Together Then (Part I)
Disclaimer: Whatever you may read here.guess what.it's all MINE!!! That is of course for all characters from any product directly or indirectly related to Squaresoft including but not limited too..oh what the heck, I am no lawyer, you can figure out what belongs to who, I only write the stories!
Warning: This contains a few spoilers, so unless if you have not finished the game yet, you may get a few early surprises. Oh and if you find anything different with this story and the actual story from the game.well that was my doing, please don't be too harsh.
As night begins to fall, a wide valley welcomes the night, as does most of the land. But this land is unlike any other part of Spira, for to many; this place bears the name of the Calm Lands. It was here that many a summoner would choose to fight Sin and attempt to bring about yet another calm. And as with every preceding summoner, they would succeed, but only in delaying the inevitable return of Sin.
But now, there was a new hope, one that would quite possibly break the cycle and bring an everlasting peace to all of Spira. This hope took the form of seven brave heroes who would give their all to bring peace to the land, but this story is not about that battle.it is about the bringing of another sort of peace, that of the heart.
Across the valley at its entrance, the same seven heroes entered from a path just outside of the Macalania woods. They had just gone through yet another long and rigorous training seeking greater challenges in hopes of being ready to fight the final battle, that of Sin. Trudging alone in single file, they each had their reason for being here, they had all wanted peace in the land, but each carried their own burdens as well.
Finally, as they had reached the ravine, one of them stood ahead of the rest, his name was Auron and for the moment, he was taking the lead. He stood aside his sword and looked out in the distance at nothing, and then he turned to the others.
"We'll make our way to the camp site and rest for the night.let's go" he spoke and then turned and continued walking.
He would get no argument from the others as they continued on this time with a bit quicker of a step, for at night many a deadly fiend would be present and they were in no mood for another fight.
A bit later at the campsite, while the others were asleep or meditating on the day's events, Wakka and Auron were having a bit of a chat about what their next move should be, with neither side agreeing on what to do next.
"I say we ready to take on Sin ya?" Wakka spoke in aloud whisper. "No, we are still not ready.we still need more training" Auron spoke firmly.
This had been going on for several days now as Wakka continued to protest that they should stop wasting time and go finish Sin before it finished Spira. Auron however, continued to stick to his side in that they would only be rushing to certain death if they fought Sin now.
"But I tell you we ready.come on Sir Auron.what more do we need to do?" Wakka continued as he tried his best to keep his excitement from the others.
Auron simply lowered his head and shook it "No Wakka, we go now, we die.all that work for nothing, would the others want that.would Spira want that.or.would Chappu want that?"
His words had struck a nerve in Wakka who for a moment balled his fists as if to strike Auron for that last remark, but his anger eventually fell in defeat to logic, Auron was right, Chappu, his deceased brother, would not want have wanted them to throw their lives away in vain.
Letting his hands fall by his side, Wakka accepted defeat and simply shook his head "Y-you're right.I'm sorry ya.you got more experience that the rest of us.guess we should try it your way."
Auron knew the pain Wakka felt, it was the same felt by all in Spira, they all wanted this to end. He walked over and put a consoling hand on his shoulder "Get some rest, we.will talk more about this in the morning, perhaps there may be a way of speeding things up a bit."
Wakka appreciatively nodded and found a spot to lie out and look up at the stars as he tried to get to sleep. With a heavy sigh, Auron now moved on to his next task, one young blonde youth who had come under his care.he saw him over by the cliff looking out into the sea, possibly searching for an answer or two, he figured he would join him.
"Hey, nice night huh?" Tidus asked but did not turn his head, he simply looked out into the sea, he knew his father was out there, waiting for him to end his suffering. But he felt Auron's stare almost burning a hole through him, more so than ever before.
"What's up?" Tidus asked as he finally turned to acknowledge his presence.
Deep down, there were many things he wanted to tell Tidus, some about the boys' father, some about his thoughts about the youth, but if there was one thing Auron did not like was having to hide the truth. There was something so wrong that he wanted to clear up with him, he knew there would be consequences but.damn them he thought.
"There is.something I need to talk to you about" He finally managed to get out.
"What.is it about my father again?" He responded, the bitterness in
his voice was something that Auron knew all to well
"No.I have told you enough of his plight.there is a lie that must be
cleared up though."
"What do you mean?" Tidus had now spun around and gotten to his feet.
He looked Auron in the eyes and saw him almost walk away.
"What Auron, what is it?" He demanded.
