The song featured in this chapter does not belong to me. 'Sound the Bugle' belongs to Bryan Adams, or whoever he sold the rights to.
Final Fantasy X and PlayStation are owned by Square Enix and Sony, respectively, meaning they do not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Final Fantasy X storyline (such as Rayne and Marcus) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
(Breaking Point)
When they had escaped from Bevelle, the group made camp in a small, hidden clearing in Macalania. Though Rayne could feel everyone regarding her suspiciously, she just walked over to an elevated patch of moss and slumped down onto it, falling asleep almost instantly. Her sleep was littered with fleeting dreams and running nightmares, but she was far too drained to remember any. She woke several times while she slept, greeted only by the ghastly effects of sleep paralysis, after which she drifted back into sleep.
After much sleep, her eyes just opened and she sat up, looking at everyone around the clearing. They were all silent and staring off into space, lost in their own thoughts. She noticed that two people in particular were gone…
Rayne stood and walked to the entrance of the clearing, taking a seat beside Auron, "Where are they?"
Auron glanced at her, then shrugged, "Off comforting each other."
Rayne frowned, then sighed, "Not exactly the answer I was hoping for…"
"The lake."
She stood, "Thank you." She walked out of the clearing and down the path that led to the lake, slipping into the trees. She saw the two teens together at last and smiled. 'At least they're happy…'
"Spying, are we?"
Rayne looked up at Auron, who was standing beside her and looking at her with a raised brow. She sighed and looked back at the teens. "Just… thinking."
"About?"
She leaned back against the tree behind her. "Auron, that was the second time I failed her. I actually… tried to kill her that time, and I would have if you hadn't stopped me. I…" She sighed and crossed her arms, "I don't think I'm made for this pilgrimage, or any other. I'm not strong enough for it. I should quit and go back to Besaid."
She heard him growl and was shocked when he grabbed her collar and swept her off of her feet, slamming her into a tree. He pinned her with a glare, "That's a load of shit and you know it. You deserve to be on this pilgrimage just as much as the rest of us, and I'll be damned if you quit now just to flee back to that backwater island with your tail between your legs."
"Then be damned!" She yelled, "I honestly don't care, Auron! I won't be talked out of this; I won't risk hurting Yuna again!"
He growled and shook her, "Yuna would be more hurt if you left than if you killed her. Don't you get that?! You're one of the driving forces behind her on this pilgrimage!!!"
"What do you people want from me?!" Auron blinked and stared at her, shocked. Rayne shook her head and clenched her hands tightly, "What do you all want?! I'm not a good guardian, I can't stand Yevon, I'm doomed to live in obscurity for my odd ways, I can hardly control my magic, I've nearly killed you all so many times, I'm not strong enough to last a pilgrimage… What in the hell do you want?!?!"
Auron set her on her feet and put his hands on her shoulders, his eye softening, "We want you, nothing more and nothing less. We don't want the perfect guardian, we don't want the perfect Yevonite/Spiran citizen, we don't want someone with a will of steel, who can lead their loved one to their death without batting an eyelash, we just want you here, with us."
Rayne closed her eyes and lowered her head, "Just 'me' might not be good enough."
There was silence. One of Auron's hands left her shoulder and lifted her chin. She opened her eyes, about to say something when he cut her off. He kissed her. She froze, eyes wide and body rigid, mind drawing a blank. After a moment, he pulled away, refusing to meet her eye. He whispered in her ear, "You are never not good enough."
He then turned to walk away, but was stopped when she grabbed his shoulder and turned him back to her, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. This time it was Auron who stood in shock. He then relaxed and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her lower back and pulling her closer. Deeper.
After a few moments they broke apart, both of them leaning against each other but neither of them saying a word. They stood in silence, which was broken by the rustle of leaves and faint footsteps. They both looked towards the lake. Yuna and Tidus were walking down the path and back towards the camp. Rayne pulled away from Auron.
"Let's go. We should go back before they get there."
"Rayne." He grabbed her arm but she didn't turn to face him. "Can we agree that it's pointless to think of what might have been? To think of the life we could have had, had the pilgrimage not gone as far as it had?"
Still not looking at him, Rayne answered in an expressionless tone, "Auron, there's never a day that I don't regret not following you to the boat, but I never think about what we might have had." She turned and smiled to him. "Because I was lucky enough to have seen you again. That was enough for me. Whatever happens when all of this is over; whether you and I live, or if I end up going back to my world, I can die happy knowing that I got to spend at least as much time with you as I did. Now," She looked at the path, "It looks like they stopped to make out again. Shall we go?"
Auron stared at her, then smiled and nodded, walking up beside her. Together, they both walked back to the camp, side by side.
No one noticed them slip back in, so they silently joined the others in waiting for Yuna and Tidus to return. Kimahri arrived a short time later, soon followed by the two teens, walking hand in hand.
Yuna nodded to Tidus, who let go and watched her walk up to Auron. She bowed to her guardian, "Sir Auron, I would like to continue my pilgrimage."
Auron nodded. "Then I shall continue to guard you."
Yuna nodded to him, then turned to Rayne, who looked over Yuna's shoulder and shuffled her feet anxiously. Yuna frowned, "Rayne…"
"I'm sorry!" Rayne clenched her hands and bowed. "Everyone… I'm sorry. I gave in to their power, and I nearly killed all of you. I… I would completely understand if you wished for me to… leave the party."
