Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~

Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~ is a novel sequel to Final Fantasy X-2 written by Kazushige Nojima who had written the scenario for Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. It was released on December 26th, 2013 to commemorate the release of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster. It ends with the words "To Be Continued", the story being followed up in Final Fantasy X -Will-.
The story begins directly after the Final Fantasy X-2 ending where Yuna and Tidus are reunited on the beach of Besaid, and ends with the secret ending the player views if they get 100% story completion in Final Fantasy X-2. The novel in general is vague and leaves a lot up to the reader, as opposed to explaining why everything is the way it is. It focuses on Yuna and Tidus being transported to a Besaid of 1000 years ago that greatly differs from the Besaid they know from their time. The book is divided into "Boy's Side" written from Tidus's point of view, "Girl's Side" written from Yuna's point of view, and "Boy & Girl" which involves thoughts from both. The novel contains stories from 1,000 years ago, giving background lore to the world of Spira.
==Characters==
*Tidus
*Yuna
*Wakka
*Lulu
*Rikku
*Paine
*Gullwings
**Brother
**Buddy
**Shinra
*Besaid Aurochs
The book also introduces new characters from a thousand years ago:
*Kush (true name unknown): a female summoner who studied in Bevelle.
*Velm (true name Briar): Kush's guardian, who is in love with her. He has a deep hatred of the "Bedohl", the original term for the Al Bhed.
*Ifarnal (true name Joit): a muscular male summoner who has dyed his hair red while taking pride in his physical appearance. He harbors romantic feelings for Kush and is disliked by Velm.
*Alb: An old man, leader of the Bedohl, and the engineer of the fake Bedohl.
*Anri: A young male summoner who died in the Machina War at the hand of assassin mages from Zanarkand.
*Slone: The elder brother of Anri who aided Velm in fighting against the assassins and getting revenge for the death of the Anri.
==Story==
===Boy's Side===
After reuniting with Tidus on the Besaid Island shore, Yuna, Tidus and the Gullwings return to Besaid Village along with Lulu, Wakka and the rest of the villagers. Tidus is surprised to be introduced to Vidina, Wakka and Lulu's child. On the way Tidus talks to Wakka and the Besaid Aurochs about everything that had happened in his two years of absence. During the preparations for a welcome party Yuna is busy greeting the village elders at the Besaid Temple, and Lulu explains Tidus should leave her alone for the time being.
Rikku comments Tidus hasn't changed a bit before introducing him to Paine. Mid-conversation Tidus starts making glances for Yuna which annoys Rikku, who takes back her previous statement and notes that although Tidus's appearance hasn't changed, he's not the same lighthearted Tidus he was two years ago. They talk about the Gullwings' sphere hunting activities, the three new factions of Youth League, New Yevon and the Machine Faction, as well as Yuna's reason for becoming a sphere hunter and how she had brought Tidus back with the help of the fayth. Afterwards, Wakka and Tidus talk about blitzball and the Aurochs' losses since Tidus left and Wakka attempts to confirm he is real and not an unsent.
Besaid has become a prosperous place thanks to the tourism brought on by Yuna's influence and a newly established fishery business. Wakka and the Aurochs go to the beach to practice blitzball where Wakka introduces their new boat to Tidus, the S.S. Ace, described as smaller than usual, yellow and slightly worn out. The Aurochs' trophy from the time they won the tournament with Tidus in Luca is placed on top.
Tidus meets Briar, a man of few words dispatched from Bevelle to work as a priest at Besaid Temple. Briar notices Tidus hails from the Zanarkand of a thousand years ago. After returning to the village Tidus is informed Yuna is still with the elders who had been waiting for her return since her departure with the Gullwings. Wakka explains that due to the change of beliefs and the diminishing power of Yevon's teachings, Yuna serves as a comforting presence to relieve the anxiety and uncertainty now felt by the elderly who had lived by Yevon's teachings for so many years.
