Le Rêve Continue… et Termine
Based on Final Fantasy X-2
Written by 3NyxEtienne
DISCLAIMER: All
characters mentioned in the fanfic are trademarks of Square Enix.
Yuna
Welcome to my life. A life in which all decisions were mine. When
I was seven, the thought of seeing my dad going out there as a summoner to
battle Sin made me follow his footsteps. I didn’t feel sad about having
to get separated from my parents though. I soon learned to live with it, and
with Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri by my side as my playmates, I never felt alone.
Ten years later, it was my turn. I
learned the basics of everything. Then I entered it. My very first Cloister of
Trials. With this, I could be a fully-fledged summoner. Things took a turn when
this boy came in with my other friends. I didn’t even know his name! Apparently
he came in because he did not want to see me die. Since then, everything
changed.
The Besaid Aurochs were led to
victory because this boy turned out to be a star player.
Coincidences about Jecht, Auron and
Zanarkand happened.
I got reunited with my cousin Rikku
and my uncle Cid.
We showed the whole of Spira that we
could all work together to defeat Sin.
One memorable
Our journeys were fun. Then one day,
after defeating Sin, he left… as an illusion.
Rikku
Two years have passed. My last words
to him were, “Maybe we could see each other again?”
Yuna had to overcome her sadness. But
it’s still clear that she’s thirsting for… him. I continued being the thief and
alchemist I always was; Yuna had no more aeons to summon. She trained for two
long years. I could see it in her eyes. I’m her cousin, after all!
As I continued to remain a jovial,
outgoing, friendly person, I felt sorry for Yuna. Just to overcome her sadness,
she does all this. How long would it all last? Doing all that would only bring
her momentary satisfaction; I knew, in her heart she’d always feel the loss of
him.
Right, one day, Kimahri found a
sphere of [what looked like] him. No one knew whether it really WAS him. He had
a striking resemblance of the boy who left us after fighting Sin two years ago.
After carefully watching the sphere, I took some time to talk to Yuna. We sat
by the fire at the center of
“Say, is the guy you saw in that
sphere him?”
“How would I know?”
Whoa. Yuna sure had changed. Two
years ago, she was a quiet summoner. Now, she was so outspoken. I’m just
thankful no swearwords are used in our vocabulary!
“I mean, what would YOU think of
him?”
“I don’t know. It does look like him,
though something seems a little off. I still gasp every time I see that
sphere.”
“Yeah. I do know how you feel. At least someone’s attracted to you. I have to
wait for a while before I even GET a boyfriend. Remember, I’m two years younger
than you are. And some may even think I’m childish.”
Well, it was true. Some people said I
had the voice of Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls! When I was with the other
six fighting off Sin, I had learnt what the others did. One of them was a
threat, where I shouted like a 9-year-old, “You,
stop!”
“Rikku…”
“Uh huh?”
“I think you already know this… but…
I feel I need to search for him.”
“What if he’s gone back to Zanarkand?
A thousand years ago?”
“What if otherwise? We could at least
find the spheres related to him.”
“Rikku… you know… you’re a genius.”
“Thanks. I know that, though. Scratch
me there. At the back.”
As Yuna scratched me, I was deep in
thought. For the very first time, I really thought about something over and
over again. I finally made my decision: to follow Yuna through her endeavors.
“Yunie?”
“Yeah?”
“Ya know what I’m thinking?”
“Go ahead, tell me.”
I thought about what our lives would
be. I have never been this philosophical in my whole life. I slowly continued
my next sentence.
“If our lives are compared to a
grayscale matrix, there’s always gonna be black and white. Black, meaning there
will be dark sides of our personalities, or sorrows and trials that we’re bound
to face. Like you’re facing now. White, meaning that
each person has a talent, and there’s always a good side to a person. Unless, of course, that person’s plain evil.”
“Rikku,
thanks.”
She said it in between giggles. I
felt that she had simmered down a little. It was almost
And from there, it all started. And
just like I quoted in French once, “le rêve
continue”, or “the dream continues”.
Yuna
I trained myself as a songstress. Ha,
no one has ever heard me sing before! [well, at least
playing an instrument wouldn’t be a problem… I can’t even play one!]
The reprises of the mp3 files, the
drumbeats and some extra-loud remixes filled the air in the practice room.
Before I knew it, I was as ready as ever. Thanks to Rikku [who also trained
with me]; I was strong enough to face a large audience. I thought I’d talk
about what we were bound to do. With the drumsticks in her hand, Rikku sat by
my side. I really felt like expressing myself then.
“You know, Rikku, I really envy you.”
“Why? I thought we weren’t supposed
to be envious.”
“You should be the one taking center
stage, not me.”
“Come on, just because I’m drummer
girl for this particular practice? You’re the former summoner, people should
know you.”
Just as we were in the middle of
talking, a distress call came from Luca. It was Brother [yes, his English had
improved significantly]. Not surprisingly, his whole message and his responses
were finally in English. Just be careful not to stimulate him, he’d turn back
to speaking in Al Bhed!
“Yuna! Need to break into stadium. Someone else is taking your place as
chanteuse!”
Someone? And with all that hard work, someone dared do that?
“Spill it, Brother.”
“I don’t know, but she looks like
you.”
I hung up.
“Hello? Yuna?
YUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA?”
I just didn’t have the heart to
speak. I decided to remain in the room watching Rikku playing the drums. So
some impostor takes my place and gets to sing? This is so unfair, I thought.
Watching Rikku just made me feel more relaxed and less distressed. When she
asked me to try, my heart skipped a beat. I knew what to do - I simply declined
without hesitation. I just wasn’t ready.
When we arrived in Luca, Rikku gave a
signal; I crashed in with Rikku and my other friend, Paine. It really made me
laugh to see the impostor saying “I won’t let you off so easily next time!”
Suddenly, I felt a vibration in my whole body.
Paine
That impostor - her name is Leblanc.
No one knows whether it’s just her surname, or whether she really is of French
descent! Well, her sidekicks have OK names - Ormi and Logos.
“Rikku…” I whispered. We finished off
the impostor and her sidekicks. But something happened to Yuna.
She kicked off and started dancing.
She just couldn’t stop. This isn’t Yuna, I thought. Rikku looked at her too.
This was club dance - Alizée style. She’s just doing it as though something got
into her body. Give Rikku a chance and she’ll complete it for you!
When we came to the airship, our whiz
kid Shinra explained how it all correlated to the dress spheres that Yuna,
Rikku and I use. We continued with everything, blah, blah, blah, more spheres,
more dress spheres, more grids, more confrontations with that impostor. Ha…
boring. I just wanted the boring confrontations to end. It was nice playing
Miss Sultry Girl for a few days, but it got annoying later. They did end one
day, but I still thought to myself - are they the
sworn foes of the Gullwings?
Rikku
I thought I’d take some time off. The
last sphere I managed to see was that of the unknown guy looking at a machine
called Vegnagun. Soon after, he was taking to it, saying that it would be the
only way to save a girl named Lenne. Was she a summoner in the first place? I
totally forgot about it. Yuna, on the other hand, was thinking hard about it
day and night.
It was a cool evening and Brother
wanted Yuna to sing again [and so did I!]. Everyone then agreed. At first, Yuna
was shy; but then she soon gave in. Her encore performance was on the deck of
our airship. Beating the drums made me forget about all that mess for a while.
It was good exercise anyway. After we were all done, we spent the whole soirée
on the deck. It started coming back into my mind when Yuna was seated alone in
a quiet corner. She was fuming.
“Why am I so mad? Who
the heck IS LENNE?!”
We all turned to look at her. She
simmered down immediately.
“I’m going to go to bed.”
We let her go. I went back to the
practice room and continued with my drills; Paine hung out at the bar with
Brother, Buddy, the workers and the barkeep. I didn’t mind practicing alone,
but Paine barged in [that was unusual of her]. She talked to me for a few
minutes.
“Rikku. Still playing the drums late at night, huh?”
“Yeah?”
“What you and Yuna did just now… you
guys were great. Tell Yuna, please.”
“Right. Thanks. Wh - go on; take a seat, why are you
standing?”
Paine was seated next to me. I
stopped practicing and looked at her.
“Is there anything the matter?”
“It’s Yuna. She’s been behaving quite
strange lately. The dance at Luca wasn’t all that had happened.”
“Go on. I’m listening.”
Paine took the trouble to spill out
the news.
“She’s angry over that whole sphere
thing. I’m not surprised. But how she said it… it’s just like she had a
boyfriend who ditched her for another girl.”
“That guy you’re talking about has a
resemblance of her lost love.”
I kept on explaining to Paine the
whole story of the battle against Sin two years ago. She said nothing, but the
look on her face said everything. We didn’t touch that subject after that.
“Rikku, go on, play, I wanna see.”
For a moment I appreciated what Paine
said to me. She should be the one behind the drum set; she had this sultry
personality - a little boyish but that’s how it was. It wasn’t surprising, how
she’d be grooved every time the drums were played. I kept on playing until it
was
Yuna
He and I were running down the
corridors of the Bevelle Dungeon. There were a group of guards chasing us. I
fell, but he picked me up, and I was soon back on my
feet. Our pursuers were getting closer. We ran without looking back.
