“The Final Summoning will be yours.” Yunalesca offered her opened hands to Yuna in a regal manner. The silence that followed her words lasted for what seemed like an eternity, in which the ragged breathing of the party slightly echoed through the gargantuan temple.
“Is this the only hope we have?” asked Yuna, getting Yunalesca’s silent nod as an answer.
“The cycle will start all over again!” cried Auron in despair. He had lived this scene once already, and had lost dear friends before. If there was a chance to save them this time, it was now or never. “There is another way, we have to find it!”
“I know, Auron.” Tidus was smiling at him with his arms crossed in front of him. “I believe you, and I think I have a plan.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Trust me, I know what I’m doing. I’ll be the Fayth, and together, we’ll defeat Sin once and for all.”
“You’re speaking your father’s words,” spat Auron with a mixture of anger and disappointment.
Tidus let out a snort, throwing a challenging smirk at him. “I’m different from him. Where he failed, we’ll succeed. This is my story, and I choose to end it here, for it means that you will all live your lives in peace.” He turned to the rest of the party, waving nonchalantly at each of them. “Remember this day, my good friends; for this is the day that the Spiral of Death finally breaks. Mark my words: Spira’s freedom begins today!”
Wakka, Kimahri and Rikku nodded in approval, the young Al-Bhed clapping at his motivated lecture with a wide grin. With a grim expression, Lulu walked towards him and hugged him tightly.
“You’ve made the right decision,” she whispered to his ear. “Take care of Yuna.”
Auron didn’t move from his spot, refusing to acknowledge Tidus as a hero who’d change history rather than an arrogant kid who thought himself better than his father out of spite. No matter what he said, no matter the reasons he gave, he simply wouldn’t listen. To him, Tidus and Yuna would simply be another summoner and Fayth sent to defeat Sin, who would return after the Calm, as it always did.
“Are you ready, Yuna?” asked Tidus as he walked next to her.
She replied with a weak nod, finding hard to look at him. The idea of having to sacrifice someone she cared for was too much for her. No matter who volunteered to be the Fayth, it felt wrong. However, she had no choice; either sacrifice someone she has a bond with and herself or everyone she loves will die. She didn’t have to weigh the cost for too long to know that the price was worth it.
“We’re ready, Lady Yunalesca,” Yuna said after a short silence.
“Very well. Come, the summoning must begin.”
“You’re doing it again!” cried Auron, unsheathing his sword and pointing at Tidus with it. “Everything’s like the last time! You’re changing nothing!”
“I know what I’m doing, Auron.” Tidus gave him a thumbs up with a confident grin, which did nothing to calm him down; in fact, his greeted teeth and the clenching of the sword made obvious that he was getting more furious.
“Fine! Be another one, just like the other ones who came before you! I don’t want to see it!” In a fit of rage, he drew a horizontal arc with his sword before letting it rest on his shoulder. With a loud grunt, he walked among the rest of the party and out of the temple. His screams and cries during the conversation made the silence that usually invaded the room slightly more terrifying, like the calm preceding the storm. His words were blunt and accurate, his voice didn’t even trembled. The certainly of a prophet in a crowd too ignorant to pay attention to him.
Why do we have to do this? The only way Sin can be destroyed is by summoning the Final Aeon. We summoners sacrifice ourselves and our guardians to bring the Calm, only to wait for Sin’s return. Spira is full of death... Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death. It is a cycle of death, spiraling endlessly. Sadly, there is no other option.
I trust Tidus, we’ll end the spiral, together.
“Lady Yunalesca,” called Tidus, “we must hurry.”
“True.” With a magnanimous gesture, she turned around, raising her hand. “Come, summoner and Fayth, Sin awaits.”
Leaving the rest of the group behind, Yuna and Tidus followed Lady Yunalesca through a long hall.The walls were decorated with depictions of those who came before them, taking their parts in the Spiral of Death. Every part of the fall showed a different summoner and their respective Fayth, their place in the hall representing when they sacrificed to bring the Calm. Nameless heroes that no one remembered, those who gave their lives to save their world, only to be possessed and slaughtered by the next summoner and Fayth in the wall.
As they walked through the hall, Yuna noticed a couple who she recognised: Lord Braska and Jetch. There was a black section on the wall next to them, large enough to hold several, probably dozens of paintings. For a moment, Yuna hesitated, the thought of not only sacrificing Tidus, but also imagining another summoner coming with his own Fayth and killing him again. She shook those thoughts out of her head swiftly. She wasn’t sure about why she doubted his plan, but she couldn’t pull herself back now. Tidus irradiated self-confidence, but that wasn’t enough for her. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.
After walking through a long, plain section of the hall, they reached a platform where a familiar face stood. The previous Fayth and Tidus’ father, Jetch, turned around at the sound of footsteps.
“You took your time to come,” said Jetch with his arms crossed in front of him.
“We’re ready, Dad,” replied Tidus, taking a step forward and spreading his arms. “Yuna, channel the Final Aeon!”
Jetch shook his head showing an obvious disappointed look on his face. “You’re small, though I expected you to be smart. It appears that you aren’t. I expected more from you.”
“Say whatever you want, Dad,” spat Tidus proudly. “But I’ll make the difference! I’ll save Spira from Sin!”
Smashing his fists together, Jetch jumped back to the center of the platform, the tattoo on his chest shining intensely. “Come and get me, little one!”
The sky darkened as Yuna raised her staff and began the ritual of summoning. Dancing orbs of light few around Tidus, lifting him from the ground and making him glow and mutate. Aside from increasing in size tenfold, spiked shoulderpads and kneepads grew on him, and his waist became protected with a belt, which had a buckle with Zanarkand’s coat of arms. A mighty-looking helmet covered his head, cheeks and nose, and his eyes shone like the purest beacons of light. He positioned his hands as if he was grabbing a sphere, and lightning bolts sprouted from his fingers and taking the form of a ball of thunder.
As he levitated it with one hand, Tidus, now the Final Aeon, threw it up to the sky, and then jumped with all his might after it. With a quick turn, he ended up upside down, with his right leg ready to kick the thunderball.
“Hey, father!” shouted Tidus with a distorted, otherwordly voice. “Catch!”
