The Summoner's Choice (FFX)
The Summoner's Choice
Fandom: FFX
Characters: Father Zuke, Lulu, Wakka
Rating: PG
Summary: Father Zuke makes the Summoner's Choice.
Notes: For mrsteninch, for the Out Of My Comfort Zone meme. I didn't think I'd finish this before Otakon, but my batch died early today, so I managed; here's a piece of fic to enjoy while I'm gone. :)
- - -
I cannot do this.
The words stare up at Summoner Zuke from his journal, boldly written in his temple-trained script. He reads the sentence again. It doesn't feel accusatory - at least, not as much as he'd expected. Rather, it's a relief: a quiet, solemn admission that finally feels right.
The children are-
Zuke pauses, and scratches through the line idly as he glances up. This is part of the problem: he cannot stop thinking of Wakka and Lulu as children, even though they have more than earned their right to stand as equals in his mind. Even now, Wakka kicks at his blitzball while Lulu aims her Water spell towards it in an attempt to deflect it; Zuke is sure that Lulu has justified the pasttime as a magical training exercise, but to Wakka it looks like just plain fun.
It is-
He sets the pen down. Beyond the warm green expanse of the Calm Lands, Gagazet's cold peaks look down upon him in grey peace.
I cannot lead these two, not to the end. The words come slowly, like confession. I cannot lead them through the cold steps of Gagazet. We are strong, the three of us, but we do not yet move as one.
I cannot spend their lives as Spiran currency. He thinks about Wakka or Lulu falling, leaving one of their young bodies behind, buried in snow - or worse, spent at the very end, crumbling as his own life dims with the Final Aeon's roar.
We will not have what it takes to defeat Sin.
The thought is sad, and Zuke pauses for a moment, looking at the words. It is true, and he knows it, but somehow it is no easier to bear in writing.
He looks outward, for a while. The landscape stretches before him, lush and green, a strip of bright living defiance against Sin's wrath. Lulu sits by herself now, but the look on her face is merely contemplative as she gazes across the Lands. Wakka is testing his blitzball mettle on a giggling child whose family has made their own pilgrimage to Gandaf's Ridge. This, Zuke thinks. This is how the world should be.
The warmth fills his heart up. He has learned so much about the people of Spira on this trip, and he can use his knowledge and experience to help the common man. He can return to Bevelle, and receive confirmation; Father Zuke will have more to offer Spira than Summoner Zuke ever would. And Wakka and Lulu both will serve Spira better in a different role - or as guardians to someone they both yearn to protect.
I wonder, did I choose two young guardians because I wanted an excuse to turn away?
- - -
The fire crackles. They've made camp very near to the outpost which marks the Calm Lands, but separate: Zuke doesn't want an audience tonight.
"Wakka, Lulu." He keeps his voice calm and steady. "We will not continue on tomorrow."
"I was going to suggest the same," Lulu says. Her gaze drags across the Calm Lands horizon, slowly, before turning back to him. "I would like to train before we move onward. The man at the outpost says that the stronger fiends tend to congregate in-"
"Lulu, you misunderstand." Zuke smiles at her, faintly. "We will not be continuing on."
Lulu looks at him, and realization blooms across her face. Zuke watches as she checks her initial impulse - whatever that might be - and simply looks at him with cool, respectful regard. After a moment, Wakka catches on too, and the glimpse of relief Zuke sees in his eyes reminds him that this is the right decision.
They look at him with only respect, though. No guardian would ever question their Summoner: Yevon frowns upon such things. And it is certainly taboo to question or criticise those who make the Summoner's Choice, no matter the outcome. It is every young apprentice's dream, and every weary Summoner's right - and the church has protected that sacred Choice, above all things. Anyone can choose to go, and anyone can choose to turn away. No one is beholden to the Summoner's Path.
And so Wakka and Lulu will accept his decision, he sees. Somehow, it almost saddens him: they are still so distant, even after four temples and countless battles and the terrifying night of Wakka's cooking.
