The End of the Start

It was a dark night, the battle of the Aeon's had just taken place and my parents were in a cross fire between Ifrit the Fire God, and Ixion the Thunder God. There was nothing I could do as I was being restrained by two fairly big people who I didn't know. The last thing I remember was Ifrit throwing a large fireball and Ixion throwing lightning bolts at who I assumed my parents, all I could do was scream and watch their painful death. I had never worked out why these two men held me back and made me watch my parents die. It was the worst night of my childhood ever and it still frightens me whenever I think about it. I woke up screaming, sweat all over my body and my eyes wide open the images of the dream disappearing instantly, but the thought of it still in my head. I sat in bed for a few minutes so that I could calm down and wake up, not ever being able to get back to sleep after that reoccurring dream. I slowly got out of my bed, and headed to my bathroom where I headed to shower and clean myself up. I got out of longer than normal shower and got changed, instantly heading to my mirror to see if I looked good, what I saw in the mirror staring back at me was a 5"8' male with spiky black hair with dark red tips, who was wearing a pair of black jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, a pair of black boots and a half of a medallion which showed half of the final Aeon, Odin. After staring in the mirror for a few more minutes and making sure that my hair was okay I got a quick drink of water from my kitchen and then headed out of my front door into the streets of reality, which I was sad to say was my life. I walked around the streets of my city randomly, having no real idea where I was going or why I was even outside when I could be watching TV or relaxing. After stopping at a bench which was nearby for a few moments I saw the closest thing to a real friend looking at sign in a shop window. I smirked and got up, running over to him then smacking him on the back of the head softly, laughing as I did it. "Don't do that again Auron, you know I can kick your arse heh..." I smirked then stood back and looked at a 5"6' male with shoulder length blond hair with blue highlights, who was wearing his usual blue jeans, white shirt and black running shoes. "Last time you beat me was by luck... I was... Uhh... Ill that day. Any other day I would beat you" I moved back a little and smirked, while waiting for what Zidane had to say. "You wish... When you can beat me I will be your slave for a week" He laughed and looked at me. "So, anyway... You're actually awake?"

"Yeah...Had that dream about my parents again... and I..."

"Can't get back to sleep..? You need to see somebody about that Auron, can't be good for you... Oh yeah, by the way... I heard that Dagger was looking for you, she arrived back at the castle last night, came in by the new stealth ship "Omega Infil XII" I heard it's a pretty cool ship, can't be detected by anyone or anything" I stood there, staring at him. I couldn't believe what he had just said... I didn't care about the ship or any of that... The only thing I cared about what that Dagger was back. And I was going to see her, one way or another. "Let's go see her then!" I jumped in the air and did some thing that made Zidane laugh then he started to walk towards our cities castle.

"Fine... Let's see what happens when you two meet again... It's been what? Eight years now?"

"Eight years, one hundred and 2 days actually" "Can't believe you actually know the exact amount of days... Idiot" We both walked to the castle, talking about nothing in particular when we approached the Castle and got approached by a male in a suit of armour. "We don't allow peasants in the castle; get out of here both of you. Before I call for more guards and get you put in jail"

Zidane and I laughed then winked at the guard and pushed him to the floor. "Now, Steiner... How dare you treat two old friends like that, didn't Dagger tell you we were coming?"

"PRINCESS...I MEAN QUEEN GARNET!"

"Yeah, Dagger" Zidane and I said in Union. We were both doing our best to really annoy Steiner and it was working... a lot" "Just go in you two... don't want peasants like you loitering outside the castle"

We both smirked then headed into the castle and through the two front giant doors. As we walked in all I saw in front on me was a woman who was about 5"7' with long brown hair, blue eyes and who was wearing a long white dress, and around her neck was the other part of my medallion. Zidane instantly bowed, but I stood there. Just staring at her my eyes going over every inch her body. She smiled and looked at us both then looked into my eyes. She made my insides melt. I still had feelings for her. "Hello, both of you... It's been such a long time; I've missed you so much" Zidane nodded and smiled "I've missed you too Queen Garnet"

"Oh... Please, call me Dagger... You don't need to be so formal around me; after all, we are still friends."

