Title: Fayth
Fandoms: Harry Potter & Final Fantasy X
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Rating: eventual M/R
Pairings: Harry/Tidus
Warnings: OoC, AU (etc, etc, etc....)
Summary: Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, but at a price. When a new evil comes that he cannot defeat alone, he and his friends lock themselves in stone to fight it. One day, thousands of years later, Harry is freed and starts a journey with another young man who is equally lost to finish the job Harry once started.
Disclaim Her: So the summary's not exactly what happens, but, hell, who really cares? XD
A/N: Since at least two people in the party understand Al Bhed, I'll be translating any that's said from here-on out, assuming either Harry or Rikku is with the group that hears it spoken. (Tidus will, eventually, learn – if only because he wants to and he'll be travelling with an Al Bhed.) All Al Bhed, translated or otherwise, will be in bold. If it's not translated, I might be willing to translate it at the bottom of the chapter. (But, there are PLENTY of Al Bhed translators on the web, so you could always go use one of them. 'S what I do sometimes. XD)
-0-
Luca
-0-
Dona and her muscle-boy had left by the time Tidus and Rikku re-emerged with Harry. Yuna ran forward as soon as she saw them coming out, asking, "Is he okay?"
"He's just over-extended himself," Rikku said.
"We're going to take him to one of the temple rooms so he can rest while you're in there," Tidus said, offering the female summoner a small smile. "Come get us before you leave?"
Yuna nodded and smiled back. "We will."
"Good luck, Yunie," Rikku offered.
"Thank you," Yuna replied.
Rikku and Tidus stepped back to let the other summoner and her party by. As the group stepped on to the platform, a monk came forward, saying, "You would like a place to rest your Summoner?"
"We would," Rikku agreed.
"Follow me," the monk replied with a small bow.
Once they had been led to the room, the monk left after another small bow, this time accompanied by a sign Tidus recognised all too well. Once the man was gone, he turned to Rikku and asked, "Why did he make the blitzball sign for victory?"
"What?" Rikku said, looking confused.
"This," Tidus said, performing the motions. "It's the blitzball sign for victory."
Rikku blinked a few times and shook her head. "Don't tell me you're from another time like Harry," she said drily.
Tidus smiled ruefully and scratched the back of his head, nodding.
Rikku groaned and hid her face in her hands.
The two were silent for a long moment before Rikku finally asked, "Okay. So, what's your story?"
Tidus' faint smile faded. "I'm from Zanarkand. I was in the middle of a blitzball game when Sin came and destroyed everything. I woke in those ruins with Harry."
Rikku watched him for a long moment, then said, "Zanarkand, huh? Well, it's about as believable as Harry's story, and since he had the fayth to back him up..."
"You saying you don't believe me?!"
Rikku snickered and shook her head. "No, no. Just... Look, it does explain some of your questions. Like, when you were asking about summoners and stuff on the boat? And that 'blitzball sign for victory' is a holy symbol. Some sort of prayer."
Tidus blinked and let that all sink in, then said, "Your people don't believe in Yevon, right?"
Rikku shook her head. "No. Well, some Al Bhed do, but my family doesn't. Yevon says using machina is forbidden and, considering what Harry said about how horrible the first machina was, I'm almost willing to understand why, but my people have always believed that sacrificing summoners isn't the way to defeat Sin. Not if he's going to come back after ten years. We figure, if machina is forbidden, maybe it's what we need to use to defeat Sin. But so much has been lost..." She bit her lip.
Tidus scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't know a lot about how to use machina, but maybe I can help? I mean, I lived in a time when it was used, right?"
Rikku smiled at that. "I think we've figured a lot out, since we've been at it for so long. It's just... not easy. Because we can usually figure the stuff out, but we have to find it first, and then we have to tinker with it. And if it was run on magic, like Harry said, we have to find a mage who can power it back up again." She shrugged. "Al Bhed magic-users are few and far between. Harry was actually an asset when we pulled that airship up, since he was able to help us get it started."
Tidus snorted. "From what he told me last night, it sounded like he was itching to get out of there."