There was a tense silence, which Tidus broke thorough with a serious tone. "What do you say, guys? She did try to behead Yuna, after all…"
"And she 'Petrified' me and Tidus…" Wakka added.
"And used a 'Pain' spell on me…" Lulu added.
"And smacked me in the noggin with a huge chunk of ice…" Rikku added.
"And try to hack off my head and arm with her staff…" Auron added.
With each added accusation, Rayne bowed deeper and deeper, clenching her hands and gritting her teeth. She was starting to remember it all… and it wasn't pretty.
"But…" Rikku drawled after another tense moment. "I guess I can forgive her!" Rayne looked up at Rikku in shock, the girl putting on a cheeky grin and giggling.
"Yeah, me too!" "Of course." "Don't forget me!" "As if we could hold it against her." "Lady Rayne's done much worse than that!" "Hm, Kimahri doubt even he could hold out against the maesters magic."
Rayne looked around the group, her vision becoming blurry. "Everyone…" She covered her face with her hands, "You're all too much!"
Two pairs of small arms wrapped around her and she lowered her hands, looking into the happy and tearful faces of Yuna and Rikku. "E muja oui, Rayne."
Yuna smiled, "We all do."
Rayne hugged both of them, faintly hearing Tidus mumble. "Some of us more than others, and in a different way." She looked at him and found him glancing at Auron.
"Aw, Tidus!" She wheedled out of the girls' arms and pulled the boy into a hug, petting his head dramatically. "I'm too old for you, sweetie!"
"Oh, Yevon!" Tidus jumped back and straightened his hair, looking at Rayne with a twitching eye. "I didn't mean me! I meant…" He found both guardians in his insinuation looking at him dangerously; Auron glaring and Rayne smiling widely.
"'You meant'…" Rayne coaxed, her tone dangerously cheery.
Tidus shook his head, "Who? Wha? Who're we talkin' about?"
Rayne smiled even wider (which up until that point had been considered a physical impossibility) and patted Tidus's head. "Thasa good boy!"
Tidus only scowled and batted her hands away. The teen then raised his arms over his head and yawned. "Well, I'm tired!"
The rest of the group agreed. They all separated to their respected sleeping locations and lay down, most of them falling asleep soon after. A bit restless, Rayne turned over and looked at Auron, who was lying behind her. He looked at her and smirked, to which she smiled back and closed her eyes, knowing that it might be the last fairly peaceful sleep the group would have for awhile.
'Soon we arrive… Too soon, we'll be at Zanarkand…'
The group woke a bit late the next morning, groaning as the sun hit their faces. Day had come too soon.
The moaning and groaning, though, quickly turned to laughter. Rayne frowned, not getting the joke. 'So… it has something to do with me, does it?'
"Hey, Rayne," Tidus called, "Did you and Auron have a nice night?"
Rayne and Auron both sat up at this, looking at each other and letting out various cries when they met nose-to-nose. Somehow, during the course of the night, they had huddled together and had laid side-by-side. Tidus began to laugh again and Rayne jumped to her feet, a spike of ice forming in her hand and the air around her crackling. "Go ahead, rooster, keep on laughing!"
Coughing lightly, Auron drew the group's attention to himself. "If we're going to leave, it should be soon. Bevelle will soon have monks scouring this area, and we don't want to be here when they get here."
Rayne sighed and dropped the spike, calming herself down. "Right. So, if our official tour guide, Lulu, would enlighten us…"
Lulu rolled her eyes and smiled, "Follow me, then." She led them out of the clearing and down the path, which ran through two dirt embankments. After going up a short hill, they walked into the sun and were temporarily blinded. "Welcome to the Calm Lands."
When Rayne's vision cleared, she was struck silent by the view of the Calm Lands. A seemingly endless field of grass, rolling slightly and stretching, dotted with bits of old machina and spires of stone and dirt. The grass below, slightly taller than mowed grass, swayed and rustled in the breeze. For a moment, Rayne thought she was home.
"Many summoners have traveled this far, only to loose their way." Auron's voice cut through her fantasy, waking her to her current reality. "Many pilgrimages end here, as well."
Yuna sighed and fell beck onto the grass. "I… have always known where to go."
Rayne sighed, zoning out as Tidus began to say something. She walked further out, stopping when the ground before her ended. She looked down, seeing the cliff and the shaded grass. She looked back up, gazing at the miles of grasslands with dazed eyes. 'It's so much like home…'
"Rayne?"
She shook her head and looked at Yuna, smiling. "Ne?"
Yuna blinked and tilted her head. "Are you alright?"
Rayne nodded. "Just fine. It's just the Calm Lands." She turned back to them and spread her arms. "They… remind me so much of home."
Tidus walked up beside her. "This is what your home is like?"
"Yeah." Rayne replied reminiscently. "Just miles and miles of grasslands, not a single building or tree to interrupt it. So easy to get lost, but so easy to see forever, vision uninterrupted." She lowered her arms and shook her head, then turned back to the group and smiled. "Well, my guess is we have to cross this, right? So let's get moving!"
They walked down the incline, the plains far below them gradually getting larger and larger as they approached them. At the bottom, the plains seemed to be twice as large as they had seemed at the top of the hill. