There are many things to be said about Maln. However, the things to be said about him that are true narrow things down. Adding to that the factor of polite company, ‘many’ suddenly becomes ‘few.’ And then, if one ever wanted to say anything good about him, without wandering into the realm of the abstract, vagueness and a thesaurus would be one’s best answer, but they would still be hard-pressed to come up with anything.
No one had lived long enough to notice it—and remained conscious—but if honor is truly a virtue, then qualified as a homicidal, xenophobic saint.
Maln wasn’t stupid either, but that was hardly a laudable trait, considering his actions.
Then again, considering his actions, perhaps he wasn’t.
Staring down Sin was never considered a smart move—brave, yes, smart… not really. Being in Sin’s way wasn’t on anyone’ top ten list of brilliant ideas, either. Yet, there he was, doing both and in addition to his current stupidity, he was cocking a gun to aim at it.
It was not going to be a good day for intelligence.
Sin, though, had seen something as it’s host had read Seymour’s mind. Again, it had found something unique and intriguing reading Yuna’s mind, in Anzi’s, and now, the last of the half-breeds also offered up some strange mental quirk.
Unwittingly, those who had the most will to stop the thing—whether a sense of justice, redemption, or because it was in their way—had given the most powerful destructive force that which would make it exponentially worse: a sense of humor.
The irony of someone out to kill what they were half of, the fact that a berserker, one who dove straight into a maelstrom of sharp blades and flying bullets, had lasted so much longer and with better luck than his enemies, and the damn unseen honor in such a person made it laugh.
For most people, seeing a corpse laugh would have scared them half to death and all he way to the next continent and a new pair of pants. For Maln, who didn’t care too much for what passed as reality—and thus never questioned it, or its lack thereof, he barely batted an eye, which was single, but far more real than sin’s two, as it left, walking past him and still laughing.
One of the ironies sin had seen, but Maln hadn’t, was that one with such a wrong sense of justice, tough he cared little about the end of humanity—and all other races—was territorial enough about his grudges that they were his to keep and exact that he had already vowed to go after Sin again. The end of the world would have to wait until he was done being pissed and shooting people. It would not be the other way around.
Maln uncocked the gun and walked the other way. His strange sense of duty was about to be seen by human eyes—well, Gaudo eyes to be exact.
…………………….
"So…" Tidus said, breaking the silence like a four-year old dropping antique porcelain on concrete.
Nevertheless, Yuna turned to him and smiled. Whether the world was ending or not, Tidus would always be Tidus. Yuna thought it was a good thing—though it was never actually helpful.
"…What’s going on?" Tidus asked. "I mean, recently? It’s always the recent stuff that’s trying to kill me, you can fill me in on the past later."
"Promise you won’t get mad?" Yuna asked
"Why would I get mad?" Tidus asked, without thinking—as always.
"It’s a long story."
"They always are," Tidus said, disappointed that it didn’t cheer up Yuna. "Well, hey, whatever it is, I’ve probably done worse."
"I got married."
"We all make mistakes."
"…To Seymour."
"I’ve dated worse." Tidus suddenly started to think. His attempts at cheering up Yuna were proving as successful as trying to bail water out of a sinking boat with a sponge. "I promise not to get mad as long as you explain to me that he’s not trying to kill everyone."
Yuna sighed. She decided to try explaining. Maybe Tidus could be convinced not to Kill Seymour. He was easily convinced of a lot of things. It was the other way around she was worried about. Seymour thought too much. Damn him and his constant thinking.
…………………
Anzi awoke uneasily. She was cold. She had been cold all through her sleep and now she realized it wasn’t a dream.
She opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on snow. Cold, wet, snow. And the day was going to prove that she should have stayed in bed.
Something whizzed passed her ear and her instincts told her that it couldn’t be good. Then again, Tidus could have told it couldn’t be good.
She turned over and saw it was her kitchen knife. She sat up and looked in the direction from which it had been thrown. Perched on a rock, like a feline predator suffering from catnip withdrawal, sat Maln, who smiled at her.
It had been three seconds after she had woken up and there was a mass-murder grinning at her.
"Thought you might want that back," he said. As much as his true intention had been politeness, he hardly conveyed it in his speech. He hardly conveyed the fact that he was uninterested in killing her to her, but he hadn’t grown up in polite society; he’d grown up in dead society, and they don’t have manners.
Cautiously, Anzi picked it up and tucked it back into her dress.
"You were gonna kill it, weren’t you?" he asked.
Anzi nodded.
"Thing wants to go straight through the landscape. You can catch up with it if you take the road."
"Why do you care?" she asked.
"Jyscal hired me to keep you alive. With all your limbs attached."
"How nice of you."
