Author's Note #1: All right, before we go anywhere with this story, I must say that I have NOT seen the "Perfect" ending or Gippal's Sphere, since they may or may not have anything to do with what you are about to read. So, if something doesn't seem right and you've seen those items, please either overlook it and blame it on my ignorance and lack of skill in the Gunner's Gauntlet and in Sphere Break (the two missions I missed, so I couldn't get 100 percent), or email me and tell me about it. Anyway, this story is (as you might've read in the summary) about Paine being Auron's daughter. Yes, I realize that the idea is nothing new, but I just want to see how this pans out. Who knows? Some good may come of it. Oh, and if any characters are OOC, I sincerely apoligize. I'm new at writing for FFX-2, even though I have quite a few FFX fics.

Author's Note #2: Oh, and for those who want to know what they're in for, here are the pairings: Paine/Baralai, Tidus/Yuna, Rikku/Gippal, and Auron/OC.

Disclaimer: I don't own jack-diddly-squat, all right? Yeesh, how many times do I have to tell you people?! -clears throat- Sorry for the outburst. Do carry on.

Crimson Ties
by Judanim

Chapter One: "Kilika Port"

"Wow," Tidus said in awe. "It looks just like it did in the sphere you showed me, Yuna. This place really has changed." Then again, he wouldn't know a whole lot about it. The most he'd seen of Kilika Port was after it'd been attacked by Sin, which wasn't all that much.

Yuna smiled. "Like I said before, you've missed a few things."

Kilika Port was bustling as always, filled with people going about their business. There was a sense of calm about it that the town had been robbed of since the whole Youth League/New Yevon thing had happened. Now that that was over, however, the place was back to normal. If anything in Spira could be called normal after experiencing Sin and Vegnagun, that is.

Behind Yuna and Tidus were Rikku and Paine, the former smiling at the couple, the latter simply brooding. Gippal and Baralai had tagged along as well after getting a call from Rikku. Besides that, they also wanted to meet this new guy. So far, Gippal approved of him, but Baralai wasn't so sure. It wasn't his personality or anything. He just was reminded of Shuyin whenever he looked at him, which of course didn't bring back the fondest of memories.

"Let's go take a look around the town!" Tidus exclaimed, running forward. Yuna quickly followed him. Rikku giggled and grabbed Gippal. Only Paine and Baralai remained on the dock next to the Save Sphere.

"Are you sure he's with Yuna? He's seems more suited for Rikku," Baralai commented, giving her a small smile.

"I think Rikku's too preoccupied trying to figure out how to ask Gippal out to even begin to notice Tidus," Paine replied, only allowing the smallest remnants of a smile to cross her face.

Baralai turned and watched the two blonde Al Bhed youths for a moment. "You have a point." With all the happiness around them, it didn't take him a long time to notice that the smile on Paine's face didn't last long. In fact, it had probably disappeared right after he turned away. "Paine? What's wrong?"

Before the gray haired warrior could even start to give him a glare that meant she definitely wasn't answering the question, some children from the village recognized Baralai and ran up to the two, most pulling on his pants or the ends of his jacket. He looked at his old friend apologetically as he was practically carried away by the little ones. Paine watched the scene with decided indifference. Even though they'd reconnected after the whole thing with Vegnagun (as the entire former members of the Crimson Squad had), she still felt there was some strange, unspoken distance between them. It was probably the wall she'd put up around herself after what happened in the Den of Woe. Even her best friends couldn't penetrate it.

"Paine! Are you coming?" Yuna called from further up the docks.

With a sigh and a glance at Baralai, Paine went forward to meet up with the rest of YRP.

"Dr. P, you gotta learn to walk a little faster," Gippal joked.

Paine only nodded and looked around the town as the others went ahead. Tidus had been right; the place did look different, but to her it had a whole other meaning.

Eighteen years earlier, Kilika Port was a much different place. Sure, it was still a bustling town filled with its own comings and goings, but now it was still a town living in the shadow of Sin, like every other city in Spira. That was only the figurative differences. The physical look of the town was quite different as well. Not like it made any difference.

