.:FINAL FANTASY:. The Seventh Sin
I wrote this story awhile ago, and though it got pretty far, I grew sick of it and how it was written. Today, I bring you a new ‘revised’ version. I warn the old readers, though this follows the same basic plot line of the original, this tale focuses a lot around new characters, though you can look forward to seeing some old ones in the future. Please note the lyrics in the beginning are not mine, they are from Avril Lavigne's song called 'Keep Holding On'. I hope you enjoy this story!
You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side
You know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
no I won't give in
~
There was a long held secret that kept those from defeating the creature that ravaged Spira such a long time ago, a secret that would claim countless lives before the end of monster’s reign. A group of friends defeated ‘Sin’ as it was called, and finally banished it to the depths of the farplane, forever and for always, as it was supposed to be.
But we never hear of those who defeated Sin before the fateful group. Those who were forgotten in the sands of time, it is sad, that we forgot them, for their journeys deserve as much recognition as the heroes who destroyed Sin at last.
There was a Sin whose reign lasted longer then any other. It murdered thousands all for a secret that would ultimately be discovered one thousand years later. It was the seventh Sin: a monstrous creature that flew through the air with reversed and twisted wings and a fellwyrm’s face. Something that could swim, fly, or tunnel its way through Spira.
What ever happened to the heroes who defeated that beast? Time it seems, worked against their legend, but here it is now, before you.
I give you, The Seventh Sin.
FINAL FANTASY
The Seventh Sin
So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late
This could all disappear
Before the doors close
And it comes to an end
With you by my side
I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend
xX CHAPTER ONE Xx
The city of Home laid in ruins. People were shouting, and screaming in vain as contorted creatures never seen before by everyone hacked and slashed their way into homes and bunkers. A few were fighting back, people with green eyes and swirls for pupils were firing various forms of firearms, all seeming to have little to no effect on the advancing monsters. Children cried as their parents had either disappeared or lay dead in the streets, their bodies broken and battered.
Over head a massive serpent hovered. Its twisted wings flapping while is armoured head swivelled about, letting out shrill cries that caused people to collapse onto their knees in fear. Numerous hovering ships were docked in the nearby port, their loading ramps crammed with people who wanted to escape. The ships varied in looks, while one looked like two motorcycles put together in the most elegant of fashions, the other looked like a bird with its wings cut to half the size.
“Sir.”
There was one other airship close by. It had come to a halt over the far side beach on the island of Bikinel, which Home was located on. This ship had numerous gun ports and missiles ready to fire, yet it did nothing. Inside the bridge, a commander starred out at the smoking ruins of the Al Bhed homeland with a slight smirk.
“The machine worked perfectly.” The lowly soldier spoke through his silver and leather armour suit. Slung over his shoulder was an old style rifle with a golden bayonet stuck on the end, standard for all Bevellian soldiers who had yet to prove themselves worthy of anything better. “Shall we intervene?”
“Why?” The commander smiled, turning to the soldier. “Why waste good men?”
The soldier could hardly believe what he was hearing. “But Sir… There are people down there, innocent people!”
By now, others had turned to see the desperate soldier and smiling commander. He placed a reassuring hand on the soldier’s shoulder. “We didn’t get the order, we don’t move.” He turned to one of the darkly dressed technicians by a flashing screen. “You can turn off the machine now, Home is in ruins. We’ll return to Besaid port to give a full report to the general.”
Sin wasn’t hovering over the tall, still standing builds of Home anymore. The creature was diving, the large, crescent horn on its head charging up an electrical fray that fried everyone and everything on the ground. The spawn of sin were incinerated, but there always seemed to be five more to take a dead ones place. The main defensive tower that had been fending off the intruders so well was slammed by Sin’s massive spiked tail, and obliterated.
The defences were torn now, the airships that were full beyond the originally intended capacity were slow to take off, and now completely vulnerable. The Al Bhed militia couldn’t stand against such an onslaught, the Sinspawn were closing in, and Sin itself was landing in the rubble, using its massive three clawed legs to burrow into the ground.
“Get the airships out of here!” Cried the militia captain, who watched her messengers nod and disappear. She gulped, and turned to a little girl, who was in tears.
“Lenna, I need you to run now.” She smiled, it was a warm smile, but it only made her daughter cry more. The captain brushed the girl’s hair from in front of her face. “I will see you again Lenna, I promise you.”
Lenna, a small girl who had light pink hair and large, blue eyes looked up at her Al Bhed mother. Her mother’s bright green eyes had faded, and the swirl’s were blurred by the watery gaze that threatened to turn into tears.