I stared at her for a few moments before shaking my head and bowing to her "Dagger... I've... Missed you so much" "I've missed you too Auron" She sighed and looked at Zidane and I. "Anyway, I'm glad you've come... I need a favour off both off both of you... As my friends I hope you can help" As she said that she looked at me and stared into my eyes for a second, knowing that I still loved her. "It depends on what it is Dagger... I mean, it's not like helping Steiner is it?"

"No, it's nothing like that..." She smirked "There has been Garland royal thieves running through our castle and out city at night and stealing unique weapons, armour, potions and spell books... And we want to know why they've been doing it... So, I need you both; including myself, Wakka, Yuna, Lulu and Tidus to go down to Garland and find out what's going on" She looked at us both... We both knew she needed our help so we both nodded and vaguely smiled at her. "We'll be glad to help you Princess" We both said in union. She smiled and stuck her tongue out at us. "You really had no choice... If you would have said "No" I would have had you thrown into the dungeons"

She twirled around and smirked

"I'm kidding... I'm really glad you're helping me and our great city... So, let's go before Steiner decided to interfere with this and beg me not to go" She looked at Zidane then walked over to me grinning, then wrapper her hands around my waist and leaned towards me like she was going to kiss me, but as soon as she got close enough he hands went around my back and pulled a dagger from under my shirt which was attached to a harness.

"Thank you" She moved away and then did something we weren't expecting; she got my dagger and stuck it through her dress and pulled the dagger up towards her throat and then down towards her waist and then threw the dagger to the floor and let the dress fall off her. What she was wearing was a orange and black, loose PVC all in one shirt and trousers; she kicked off the shoes she was wearing and ran into a room which she was near, coming out a few moments later in a pair of black boots. "If were going to go... We might as well go now" She waved at us and started to run through the castle "Catch me if you can!" She yelled. We both laughed and started to run to the Castle Dock as we both new she would be hiding there. We arrived at the dock and both gasped, seeing in front of us the "Omega Infil XII" "Like it?" Dagger whispered from behind us. "It looks brilliant... What can it do?" Zidane said quickly, having always loving new ships

"Uhh... I have no idea; you need to ask the engineer about this... He's in the control room, go find him"

Zidane nodded and ran to the ship, soon heading inside. "It's really a great ship isn't it Auron... I remember when I and you use to hide away in a room in there and just spend hours together... I miss it, and I've missed you" "Dagger..." I sighed and looked at her before walking towards the ship and heading there myself, leaving her standing at the Dock entrance. She had to say that, she had to remind me of what me and her use to do... I miss it, I have since we broke up years ago. But I know we can't get back together... For her sake and mine. I sighed and followed a sign in the ship to the "Main Room" where I encountered Wakka, Yuna, Lulu and Tidus who all looked at me and smiled. We'd all been together in the city for about 1 year now so we didn't have much to catch up on. I dragged myself over to a seat and sat down, waiting for Dagger and the announcement to say that we would leave. As Dagger walked into the room she slowly moved towards a microphone that was next to where Auron was sitting, as she got to the microphone she pressed a button and said; "To Garland please... Get there as quick as possible" then she moved away from the microphone and sat down next to me. "We will be leaving in 5 minutes everyone, just get ready" She said loudly so that everyone would hear. Everyone looked towards Dagger and nodded quickly then got back to their own business. "Oh... Everyone, I suggest we start training while we've got the time. I'm sure some of us aren't as good with weapons as we use to be" She smirked and looked over to Tidus and Wakka. "Since we've got approximately 8 hours till arrival I suggest we do it now" She smiled at me and Zidane. "I've assigned Auron, Zidane and myself a room one floor below; as I will be practicing summoning again and Auron and Zidane... I'm sure will be fighting with eachother. Have fun all" She smiled and walked towards a door, beckoning Zidane and I. It took us a few minutes to get to the floor below because we'd all been talking about the past. When we arrived at the room all I saw was a room about 50-60 meters long and 50-60 meters wide, it was plain white and had a huge collection of weapons across the wall; ranging from swords, axes, staffs and some crosses between all of them. And at the end of the room there was a place to lie down and rest from any training you had been trying to do. I smirked and walked in first, walking directly towards a double headed blue and black sword and pulled it off the wall holding it in both hands.

