Alright SO! This is my entry for the Reaper76 Big Bang 2017. Honestly, this has been such a ride. I'd like to thank everyone on Discord for being so kind to me over the past few months, and my close friends for dealing with, well, me having incessant meltdowns over this whole debacle. A special thanks to my artists for picking me, as well. No links to art just yet, but I'll update as soon as I get links.
I will warn for FFX spoilers, but I think a lot of people who read this know the story. And if you don't, well, plenty of explanation in the fic for you. This particular fic is looking into the past of Jack and Gabriel as they grow up in Besaid. Why not anywhere else? ...I'm not sure, now that I think about it. Oh well. This was originally going to be something else (same universe), but I would have run out of time. So in reality, there is a big chunk of a sequel sitting in a Word document on my laptop.
I can't believe it's over. Months in the making, and here we go. Schedule is every Wednesday and Sunday.
Jack was only a baby when his parents died at the hands of Sin, The Great Beast caused by the folly of man. He was passed from temple to temple by the church, until finally, they found room for him in the village island of Besaid. The pastor officing there was more than happy to take in another lost soul. He already had quite the reputation for it, as well.
From there, through Zenyatta's teaching, Jack learnt all about Sin, the monster born from the great war with machina - machines - and a physical representation of humanity's sins. Yevon, Spira's common religion, taught that through repenting, humanity could atone for their sins and, with the aid of the summoners, Sin would not rise again. It was that hope that kept the religion alive, regardless of how many times summoners took the beast down and the fact that it always came back.
Summoners called forth aeons - powerful monsters, and physical manifestations of souls. Those souls belonged to people known as fayth, who had been locked away in stone, never to wake. Summoners were to travel through a pilgrimage across Spira, to gain various aeons, before obtaining the final aeon. With that final aeon, they could take Sin down, but only for a time, as it always returned.
Not everyone had the power to become one, and many who did have the ability did not go on the pilgrimage. Many would give up somewhere along the way, but the most common place to quit was the Calm Lands, right before Zanarkand, and right before Sin. There was no shame in it, though. Not everyone was strong enough to sacrifice themselves for the world. Instead, the ones who quit would fall into priesthood.
The priests believed Jack had the skills necessary to become a summoner, and tried to encourage him to become one. He didn't want to, though, and he made that clear from the start, much to the dismay of the priests. All Jack wanted was to be a normal kid, and he didn't want to be treated like a porcelain doll in a glass cabinet.
He was not the only child to have been taken in by the temple. Jack had the company of a girl, Ana, who was a couple of years older than him, but had arrived only shortly before him. Her parents had also been killed by Sin, and that shared loss brought the two of them closer. With Ana by his side, Jack no longer felt like he was alone.
Quickly, she took on the role of a big sister with him, which Jack happily lapped up. When Jack was growing up, there were no other children in the temple. However, there was also a young woman, a fledgling, who all but isolated herself to hone her skills. She was most likely lonely, so when she was praying at the temple, Jack joined her. He never said anything, and neither did she. Once she was done for the day, she would pat his head and walk away. Jack always saw that as a sign of affection.
Zenyatta did not have a lot of time, but what time he did have spare went to the children. Jack loved the time the three of them spent together, and he could almost pretend he just had an absent father, not an orphan. Zenyatta did often make an effort to put the children to bed, but it was not always feasible.
Those nights were when Jack could truly talk to Zenyatta, and he would ask him whatever came to mind at the time. Anything to keep him around for as long as possible. Zenyatta knew his tactic, and would always hesitate before leaving the room. His duties to the temple may have been important, but the well-being of his wards mattered more to him.
Then one night, Jack asked a question that was inevitable. He asked about what a summoner truly was, no more vague explanations. And Zenyatta halted completely; Jack was still young, and this was difficult enough to talk about with adults. But still, Zenyatta grabbed a chair and sat down next to Jack's bed and placed a hand on his head as he gathered his thoughts.
"Summoners are people of great power,great skill and they have great responsibilities. As you know, they go through the pilgrimage and, once they reach Zanarkand, obtain the final aeon." Zenyatta explained.
"I know all that stuff," Jack said, a little impatient.
Zenyatta laughed gently. "I see," he said. "Once the final aeon has been obtained, the summoner travels back to the Calm Lands to fight Sin. Once Sin is defeated..." Zenyatta hesitated. Jack was still so young, too young, to know.
"Then, they die." Jack said. Slowly, Zenyatta nodded. "Why?"
