"Something on your mind Sparky?"

Twilight nearly jumped out of her feathers as she turned to find Wakka at her side. He was chuckling at her while she slowly settled back down on the ground with an annoyed look.

"What's with everyone sneaking up on me?" She grumbled.

Wakka laughed. "Sorry. Didn't think you were that deep in thinking." He paused. "Anything on your mind?"

Twilight shook her head. "Just, trying to make sense of it all. It's all I can really do right now." She paused as something came to her. "Why are you in here?"

Wakka looked up at the closed door at the top of the stairs. "There's someone in there I'm worried about. It's been a day already. I'd go in, but she already has Guardians with her."

Twilight was surprised. "You're a summoner's Guardian?"

He nodded. "Apprentice summoner actually, but I am. I promised her that I wouldn't get involved in this one at least. Once she leaves though, I don't plan on leaving her."

Twilight smiled at the thought, even though she didn't know who was beyond the door, but she did notice something finally. "Where's Tidus?"

Wakka pointed back out the front door. "Taking a nap. He looked bushed when he came here. You don't look nearly as bad though."

She smiled. "I don't need as much sleep as I used to." But she was sore as she stretched. "So I think I'll go look around. I want to talk to Luzzu and Gatta."

Wakka nodded. "They're still in the Crusader Lodge last I looked. And you're really not missing much around here as is."

Twilight chuckled as she walked to the door. "I'll keep that in mind."

As she came back outside, she took a deep breath of fresh air. The air inside the temple wasn't bad per se, but fresh air always felt good after being inside so long. Plus she still had a lot of questions, and she doubted she'd get answers in there.

Finding the Crusader Lodge was easy. Aside from Yevon's temple, it was the most lavish structure in the village from what Twilight could see as she walked over and went inside. To the right was a desk with a woman waiting on those who entered and farther back was a row of beds.

Luzzu and Gatta were sitting at a table only a few feet inside the tent. Both gave her looks as she came up to them. "Ah. Tidus's friend. I wondered when you might come by," Luzzu said.

Twilight nodded, not bothering to hide that she had questions. "There's still so much I don't know about Spira. I want to learn as much as I can."

Gatta smiled. "You're on the right track at least. Does your world have Crusaders?"

She shook her head. "No. And I don't even know what the Crusaders are."

Luzzu nodded. "We are sworn to battle Sin. We have chapters throughout Dpira, accepting any and all who wish to join our struggle. The hero Mi'ihen formed us eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks swelled and we renamed ourselves the Crusaders. We have been fighting Sin ever since."

Twilight's ears fell. "Eight hundred years? How?"

Gatta's head fell. "All we've been able to do is steer Sin away from towns and villages. Nobody's ever been able to beat it. Our mission is to protect any and all it threatens."

Twilight felt her heart drop. She couldn't even imagine what that would be like, fighting for eight hundred years, and yet be nowhere closer to defeating something. "What about the toxin?"

Luzzu frowned. "Vapors that boil from Sin's hide. One breath and it will taint the very core of your body. People who get to close to it forget even the most important things. Just like Tidus."

Twilight kept her peace about that. Something about it didn't feel right. But it wasn't her place to say anything. Not yet anyway.

Gatta looked out the entryway and grinned. "Looks like someone's in a hurry though."

Twilight followed his gaze, and just caught a glimpse of Tidus as passed by the Lodge. He was heading for the temple, and by the way he was walking, he was on a mission too.

Gatta and Luzzu shared a look. "I feel you should follow him. I feel something is coming, and that you should be there for it," Luzzu said.

Twilight wasn't so sure though. "But I still have a lot of questions."

"We'll have time for them later," Luzzu added.

Twilight still wasn't convinced, but she was curious to see why Tidus seemed to be in such a rush to get the temple. Nodding, she left the Lodge behind and returned to the temple.

By the time she came to the main room, she was able to make out the end of a conversation. "So someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out yet. Right, I go it," Tidus was saying.

Wakka had a look of concern on his face as he looked at the door. "A day's gone by already."

"Is it particularly dangerous in there?" Tidus asked.

Wakka nodded. "Sometimes yes."

Tidus wasn't happy at this. "Why don't you go in and help?"

Wakka shook his head. "There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden."

That finally did it for Tidus as he ran up the stairs before turning back at the top. "Hey, but what if something happens? What if the summoner dies!?"

The head priest scowled. "The precepts must be obeyed!"

Tidus shook his head as he turned to the door. "Like I care!"

As his hands touched it though, a fuschia glow surrounded his body, and he was pulled back away from the door. His look of anger was replaced by a look of confusion, one that all in the room shared as well, as Twilight flew up and got in his face.

"What part of you're not supposed to go in, did you not get?!" She grumbled.

Tidus glared right back. "I can't just let something happen to the summoner! They could need help, or worse!"

Twilight's own glare melted a bit. "Look, I don't want anything happening to them, any more than you do. But rushing in like this won't help anyone."

Something in her voice must have gotten through to him, for his own look of anger was soon replaced by a look of concern, one that Twilight felt as well as she let him go and glided back down to the main level, Tidus not far behind.

