By StormyTitan
HI! To put it simply, I got this so-called idea while noticing there isn't a lot of Leblanc Syndicate fics (particularly playing with detailed stories of the past-type nature) as I would like there to be, and, finding it a damn shame, have now written a dramatic story of my own! And since I love the boys oh so very much, here they are.
*EDIT- NEW AND IMPROVED! I've edited the whole story to hopefully create uniform writing between all the parts.
"It was stormin', nature ragin' all around!- All over Spira it seemed! That rain came outta no where when she ran outta the house all ah sudden and 'fore anyone could stop her. Took her baby with her too, planning on leavin' with it no doubt, and ran all the way to the freakin' mountain. And up there the weather was harsher, snow blowin' and wind howlin'. Somehow, she went and managed to get farther than anyone would think an unprepared woman carryin' a child could go. But all the same, for all that trouble, she went and 'bout jumped. I suppose she stopped because she had some second thoughts on the babe. She took one look at 'im, I bet, and says to herself "Is this right? Takin' this baby with me?" Maybe she even had second thoughts about taking her own life. But in the end she jumped, and left the baby to die in the cold. That's when your grandmuh come runnin' up the mount, in nothing but her p.j.'s , and like a crazy, screamed and cursed through the snow 'bout your Ma's insanity. She take youse up and decided on raisin' youse herself. Brought youse right back to me that night, and she says "We got another son, so's raise him up with me." Just told me that, not that I had a problem with it."
"Great," A greasy,black haired boy mumbled as he sat beside the older man on the dock, " It jus' get's better an' better every time youse tell's it, Gramps."
"Well, it ain't a happy tale, but it your's, Uno." Mydo, the boy's weathered grandfather, reached behind him and pulled out a brittle net.
"Uh-huh," Uno nodded then he leaned over the edge and stared down between his bare dangling feet and into the water.
He could see his thick outline wavering in the slight waves of the pond, a shadow breaking the evening sun reflecting on the surface, and could partially see his grandfather working with the net beside his silhouette. For a moment, the water stilled, and he could see his wide face, round cheeks, small, black eyes, and the plump mouth that was in a focused line as he stared into the image of himself. Then a wave disturbed it, and he was gone from sight.
"All the way to the mount," Mydo repeated, mostly to himself, then turned back to his grandson as he laughed roughly, "Ah course, then we's lived a little bit near the Calm lands…Nice place too. We moved here right after though. Made a nice little nest to start youse up in."
"Yeah," Uno nodded a second time, his round, black pupils redirecting to his grandfather's worn face, "Youse told me before."
"Well," His grandfather leaned over and patted his large head, "Yeah, guess I did. Anyways, help me with the net, Son."
The boy, without hesitation, grabbed the net and dropped it in the water, twisting his wrist so the net would spread out and blend into the color of the lake. He hardly had to even think about it now, the skill embedded into even his thick skull, and was executed quickly. Soon, the boy smiled having it done almost as fast as the man sitting beside him.
"Not gonna get much today," Mydo scratched his grayed, pony-tailed scalp, "Might as well quit, but eh."He finished with a shrug.
"Not much to do ad' home anyways," Uno finished, imitating the way his grandfather had been finishing the same sentence for the past week.
"She'd dropped you on your head, ya know?" His stand-in father laid out his muscled body across the boards of the dock, stretching his heavy arms over his head as he did so, before letting them flop flat out away from him with a grunt,, "Unsteady, she was, no sense in her head, but youse not like that." His grandfather closed his light colored eyes and shook his head against the dock, "Not a bit."
Uno pulled at the net before letting it finally settle, "No, I'm not."
"Nope," His grandfather once again shook his head, agreeing, and took a peek at his boy, "Youse steady, like your hands," His grandfather stifled a yawn, closing his eyes again, "Youse the one son who had steady hands, and steady mind too. Your dad? He always was day-dreaming and married the first fox that pass his way. Pretty girl, don't get me wrong, but something jus' wasn't right with her, youse jus' could tell. She had this unsteady look in her eyes, but Fei was too dumb tah see it. See, youse know important things, an' catch things, so's I don't worry 'bout youse at all."
The boy relaxed along side his 'father', stretching as the old man had done before allowing his chubby hands to rest on his large stomach. Once he was settled, he smiled and turned his head to his grandfather. "Whaddya mean?"
"Huh?" Mydo straightened his neck for a second, eyes opening and staring at the boy and thinking about his question, all the while recollecting the earlier conversation that he had been sleepily conducting, then jerked his head in a nod, "Oh! Well, uhm- For starters, youse smart, for an eight year old, but youse kinda- Uhmm, well, I don't know. I'm sayin', youse slow at somethings, but youse smart enough to know what's good for youse-" The old man scrunched up his face, "Ya know what? Forget it, youse fine by me."
He grandfather tasseled is chaotic hair, and was all at once at peace and without care. Once more, he closed his eyes, his arm still resting heavily on the youth's head.
"Gramps?" Uno looked up, but the old man was already dozing off again.
"We named youse Uno," His grandfather snorted loudly, " 'Cause youse was all by yourself that day…"
"I know," His grandson slipped out from under his hefty muscled arm, "So's how did your other job go? That's why youse so tired, right?"
