Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
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year 5, quarter 3
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“No magic,” Yuna mused, peering at the cup noodles as Caius explained how they worked. This must have been part of the technology that existed on Zephon that had no place in Spira. Not for the first time, she wondered what else Spira was missing out on by labeling most machina as forbidden, but she quickly tried to banish those thoughts. They wouldn’t do her much good when she was so far away from home anyway.
“I see. Well they’re delicious either way,” Yuna murmured as she gently blew on the hot broth. “Thank you for introducing me to them.”
As Caius began his story about Vordun, Yuna leaned back against the rock outcropping that she was sitting against. For a while, she just ate her noodles and listened, smiling slightly as he talked about rescuing a baby dragon egg after he had been tasked with killing its mother. “That was kind of you to keep the egg when most people would have left it to die,” she commented, but her smile slowly faded as his story took a darker turn.
Setting her noodles down to the side, she leaned forward slightly as he continued on about an encounter he’d had with the assassin who’d been after Noctis. “So he ended up here in Zephon as well,” she said with a frown, but she fell silent as he got more personal about his relationship with the man and clearly had a hard time telling certain parts.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Yuna said once he had paused, bringing one hand up to her chest as she looked at him earnestly. “It’s...almost hard to believe that someone could be so cruel in the name of revenge. I hope that your brother and sister are at peace. And that the man who did that to you can be stopped.” She hesitated for a moment, weighing what little she knew about daemons from what he had told her earlier. “Does he have any relation to Ardyn? I know you mentioned that he’s the one who brought the starscourge down upon your world…”
Caius’ story took a lighter turn after that, and Yuna couldn’t help a smile at the way he talked about Celes and the light flush he took on when he talked about how she had helped him out of his rut. “I’m happy for you two. She seems really good for you,” she commented as she picked up her cup noodles again. The meat had gone a little cold, but it was still savory enough that she didn’t mind as she finished up the dregs. For some reason, the way Caius talked about Celes called to mind the cheerful blond boy that she had met on her first day in Torensten. He hadn’t done much more than help her find a place to stay before he had vanished again, but everything about Tidus had seemed to make her stomach flutter. She hoped that she’d be able to meet him again one day.
“Thank you,” Yuna commented again, shooting Caius a small smile as he finished up his story with Vordun hatching. “I know that probably wasn’t easy to tell, but I feel like I understand you a lot better now.” She liked Caius. Despite how closed-off he seemed upon a first meeting, it seemed like he could be pretty open once you got him talking.
“Hm…” Yuna hesitated slightly as he asked her for a story, setting the empty foam cup at her side after she’d finished sipping the broth. “The thing is...I’m not sure I remember as much as I should,” she admitted. It was the first time that she’d said it out loud, and worry and relief both wormed their way into her stomach as she was forced to acknowledge the truth.
“I remember the day I became a summoner. I remember getting ready to leave on my pilgrimage to defeat Sin. And then...nothing.” She stretched her hands out towards the fire to warm them, remembering the bonfire that they’d had on Besaid to celebrate her winning Valefor's favor. Maybe that was the last time she’d ever set foot on that beach.
“I keep having these flashes of things I shouldn’t know or shouldn’t have done yet. I suppose...that I’m afraid of what I might have forgotten,” she admitted as she looked up at Caius. “Of what happened in Spira before I ended up here. I’m sorry if that sounds crazy.”
Yuna didn’t expect Caius to have any answers for her. But at that moment by the fire, it just felt good to finally admit that she was missing something.
He pulled his sword out of the wall beside her, and she retreated a step as he swung it idly through the air. Yuna would have taken the movement for careless if it weren’t for the malice in his eyes. Every move he made was calculated to be threatening. He wanted to sir up her fear. And as little as she wanted to admit it, she was afraid. She had been prepared to die at the hands of Sin. Dying for a cause didn’t frighten her. But this man was a mystery. He was stronger than an unsent had any right to be, and the look in his eyes promised that this wouldn’t be quick. He might want to kill her, but he wanted to make it last.
Struggle for me.
Yuna felt her breath quicken at the words before his sword was swinging towards her. Flinching back, she cast another Protect spell to meet his blow. She knew that he’d likely shatter the spell again, but she took the split second that it cost him to cast Slow on him. Retreating back, her eyes darted to the door, but she didn’t dare make a run for it even if he was slowed down. She remembered how he’d seemingly appeared out of nowhere by his sword, and she had no doubt that he could catch her if he really wanted to.
No, she was just hoping to buy a few seconds while he played along.
She had no choice now. As afraid as she was for the hospital’s patients, she wouldn’t be able to help them if she died here. Closing her eyes, Yuna swung out with her staff as she felt for Valefor’s power, expecting the usual rush of wind to come sweeping through the room as she did. It took a few seconds to realize that something was wrong.
Nothing. There was nothing there. No sense of calm. No feeling that the Fayth were with her. Just the chill of the dark hospital room and the scent of sickness and burned flesh.
Yuna’s eyes snapped open, and she gasped for breath, but she didn’t have time to lament, because he was already there. On instinct, she tried to block the blow with her staff, but he was a full foot taller than her and had to have a hundred pounds on her. She felt like a helpless child as he easily parried her staff aside and took another swing. She tried to cast a Fire spell at him at the last second, and that might have been what saved her from getting stabbed as the blade bit into her skin instead. She heard one of her sleeves tear and felt the damp blood against her skin before the pain actually hit her. Stumbling back, Yuna collapsed to her knees and tried to muster a Cure spell as the man slowly walked towards her, his low chuckle dark in her ears.
There was some sort of dark magic forming in his hands, and Yuna let out a sharp breath as she wondered if he was going to end it. Was this how she was going to die? On her knees and unable to defend herself? Why? Why hadn't she been able to reach Valefor? Was she really so helpless without her guardians?
As the red-haired man drew closer to her and as her resolve was starting to crumble, Yuna suddenly sucked in a quick breath as her eyes lit on her staff that had fallen by her side. She couldn’t give up so easily. If Valefor wouldn’t heed her call, then she would cry out for the rest of the Fayth. She may not have passed their trials yet, but they were her last hope.
Leaning to the side, she managed to snag her staff on her fingernails and drag it towards her. “Ifrit!” She cried out, feeling desperately for any sort of bond like she always had for Valefor. “Ixion, Shiva, Bahamut! Hear my call!” She could have sworn that she heard a bell echo in her rushing ears as she brought her staff towards the floor, and her eyes snapped open as an indistinct whisper sounded in her head just as her staff struck the ground.
Frost exploded out from the point where her staff had touched the ground. The air chilled around them, and her breath came out in small gasping puffs in front of her face. Everything felt suddenly quiet, as if a light snow was dampening any noise, and the cold air felt good on her stinging wounds. There was an overwhelming rushing sensation that was familiar and foreign at the same time, and Yuna wasn’t surprised to see an ethereal figure gracefully float down from the ceiling and take form in front of her. A lump formed in her throat as the figure laid a gentle finger against her forehead. An aeon had heard her call and come to her aid.
“Shiva,” she breathed, forcing back tears as she looked up at the entity. It had to be. Shiva was the fayth that had the favor of the ice and snow. But there was nothing about the figure that matched the statues in Macalania temple. Those statues had showed a feminine figure with hair in thick strands and clothes revealing enough to make Yuna blush. This being had a curved icy mask and crystalline armor that made it impossible to distinguish a gender. Different shades of blue and purple glimmered back at Yuna as the light reflected off the armor. It was breathtaking. Shiva was beautiful, and for a moment, Yuna was blown away before she remembered her manners.
“I haven’t yet passed your trial,” Yuna murmured, using her staff as a crutch to pull herself to her feet. She then gave Shiva as low a bow as she was able to muster. “For you to hear my call anyway...I won’t fail you. I swear it.” Straightening up, she turned to face the red-haired man, renewing her grip on her staff. He had every upper hand when it came to strength and battle experience. But she had people to live for. Yuna refused to die here.
"Whatever your story is,” she murmured, remembering his words from earlier. ”If a summoner's wronged you before, then I'm sorry. But if this is your path, then I'll stop you."
The man’s face changed. Yuna sucked in a breath as the whites in his eyes bled black and the yellow irises flared a brighter yellow that seemed to glow in the dim lighting. Trails of black inked their way down his face, and she quickly recognized it as the same liquid that had leaked out of the infected. The same liquid that was smeared down the side of her skirt from the dead monster on the ground. The man was sick with the same thing that they had. He had to be. But was that even possible if he was already dead?
The man stalked towards her, and Yuna took a few steps backward to compensate, her breathing speeding up as he gave a low, predatory speech filled with words she didn’t quite understand. Draconian? Immortal Accursed? Oracle? Her head swam, but she got the gist of his words when he summoned an ethereal red sword to his side and proclaimed that he’d prefer her light extinguished. With a flick of his wrist, his sword flew towards her.
On pure instinct, Yuna cried out “Shield!” as she swept out with her staff and the familiar blue hexagon pattern appeared in front of her. His sword collided with it, and the pure force rocked her backwards as she stared at him in shock. She’d never felt a physical attack that strong, and for a moment, the red-haired man swam in her vision until it was Sir Jecht looking at her from the other side of her barrier. Yuna sucked in a sharp breath, but she had no time to wonder where that vision had come from when her shield suddenly shattered under the force of his blow.
