Final Fantasy X: The Orphan of Zanarkand

[nekoktty4]

This is the first ever Final Fantasy story I've ever tried writing. Tell me how I did.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The high court of Zanarkand is now in session, will the defendant please rise as the high judges enter the courtroom.” Commanded the bailiff standing next to the high judges’ long, wooden desk that was bathed in shafts of light coming from two spotlights fixed on the walls. The defendant, who was nothing more then a teenager herself, stood up and took a step into another shaft of light that was trained on her as five older, but still dignified looking, men in judges robes entered the room and sat down behind the desk.

“Ex-summoner Aurora.” Addressed the judge sitting in the middle of the group to the girl standing in front of them as she looked up at them, her normally bright and shimmering green eyes were narrowed and filled with resentment and hatred towards the men staring at her. “You are being accused of being a traitor to the city, trying to sabotage the army’s battle plans, and for breaking the oath that you took when you became a summoner.” Continued the judge as she just continued to glare hatefully at them.

“These are serious charges that this court and our fair city cannot overlook…” Added the judge sitting at the right end of the desk as she glanced over at him. “Now, please, tell this court what possessed you to commit these crimes.” He added as Aurora dropped her head to gaze at the handcuffs encircling her wrists as her long, flaming red hair that was tied up in a high ponytail, with braids of various lengths running through it, fell forward and along with her bangs obscured her expression from the judges.

“Well?” Snapped the judge sitting next to the previous one who had spoken when she didn’t answer.
“Let’s hear your defense!” He added sounding annoyed as he eyed the ex-summoner’s clothing disgustedly. The outfit she chose to wear was completely horrendous! He didn’t know how she could go from her modest summoner’s garbs to something like that. He knew she had been a gun mage before becoming a summoner, but still…! Her current clothing showed too much skin in all the wrong places, or that’s what the judge thought at least. His eyes trailed from her maroon, thigh-high boots to her maroon, low-rise shorts that ended barely below her butt. His eyes rose to her top, which was nothing more than an extremely tight, green tube top covered with a maroon, button less, long sleeved jacket that ended slightly below her top. It had a slight collar that was sticking up and three buckles running down both her upper arms keeping the material tight against her skin until it reached her elbows where the sleeves then belled out till they reached her hands, which were clad in black, fingerless gloves. She also had the symbol for Zanarkand embroidered on the back of her jacket in green, a round pendant hung from her neck that had the same symbol indented in it, and she also had her beaded summoner’s belt tied loosely around her waist.

“Why don’t you all just stop this bullshit right now…?”

“Hm?” Asked the judge, who had spoken before, surprised as he was startled out of his inspection of her form, which he thought for a 16 year old girl was pretty well defined already.

“Would you mind repeating that?” Asked the judge sitting in the middle leaning forward in his seat as the accused shoulders began to tremble angrily.

“I said, ‘why don’t you all stop this bullshit right now?!’” Fumed Aurora angrily snapping her head up to look at them with eyes that were ablaze with an unchecked fury that momentarily frightened the judges enough to make them flinch before regaining their composers’.

“I-I’d watch you tongue girl when you’re in the presence of the high judges…!” Stammered the one on the right slightly before he could catch himself and smooth his voice out.

“If you continue with these outbursts you could be…”

“Punished?” Asked Aurora angrily as she narrowed her eyes at the judge on the right.

“Don’t make me laugh!” She added chuckling dryly as the judges briefly glanced at each other.

“You know as damn well as I do that I can’t pull my butt out of this fire! I’ll be found guilty on all three accounts and will probably be jailed for the rest of my life, because I know for a fact that you wouldn’t dare execute a summoner for fear of what the people would think! Especially now, right in the middle of the war with Bevelle! And, for what…?” She added lowering her voice as she looked down at the ground. “Just because I know one piece of information that could cause the whole entire city, including the summoners, to revolt against the government…?”

“And, what ‘one piece of information’ would that be?” Asked the judge in the middle leaning back in his chair while folding his hands together on the desk in front of him.

“Oh, like you’re trying to tell me you don’t know?” Asked Aurora sarcastically looking up as the judges, who just stared at her looking confused. She sighed slightly before explaining, “That the army’s going to have the higher summoners execute all the lower summoners after they’ve pushed back the Bevelle army just so they can get all the credit for the victory.”

“Oh, that…” Replied the judge on the left as all the other judges looked at each other and chuckled slightly acting like that piece of information was part of an inside joke.

“What? You already know! And, you’re not trying to stop them?!” Exclaimed Aurora dumbstruck as the judges chuckled some more.

“Of course we’re not going to try and stop them…” Replied the judge in the middle looking over at her as she looked him straight in the eyes with a pleading look. She was begging him to tell her that this was one big dream, that she did not just hear him say that. “Who do you think gave them the permission to do it?”

“What?!” Exclaimed Aurora as her whole word just shattered and crumbled to pieces around her. She could feel it crumbling, giving away from beneath her feet. She couldn’t believe this… The city she had trusted… The city she had been a summoner for… It betrayed her… Utterly, and completely betrayed her… She never knew the government would do this to its summoners… She thought they meant more to them… But, apparently not… In the government’s eyes they were just disposable tools… She continued to stare at the judges, who were still laughing but it seemed to be happening in slow motion to her. “Why…?” She heard herself ask a few seconds later. She just had to know why…? What had possessed them to give the army permission to do something like this…?

“That… I’m afraid is not for you to know, young lady.” Replied the judge sitting on the right side as Aurora’s perception of the room around her snapped back to normal as her ears registered his answer.

“What…? Why?!” Screeched Aurora angrily as the judges all smirked amusedly at her.

“Is that all you have to say in your defense?” Asked the judge sitting next to the middle’s left side.