"Hmm?" Mydo opened one lazy, hazel eye to stare his son straight in the face, and a wide beam of a smile stretched over his mouth, "Yeah, lot's a things gonna happen soon. Will you be ready, Uno?"
"For's what?" Uno tilted his head to the side.
"Change," The older man's laughed heartily, "Bwa ha ha! It's gonna be great Uno! Youse and me, livin' like this for the rest of our lives! How's does tha'd sound ta youse?"
The water lapped against the sides of the wood, and the only other sounds were the wind, the animals in the wild, and the husky breathing of his grandfather as the boy stared wide eyed and with brows lifted.
Uno smiled back, his black eyes catching the light of the waning day, "Great!"
L.O.L.
"You're late!" A bulky old woman turned on her heavy work boots and scolded the two 'men' that had just decided to walk in; empty handed as expected. She shook the ladle in her fatty hand towards the apologetic grins, "Why do you boys insist on fishing into the late hours of the day when you don't even catch anything! And then you let the food that I make get cold. Well, don't complain that it doesn't taste good now!"
Uno lifted his chin up and smiled wider, "We's won't!"
"It's 'we' not 'we's'. There's no 's' on the end of we," His grandmother corrected with a chubby finger before she looked disapprovingly at her 'son's' bare feet with her left eye only, the right eye a shady white and unmoving behind her eyelid. She sighed and put her hands on her wide round hips, "Uno, tell me why you can't wear your shoes."
"Don't wanna mess 'im up," Uno shrugged and waddled over to the table where a bowl had already been placed for him in front of his usual homemade chair beside his grandfather's spot, and closest to the window.
"Mess them up," She repeated with an unbelieving tone and shook her head slowly, "Better to ruin shoes then a lost nail going through your poor foot!"
"Wayah, ain't no shoe gonna stop a nail," Mydo yanked off his dirty boot on the earthen floor of the entry way, "Let the boy run free. I had my share of nails 'fore I converted to the whole shoe conformity."
Uno smiled at Mydo's light-eyed wink, then stared out the window to the sinking sun, a harsh, dark red now and only a sliver of light, as his Grandmother Wayah shuffled around to spoon the lukewarm soup into the bowls his grandfather took into his tough hands from the table. Blinking his large eyes slowly, Uno followed the ragged line of the blue-black mountains in the distance before his mother's deep voice caught his attention.
"Uno," His grandmother lifted her gray brow and opened her left eye wider, "What's the matter? You usually start yacking about your day by now. Is there a problem?"
"Youse named me Uno," He glanced out of the corner of his eye at them, "But did Ma name me something else?"
"Uh," Her light blue eye widened, while her blind one remained the same, "Why would you ask that, hon?"
"Just wondering." Uno shrugged, before his shoulders sunk and his eyes looked down at the table almost ashamed, "I-I's won't use it or anything. I's just wanted to know what I could ah been." He sheepishly peeked upwards to meet his two grandparent's gazes, "Yah know?"
"I don't know," Wayah sucked her lips into her teeth in thought before turning to her husband, "Mydo, do you?"
The old man nodded and set the bowls on the table, his calloused fingers dropping them when they were near the surface to produce to distinct clack-cracks as they righted themselves in front of where the man placed them. He slowly lowered himself in his own seat, between grandson and wife, and put his wide hands on his spread knees.
"It was-" He tried to recall the exact name, "-Ormi, that's right. Don't know why, but she named youse that. Says youse gonna die with that name, or was it live? Can't really remember which..."
"Die?" Uno's thick eye brows raised in alarm and his young eight year old voice squeaked with rising panic.
"MYDO!" Wayah swatted a strong hand into her husbands beefy arms, "Don't go scaring the boy!"
"Jeez woman, leave me be!" Mydo, though not actually hurt, flinched and rubbed his muscles from the sting his powerful wife for many years had delivered him.
Their grandson, instantly forgetting darker talk, laughed and picked up his spoon for the dinner his grandmother pushed closer to him.
"Heeyyyyyy," A girl's voice squeaked, drawing it out, behind where he sat on his grandfather's small dock.
"Hey," Uno waved a hand in recognition. The girl was Tillie and her father and his grandfather was 'partners' for their day job. Whatever it was.
"Where were you?" Tillie plopped down beside by the larger boy, her pale legs swinging out from her mid-length skirt, and promptly stuck her bare feet in the water with a splash.
"It was the Holy Day," Uno replied seriously, also drawing out his words.
"Oh yeah. Your Ma makes you go to the Bevelle Temple, right?" She tilted her small head round face, delicate brows arching, "What do you do there again?"
"Pray," He nodded and leaned back into the strength of his fat arms supporting him. The sun again was setting far to the west, the trip taking most of the day to get there, listen to the sermon, run errands, and then return home. But, like always, he had beat his 'father' home. Then, almost as an afterthought, Uno looked to the girl's face and said more specifically, "We's pray to Yevon."
He said the name of who he worshiped with importance lining his voice. As bored as he got during the service, he did listen well and learned to spread the knowledge of the teachings where he could. With Tillie, who always seemingly knew nothing and asked the same questions, he had the very opportunity every time the end of the week came.
Her green eyes fogged in confusion, "Who's he again?"
"Don't remember what I told's ya last week?" Uno laughed and splashed a foot against the dock, droplets flying from the water in a huge ring to land on the girl's soft legs, causing her to giggle. After the coolness wore off, she smiled to the boy with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Oh! I remember!" Her soft giggle floated through the air, melding and soon disappearing into the sounds of the lake and nature.
"Good," Uno sat forward again and crossed his arms over his flabby chest, a wide toothy smile marking his face, "I was afraid I'd have ta tell yah again!"
"No, No, I remember," Tillie shook her platinum blonde hair, which only covered the top half of her head, side to side from away from her face with the vigorous motion. Her large grin shortened to a cute smile before she looked down at her small feet glowing white underneath the afternoon water. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the darker color of the boy's feet, the image quivering as she continued to watch. Then, she followed the foot up to the body, then to the face.
Her white brows lifted in surprise as the boys looked grimly out to the orange light of the setting sun. She leaned toward him, her voice a soft whisper, "What is it?"
"Uh?" Uno jolted and turned to her, his face screwed sidways, then it cleared. "Ah, sorry. It's nothin'. It's jus'...Gramps and your dad usually back by now," Uno continued to stare out to the horizon, his face wondering,"What's taking them so long? It's almost dinnertime now..."
"Really? Huh," The girl stared at the mountains, the sun making them dark and ominous, and tried to look as thoughtful looking as the boy beside her, "Guess you're right, maybe they're running late."
She smiled and pushed on the large body beside her with her tiny shoulder, "Wanna know something?"
Uno kept his eyes to the sinking sun a few more seconds more before feeling the softness pressing into his arm, "Uh, yeah?"
"I like you," She giggled and kicked her feet gleefully in the water.
"Wha?" Uno's face blushed and he looked from side to side, searching for an answer on how to proceed, all the while trying to process what had just been said. He was best friends with the girl, she being the only one not to make fun of him all the time for one thing or another, or think he was dumb. In fact, she said he was quite smart most of the time. And ignoring the fact that he was one whole year older than her, that meant a lot.
'I like you' at their age meant a great deal and made his heart beat like a hammer in his eight year old chest. Unknowingly, her little heart was fluttering as well, with glee and happiness overflowing.
"Uno?" She tilted her head and her large green eyes blinking in patience.
"Uh," Uno stopped swiveling his eyes all around in a mad search and stared at the little girl in front of him. "Whaddya say when someone says that?"
"You say-" Tillie's eyes shone with all the light remaining in the day, childish happiness gleaming, "I like you too?"
"HUH! I like you too!" Uno grinned, his pudgy cheeks puffing out in the process.
She giggled uncontrollably, the sound pure and innocent, and threw her small hands in the air like she accomplished something grand, "YAY!
"HEY!" A groggy voice yelled from behind them. A boy with the same blond hair as Tillie pushed branches out of his way as he came rustling through the brush and into the clearing of the lake. Uno stood up at the sight of the boy, his feet dripping with the cool lake-water.
"Older brother?" Tillie looked up at the irritated face her sibling wore, her eyes wide, and pulled her feet out of the water and onto the damp planks of the dock, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," The boy stared angrily at the larger child and hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"Jus' Sitting," Uno closed his fist into a ball, but then hurried to hide it behind his back. The last time they met, under similar circumstances actually, the two of them had slugged it out and Mydo made him clean the buckets for a month in punishment for fighting.
Youse better than that. His grandfather pointed a stern light-colored eye to him, Fighting is only supposed to be done when youse needs to, not just because youse mad at someone. Use your brains and not your fists all the time.
"You look like you need to stop just 'sitting', Tub," He narrowed his eyes and grabbed his sister's hand, pulling her up by a painful yank. She yelped and jumped to her feet to compensate for the jerking in her shoulder and Uno flinched in pity for her.
"Hey!" Uno slid his bare feet against the wet wood until it was evenly spaced out underneath him. "Stop that!"
The boy pushed his sister back towards the woods, all the way down the short distance of dock to the grass, and glanced over his shoulder at the other. Unfazed, the older boy shouted, "Or what, Fatty?"
Tillie yelled to her brother with a worried and anxious look, "Ji, stop it! Papa told you not to fight Uno anymore."
"Yeah," Uno looked at the girl than back at the boy, "Stop it, Ji!"
"Ha, like I should listen to you," Ji rolled his eyes at the non-threatening child before narrowing his eyes behind him at his sister, "And, what did Ma tell ya about hanging 'round him!" He jerked his head at Uno to indicate whom he was talking about.
She stomped her foot in defiance, "Dad says it was fine!"
"Dad is a no-good," Ji stopped himself and shook his head, "What do you know? You're just a little kid!"
He abruptly turned back to Uno and snarled, "You and your kin better watch it!"
"Why?" Uno stood straighter, trying to look unshaken as possible. The last time he brawled with the boy, Ji just kept dashing around and sucker punching him when he didn't have his arms up. He couldn't get a hold of him and was sore, bruised, and broke in the end. But, despite that he felt brave now, still hiding his fist behind his back as he waited for just the right cause to hit the boy.
The boy narrowed his eyes and drew closer, tight-fisted, "Why?" He repeated, "Because no family of mine is going to hang around any heathen bastards!"