The warrior monks in Bevelle had received a distress call from Kilika Temple, saying something to the effect that the temple had a fiend problem. The Crusaders were preparing for their annual meet with Sin in Djose, so the maesters had to send out warrior monks who usually guarded the Palace of St. Bevelle. Auron was one of those guards.

He had only joined the ranks months before, and was regarded as an inexperienced rookie (being only nineteen), but he was quickly showing any doubters that he was indeed a skilled fighter. No fiend stood a chance against him. The only "problem" he was currently having involved the damned Kilikan humidity and his heavy warrior monk armor.

"Couldn't the fiends have picked a better location?" he muttered, swatting away a mosquito. It's not like he had to worry about, though. The metal plates surrounding his shoulders and torso would ward off any hungry insects.

His friend Wen Kinoc laughed. The man was short and rather chubby, not really fit to be either a warrior monk or Crusader, but he still fought anyway. "You know, if they stocked every other temple with warrior monks the way they stock Bevelle, then nothing like this would ever happen."

Auron had to smirk. "If they did that, then every able-bodied youth in Spira would be a warrior monk, guarding the temples. Sin would have a field day."

Kinoc let out another carefree laugh. "Well, when you're right, you're right."

A commander from another unit called over to them. "The fiends seem to be coming from the midst of the jungle. They're mostly wasps, but we do have a couple plant ones."

"Any elementals?" Auron asked warily. The warrior monks were short on mages.

"None yet," the commander replied. "Let's get moving. Make sure you've got a sensor locked into one of your weapons. It'll help you see the fiends before they come at you."

Both Kinoc and Auron nodded. Auron exchanged his normal katana for his Hunter's Blade, knowing it would be more useful in a situation like this. Kinoc held his pathetic sword close to him, but even then had a flamethrower and a gun situated on his back. The taller man just shook his head. Nearly everyone within the ranks knew of Yevon's hypocrisy when it came to machina, but sometimes it was ridiculous how much some actually depended on it. Then again, the people of Bevelle didn't easily give up their ways, and that included ancient and destructive machina.

Kinoc turned to him, the look in his eyes seeming to ask, "What?"

Auron only chuckled as the nearby commander began yelling out orders. The units then set out through the town to the jungle. When they reached the verdant woodland, they realized that they were definitely in over their heads.

"Holy crap!" Kinoc yelled. "The place is swarming with fiends!"

And for once, the shorter man wasn't lying. Wasp fiends were everywhere, buzzing in and out of every tree. Auron knew this breed, and it wasn't exactly his favorite fiend to deal with. Killer Bees were not fun, especially when trying to hit them with a katana as big as his. Now he was kind of grateful that many warrior monks used guns; that would make the going a lot easier. That's not to say, though, that it wouldn't be long and laborious work.

Most of the men began firing at the fiends. Some were using flamethrowers, while the rest were using the standard-issue warrior monk rifles. Auron could only wonder: What happens when they run out of ammo?

A Ragora showed up, and since most of the guys on flamethrowers were occupied, Auron went after that one. The plant fiend let rip its special attack, Seed Cannon, right before he got his first shot in. He hated it when fiends gained the upper hand, especially against him. The attack hurt him, but not enough to stop him for the time being. He ran forward with every ounce of agility he had and quickly brought down his katana, slicing the walking plant in two. Pyreflies went everywhere.

A satisfied grin crossed his face, idly watching the little balls of energy float to the sky. He knew that he was in the middle of a really bad battle, but for some reason he just stood there, grinning like an idiot who just figured out how a sword worked. Just as his guard came back up, a Killer Bee came buzzing by and stung him in the back of the neck. A noxious odor filled his mouth, nose, and lungs, and after a few moments, he fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious.

The sudden swarming of fiends around the temple had shed light on the alarming shortage of healers in Kilika. There were only three that actually lived on the island. Any others that were there at the moment came from Besaid or were warrior monks who knew a little white magic. Either way, it was nowhere near enough to satisfy the quota of injured soldiers and priests.