"You will not question me, even now?" Zuke says it with a sad smile.
Lulu's voice is a low murmur. "Forgive me, Lord Zuke. It is your decision, and we will follow it."
Wakka coughs. "I'll ask, then," he says with an awkward grin. "What changed your mind?"
"A few things." Zuke sighs. "I simply feel in my heart that it is time for all of us to go home."
Wakka can't hide the broad grin that spreads across his face for a second. The thought of home flits across his face; Zuke knows the Islander truly misses Besaid, and has for every minute beyond its shores.
Lulu, however, is more hesitant. "Is it something we have done?"
"Yes, and then again no," Zuke says. "Lulu, this is a choice I've made from the bottom of my heart. Of course it involves you, for you are my guardians. But it is not because of anything you may have done. It is more... simple truth."
"Tell us, then?" Her head tilts a little, in question and challenge.
Zuke smiles at them both. "You two - you are not truly my guardians," he begins.
Lulu bristles, as he expected; he gestures, to show he is not yet finished. "You are guardians, yes, and very good ones. But what you guard - is not me. You're guarding too many other things on this pilgrimage..." He glances at Wakka. "Your lost brother's memory and honor." Then, Lulu. "Your last Summoner's sacrifice." And then, the far distant line of Gagazet's peaks. "Your young friend at home. Lord Braska's daughter."
Wakka looks pensive. Lulu's face is still a mask, but Zuke can see she is listening.
"The temples say it takes a very strong bond between Summoners and their guardians to obtain the Final Aeon." Zuke watches as Lulu's face softens slightly; mention of the Final Aeon never fails to pique her interest. "It is part of what the pilgrimage is for - to forge a strong enough bond, a bond that can energize the Final Summoning and defeat Sin's vengeance and wrath. They say the Summoner needs that strength at the end, that it - helps. It is why so many Summoners have guardians who are friends, family, lovers."
"But you two..." Zuke trails off, turning to them again to smile. "I am fond of you, yes, and I am vain enough to think you fond of me. But I am not sure whether fondness is enough to get us across the ruins of Zanarkand."
"Lord Zuke." Lulu's words are shadowed, dark. "Please do not doubt our devotion to this pilgrimage. I - Wakka and I - we care just as deeply about bringing forth the Calm as you do." Her lips twitch, a little. "I do not truly think Yevon will refuse us for the lack of a little... friendly cameraderie." Her lips twitch again, and Zuke belatedly realizes she is trying to smile. "I shall even learn to joke a bit, if you wish."
Wakka snorts, but he leans in next to Lulu. "Sometimes it's hard to concentrate, when you've got so much other stuff in your head, ya?" He rubs the back of his neck. "But this is important to me. I believe in you, Lord Zuke. This is something I really wanna be a part of."
Yes," Zuke says, soft but firm. "But would you die for me? Either of you? Both of you?"
Lulu straightens, and her eyes flash once in anger. "Of course," and it's fiery, cold, flashing with the lightning-fronds of her magic. Lulu is a force of nature, and Zuke doesn't doubt that she's willing to spend that strength in one dramatic rush. "The people of Spira-"
"I did not ask whether you would die for the people of Spira," Zuke says, quietly, in a tone of voice that cuts across her anger. "I want to know whether you would die for me."
Her chin lifts. "Of course," she says, as if it is simple. "I am a guardian."
"Wakka?" But as Zuke turns his gaze, he can already see that the other man understands. Wakka understands even more than Lulu, in many ways: they both want things a pilgrimage will never give them back.
"If it came down to it," Wakka says slowly. "I'd do it. I'm a guardian, and I'm a fighter, ya?" He rubs the back of his neck again. "But I'm really not eager to go, or anythin'."
Lulu moves, as if to say something, but then presses her dark lips together tightly in thought.
"It is also me." Zuke answers her unspoken question. "I am not sure whether I have it in myself, either. My death - that is something I have come to terms with, in our world. I do not fear it. But... the thought of risking you two terrifies me - the thought that I might be responsible for your death. I cannot bear it. And that makes me no true Summoner."
Wakka shakes his head. He is already accepting the situation, Zuke sees - with relief, and a little regret, but more relief. Wakka's heart has not truly been in this Pilgrimage from the beginning. And Lulu's heart has been elsewhere: a mage with her talent and training should have broken through to the powers of Fira and Thundara, Zuke knows from his studies, but something internal has blocked Lulu's magic from growing. Grief, perhaps, over Wakka's brother?
"My first pilgrimage ended here," Lulu says softly. Her gaze settles on something far across the plains. "I'd thought the second one would at least... go farther."
"Tomorrow," Zuke says firmly, "we will go stand on the bridge into Gagazet." He looks at Lulu, fondly. Perhaps if - if many things were different - but no. "I will at least give you that, from my Pilgrimage. There is one more thing I would have you do, as my guardians."
- - -
The winds from Gagazet whip around them. Zuke stands back while Lulu takes a few slow steps ahead, her eyes alert for fiends.
"So what will you do now?" Wakka's eyes are alert for fiends as well; the man is poised to jump at anything that might hurt Lulu.
Zuke reaches up to adjust his cap. "I will return to Bevelle," he says, "and join the monastery. I've learned much from this voyage, and my heart tells me that now I can help the common folk more as Father Zuke than as a Summoner. I want to learn to defend myself, so I can travel, and help Spirans in the aftermath of Sin - a Sin I did not choose to stop." He watches as Lulu bends down, brushes her long pale fingers against a patch of ice. "What will you do?"
"Besaid," Wakka says, and it's like his heart is bursting across his face; the joy dies, though, as he adds: "And probably we'll end up being guardians to Yuna, when she's ready."
Lulu comes back to them, and her face is triumphant and sad. "One step closer to Zanarkand," she murmurs.
"Very well," Zuke says. "As my guardians, I believe you are honor-bound to escort me home if I make the Summoner's Choice."
"Of course!" Wakka says, almost offended. "Lord Zuke - we wouldn't leave you out here -"
"No, I know." Zuke chuckles. "I am trying to ask whether you would witness my Unsummoning, here."
Lulu's eyes grow wide for a fraction of a second in surprise. Zuke says, "I ask because without my aeons, I will be near defenseless on the journey back to Bevelle. It is tradition to perform the Unsummoning upon return, but..." His gaze turns outward, to Gagazet's cold peaks. "Like Lulu, I would mark the end of my path, here. I would be honored if the two of you would be my witnesses."
"We would be honored." Lulu inclines her head, gravely. Wakka nods.
Zuke draws out his staff, and begins the dance. The Unsummoning is a ritual dance, much like a Sending: in fact, it is in many ways a Sending, releasing the bonds of fayth and dreams that tie together aeon and Summoner. The pyreflies seep out of the ground, a mix of the Calm Lands' richness and Gagazet's stone; they twinkle, and settle around him in a sphere as he slowly brings the staff down before him.
The Summoner's Choice. For some, it is a choice of cowardice. Zuke understands; he is prepared for the accusatory looks some will feel he deserves. But for him, it is an admission: it simply cannot be done. There is no shame in it. Spira has enough death; he will not add more simply for his pride.
Zuke closes his eyes.
Peace settles into him, as if seeping up his staff from the ground below: peace, and a sense of rightness. Zuke sighs, almost in relief: Gagazet gives its blessing. The aeons are whispering to him, words of the hymn which carry more meaning than their letters can spell.
He waves the staff before him, and Valefor's breezes manifest before him for a moment as the aeon spreads its wings; fly free, he hears, and a gust of pyreflies puffs out of him. The staff waves low, next, of its own accord, and there's the rumbling burst of fire-warmth in his veins as Ifrit leaves him. He touches it to the ground, and pyreflies leap from it like sparks; Ixion appeares in the smoke, tossing its regal head one last time before vanishing. One calm spin, and then he grasps the staff before him: cool liquid slides along his veins, and Shiva's farewell echoes in the thin burst of pyreflies. Zuke raises the staff to the skies.
