forward and soon came to yet another large open area.

“We fought Anima here.” Rikku commented.

A deep resonating growl erupted from all over the area as soon as Rikku had finished her statement. Five floating, disfigured, apparitions appeared; their eyes were glowing green, their mouths gaped.

“What! What are they doing here?!” Elma said out loud as she, as well as everyone else, got into stance.

Tidus didn’t like the feel of this.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine soon shined brightly as their garments were stripped and were replaced with different ones. In one swift movement, Tidus, Elma, Lucas, and Shuyin grouped together and began attacking two of the spirits that came rushing towards them.

Tidus slashed wildly as the spirit began shooting bursts of flare at him and the others. The scorching heat of the spell had Tidus held back, momentarily. Once the heat had dissipated, Tidus charged forward, ducking, dodging, and leaping over the spells aimed his way. Tidus drove the tip of his blade forward and had it sank deep into the spirits ravaged form.

Screeching in agony, the unsent began to change shape and soon became larger than before. Its strength had changed as well as it pulled Tidus’ blade out from it and took hold of it in two hands and then swung it, and Tidus, up into the air and then hard into the ground.

Tidus found two of his teeth came flying out from his bleeding mouth as he felt the rough impact of the ground.

“Tidus!”

Amidst the battles around him, the shouting from his friends, the grunting and howling of the fiends they were fighting; Tidus could distinctly hear Yuna calling his name. Wanting nothing more to answer her and to alleviate her worries, Tidus knew better as he felt another spell as it felt as if his back was being burned to a cinder.

Picking himself up off the ground, despite the overwhelming sensation of pain, Tidus soon found his weapon again and began another duel with the fiend as it was now engaged with Lucas and Shuyin; Elma was unconscious on the ground and was being administered by Bern, a deep, bloody gash seeping on her forehead.

Tidus swore under his breath as he joined Shuyin and, between the two of them, hashed out more and more as they both rammed their blades deep into the unsent’s form and began pushing it back as Lucas soon collapsed to the ground. Feeling more weary, aching, and angry; Tidus pushed himself harder as he gripped the hilt of his blade. Exerting a growl, Tidus used all the strength he had remaining and pulled the blade up and slashed all through to the shoulder of the unsent. Shuyin complemented his movement by jumping up and taking a wide strike and cleaned off the unsent’s head. After staggering in midair, the unsent’s body soon erupted into a stream of pyrflies which scattered about in one fluid movement.

Tidus found his whole body shaking uncontrollably and it was becoming nearly impossible to stand without bending over in agonizing pain. He lifted his head as he looked to see how the rest were fairing in their fights.

With only one unsent left to fight, Lenne, Lucas, Bern, and Rikku were healing those who were on the ground and the only remaining people fighting were Yuna, Paine, and Shuyin. Tidus lurched himself over in an attempt to join them but found gravity taking control of his knees as he was brought down to the ground, forcibly. He was relieved; however, as he saw that he wasn’t needed as Paine struck the finishing blow and the last unsent’s pyrflies erupted out from it and soon the left the area they were in.

Yuna soon turned her attention to Tidus as she came running to him.

“Tidus! Are you alright?”

Tidus’ face was smeared with dirt and blood. Despite his broken teeth, he grinned.

“Told you these guys are tough.”

Yuna chuckled ruefully, “Yeah.”

Tidus noticed that Yuna was looking as bad as he was, yet wasn’t in a weakened state like he was. Everyone else was either in a worse or similar condition with the exception of Yuna, Paine, and Shuyin.

“Those things are bad.” Rikku stated as she nursed her injured arm with a Full-Cure remedy.

Others muttered their agreement.

Yuna helped Bern as she administered a Hi-Potion solution to Tidus; he coughed a bit before being able to drink the entire potion.

“One thing’s for certain,” Tidus said as Yuna took the potion drink away from him, “Their being here can mean only one thing. Lord Dedlock’s most likely here or that he’s coming.”

“Aye,” said Marv, “We’d better hurry.”

They had spent nearly an hour recuperating before setting off once more. Tidus found his strength come back to him as they continued forward and he began to worry as this last battle had been harder than the previous ones he and the others had fought. It seemed that the unsent’s power had begun to grow for some reason; Tidus could only speculate that these new unsents were the ones that escaped the Den of Woes and were the ones that killed virtually everyone at Mushroom Rock .

Tidus turned to Yuna who was looking at him worryingly. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and he smiled at her. However, that didn’t alleviate her concern as her face remained in its concerned state.

They soon reached the Farplane Glen and everyone, minus Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Shuyin, and Lenne; marveled at the flowered area. Further ahead, a vortex of red light swirled around to a place of darkness.

“That leads to the Abyss where Vegnagun is as well as Cid and the Machine Faction’s camp ground.” Paine said.

“ Well, what are we waiting for?” Bern asked, impatiently as she looked at everybody as all of them had stopped.

Tidus nodded, “We’d better. I have a bad feeling that ahead are more unsents and Cid might be facing them.”