"So, you gonna go chase it?"
"Her. I’m going after her. I made her a promise. And I’m going to make up for that thing breaking it."
"Whatever."
"You’re the one with the guns, why don’t you kill it."
For a moment, one single moment, Maln looked pensive, as if he were pondering deeper things in life than who to kill. The problem with having one reality is that we can never know if such things so anomalous damage it, or it merely changes to encompass such strange happenings.
The moment of possible philosophy came to an end, in both narrative and character.
"I don’t like the smell."
……………………….
Zanarkand, more than ever, was nothing more than a mockery of any glory it had formerly held.
Even in as a tourist attraction, people remembered the summoners who had once passed through here.
Now it was covered with dying monkeys, full of mange and disease and teeth. After the population explosion, and no predators to control their numbers, the monkeys ran out of food and succumbed to disease.
No longer cute, and far too territorial and willing to pick fights even with inanimate objects, the new residents of Zanarkand made Dona seem downright pleasant.
Of course, in times of financial and environmental disaster, there is always someone—often a long list of someones—better for the job than who you get. But, in all situations, who you get is who you get.
Isaruu, whether a dreamer, just plain stubborn, or completely at a loss, got his brother and group of vigilantes.
His younger brother.
………………………
Paine had tried to follow the creature, but lost it. She had followed the main road, but there was no sign. Somehow, she had wound up here earlier than it.
The only sign of destruction was a dying campfire and a few monkey carcasses in a heap next to it.
"Oh, shit," she muttered. There were people here.
She ran to the temple. What idiot would be here after everything that had happened?
She ran along the deserted path.. She ran up the broken steps. She ran over fallen roofs and up smashed walls. She ran right into Isaruu.
"What’s going on here?" she asked first.
"Pacce and the others are trying to get all the monkeys out of here."
"here are kids here?"
"Well, no one else is here, and no one’s been bitten so far."
"We have to get them out of here. Now," Paine said.
"Before its too late," Sin’s voice echoed through the broken halls.
"Shit…" Paine said.
"I take it that’s why?" Isaruu asked.
Paine nodded.
"You get the kids out the back way, I’ll try to distract it."
"Distract it?" Isaruu asked. "What is it?"
"It’s about to put you back in business," Paine said and ran off.
"You again?" the monster asked meeting up with Paine. It wasn’t doing to well. Blasting through mountains in a body that poisoned it had drained it. Whatever was left of it was peeling off. The clothes were entirely gone, the swollen belly was now exposed. It walked with a limp. Most of the hair had fallen off with the skin. "This was the first place someone defeated something like me, wasn’t it?"
"It’s gonna be the last," Paine said.
"You seem so sure," it said.
There was a blur of color and suddenly, Sin was on the floor, and Anzi was on top of it.
"Anzi?" Paine yelled. Now she couldn’t attack, she night hit Anzi.
"I made a promise!" Anzi yelled, tears coming from her eyes. "Damn you Jyrrin! Damn you and everything you did!" She held her butcher knife up and plunged it, again and again, on the thing’s belly. Paine just stood there.
The thing screamed, blood, fresh blood, began to ebb from the wounds. IT grabbed Anzi by the neck but she kept stabbing.
The thing rolled over and threw Anzi off with a blast, sending her knife smashing against the wall, Anzi rolling along the floor and down a hole in the ‘floor’ of tiles and broken pillars, and Paine falling backwards.
"Paine!" Isaruu cried.
"Not you again!" she said, pinking herself up. "I told you to get out of here!"
"A summoner…" the thing said. "Such an irony…"
"Don’t touch my brother!" someone shouted from the shadows, throwing a rock at the things soon followed by another, and another.
The thin turned around. The person stepped out of the shadows to grab another rock, which they didn’t hesitate in throwing again.
"Pacce!"
"Wouldn’t dream of it," the things said, ignoring the rocks and making a fast grab for the kid.
The two dissolved into a huge dark sphere. Wind began blowing towards or, more precisely (unless you know physics) things were being sucked in. Small stones, large debris, a screaming monkey that lost its’ grip flew into the tiny black hole. Paine and Isaruu were knocked over.
The whole place was going black, Paine couldn’t tell if the light was fading or if it was all the dust in the air. She closed her eyes.
Suddenly, the giant ball exploded, a black nova before dying away entirely.
For an instant, Zanarkand was nothing but black.
The occupants in the airship above were aghast, fearing for a second that the whole city had been swallowed.
Far off, in Guadosalam, heads turned in the direction of the blast. Though none could see it, all the Guado knew something had happened, though they had no clue what.
No one saw, in a quiet, still room, someone opened their eyes. Sin was back, and a alive. He’d face it again. On different terms.