"The Faith, they lied to you.about.this all being a dream.its not a
dream, it is for real."
"W-what?" He nearly fell over at these words.
"There's more.once Sin is defeated.there is a chance for you to go
home.but that is if we defeat Sin."
Tidus' head was spinning, he could finally go home, this was not
a dream, and there was still hope after all.
"Oh.and one more thing" He continued and Tidus' attention came back to
him "You can go home.and you need not go home alone."
There, he had finally said it, true the Faith would be disappointed
with him, but his time was nearly up and he did not want to spend
eternity with a guilty conscience. He started to turn and walk off
back to where the others were.
Tidus was still in shock but now he wanted some answers "Wait, why
would the Faith lie to me.and why would you tell me this?"
Auron stopped and turned to face him "If they had told you this was
not a dream, if they had told you there was a way back home for you
then there was a high chance you would not succeed because you would
not be able to focus on your mission.I know it sounds wrong but.there
is more at stake here than your feelings Tidus.I am sorry for having
kept this from you for so long but.now you know. As for why I told
you this, let's just say my hands are dirty enough, I don't want the
burden of an untold truth on me as well."
Tidus felt a flush of anger run through him but let it pass, he knew
Auron meant well, but it just hurt to know that he kept such a thing
from him.
"You said that.I could take someone else with me right?"
"Yes"
"I see."
"You had someone in mind?"
"Well yeah.I think.I just never gave it any thought, I
figured.this was all I had."
"Well, you better be sure soon, and.it is not fair to keep them
both in the dark about how you really feel about them."
"What? What do you mean both? How could you possibly know how I
feel about anyone?"
Auron chuckled slightly "I was once your age too you know and I too
had difficulty expressing my feelings to those I took a liking to.I
see how you look at them but you are confused.or then again, maybe you
already know."
"H-hey Auron.does Yuna know how.I feel about her.and about."
"Lulu, I wouldn't put it past her, she may be a bit naïve, but she is
no fool.be honest with them both.she knows you care about her, but how
far that goes is up to you."
Tidus looked to the sky and let out a sigh "I.think of them as my
friends, especially Rikku, more so as my little sister.but with Yuna,
I do care about her really almost from the start, but with Lulu.she
just seems alone, so distant, but I can see that she really cares
about others. Maybe.oh I don't know.it's just too much!" He ran his
hands through his hair in frustration and stomped the ground a few
times.
"First I find out my old man is Sin, then you tell me that I can go
home and now I can actually take someone back with me.but how can I
choose Auron, won't the other get hurt?"
"Well, that is a part of making a choice, not all of them give you the
results you want. But you should be honest with them; they deserve
that much.as for how you can choose.maybe with that I can help. I'll
explain more in the morning, get some rest though, we have a big day
ahead of us."
With that, Auron turned and headed back to camp leaving Tidus with a
great deal of things to contemplate. He simply sat back down and
looked at the sea, and he thought of home.
When morning broke Auron had everyone assemble near a teleport sphere.
"We're going back to the ship, there is something we must do before we
go to face Sin." He looked to Wakka who smiled back in appreciation.
With that, Auron touched the teleport sphere and the group was brought
back aboard the airship.
"What's up Auron?" Cid asked as they came up to the main bridge.
"We need to go somewhere, somewhere that is not on any of your maps."
"Huh, what the heck are you talkin' about, I have maps of every
known place on Spira"
The others looked on as Auron walked over the globe in the middle of
the deck, which represented all of Spira; he looked around it a few
times and then pointed to an obscure part of the map.
"Here, make course for this area."
"But, there's nothing there.you sure about this?"
"Very.this place is not shown because its location has never
been discussed outside for a very few individuals high in the
ranks of Yevon."
Cid shook his head but would not argue with him. Turning to Brother
he gave instructions in Al Bhed to head to the exact area Auron had
pointed to. Brother gave a reply back and set course at full speed.
"Okay, we should be there in about half an hour, now, you mind
explaining what this is all about?" Cid asked as he and the others now
had their attention fixed on Auron.
Auron merely smiled under his collar and leaned against his blade looking at the others and then out the main window.
"I know most of you are eager to finish Sin off, to finally set Spira free of its endless suffering, and up until now I knew that none of us were ready to accept that challenge. However, I have decided to take us on one last mission, to see how we measure up to another danger, not as great as Sin, but not an easy task either. Depending on how we do will determine on our next move, be it to face Sin or."
He looked back to the others and saw their faces; many were looks of concern, others were just anxious to get on with whatever he had in mind.