Rikku and Yuna looked alarmed and nodded instantaneously. Everyone then continued their pace and entered the swirling vortex.

After a rush of light, Tidus, Yuna, and their large group, found themselves in the multi-colored void which housed numerous raised platforms as before. Tidus, once again, looked around in marvel as they passed through a circular entry way.

“Glad to see they bypassed that music device.” Rikku commented as she too looked at the circular entryway as they passed through it.

Marv nodded. “I was here when they dismantled it. Took them three weeks to figure out how it all worked before finally breaking the thing down.”

Tidus listened intently as Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and occasionally Marv; retold everybody of their exploits in this particular area as they all journeyed on forward. After passing onward, they found new additions as hundreds of mecha equipment, humming lively with energy, stood apart on each individual platform reaching all the way high onto the top above them. Amongst these mecha, wires, scattered everywhere, littered the floor like the roots of trees to various giant structures. The first giant structure they came upon, looked like that of a giant tail with a large hooked barb at the end.

Yuna came upon the giant form and closed her eyes as she brushed her hand along the side of it.

“It feels like it was a lifetime ago, yet, being here it feels like only recently.”

Tidus’ eye looked to Shuyin who was quiet and distant. Lenne’s presence being the only thing that made him respond.

Tidus sighed and then looked around. “It’s awfully quiet here. Did all the workers go with Cid?”

Everyone turned to Tidus and then looked around nodding.

“No. The Machine Faction would be working around the clock.” Marv said.

Rikku nodded, “Something not right, alright.”

Pressing forward, They came up to a higher area where even more mecha machines were in place. All were sparking and humming with intensity as they were attached to an even larger structure where a monstrous mass which had three illuminating lights of red, green, and yellow; shimmering in the colorful area. It was here they found numerous bodies of the Al Bhed workers, disemboweled, beheaded, and others in horribly similar conditions.

As with Mushroom Rock, The Farplane had become a slaughtering ground.

“How awful!” Elma cried out as she held one hand to her mouth and another over the eyes of Bern next to her.

Tidus’ eyes narrowed as he looked around and soon found the form of Cid lying on his back in the middle of the heap of bodies.

“Cid!” Yuna cried out as she, and everyone else, rushed forward. Yuna knelt down and raised the head of her uncle and after she did she heaved a sigh of relief.

“He’s still alive…but barely.”

A large gash protruded from the corner of Cid’s left eyebrow, across his face, down to the right corner of his mouth.

“So, you’ve finally arrived.” A voice boomed loudly.

All eyes looked wildly about and soon Lucas pointed upwards.

“There!”

A form immersed in shadow just above the green node of Vegnagun’s mass, soon came into focus. The person strode out forward and then leapt and came to the ground and landed nimbly in front of the party.

“No…It-it can’t be.” Yuna said, alarmingly.

Tidus looked as found himself realizing who it was standing before them. Dressed in a purple over-coat, with blue and white stripped short sleeves, his hair tided back in a short pony-tail; the former Summoner to whom Tidus had many encounters with when he journeyed with Yuna on her pilgrimage.

Issaru.

“Why!” Rikku shouted as she took stance, ready to fight.

Issaru’s mouth contorted into a malevolent smile.

Tidus observed Issaru closely, something was not right about him right now. Looking into his eyes, they were alive with red flames.

“That’s not Issaru. It’s Lord Dedlock.” Tidus said as he unsheathed his blade. “Issaru’s been possessed.”

The possessed Issaru looked around at everyone and then his smile faltered as his ever-flaming eyes set upon Shuyin and Lenne.

“Shuyin…daughter…”

Lenne tore away from Shuyin’s tight grasp as she spread her arms out, pleadingly.

“Father, you must stop this at once!”

Issaru’s eyes burned more malevolently and his mouth curved into a malicious snarl as he barred his teeth.

“Child, hold your tongue! Death awaits the rest of you, especially those who’ve vanquished the lord and master of Spira!” His gaze then turned onto Tidus and Yuna. “You, who have the object, give it to me, now or perish!”

“Never.” Tidus said firmly.

Yuna, standing next to him, nodded as she drew out her twin guns.

Issaru’s eyes closed and then opened. “So be it.” He raised his hand and snapped his fingers four times. After the fourth sound, vast spiritual entities appeared from all around an encircled Tidus and the group. Behind them, more appeared and behind them fiends of different varieties. The unsents in the front, their eyes alive with various burning colors much like Issaru’s, gave off hissing and cackling noises as they began to approach..

Yuna leaned close to Tidus, “So many…”

Tidus nodded. This was not going to end good.

To be continued…

A/N: Thank you Ogro for your helpful insights and suggestions and to all that have reviewed thus far. Now, I know this chapter seems a little uneven but I’m trying hard to use both of what I know and what I can use to bring this to its climax. That said, I have been experiencing “bumps” on this road to get there. Hopefully, those who’ve been with me on this journey consider them small and minor.

A/N II: Please read and review. It helps me to hear all opinions and comments concerning the story and will enable me to make changes, corrections, and thus make it better.

Q-n-P