His sword was knocked off balance from its original course, but the hilt still struck her in the shoulder as it zoomed past her, and Yuna was thrown backwards until she roughly collided with the wall. At the last second, she managed to catch her balance with her staff to avoid tumbling down to her hands and knees, but the wind was still knocked out of her, and she struggled to catch her breath as she cast about desperately for what she could do instead of trying to summon Valefor. Valefor was a last resort when she was inside a hospital full of people. She didn’t know if she could control him enough to protect the patients when she was so afraid and out of sorts.
“Please.” She directed at the man in front of her as she tried to straighten up. “We don’t have to do this. You called yourself the Immortal Accursed? And earlier, when you spoke of people in darkness never knowing peace, you meant yourself, didn’t you?” She tightened her grip on her staff as she tried to steady her voice. “I’m a summoner. I can send the souls of the dead to the farplane. I can help you.” Yuna meant every word, but at the same time, she remembered the caustic touch of his soul. What would it cost her to send him if she actually succeeded? Still, it was her duty as a summoner to send the souls of the departed when she came across them. She couldn’t waver in her duty now.
Yuna wasn’t surprised when the man laughed at her request, and she took a breath to defend herself when his demeanor suddenly changed. His face looked blank, and when he finally responded to her, he no longer sounded jovial or threatening.
But you’d only waste your time. Those consumed by darkness can never know peace.
Yuna blinked slowly, staring at him in a new light as she wondered if they were still talking about the monster smoldering on the opposite side of the hospital bed from her. Who was this man? He’d turned the dying soul into a fiend like it was nothing, and while he hadn’t attacked her yet, everything about him screamed danger. Maybe even more so now that he wasn’t laughing.
“You’re wrong,” Yuna finally murmured. “Not everyone will find peace in life. Or even the first time in death. But everyone will know it in the end.”
Gripping her staff to her chest, she walked slowly around the hospital bed towards the dead monster and stepped back a few feet towards the wall to give herself some room. Yuna cast the man by the door a hesitant glance, wondering if she could do this in front of him. A sending was such a personal thing to perform. It left her vulnerable and occasionally in tears when the soul passed through her. He’d given her permission to do it, but she suddenly found herself paralyzed and uncertain if she could. He meant to kill her when she was done. She was sure of it. He’d been nothing but sadistic with the suffering in this place, and she was afraid of him.
Still. It wasn’t about him. It wasn’t even about her. It was about the man whose soul would never find peace unless she did this for him right now. Letting out a long breath, Yuna forced herself to relax and lower her staff down to her side. “This won’t take long for one soul. Just a moment,” she explained before reluctantly turning her back on him. She needed to forget he was there.
Taking a few steps towards the burnt remains with her staff dragging behind her, Yuna spun to the side and twirled her staff over her head before bringing it down and repeating the movement to her other side. At first, her movements felt stiff and unnatural even to her, but she slowly relaxed into the dance until she was throwing herself into each familiar leap and spin. She could almost picture the waves that would swirl around her when she performed the sending near water, and for a moment, she was far away from the dim lighting and sour stench of the hospital room. She was on a hot beach--the sand burning beneath her feet as she ran towards the cool waves.
Yuna felt the gentle pressure of the man’s soul beginning to pass through her to the farplane, and she let out a sharp breath at the pain of his final moments, but that was normal. It would be over in a moment, and she was preparing to finish up when something harsher suddenly struck her like she had been slapped in the face.
Gasping for breath, she stopped her sending in mid-movement as she stumbled to the side and whirled around to face the man at the door. Raising one hand to her mouth, she stared at him with her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she tried to make sense of what she had even felt in that split second. Was it even possible for one soul to be so wounded?
The man was playing with her. She was sure of it. Yuna could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears as he gave a dramatic sigh of fake regret and took a step towards her. She resisted the urge to flinch backwards. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing she was intimidated.
Then he suddenly stopped, his smile widening into something that made her grasp her staff tighter for support before dark magic sprang up around the man strapped to the bed. The same black liquid that had gotten on her earlier spurted out of every orifice on his face as his eyes blackened and his breath came out in gurling screams.
“Stop!” Yuna cried out, springing forward in horror as she tried to reach the man in time, but his breath eased to a stop and his struggling ceased by the time she reached his bedside. Covering her mouth with one hand, she stared between the corpse in front of her and the man lurking by the door in disbelief. “What did you do?” She asked dumbly before the dead man next to her suddenly sat up. She sprang backwards in surprise, her eyes wide as his features morphed into something dark and inhuman. A fiend. He was turning into a fiend.
But no, that couldn’t be right, she reasoned as he snapped the leather restraints holding him down. Fiends took days to form after souls weren’t sent to the farplane. This was something else. This had something to do with the sinister stranger blocking the door.
If only you hadn’t failed him. Yuna’s jaw slackened as her eyes flickered to the red-haired man. The truth of the statement washed over her like he had slapped her in the face. She had failed so many people. Her father. Chappu. Everyone being killed by Sin or missing a sending because she had somehow wound up in Zephon.
She was reeling so much that the monster was almost on her before she recoiled and tried to shower him in a cure spell. He screeched and reared back like it hurt him just as much as it had before, but as she darted backwards, she saw that his skin hadn’t changed this time. There was no helping him anymore.
“Why are you doing this?” Yuna cried out to the man by the door, though she didn’t really expect an answer. “Have we met?” She was certain that she would have remembered meeting someone as distinctive as he was in his mismatched collection of robes, but the hatred in his eyes had been so personal. He wanted her dead.
The monster leapt at her again, and Yuna stumbled backwards, trying her best to keep her staff between them as he snarled at her, warm spittle hitting her face.
As Yuna fled from his claws and dodged his blows with increasing desperation, her throat closed up slightly in fear. She wasn’t trained for this. She was meant to provide support and to summon when things were dire. Her guardians were meant to fight battles like this with her, but she was truly alone in this fight. She couldn’t summon until she absolutely feared for her life. She was too afraid that the aeon might also hurt the patients in the surrounding rooms. And she couldn’t run away. Not with the red-haired man blocking the door. He was more than twice her size. And something in his eyes told her that he’d be almost happy if she involved him in the fight.
In despair, Yuna’s grip on her staff slipped slightly as the creature barreled into her and raked his claws down the side of her face. She felt the skin on her lower cheek, neck, and shoulder tear open into three cuts, and as the blood welled up, the heat that she had felt when she had managed to use black magic in front of Yazoo rose in her chest. Renewing her grip on her staff, she shoved him back and blasted him with fire. The monster screamed and reared back as it was engulfed in flames, and Yuna took the chance to barrel over the top of his hospital bed to put some space between them. Grimacing as her skirt dragged through some of the black goop that he had expelled as he had died, she stared in saddened horror as he tried to reach her before collapsing in a pile of burnt limbs.
The smell of burning flesh was sickening. Closing her eyes in horror at herself, she threw another fire spell at him to put him out of his misery. As the monster’s screams ebbed to a slow gurgle, Yuna gripped her staff and turned to face the man at the door.
“I’d like to send him,” she managed, her voice coming out low as the tight grasp she had on her staff turned painful. “If you’re going to kill me, you could at least let me bring him peace first.”
“Yazoo,” Yuna echoed, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as she finished up healing the injured man on the ground. It was an interesting name, but then he didn’t look like anyone she had ever seen before with his long silver hair and green slitted eyes that glowed softly in the dim lighting. She wanted to ask where he was from, but she wasn’t sure if that would be rude. He’d certainly know why she was asking at any rate.
Sitting back on her heels, Yuna blinked slowly as Yazoo picked the other man up without any difficulty and threw him over one shoulder. He was a lithe man, but he must have been stronger than he looked.
Let him have it.
Yuna frowned in understanding, her brows furrowing slightly as she followed Yazoo to the entryway of the house. “You’re...letting him have it?" She asked in confusion, but she thought that she understood a little better once she had crossed the threshold. The light of the candle flickered over dust-covered surfaces, and the faint scent of mildew was in the air. This was an abandoned house. Yazoo must have just been squatting here for a while. No wonder he was so uncaring about whether or not his attacker took it from him.
Following Yazoo to the living room, she smiled faintly as he took care in laying the man on the couch and draping a thin blanket over the back of it. Despite how abrupt and soft-spoken he was, Yazoo seemed like he was more thoughtful and observant than she would have guessed. Somehow Yuna didn’t think he would appreciate hearing that from her though, so she kept her thoughts to herself.
“Alright,” Yuna nodded to him when he mentioned that there might be firewood out back, and her attention was drawn to the cold grate off to the side. He was right that in the falling temperature, the injured man was liable to freeze unless they did something to keep him warm before they left. As Yazoo left the room to go collect the firewood, Yuna groped for the blanket that she had seen earlier in the dark. She pulled it over the injured man before stepping back to wait for Yazoo. She didn’t have to wait long before he returned with a small load of wood that he proceeded to arrange in the fireplace.
