Prologue
["The War is Over" by Sarah Brightman]
My statues are falling
Like feathers of snow
Their voices are calling
In a whispering world
Waiting for the morning glow
Heaven is calling
From a rainy shore
Counting wounded lights falling
Into their dreams
Still searching for an open door
In morning dew
A glorious scene came through
Like war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Auron had been right, those two years ago, when he told the young lady summoner and her entourage that he didn't belong here. Only now, however, did he become fully sure of it.
The Farplane truly was beautiful. He was, too, and so were Jecht and Braska. They had faded into holograms shrouded in rainbow-colored pyreflies. It was unlike anything he'd ever imagined, and yet a shame not to be wished upon the young and living. For the young and the living deserved a chance to live among the fields of multicolored flowers and the waterfalls in the deep canyons, gleaming different hues through the powerful auroras and the moonlight. The smell and taste of the air put rainbow skies after storms to deep shame, and the breeze flowing through his weightless and transparent body was enough to carry him into a tranquil slumber beyond the imaginings of the living.
But Auron wondered how long people, the living and dead alike, would continue believing that this is where souls were supposed to "rest" forever. For two years he had "lived" on the Farplane in rampant unrest. Thoughts streamed through his mind about Lady Yuna, and Tidus, and the rest of her guardians. In two years, no one had come to conjure up his hologram. Even though he couldn't speak to the living, just being able to set eyes on the group would be marvelous. He had been much too stubborn and prideful to stay when he had the chance.
That was... until about three months ago. "Vegnagun"... what was it? And why of all places would it be here on the Farplane? Those questions went unanswered, but for a moment he thought he saw her again. He rested himself as a mass of pyreflies again, so the picture went unclear, but oh, that voice... he heard it in a familiar young girl's panting for breath, having ran herself into exhaustion. Any minute he'd expected to hear, "Yunie? Can we rest now? Please?"... and when it disappeared for who knows how much longer, he thought that, if he was alive, he would have wept in frustration.
The entrance to the Farplane in Guadosalam had been sealed, he knew that for sure. He'd tried to get out, like Lord Jyscal had done, but even if the entrance hadn't been sealed up, someone like Lady Yuna herself would misunderstand and banish him back into the Farplane with a second sending. And what a hard time he had explaining his attempt to escape to Lord Braska and Jecht.
"The perfect bliss of the Farplane isn't enough for you, Auron?" Jecht had teased him, throwing him a swift left hook to the chest. And although his fist had gone through him, it was still a painful ordeal on Auron's part. He didn't know how he got away without letting his companions know the truth, but he did, and best not to ponder about it nor give off any more grounds for suspicion.
But given that no one would come to do what someone did for Tidus, he couldn't lose hope. There had to be some way out of here.
He played that day over and over in his mind. Since his arrival here, Tidus had been blitzing among the clouds by himself, trying to take his mind off missing the two worlds he left behind, and then there was that whistle. That high-pitched, bird-like whistle that sent him diving off the clouds and whistling back as if his life depended on it. Tears sprung into the boy's eyes and he yelled that it just had to be her. Pyreflies encased his body and materialized a solid foundation of hair, skin, bone, flesh, and blood. Auron, Braska, and Jecht had become invisible to him, but he waved off before stepping out into thin air and vanishing. Auron had burned with inner jealousy since then.
He didn't understand why he missed Spira, and the others, so much. After those long and tiring days of being Yuna's guardian, he had become used to the routine, Auron guessed. It was a way of life for him, so being here felt unnatural. It was also because he couldn't avoid the feeling that he left something undone. And this part he had known ever since he permitted Yuna to perform his sending. The lady summoner had defeated Sin, and the feeling of that moment being a sort of final chance for all in the group overwhelmed him. He knew it would most likely be the last time he would see them all again, and the feeling that he only had one last chance to do something he had left undone frightened him. But how he wished he'd stayed there, to figure out what it was he still wanted, and what it was that made him feel like he was missing a part of his life, what was tugging at his heart like this.
Pulling the collar of his large red overcoat onto his jawbone just now, he clenched a fist and held it to his chest, inside that jacket. "I must get out of here... I will. I have to."
An arrow of freedom
Is piercing my heart
Breaking chains of emotion
Give a moment to pray
For lost innocence to find its way
Fields of sensation
A cry in the dark
Hope is on the horizon
With a reason to stay
And living for a brand new day
In morning dew
A glorious scene came through
Like war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
...To you...