"What?! My defense?!” Roared Aurora almost losing it. “How can you even say that to me!? I’m not the one who did anything wrong! It’s the government that committed the crime, not me! The only injustice that was committed in this city was by you, not me!”

“I’ll take that as a no…” Added the same judge as he jotted something down on a piece of paper in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter what I say, does it…?” Asked Aurora suddenly realizing her predicament.

“I’m still going to be falsely accused…”

“Well, now that you’ve figured it all out, it’ll make this case easier.” Said the middle judge suddenly as the ex-summoner narrowed her eyes at him. “Ex-summoner Aurora, we hereby declare you guilty of all three charges! And, since we cannot kill you because you were once a summoner… We sentence you to life imprisonment. Guards? Take her away.”

“Wait!” Exclaimed Aurora angrily as two guards approached her and grabbed her roughly by the arms. “Stop this right now! These actions will not go unpunished!” She added as the guards started to drag her away.

“Stop…” Ordered the middle judge as the guards stopped and turned around confusion written on their faces. “What do you mean…?”

“Heh. You really think you can get away with this?” Asked Aurora icily as the judges stared at her obviously confused. “Mark my words. Someday this city will get what it deserves… Somehow… Someway…”

“Hmph! Empty threats from a broken summoner!” Spat the judge on the left side disgustedly. “How pathetic… Guards! Get her out of our sight!”

“This city will pay for what it is doing!” Exclaimed Aurora while she was being dragged through the doors to the courtroom. “Just wait! Your day will come…!” She added before the double doors slammed shut cutting her voice off in the middle of her sentence.

“Hmph!” Chuckled one of the guards holding her arms after the doors had closed and they proceeded to escort her down the hallway. “Did you really think you could win?” He added glancing at the ex-summoner, who was looking straight down the hallway, head held high. “That’s what I thought…” He added a few seconds later when the girl didn’t answer him, he began to chuckle again as Aurora looked over at the wall as something caught her eye.

“No way…” Breathed Aurora amazed as she spotted a pretty, brown haired teenager leaning against the wall, clad in a blue and white ruffled shirt with a black lace skirt, tan and brown knee-high boots, and multi-colored beads strung in her hair. “Lenne!” She exclaimed happily stopping even against the protest of the guards escorting her as the girl flinched at the sound of her name before pushing herself off the wall and walking over to the trio. “Lenne! I’m so happy to see you! But, what are you doing here…?” She asked trailing off as soon as Lenne got close enough that Aurora could see that her friend’s normally happy and bright chocolate brown eyes were narrowed angrily. “Lenne… What’s wrong?” She added as the girl in question’s fist balled angrily before starting to tremble.

“Traitor…” Whispered Lenne.

“What…?”

“Traitor!” Yelled Lenne angrily tears flooding down her face as she lashed out with her hand.

The guards smirked happily as the sharp sound of Lenne’s hand meeting with Aurora’s cheek rented the air around them. “Lenne!” Exclaimed Aurora shocked as she stumbled back, a red hand mark already forming on her face as her friend spun on her heels and quickly walked away. “Lenne!” She yelled as her friend retreating form disappeared from sight down the hallway. “Lenne!”

“Come on!” Snapped one of the guards not being able to hide the amusement in his voice a couple seconds later as they dragged their now more willing prisoner down the hallway towards the jail cells located at the other end of the building.

“Enjoy your new home…” Commented one of the guards comically as he removed the handcuffs from the ex-summoner’s wrists and pushed her into the jail cell with such a force that she flew forward before connecting painfully with the floor. The guard quickly closed the cell door and glanced in to see that she hadn’t, and didn’t look like she intended to, move from her spot on the floor as he mumbled softly before walking away, “Pathetic…”

************************
Aurora sighed sounding bored as she gazed out of her jail cell’s only window, which happened to have a very nice ocean view, watching the sun go down. She watched as the blazing ball of fire slowly slipped below the horizon line lighting the evening sky and the ocean, which was a perfect reflection of the sky, up with every color of the rainbow. As the sun slipped further down the sky and ocean began to glow a rosy color as the streaked sky seem to be getting more different colors running through it as every second passed. It reminded her of a painting… though she highly doubted that an artist would have that many different colors. She resisted the urge to yawn as she propped her elbows on the window’s ledge and placed her chin in her upturned hands. She continued to watch as the sun disappeared from sight as the rosy color started to fade as tiny dots of light began to shine on the water. It was the lights from the city. Soon, the whole ocean was ablaze with lights, reflecting the metropolis’ skyline almost perfectly. It almost seemed as if she was staring, not at a reflection of her city, but at a beautiful city built under the sea. Aurora sighed almost sounding happy as she smiled slightly; it wasn’t the most exciting thing to watch… But… When you’ve been stuck in a jail cell for a little over two weeks, little things like the setting sun, or rising sun for that matter, became major entertainment for her. She then stuck her pinky fingers in her mouth and started to chew on her fingernails as more and more of the metropolis’ lights blink on.

“Huh…?” Gasped Aurora softly lifting her head off of her hands as the reflection of the city skyline suddenly disappeared! “What the…?” She added quietly leaning forward as the sound of sloshing water hit her ears, it sounded like something big was moving through the water. “What is that sound…?” She whispered as she leaned over as far as she could pressing her forehead against the cold metal bars running across the window so she could see a litter bit better. “What the…?!” She exclaimed softly as the lights from the city suddenly caught the outline of a huge creature moving through the water. “What the hell is that?!” She asked frightened as she pushed herself away from the window falling straight on her butt. Whatever it was it was huge! It easily towered over the parliament building, which was easily at least five stories tall, and was at least double the length of the building. At first she thought that this creature was a marine fiend until she realized that there was no marine fiend on record of that size. If it wasn’t a fiend, then what was it…?