Yazoo turned to her and admitted in a quiet voice that he couldn’t use magic, and it took Yuna a moment to realize that he was asking her to light the fire. “Oh, I can’t-” she started to protest before trailing off. She was no black mage. That was Lulu’s specialty. She’d hoped to branch out and learn some of her guardian’s tricks when she was further along on her pilgrimage, but as it was, she hadn’t even left yet.
Still, something about that line of thinking felt wrong. Saying that she hadn’t left for her pilgrimage yet felt wrong. Saying that she didn’t know how to cast Fire felt wrong.
Feeling a little dizzy, Yuna stepped forward and knelt by the fireplace, reaching out a hand towards the stacked wood. Lulu’s face flickered in her mind, and her chest burned hotter than it usually did when she was casting white magic, before a few small flames sprang up where she had touched the wood.
Jerking backwards, Yuna stared at the blooming fire with her heart pounding in her ears. What was that? A memory? A delusion? She could swear that she could almost hear Lulu’s voice in her ear instructing her on the differences between black magic and white magic. But Lulu hadn’t taught her a thing yet. She had promised that she would during their journey, but it hadn’t happened yet. But then how did she explain that she had managed to cast Fire for the first time?
She needed to find her guardians. Nothing was adding up, and it was scaring her, though she tried not to alert Yazoo about it.
“Town?” She looked up at Yazoo before nodding quickly and rising to her feet. “Thank you so much, Yazoo. I’m so glad I ran into you.” She wondered privately what island they were on, but she supposed that it would become apparent soon enough.
As they walked back outside into the waiting darkness, Yuna was glad for Yazoo’s company. He didn’t seem to be much for words, but she was just grateful to have someone leading the way. Hopefully they’d meet again someday. She’d like to repay him for his kindness.
Caius waved off her offer of help with the deer, so Yuna sat back on her heels as she watched him slice up and store the meat. As he went to work on skinning the creature, he turned the conversation back towards Bahamut, and Yuna shot him a curious look as he called him a god.
“Bahamut, Shiva, and Ifrit I know,” she said after he listed off his world’s gods. “They’re three of my aeons that I can summon. The others...I’m sorry. They’re not familiar to me.” She paused for a moment, sitting up in surprise when he went on to say that only Noctis commanded them in his world.
“That’s amazing,” she said, deciding that she wanted to meet Noctis now more than ever. It sounded like he was their world’s one and only summoner. “It isn’t quite as special where I come from though. It’s certainly hard to win Bahamut’s favor, but he isn’t exclusive as long as he thinks you have a chance of beating Sin. Probably five or six people could call on him at any given moment in Spira.”
And she wasn’t one of them yet, she had to remind herself. She hadn’t finished her pilgrimage yet. But the more she talked about it, the fuzzier everything felt until it was so easy to talk like she had finished. Rubbing her forehead, Yuna was grateful when Caius let the subject drop and instead cooked a tiny bit of the meat for Vordun. The small dragon scarfed it down before climbing back into Caius’ jacket, and Yuna laughed a little at how well-trained he was. They were going to be quite the pair when the dragon was bigger. She could already tell.
Climbing to her feet, Yuna got her bag and chocobo ready to depart, shooting Caius a curious look when he said she could bury the deer if she liked. “Oh!” She felt her cheeks grow a little warm as she shot him a small smile. He must have seen that she felt sorry for the creature. “Thank you, but that was just personal preference. Luckily animals don’t turn into fiends, so I won’t need to perform any kind of sending for it. But thank you so much for asking.” Caius was observant if he’d picked that up. She’d thought that he’d been focused on the task at hand, but he must have paused enough to notice her slight discomfort. That was considerate of him.
After that, Yuna climbed back up on her chocobo and followed Caius back to the main path.
By the time the sun was setting behind the trees, they still hadn’t reached the delegation that they were supposed to be looking for. Yuna was a little unhappy to stop for the night when people could be out there hurt, but she agreed that they wouldn’t be able to find them aimlessly in the dark, so she reluctantly helped Caius with setting up camp and getting a fire going. Caius also set up the meat that they’d caught earlier to roast, along with two small cups that he filled halfway with water before setting them near the fire. Yuna looked curiously at the paper lids. Why was he boiling meat in them? Before she could ask about them, Caius answered her question from earlier about his weapons by explaining that he was able to call on them through Noctis.
“I see...That means he must be on Zephon, don’t you think? If you’re still able to use his magic,” Yuna speculated, before looking up as Caius called the weapons to his hands. “Itamen and Isp,” she repeated after him, smiling slightly as he explained why he’d changed the name on his father’s weapon to Itamen. “I’m glad you were able to find your fresh start,” she said, turning over her staff a bit in her hands as she spoke. “It sounds like Celes and the Dragonblades have been really good for you.”
Yuna wondered if she would sound like Caius in a year or so. Would she find a new traveler who felt as lost as she did now? Would she tell them about her fresh start and give them hope that they could make it in Zephon? She hoped so at any rate. She hoped that she could be as happy as he was now.
Finally, it was time to eat, and Yuna smiled slightly as Caius took care of Vordun first. They had quite the bond. She was about to help herself to some of the venison, but Caius handed her one of the strange cups instead and warned her that it was hot.
“What is this?” She stared down at the paper lid that he had opened and blinked slightly in surprise at the warm, savory smell that wafted up to her. “It’s food? But it was sealed. All you did was add water and meat.” She watched him curiously as he blew on the hot liquid before slurping on the noodles with a look of bliss on his face. “Cup noodles?” She repeated after him slowly. Well, he seemed to enjoy them at any rate.
Following suit, she carefully blew on the broth before taking a small bite of noodles and meat. It was more delicious than it had any right to be. It tasted like something that would have taken her hours to make back on Spira. Sitting up straighter, she stared down at the cup in her hands in amazement.
“What magic is this? You didn’t even have to prepare anything except the meat,” she said in wonder. “Does this also come from Noctis’ power?” Settling back against the rock that she had her back to, Yuna gave up her table manners in favor of slurping up some hot noodles. “Whatever magic this is, I would really like to learn it. Will you teach me?”
Even if they hadn’t reached their goal yet, Yuna was pretty content. The fire was warm, the noodles were savory, and she had good company. Plus being back on the road again was wonderful. It almost felt like she was on her pilgrimage again, but without the terrible dread waiting for her at the end of the journey.
“So,” Yuna said with a small smile. “I think we owed each other one more story before bed. You were going to tell me about Vordun?”
The man agreed to help almost immediately, but there was something in his tone that made Yuna pause and consider him a little carefully. He almost sounded like he was making fun of her, but there was nothing in his smile that seemed too malicious. He was an older man with messy red hair, eccentric clothing, and a sprinkle of stubble across his jaw. Something about his golden eye color struck Yuna as odd, but she put it out of mind for the moment. Even if the man was being a little condescending, it didn’t matter. She just needed someone to help.
“Thank you so much,” She said politely, holding one hand to her chest before turning and heading back inside the room. She ignored the smell of sickness and rot and smiled at the man snarling at her from the bed, regardless of the ache she felt just looking at the black liquid trickling from the corner of his mouth. Steeling herself, she brought her hands up, cupped them in front of her stomach, and gave him a short bow in the traditional style from Spira. If she ever needed Yevon’s blessing, then it was now.
“I just need you to hold his torso down so he can’t hurt himself.” she directed the strange man who’d followed her into the room. “He might strain himself or try to attack us otherwise.”
After the man stepped forward to do what she asked, Yuna let out a slow breath and tried to focus herself inward before she approached the sick man’s bedside. He was going to be in pain when she started. She knew that. This would be one of the hardest things she’d ever dealt with as a healer, but she couldn’t let up if she wanted to save his life.
Calling a cure spell to her palms, Yuna laid her hands over the man and tried to squash her feelings of guilt as he let out a shriek and started bucking and writhing in earnest. She was hurting him, but the black veins under her palms started to recede, so she bit her lip and forced herself to continue.
The red-haired man who’d agreed to help her suddenly snatched his hands away and jolted back, and Yuna stared at him in shock before leaping backward at the last second. The sick man’s teeth closed with a clack just where her hand had been a second earlier, and he took up his growling and thrashing again now that he wasn’t being held down.
Yuna rubbed her wrist and gave the man across from her a reproachful look. Was this a joke to him? She could have gotten hurt. She was about to say something when she noticed that he was grasping his hand and staring at her. Something clicked into place, and she raised a hand to her mouth. Her magic had hurt him.
“You should have said something if you were infected! I can help y-” she started to say, but she trailed off at the look on his face. He no longer had the expression of a kindly, middle-aged man. His stare was hateful, and she felt like she was being eviscerated on the spot under his gaze. But just as suddenly as it had been there, his loathing expression was gone, and he was smiling at her again. But this time there was something almost predatory in it, and she resisted the urge to back up a step.
“I don’t understand,” she said slowly, staring at him over the snarling man between them. “A speaker of the gods?” Was he referring to Yevon? Did Yevon even exist here? “I’m a summoner, but I’m no priest or Maester. I don’t speak for the church,” she tried to explain, but her breath caught in her throat a bit as the man strolled in front of the door and loitered in front of it in a clear threat. He was blocking the only exit.