"No one is sure. There are however, many theories on the matter."
"What do you think happens?"
Zenyatta visibly flinched, but tried so hard to swallow it back. He took in a small puff of breath and gently ruffled the soft locks, before finally moving his hand away. He folded his hands on his lap and no longer looked at Jack, but he was staring at Zenyatta, like the world depended on that answer.
"I believe the energy required to summon the final aeon burns them out," he finally answered.
"Oh." Jack paused. For a moment, he was lost in thought, but then he nodded sagely. "Then, I'll become a guardian, and I'll protect my summoner. And at the end, they can take my energy too. That way we can both live!"
It seemed like such a simple solution to a child, and perhaps it was. His determination was truly admirable, but sad once one knew the truth. Looking back now, had Jack known the truth, would he have stayed on that path? Jack wondered about that sometimes, but ultimately, it didn't matter.
Soon after, Jack was taught in the ways of the sword by the crusaders. That was how he had met Reinhardt. Reinhardt was only about ten at the time, but by Yevon, the boy was already a tower. He looked like he could lift the whole island of Besaid without even thinking about it, and Jack was in awe. He wished that he, too, were that strong.
He, on the other hand, was more encouraged to follow a gentle path; a path of white magic. His abilities were uncommon, and the temple sought to hone them. Jack hated it. It felt like no matter what he did, he was always going to do what they wanted, and not what he wanted. He knew this was his fate, though, and refused to give up.
Jack was eight when a new family moved into Besaid from Bevelle, consisting of a family of five, a mother, three girls, and one young boy who was the same age as Jack. After having been only around children older than him, as Reinhardt and Ana were respectively eleven and ten, it felt like a nice novelty to find someone his age.
Jack was a little hesitant at first to talk to this new family. New people were uncommon, other than passing travellers and the odd pilgrimage, and it was even rarer for children to be a gentle push, Jack approached the young boy. He folded his hands into a sphere as he bowed – the common greeting among followers of Yevon.
"Hi! I'm Jack," he greeted. "What's your name?"
"Gabriel." Gabriel seemed a little distant, but he was probably shy, too.
"Nice to meet you, Gabe!" Gabe visibly flinched. "Wanna come play?"
Gabriel looked over at his mother, who nodded at him with a wide smile. "O-okay."
Jack grabbed Gabriel's hand and scampered off, dragging a nervous Gabriel behind him. Once Jack found Ana and Reinhardt, he released the poor, terrified boy. The two others looked at Jack with confusion, but all Jack did was grin.
"This is Gabe," he announced.
"Gabriel."
"Can Gabe play too?"
Ana looked at the new boy, then over to Reinhardt with an amused look. "I don't see why not." The tall boy laughed, his voice a booming noise already and wrapped his arm around the now-scared Gabriel.
"Of course! The more, the merrier!"
Gabriel was stiff as a board, and Jack was sure a light breeze would send him flying off like paper. He placed a gentle hand on Gabriel's shoulder when Reinhardt finally released him. The scared boy relaxed a little, but he still looked so, so tiny. Jack thought to himself that maybe he could be like a big brother to this kid.
"Don't worry Gabe, Reinhardt is just loud." And the size of a barn.
Ana had brought a blitzball ball; a knobbly, blue and white thing which felt weird to hold. It was a little difficult to catch out of the water, but they made do. They took turns passing it at each other, either by throwing or by kicking. When Jack got hit in the stomach with the ball though, the kids decided that maybe they ought to stop for the day.
The next morning, Jack went to find Gabriel. The boy was awkwardly hovering around his home, so he was easy enough to find. Excited, Jack shot off to him. Gabriel seemed far more at ease when he saw his new friend, and even relaxed a little. Jack grinned at him as he stopped, kicking up sand as he did.
"You ready? Ana and Reinhardt are already gonna be there, I think," Jack said. He hadn't seen Ana that morning, so he assumed she had just gone off without him.
Gabriel nodded. The two of them made their way to the beach, and, as predicted, the other two were already there. Jack could hear their laughter before he could even see them. They were sitting together, and Ana held their ball in her arms. When she heard the other two coming, she looked over at them.
"What time do you call this?" she joked.
"S'too early to wake up when you do," Jack mumbled.
She laughed and stood up, throwing the ball at him with high accuracy. For once, he managed to catch it with his hands, and not his face. He was pretty proud of himself for that. He threw the ball right back at her, and she passed it over to Reinhardt, and the game simply evolved from there.