It is like a release; glowing pyrelies seep from him, and he turns once, saddened and yet lightened. Nothing appears, but Bahamut's roar is echoing in his ears. His feet find the ground, again. Zuke bows his head.
He has made the Summoner's Choice.
- - -
Perhaps I was wrong, Zuke writes, months later. Wakka and Lulu were both strong people - if only I'd been strong enough to carry them a little farther...
But no. The mountains of Gagazet look out at him, again. He has come back to the Calm Lands, to see Wakka and Lulu and this young Summoner who has turned so many heads in Bevelle. No one truly believes the charges of murder; Zuke, in truth, is here to lay his eyes on the Lady Yuna and see whether she can do what he could not.
She can. She will. Determination is written on her face as clear as the skies. And Lulu and Wakka - both glad to see him, both changed. Wakka's face is serious now, even as he jokes and kicks the blitzball. Lulu's face is more serious, but less tense. They've both grown, and they both serve this Summoner in the way Yevon intended: they love Lady Yuna. They would, in fact, die for her.
Wakka and Lulu have found something they can truly guard, he writes, finally. And I have found my place.
Father Zuke closes the journal.
- - -
Notes on this piece
This was actually really interesting to write. FFX is always a kind of interesting world to write in. When you meet Father Zuke in-game, you get the feeling that he's really not that bad of a guy -- there are no tensions between he and Lulu and Wakka, and he seems both kind and genuinely interested in Yuna's pilgrimage. I wanted to try and write this in a way that didn't turn him into a bad guy or a coward -- that would be too easy. I can't imagine Lulu would've put up with a pilgrimage with someone who was a coward, either.
I feel like this is something I could really expand on, too. The two pilgrimages prior to Yuna's -- Ginnem and Zuke -- I think are really interesting. Then again, I'd love to read Braska's pilgrimage, but maybe that's just me.
FFX is slowly starting to take over my brains, again.
Fandom: FFX
Characters: Father Zuke, Lulu, Wakka
Rating: PG
Summary: Father Zuke makes the Summoner's Choice.
Notes: For mrsteninch, for the Out Of My Comfort Zone meme. I didn't think I'd finish this before Otakon, but my batch died early today, so I managed; here's a piece of fic to enjoy while I'm gone. :)
- - -
I cannot do this.
The words stare up at Summoner Zuke from his journal, boldly written in his temple-trained script. He reads the sentence again. It doesn't feel accusatory - at least, not as much as he'd expected. Rather, it's a relief: a quiet, solemn admission that finally feels right.
The children are-
Zuke pauses, and scratches through the line idly as he glances up. This is part of the problem: he cannot stop thinking of Wakka and Lulu as children, even though they have more than earned their right to stand as equals in his mind. Even now, Wakka kicks at his blitzball while Lulu aims her Water spell towards it in an attempt to deflect it; Zuke is sure that Lulu has justified the pasttime as a magical training exercise, but to Wakka it looks like just plain fun.
It is-
He sets the pen down. Beyond the warm green expanse of the Calm Lands, Gagazet's cold peaks look down upon him in grey peace.
I cannot lead these two, not to the end. The words come slowly, like confession. I cannot lead them through the cold steps of Gagazet. We are strong, the three of us, but we do not yet move as one.
I cannot spend their lives as Spiran currency. He thinks about Wakka or Lulu falling, leaving one of their young bodies behind, buried in snow - or worse, spent at the very end, crumbling as his own life dims with the Final Aeon's roar.
We will not have what it takes to defeat Sin.
The thought is sad, and Zuke pauses for a moment, looking at the words. It is true, and he knows it, but somehow it is no easier to bear in writing.
He looks outward, for a while. The landscape stretches before him, lush and green, a strip of bright living defiance against Sin's wrath. Lulu sits by herself now, but the look on her face is merely contemplative as she gazes across the Lands. Wakka is testing his blitzball mettle on a giggling child whose family has made their own pilgrimage to Gandaf's Ridge. This, Zuke thinks. This is how the world should be.