"We go's to the temple!" Uno took a step back, bravery trembling but remaining still, and mumbled roughly, "So's we ain't heathens." He didn't want to say, since he knew the boy well enough to be raging mad had he done so, that Tillie's family didn't go to temple with them to pray and thus was sinning themselves.
Ji's mouth stretched into a nasty grin, and Uno could almost see the gears turning in the preteen's head through his green eyes. Ji tilted his head, the smile still slapped over is lips, "Ever heard your Gramps and my Dad talk? I bet, cause it 'volves you." The boy pointed an accusing finger and viciously jabbed it into Uno's chest, "They're planning on overthrowing Yevon and the Measters! After that he says you and him are gonna live out by the water, and just fish all day in peace."
Ji laughed afterwards at the stupid idea and Uno's eyes flashed with hate.
"Liar," Uno spat, his eyes unbelieving, and lifted his stiff shoulders up, "He ain't gonna do that! We's ain't got nothing to do with the Measters! He just works with your dad so we's can live nice."
"Works where?" The boy took another step forward, forcing Uno backwards, "Do you even know?"
"Uh, uh…" Uno stammered and stumbled just a bit as he felt, and knew from his own memory, that the end of the dock over the lake's glassy surface was drawing nearer.
"Ma was right," Ji smirked and pulled himself up to his full height, a full head and a half over Uno, and shouted condescendingly, "You're nothing! Just worthless offspring of a Bevellian whore and a cowardly Crusader's son!"
"Take that back!" Uno felt his fingernails dig into his palms behind him, "I don't care 'bout me or my real ma, or even my real dad! But youse take back what youse said about my Gramps being a coward!"
"Huh!" The boy scoffed and leaned closer, near enough that Uno could feel his moist breath on his face, "Your Gramps is a coward! He quit being a Crusader after he fought Sin once! He was too afeared to get near Sin again and fight!"
"Take it back!" Uno felt angry tears sting the insides of his eyes, "Youse take it back now!"
Seeing himself gain the upper hand, the boy laughed mercilessly, "And you're just like that! Ma said that the offspring is always gonna take something from the parents. And you're a coward! You're dad was a coward like your Gramps and so are you! Or are you a looney like your ma?"
"Stop it!" Tillie yanked on a short lock of her hair and bit her lip, stomping her feet in her place and tears threatening to spill from her emerald eyes, "Ji! Stop it!"
Uno snapped, "Im's not a coward!"
"Then why don't you hit me?" Ji flicked Uno's forehead hard and he stumbled back in response, fiery anger building. "Huh? Are you too scared or stupid?"
Tillie's shrill voice rose, "Be nice to Uno!"
"Why?" Ji flicked Uno's forehead again, then with his other hand bopped the other's head with an open palm, spitting as he barked at the younger child, "You and her sweethearts now, is that it? Don't make me laugh! I ain't gonna let that happen, ever!"
Uno looked up and bit his lip, "Ji, youse aren't the boss! Youse are a kid jus' like us!"
Ji straightened his neck, his face twitching, before his entire face shrunk and pulled tightly together, "Huh! That right?"
The preteen grabbed a handful of Uno's old holey shirt, a hand-me down from Mydo, and pulled back a fist. Uno braced himself right before Ji swung into his soft face, leaving a nick right above Uno's eyebrow. Throwing another quick punch, he left a cracked lip, then a bloody nose, before finally releasing him, satisfied in the red trailing down the boy's fat face.
"You're not gonna try flailing around to grab me?" Ji leaned over the boy's bent back. Uno wiped at his nose and mouth, leaving a rust colored stain on his shirt sleeve, before staring up with dense black eyes.
"Gramps told me not to fight anymore," Uno wiped with his other hand and blood smeared over his palm, but the flow of his nose continued, "We's better than that he says."
"Better?" Ji kicked Uno's face from where it was bowed down, and Uno's entire body lurched back again until he felt the dock's end against his calloused heels.
"Like that coward is better than anyone!" Ji's rotten smile turned into a deep frown and he crept closer to the boy balanced on the edge, "Your ma shoulda just dropped you off Gagazet."
Uno peeked over his shoulder, the calm water bringing no comfort, before huffing, barely controlling his anger, and pushing Ji back a step with all his might, "Stop it!"
The preteen seemed surprised for a moment before smiling devilishly, "You're definitely his kin alright. That all you got? You too scared to do anything else?"
Uno inched his feet against the wet boards and swallowed down a lump in his throat, his nose hurting, and his eyes stinging.
Ji leaned, threateningly and intimidating, into Uno's space, a pitiless gleam in his eyes, "You gonna cry now, ya big baby?"
"No," Uno felt the tears sting his face more than ever then, " No, I'm not!"
"Gonna cry and jump off a mountain like your looney mom?"
"Ji! Stop it!" Tillie cried one last time, sounding like a broken record, tears streaking her dirty cheeks. She looked up under her pale delicate furrowed brows and choked," You're being cruel!"
"Jump! Jump!" Ji swung his hand back to push the other boy into the water and screamed, "Do it!"
Uno gritted his teeth and screamed back at the top of his lungs, "NO!"
"OH! JUST LET 'IM HAVE IT, SON!" A throaty voice commanded at full volume from the shadowy tree line. Ji stopped mid-swing, startled, and something in Uno's chest, the wall of control to his anger, snapped. He lashed out with a thick fist and smashed it into the boy's face, with a cry rattling in the air as Uno rammed himself into the taller boy's body. Ji's nose spurted in blood from Uno's knuckles and the older boy stumbled the entire dock length back with large unsteady steps.
"USE YOUR WEIGHT AGAINST HIM!" A rough female voice also squawked from the trees, interrupting any further directions from the other one, and Uno, complying willingly with his grandparent's demands, ran full force into the Ji with his head bent down, knocking him on his back.
Tillie gasped, a smile dancing on her small lips, and jumped away from her whimpering brother. Uno stepped over the boy and punched his chin and ears until the boy cried out, blood pouring from his nose and from broken teeth.
Strong arms pulled Uno up halfway into the air, and Uno still swung madly about, his eyes closed shut and his voice roaring. The arms hauled him away from the cowering boy who turned over gripping his face, and pulled him towards the trees, stopping just short of them. Uno's fists quivered for more fighting but he stopped struggling when he recognized his grandmother's protective and authoritative hands rubbing his head.
"Enough," A fleshy hand swept his black hair back and gently patted his bruised head, "No more, there that's a good boy, no need for you to teach more than just a good lesson. I swear that boy deserved a whupping or two, but you've shown enough bravery for one day. There, that's my sweet boy."
Her face smiled down at him, kind, and proud. Uno smiled back and his eyes lidded, his adrenaline draining away from him, and he laid exhausted in his grandmother's arms, happy.
"Damn good fighter." His 'father' smiled down at him too, his head slipping into Uno's vision from behind his grandmother's head. Mydo leaned down and put his thick hands on his trunk-like knees, turning his eyes to the back of Wayah's head, and smiled greatly, "Steady hands was always gonna be good for knocking some sense into people! I just knew he had what I don't, didn't I tell ya?"
Wayah lost the bit of kind light for a moment and frowned, "Yes, yes, you senile old man, you've told me. But, seeing as I've never disagreed with you, you ought not to look so damn proud of yourself like you called something!"
"Huh?" Uno breathed out and, still laying wearily on his grandmother's lap, looked up at the light eyes staring down at him.
His grandmother re-applied her smile and wiped blood from his chin, "I'm so happy, Uno. Now-"
"Unnnnnooooo!" An small excited cry erupted and grew closer and closer before Uno finally managed to sit up on his own rear to see what was calling him. Tillie suddenly leaped through the air and threw small arms around his neck, nearly pushing him back into his grandmother's generous curves when her body crashed into his. He wrapped his arms awkwardly around her small waist and a red blush painted his cheeks under his wide eyes.
"I really like you, Uno!" Her small seven-year-old body knew nothing else to say, and her legs warmly laid in the grass after kicking the air in triumph.
After a moment of amazement, the old couple met each other's eyes warmly and knowingly smiled.
"Huh? I-I like youse too?" The corner of Uno's plump lips twitched upwards and he wiped at his bleeding nose with the back of his hand before hugging back clumsily.
Quick, sharp, cries sounded from the dock and Uno and Tillie whirled their heads around to see what was making that noise. Ji was hoisted over Tillie and his father's shoulder, and their father was spanking (actually spanking!) his twelve-year-old son.
Uno couldn't help but chuckle and released Tillie, before shaking his head slowly and lifting his brows at her, "Not even I get spanked no more."
Tillie, despite her brother being punished, brought a hand to her mouth and giggled at the embarrassment of her older sibling.
"Don't push it," His grandfather warned, " I'll still whup ya if youse get stupid and-."
"Mydo," Wayah put a doughy hand on her husband's hard shoulder and shook her head, her voice soft as she said, "We have to go now."
The two children grew instantly quiet after the odd interruption, and large wondering eyes lifted to the elder's faces, questioning deeply.
Uno's brows furrowed after a moment of silence and his Gramps leaned down and sat on his haunches, thick, gray pony-tail falling over his chest, and groaned like what he was going to say was to hard to get out right away. Wayah swiped some of her peppered hair out of her face and replaced her supportive hand on her husband's meaty shoulder.
Mydo coughed and then looked up with concerned hazel eyes, "Son, do youse remember how to do the Yevon greeting? That bowing thing they's do?"
"Yeah, I did it this morning at the Temple," Uno glanced over his shoulder at Tillie, but she shyly backed away and chased after her whining brother and retreating father.
"Well, we have something to talk about," Gramps smiled again, but it was weak, and his eyes were dull, almost lifeless, "Can youse remember to do what youse think is right, no matter what? Even when me or grandmuh ain't 'round no more?"
"Huh? What are youse talkin' 'bout?" Uno sat up, alarmed.
Mydo looked around, then back down at the ground almost in shame, "Just remember I's never wanted to hurt youse-" He closed his eyes again, pained, and forced them to stare back at his grandson, "We'll talk all a'bout this at home. I'll tell's youse everything. But, we's have to go now. Come on, Tillie and Ji is getting the same talk so,… y-youse young'uns remember to stay together, hear me?"