Summoners used to live on Besaid Island a thousand years ago during the time of the Machina War between Bevelle and Zanarkand. Summoners are described as those with an enhanced sensitivity to pyreflies, trained to fight against Zanarkand while living a life of suppression regardless of their own desires. Summoners took the name of a "god" and once they died or became an unsent, they gave up that name, reverting to their original name with another succeeding the god's name.
Bedohl was the old name for the Al Bhed race who were treated as the lowest class in society and worked in factories manufacturing weaponry and machines and were sometimes blamed for worsening the war. The name was changed to Al Bhed by Yevon with Briar speculating the name "Al Bhed" was easier to make fun of. Fake Bedohl were robotic Bedohl created by Arb at the request of Velm to help fight the war. They wore yellow suits and goggles, wielded long wire-like whips and were extremely weak, lacking any battle prowess or agility.
Mages and assassins from Zanarkand invaded Besaid, carrying bombs that resembled blitzballs to eliminate the summoners. The guardian Velm vowed to protect his summoner Kush, and led his army of soldiers and a group of fake Bedohl to fight them. Kush went missing and Velm searched for her only to find her unconscious and half naked with Ifarnal, another summoner, in his bedroom. Ifarnal claimed it was the only way, but Velm was angered by the scene and charged at him. Velm attempted to awaken Kush when a fake Bedohl entered and slapped Kush to wake her up. Velm tried to stop the Bedohl only to be held down by Ifarnal, and Kush was awakened. A second fake Bedohl wielding a gun entered the room and killed Velm. Kush, traumatized, refused to send him to the Farplane, which Velm interpreted as her telling him to become a fiend or go to hell. He felt he deserved it and resolved to repent in hell.
It is later revealed that Velm's intention was to become Kush's "Jūshin (獣芯)" (a type of summon apparently akin to an aeon) by giving up his life for her, but was unable to achieve this due being killed by the fake Bedohl, which deepened his hatred for them. Ifarnal revealed that Kush had loved Velm and did not wish for him to become her "Jūshin", so she had requested to become Ifarnal's "Jūshin" instead so that Velm could live free, and possibly leave the island for a better life.
===Girl's Side===
The Gullwings' airship breaks down and Tidus finds Yuna has gone missing and that a storm is to hit Besaid later that night. He searches for her on the beach and boards the Aurochs' boat but ends up falling asleep in the cabin. Upon waking, he finds the boat moving in the darkness with Yuna in the captain's seat dressed in a white robe. She explains the elderly wanted to hear about her adventure with the Gullwings, and how she feels culpable for the collapse of Yevon and their teachings following the defeat of Sin, having robbed the elderly of their spiritual support. Tidus disagrees and they argue, but after making up Yuna proclaims she does not ever want to leave him.
While trying to return to Besaid, Yuna and Tidus get lost at the stormy sea and end up shipwrecked on an uninhabited island that resembles Besaid. They find two stone statues, one of which is revealed to be of someone called Luchel, and another that Tidus deems to slightly resemble O'aka XXIII, both pointing in a certain direction that leads them to the area where the village would otherwise be. There is no village, only a dense forest. Tidus hypothesizes they had traveled a thousand years into the past.
They explore the forest hoping to find a clue on how to return home when a ball rolls towards them. Tidus mistakes it as a blitzball and runs towards it while looking around for its owner. It explodes, killing Tidus and Yuna passes out from the shock. Yuna dreams of speaking to someone who claims to be a god and questions her regarding her relationship with Tidus. Yuna describes Tidus as an ordinary boy whom she met the day she became a summoner and whom she fell in love with during her pilgrimage. The god uses a combination of his power and Yuna's power to bring Tidus, saying "I will now use some of my magic, but it will not be easy." The god tells Yuna he can seal her memories of Tidus's death, but not erase them, with the possibility of them returning if something were to act as a trigger.
===Boy & Girl===
Yuna is awoken by Tidus and they find themselves alone in a room with a smell similar to the priests' rooms in Besaid Temple. Making their way out into a stone corridor, they find it resembles the Besaid Cloister of Trials, only different in pattern and design. In the main hall they come across the statues of the gods people worshiped before the time of Yevon: Kush, goddess of food and shelter; Velm, god of safety; Slone, god of quenching regret; Arb, god of knowledge; Luchel; god of war, Kanaela; goddess of protection from darkness; Meiyou, goddess of light; and Guarudo, god of rest.
They search for the fayth to no avail before leaving the temple and come across a frail woman called Kush from Bevelle. She is not the goddess as per the statue, but had only borrowed that name. She explains about the role of summoners in war and the Bedohl and asks Yuna and Tidus what the brightest shining star in the sky is called. While Tidus answers the "Blitz Star", Yuna answers "Nightberry". Kush deems both incorrect with the correct answer being "The Eye of Anri". Yuna understands this is a different world and Kush disperses into pyreflies.
Yuna senses the presence of another summoner and tells Tidus they must meet with him to find a way back home. Tidus senses danger and tells Yuna to run, but Yuna hesitates as she fears Tidus will disappear like Kush. Yuna has a vision of Kush in the forest with her guardian, Velm, and hears the voice of the summoner she is searching for, but is told that a certain girl must be killed by Tidus if they wish to return home together.
Back on Besaid, Wakka and the villagers search for the missing Yuna and Tidus as well as the Aurochs' boat and only recover the Aurochs' trophy at sea. Briar aids in the search when he is approached by a suspicious Lulu, asking why he came to Besaid. He answers it was to protect the temple from the recent thefts and help the elderly with daily chores. Lulu claims she had witnessed people transform into fiends by the ruins while shouting out "Briar! Briar!". Briar denies, saying she misheard it, but knows it's true.
Later that night Briar ponders his past and the phenomenon of people starting to turn into fiends. He mentions not seeing the fiend of a certain Yevon priest to whom he made a promise and looks up into the sky, saying "(That star) is not the Eye of Anri, but Nightberry". Briar had a wife named Mero who was killed by Yevon soldiers, and a daughter called Luchel who was requested to change her name to Moura by a priest before being married off.
He runs into Buddy, Brother, Rikku and Shinra, and gets irritated hearing them speak Al Bhed. Upon seeing Shinra, he shouts "What the hell is a Bedohl doing here?!", and attempts to attack before being knocked out by Paine and tied up in Besaid Temple. Briar remembers his past as Kush's guardian, Velm, witnessing a Bedohl slap Kush awake before being shot by another fake Bedohl, which explains his hatred for them.
Curious as to what "Bedohl" are, Shinra questions Briar who explains the origins of the Al Bhed. He tricks Shinra into releasing him by promising to repair their airship before knocking him out and escaping. Briar realizes he is an unsent from a thousand years ago, and now that he has acknowledged it he does not have much time left.
Back in the other world Yuna tells Tidus she wants to be alone for a while and goes out for a walk, but does not return, leaving Tidus worried. While Tidus is looking at Luchel's statue Kush appears and explains she is a "Jūshin". She makes a bargain with him to grant him the power to return to his world on the condition he finds the "Kush" in his world and kills her for both him and Yuna to return together. Tidus does not understand and she tells him a man called Briar will know. She grants him a power that allows Tidus to return by imagining his destination and running, and Tidus returns to the Besaid of his world.
Meanwhile Yuna, still in the other world, thinks about her time spent with Tidus so far and how she wants them to understand each other's suffering. Yuna remembers what the god in her dream told her and about how he wants a certain girl killed, but is reluctant to tell Tidus about it as she knows he would carry out the order for her sake. She runs into Kush standing at an altar who tells her about the summoner Ifarnal from one thousand years ago who was the one who appeared in her dream and helped bring back Tidus. Ifarnal's real name is Joit, born in a place called Muruka, otherwise known as Luca in Yuna's world. Kush asks about Yuna's feelings for Tidus, to which she replies that being with him was somewhat painful. Kush explains that Tidus had understood her desire to be alone, an understanding of which Kush herself envies.