Yuna went a little still, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the size difference between them. He was a large man, and she felt smaller than usual under his gaze. None of her guardians were with her. She was completely alone, and for a moment, it wasn’t him she saw looking at her, but a man with equally eccentric robes, long blue hair, and a disdainful expression. He’d had the same aura of danger around him. She remembered how his nails had dug into her shoulders when he’d dipped down to kiss her.
Yuna sucked in a breath, shaking her head as she tried to banish wherever that vision had come from. She didn’t know any blue-haired man. And even if she did, the red-haired man in front of her was what mattered now. He hadn’t moved from his spot by the door yet, but he was watching her with something like amusement in his golden eyes. It finally struck her what was so odd about their color. They weren’t gold at all--just a lighter shade of yellow than what the rest of the infected had.
Gathering her resolve, Yuna tightened her grip on her staff and straightened her back, raising her chin to be more on his level. “I don’t know who you are,” she said as she tried to keep her voice level. “But I won’t be intimidated when people need me. You don't need to do this. Either help me with this man or stand aside.”
Yuna listened closely as Caius explained what his group did. His words about giving people a purpose tugged at something in her, and it made her more aware than ever that she was lost without Spira and her identity as a summoner. She had always assumed that she would eventually die to bring peace to her world. It was all that she had been focused on for so long. What was she supposed to do with her life now that she was suddenly going to have to live it?
“I think the Dragonblades sound like a great idea,” she said, pushing her own worries down to focus on his explanation. “I’m glad that you’ve been able to make something good out of everyone waking up here. Even if no one knows the reason why it’s happening yet.”
As Caius readied his small dragon and Yuna hovered back with the chocobos, Caius seemed surprised by her mention of Bahamut, and Yuna’s head shot up in interest when he mentioned that Bahamut existed in his world but had backed only one person.
“The Chosen King...You mean Noctis?” She asked curiously, her mind flitting back to the story Caius had told earlier. Noctis had been the one to purge the world of darkness and defeat this ‘Ardyn Izunia.’ She had no idea what Caius meant by calling him an ‘Astral,’ but if Bahamut had supported Noctis...well, Caius’ story suddenly made far too much sense for her.
“Noctis is a summoner?” She asked, unable to help the note of excitement that drifted into her voice. “He can call on their aid?” No wonder he had managed to save their world. But it sounded like he had done it and survived, and if that was the case, then Yuna needed to talk to Noctis. She needed to understand how he’d done it, just in case she ever ended up back in Spira and could use what she learned. Unfortunately, it didn’t sound like Caius had seen him in this world or had any idea where he was. But she’d make it a point to keep an eye out for him now. Even if his information couldn’t help her, she would love to meet another summoner again.
Yuna realized now that Caius had also asked how she’d gotten Bahamut’s aid, and her cheeks flushed slightly at how she had plowed ahead with questions about Noctis instead of answering. “Bahamut is one of my aeons,” she quickly tried to explain, but the words came out wrong. She hadn’t gone to Bevelle to receive Bahamut’s blessing yet. He would be one of her aeons, but he wasn’t yet. Still, the phrasing somehow felt right, so Yuna didn’t correct herself. “His favor is one of the hardest to win, so he’s usually the last one that summoners attempt on their pilgrimage. But in my world, he gives his power to all who he thinks have a chance of defeating Sin.”
Yuna tried to distract herself from thoughts of home by watching how adorable Caius was being with Vordun instead, and she smiled slightly when he proclaimed that he would tell the tale of how he’d found the baby dragon when they stopped for the night. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said as she adjusted the grip that she had on the chocobo’s reins.
After Caius had taken off to follow Vordun and Yuna was chasing after them along the path, she heard Caius barking some one-word orders to Vordun through the trees, followed by the bleat of an injured animal. Steeling herself, carefully stepped into the clearing after them, giving a small nod of respect to the injured deer when she stopped. She wasn’t a huge fan of hunting, but it needed to be done. Humans needed enough to eat, after all.
Caius seemed to have decided to help out Vordun, and a weapon suddenly materialized in each one of his hands as he finished off the deer. Yuna stared at him in surprise, wondering what sort of magic allowed him to call his weapons at will, but he suddenly banished them again as Vordun lept into Caius’ arms to snuggle with him.
Yuna laughed to herself, bringing one hand to her mouth to stifle her giggle as they cooed at each other. She liked Caius. It seemed to have taken him a little bit to warm up to her, but now that he had, he seemed fairly comfortable with showing his more open side.
“How did you summon your weapons like that?” She asked as she came closer while leading the chocobos. “That was amazing.”