"I hear," Uno shook his head, his chest sinking to his gut then lower and lower into his body, "I hear."
"What?" Uno felt himself straighten against the back of the homemade, wood chair that had been his for years, the familiar feel of it sadly telling him that this wasn't a dream. Though he wished it was a dream, a nightmare, that he could wake up from. He pushe into it harder, feeling as he felt his face hurt with emotion that he didn't want to break loose, and the roughness rubbed against his back until he felt little splinters stick into him. The pain again only told him it was reality.
His grandparent's winced in unison as their grandson displayed his inner turmoil on his true, un-deceiving face. His grandfather especially. The old man seemingly lost all strength as he sat slumped in his seat beside Uno. His grandmother stood taller behind her husband's chair, her strong hand still holding Mydo down to earth, and as the real central power in the home, she swallowed down her tears.
"Your Grandfather," Wayah sighed, recomposing herself, and looked down at the ground to avoid her grandson's heart breaking gaze, "And me too, we're what you call 'rebels', defilers of Yevon...heathens, by what the Measters would label us, I suppose."
"No." Uno swallowed, his throat showing the sadness he was gulping down through his sun-kissed skin, "We's jus' got back from the Temple. Youse always s-said-"
"I took you there so we could cover what we were doing," His grandmother shook her head "And teach you, hon, so if… when soldiers came, you can trick them. You can be a Yevonite and go with them, and live." Her steely eyes gained hardness again, and she nodded once, before closing her eyes, "But, you'll know what we're doing and why, 'fore you go. You can make your own opinions but you'll know that we weren't just radicals. We had a cause, a good reason, for our actions."
"Okay," Uno felt the boulder his chest cavity had become sink to the bottom of his chair, but he copied the bravery his grandparents had shown him, "O-okay, what is it?"
"The Measters aren't always doing the people good. They use them, and say that it was all Yevon's will." Wayah's mouth pinched into a harsh line, "They's just use the people like tools that can be broken and replaced. They's did it with my son, your father, and it-" Wayah swiped at her eyes, her blind eye looking far back in the past, "-We's been fighting the Measter's ever since. Yevon isn't so cruel to condone the waste of his own people. They aren't tools that can be trashed when they don't work right."
Mydo looked down solemnly, his wife growing silent behind him, "Boy, we've, Tillie's father and I, we've been caught, and Bevelle soldiers are coming for us to gun us down."
"Why?" Uno's eyebrows furrowed, a sharp rut forming on his forehead, "Why would they come? What are they going to do? What didja guys do that was so bad?"
"They're going to get rid of us," Mydo shook his head, unable to bring himself to answer the rest of his young son's questions, "They're going to kill us, but not youse. Never youse. Youse run and if they's catch youse, youse bow and respect them long enough to get away again. When youse run, don't come back here, they will be looking for youse here. Youse just keep running until youse are safe...Just go anywhere, but not here. Don't come back for us."
"B-but," Uno's eyes quivered under his lids, "Where? Why can't youse come too?" He nearly lurched from his seat and grabbed his grandfather's sunburned forearm and pulled weakly, "We'll run now Gramps! Youse, me, and Grandmuh can run now, and youse guys can be safe with me!"
"Boy..."
"I-I won't let them get ya!"
"Uno..."
"I-I's promise, I'll do anything! Please! I promise I'll protect youse guys! I won't let anything hurt ya!"
"Son!" Mydo shouted and his voice cracked, scaring Uno more than him being angry would've done. Uno blinked and two fat tears rolled down his face as he stared, speechless, into the face that seemed so much more aged then it had been that morning.
Mydo bent his head down and pulled his arm from Uno's grip to grab his grandson's hands himself. He held it between them, the unshakable strength trembling around Uno's fingers, causing the boy to pull up in fear.
Mydo looked up and pointed his light eyes into the dark hues of his son, "You're brave and smart, youse know what's good for youse, but me? I's don't, never did. I've fought all my life for peace and quiet but youse can't fight for that. It just doesn't make sense. Youse can't get something by doing the opposite Uno, ya know? For once, I need to fight, I need to protect my family and I can't do that if I run. I'll stay here, and youse run as far away as youse can."
"NO!" Uno hoarsely cried and he started quivering again, "I'm not leaving youse!"
"You will," Wayah swayed and gripped her hand over her heart, "You have to, dear."
Tears and snot started to mix and destroy the happiness that he'd hidden behind all these peaceful years, "B-but!-"
"No more!" Wayah cut him off and quickly moved to grab his shoulders in her hands, shaking him slightly until his eyes were completely focused on her, "Listen, Uno, and listen well. There isn't much time. The day we adopted you and the day your mother died was the day we swore we'd change the world for you. Uno, your mother didn't kill herself out of craziness, but sorrow. Cause Yevon took her husband away, claiming he was a threat to Yevon because he asked too many and all the wrong questions. She climbed up that mountain with you in tow to save you from the officials that wanted your and her blood with his. I-I don't know what happened exactly but she jumped and left you to live, live, Uno."
Wayah shook her head pathetically, something that made Uno extremely uncomfortable, "We's were in sorrow too. We took you, and we wanted it to be different for you. We hated Yevon and their secrets and deceptions, so we fought against them so you might have a world different from ours. Peaceful. We made a group, but they found us this morning and they're sure to come. So you have to run, and don't look back at us, because if you do all the things we've done, and your mother, and father, has done for you would go to waste..."