“I’ll see you in the farplane, right mommy?” Lenna spoke, sniffling. Her mother choked back a cry, though the tears were thick. “You’ll be there, waiting for me?”
Her mother gasped, hugging her daughter as tight as she could. She didn’t want to let go, but the airships were leaving, and she had to stay here. Her daughter’s tiny arms were trying to give her a bear hug, something Lenna had always wanted to do after he had seen her father spin the captain around in happiness when he returned from a long sea voyage.
“I’ll be there.” She whispered. “I’ll wait for you there; just remember to come see me.”
Lenna couldn’t speak now, she clung to her mother as one of the messengers tried to pick her up. Though it stung the captain, she pushed her daughter away. Giving her one last kiss before the messenger ran off. The captain stood there, tears billowing down her face as she
“I promise Lenna, I’ll be there…”
The city of Home was over run twenty minutes later, four of the ten airships escaped Sin’s wrath and took shelter at various ports. Lenna’s airship arrived at Kilika Port, where she was welcome with open arms by the Yevonite Priests who felt so much sorrow for the children who were orphaned by the horrid Sin attack.
Ten Years Later
~
The score was at an even three to three. The giant water sphere floated inside of a dome like stadium which was filled to the brim with people from all around the continent. Cheering and screaming as two arch rival teams faced off against each other in the most violent sport in the history of Spira.
Blitzball.
Lenna was on the Kilika Beasts team, their star player, second to her old friend Crimson, who was only a bit faster then herself. Lenna had grown into quite the woman, with long, strawberry pink hair and captivating blue eyes. They added to her prestine beauty, her body was built agililty, but like a tank. You needed strength, both for holding your breathe for at least six minutes and for kicking, catching, tossing, and whipping a rather hard plastic ball through millions of gallons of water.
The other team was the Luca Goers. A tough team, playing on their home turf, something that made them especially proud. The game was in overtime because of the relentlessness of the Beasts, something that made the Goers a tad bit scared, but past that, they had held their own. Waiting it out and now, both teams were tiring.
“And Lenna passes to Crimson- OH! Beha hits the Beast hard!” Lenna swivelled around; Crimson was clutching his stomach madly as the pain wretched through his body. Something in Lenna clicked, and she swam furiously, catching up to the Goer ‘Beha’ who had the ball.
Beha never saw it coming, Lenna braced herself and held out her elbow, she kicked as fast as she could, ramming her elbow into Beha’s back. The girl let out a few bubbles and then began swimming to the top of the sphere, desperate for air. Lenna smiled, grabbing the ball and quickly passing it to her other teammate before she was tackled by at least two Goers who moved on to try and catch the rest of her team.
Crimson had fully recovered; he turned back to her, flashing a smile before floating the ball in front of him and slamming it with his fist. The ball zoomed forward, displacing water faster then a Besaid Torpedo and slamming into the Goer Goalie’s head. Lenna swam past her friend, who gave her an extra shove; she purposely turned that into a forwards flip, and kicked the ball which had recoiled back a bit. It shot forward again, hitting close to the top net.
The goal alarm sounded, and Lenna was embraced in a tight hug by all her teammates, who called her name underwater. A bit muffled, but she knew what they were saying.
Everyone was swimming downwards now; a small ramp had pierced into the sphere, creating a walkway for the players. Lenna could already see the photographers, their sphere cameras flashing while others were video taping using either high tech video spheres, or the cheaper, then better preserving memory spheres. Crimson brushed up against Lenna, eager to get out to the cameras. He loved the attention, and always looked good in pictures, with his blond locks, fiery red eyes and tanned body. Yes, if Lenna didn’t strictly forbid herself from interteam relationships, she would’ve been all over Crimson within half a second.
Didn’t matter anymore, as she broke through the wall of water, she was swarmed paparazzi, questioning on the most random of thing. She was surprised really, usually they were all swarming Crimson, but right now she had just as large of a group as her teammate. He looked back and tilted his head slightly, wondering why she had almost half the attention.
“Ms. Cross is it true you’re leaving the league?” Someone called out; the same question was repeated about five times.
Lenna Cross was being overwhelmed. She felt a tug on her arm and turned. It was Crimson; he pulled her through the group. The paparazzi tended to keep a safe five foot radius around Crimson, as he had been known to violently attack some that got a bit to close.