"We are headed for the Omega Ruins, a long lost and preferably forgotten place where the heretic summoner Omega was last known to be residing. Over the years he has allowed his bitterness to consume him and change him into a creature of terrible power.he needs to be granted peace and sent to the farplane. There are powerful fiends along the way however and this will be the test I spoke of.if we can do this, we will be ready to face Sin."
Neither Wakka, Rikku nor Kimahri, not even Yuna knew about this. Lulu however stepped forward knowing some of this subject
"I had heard of rumors about such a temple while on our last
pilgrimage, but I never knew that it existed. If what you say
is true however, we need to be extra careful this time.but why
did we not go there sooner then?"
Auron turned back to the window and looked out into nothing. "Let's just say that I was waiting for the right moment before going for this.Cid, how much further do we have to go?"
"We should be passing over this ruin of yours any minute now.take a
look for yourselves"
As they all walked over to the window to see this ruin, Wakka
stepped over to Lulu "Hey, you and I were on the same pilgrimage, how
come I never heard of this from the summoner we were both protecting?"
Lulu chuckled "Because you were too busy sleeping, I decided to
listen to some of what was known on the part of our summoner, perhaps
if you hadn't been such a loud sleeper." Wakka would hear no more of
this as he stomped over to Tidus side where he felt he would get a
relief from more ridicule.
Outside, there was nothing but open sea for miles on end, almost
as if it would never end. Auron peered further out the window and
squinted to see if indeed this temple was still in existence.
"Well, here we are, but I don't see a thing, maybe it was just a
mistake on your end.we'll turn back now" Cid spoke as he nearly went
to motion to Brother to reverse course.
Wait!" Make one more pass around, and come in a little closer"
Auron spoke as he raised a hand to stop Cid from reversing their
course. Reluctantly, Cid motioned to Brother to make one last sweep.
From the window, the group looked again, but as hard as they
tried
"Nothing, you sure bout this Sir Auron?" Wakka questioned.
Auron gazed once more and from the corner of his eye, he found what he
was looking for. "There!" He shouted and pointed to the now visible
island.
The others looked on in amazement at an island that up until this
point, they had never known truly existed, it would be there next step
in their training, both physically and mentally.but would they be
ready?
Disclaimer: Whatever you may read here.guess what.it's all MINE!!! That is of course for all characters from any product directly or indirectly related to Squaresoft including but not limited too..oh what the heck, I am no lawyer, you can figure out what belongs to who, I only write the stories!
Warning: This contains a few spoilers, so unless if you have not finished the game yet, you may get a few early surprises. Oh and if you find anything different with this story and the actual story from the game.well that was my doing, please don't be too harsh.
As night begins to fall, a wide valley welcomes the night, as does most of the land. But this land is unlike any other part of Spira, for to many; this place bears the name of the Calm Lands. It was here that many a summoner would choose to fight Sin and attempt to bring about yet another calm. And as with every preceding summoner, they would succeed, but only in delaying the inevitable return of Sin.
But now, there was a new hope, one that would quite possibly break the cycle and bring an everlasting peace to all of Spira. This hope took the form of seven brave heroes who would give their all to bring peace to the land, but this story is not about that battle.it is about the bringing of another sort of peace, that of the heart.
Across the valley at its entrance, the same seven heroes entered from a path just outside of the Macalania woods. They had just gone through yet another long and rigorous training seeking greater challenges in hopes of being ready to fight the final battle, that of Sin. Trudging alone in single file, they each had their reason for being here, they had all wanted peace in the land, but each carried their own burdens as well.
Finally, as they had reached the ravine, one of them stood ahead of the rest, his name was Auron and for the moment, he was taking the lead. He stood aside his sword and looked out in the distance at nothing, and then he turned to the others.
"We'll make our way to the camp site and rest for the night.let's go" he spoke and then turned and continued walking.
He would get no argument from the others as they continued on this time with a bit quicker of a step, for at night many a deadly fiend would be present and they were in no mood for another fight.
A bit later at the campsite, while the others were asleep or meditating on the day's events, Wakka and Auron were having a bit of a chat about what their next move should be, with neither side agreeing on what to do next.
"I say we ready to take on Sin ya?" Wakka spoke in aloud whisper. "No, we are still not ready.we still need more training" Auron spoke firmly.
This had been going on for several days now as Wakka continued to protest that they should stop wasting time and go finish Sin before it finished Spira. Auron however, continued to stick to his side in that they would only be rushing to certain death if they fought Sin now.