We ended up in a vast space with the
Vegnagun facing us. Suddenly the lights came on. The guards were surrounding
us. I knew there was nowhere to turn. I chided him only with hope that he could
find a way to escape. But he couldn’t. There was no way out. He looked at me
lovingly. I looked at him, with tears rolling down my cheeks. We embraced each
other - and bang! I heard a lot of noise. And soon my vision was getting blur.
I could see him sprawled on the floor. He was dead. I was still moving, still
crying, still wondering why they’d do this to us…
I woke up with a fright. I soon
realized that it was all a dream. Damn it, I forgot to change my dress sphere!
How forgetful could I be?
The sun was glaring into my eyes. I
just had to wake up. I ended up telling them my dreams about him, dying
together, never to look back. I needed to know what was happening in me, and
what was bound to happen. Two years ago, when we went to the Bevelle Dungeon,
this thing didn’t cross our minds. I only wanted to go to the Cloister of
Trials to obtain the next aeon back then. Now, Bevelle Dungeon is haunted with
a mystery. We soon had to return the sphere to a certain party. Which could it
have been? The Youth League or New Yevon? For sure,
back where I found the sphere, the Youth League knew there was one there whilst
New Yevon was clueless.
I made my decision in just a few
seconds: the Youth League shall receive the sphere.
I guessed it was a wise choice,
because the Youth League told us everything about Vegnagun. However, they
couldn’t make out whether the guy in the sphere was him. I still waited for him
to return. And the longer I waited, the stronger the feeling became.
Paine
The third phase of our journey began.
We started returning to other worlds. Little did we know that for Yuna, the
saga of two years ago recommenced. We came back to
“Paine! There are fiends in the
temple!”
What! Fiends in the
temple? This couldn’t be happening. Something’s definitely wrong, I
thought. I myself didn’t have an idea of what it all was like two years ago
because I wasn’t even with Yuna and Rikku!
Brother gave me a buzz from the
airship. He must have been really stimulated then.
“Fa vuidt
dra signal vrom dra
“Since when?”
“E tond know. Y, R, P, go in the temple. Gullwings, du ouin cdydeuhc!”
This signaled an emergency call. We
rushed into the temple at once without thinking twice.
“We’re there, Brother.”
Yeah, just like he said. There were
fiends everywhere. I mean, everywhere! I couldn’t even stop to change my
garment grid. We were just lucky to have a break of 30 seconds. Many times, I
had to depend on Yuna and Rikku to save me from being killed. It was great
though: we managed to experiment with all the dress spheres we found!
Not long after we were fed up of the
whole situation in the Cloister of Trials - or that was what it was before. We
entered into [what it was called before] - the Chamber of the Fayth. What we
saw made us stand still for a few minutes. It was Valefor, Yuna’s first aeon!
“An aeon?”
“Yeah.”
I looked at Yuna. She really felt
sad. Once she came here to find aeons and train them as her very own, now she
comes here only t find that there are dark aeons working against her. Rikku
looked at her.
“Yunie?”
“I know.”
This time we couldn’t just stop
there. Valefor was ready to fight, and so were we.
When Valefor died, he fell into the
spot where the Fayth was supposed to be. And he left a hole. Yuna fell
unconscious and fell into it. Rikku screamed. She wanted to jump in too, but I
held her back. For one thing, I really did not know where that hole led to.
Frankly, Yuna could give us clues.
Yuna
I felt this fatigue in my body. When
I opened my eyes, I found myself in… oh no… the Farplane. Was I dead?
I got up. Pyreflies came out of my
body. True enough, just like Shinra once explained,
there sure was another spirit inhabiting my Songstress dress sphere. Then I saw
something that looked like… him!
“Is it really you?”
“It is me, Shuyin. I’m so glad you’re
okay, Lenne.”
“But I’m not Lenne!”
I turned my back to him. This Shuyin,
he wasn’t a bit like my lost love. He just looked the same. His voice was
different, his clothes were different, the feel when he comes next to you, it’s
different too. Probably he thought I was Lenne because I wore the Songstress dress
sphere. Where is HE?
Shuyin chided me.
“Lenne. For years I have raided the Farplane only to find you. And I have found
you at last. For a thousand years Spira’s people have been fighting, and the
fight has never stopped. For what reason are they fighting?”
He seemed to have a point. I froze
when he clenched his fist and said,
“Vegnagun will make that all go away.
And then we’ll fade again. Lenne…”
He planned to wipe out the whole of
Spira! What about the sinless people who never fought? What about Wakka? Lulu? Kimahri? The whole society I
mixed with? This was a little over the top already. Shuyin came to me. I had to
say something, but all that came out was a faint little whisper.
“Don’t touch me!”
He couldn’t have heard it. He came
near, and embraced me. For a moment I felt like it was the boy I lost two years
ago. I felt sad, comforted, and I seemed to have this
thirst for him… Whose feelings are these? Lenne’s?
Mine?
I did spend some time in the
Farplane. When Shuyin disappeared, Baralai, Gippal and Nooj appeared - they
were the leaders of the three feuding parties! The Youth League [led by Nooj]
was at loggerheads with New Yevon [led by Baralai], while
the Machine Faction, led by Gippal, just stood on the fence. They presented me
with two Crimson Spheres, then disappeared into the
depths of the Farplane.
I managed to pull myself back up. I
finally learnt that the Farplane wasn’t just for the dead. Rikku and Paine
wanted to hear everything. So I told them. I even watched the spheres with
them. It was of Baralai, Gippal and Nooj being together in a certain party -
the Crimson Squad. I screwed up enough courage to ask the rest.
“Anyone know about this?”
Paine
“I do.”
Soon enough, I knew everyone was
watching me.
“I shot these videos. Baralai,
Gippal, Nooj and I were once members of the Crimson Squad. They’re affiliates
of the Crusaders. I was the main photographer. Baralai, Gippal and Nooj jointly
founded the party. We were based at the
“So that’s how you know Baralai, Nooj
and Gippal.”
“Yeah. And that’s why Gippal gave me that look when you went there to
register.”
I would have done something to keep
us together, but it was too late. They split up without me knowing it. When
Yuna had to hand in that sphere, I didn’t care less who we’d hand it in to. In
short, I was said to have been just like Gippal. Our “grippe”
wasn’t there!
Days passed. The more temples we
revisited, the more dark aeons we had to fight. Our fourth phase was a very
short one, because we didn’t stop anywhere. We finally landed in the Thunder
Plains, as that would be the site of Yuna’s concert. This time, we’d see the
real Yuna, not the impostor.
Well, speaking about the impostor,
she [kind of] made friends with us. We were free to go in and out of the
Château Leblanc anytime and talk as friends. I kept thinking about how she
felt. She was hooked to the Youth League founder, Nooj. Earlier, when we were
once rivals, she once stole the half sphere we found from the Zanarkand Ruins,
the reason being, she had the other half. That sphere was on the Bevelle
Dungeon - and her Noojie-Woojie! With that healing leg and a stick, no one
knows why she still was hooked to him. Probably Leblanc and Nooj knew each
other for quite some time. We’re still proud of Leblanc for finally owning up
as the impostor who actually popularized our former summoner. She sure did a
great deal to popularize Yuna.
Back to Yuna, she was busy practicing
with Rikku, while Brother and I had to take care of the fiends that suddenly
appeared on the path. We finally managed to get a full audience, but the
condition wasn’t good. They were fighting. True enough, we brought in groups
from the Youth League, the Machine Faction and New Yevon. I wondered, what was
all that fighting for anyway? They’re all here, with an objective - to see
Yuna’s show, right?
Rikku
We were all ready. When Yuna told us
she was ready, Paine and I escorted her up to the deck of the airship, where
she would be singing. I knew then that she was about to say something, so I
listened with total concentration.
“A thousand years ago… when the
Machina War erupted between Bevelle and Zanarkand, lives were sacrificed. My
upcoming piece is about two lovers’ lives that were adrift to the Farplane.
They followed their hearts, and they died together before they could even say
the three prime words that express one’s love.
“People of Spira, don’t just open
your ears - open your hearts and minds to accept each other. No one wants a
recurrence of the Machina War now. Let us do what we can to restore peace.”
Her voice was just like that of two
years ago. Just like she said her final quote. It rained
cats and dogs. Everyone was standing and watching. Yuna began her pièce de
résistance. We looked on.
A thousand words. The main theme of her song. As she went into
the second verse, the backdrop changed. It was no longer the rainy Thunder
Plains. An illusion of the 1000-year-old Zanarkand took its place. Paine and I
stared in awe. We continued watching. It was about Shuyin’s and Lenne’s death.