Rikku giggled. "That too. At one point, he got so tired of them playing with it that he stormed on board and shot a couple of weird spells at the generator. Things went a lot faster once they had power."
Tidus snickered at the mental image of Harry storming around and shooting spells off.
Rikku leaned back in her chair, a small smile on her face. "He's a little odd sometimes. But..."
"Wouldn't have it any other way?"
Rikku nodded. "Yeah."
-0-0-0-
Once Yuna had come out and the two groups had gotten back to Kilika, their boat to Luca was ready to go. Harry and Rikku procured a room for their party, separate from Yuna's group, and got Harry to one of the two beds.
"So," Rikku said as the boat pushed off from the dock, "now what?"
Tidus tugged at his hair and glanced over at the peacefully sleeping summoner. "I don't want to just leave him alone in here..."
"I can agree with that," Rikku said with a nod. "And there's only one other bed, anyway."
Tidus grimaced at that. "I'd noticed."
"Take turns sleeping and watching?" Rikku suggested.
Tidus nodded. "Sounds good. Or, at least until it's time for bed, I suppose one of us could be up on deck." He smiled without humour. "It would be rude to stay down here all night, especially when we're almost making friends with Yuna and her guardians."
Rikku cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're making friends with the Ronso? Damn..."
They both laughed.
Harry stirred on the bed and the two fell silent, watching to make sure they hadn't inadvertently woken him. When he didn't move again, they looked at each other and grinned.
"Probably best we don't stay down here together," Rikku agreed. "We might accidently wake him up."
Tidus grimaced. "Yeah. So, do you want the first watch, or..."
Rikku shrugged. "I'll take watch down here until I get tired. Just come down whenever you're done up there, okay?"
"Yes'm!" Tidus agreed, opening the door to leave.
"And bring me food when they start serving it!" Rikku called after him.
Tidus winked in reply and made his way to the deck, hands in his pockets.
On the deck, he found some of the Luca Goers bothering the Aurochs, so he cheerfully stepped in and had some words with the better team. To himself, he had to admit that the Goers had the better chance at winning the game than the less-than-stellar Aurochs did, but Tidus was, by no means, about to let them talk down at the Aurochs.
When dinner was served, he took some down to Rikku as promised, only to find that Harry was awake.
"Hey! You're supposed to be resting!" Tidus insisted, handing one of the trays he'd brought down to Rikku. He'd figured it might be nice for them to eat together, so they weren't eating all by themselves. Not that Tidus couldn't have gone to eat with the Aurochs, but it just seemed mean, somehow, to give Rikku food and then walk off.
Harry grimaced at Tidus. "Yeah, so I've been told, by no less than three people."
Tidus glanced at Rikku, who shrugged, then tapped her forehead. Tidus blinked, then rolled his eyes when he remembered the aeons. "Yeah, you should have listened," he said to Harry.
"I never have listened to reason well," the summoner replied drily, "and I don't intend to start now. Anyway, I refuse to sleep this entire trip away."
"I'd rather you were rested for Luca," Tidus replied with a frown. "But if you insist on being awake, at least you can eat." Then he handed the tray he'd brought for himself to Harry.
Two pairs of green eyes watched him suspiciously as Tidus took the empty chair and he cocked an eyebrow at his two companions. Harry took the invitation and asked, "Isn't this your tray?"
Tidus smiled blissfully and said, "I've already had a bit. Not really hungry anymore."
Rikku caught his eye while Harry looked down at the tray with a troubled expression. When Tidus shot the girl a slightly pleading look, she nodded and said, "I'm sure he was just bringing it to keep me from eating alone, Harry."
Harry glanced between the two smiling guardians and sighed. "Oh, fine. But if I find out later that you haven't eaten anything..." he said to Tidus, who just smiled all the wider.
Once Harry had focused on his food, Rikku snuck Tidus a leg of bird off her own plate. When he blinked at her, she smiled and turned back to her tray without a word, so Tidus shrugged and ate it.
Harry glanced up suspiciously at the two teens, asking, "If you're not hungry, why are you filching her food?"
"I'm a vegetarian," Rikku commented easily.
Harry watched her suspiciously for a long moment before deciding it didn't matter. He'd never seen her eat anything to disprove her claim, so it might very well have been true. But he still had a feeling that Tidus had given Harry his food, and Rikku was helping the boy cover it up. If Harry hadn't been so hungry, he might have fought harder, but he'd been starved, and he knew that if he intended to stay awake tomorrow during the blitzball tournament, he'd best eat something now, especially if he was planning to skimp on sleep.
Eventually, Harry got to the point where he felt he could stand not eating anymore and waved the rest of the food at Tidus. "Here, I'm not hungry anymore."
Tidus blinked, then took the tray and cheerfully finished it off. Harry sighed as the action confirmed his suspicions, but decided not to mention anything about it. Instead, he asked, "So we're headed to Luca now?"
Tidus nodded. "Yup. Tournament's supposed to start as soon as we arrive. The Luca Goers and the, uh..." he frowned, trying to remember the name of the other team on board with them.
"The Kilika Beasts," Rikku supplied.
"Yeah! They're all on board with us. It's making for a bit of a rowdy trip." He scratched the back of his head. "The Goers are the reigning champions, and the Aurochs just plain suck, but since I've got them all excited about bringing home the cup this time, they've been starting arguments with the Goers. And the Beasts, but the Beasts lost one of their players in the attack, so they're a bit more mellow."
"Shit," Rikku mumbled. "Have they got someone to cover?"
Tidus nodded. "They had a couple of people who were sitting the bench anyway, but the one they lost was their keeper, and they don't really have anyone trained to cover the goal. Everyone figures they'll be easy pickings, even the Beasts themselves. Sounds like, usually, they're a team to be reckoned with, but with an untrained keeper, they're going to have to focus more on just keeping the ball away, rather than trusting that the goal will be guarded."
"They're gonna get so crushed," Rikku commented. "From what our team was saying last time we played them, their keeper was their biggest asset."
"Sucks to be them," Tidus decided.
Harry snorted and shook his head when the two looked at him curiously. "Sports never change, no matter when you are, do they?"
Tidus leaned forward with a grin, "Guess not. What sort of sports did they have five thousand years ago? Any blitzball?"
Harry shook his head. "No blitzball, I'm afraid. We lacked the technology. No, my people had quidditch, which is a sport played in the air on broomsticks. I played it myself, and absolutely loved it." His smile was sad as he said, "I'm afraid everything about quidditch was lost when the schools got bombed, so even if brooms that flew under their own power could be created, the sport itself is gone."
"I'm sorry," Tidus replied with feeling. Next to him, Rikku nodded. Neither of them could imagine living in a world where the sport you'd once played was impossible.
Harry shrugged. "Blitzball reminds me a bit of water polo, which is a sport the muggles played. They had all sorts of sports." He grinned. "One of my dormmates was completely in love with football. It's a muggle sport where you've got a ball that you have to get into the opposing team's goal, but the goalie – the keeper – is the only player who can touch the ball with his hands. So you have to kick the ball around."
Tidus considered the sport, then grinned. "Most of the moves in blitzball don't require hands, either, so I can kinda see that. But still..."
Harry chuckled. "They'd kick the ball along the field to move it, and you could block the ball with your feet or your head or any other part of your body. Just not your hands."
"Crazy..." Tidus decided, shaking his head. "People of your time were nuts."
Harry grinned. "Yeah? I haven't told you about bludgers yet."
"Bludgers?" Rikku asked.
Harry snickered and happily regaled them with stories about his favourite sport.
-0-0-0-
The boat sailed in to Luca with a full deck. The two summoners and their parties were the first to depart, with the various teams following behind. Tidus' face tightened angrily when the announcer mocked the Aurochs, but since he agreed that the team was crap, he could hardly deny the claims.
"Maester Mika is here!" a passing man said. "Number four dock!"
Yuna's eyes brightened at the words and she said, "Let's go see!"
Tidus looked curiously at Harry, who smiled grimly. "Maesters are the men who lead the Order of Yevon," he explained to Tidus as they fell back from Yuna's group. Rikku fell back with them, looking curious. "The maesters are always made up of one human, one Ronso, one Guado, and...."
"Guado?" Tidus asked.
"I don't suppose you've seen one yet, have you?" Harry mumbled to himself.
"They have blue or green hair," Rikku said with a frown. "My people don't get on well with them."
"The Guado don't get on well with much of anyone," Harry pointed out drily.
"They're getting on better with the humans, since their last maester married one. I think their son is set up to be the next maester for the Guados," Rikku said.
"Hmmm..." Harry shrugged. "Well, as I was saying, one human, one Ronso, one Guado, and one to lead them, who is usually human. The maesters are probably the most corrupt people in all of Spira, because they are supposedly 'holy' men, which means they have too much power at their fingertips and nothing to check that power."
"Fabulous," Tidus decided.
"That's what I said," Harry agreed as they reached the dock.
A blue-haired man was walking down the plank as they got there, and Tidus said, "Guado?"
Harry was frowning and shaking his head, but Rikku said, "Half. That's Maester Jyscal's son. I wonder why he's on Maester Mika's boat..."
An older man walked down off the boat and Harry's eyes narrowed at him as he calmly introduced the half-Guado, answering Rikku's half-asked question about why the man was on the boat. When the half-Guado, Seymour, started to speak, Harry's eyebrows rose and he mumbled, "He's good."
When Seymour finished his speech, the crowd bowed. Harry frowned, but bowed as well, tugging the staring Tidus down with him. When Tidus looked at him with a wounded expression, the summoner whispered, "I don't like them, but that's no reason to draw attention to ourselves. We're expected to bow in their presence. So we bow."
Tidus nodded his understanding, though he looked displeased by the notion, especially since his two companions didn't seem to care for the maesters.
Once the maesters were gone, Wakka hurried over to Tidus with the rest of the Aurochs, huge grins on all their faces. "Really psyches you up, ya?" Tidus shrugged without comment while Harry and Rikku studiously looked away. "All right!" Wakka continued, determined to be cheerful. "Last meeting before the match! Hustle!" he practically shouted, then led the way to the locker rooms.
Tidus glanced at Harry and Rikku with a worried look that had Harry rolling his eyes and Rikku grinning. "We'll be fine," the Al Bhed said, then nodded to Yuna and her other two guardians, who were approaching behind Tidus. "We'll stay with Yunie and her guardians, so you can go lose."
"Har, har," Tidus replied sarcastically, then hurried after the Aurochs, waving over his shoulder.
"Shall we go find seats?" Yuna asked with a smile. "I haven't been to a blitzball tournament since before the last Calm, when my father's guardian, Sir Jecht, insisted on taking us."
"Well, let's go, then. It should be interesting," Harry said, making Rikku grin. He'd told his two guardians last night that this would be his first blitzball game, which had earned a horrified cry from Tidus and laughter from Rikku.
The group of five made their way into the stadium and found seats in the middle, so they could properly see all the action. They spent the time before the game with Yuna talking happily to the people around them, who were all quite excited to meet the daughter of the last High Summoner. Yuna, of course, was quite happy to talk to the people, but she also took great pains to introduce Harry, who frowned at her every time and used Rikku as a shield against the overly exuberant crowd more than once.
When everyone settled down to watch the start of the games, Rikku leaned over and whispered, "Is there a reason why you're so twitchy at the attention?"
Harry grimaced and replied, "Part of the reason I became a fayth was so I didn't have to face my adoring public; I've had bad experiences in the past with them turning on me."
Rikku frowned at him and turned away, considering his words. Near the end of the first game, she decided she would have to ask Harry more about his 'adoring public' later, preferably when Tidus was there to help her corner him.
After the first set was done and the Aurochs had trounced the Al Bhed Psyches, the group agreed to go down and congratulate their friends.
On their way to the Aurochs' locker room, they came across a few of the Psyches, who looked at the group with a frown. Before Rikku could step forward to congratulate them on a game well played, one of them turned to his two teammates and said, "Summoners. We must let the others know."
"Wait!" Rikku said, stepping forward. Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri all turned at her call, even though they hadn't understood her. The girl took her goggles off so the three Al Bhed could see she was one of them. "I'm travelling with them to keep an eye on them. This one, Harry, has promised not to go after Sin without the means to destroy it for good."