"But I tell you we ready.come on Sir Auron.what more do we need to do?" Wakka continued as he tried his best to keep his excitement from the others.
Auron simply lowered his head and shook it "No Wakka, we go now, we die.all that work for nothing, would the others want that.would Spira want that.or.would Chappu want that?"
His words had struck a nerve in Wakka who for a moment balled his fists as if to strike Auron for that last remark, but his anger eventually fell in defeat to logic, Auron was right, Chappu, his deceased brother, would not want have wanted them to throw their lives away in vain.
Letting his hands fall by his side, Wakka accepted defeat and simply shook his head "Y-you're right.I'm sorry ya.you got more experience that the rest of us.guess we should try it your way."
Auron knew the pain Wakka felt, it was the same felt by all in Spira, they all wanted this to end. He walked over and put a consoling hand on his shoulder "Get some rest, we.will talk more about this in the morning, perhaps there may be a way of speeding things up a bit."
Wakka appreciatively nodded and found a spot to lie out and look up at the stars as he tried to get to sleep. With a heavy sigh, Auron now moved on to his next task, one young blonde youth who had come under his care.he saw him over by the cliff looking out into the sea, possibly searching for an answer or two, he figured he would join him.
"Hey, nice night huh?" Tidus asked but did not turn his head, he simply looked out into the sea, he knew his father was out there, waiting for him to end his suffering. But he felt Auron's stare almost burning a hole through him, more so than ever before.
"What's up?" Tidus asked as he finally turned to acknowledge his presence.
Deep down, there were many things he wanted to tell Tidus, some about the boys' father, some about his thoughts about the youth, but if there was one thing Auron did not like was having to hide the truth. There was something so wrong that he wanted to clear up with him, he knew there would be consequences but.damn them he thought.
"There is.something I need to talk to you about" He finally managed to get out.
"What.is it about my father again?" He responded, the bitterness in
his voice was something that Auron knew all to well
"No.I have told you enough of his plight.there is a lie that must be
cleared up though."
"What do you mean?" Tidus had now spun around and gotten to his feet.
He looked Auron in the eyes and saw him almost walk away.
"What Auron, what is it?" He demanded.
"The Faith, they lied to you.about.this all being a dream.its not a
dream, it is for real."
"W-what?" He nearly fell over at these words.
"There's more.once Sin is defeated.there is a chance for you to go
home.but that is if we defeat Sin."
Tidus' head was spinning, he could finally go home, this was not
a dream, and there was still hope after all.
"Oh.and one more thing" He continued and Tidus' attention came back to
him "You can go home.and you need not go home alone."
There, he had finally said it, true the Faith would be disappointed
with him, but his time was nearly up and he did not want to spend
eternity with a guilty conscience. He started to turn and walk off
back to where the others were.
Tidus was still in shock but now he wanted some answers "Wait, why
would the Faith lie to me.and why would you tell me this?"
Auron stopped and turned to face him "If they had told you this was
not a dream, if they had told you there was a way back home for you
then there was a high chance you would not succeed because you would
not be able to focus on your mission.I know it sounds wrong but.there
is more at stake here than your feelings Tidus.I am sorry for having
kept this from you for so long but.now you know. As for why I told
you this, let's just say my hands are dirty enough, I don't want the
burden of an untold truth on me as well."
Tidus felt a flush of anger run through him but let it pass, he knew
Auron meant well, but it just hurt to know that he kept such a thing
from him.
"You said that.I could take someone else with me right?"
"Yes"
"I see."
"You had someone in mind?"
"Well yeah.I think.I just never gave it any thought, I
figured.this was all I had."
"Well, you better be sure soon, and.it is not fair to keep them
both in the dark about how you really feel about them."
"What? What do you mean both? How could you possibly know how I
feel about anyone?"
Auron chuckled slightly "I was once your age too you know and I too
had difficulty expressing my feelings to those I took a liking to.I
see how you look at them but you are confused.or then again, maybe you
already know."
"H-hey Auron.does Yuna know how.I feel about her.and about."
"Lulu, I wouldn't put it past her, she may be a bit naïve, but she is
no fool.be honest with them both.she knows you care about her, but how
far that goes is up to you."
Tidus looked to the sky and let out a sigh "I.think of them as my
friends, especially Rikku, more so as my little sister.but with Yuna,
I do care about her really almost from the start, but with Lulu.she
just seems alone, so distant, but I can see that she really cares
about others. Maybe.oh I don't know.it's just too much!" He ran his
hands through his hair in frustration and stomped the ground a few
times.