"Why not youse too?" Uno felt the lump in his throat come painfully up, not understanding why he and his grandparents couldn't leave together and find safety. "Why not?"
"We can't," Mydo fought tears himself, "They won't stop until the 'leaders' are dead, and they'll want to hurt youse too if they find youse, but they won't. They won't…"
Wayah's grip tightened on her shaking husband's shoulder, "We's won't let these men hurt youse. But, youse have to go."
"I-" Uno started but was again cut off by a sharp order that his grandmother screamed, emotion and tears lining her voice-
"GO!"
Wayah's tone held the command that could not be questioned. He slid is heavy body out of the chair, walked slowly and weak legged to the back door, and pulled the cumbersome knob with all his might. It opened gradually, the weight dragging on the dirt floor, before the last shreds of evening before night entered the house.
Uno sent a begging look over his shoulder only to see his grandfather with his forehead in his hand and his grandmother leaning over him, calmly rubbing his back like she did for Uno when he cried.
He pulled the door shut with a slam as he ran with it outside, letting go of the handle just as his arm jerked it shut. His bare feet thumped on the ground so hard but he couldn't see where he was going through his blinding tears, only feeling the smashing of his grandmother's flowers and strawberries underfoot.
Uno stopped at the end of the yard, falling on his side to the ground helplessly, and brought his knees to his body to hug them. He took a few heaving breaths before he buried his head in them, and sobbed.
Down the road a woman screamed, Tillie's mother, then gun shots.
He couldn't run anymore. He could hear the gunshots sound behind him, and to his ears, they just got closer and closer. He pushed away black branches that reached out to claw and snag him, trap him in the scary night-time woods forever, and ran over stones and sticks that cut the bottom of his feet up. He burst out of the trees and into the moonlight finally, his breathing and heartbeat deafening, and gasped for air as he saw his grandfather's dock come into view.
He stopped right in front of it, unable to go anymore. The water was incredibly still, but he could hear the screams and the gunfire, like a nightmare of the worst kind.
The bushes rustled behind him and he jumped, holding on to the pale faded color of his still blood-stained shirt. Ji, with his own bloody shirt on, came running out, dragging Tillie behind him.
"Uno! Let's go!" Ji turned, now to him the boy wasn't a rival, but a child left in his charge, and held out his free hand to direct the younger boy, "Let's go-NOW!"
"Okay!" Uno nodded, his eyes wide and fearful, and hurtled after the blonde-headed children that ran along the lake for the curve in the trees that would lead back to the main road and to Bevelle or towards the opposite end of Spira.
The trio of children stopped frozen as more rustling, and the ominous clanking of armor, came rushing through the brush from where they nearly reached.
Tillie gripped at her brother's arm, and through tears she angrily stared at soldiers coming through the trees.
"Halt!" The solider in the front stopped the chase and stared coldly down at the children. Ji slowly shook Tillie off, then ran forward, fist aimed for the leader's face, yelling behind him, "RUN! RUN!"
Uno and Tillie gasped and stood petrified as a gunshot echoed through the night, before a deadly silence fell over the seconds. Then, Tillie screamed.
Uno could feel the adrenaline build up again and he grabbed at the girl's thin arms. Again, they were running away from the group. Ji's body thudded frigidly to the ground in the darkness.
Tillie was sobbing and her body felt like it was losing all energy as they ran. Uno could feel her hand pull back on his as she grew slower and slower. He could see the stone house his grandparent's had lived in for eight years, for once realizing how much space was between the backyard's woods and his safe home, and coaxed Tillie to continue for just a bit longer.
The back door was hanging from one hinge and the potted plants beside the door were crushed, and in dirty shards across the back entryway. He let go of the little girl's hand long enough to shove the heavy door to the side, and then slapped his palm back into hers. Leading in the slowing Tillie, he avoided the living room, where at a quick glance two familiar shapes laid beside each other on the floor, unmoving and with dark liquid growing underneath them.
Desperately, he turned back to the kitchen, avoiding the stairs that required one to walk through the living room, and stepped into the last safe place he remembered.
Letting go of her hand again, he frantically pushed everything out of a high cabinet. Dishes that the family used for years crashed and broke into tiny pieces against the tile. It hurt to see years of memories crushed and broken, but he continued to shatter everything in his way until the space of the cabinet was cleared. Once it was done, he turned back on his knees to the little girl standing on the floor and held his hand out to her to pull her up with him. The space he had created was way too small for him, but Tillie was extremely small and flexible, and in a crouching position she could be safely hidden away. Shutting the door he whispered-
"I'll be back, don' move." He jumped down and ran to find a lower shelf to clear out for himself. He yanked open the biggest shelf and started to toss all the pots and pans from the cabinet to clang and scatter on the kitchen floor with the plate pieces, deciding only to keep a heavy pot that handle fit snug in his hand, before he backed himself into the shelf and let the door clatter shut.
After he let it shut, he held his breath, fearing to make any sounds and praying as hard as he could, before it seemed like eternity passed and footsteps came back through the house. He clamped his eyes shut and stiffened into a tight ball, only a slight whine escaping his lips, when he heard clanging armor re-enter the kitchen.