Yuna spots the names of the gods carved on a stone beside the altar from which summoners and guardians adopted their names: Luchel, Guari, Arb, Velm, Kanaela, Slone, Meiyou, Mikka, Gekko, Romando, Anri, Ifarnal and Kush. Kush makes a deal with Yuna that she will bring her to Ifarnal provided that Yuna does not send her to the Farplane before shining brightly and dispersing into pyreflies.
Yuna finds herself on a rusty boat with a skinny old man with long white hair who is revealed to be Ifarnal, now known as Joit. He explains he is no longer the muscular redhead he once was, and that the name "Ifarnal", or god of beauty, is no longer appropriate for him. He tells her about the fayth and that while in Yuna's world they were created by Yunalesca for summoners to fight Sin, the fayth during the Machina War were created by the summoners themselves with the help of someone they shared deep feelings with. Ifarnal shows Yuna a scene in which she blushes in embarrassment. Ifarnal apologizes, and explains there are "easier" ways to make a fayth. The summoner and fayth must share a mutual sympathy to summon an aeon, something which Joit says he was not able to do adequately. He explains the island she was on was "summoned" by him, created with the use an uncountable number of fayth.
Ifarnal tells Yuna to go down into the cabin, which reeks of dead bodies. Inside is a chocobo surrounded by pyreflies, i.e. another "summon". Yuna encounters four fake Bedohl, three male and one female, holding what looks like a blitzball, the one that exploded on Tidus. Joit explains they, along with him, had escaped the island during the war on this boat but ended up having to return after one week due to there being too many enemies at sea. By that time the war had settled, and the era of the temples and Yevon began, leading to the execution of the Bedohl.
Yuna asks if the boat is real or a summon, and Joit replies it must be real as he stopped the summon, unable to continue due to inadequate bonding with the fayth. Yuna dashes outside, realizing they have returned to the Besaid of her world. A mass of pyreflies gathers to form Briar, whom Yuna remembers as the man who was dispatched from Bevelle to Besaid. Joit and Briar know each other (as they were Ifarnal and Velm in their past). They argue how Ifarnal betrayed Velm by taking Kush and using her as his "Jūshin". Ifarnal orders the Bedohl on board to eliminate Briar using the bomb, which misses and starts rolling towards Joit. Joit tells Briar how Kush loved him and grieved greatly to the point of her own deterioration before the ball explodes, with Joit vanishing into pyreflies. Briar asks where Kush is, to which Yuna replies she does not know, deciding to keep quiet about Tidus's order from Ifarnal to kill her. Briar realizes the reason he is able to exist like this is because he was beckoned by Kush's feelings, which he deems as proof she must be safe. Now alone on the boat, Yuna tries to whistle, believing Tidus will come running, but hesitates.
Meanwhile, Besaid Village is in chaos as everyone interrogates Tidus on Yuna's whereabouts. Tidus explains that to bring Yuna back they must find Briar as per his order from Kush, and the village begins a search in the ruins. Tidus remembers Briar had told him about his main reason for coming to Besaid: to fulfill a promise he made to a priest to research the ruins and machina on Besaid and file a report to Bevelle.
Tidus recalls the power Kush had given him and dashes off, leaving Wakka and the rest of the villagers bewildered. He tries to imagine Yuna, hoping that Kush's power will help him reach her, and finds her at the beach. Tidus explains to her about Kush and the power she gave him, and how he must find her. Using the power, they find a frail Kush sitting in a chair. Yuna sees she is just a beckoning. Briar appears, relieved to reunite with Kush. He thanks Tidus and Yuna for helping them meet before they disappear together. With Kush gone, the power she had granted Tidus vanishes and Yuna and Tidus return to Besaid.
Tidus and Yuna travel to Zanarkand by foot due to the airship still not flying. They stand on the spot where they once had a bonfire during her pilgrimage and Yuna asks Tidus if he's real and not just a dream. She smiles, praying they can be together forever. 
==Reception==
The novella has been received negatively by many Japanese fans.
==External links==
*Square Enix e-Store
*Amazon.co.jp
*
==References==
es:Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~
pt-br:Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~
Category:Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~
Eien no Daishō
Eien no Daishō