"First I find out my old man is Sin, then you tell me that I can go
home and now I can actually take someone back with me.but how can I
choose Auron, won't the other get hurt?"
"Well, that is a part of making a choice, not all of them give you the
results you want. But you should be honest with them; they deserve
that much.as for how you can choose.maybe with that I can help. I'll
explain more in the morning, get some rest though, we have a big day
ahead of us."
With that, Auron turned and headed back to camp leaving Tidus with a
great deal of things to contemplate. He simply sat back down and
looked at the sea, and he thought of home.
When morning broke Auron had everyone assemble near a teleport sphere.
"We're going back to the ship, there is something we must do before we
go to face Sin." He looked to Wakka who smiled back in appreciation.
With that, Auron touched the teleport sphere and the group was brought
back aboard the airship.
"What's up Auron?" Cid asked as they came up to the main bridge.
"We need to go somewhere, somewhere that is not on any of your maps."
"Huh, what the heck are you talkin' about, I have maps of every
known place on Spira"
The others looked on as Auron walked over the globe in the middle of
the deck, which represented all of Spira; he looked around it a few
times and then pointed to an obscure part of the map.
"Here, make course for this area."
"But, there's nothing there.you sure about this?"
"Very.this place is not shown because its location has never
been discussed outside for a very few individuals high in the
ranks of Yevon."
Cid shook his head but would not argue with him. Turning to Brother
he gave instructions in Al Bhed to head to the exact area Auron had
pointed to. Brother gave a reply back and set course at full speed.
"Okay, we should be there in about half an hour, now, you mind
explaining what this is all about?" Cid asked as he and the others now
had their attention fixed on Auron.
Auron merely smiled under his collar and leaned against his blade looking at the others and then out the main window.
"I know most of you are eager to finish Sin off, to finally set Spira free of its endless suffering, and up until now I knew that none of us were ready to accept that challenge. However, I have decided to take us on one last mission, to see how we measure up to another danger, not as great as Sin, but not an easy task either. Depending on how we do will determine on our next move, be it to face Sin or."
He looked back to the others and saw their faces; many were looks of concern, others were just anxious to get on with whatever he had in mind.
"We are headed for the Omega Ruins, a long lost and preferably forgotten place where the heretic summoner Omega was last known to be residing. Over the years he has allowed his bitterness to consume him and change him into a creature of terrible power.he needs to be granted peace and sent to the farplane. There are powerful fiends along the way however and this will be the test I spoke of.if we can do this, we will be ready to face Sin."
Neither Wakka, Rikku nor Kimahri, not even Yuna knew about this. Lulu however stepped forward knowing some of this subject
"I had heard of rumors about such a temple while on our last
pilgrimage, but I never knew that it existed. If what you say
is true however, we need to be extra careful this time.but why
did we not go there sooner then?"
Auron turned back to the window and looked out into nothing. "Let's just say that I was waiting for the right moment before going for this.Cid, how much further do we have to go?"
"We should be passing over this ruin of yours any minute now.take a
look for yourselves"
As they all walked over to the window to see this ruin, Wakka
stepped over to Lulu "Hey, you and I were on the same pilgrimage, how
come I never heard of this from the summoner we were both protecting?"
Lulu chuckled "Because you were too busy sleeping, I decided to
listen to some of what was known on the part of our summoner, perhaps
if you hadn't been such a loud sleeper." Wakka would hear no more of
this as he stomped over to Tidus side where he felt he would get a
relief from more ridicule.
Outside, there was nothing but open sea for miles on end, almost
as if it would never end. Auron peered further out the window and
squinted to see if indeed this temple was still in existence.
"Well, here we are, but I don't see a thing, maybe it was just a
mistake on your end.we'll turn back now" Cid spoke as he nearly went
to motion to Brother to reverse course.
Wait!" Make one more pass around, and come in a little closer"
Auron spoke as he raised a hand to stop Cid from reversing their
course. Reluctantly, Cid motioned to Brother to make one last sweep.
From the window, the group looked again, but as hard as they
tried
"Nothing, you sure bout this Sir Auron?" Wakka questioned.
Auron gazed once more and from the corner of his eye, he found what he
was looking for. "There!" He shouted and pointed to the now visible
island.
The others looked on in amazement at an island that up until this
point, they had never known truly existed, it would be there next step
in their training, both physically and mentally.but would they be
ready?