"Wooaahh, nice sword... Mind if I try this one out?" I looked over at Dagger who was looking at the staffs she could pick from.

"Sure... Help yourself guys"

I looked at the weapon again and used both my hands to hold it then looked around at Zidane. "Yo, Zidane... You ready?"

"Heh... Are you ready?"

He turned to face me, in his hands were a Black 2-handed sword, with a green tip. I smirked then approached him with my weapon in the air and pulled my hands apart, making the weapon I was using split into 2 separate weapons. Zidane approached me and smirked "Let's see if you know how to use those"

He turned around quickly and then span back around to face me, his weapon coming over his head. "Dammit!" I quickly reacted and got into a counter stance. As his weapon came towards me, I swang my left handed weapon into his and defected and then swang my right one but turned the blade around and hit the back of his legs with the flat side of the sword, instantly making him fall over. "Hmmm, Zidane... Think you need to practice."

"Lucky hit... very lucky hit!" He glared at me then moved back. I smirked then looked over at Dagger who was in the centre of the room and swinging her long green staff in the air. Zidane and I watched her do this for about 30 seconds until she slammed the bottom of the staff into the ground. We both jumped, seeing a giant pentagram of flames appear around her then a giant beast covered in fire appearing next to her, the beast had black and red eyes, had fangs the size of a human arm and was covered in black fur (Amongst all the flames" "Whoa" was all the Zidane and I could say before the beast disappeared and Dagger fell the floor unconscious, the pentagram and all the fire disappearing. We both run over to her and helped her up, Then pulled her over to one of the beds at the end of the room. "Dagger!"

I looked down at her, she was still breathing but not moving at all. "Dagger! Please move, please wake up... please speak to us" We both stayed there for about an hour until she woke up, neither of us having gone to tell anyone because we didn't want to cause any worry. "Dagger, What happened?" I asked her softly. "T...The surge of power through me was too much for me to handle... I ne... Need to keep trying, We haven't got long"

Zidane and I nodded and helped her back up "Me and Zidane have been practicing... We're still okay at it; and you're still pretty good... Ifrit for first summon in ages is awesome"

She smiled and walked back to where she was standing before and started swinging her staff again, doing the exact same actions as before. "I WILL NOT LET THIS FAIL!" She screamed and slammed her staff into the floor, Ifrit appearing again; this time even bigger.

Dagger stood there for several moments slightly shaking, but she managed to stay standing. "Way to go!" we both yelled at Dagger before Zidane and myself got back to fighting. Several hours had passed before an announcement came over us

"APPROACHING GARLAND CASTLE, DOCKING IN FOURTY MINUTES"

As we heard this we all dropped our weapons and fell to the floor. Dagger had manages to summon all her Aeons by the time she managed to Summon Ifrit, and myself and Zidane were evenly scored at 20 "wins" per person. "I think we should all get cleaned up for our arrival to Garland... I heard Sid was going to meet us there"

Zidane and I nodded and got up, then helped Dagger up; We all slowly walked out of the room and into a different part of the ship, where there were 5 doors, each of them being a big shower/bath. Zidane looked at both of us then nodded and walked into one of the rooms, all we heard from then was the sound of water. "Dagger... Thanks for that, we all needed to practice a bit"

She smiled and closed her eyes for a second. "No problem... Just hope it pays off if anything bad happens when we arrive, Well... have a nice shower or bath" She smiled then walked into a room, leaving me to walk into one. I entered one of the spare rooms to find a huge bath and walk in shower, a sink, a few mirrors and some change of clothes. I smiled then ran the water for the bath, locked the door and then looked for some clothes while the bath filled with water and the room filled with thick steam. When the bath filled I got unchanged and got in, the hot water burning a bit; but it wasn't anything major. I'd been in the bath for about 15 minutes when I heard my room door being unlocked then opened, a few seconds later I heard the door get closed and a pile of what sounded like clothes hitting the floor. Since I couldn't see who it was I reached out of the bath and pulled a small blade from my jeans and held it in front of me. I heard the person walking towards me, the light footsteps on the ground until there was no more sound. I kept the blade in the air for several minutes, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did; so I dropped my dagger on the floor and shook my head.