Though the sun beat down on them, it did not discourage the children from playing. Jack and Reinhardt were already starting to develop sunburns, but they wouldn't notice for another few hours. By then, they would both be flattened and burning in the shade.
Gabriel wasn't paying attention. Reinhardt threw the ball a little too hard at him, and that was it. With quite the resounding slap, Gabriel caught the ball. With his face. There was a second of silence, before he realised what had happened. Then suddenly, he burst into tears, and none of them had any idea what to do.
Jack approached him and held Gabriel's face carefully. His nose was bleeding, possibly broken, but he wasn't sure. There was one thing Jack could do to fix this. With an inhale, he focused his magic to surround him, then moved it slowly to Gabriel. Gabriel flinched and tried to back away, but Jack did not let him. He visibly relaxed as the magic slowly healed him, but he was still sobbing.
Jack released his face, and it seemed that the bleeding had stopped. "Gabe? You okay?"
"N-no," Gabriel stuttered, slowly backing away from Jack.
"Does it still hurt? Come here, I'll help you," Jack said, trying to reach out to him.
But Gabriel bolted before anyone could even do anything, leaving Jack standing there. He looked over at Ana and Reinhardt, who were just as confused and concerned as he was. Jack should have just run after him, but he didn't know why he didn't. Ana put her hands on his shoulders.
"Am I really that weird?" Jack whispered. He felt something prickle at the corners of his eyes, and he tried so hard to bite it back.
Ana sighed, rubbing his shoulders gently. "Some people just don't understand."
Gabriel was nowhere to be found that day, or the next. Perhaps the ball had caused more damage, and he required bedrest. But Jack knew it was thanks to him, thanks to his weird abilities in white magic, something both coveted and feared in Spira. Jack had no idea whether he should go look for Gabriel, or simply call it a day.
On the third day, Jack found himself alone at the beach, tracing circles in the sand. Ana and Reinhardt had not appeared yet, but he didn't mind, as they were busier than he was. He heard someone approach, but he assumed it was just one of the adults checking up on him, so he didn't react. But they didn't make a noise, Jack looked behind him and saw Gabriel awkwardly hovering.
"Hey," Jack said. Gabriel sat down next to him without a word. "You okay?"
"Kinda. My nose is okay now," Gabriel shrugged.
Jack looked over at him. His nose didn't seem to be damaged; perhaps they hadn't broken it, just made it bleed. That was a small relief, he supposed. Jack gave him a small smile, before looking back down at his sand doodles. Gabriel sighed.
"Is that normal?" he finally asked.
Jack felt his blood run cold. It was a question he was used to; he asked himself that all the time. "The priests say it's normal for people with summoning powers. But not everyone who uses magic can summon. Something like that," Jack said.
Gabriel went quiet for a moment. Jack held his elbow in his other hand, digging his nails in a little as he waited for something, anything. Then, a spark flashed in Gabriel's eyes as he reached some sort of understanding about what Jack had just said.
"You're a summoner?" Gabriel whispered in amazement, like Jack had shown him the secrets of the universe.
"No. I don't wanna be a summoner, so I'm not." He sounded so sure of himself, as well.
"So, what do you wanna be?" Gabriel asked.
"I dunno. I just wanna be me, I guess."
Gabriel laughed softly, and Jack laughed with him. Gabriel seemed a little less nervous now, much to both of their reliefs. Jack flumped forward into the sand., and Gabriel finally decided to sit next to him, taking care not to sit in his friend's sand doodles. Moments passed between them in silence.
"Is that why you ran? Cause you're scared of me?" Jack asked quietly.
Gabriel averted his gaze. "I'm sorry, Jack."
"It's okay," Jack said.
He was used to the animosity and the fear at this point, and it was a little sad that a child his age was used to this. But it did make him feel like an outcast, like he didn't belong out of the temple. Would he ever find a life out of there, he wondered? A sad thought indeed.
With the matter resolved, things could slowly go back to normal, if there was such a thing. Gabriel, to begin with, was a little too anxious to approach Jack on his own terms. Jack wondered if Gabriel was still scared of him, or if he was just worried that Jack no longer liked him. So, instead, Jack made the effort to go and find him, but he didn't mind.
There was something about this kid that Jack really did like. He was friendly, to a certain extent, anyway. Maybe he was a little weird, and a little gloomy, but that wasn't such a bad thing. When surrounded by optimists, perhaps it was for the best to have someone around who was more pessimistic.
