This is a Final Fantasy X fanfic, and no characters but my original ones belong to me. All concepts belong to Squaresoft.
Summary: The empty Farplane...
Auron could hear Yuna talking, but he somehow could not understand her. He recognized the distant rumble of her words, but could not assign meaning to them. It was a perplexing and troubling thing, but somehow not as urgent as it should have been. Though Auron knew his concerns lay with the living, he could not escape the fact that he was dead.
Why else would he suddenly find himself in the Farplane?
("But this place was destroyed. Seymour...killed it when he broke away. This Farplane only exists in my mind.")
It was depressing to think that the flower-lined valley and endless ocean that housed all the souls of Spira was no more. Where, Auron mused, did all the people who had died since Seymour's escape go to when they were sent? Most likely they had become fiends, which was another depressing thought. A few strong-willed ones might have become unsents. But no matter what, Auron would remain alone. He was the only one in the space in his mind...
"Hello."
Auron turned sharply, stunned to hear a voice other than his own. The purple-clad ghost of Bahamut walked up behind him, his bare shins hidden in the soft wealth of flowers around his feet.
"It's nice." The boy said with his usual evasiveness, looking around the thought space. "Almost like home..."
"What are you doing here?" Auron asked, looking at the boy.
"After being a cohort in our plan to bring down Yevon, you didn't think we'd leave you that easily, did you?" The boy asked in a rare display of wryness.
Auron scoffed quietly. "I guess not."
"We're here to help you." The boy said, touching a hand to his chest. "Any way we can."
"Yuna sent you. I don't see how..."
The boy shook his head, cutting off Auron's objection. "We can never be called as aeons again as long as Yuna's will remains strong. We do, however, have an immortal supply of advice..."
Auron cracked a rue smile. "Does any of that pertain to enemies who just won't die?"
"Some." The boy said in all seriousness. "I think, though, you'd be more interested in how to reduce Seymour's power..."
"And how would that be done?"
The boy smiled and gestured at Auron, waving his hand in a "walk with me" motion. Despite being physically older, it did not occur to Auron to disobey, and he and the boy walked next to each other, strolling through a field of flowers.
"This is a very nice space." The boy said, seemingly off-topic; Auron, however, knew better than to trust in first impressions when it came to speaking with the fayth. "Everyone creates their own to a certain extent. Inside, they can hold anything. Some people hold fear, some people hold anger..." The boy glanced at Auron and said, "Your space is full of serenity. This is from where you draw strength..."
"The flowers?" Auron inquired dryly.
"The flowers are a metaphor for the strength that forever blooms within you. These walls..." The boy gestured around them. "A measure of how closely you guard your heart. The ocean is akin to the expansiveness of your soul..."
Auron pointed at the Farplane sky, which was ablaze with the colors of the evening sky except for a dark chasm at its center. There, the waters of the ocean drained into a dark, bottomless expanse. In the real Farplane and in life, Auron had never fancied water, so he had never gone to see where the darkness fell. Now, though, he had a feeling that it would be important.
"What's that?" Auron asked, looking at the boy.
"The balancing agent that lives in every human soul." The boy said softly. "Where there is light, there is always shadow. No human soul is so perfect that it does not cast one. A human soul is like a cavern, and the more complex the person, the harder it is to find the light or the depth of the darkness. People often don't realize how important it is to know both..."
"But how does this tell us to defeat Seymour?" Auron asked, sensing the fayth striking off topic. The boy, as if realizing his error, shook his head and looked up at Auron.
"A human soul has infinite possibilities." The fayth said dreamily. "It could hold all the world if its owner knew how to make it do so." Abruptly his voice sharpened and the fayth said, "Using the powerful, untrained souls of those in the Farplane, Seymour made himself a space not unlike this one—a false Farplane that siphoned everyone else into it. He draws on them now like a soul battery to fuel his augmented power..."
"How do I cut him off?"
"Break the false Farplane. The souls will then leave him and pour back into their rightful place."
"And he will be no more powerful than he was before."
The boy nodded, a smile spreading on his features. "Exactly."
"Will a sending break the false Farplane?" Auron asked.
The fayth shook his head. "Nothing so simple, I'm afraid. You'll need to break it from the inside..."
Auron's eye narrowed. "You're saying I should let myself be drawn into the false Farplane."
The fayth pointed at him and Auron looked down at his chest. A thin red filament he hadn't noticed before was poking out of his solar plexus, a discomfiting sight though it actually caused him no pain. When Auron looked at the thread, it shimmered with archaic runes.
"Seymour has already attached a lead to you." The fayth said, making Auron look at him sharply. "Right now the line is slack. Your strength keeps it that way. If you follow it, however, you will find yourself in the space of your enemy...Ah, I wouldn't do that." The fayth said quickly, and Auron's hand fell; he had been reaching for the thread. "It might be wise to tell your fellow guardians and your summoner what you're doing... There is a chance you might not be able to break the false Farplane and be stuck in there instead."
"Nothing's ever simple." Auron grumbled, tucking his arm into his sleeve.
"The world would be dull if everything was simple." The fayth said philosophically. Changing subject yet again, the boy tilted his head and inquired, "Shouldn't you be getting back?"
Auron lifted his head, listening. The subtle thunder of Yuna's voice above him had shifted, becoming somehow higher and more panicked. He still could not understand what she was saying.
"Yes." He said, looking back at the fayth. "I should. Thanks for the advice."
"It was our pleasure." The boy said, bowing. "Put it to good use."
"Thank you." Auron said, bobbing his head. As he turned to leave, he added over his shoulder, "I will."
Author's note:
I never actually conceived this chapter in my original idea for the story, but I needed some sort of bridging thing... Hence this snippet. Something longer and more substantial will come, I promise!