“Sin…” Replied an old and raspy sounding voice from behind her.

“What…?” Asked Aurora looking over her shoulder at her cellmate of only a couple of days, who had to be at least 50 or 60 years old with a hat currently pulled down over his eyes. She had honestly thought he had been asleep so that’s why she had tried to be quiet. “Sin?” She added questioningly as her cellmate sat up pushing his hat back up to cover his wispy and wild white hair with one hand.

“Yeah.”

“What’s Sin?”

“What? You mean you don’t know?” Asked the older man as Aurora shook her head no. He raised a white and bushy eyebrow at her in disbelief, who didn’t know about Sin…? “Oh, that’s right… You’re the accused traitor. So, you’ve been in here for a couple of weeks, eh? So, you couldn’t have heard.”

“What is it, then?” Asked Aurora standing up and turning to face him.

“No one knows.” Replied the older man swinging his legs over so he could sit at the edge of his bunk. The ex-summoner raised an eyebrow at him as he added, “But, that thing is certainly no normal creature… Not with the power it contains…”

“What do you mean?”

“It leveled Bevelle…”

“What?!” Exclaimed Aurora shocked. “The capital city’s gone?!”

“Yep.”

“Does that mean Yevon’s gone, too?”

“No, a couple of the religious leaders survived and are desperately trying to hold Yevon together. But, even in Yevon’s disheveled state the leaders still had their heads together enough to speculate where Sin came from.”

“What did they think?” Asked Aurora walking over to him and kneeling down in front of him.

“Well, they think that Sin’s a punishment for our vanity…”

“Our vanity…? For what?”

“For using machina during the war. They think it’s our punishment for letting the war get too out of hand. And, guess what? I heard that Sin’s supposed to be headed for Zanarkand next. That this city’s its next target. Maybe, that’s why it was circling out there… Maybe, it was checking Zanarkand out… Searching for the right way to attack…”

“Maybe…” Replied Aurora distantly as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. Sin… A punishment… for using machina…? “That’s ridiculous!” She added suddenly sounding a tad annoyed after she thought about it. “Blaming machina? That’s like blaming the ocean, the air, or even Chocobos for the appearance of Sin!”

“I know…” Added the older man sympathetically shaking his head. “It is ridiculous. But, you know what? I have my own theory on where it came from…”

“Tell me.”

“Sin appeared a little over a week ago right after the city publicly announced the outcome of the battle with Bevelle. I mean, literally, the day after it was announced that all the lower summoners had been killed in battle by the higher summoners in a desperate move to keep the army from Bevelle from breaking through Zanarkand’s defenses on the prairie.”

“Really…?” Asked Aurora slowly while eyeing him curiously.

“Yep. And, I think that Sin’s appearance has something to do with that battle. I mean, why would Sin attack Bevelle first, level the whole city, then head straight for Zanarkand? Sounds too fishy to me…”

“You’re right. That does sound fishy.” Added a voice as the older man looked over surprised as Aurora quickly stood up as the door to their cell swung open revealing two guards and one of the judges from her court hearing two weeks ago.

“What do you want?” Asked Aurora icily as the judge stared at her surprised.

“You mean you’re not happy to see me?” Asked the judge sounding slightly hurt.

“As happy as I’d be if I had a hangnail…”

“Well…” Replied the judge chuckling slightly. “I’m so glad I rate so highly with you. Now, follow us.” He added holding his hand out to her.

“Follow you where?” Asked Aurora backing up slightly as the two guards slipped past the judge and into the room.

“We have found the perfect punishment for you that doesn’t evolve us killing you.” Added the judge as one of the guards grabbed her wrists and quickly handcuffed her hands together in front of her. “But, we will be putting you to your death and hopefully saving the city at the same time…”

“What do you mean?!” Asked Aurora angrily as the guards started to drag her out of the room.

The judge smirked as he grabbed her arm causing the two guards to stop as he leaned in and replied quietly, “We’re going to sacrifice you to Sin…”

“What!” Yelled Aurora her temper flaring. “You can’t do that!”

“We can, and we will.” Replied the judge walking away.

“You asshole!” Yelled Aurora breaking free of the guards grip and running towards the judge with the full intent of knocking him over and hurting him whatever way she could. She gasped sliding to a stop as another guard darting in front of the judge, who had stopped and turned around with an amused look on his face, holding a gun out in front of him.

“You will stop there.” Ordered the guard simply pointing the muzzle of the gun at her.

“So, you think you’re a big man, huh?” Asked Aurora coldly as she slowly walked forward until the muzzle was pressed against the soft skin of her neck. “Fine. Then shoot me. I’d rather be killed by you then mutilated by Sin.” She added as the guard raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Go ahead, big man! Shoot me, already!”

“What a strange girl you are…” Commented the guard as he pulled back on the gun’s hammer cocking it. “But, if you seem to want you death so badly, then fine, have it.” He added wrapping his finger around the trigger.

“Stop!” Yelled the judge rushing over and slapping the gun away from the ex-summoners throat. The girl didn’t even flinch as the gun went off and the bullet missed her completely impacting the wall behind her. “You idiot!” He roared smacking the guard upside the head. “I told you a million times! We can’t kill her directly! So, that’s why were sacrificing her to Sin!”

Aurora snorted softly looking over at the judge, who closed his eyes and muttered something inaudibly. She was about to say something when the feeling of extreme tiredness washed over her. “Huh…” She muttered groggily as her mind started to cloud up and her eyes started to droop. “Using… a sleep… spell, huh? How… low…” She murmured as her mind finally gave in to what we humans call sleep as her body slumped to the floor.