Yuna shook her head to indicate that it wasn’t a problem when Caius thanked her for letting them stop as he took out a dagger to start skinning the deer. Getting the chocobos settled, Yuna came over and knelt down next to him, rolling up her billowing sleeves to keep them away from the blood. “Do you need any help?” She asked, not wanting him to have to do the entire task himself.
As Caius went about skinning the deer, Yuna glanced down into the animal’s milky eyes and frowned slightly as she wondered about the small delegation of people they were searching for. “I hope they’re alright when we reach them,” she said a little quietly, though she knew they probably weren’t okay if Torensten had felt like they needed to contract both her and Caius. But either way, she’d be able to help them. She could heal their wounds or she could send their souls to the Farplane. She just hoped to Yevon that it was only the first that would be needed.
After feeling like she had learned all that she could in Torensten, Yuna finally made her way north to Provo. Travelling with Caius had increased her confidence in navigating this new world, and she was excited to see what the larger city had to offer in terms of answers. Unfortunately she had been in Provo for all of an hour when news reached her of the terrifying epidemic blighting the city. Yuna was far more practiced with healing wounds than with healing illness, but it sounded like they were low on volunteers who dared to go near the people who had been infected. She supposed she could understand their reasoning if the blight was as contagious as people were saying. But after being so ready to die for a cause back in Spira, getting sick because she’d helped someone didn’t scare her at all. In fact, ever since she’d arrived in Zephon, Yuna had come to understand that being aimlessly alive was a lot more scary than dying for a cause.
The air in the hospital was stifling and hot with the smell of sickness and unclean bodies. Yuna had to squint in the dim lighting that the drawn curtains provided, and she pressed one hand to her mouth at the overwhelming mass of people suffering. Some called for water. Some called for loved ones. Some writhed and howled in pain, and others had gone suspiciously silent. It was horrifying, and at first all she could do was stand in a patient’s doorway with the sting of tears in her eyes before she forced herself to step inside and put on a professional face. It reminded her of a scene that she’d find in a city after Sin had attacked, but she couldn’t think of that now. Sin wasn’t here. But she was, and she could make a difference here. At least a small one.
Kneeling by a groaning woman with patches of black ichor spreading across her face, Yuna gently took her hand and introduced herself before calling a cure spell to her fingertips. After that, Yuna lost track of how long she’d been there. Of how many hands she’d held and how many screaming people she’d tried to soothe. Of how many times she’d used Cure until someone could sleep peacefully and how many Ethers she’d chugged in the hospital break room when she felt like she was too exhausted to continue. Once, she’d looked down at both of her hands after working on a man who seemed to be particularly sick, and she’d found both of her palms coated in some kind of sticky black substance. She must have viciously scrubbed her hands for at least ten minutes in the bathroom before returning to work after that.
Eventually, Yuna peered into the room of a snarling man whose features were starting to look a little off. Yellow eyes blazed in the dim lighting, and her eyes flitted to where both of the man’s wrists were restrained to the sides of the bed. Holding her breath, Yuna stole a glance back out into the hallway, but most of the healers and doctors were too busy to even pay attention to what anyone else was doing. No one had noticed that she’d opened the closed door.
Slipping inside, Yuna tried her best to smile at the man. “I’m Yuna. I’m a summoner. I know this might hurt, but please try to bear with it. I’m here to help.”
The man gave no indication that he’d heard her, and Yuna bit her lip as she sat at the edge of his dirty bedsheets and tried to lay her hands on him. His response as soon as the light magic touched his skin was immediate. He gave a loud shriek and arched his back so violently off the bed that Yuna immediately stopped and leapt backwards away from him.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She called out, but he had already resumed his low growling. Yuna's eyes were drawn to the spot on his shoulder where her hand had rested, and she sucked in a quick breath. The skin looked red and inflamed, but it also looked more like its normal color than his ashen face did. Her magic had done something. But by the way he had reacted, he was liable to hurt himself if she tried to continue.
"I'll be right back," Yuna said, steeling her resolve as she rushed back into the hallway. What she needed was someone to help her hold him down. Glancing desperately around the mass of healers and medics rushing around her, Yuna's eyes latched onto a tall man sauntering past her. He was wearing a mismatched collection of robes that reminded her of something a Maester of Yevon would wear, and that more than anything had her running after him.
"Excuse me, sir," she called to get his attention. Stopping in front of him, she clutched her staff in front of her and gave him a slight bow. "I'm sure you're busy, but would you mind helping me with someone? He's pretty far along. I'm afraid he might hurt himself if someone isn't holding him down," she explained as she looked up at him hopefully.