Shuyin was ready to activate
Vegnagun, in a vast area in the Bevelle Dungeon. Lenne extended her arms to embrace
him. Shuyin looked at her with a worried face. Lenne looked back and saw the
guards running in their direction. Shuyin and Lenne embraced each other. By
then, Vegnagun was activated. The lights came on. Then everything took place as
it was in Yuna’s dream. The guards surrounded them. Shuyin looked lovingly at
Lenne. Tears were rolling down Lenne’s cheeks. The guards pulled their
triggers…
Lenne had reflections of her past
life - her father, her events, her recording contract, her first time meeting Shuyin,
his matches with the Zanarkand Abes, everything. Just a second after, they were
dead. Shuyin was sprawled on the floor just like how Yuna described Tidus
earlier. Everything had fallen into place - Yuna was haunted by Lenne’s spirit,
which inhabited the dress sphere she was wearing! When that vision was over,
Lenne’s spirit came up and sang with Yuna on stage.
At the end of her number, Yuna
started crying. Was that her feeling or Lenne’s? No one dared to ask. Paine and
I just came to comfort her. We sat to talk, but it was all revolving Lenne’s
spirit and the dress sphere. Yuna still felt sad about losing him after so
long.
Yuna
I had enough of pièces de résistance
in two months. I just wanted to forget my pain I felt inside. The blitzball and
Sphere Break seasons commenced, but the Besaid Aurochs couldn’t play as Wakka
and Lulu had a newborn son. We got the news as soon as we arrived back in
NOOOOOOOOOOO! I didn’t know even a
THING about blitzball and breaking, and what could a girl like me do at that
moment? - he was good at all that when he was here.
But thanks to Brother, we became a proper blitz team. He was a player himself.
I let him do all the shooting then because I’m not that strong. Rikku had to
join in too, but I bet she sure was better than I was! She was used to fighting
in the water, because she did so when he was with her. I mean, my lost love. We
played until our backs got sore.
We revisited all the places as we
were bound to go into the Farplane ourselves. Then when we were ready, the boys
cheered, and the girls did the same in reply. Then Rikku, Paine and I were to
make the jump of our lives - into the Farplane.
Three dark aeons were waiting for us.
It was total darkness all around. I needed some light! As soon as we entered
the Farplane, there was a considerable amount of light to welcome us. Some
welcome, I felt. I approached the part where Shuyin and Lenne were waiting with
the Vegnagun. They were just waiting, waiting for the time to fire it and wipe
out Spira completely. I came in my Songstress dress sphere. I had to. It was
something I really had to tell Shuyin.
“Shuyin…”
“Wh? You’re not Lenne!”
“I was trying to tell you this in the
Farplane. My name is Yuna. I’m a summoner and a songstress, just like Lenne.”
Lenne looked at me and gave me a warm
smile. For once, I felt that my presence was really being welcomed. I smiled in
return. Shuyin answered in reply,
“What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
“Go on.”
For once, I had to tell him that this
was our Spira - the one that I live in and love a lot.
“Using Vegnagun… it’s gonna wipe out
Spira.”
“But why shouldn’t we? All that
fighting has never ceased. We’ve gotta put an end to this.”
“Listen. I was born in Bevelle; my
lost love was born in Zanarkand. We never fought. He wanted to show me the
Zanarkand I’ve always wanted to see, but he had to go. He couldn’t do so. Now I
await his presence. At the same time, I take up a responsibility - to stop the
feuds from occurring in Spira. Is that too much to ask? Just please don’t fire
it.”
Negotiation couldn’t work with him.
He was adamant about destroying Spira. The long battle began. Shuyin charged up
Vegnagun, and we had to fight it off. We took no chances. When the Vegnagun was
completely destroyed, we had to pass through Shuyin. That
made me miss HIM even more.
Shuyin’s moves - they were just like
his moves. The overdrives were renamed, and the Blitz Ace overdrive was aided
by Lenne. It was hard. For a moment I felt like breaking down and crying. I
almost did. But it was just like my dad told me - “follow your heart”. One pull
off my trigger - and Shuyin was dead. Again. I just
couldn’t stand to see him go like this. How many times did he have to be shot
to death? I did think of myself as cold-hearted, but I really had to do so.
“Farewell.”
I said it with tears in my eyes. Was
it the end of another dream?
Rikku
We went further into the Farplane with
hopes that we could revive the Fayth. The Fayth came in. Yuna was adamant about
bringing her love back.
“His name is Tidus and he’s a memory
of Shuyin. Just like you’re a memory of Lenne.”
“Is it possible to bring him back?”
“We don’t know?”
“I need him back.”
“I can’t guarantee you anything. But
we can try to bring him back to you.”
“Where should I go?”
“Where he first landed.”
Oops! That’s it for now.
We don’t want any REAL spoilers in this fanfic. Anyway, to those in RPG
Dreamers and the readers, hope you enjoy reading it. It’s my very first
attempt. For those who wanna give in feedback, e-mail me at PDA99@hotmail.com. Hopefully my next e-mail
will be featured in my second fanfic…