“‘Ms. Cross’ will not be answering questions at this time.” He growled, clenching his right hand into a fist, his middle and ‘ring finger’ bare thick, silver rings that looked like they would hurt if they hit you. Lenna and the rest of her team disappeared into the Kilika Locker room, which Crimson wasted no time cornering Lenna and confronting her.
“Leaving?”
‘Now there’s a hostile voice…’ Lenna thought, turning her attention to her locker, which was conveniently in that corner. “What about leaving?”
“You’re leaving the team and you didn’t tell anyone?” Crimson voice was growing more hostile by the moment.
“Actually I was going to tell you tonight.” Lenna smiled sheepishly, but the smile faded as Crimson turned away and headed towards his locker. “Crimson…”
“I sense a lover’s quarrel on the horizon.” Tyn grinned, catching glares from both Crimson and Lenna. “I suggest I- err… We...” He gestured to the team. “Leave!”
The team disappeared, and Lenna was left alone with Crimson. A tempting situation, but she didn’t want her first intimate situation with her fellow teammate to be particularly violent. That sort of thing wasn’t really hers.
Crimson turned to the pink haired woman, his head tilted slightly with a peeved look. His leather vest was undone and hanging open as water dripped from it. His chest bared a tattoo of Evrae, the guardian of the city Bevelle. It was in its standard defensive position, blanket like wings out-stretched while its serpent body hung with its claws ready to tear the enemy apart. The tattoo was in various shades and tints related to white and black, while the actually creature was rumoured to be red.
Evrae reminded Lenna of the Sin dragon. Maybe the two were like Yin and Yang? One good one bad…
He must’ve noticed she was staring at his tattoo, because he cleared his throat, gathering her attention. Crimson’s eyes burned into Lenna, making her want to run away. He was holding his leather gloves in his hand while the other was in his hip-hanging pants pocket.
“Why are you leaving?”
‘There’s that hostility again…’ Lenna gulped, as the answer crawled into her throat. “You have to promise not to go ballistic …”
“Fine,” Crimson rolled his eyes while he crossed his arms. “Now what is it?”
“I left the team to become a summoner.”
~
“Oh hell no!” Crimson cried, bursting out of the change room, throwing his arms into the air while his voice caused others to look over. Lenna stood in the doorway, desperate to calm the man down. “You’re not serious are you?” He looked over at Lenna who stared at him. “Are you?”
Lenna bit her lip and looked up at him with a guilty face.
“YOU ARE!” He slammed his fists into the wall beside the door, shaking the pictures hanging nearby. “You left all that summoner mumbo jumbo behind at Kilika remember?”
“I know but… I just…” She looked around; the entire Kilika Beasts team was staring at her, as well as a number of Luca Goers who had popped out of their changing area to see what all the commotion was about. “I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything!”
“Yes I do!”
“Damn it Lenna!” Crimson snarled, pushing her back into the locker room. “No you don’t!”
Lenna growled, and pushed her friend right back, he slammed into the hallway wall, making some of the painting fall off. “Yes I do!!”
“HEY!”
Lenna and Crimson both turned to Tyn, who had his arms crossed and his usually sleek black hair was dangling in front of his face to make him look somewhat threatening. Unaffected, the quarrelling couple shouted.
“WHAT!?!”
Taken back by the out burst, Tyn reacted the only way he could. He shoved the two into the change room and stood firmly in the door. “You too will settle this battle royal in here.” He then slammed the door, and kept it firmly shut.
“You don’t have to. You swore you left it all behind when you got on the boat.” The man muttered, trying desperately to keep his temper in order. “What the hell has changed?”
“It has to be stopped.” Lenna snapped; her back turned to him as she unzipped her uniform top. It was a bloody tight thing, clinging to the skin so uncomfortably. Underneath was a white bikini top with blue and black floral decorations on it. “No one else seems to be trying, so maybe I should.”
“Excuse me?” He returned, in a harsher tone then before. He was stepping towards the girl, who had her burgundy turtle neck vest half up done up before he swivelled her around. “You shouldn’t. Bevelle is trying-“
“Bevelle hasn’t tried anything.” Lenna whispered, in such a tone it was as if the reaper it’s self was speaking those words. “They didn’t try when it destroyed Home, when it attacked Djose Temple, hell, I’ll be surprised if they tried anything if it attacked Bevelle.” She finished zipper up her sweater like vest before slipping on a white leather jacket with only a slight sleeve and a thick, diagonal v-neck collar. “Bevelle, as far as I’m concerned, is a dead beast damned to be secretive and useless for as long as this planet turns.”