"Too much pressure... Must be going mad" I laughed to myself and laid back into my bath. The next thing that happened I wasn't ready for, I saw an outline of hands approach me and place themselves on my chest. Then I felt somebody else get into the bath with me and sit in front of me. I felt more weight on my chest as the person leaned forward and lied on top of me, I stared at the outline of the person but couldn't figure out who it was. "Auron... I've missed you." Was all I heard."

"Dag..." Was the last thing I head before the person lips were pressed against mine. My hands instantly went around the person waist...

"FIVE MINUTES TILL ARRIVAL! BE READY TO LEAVE" A voice echoed through the ship.

"Where the hell are they?!" Zidane yelled, looking towards Lulu.

"Don't ask me Zidane, the last time I saw them was when they were with you" Lulu said calmly without looking at him. Zidane yelled and looked around the room quickly.

"Urgh... Hope they hurry up" Zidane said quietly. Just as he said that Dagger and I walked into the room both looking relaxed and happier than before. "Sorry for being late everyone... I was trying to find some clothes and then I had to talk to Zidane about something... I apologise" "Please don't let it happen again Queen Garnet... We're here to find out what's happening, not to catch up" Lulu said once again calmly. "I understand Lulu..." Dagger said quietly The ship docked and the doors opened a few minutes later. "WELCOME TO GARLAND CASTLE QUEEN GARNET!" A small person yelled. Everyone walked out of the ship and smiled looking towards the person that had yelled "Uncle Sid... It's been a long time" Dagger said to Sid and ran over to him and hugged him. "I know it has Queen Garnet... I've missed you all" He smiled and looked at everyone. "Everyone looks the same... especially him" Sid pointed over at me and giggled "I do my best Sid" I said while sniggering. "Well... you all know why you're here... I heard there's a auction tonight at 8:30pm, I heard the person who organised the things happening in your castle and city will be there leading the expedition also. I suggest you go." He handed Dagger a piece of paper which had the location of the auction on it "Okay uncle... We will go tonight, but until then we will look around your castle and city as we haven't been here in a long time" Dagger said happily "Okay, do as you wish... Just remember to be there at 8:30, for both our cities sake. Everyone nodded and walked towards the castle exit, looking at all the ships in the dock. "Stupid people... If only they knew tonight would be the last time any of them would see eachother or anyone else for that matter" Sid laughed evilly as his eyes glowed crimson. He walked off into their ship and closed the door from the inside.

Everyone we were with went off to do their own thing and we all told eachother to meet near the building where the auction was taking place. The only two people who stayed together were me and Dagger... Which honestly, I wish it would always be like.

"Uhm... Auron...I'm really sorry about what happened in the ship earlier, I didn't mean for anything like that to happen again... I just... Missed you and wanted to be with you again... And, well... You know what happened."

"Dagger... It's okay... Honestly, I'm... Happy you did that. I've missed you so much since we broke up 6 years ago, I've thought about you all the time and my feelings still haven't changed" "But Auron! We shouldn't of done that... It was... Wrong" Dagger sighed and looked into my eyes.