The three Al Bhed scowled at her while Harry waved the rest of their group on and stepped up to stand next to Rikku. "Neither of us intends to let the other summoner use the Final Aeon," he said to them. "I consider the practise crude and a waste of human lives. Kidnapping her won't stop her from trying to complete her mission."
"A summoner who speaks Al Bhed?" one of them said in surprise.
"He spent a week on one of our ships," Rikku explained, though she, herself, was still confused by Harry's almost instant mastery of her language. "Please, let us keep an eye on Yunie. Harry's right about her continuing to go on her mission, even if you kidnap her. Her father was Braska. She considers it to be her duty to continue in his footsteps."
"Then she is a fool," the Al Bhed who had yet to speak intoned. Harry and Rikku both nodded their agreement with that assessment. "We will leave her to you, Cid's daughter, but if you can't stop her before you reach Mt. Gagazet, we will do all we can in your stead."
Rikku nodded. "I understand. Thank you."
"A good game," Harry added before gently guiding Rikku back towards the locker room. "Put your goggles on before Wakka sees you."
"We'll have to tell him eventually," Rikku pointed out as she did what he'd suggested. "Especially if we're going to be going with Yunie the whole time."
Harry grimaced. "I know. But I'd rather it be on the road, rather than in close quarters. That way, if he blows up, I don't have to worry about him hitting a wall when I use a spell to knock him away." He grinned at her then, eyes bright with mischief.
Rikku snickered and preceded the summoner into the locker room, which was loud with congratulations and celebration. The two stood by the door, blinking in surprise. Tidus sidled up to them and drily commented, "This is what happens when you win your first game in twenty-some-odd years."
Harry snickered while Rikku rolled her eyes. "Ah," the summoner said, poking Tidus' side, "the joys of having an able player on your side."
Tidus grunted. "And positive thinking. Have you heard their motto before I got to them?!"
"Do their best?" Rikku offered with a grin.
Tidus moaned.
Lulu walked over to them then, eyes flickering to where Yuna was keeping Wakka busy. "What happened out there?" she asked Rikku. "That didn't look like a simple 'congratulations'."
Tidus narrowed his eyes as Rikku said, "The Al Bhed have been making plans to keep summoners from finishing their pilgrimages for years now, ever since we found out that it meant the death of the summoner. I told them to let me try and talk Yunie out of it without them interfering and they agreed, but it took a bit of discussion."
"And what about Harry?" she asked, eyeing the male summoner with a frown.
"I don't intend to call the Final Aeon," Harry replied, eyes dark. "I want to find another way. Preferably one that gets rid of Sin for good. Too many people have sacrificed their lives already."
Lulu relaxed marginally. "I thought it might be something like that," she commented. "Some of the people in the stands were saying that summoners were disappearing, and the Al Bhed do seem the most likely suspects..." Rikku shrugged in agreement; it was no secret that her people didn't care for Yevon's teachings, and summoners often followed those teachings. "I'll tell Yuna, then."
"Feel free to let her know we intend to find another way, too," Harry suggested. "I doubt it will make her stop, but perhaps she can help us brainstorm on the road."
Lulu blinked at him. "You intend to keep going, in spite of your belief that the Final Aeon isn't the way?"
"I believe the aeons are important in the solution, but I don't believe the Final Aeon is as much a part of it as Yevon would have us believe," Harry said with great care.
Lulu nodded and walked back over to Yuna. Tidus turned to his two friends once the woman had gotten far enough away to not hear a whispered conversation and demanded, "What do the Al Bhed do to stop the summoners? And why didn't you tell me?"
Rikku rolled her eyes while Harry sighed. "We kidnap the summoners and take them to Home to protect them," the Al Bhed girl said. "They don't usually get free, but it has happened once or twice, and I have a feeling Yunie will be one of those who will get away; part of the reason I asked them to let me do my best to stop her, first."
"And we didn't tell you because I agree with them, and so we'll probably be left alone," Harry finished.