“What a troublesome child…” Commented the judge glancing at the ex-summoner before turning around. “Guards! Pick her up and follow me! The sooner we get her out of the city, the sooner I’ll feel safer!” He added walking away as the three guards walked over to her sleeping form.
*************************
“Hmm?” Groaned Aurora opening her eyes slightly picking her upper body off the ground. She blinked a few times before the feeling of tiredness finally wore off. She looked up and gasped her eyes widening as they befell the strangest sight. Zanarkand! Or, what looked like Zanarkand if you were standing on the top of the stadium and the city spread out for eternity around you. That was the amazing part; the city never seemed to end! It kept going and going into the distance until you couldn’t see any farther. She looked around the floating platform she was standing on. But, it wasn’t a platform at all… It was the floor of the stadium with a couple of sections of stands floating around it. “What is this place…?” She asked even though she kind of knew she wasn’t going to get an answer.

“The future…” Replied a slightly familiar voice from behind her.

Aurora gasped scared as she whirled around to face a very familiar face… One she had seen in her dreams a million times before… “Bahamut! What are you doing here? And, where is here?” She asked the small hooded fayth, who looked up at her. “And, what are you talking about? The future…?”

“It will begin soon…” The fayth replied.

“What will begin soon?” Asked Aurora taking a step towards the small child-like form.

“Our hope…”
*******************************
“Hm…?” Murmured Aurora softly waking up from the sleep spell she had been placed under to the intense smell of flowers. “What…?” She added picking her upper body off the ground before she rubbed her eyes sleepily with her right hand. “Where am I…?” She continued looking down to see that she was lying in the middle of a patch of wildflowers, with a particularly long-stemmed flower was swaying in the breeze right in front of her nose. She smiled slightly at the pretty purple flower before she stood up and stretched, raising her arms up over her head, as she breathed deeply, inhaling the sweet smell of the flowers she was standing in. She then placed her hands behind her head as she looked around just to make sure that there no guards around. When she visually confirmed that there were no guards around she giggled goofily. She was free! “But, where to go first?” She wondered out loud rocking back and forth on her heels a couple of times before stepping forward only to have her foot bump into something hard.

“Huh?” Gasped Aurora a little surprised looking down to see her dual pistols, their holsters strung on a thick belt, and blue magic gun lying on the ground in front of her. She groaned as the memory of why exactly she was out here on the prairie popped into her head. “That’s right…” She added sadly. “I’m supposed to be a sacrifice for Sin…” She murmured as she bent over and picked her blue magic gun, which looked like a short rocket launcher, up off the ground and slung it over her shoulder, adjusting the shoulder strap slightly. She then bent down to retrieve the belt unclipping it in the process before she wrapped it around her waist clipping it into place. She quickly adjusted her beaded summoner’s belt, which was the only thing she had from when she was a summoner, so the two loose ends hung down on either side of the right holster before she stooped down to retrieve her pistols. She placed one in its holster and was about to do the same to the other when she stopped. Tears quickly formed in her eyes as she ran her thumb across the gun’s side, which had a strange pattern indented on it. Apparently, from what she was told, these weapons were found lying alongside of her when the orphanage found her cradled in a basket on their front steps. She had naturally assumed that these weapons were gifts from her parent and vowed to learn how to use them perfectly. Which she had… With grim accuracy with the pistols and with the strongest spells painstakingly found and loaded into the blue magic gun.

Aurora closed her eyes briefly as she returned the gun to its rightful place before reaching up and whipping the tears away before they began to spill down her face. She was never a crier, even when she was younger, and she certainly wasn’t about to start now. That’s what being an orphan of Zanarkand did to you, she guessed, because all of her other orphaned friends were like that. Even though they had all lived in a nice and comfortable orphanage didn’t change the face that they loved to roam the streets, and spent most of their waking moments wandering the colorful and brightly lit streets of the city. She sighed sadly knowing that she would never be able to back… To her old life… To Zanarkand… for that matter… She was a traitor… Now, and forever…

“Well, no point moping about it…” Said Aurora sighing again as she turned around, it was the city’s loss, not hers. “Eh?” She gasped as a pyrefly suddenly went flying past her. “A… pyrefly?” She asked confused turning around as more pyreflies started to fly past her. “What’s going on…?” She added sounding more confused as she looked in the direction that the little, multi-colored balls of light were going and froze, her eyes widening as her mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Lenne!” Gasped Aurora shocked beyond all reasonable belief as her eyes befell her brown haired summoner friend standing a short distance away, her head hung in shame. “B-But…! You’re supposed to be dead!” She added taking a step back as Lenne looked up at her with a saddened look on her face. “Wait… You are dead… aren’t you…?” She added questioningly as Lenne took a step towards her reaching a hand out her chocolate brown eye filling with tears. “You’re sorry, aren’t you…? For slapping me, right?” Asked Aurora as Lenne slowly lowered her hand and looked down seeming to find something interesting about her boots.

“Lenne…?” Asked Aurora raising an eyebrow as her friend’s head suddenly snapped up, her eyes widening as she stared at something behind Aurora with a pure look of terror on her face. “What is it…?” She asked confused turning around only to freeze once again as her eyes widened and Lenne’s eyes narrowed sadly as she disappeared in a shower of pyreflies. “Holy… shit…!” She gasped as the last thing she saw before she blacked out was a huge, black tentacle heading straight for her. Sin had found her… And, it was playing for keeps…

[Martin]

Good story so far, although if I may say so, it's a little too descriptive. But that's a minor quibble and overall I'm very impressed, it shows a good background knowledge but didn't a group of soldiers kill Lenne at the site of Vegnagun? How could Sin have done it?

[nekoktty4]

You are very correct. Sin didn't kill Lenne, the soldiers did. Lenne, in realization of what exactly happened, wanted to tell her sorry but got killed first. So, that's why she seen Lenne in a spirit form, Lenne wanted to say I'm sorry.