Twilight though was getting most of the looks, and it made her distinctly uncomfortable as she shifted in place. "What was that?" An elderly lady finally asked.

Twilight looked around. An explanation was in order, she could see from all the looks she was getting. "Magic. Or at least as I know it. I might be new to this world, but I know it isn't right to just barge in on something like that. Especially if we're not supposed to."

The priest nodded as he stepped forwards. "Then I thank you for preventing this from getting out of hand," before he looked at Tidus. "And I commend you for your concern, especially for someone you do not know."

That lifted Tidus's spirits somewhat, but he was still worried as he looked back to the door to the Cloister of Trials. "How do we know if everything's all right in there?"

Wakka shook his head. "We can't know. Not until they come out again. It usually doesn't take this long though."

Twilight couldn't help and let her ears fall. "And, if something goes wrong?"

Wakka and the priest shared an uncomfortable look before the priest replied. "It is very rare, but if anything does happen to the apprentice summoner, the guardians that went with them will bring them out, and we will lay them to rest." He made the prayer sign, as did all those around them. "I pray it does not come to that."

Twilight and Tidus made the sign as well. What good it would do they didn't know, but it was still something they hoped would help the summoner. With nothing better to do, and not willing to stand around doing nothing, Twilight went to look at the other statues in the temple.

Lord Braska's statue she already knew, but the others were a mystery. Looking down on the next one over, she found a name though: Lady Yocun. As she moved to the next, it too had a name: Lord Ohalland. As did the final one of the set: Lord Gandof.

From the way they were built and dressed, she could only guess they were all high summoners. What the significance of the title meant compared to regular summoners she didn't know. But it must have been important in some way.

"You seem very interested in these," the priest asked as she floated near the face of Gandof's statue.

Twilight nodded. "I've never seen anything like them."

"Your world doesn't have them?" Waka asked.

Twilight shook her head. It was at this point that she knew that, if she ever wanted everyone to trust her at all, she needed to stop holding back more about herself and her world. "Equestria's never had anything like this. Summoning has never been something we could do. Let alone what they did."

"Equestria?" One of the younger ones asked.

Twilight smiled as she looked down at him. "It's the name of where I come from. The country at least. Our world is called Equus."

That causes a stir among the crowd. Not that she could blame them. Even Tidus looked interested, and he had known her the longest out of everyone here. For all that meant anyway.

He still wasn't really happy Twilight had stopped him from going into the Cloister of Trials. But the more he thought about it, the more he saw that his rushing in wouldn't have helped anyone.

But that didn't mean he had to like it.

Before anyone could ask anymore though, the door to the Cloister began to open from the inside. This caused an even greater stir among the crowd as the began to move forward. Twilight swung around so she could see what all the fuss was about.

From within, two figures soon emerged. One was a human woman. Black hair framed a face that looked like it had not smiled in a long time. But there was also compassion in her eyes as well. Her long black dress fit her well, and in one hand, she carried some kind of doll.

The other though, Twilight tried not to stare. In shape and form he reminded her of the cat people of Abyssinia, but larger in stature and far more muscular. In his hand, he carried a huge war pike. But what threw her for a loop was the broken-off horn on his forehead.

Neither seemed to see her for the moment as they turned back to where they had come from as another person joined them. A young woman, who looked to be about the same age as Tidus if Twilight had to guess. Her clothes were far more opulent. In fact, it put Twilight in mind of what some of the high summoners wore now that she thought about it.

She did, in fact, see Twilight as she emerged onto the platform. The surprise was written clearly on her face, but even from far away Twilight could see she looked exhausted. Though with how long she had been in the Cloister of Trials by that point, Twilight wasn't too surprised.

Following their friend's gaze, her companions soon noticed Twilight as well, but their own reactions were harder to gauge. But Twilight could see a hand grip the pike harder as the larger of the two looked at her. Twilight tried not to gulp at the idea.

The room had gone quiet as the trio had emerged. Twilight herself found herself holding her breath, waiting to see what would be said.

The young woman finally smiled, pushing aside her own tiredness as she made the prayer sign. "I've done it. I have become a summoner."

Everyone in the room let out an audible sigh of relief, as all made the sign as well, and while her hoof control was nowhere near good enough if she'd had hands like the rest, Twilight was more than happy to do so as well.

As the trio descended the stairs, Twilight caught a quick glimpse of the room beyond the door. All she could see though was a room that seemed to be filled with symbols of some kind before the door closed with a soft thud.

As Wakka rushed forward to greet the new arrivals, Twilight saw that Tidus looked a bit sheepish. Not that she could really blame him though.

He was glad as anyone that the summoner was alright, but now he was feeling even more foolish than he had almost rushed into that without really thinking.

And even though he didn't know her yet, he still found her cute. Only later would he give voice to it though.

Author's Note

Now that I look back, I wonder if Square Enix was being cheeky with Lord Gandof's name compared to the rest of the high summoners.

His name makes me think of Gandalf from Lord Of the Rings, and Ganondorf from the Legend of Zelda. On purpose or not I don't know. But I like it.

And one last thing. I am ignoring any and everything that came from ~Eein no Daishō~ and Will. They added nothing for me to Spira's universe. Last Mission will be a thing though.