Tidus sighed, but nodded at their reasoning. Then he seemed to realise something and demanded, "Does that mean you intend to travel with Yuna the rest of the way?"
"She's my cousin, Tidus," Rikku hissed. "I'm not just going to let her go off and get herself killed."
"But that means travelling with Wakka," Tidus hissed back. "You can't hide your eyes from him forever!"
"We'll tell Wakka before it gets to that point," Harry said firmly. "And we'll do so in a place where there's lots of space, so we can keep him away from Rikku."
Tidus frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, but couldn't find anything to say that would refute the other's logic, so simply nodded and let it go.
Wakka called out, "Okay! We're up against the Goers soon! Get ready!"
"Go on," Harry said to Tidus.
"Kick them out of the sphere," Rikku added with a mean smile.
"Al Bhed keep losing against them too?" Tidus replied teasingly, then hurried out of the way of her respond kick, laughing.
Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri joined Harry and Rikku again and the five hurried back up into the stands. There, they watched with glee as the Aurochs murdered the Goers, finally winning 4-2.
Before they could do much more than stand in preparation for going down to the locker room to congratulate their team, fiends came out of nowhere and started attacking the people in the stands.
The three guardians got into a loose circle around the two summoners and set about keeping the fiends at bay. Harry was able to help by casting black magic, but Yuna found herself able to do little more than cast cure, especially in such close quarters. Rikku, seeing her cousin's distress at her inability to help made a mental note to show Yuna how to make a few concoctions to throw at the fiends while they were on the road.
While the summoners and their guardians were fighting in the stands, Tidus and Wakka teamed up to fight some fiends in the sphere, grimly fighting their way through until they reached the edge and were able to jump out into the stands to fight fiends there. Shortly, Tidus caught sight of a familiar red coat and led Wakka over to where Auron was keeping some fiends away from their spectators. "Auron!"
"Sir Auron?" Wakka repeated, shocked.
"Keep your eyes on the fiends," Auron admonished the two young guardians, casually killing something behind them.
Wakka and Tidus traded grimaces and turned back to the attacking monsters.
Up in the maesters' box, Seymour stepped forward and called an aeon to finish off the fiends.
Harry was torn between being glad for the respite, and horrified at the pain coming from the aeon; now that he had his mind open to the aeons in the correct way, he could feel them, and this one was screaming. Rikku had to reach out a hand to steady him as he almost tripped over his own feet.
"Are you okay?" Rikku asked him over the aeon's attacks.
Harry gripped her shoulder and closed his eyes. "Make it go away," he pleaded her.
"Harry?" Rikku asked, clearly worried, but Harry didn't bother responding, trying his hardest to block the cries from his mind.
When Seymour finally let the aeon go, Harry relaxed, slumping against Rikku. The Al Bhed tightened her arms around him, looking around desperately for Tidus to help her with their summoner.
"Is he okay?" Yuna asked, eyes wide with concern.
Rikku tightened her arms around Harry as he tried to get his feet under himself again. "I don't know," she said to Yuna, then looked back at the man and said, "Harry?"
Harry nodded. "I'll be fine. Just..." He shook his head. "That poor woman..."
"What–?" Yuna started.
"The aeon?" Rikku guessed.
Harry nodded and managed to mostly stand on his own, though Rikku kept a firm hand under his elbow. "Yes, her. She was screaming in pain." He shook his head angrily, then looked around. "Where's Tidus? And Wakka?"
His question had the desired effect, for both Yuna and Rikku started looking around for the two missing guardians.
Yuna spotted them first. "Oh! They're with Sir Auron!"
"Auron?" Harry asked as they started down the steps to meet them.
"He was one of my father's guardians," Yuna replied happily.
Harry looked over the man they were approaching, frowning. Rikku leaned over and whispered, "What's got you so grumpy now?"
"He's unsent," Harry replied, still frowning. "For a world that has summoners to keep ghosts from popping up, there sure are a lot of them around."
"Huh?!" Rikku squeaked as they reached the party.
Tidus turned to them with a grin, intent on introducing Auron to Harry and Rikku, but the smile died when he noticed that Harry looked pale and he was leaning on Rikku. "What happened!" he questioned, stepping forward.