["The War is Over" by Sarah Brightman]
My statues are falling
Like feathers of snow
Their voices are calling
In a whispering world
Waiting for the morning glow
Heaven is calling
From a rainy shore
Counting wounded lights falling
Into their dreams
Still searching for an open door
In morning dew
A glorious scene came through
Like war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Auron had been right, those two years ago, when he told the young lady summoner and her entourage that he didn't belong here. Only now, however, did he become fully sure of it.
The Farplane truly was beautiful. He was, too, and so were Jecht and Braska. They had faded into holograms shrouded in rainbow-colored pyreflies. It was unlike anything he'd ever imagined, and yet a shame not to be wished upon the young and living. For the young and the living deserved a chance to live among the fields of multicolored flowers and the waterfalls in the deep canyons, gleaming different hues through the powerful auroras and the moonlight. The smell and taste of the air put rainbow skies after storms to deep shame, and the breeze flowing through his weightless and transparent body was enough to carry him into a tranquil slumber beyond the imaginings of the living.
But Auron wondered how long people, the living and dead alike, would continue believing that this is where souls were supposed to "rest" forever. For two years he had "lived" on the Farplane in rampant unrest. Thoughts streamed through his mind about Lady Yuna, and Tidus, and the rest of her guardians. In two years, no one had come to conjure up his hologram. Even though he couldn't speak to the living, just being able to set eyes on the group would be marvelous. He had been much too stubborn and prideful to stay when he had the chance.
That was... until about three months ago. "Vegnagun"... what was it? And why of all places would it be here on the Farplane? Those questions went unanswered, but for a moment he thought he saw her again. He rested himself as a mass of pyreflies again, so the picture went unclear, but oh, that voice... he heard it in a familiar young girl's panting for breath, having ran herself into exhaustion. Any minute he'd expected to hear, "Yunie? Can we rest now? Please?"... and when it disappeared for who knows how much longer, he thought that, if he was alive, he would have wept in frustration.
The entrance to the Farplane in Guadosalam had been sealed, he knew that for sure. He'd tried to get out, like Lord Jyscal had done, but even if the entrance hadn't been sealed up, someone like Lady Yuna herself would misunderstand and banish him back into the Farplane with a second sending. And what a hard time he had explaining his attempt to escape to Lord Braska and Jecht.
"The perfect bliss of the Farplane isn't enough for you, Auron?" Jecht had teased him, throwing him a swift left hook to the chest. And although his fist had gone through him, it was still a painful ordeal on Auron's part. He didn't know how he got away without letting his companions know the truth, but he did, and best not to ponder about it nor give off any more grounds for suspicion.
But given that no one would come to do what someone did for Tidus, he couldn't lose hope. There had to be some way out of here.
He played that day over and over in his mind. Since his arrival here, Tidus had been blitzing among the clouds by himself, trying to take his mind off missing the two worlds he left behind, and then there was that whistle. That high-pitched, bird-like whistle that sent him diving off the clouds and whistling back as if his life depended on it. Tears sprung into the boy's eyes and he yelled that it just had to be her. Pyreflies encased his body and materialized a solid foundation of hair, skin, bone, flesh, and blood. Auron, Braska, and Jecht had become invisible to him, but he waved off before stepping out into thin air and vanishing. Auron had burned with inner jealousy since then.
He didn't understand why he missed Spira, and the others, so much. After those long and tiring days of being Yuna's guardian, he had become used to the routine, Auron guessed. It was a way of life for him, so being here felt unnatural. It was also because he couldn't avoid the feeling that he left something undone. And this part he had known ever since he permitted Yuna to perform his sending. The lady summoner had defeated Sin, and the feeling of that moment being a sort of final chance for all in the group overwhelmed him. He knew it would most likely be the last time he would see them all again, and the feeling that he only had one last chance to do something he had left undone frightened him. But how he wished he'd stayed there, to figure out what it was he still wanted, and what it was that made him feel like he was missing a part of his life, what was tugging at his heart like this.
Pulling the collar of his large red overcoat onto his jawbone just now, he clenched a fist and held it to his chest, inside that jacket. "I must get out of here... I will. I have to."
An arrow of freedom
Is piercing my heart
Breaking chains of emotion
Give a moment to pray
For lost innocence to find its way
Fields of sensation
A cry in the dark
Hope is on the horizon
With a reason to stay
And living for a brand new day
In morning dew
A glorious scene came through
Like war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
Pure moments of thought
In the meaning of love
This war is over now
I feel I'm coming home again
...To you...