Auron expected a lot of things to happen once he was excommunicated from Yevon, but he never expected to care more about some kid's problems than his own.
He was walking down the street, with no particular destination in mind when suddenly he saw a little girl throwing rocks at a fly eye, and missing each time. The fly eye swooped down to attack her, and she turned to run, only to be knocked down face first.
Auron ran over to them, pulling out his sword as he ran, and swung it at the fly eye, killing it in one hit. Then he turned to the girl who was still lying on the ground. She slowly pulled herself up and gazed up at Auron with crimson eyes. Despite the fact that she was covered in dirt and fly eye blood, and had a few scratches and scrapes, she seemed alright.
"Thank yewwa Mr." She said ringing blood out of her short silver hair.
"Overconfidence killed the crusader you know? What in Yevon's name were you thinking attacking that thing." Auron demanded, perhaps a little too harshly.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked down at the ground in shame. "I'm sowwy, they told me I could get it an' that they'd be pwoud...I was lied to."
Auron sighed, he didn't have time for this. "Who's they?"
"Uh...my fwiends? Owa at least I thought dey wewa my fwiends...it's compucated." She frowned. "Am I gonna' get in twouble fowa dis?"
Auron shook his head. "No, but you really should go home. Do you know how to get there?"
She nodded. "Yesss...but uh...I might get a wittle lost on the waya." She grinned sheepishly "Couwd yewwa help me get dewwa?"
Auron sighed. "I don't have time for this." He mumbled to himself. "Where do you live?" He asked tiredly.
"The owaphanage." The girl answered automatically.
Auron's heart fell. He started to feel bad for this girl, he knew what it felt like to be parentless and alone, it was one of the worst things he dealt with after his parent's death.
"Alright, lets go." He said and then lifted her up into his arms. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and cuddled into him, getting blood all over his hair and cloths. She closed her eyes and for a minute he thought she'd fall asleep, but she stayed awake as they made their way home.
When they got to the orphanage he walked up to the door and knocked gently on it, careful not to wake up any young children that might be sleeping inside. The door opened and a younger looking woman gazed out at them with disinterested eyes.
"Oh...so that's where you went." She said wonderingly. "I was wondering about that." She took the girl from his arms and set her down inside. "Well don't just stand there." She ordered "Go get yourself cleaned up, we don't want you getting blood everywhere now do we."
The girl nodded and turned to leave, she turned around again with a grin and said "Thank yewwa Mr." and ran off.
The woman turned her attention back to him. "Thanks" she said and then shut the door in his face.
Auron just shook his head with a sigh. The woman hadn't cared where the girl had been or why she was covered in blood, she could have been badly injured and they wouldn't even know. 'poor girl' he thought, and that night the whole encounter slipped his mind, no matter how important it proved to be.
The next day Auron was walking down the road, this time to go see Braska, he had decided to take the job and become Braska's guardian during his pilgrimage and battle with Sin.
He past the orphanage without a thought only to do a double take and run back to it; the same little girl was hanging out a second story window by nearly her finger tips. She looked down at him and grinned. "Hi again. Wememba me?" She asked casually, as though this was a common occurrence and not a crisis.
"Hold on!" He called up to her. "I'll catch you!"
As hard as she tried to hold on, she slipped and went plummeting towards the ground. He lunged forward and caught her, he was nearly too late.
He held her close for a moment, to let his heart calm itself, before setting her down. "What happened?" He asked incredulously. "You were nearly killed!"
The girl looked down at the ground in shame. "Well...uh..."
"Let me guess." He asked "Your 'friends'?"
She nodded. "Sowwy to fwighten yewwa."
Auron frowned. "You shouldn't let people push you around like that...At this rate if you don't do something you will really get hurt. I won't always be here to catch you, you know?"
She frowned. "Aww...I hoped yewwa would. I like being with yewwa."
Auron's heart fell again. He suddenly felt sad having to leave for Braska's Pilgrimage, and almost considered staying, but of course he had to go. Even if if meant saying goodbye to this poor child who wanted nothing more than a little attention from someone, anyone, willing to give.
"Well...I...uh..." He stammered not knowing how to respond.
She grinned. "It's okay. I'll see yewwa tomorrow." Then she gave him a hug and ran back inside.
Leaving him to shake his head and wish he could do something for the second time.
Auron was now a guardian of lord Braska. How he had been a heathen one minute and a guardian the next, he never could have guessed, but he didn't have the time to think of it now. At the moment he and Braska were on there way to Bevelle's prison. Apparently they were to visit someone there, though Braska didn't tell him why. They past the orphanage and luckily the girl was not falling out the window nor was she in any kind of danger. She was waiting outside of the orphanage with an absent look on her face. When she saw him she grinned and charged at him, hugging him as hard as she could. Braska stopped and smiled kindly, knowing Auron needed a minute to say goodbye.
"I asked an adult...she said yewwa could adopt me. Will you adopt me?" The girl asked when she let go of him.
For the last time his heart fell. If he hadn't been about to go on a dangerous journey, he would have considered it. But it was a dangerous journey, and if lord Braska could part from his daughter than he could part with this girl as well. But that didn't make this any easier.
"I...I.." He stammered. What was he supposed to say?
Braska assessed the situation and then stepped in on his behalf. He knelt down in front of her so he could look her in the eyes. "Hi." He said. "I'm Braska, I'm a friend of sir Auron's. We have to go on a long journey to destroy Sin...do you understand?"
She nodded knowingly and looked up at Auron. "Will I evah see yewwa again?"
Auron thought for a moment. Would he ever see her again? Even if he survived Braska's pilgrimage, would he be able to come back? When a Summoner took only one guardian to defeat Sin, they never came back. Nobody knew why, or if anyone did, they were keeping it a secret.
Somehow he doubted he would ever get to come back, but he had to give her some kind of hope right?
"I'll do my best." He finally said.
"Pwomise?"
"Promise." He reassured her, though mentally he knew that his best wouldn't be enough.
The girl gave him another hug, this one he returned.
"Now you be good. Take care of yourself until I come back."
She nodded and said "See yewwa soon."
'Don't count on it' he thought to himself. But instead he nodded. "Farewell." He said, and then he glanced back up at Braska. "Lets go."
Braska nodded, and then they left the girl behind with nothing but false hope, and a promise that would never be fulfilled.
A/N So I am back with another one-shot, this one sadder than the last. Even though this is the second one-shot I've written for this series, I put it as the first chapter because I wanted to have it in chronological order. So I've decided that this series will be scenes both before and during FFX, in which one of the characters meet Paine. Since I don't want to ruin the cannon storyline, there are some limitations on who it is, but I do have a few ideas. If you have any requests for this series I'd love to write a one-shot for them. So, hopefully you enjoyed that , it's not the best thing I've written, but hopefully y'all were able to enjoy it. So that's all for now, stay tune for more crappy one-shots. (At least I'm honest right?) Love Y'all, thanks for reading. -Reibun