What was Crimson supposed to say to that? Lenna was firm in her belief that Bevelle was useless, and he probably wasn’t going to be able to convince her to NOT go back to Kilika to pray to the fayth there. “What about guardians?”
Lenna stopped for a second; she was half way done pulling up her dark green, almost black cargo shorts when he had made her think. The idea of guardians hadn’t even crossed her mind until that moment. She was about to answer, when the door opened.
Tyn was standing here, a smirk on his face while he eyed the shirtless Crimson; his shirt was thrown on the bench beside his actual casual wear, and then Lenna who had her shorts halfway up.
“WELL THEN…”
“Oh shut up Tyn.” The would be summoner sighed, fully pulling up her pants before tying a side pouch around her hip and slipping on her black combat boots. “Before you even start.”
Tyn grinned as the other teammates began to file in, they all avoided Crimson, who slipped on a loose white t-shirt that had red and black checker sleeve on the right, and a yellow one on the left. His pants were loose, black leather design while a white and black checker belt held them on his hips with a circular silver buckle. Quietly he did up his combat style running shoes; an odd, yet growing fashion in Spira right now, and then turned to Lenna.
“Good luck with the whole pilgrimage thing.” That sort of remark was anything but inspiring. Lenna pursed her lips before running out the door after him.
“What’s your problem?”
He stopped, turning slowly to face the girl with an annoyed smirk. He shrugged and looked up at the ceiling as he spoke. “Why would I have a problem with it?”
“Don’t give me that.” She stomped up to him, he was a good foot taller then her, but she wasn’t afraid of Crimson, he’d never intentionally hurt her, unless they were in a blitz sphere. “If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t have pulled that stunt there.”
“You’re going off the fight SIN. What part of that wouldn’t sit well with any of your friends?”
‘That’s a… Good point.’ She remarked mentally, but she’d never give him that much credit. “Well, I’m going tomorrow, come see me off?” Crimson looked at her, she had never seen his eyes like that before. There was a new emotion in them, something that struck her as pure sadness. “Please?”
“… Alright…”
She gave a smile, a warm, comforting smile that made Crimson’s face light up a bit. “Thanks.”
That night, it wasn’t easy for Lenna to sleep. Her apartment felt empty, lacking of anything that came close to emotion. The darkness swirled around her as she tossed and turned. Her mind was racing; images of today, and the distant past were merging into one, forming twisted nightmares that were appearing before Lenna’s very eyes. She groaned, burying her face into her pillow.
Crimson… His body lay twisted and crippled in the flaming ruins of home. A pool of blood was forming as his life drained from him, leaking through the horrid gashes and jagged slash marks. His arm was still moving, desperately reaching for the small golden feather in front of him. A sacred phoenix down! Something that the power to heal critical wounds breathe new life to the unconscious, nearly dead and recently deceased. It was just out of his reach, and his legs were useless, a deep gash in his back had severed the spine completely, making anything lowering then his hips paralyzed. His other arm, it was pinned underneath the twitching body of a Sinspawn. It looked sort of like a ram, but with no horns and a snake face. Large, bat like wings were broken and sprawled across the charred ground.
He was looking at something; his arm wasn’t reaching for the feather, but pointing. Her eyes followed, but as she grew closer to the object; her sight became blurry. Something was there, the top half of it spinning while it spewed out some low, monotone rhythm.
Trapped, oh god she was trapped. The feeling overwhelmed her as the burning ruins blurred together and reformed into tomb. The stairs that connected to the center platform she was on crumbled and broke away as the dark room quaked from what sounded like a distant explosion. Lenna swivelled around, her mind racing. What had happened to Crimson? Where was she? And what was that mysterious spinning object?
Ajah ev y tnays fecrehk du cdub desa tecybbaync
Eh ouin funmt frana ajanodrehk vytac
Drec susahd oui meja huf
Ech’d y tnays...
Lenna hadn’t heard that language for a long time, it was rare to come across an Al Bhed, after that horrendous attack, most were living in the caves along the Mushroom Rock Road or beside the Moonflow. The language seemed distant to her, her mind racing to understand the little she could.
“A something…to Stop time…” Lenna concentrated, frowning as she struggled with the last word of the first verse. “Gone… Um.. No…. Damn it… Something to do with fading away…” She recalled the second and third verse. “In… your world… where everything fades… This moment you live now…”
She paused. “Ech’d y tnays… Isn’t a… Tnays?” She groaned. “What the hell is Tnays?”