[Martin]

Oh, ok. I guess the way it was the way it was worded... ignore me lol. But as I said, it is a good story, but is there more? If so, I'd love to read it. It is quite interesting and adds a different scope to the x & X-2 universe.

[nekoktty4]

Oh, yes there's more. This is a full blown story. And, since the chapters get rather long from here I'll post in little sections.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Can you sign this?” Asked a young boy excitedly as he held a bumpy blue ball with a white strip around the middle, known more commonly as a blitzball, out in front of him to a blonde haired teenager, who looked down at him and smiled.

“No prob!” Replied the teenager happily pulling a pen out of his pocket taking the blitzball from the young boy. The boy looked over at his two other friends and giggled as the teenager wrote, with quite a flourish, “Tidus” across the ball before handing it back to the child, who quickly snatched it back almost dropping it in the process.

“Please?” Asked the next young boy standing in the middle of the group as he held his blitzball out to the teenager.

“Alrighty!” Replied Tidus again taking the blitzball out of the child’s hands and signed his name on it before handing it back to the child, who took it more politely then his friend had.

“Me, too!” Exclaimed the last child in the trio holding his ball out to the blonde.

“Take it easy…” Soothed Tidus smiling as he took the ball and signed it. As he was handing it back to the last child he glanced over to see two pretty girls staring at him and giggling behind their blitzballs. When the child took his blitzball back from the teen he started to walk over to the girls, who squealed slightly when they noticed him walking over before leaning in towards each other giggling like crazy as a faint pink color appeared on their cheeks. “Hiya!” Greeted Tidus stopping in front of them as the girl in the brown shorts and a pink top’s face turned even redder, he took this as an opportunity and smirked playfully at her winking as the girl froze her mouth slightly open.

The girl’s face turned even redder stuttering something incoherently as her friend, who seemed to be completely fine talking to a famous blitzball player, looked over at her friend annoyed that she was making a fool out of herself elbowing her sharply in the ribs snapping her back to reality before holding her own blitzball out and asking, “Can I have your autograph?”

“Of course!” Replied Tidus looking at her one eye because she had her brown hair combed down, held in place by a pink hair band, over the other. He took the blitzball and signed it as the girl nervously fiddled with her fingers until he gave the ball back.

She took it gingerly as her friend, who seemed to have got her voice back and a little more courage, held her ball out and said, “Good luck tonight!”

“Nothing to worry about!” Reassured Tidus taking her ball and signing it, he then twirled the ball on the tip of his index finger, as to prove to his nervous fan that everything was under control, before handing it back to her. “Oh, and if I score a goal…” He began as the girl held the ball in front of her mouth wondering what he would do next to impress her and her friend. “I’ll do this!” He finished holding three fingers and his thumb up on each hand bringing them together till there had to be nothing more then an inch of air separating them. “That will mean it was for you, okay?” He asked looking over at them as they both giggled like a pair of schoolgirls who had just shared a juicy secret with each other. “What seat?”

“East block, in the front row!” Replied the brown haired one excitedly.

“Fifth from the right!” Finished the one in the pink top.

“Got it!” Confirmed Tidus as the two girls giggled again before he turned around to notice the trio of children standing behind him. “Eh…?”

“…Two, three!” Counted the first child.

“Teach us how to blitz!” Exclaimed all of them at once as the teen took a step back.

“Hey, I got a game to play!” Reminded Tidus as the three looked at each other.

“Then teach us after!” Pleaded the child in the middle as his friends shook their heads.

“Maybe tonight…” Replied Tidus thinking about it, he didn’t have anything to do after the game. Well… Except, maybe... if they won, he could convince one of the two girls he had talked to, or heck even both, to go out with him after. “Um… well…”

“You can’t tonight.” Gently ordered a childish voice from behind him.

Tidus quickly looked over his shoulder to see a young boy in a blue, sleeveless cloak, torn, gray shorts, with a gold, beaded belt looped loosely through his pants standing behind him. “Uh, I mean…” He started as the kids looked at him oddly along with the rest of the group standing around him as he looked back. He then realized that probably nobody else was able to see the child behind him. “Tomorrow.” He finished hoping he hadn’t humiliated himself too badly in front of his fans by acknowledging a form that they couldn’t see.

“Promise…?” Asked the last child in the group, confusion evident in his young voice, as his two other friends stared at the blonde questioningly.

“Promise!” Replied Tidus quickly before squeezing through the crowd. “Well, I gotta go! Cheer for me, okay?” He added looking over his shoulder waving his hand at the crowd, who were all still staring at him, before taking off down the street happy to be out of that ever growing uncomfortable situation.

The three children looked at each other again before nodding placing their blitzballs on the ground in front of them as they raised both hands in the air, then they brought them around in a half-circle placing them in front of their chests as if they were holding an invisible orb bowing slightly. The unseen small child, though he was known more commonly as the fayth of Bahamut, behind them smiled slightly as the crowd ran off after the teenager before he said, “The prayer… And, victory… How often these two signs can be confused with one another if you don’t know the truth…”

The fayth turned around only to disappear in a shower of pyreflies. “I wonder how he will take when he finds out…” Asked his voice as he reappeared on the upper deck of the houseboat Tidus had come running off of earlier. He stood on his tiptoes grabbing the railing of the houseboat as he leaned over to look at the water below. “It is coming…” He added sounding distant as he looked up to gaze at the metropolis rising up before him. He could feel it coming, he could feel its urgency wafting up off of the water and hanging in the air like a death wish… “Its earlier then I had expected…” He added out loud turning away letting one hand linger on the railing. “’He’ must realize what they’re planning and is trying to stop them.” He added closing his eyes as the wind picked up slightly around him.