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Tidus."
"You don't look fine."
"He had a bad reaction to that aeon," Rikku explained.
"Like, what kind of bad?" Tidus asked, looking between the two worriedly.
Harry shook his head. "So, who's this?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
Tidus frowned at him, knowing what Harry was doing, but turned back to Auron anyway. "Harry, Rikku, this is Auron. He kinda brought me up after my old man died. Auron, this is Rikku and Harry. Harry's a summoner."
Auron looked the group over – he'd already been introduced to Yuna's party by a star-struck Wakka – and nodded to Harry. "It's rare to see two summoners travelling together," he commented.
"We have our reasons," Harry replied tightly. He wanted to like this man who had raised his friend, but he couldn't help but feel disgust for him because he was unsent. He'd never had such problems around ghosts before, but he also hadn't known about summoners then, or their duty to send the dead. Now, being around an unsent made his skin crawl. A part of him wondered why Yuna didn't seem to feel the same, but maybe his gift for sensing the dead came from his time as a fayth.
"Don't you need to get that trophy, Captain Wakka?" Tidus asked, cutting the tension that Harry's remark had caused.
Wakka's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah!" he said, then turned and hurried off to go get it.
Tidus turned back to Harry, blue eyes still sparkling with concern. "Auron wanted to talk. Will you be okay?"
Harry sighed. "Tidus."
Tidus looked at Rikku and the girl grinned. "I'll keep an eye on him."
"Rikku!"
"Okay. If he faints again–"
"I didn't faint!"
"–come find me," Tidus said, ignoring Harry.
"No problem."
"You two..." Harry sighed while Yuna and Rikku laughed.
Tidus just grinned at him and turned back to Auron. "Off we go, then!"
"We'll meet back up at the top of the city, right before the Mi'ihen Highroad, okay?" Yuna suggested.
"Sounds good," Tidus agreed, then followed Auron away.
Yuna looked over at Harry. "Will you be okay?" she asked.
Harry covered his eyes with one hand and groaned. "Merlin, I'm surrounded by mother hens."
"What's a 'mother hen'?" Yuna asked.
Harry just groaned.
-0-0-0-
"Why am I here?" Tidus demanded once Auron had brought them to a secluded spot. "Why did Sin bring me here? Why did you let it?"
Auron just smiled at him.
Tidus glared for a long minute, then turned away. "You won't tell me."
"Jecht asked me to," Auron said.
Tidus narrowed his eyes at the seagull he was watching. "He's dead," he snapped.
"Depends on what you mean by that," Auron replied.
Tidus whirled around and glared at the man some more. "He's dead, Auron. He went out to sea, there was a storm, he died. End of story!"
"Jecht didn't die, he came here."
Tidus paused, trying desperately to assimilate that bit of knowledge. "He... he came... here?"
Auron nodded. "Jecht and I were the guardians of Summoner Braska. Yuna's father."
Tidus blinked at that. "His guardians..." The his eyes widened when he connected what Auron had said with something Harry had said so long ago. "No..."
Auron frowned. "Tidus?"
Tidus looked up at Auron, feeling sick. "Sin... My old man is Sin?!"
Auron jerked in surprise, then nodded. "How did you know?"
Tidus smiled then, though it was a horrible sort of smile. "Harry told us that the final aeon, the guardian that the summoner sacrifices to create it... that aeon becomes Sin." He looked away. "If he's Sin, why would he bring me here? Why would he send me to a place where I have the chance to turn into what he is now?" He looked back at Auron angrily. "Can you tell me?!"
Auron sighed. "Jecht wants you to be the one to destroy him."
Tidus just looked at the man for a long moment, then growled, "I'm not going to turn into the next Sin."
Auron just blinked at him.
Tidus smiled bitterly. "And yet, that's what he wants, isn't it? To be released from his new prison? Have the crybaby take his place?" He let out a hollow laugh. "Well, he'll just have to keep waiting. Because I have no intention of doing any of that." Then he turned away, starting towards the exit to the Mi'ihen Highroad.
"He doesn't want you to take his place, Tidus!"