Ajah huf cra nasaspanc
Dra druikrd cra ryt uh dra tyo oui mavd
Frah cra naylrat vun ouin dayn-cdnaygat lraag
Oui jyhecrat ehdu dra tynghacc
Another Al Bhed verse? Lenna hated this, her mind was running into to many blanks, yet these words had a hollow, guilty thirst to them. They ate at her as she tried to decipher them.
“Even now… She remembers…? Is that the word?” She grumbled. “OH hell… um.. The thought she had on the… day you…” Tears began to well up in the woman’s eyes. “left…” She sniffled, “when she… um… when she…” The words were coming to her, but her voice was stuck in her throat, she was gasping, struggling not to burst into tears, no realizing she had already done so. “Reached for your tear-streak cheek…”
The world around Lenna quickly disappeared, she could feel her blankets, feel her wet cheeks, and could smell salty breeze blowing in from the harbor. Her eyes quickly opened and Lenna just stared up at the ceiling.
“You vanished into darkness…”
“I’ll be there.” She whispered. “I’ll wait for you there; just remember to come see me.”
Lenna attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes and dry off her cheeks. But the salty water kept coming, dripping down and making her blanket wet. She sniffed, gasping as quietly as she could. Her mind was caught up in the horrid memory where she had left her mother to die at the hands of Sin and its disgusting ‘children’. She remembered that the Grand Measter had blamed the ‘sin followers’ some sort of twisted occult that cherished the monster instead of fearing it.
Long had these followers and contorted beings claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people, using some sort of technique to lure Sin or the largest Sinspawn that’s close by. Other times they had attack in a mini army, and of course, there was the self-destruction spell they were particularly fond off near Fayth Temples.
But that dream… The reason the Yevonite cast had given didn’t sit right with Lenna anymore. Her mind kept seeing her mother’s warm smile and sad eyes. Then it’ll all change to some sort of thing in the darkness, and why was Crimson dying? He didn’t come from Home, he wasn’t an Al Bhed.
“I… I…” She was trying to calm herself, come to reason, get her logic back. “I don’t think it was a nightmare, it was a hint… A breadcrumb…”
“Lenna?”
She looked up; Crimson was standing in the bedroom door frame, his eyes droopy, and his tank top torn and ragged. What wonderful pjs he had. A tank top that looks like it had been through something worse then Sin and boxers. Yes, typical blitzballing guy, not a care in the world. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he stared at her.
“Were you crying?”
‘Is there any sense in lying?’ She though, mindlessly sniffling. “How did you-“
“I sleep in the next room.” He smirked, walking over to her and sitting on the end of her bed. “It’s not hard to tell.”
“Were you at Home?”
“What?”
Lenna stared at Crimson, he never had spoke about his past all he had said was that he had been adopted by traveling merchants. “Were you at Home?”
“I’ve never been to Bikinel.” He said, with a reassuring tone. “Why?”
“I had a dream, you were dying. You were in the ruins of Home.”
Crimson had not expected Lenna to tell him that easily, or bluntly. Truly he had never been with ten miles of that island. “Er… Well… That sure wasn’t sugar-coated.”
She looked at the sheets. “I’m sorry.”
He chuckled, moving towards her and placing his hand in her lap. “It was just a dream.”
Tnays
“Dream…” She murmured. Lenna lit up suddenly, bounding out of bed. “Dream! Tnays means dream!”
Standing in her room, a finger pointing into the air, Lenna looked insane. Her pj shorts were hanging dangerously low and her top was ruffled and crumpled up, revealing a bit too much of her stomach. Her hair was messy, but still made her look cute and her eyes were sparkling.
“Um…” She quickly turned to Crimson, who didn’t know what to say. “Sure?”
“This moment I live now, isn’t a… Dream.” Everything fit into place, no matter how crazy it sounded.
“That’s right, because you’re awake.”
Crimson sarcastic voice made Lenna frown as she sat down beside him, resting her head in her hands. She felt her friend’s reassuring hand on her back, but she didn’t look up as she sat there, she stayed silent, looking into the palm of her hands.
“I have this uncomforting feeling I’m going to die at the end of all this…” Lenna murmured, looking up at Crimson as she spoke the words.
Crimson stared at the doorway for a while. “Don’t worry about it Lenna,” he spoke, then looking into her eyes. “I’ll be there to protect you.”
“That’s reassuring…”
“HEY!”
Lenna and Crimson laughed, shoving each other playfully as the digital clock beeped for an instance; marking a new hour.
2: 00 AM
Only five more hours before Lenna’s fateful boat ride appeared.