One of those healers was a white mage called Althea. Her hair was black with natural streaks of silver, and it stretched all the way down her back. Her eyes were a brilliant garnet red, and what they surveyed at the moment wasn't pretty. Villagers who had volunteered to help were carrying warrior monks in, none of them in the best of conditions. Some had merely experienced an unusual drop in health because of the amount of fiends, while others had been poisoned by the Killer Bees. A couple spells or items usually cured this quickly, but with the high amount of injuries, the task seemed harder than it was.

"This isn't all of them," a young male voice said.

Althea turned to see a twelve-year-old boy standing not too far from her. It hurt her heart to see someone so young so serious. Sin robbed children of their innocence. "But there probably aren't many more. Think of it this way, Mep. This is a chance for you to perfect your Cure spell." She gave the boy a smile.

The words were of little comfort to him. He had lost his parents to Sin (as many did) because one was a Crusader, and the other was healer not too different from Althea. He had had dreams of becoming a blitzball star, but those dreams crashed on the day his parents died. So, he entered the ranks of the Yevon priesthood, finding some solace in the system. "I guess," Mep replied. "I hope I don't have to use Life. I'm not strong enough."

"Of course you are," Althea said. "Besides, it was just a bunch of wasps. They're nothing to the warrior monks." She patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, okay?"

Mep glumly nodded before going to a group of soldiers huddled together, all of which seemed to be in pretty bad shape.

Suddenly, a couple villagers came running up the steep temple steps carrying an unconscious warrior monk, no easy task. Althea helped them carry him in. "How bad is he?"

"We don't know. He's one of the last, but someone told us he was also one of the first to go down," one of the villagers said.

Althea cursed and quickly cast Scan. It wasn't a basic spell for white mages (actually it was more something for blue mages), but she learned it anyway. Guesswork wasn't something that should be part of a healer's job. The reading came up. The man was poisoned, and his health was low. She relayed the information to the villagers and asked them to find the commander of his unit. They split up across the temple courtyard.

Esuna was the first spell she used on the man, knowing it was best to alleviate the status effect first. Then, she cast Curaga to restore most of his health. He was still unconscious.

A warrior monk who looked like a commander walked up to her. "Is he going to be all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, as soon as he wakes up. The wasp must've gotten him good, because not even Curaga has moved him," Althea replied. "You his commander?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. He's a rookie, but he usually never lets down his guard like that. Yevon only knows why this happened."

"Well, regardless of why, as long as he's unconscious, he's going to have to stay here," Althea said. "Unless you want to carry around dead weight."

"You have a point." The commander sighed. "All right, he stays here. When he's healed up and ready to go, send him back to Bevelle, but also send a message ahead to let us know when he's returning. Those of us who are strong enough are leaving in the morning."

Althea nodded. "Will do. What's his name, by the way?"

"Auron," the commander replied before going off to a different section of the courtyard.

Paine watched the sun set off in the distance. The group had decided to spend the day in Kilika, catching up with some of the villagers and generally enjoying the peace. Right now, the rest were at the inn in town, probably having more fun than she was. She was secluded in the hidden overlook in the jungle, merely reflecting.

From her perch she could see little children playing with a blitzball, and people talking on the docks. She could also see people exiting the jungle through the main gate, usually walking with friends and family. She sighed, wondering why she couldn't allow herself to be like that. After all she'd been through with her friends, one would think that they'd be closer than ever before. But, with Tidus back, Yuna and Rikku seemed to be forming their own little group, putting a wedge between them. The distance there was unsettling, but Paine was used to it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a soft, male voice said from the entrance to the overlook. "The sunset, I mean."

Paine turned to see Baralai standing there, a small smile on his face. Their eyes met, but she quickly looked away, not wanting to know what would happen if she kept staring into those dark brown orbs. "Nothing special," she replied.

Baralai sat down beside her. He hated the distance between them, a distance that, two years ago, didn't even exist. The events with Shuyin and Vegnagun didn't help. "You make it sound like you've seen it many times before."

She focused her attention to the horizon. "I grew up here," she confessed. "When I was fifteen, I joined the Crusaders and left. I didn't come back until we came here looking for that awesome sphere. I'll admit; I didn't really miss it."

Her answer surprised him. Even when they were training to be members of the Crimson Squad, he'd never heard her mention her past. "Why not?"

"Bad memories," was all Paine said in reply.