The warmth fills his heart up. He has learned so much about the people of Spira on this trip, and he can use his knowledge and experience to help the common man. He can return to Bevelle, and receive confirmation; Father Zuke will have more to offer Spira than Summoner Zuke ever would. And Wakka and Lulu both will serve Spira better in a different role - or as guardians to someone they both yearn to protect.
I wonder, did I choose two young guardians because I wanted an excuse to turn away?
- - -
The fire crackles. They've made camp very near to the outpost which marks the Calm Lands, but separate: Zuke doesn't want an audience tonight.
"Wakka, Lulu." He keeps his voice calm and steady. "We will not continue on tomorrow."
"I was going to suggest the same," Lulu says. Her gaze drags across the Calm Lands horizon, slowly, before turning back to him. "I would like to train before we move onward. The man at the outpost says that the stronger fiends tend to congregate in-"
"Lulu, you misunderstand." Zuke smiles at her, faintly. "We will not be continuing on."
Lulu looks at him, and realization blooms across her face. Zuke watches as she checks her initial impulse - whatever that might be - and simply looks at him with cool, respectful regard. After a moment, Wakka catches on too, and the glimpse of relief Zuke sees in his eyes reminds him that this is the right decision.
They look at him with only respect, though. No guardian would ever question their Summoner: Yevon frowns upon such things. And it is certainly taboo to question or criticise those who make the Summoner's Choice, no matter the outcome. It is every young apprentice's dream, and every weary Summoner's right - and the church has protected that sacred Choice, above all things. Anyone can choose to go, and anyone can choose to turn away. No one is beholden to the Summoner's Path.
And so Wakka and Lulu will accept his decision, he sees. Somehow, it almost saddens him: they are still so distant, even after four temples and countless battles and the terrifying night of Wakka's cooking.
"You will not question me, even now?" Zuke says it with a sad smile.
Lulu's voice is a low murmur. "Forgive me, Lord Zuke. It is your decision, and we will follow it."
Wakka coughs. "I'll ask, then," he says with an awkward grin. "What changed your mind?"
"A few things." Zuke sighs. "I simply feel in my heart that it is time for all of us to go home."
Wakka can't hide the broad grin that spreads across his face for a second. The thought of home flits across his face; Zuke knows the Islander truly misses Besaid, and has for every minute beyond its shores.
Lulu, however, is more hesitant. "Is it something we have done?"
"Yes, and then again no," Zuke says. "Lulu, this is a choice I've made from the bottom of my heart. Of course it involves you, for you are my guardians. But it is not because of anything you may have done. It is more... simple truth."
"Tell us, then?" Her head tilts a little, in question and challenge.
Zuke smiles at them both. "You two - you are not truly my guardians," he begins.
Lulu bristles, as he expected; he gestures, to show he is not yet finished. "You are guardians, yes, and very good ones. But what you guard - is not me. You're guarding too many other things on this pilgrimage..." He glances at Wakka. "Your lost brother's memory and honor." Then, Lulu. "Your last Summoner's sacrifice." And then, the far distant line of Gagazet's peaks. "Your young friend at home. Lord Braska's daughter."
Wakka looks pensive. Lulu's face is still a mask, but Zuke can see she is listening.
"The temples say it takes a very strong bond between Summoners and their guardians to obtain the Final Aeon." Zuke watches as Lulu's face softens slightly; mention of the Final Aeon never fails to pique her interest. "It is part of what the pilgrimage is for - to forge a strong enough bond, a bond that can energize the Final Summoning and defeat Sin's vengeance and wrath. They say the Summoner needs that strength at the end, that it - helps. It is why so many Summoners have guardians who are friends, family, lovers."
"But you two..." Zuke trails off, turning to them again to smile. "I am fond of you, yes, and I am vain enough to think you fond of me. But I am not sure whether fondness is enough to get us across the ruins of Zanarkand."