Tidus just kept walking, refusing to look back.
Auron jogged to catch up with him. "He wants you to defeat him. Defeat Sin. For good."
"Yeah?" Tidus looked over at him. "Well, good for him."
"Will you just run away?"
Tidus stopped and glared at the man again. "I will continue travelling with Harry and Rikku and help them find a way to defeat Sin for good. Not because of Jecht, but because that's what we want to do. Because it's the right thing to do."
Auron's lips curled with a smile. "That's what Jecht always said."
Tidus let out a strained sound and threw his hands in the air before continuing on his way to where the rest of the party was waiting.
Chuckling, Auron followed him.
-0-0-0-
At the exit of the city, the party stood, waiting for their last member. Harry had decided to lean against the railing, and Rikku stood next to him, watching where Yuna was quietly talking to her two human guardians. "What will you do if Tidus decides to go with Auron somewhere?" she asked.
Harry grunted. "Send the wanker."
Rikku giggled.
Harry turned his head and smiled at her. "I don't know." He tipped his head to one side. "Auron must have a reason for staying here without turning into a fiend. Perhaps it was to help Tidus along, or something. I'm not sure. But if it's to help Tidus, I doubt he'll keep him from continuing with us, but rather come along himself." Harry shuddered as he imagined being around the unsent all the time. "It should be interesting."
Rikku frowned. "What did you mean, earlier, by there being a lot of unsent in Spira?"
Harry sighed. "Maester Mika is also an unsent. I mean, it's not like there weren't ghosts back in my time, but we didn't have summoners back then." He shrugged. "It just seems odd to me, somehow, that all these unsent are wandering around, and no one notices."
Rikku shrugged. "Other than the Guado – and you – no one can sense the unsent."
Harry shook his head. "Of course. And if relations with the Guado are still rocky, they're not likely to tell the humans when they've got unsent running around. So the unsent just keep doing their thing, and the humans have no bloody clue. Typical."
Rikku let out a nervous laugh.
"Heeey!" Tidus' voice called.
Harry jerked and turned around, eyes hopeful, as the young man crested the stairs, the unsent behind him. Tidus grinned at them all and Harry relaxed. "Thank, Merlin."
"You have got to tell me about this Merlin you're always on about," Rikku grumbled.
Harry grinned at her.
"So, when are we headed out?" Tidus asked as Harry and Rikku walked over to where Yuna, Lulu and Wakka had joined Tidus and Auron. Kimahri stayed by the stairs, looking as impassive as ever.
Yuna looked nervously at the man in red. "Sir Auron? Are you..."
Auron nodded to her. "I would like to come with you, if it's permissible."
Yuna nodded happily. "We'd love to have you, wouldn't we?" She looked around at her guardians, as well as Harry and Rikku. Wakka looked almost as excited as Yuna did, but Lulu and Rikku just nodded slowly.
Harry watched the man for a long moment, then nodded. "Very well."
Tidus blinked at his summoner with a small frown, wondering why Harry seemed so unsure about Auron coming with them. Tidus wasn't too pleased with his old guardian at the moment, but that didn't explain why Harry was so displeased.
"Well, let's go!" Yuna declared, then turned to the steps up to the highroad.
Tidus made a mental note to ask Harry about his reaction to Auron when said man wasn't so close and cheerfully rejoined the group.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: I don't dislike Auron, just in case it seemed that way – in fact, I absolutely adore him – but at this point in the game, it makes the most sense that Tidus isn't too fond of him, and his being unsent just doesn't sit well with Harry... Well, this story is about the boys, not who I do and don't like – though you may notice that I abhor Wakka, sorry guys, and so do Tidus and Harry a bit – so the boys' takes on people will colour them. *shrugs*
Also! I hadn't INTENDED to update this for a couple more days, but my inbox was so sad, as it had seen one review in, like, two days. It was crying, and reviews ARE what makes me write... So I posted this. Because I'm a review whore. XD
(Do we even use that term anymore? I remember back when it was really common, but I don't think I've seen someone call themselves a 'review whore' in a few years... O.o)
~Bats ^.^x
Next Chapter: Operation Mi'ihen