“I must hurry… My chance has narrowed significantly…” Murmured the fayth softly as the scene around him shifted. He opened his eyes and looked around at the strange but familiar place he stood in. It was the broken stadium from the dream that happened so long ago, though to him, a fayth, it seemed to happen only yesterday. But, he knew better then that, immortality hadn’t made him stupid. Not in the least… And, when he turned around, as if to drive the point of how much time had passed home, proof was standing in front of him. The thing, as the small fayth couldn’t bring himself to associate it with a human anymore, standing in front of him sensed the fayth’s power hanging in the air around him and turned around. It took everything he had not to turn away from the thing’s empty gaze, which held no intelligence at all as he quickly reminded himself it had to be this way. It was conserving its strength by slipping into this mindless state in preparation for the events to come; it was doing all of this just so it could help. The fayth commended the thing’s efforts; even though he knew, actually hoped, in the end this poor creature was going to be destroyed by the people it will so desperately try to help.

The fayth then walked over to the middle of the platform as the thing’s eyes framed by shaggy, black hair and a red bandana wrapped around his forehead followed him, but the fayth knew it was just a simple reflex. He didn’t even know if the creature could even see him right now. He stopped in the middle eyes dropping to the floor as he ordered softly, “Take me to her…”

The creature simply and almost robotically raised a hand out in front of him as the ground beneath the fayth’s feet lit up. He looked over at the thing, who still had a blank gaze and guessed even though it was doing what it was told it probably didn’t even know who he was talking about. And, how it managed to get him to the right spot every time was a mystery. The fayth shot him a small smile, even though he knew he didn’t see him, as a round disk appeared under him shooting upwards before it disappeared, along with the fayth, a few seconds later in a flash of light. The thing, which had looked up out of a simple reflex, then turned around and continued to stare blankly out over the infinity around him that resembled Zanarkand.

A kaleidoscope of colors… That's all the small, child-like form saw as he continue to shoot upwards faster and faster… He knew by now a normal human would have been forced down to one knee or completely flattened to the disk because of the sheer force being applied on them. But, he was a fayth… He also knew he could’ve gotten to where he was going using his own powers to teleport there, but that was to risky right now. ‘He’ was on heightened alert right now and would be able to detect even the slightly amount of foreign powers. But, this was the only chance he could get to do this do to the fact that ‘he’ was preoccupied with something else at the moment, so he had to it now and he had to be careful. He only had one chance to free their hope, and he couldn’t blow it…

After what seemed like eternity the disk finally slowed to a stop. Bahamut quickly turned his head aside as he knew what lied before him, he always did this. Even though he had seen the scene in front of him many times before, it still bothered him. Because… He felt sorry for the poor, shamed creature floating before him… She was no longer completely human… ‘He’ had joined her with Sin to keep her alive all these years… Bahamut knew it had to be done as he looked upon her clothes-less form curled up in a fetal position before him, her long, red hair undone from its band floated freely behind her. “It’s amazing…” Commented the fayth stepping forward to the edge of the disk reaching out to lightly run his fingertips down the cool skin of her shoulder. “They look almost exactly alike…” He added looking up at her face, though partially hidden by her knees, and knew if she had been awake she would have been gazing down at him with her sparkling, bright green eyes… The same as hers… And, the only real thing that made them different from each other was that this one had red hair. “I wonder how he will react to her…” Continued the small, hooded form raising his eyes even higher to gaze at the seven, slender tubes that physically connected her to Sin. These “lifelines” seemed to continue endlessly, stretching and winding their way through the color fragmented world around them. They were the only things keeping her alive… Keeping her young… That black, glittery liquid running through the tubes and her veins was the substance that Sinspawn were created from… It was the essence of Sin itself…

And, severing them would immediately alert ‘him’ to Bahamut’s presence. The fayth knew this much, and expected this much. ‘He’ was no fool and was probably expecting retaliation from the fayths. But, at this moment ‘he’ was busy preparing for something else, and in this confusion the fayth hoped to steal her from right under ‘his’ nose. But, the fayth could have no mistakes. If he was caught while trying to free her he knew that ‘he’ would whisk her away and seal her in a place that even the fayth of Bahamut couldn’t reach or access. “Then I must do this quickly…” Murmured Bahamut distantly closing his eyes placing a hand against her shoulder. The skin underneath his hand glowed softly as the bases of the tubes connecting to her began to quiver violently… Almost painfully… As if they couldn’t take the purity that seeped out of the small fayth’s power… Or, maybe because they knew what was going to happen next… And, it was probably the latter. “Before he finds out…” He finished softly as the quivering tubes suddenly shattered, and the small fayth knew that if the tubes themselves could have spoken or verbally conveyed their disapproval they would have been… Quite loudly… But, since they couldn’t talk or verbally communicate whatsoever they just writhed painfully before quickly retracting back into the kaleidoscope colored world around them.

Bahamut looked over just as her body was beginning to uncurl itself from its previous position, her arms beginning to drop away from their current and preferred position. The small form raised his arm his small fingers spread out before him as her arms moved up slightly her hands lightly gripping her shoulders. If anything, he was going to let her keep most of her dignity. The corner of his mouth turned up slightly into a half-smile the sharp sound of him snapping his fingers rent the air around them as in a flash of bright light she was fully clothed with every accessory she previously had on her. Except one… The new, black mark that adorned the skin around her navel. It kind of reminded him of an eight-pointed star that had four large peaks and four smaller peaks sticking out in between the others, and each of the taller peaks were connected by four arches that dipped in towards her navel with the four smaller peaks having the exact same design. This mark proved she was now one of them… Or, at least one half of them…

“Aurora…”

That one word cut through the deepest part of her mind like a sharp knife jolting her awake. No, it wasn’t a word exactly… It was more like a name. Was it hers…? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t even think clearly. What was going on…? Her mind seemed to be shrouded in a heavy fog… That was taking it sweet old time to disappear…

“Aurora, wake up.”