"Lord Zuke." Lulu's words are shadowed, dark. "Please do not doubt our devotion to this pilgrimage. I - Wakka and I - we care just as deeply about bringing forth the Calm as you do." Her lips twitch, a little. "I do not truly think Yevon will refuse us for the lack of a little... friendly cameraderie." Her lips twitch again, and Zuke belatedly realizes she is trying to smile. "I shall even learn to joke a bit, if you wish."
Wakka snorts, but he leans in next to Lulu. "Sometimes it's hard to concentrate, when you've got so much other stuff in your head, ya?" He rubs the back of his neck. "But this is important to me. I believe in you, Lord Zuke. This is something I really wanna be a part of."
Yes," Zuke says, soft but firm. "But would you die for me? Either of you? Both of you?"
Lulu straightens, and her eyes flash once in anger. "Of course," and it's fiery, cold, flashing with the lightning-fronds of her magic. Lulu is a force of nature, and Zuke doesn't doubt that she's willing to spend that strength in one dramatic rush. "The people of Spira-"
"I did not ask whether you would die for the people of Spira," Zuke says, quietly, in a tone of voice that cuts across her anger. "I want to know whether you would die for me."
Her chin lifts. "Of course," she says, as if it is simple. "I am a guardian."
"Wakka?" But as Zuke turns his gaze, he can already see that the other man understands. Wakka understands even more than Lulu, in many ways: they both want things a pilgrimage will never give them back.
"If it came down to it," Wakka says slowly. "I'd do it. I'm a guardian, and I'm a fighter, ya?" He rubs the back of his neck again. "But I'm really not eager to go, or anythin'."
Lulu moves, as if to say something, but then presses her dark lips together tightly in thought.
"It is also me." Zuke answers her unspoken question. "I am not sure whether I have it in myself, either. My death - that is something I have come to terms with, in our world. I do not fear it. But... the thought of risking you two terrifies me - the thought that I might be responsible for your death. I cannot bear it. And that makes me no true Summoner."
Wakka shakes his head. He is already accepting the situation, Zuke sees - with relief, and a little regret, but more relief. Wakka's heart has not truly been in this Pilgrimage from the beginning. And Lulu's heart has been elsewhere: a mage with her talent and training should have broken through to the powers of Fira and Thundara, Zuke knows from his studies, but something internal has blocked Lulu's magic from growing. Grief, perhaps, over Wakka's brother?
"My first pilgrimage ended here," Lulu says softly. Her gaze settles on something far across the plains. "I'd thought the second one would at least... go farther."
"Tomorrow," Zuke says firmly, "we will go stand on the bridge into Gagazet." He looks at Lulu, fondly. Perhaps if - if many things were different - but no. "I will at least give you that, from my Pilgrimage. There is one more thing I would have you do, as my guardians."
- - -
The winds from Gagazet whip around them. Zuke stands back while Lulu takes a few slow steps ahead, her eyes alert for fiends.
"So what will you do now?" Wakka's eyes are alert for fiends as well; the man is poised to jump at anything that might hurt Lulu.
Zuke reaches up to adjust his cap. "I will return to Bevelle," he says, "and join the monastery. I've learned much from this voyage, and my heart tells me that now I can help the common folk more as Father Zuke than as a Summoner. I want to learn to defend myself, so I can travel, and help Spirans in the aftermath of Sin - a Sin I did not choose to stop." He watches as Lulu bends down, brushes her long pale fingers against a patch of ice. "What will you do?"
"Besaid," Wakka says, and it's like his heart is bursting across his face; the joy dies, though, as he adds: "And probably we'll end up being guardians to Yuna, when she's ready."
Lulu comes back to them, and her face is triumphant and sad. "One step closer to Zanarkand," she murmurs.
"Very well," Zuke says. "As my guardians, I believe you are honor-bound to escort me home if I make the Summoner's Choice."