He put his hands, one still holding the pot, against his ears to block out the horrifying noises of soldiers walking. There was a crack of wood against wood, before his eyes flashed open realizing a shelf was yanked open. Then, Tillie screamed.
"Let go! Let go! No! Please, Uno, help me!"
He couldn't move at first. An icy hand strangled him in fear, something he hardly ever felt, and held him in his place shivering.
"Uno please! I don't want to die!"
His hand tightened around the pot and he flew from the cabinet. Tears in his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs and swung in a mad frenzy all that he could reach. Knees, arms, hands, legs, bodies, and faces of the soldiers was whacked with the heavy pot as hard as his arms could bring it to them.
Mid-scream, he swallowed down the sound and stopped when a loud bang filled the space of his home and dust and rubble fell from the ceiling. The lead solider from earlier dragged a limp body behind him, and in his free hand had fired a pistol above for silence.
Tillie cried out louder, "Uno! Make them go away!"
Uno held the pot out in front of his body, his hands shaking, "G-go away…"
The soldiers laughed, some even rubbed their chins amusingly, but the lead solider just stared, studying him.
"I said go away!" Uno yelled in a voice far above his age, "I mean it. Youse get outta here, now!"
"Nnnn…" Ji moved and whimpered, his face contorted in extreme pain. Uno's eyes grew wide then flashed with hate, "Let him go too!"
"You must be the boy Mydo raised," The soldier concluded and dropped Ji roughly to the ground. The boy rolled on his back and gripped his stomach in pain, a huge red splotch consuming his shirt. Sweat dappled his face, and the boy attempted to talk but only coughed up red in such large amounts that it frightened the children beyond imagination.
"G-get, get away!" Uno swung but a powerful hand grabbed is wrist and pushed him back. The pot clattered to the ground and arms instantly shot in and seized him up, holding him in place with great force.
"Tell me boy," The man leaned into his face, "How do you feel about Yevon?"
"NO!" Tillie screamed and cried helplessly, "I hate it! Ji! What did you do to Ji!?"
"Shut up!" The man stood tall and backhanded her across her face, causing her to squeak pathetically.
"I hate you, I hate you!" Tillie's eyes flew off in flurries from her clear pale face.
"Uhn," Uno swallowed, sweat starting to form and trickle down his face as he felt the presence of the weapons and mean men draw closer, "I like Yevon's teachings…"
The soldier smiled superiorly, then Uno frowned deeply in response to it, "-but I don't like youse at all."
Ji coughed and cried out more, Tillie whimpered and squirmed, only making the silence that followed all the more unbearable. Uno's heart sunk, knowing he made a mistake.
"I follow the teachings, I get rid of all the heathens," The man swung a hand out and 'showed' his work, "And you want to judge me as a bad person, is that it?"
Uno's eyes trailed to the bit of the living room he could see, the shapes almost becoming clear as the moon showed her face through the night and trickled into the window, making the crimson blood glow on the two bodies speckled with it. His eyes widened in horror and he felt his chest and heart break open.
"Y-youse k-killed-" Uno felt everything come out, anger and sadness flying from the deepest parts of his soul, as he roared, "Youse killed them! Youse e-evil, horrible, awful-!"
The solider frowned, "Would you like to join them?"
"Noooooooooo!" Tillie quaked in the grip of the solider holding her still before the man narrowed his eyes and turned on his heel to peer down at Ji who had coughed and begged for help. The solider pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed it at Ji's head. Tillie's shrill scream grew louder, "NO! PLEASE!"
He pulled the trigger. Tillie cried out, entire body shaking, and her knees gave to allow her body to cave and crumple to the floor. She sobbed, watery eyes unwavering from her brother's bloody end. The man aimed again.
"NO!" Uno closed his eyes as the quick bang silenced her weeping and grief, forever. He felt everything, his entire world, fall out into empty space. He slowly opened his eyes and saw blood sprayed across the chair he had sat in earlier, happy, alive, and not even imagining that this would ever happen. He followed the trail of red to Ji's head, covered in his blood, with a large hole consuming his left eye socket. The rest of his face simply disappeared in the gore. A trickle of blood came pouring out of his wound and made a pool on the floor underneath his body, growing still and sliding into the boy's open in death mouth.
Coughing back sick, Uno slowly looked down at his feet, away from Ji, only to find where a small platinum blonde head fell in front of him. A bullet hole in her tiny forehead marked her pale skin like another eye, but blew out the bottom half of her face, making what he once knew, unrecognizable. Gore cascaded around the area, and her pool of blood grew and the edge of it slid across the floor towards his feet. Soon, to his horror, he could feel it against his bare toes.
The world spun around and he fell to his knees, puking.
Dark shadows crept around his senses until the soldier's shuffling turned into numb, cold, pain.
End Chapter 1
Pretty morbid right? Well, it'll get better for him, but yeah, sorry if I gave anyone nightmares from this (if you're not a mature reader to begin with) Don't fret, it won't be all downers. In fact, since it's me, it will probably be mostly humorous (can you believe that with this ending?)
By the way the setting was a small, rather uneducated village, just a hair breath away from Bevelle.
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