Aurora groaned softly as her mind fully came out of the fog it had been in as she forced her eyes opened ever so slightly. That voice… It sounded so familiar… Where did she know it from…? She opened her mouth to ask who it was but no sound was heard. It was like she couldn’t get the words she was thinking about in her head to come out of her mouth. She couldn’t see either… Everything was blurry… She could tell there was someone, or something, standing in front of her but she couldn’t make out who or what it was.

Her eyes were blurry… Her mind was swimming… She felt so funny… Like this body wasn’t hers… Like it was someone else’s… She couldn’t even seem to control her basic functions… Then, she felt it… Another presence lurking within her mind… It kept its distant from her conscious mind so that she couldn’t tell what it was, yet at the same time its conscious was so dangerously close that she could tell what it was thinking. Its thoughts loomed over her own weaker ones, pressing down on them with its consciousness till she thought her own mind would snap under the strain. If she would’ve had control of her body at this moment she would have shivered violently. It was trying to control her! She could feel it. It was trying to overwhelm her with its thoughts of hate and malice directed towards the presence in front of her. It was trying to make her mind snap under its unyielding strain. And, in that moment, she was so glad she couldn’t move, because it suddenly seized control of her weakened mind and body, and she knew if her body had been free she would have jumped the presence in front of her and killed it in cold blood. And, she would have been powerless to stop herself…

“Aurora, can you hear me?”

At the sound of its voice the presence within her suddenly released it grip on her and quickly retreated almost fearfully back into the deepest part of her mind from wince it had come from. She sighed enormously relieved the control of her body seeming to return to her as she realized with great clarity that her whole body was tensed up, her fists and jaw were clenched tightly, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was shaking violently. Probably the presence in front of her saw this and decided to mercifully say something to end her suffering temporarily. She had to think temporarily because the presence just retreated back in her mind; it didn’t actually leaver her body. It was still there… Watching and waiting for another time where it could flare up and try to control her. And, that thought terrified her, she didn’t want that… that… thing to control her again! She mentally calmed herself down as to not look like a idiot in front of this unknown presence, she opened her eyes blinking a few times before the figure in front of her came into focus. And, when it did her mouth fell open in shock as she exclaimed, “Bahamut!”

“Yes…?” Asked the small fayth with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“W-what are you doing here?!” Asked Aurora sounding slightly confused, the thing inside her mind temporarily forgotten at the sight of the small fayth.

“I’m here to rescue you, of course.” Replied the fayth simply.

“Rescue me…?” Repeated Aurora sounding even more confused looking around at the space around her. “Where is this…?” She asked looking at the small form, who just stared at her. “Am I still inside Sin?” She added questioningly.

“The more appropriate question would be when, not where.” Replied the fayth as the ex-summoner raised a slender eyebrow at him. “And, yes, you are still inside Sin.” He added answering her.

“Wait… What do you mean ‘when’?” Asked Aurora suspiciously as the small form continued to stare at her. “What are you trying to tell me Bahamut?” She added questioningly as the small form still gave no reply. “What has happened?! Tell me!”

“We need to quickly get you out of here before ‘he’ figures out what’s going on…” Added Bahamut suddenly completely ignoring her previous questions as a familiar presence started to seep into the air around them. He couldn’t believe that ‘he’ had found about Bahamut’s presence so soon. Maybe, the small fayth underestimated ‘him’ by thinking he wasn’t paying as much attention to the girl as he had thought he had been. And, that kind of underestimation could be fatal to his plans to get her out of here.

“Wait!” Exclaimed Aurora frantically as the small fayth raised a hand out in front of him. “What do you mean get me out of here? You mean back to Spira?” She added questioningly trying to calm her voice down.

“Eventually…” Replied the fayth.

“You can’t!” Exclaimed Aurora desperately as she felt his powers surround her.

“You’d rather stay here?” Asked the fayth calmly.

“I don’t want to be killed or mutilated by Sin! And, if you send me back to Spira that’s exactly what’s going to happen!”

“No, it won’t…” Replied the fayth soothingly. “You are special to ‘him.’ You have been enhanced. He won’t harm you. Not for the world. The worst thing Sin would do is try to recapture you…”

“That’s just as bad! I don’t ever want to see this place again!”

“You won’t…”

“How do you know?!”

“Because…” Answered Bahamut as an almost clear orb formed around her. “I’m leaving you in good hands…”

“What do you mean…?” Asked Aurora confused in a soft voice as the small form simply smiled at her. “Bahamut! Answer me!”

“You will see… Just remember, Aurora. Never by afraid of whom you really are… You were given a special gift. Use it to your advantage…”

“Special gift…?” Echoed Aurora now thoroughly confused placing her hands on the orb surrounding her. “What do you…?” She added questioningly trailing off into a scream as the orb suddenly started to rapidly fall. And, the last thing she remembered seeing was a bright, white light far below her as the orb continued to speed downwards faster and faster before she blacked out…

He was late… He realized this when he arrived at the houseboat and found no one there. No screaming and cheering fans. No Tidus around whatsoever. And, if he knew the boy well enough, Tidus was probably already late for his own game when he left. This means he probably ran the whole way there, so there was no chance of him still being in the general vicinity. He turned around and walked back to the street wondering if he could make the long trip cross town before the predestined events occurred. He avoided a teenage couple walking down the road arms around each others waist as he wondered if he could cross town by going across the building’s roofs to save some time, which was rapidly ticking away even as he stood there thinking. He decided that he would just wing it and hope that he got to the blitzball stadium in time when the couple that had walked past him started screaming. He quickly turned around as the couple went running past him still screaming as he looked up to see a humongous form rising up out of the ocean.