"Of course!" Wakka says, almost offended. "Lord Zuke - we wouldn't leave you out here -"
"No, I know." Zuke chuckles. "I am trying to ask whether you would witness my Unsummoning, here."
Lulu's eyes grow wide for a fraction of a second in surprise. Zuke says, "I ask because without my aeons, I will be near defenseless on the journey back to Bevelle. It is tradition to perform the Unsummoning upon return, but..." His gaze turns outward, to Gagazet's cold peaks. "Like Lulu, I would mark the end of my path, here. I would be honored if the two of you would be my witnesses."
"We would be honored." Lulu inclines her head, gravely. Wakka nods.
Zuke draws out his staff, and begins the dance. The Unsummoning is a ritual dance, much like a Sending: in fact, it is in many ways a Sending, releasing the bonds of fayth and dreams that tie together aeon and Summoner. The pyreflies seep out of the ground, a mix of the Calm Lands' richness and Gagazet's stone; they twinkle, and settle around him in a sphere as he slowly brings the staff down before him.
The Summoner's Choice. For some, it is a choice of cowardice. Zuke understands; he is prepared for the accusatory looks some will feel he deserves. But for him, it is an admission: it simply cannot be done. There is no shame in it. Spira has enough death; he will not add more simply for his pride.
Zuke closes his eyes.
Peace settles into him, as if seeping up his staff from the ground below: peace, and a sense of rightness. Zuke sighs, almost in relief: Gagazet gives its blessing. The aeons are whispering to him, words of the hymn which carry more meaning than their letters can spell.
He waves the staff before him, and Valefor's breezes manifest before him for a moment as the aeon spreads its wings; fly free, he hears, and a gust of pyreflies puffs out of him. The staff waves low, next, of its own accord, and there's the rumbling burst of fire-warmth in his veins as Ifrit leaves him. He touches it to the ground, and pyreflies leap from it like sparks; Ixion appeares in the smoke, tossing its regal head one last time before vanishing. One calm spin, and then he grasps the staff before him: cool liquid slides along his veins, and Shiva's farewell echoes in the thin burst of pyreflies. Zuke raises the staff to the skies.
It is like a release; glowing pyrelies seep from him, and he turns once, saddened and yet lightened. Nothing appears, but Bahamut's roar is echoing in his ears. His feet find the ground, again. Zuke bows his head.
He has made the Summoner's Choice.
- - -
Perhaps I was wrong, Zuke writes, months later. Wakka and Lulu were both strong people - if only I'd been strong enough to carry them a little farther...
But no. The mountains of Gagazet look out at him, again. He has come back to the Calm Lands, to see Wakka and Lulu and this young Summoner who has turned so many heads in Bevelle. No one truly believes the charges of murder; Zuke, in truth, is here to lay his eyes on the Lady Yuna and see whether she can do what he could not.
She can. She will. Determination is written on her face as clear as the skies. And Lulu and Wakka - both glad to see him, both changed. Wakka's face is serious now, even as he jokes and kicks the blitzball. Lulu's face is more serious, but less tense. They've both grown, and they both serve this Summoner in the way Yevon intended: they love Lady Yuna. They would, in fact, die for her.
Wakka and Lulu have found something they can truly guard, he writes, finally. And I have found my place.
Father Zuke closes the journal.
- - -
Notes on this piece
This was actually really interesting to write. FFX is always a kind of interesting world to write in. When you meet Father Zuke in-game, you get the feeling that he's really not that bad of a guy -- there are no tensions between he and Lulu and Wakka, and he seems both kind and genuinely interested in Yuna's pilgrimage. I wanted to try and write this in a way that didn't turn him into a bad guy or a coward -- that would be too easy. I can't imagine Lulu would've put up with a pilgrimage with someone who was a coward, either.
I feel like this is something I could really expand on, too. The two pilgrimages prior to Yuna's -- Ginnem and Zuke -- I think are really interesting. Then again, I'd love to read Braska's pilgrimage, but maybe that's just me.
FFX is slowly starting to take over my brains, again.