"You know it was wrong" "Dagger... I know it shouldn't of happened but it did, we cant change that... Let's just focus on tonight okay? Take our minds of this" I tried to smile as I said it, but what she said was tearing me up inside. "Why can't I tell him how I really feel? I love him... I know he loves me but I can't say it... It's too hard" Dagger thought to herself while walking next to Auron. Dagger and I walked around Garland all day, stopping at random places to get drinks and have lunch. Time slowly approached 8:30pm, we all ended up meeting a few buildings away from the Auction House. "Look everyone... We have no idea what to expect in there okay, just be ready for anything... If you see anyone suspicious just tell the rest of us and we'll try to find out who they are"

"Aye Auron, let's see what goes on eh!" Wakka exclaimed, Everyone walked towards the Auction house calmly and walked towards the door. "Wait all" Dagger said quickly as she took out the piece of paper that was given to her by Sid. "It says we have to go to the door and give this to the person inside... And that's all it says"

Everyone looked at her and nodded, then walked into the Auction house. Dagger approached one of the people in a Black suit with the Auction houses logo on the front and gave him the piece of paper. "Ah... Queen Garnet and her friend... Please come this way" The man turned around and went through a door that was behind him and we all followed him. "Please stay together all, don't want you getting lost"

The person laughed as the door closed behind us. "Please wait here one moment" The man went through a different door and started laughing as he locked it when he went through. "Stupid people... You really though you could come here and stop us stealing certain things from your city? Idiotic fools... You can never stop us!"

As he said that the room started filling with green gas and we all started to choke. "Wh...What's goin...Going on herree" I yelled before collapsing to the floor, along with everyone else. I couldn't remember anything that happened after that until I was woken by Dagger. "AURON! WAKE UP! AURON!! PLEASE!! WAKE UP!!" Dagger was yelling, while trying to wake me up. "What... What's wrong?" I asked calmly. As soon as I asked she pulled my up from the floor and pointed in front of me, where there was Ifrit, not the one Dagger summoned, but an even bigger one. Then she turned around and pointed at another who was Ixion.

"What's happening here?! Where is everyone!" Dagger yelled, her voice shaking. "I...I don't know.."

I looked around... We were in a dark room. This seems familiar to me. I looked around again and our friends were brought into the room, all being restrained by big guys. "No... This can't be what I think it is... Please don't let it be what I think it is" I looked over towards Zidane and stared at him. "Zidane... My dream!"

All I saw was Zidane nod then look down at the ground, as he wasn't able to do anything else.

"Ha...Ha...Ha...Ha... Little Auron and Dagger, once again together... But this time for the last time... Does this seem familiar Auron? Does it seem like you know what's going to happen next? Do you know that you can't get out?" The voice was dark and emotionless. "I hope you enjoyed your time with Dagger; Auron. Because of you this is going to happen, because you couldn't get over her this is going to happen.... Now look next to each Aeon" As the person said that a light appeared and there was a person standing next to each Aeon. "Guuc Dnis!" The person yelled. As he yelled that the person standing next to the Aeon Ifrit and Aeon Ixion started spinning their staffs and started mumbling some words In Al Bhed

"Wyh Wuhi Ert Usi! Wyh Wuhi Ert Usi! Wyh Wuhi Ert Usi!" " For fire and Ice.." Dagger said quietly "They're going to kill us Auron" She started to cry. "WYH WUHI ERT USI!" Both the people screamed as both of the Aeons started to Cast, Ifrit starting to cast a fireball and Ixion starting to cast lighting. "Auron... Before we die I need to tell you something." Dagger said softly as she looked into my eyes. "Dagger... I need to tell you something too..." I looked into her eyes, and wiped a tear away. "I...Love you" we both said in union. As soon as we said that, Ifrit had thrown the fireball at us and Ixion had thrown the lightning bolt at us. "For death" I said quickly and moved over to Dagger and kissed her. I felt her arms embrace me as she kissed me back. What happened next neither of us were ready for, the medallions we were wearing broke off our neck and floated above us and connected, each side now as one. A light shot out of it, destroying the fire bolt and the lightning bolt then covering the room in light. Something happened that night, something that I wish I could tell you... I wish I could let you know what happened when our medallions became one... But I cant. Just say I know the end of my dream... and it wasn't my parents... It was Dagger and myself.

The End

Jason Benedetti