The man’s first thought was that it was early as the large gray hump that rose up out of the water suddenly formed a bubble on the side. His second thought was why is it preparing to attack him? This wasn’t how it supposed to go, something must’ve gone wrong. Then again, he knew no matter the circumstances, he could and should not trust Sin as far as he could throw him. The surface of the bubble started to quiver violently before a bright, white light suddenly exploded out of it as the man unsheathed a long sword and ran forwards slightly fully prepared to meet Sin’s attack head on before he realized something really was wrong. He froze dead in his tracks as the white light suddenly disappeared; he then quickly took a step back to avoid the human body that went flying past him. He looked over at the flying body as it hit the ground with a sickening thud before sliding to a stop. Still not quite sure what was going on the man stole a glance over his shoulder to see Sin retreat back into the water just as quickly as it had appeared. And, that’s what worried him. Why was Sin appearing now and in such an obvious spot where anybody living in this part of the city was sure to see him just to drop of body off specifically in front of him? Or, that’s what appeared to be going on. And, then just to disappear again when it could have dropped the body off in another couple minutes when it attacked the town. None of what just happened made any sense to him. Unless Sin specifically wanted to drop the body off in front of him… But, why? It was just a dead body, right?

The man sighed slightly; this was turning out to be one very weird day, as he turned around to face the apparent dead body lying on the ground a couple feet in front of him. It appeared to be female, by its slender waist, the outfit it was wearing, and its long red hair spread out across its back. He took a step towards it as something embroidered on its shirt caught his attention… It was the symbol for the Zanarkand Abes! Now, he was really confused. He knew the Zanarkand Abes team pretty well, and he knew for a fact that the team outfit didn’t look like that. He also knew that there was no one on the team who had long red hair like that. So, if, he was now guessing it was a female, she wasn’t on the blitzball team then what did that symbol mean? Then, he realized, what did it really matter? She was dead anyway… He suddenly took a step back pulling his sword off its resting place over his shoulder placing it in front of him defensively as the body suddenly glowed black her skin quivering slightly. He gaped at her surprised almost dropping his sword when she groaned slightly before quickly picking her upper body up off the ground proving that she was very much alive and owned quite a… colorful vocabulary.

“That asshole!” Spat Aurora angrily placing a hand against her throbbing forehead waiting a few seconds for the pain to lessen a little. “I hope that rotten bastard rots in hell for what he’s done to me!” She added venomously rising slowly to her knees keeping one had against her forehead, which had started to throb again, she had to wait a few seconds for the pain to subside a little before she tried to stand up. “That little fuc…” She started trailing off when a wave of dizziness hit her as she tried to stand up a little to fast. She wobbled a little her legs threatening to give out beneath her as she reached out placing a hand against the building in front of her for support keeping the other hand pressed against her still throbbing forehead. “That stupid son of a…” She added trailing off again as the pain in her head lulled a little as she slowly turned around to see someone standing there staring at her shocked. “Oh, shit…!” Muttered Aurora softly her legs threatening to give out again as she let herself slump against the wall behind her for support, she hadn’t realized someone had been standing there the whole entire time. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize someone was…!”

“It’s all right…” Replied the man suddenly trailing off right in the middle of his sentence as he got his first real good look at the ex-summoner standing rather shakily in front of him. The color drained out of his face turning it a sickly pale color his mouth dropping open slightly as she arched a red eyebrow at him.

Aurora waited a few seconds for him to snap out it and when he didn’t she realized that this stunned silence was a good thing. It gave her a chance to get a good look at him without making herself look like an idiot in the process; she didn’t want him to think she was checking him out or something… Although… He wasn’t that bad looking… In an older sort of way… He was in his middle to late thirties, or somewhere around there for sure, with black hair that was graying slightly at the temples and in the front. Sunglasses were perched on the end of his nose, which she couldn’t figure out why he was wearing them in the first place because it wasn’t really that sunny here. He had brown eyes, though the right eye was completely useless due to the fact that it was closed and there was a long scar running down that side of his face. He was clothed in a black, patched, waist-length breastplate with a high collar buckled to the top, black pants, and black, shin-high boots lined with silver. A blue band with a thick belt overtop was wrapped around his waist holding a water jug, or that’s what she guessed it was, on by a multi-colored chain. It also kept his red overcoat closed and supported his left arm in a makeshift sling made out of the left side of his coat, thought she had a feeling that both arms were usable, with the shoulder of the red garment buckled behind him preventing it from falling down his arm. And, while the left sleeve of his coat was unbuckled at the edge and hanging there completely unused its twin on the other side was tucked into a black glove, which was currently gripping a long and slender sword lying over his right shoulder, ready to be used at a moments…

“Who are you…?”

“Huh?!” Gasped Aurora surprised after she realized he had asked her a question.

“What’s your name?” He demanded questioningly as the ex-summoner looked at his face, which had regained most of its color. It had taken him quite a long time to snap out of it, but he still didn’t look completely right to her.

“Aurora…” Replied the ex-summoner lightly clasping her hands behind her back. She thought that he at least deserved her name because she could imagine the scene Sin had made when it dropped her off and she didn’t want to have to answer his first question, specifically because she didn’t exactly know what she was. She thought she had known until Bahamut had told her that she was ‘special,’ that she had been ‘enhanced.’ Now, she was just confused, if she was enhanced because of Sin did that make her any less than a true human? Was she even a true human? She didn’t want to think of it because it scared her. She didn’t want to think of herself as a half-human… A freak… “What’s your name?” She asked him hoping to take the attention off of herself.

“Auron.”

[DragonHeart]

I'd read it if it wasn't a great wall of text. Please try to skip a line between paragraphs, it's much easier on the eyes. Forum formatting can be irritating and take time for a longer work like this one, but you'll probably get more readers.

~DragonHeart~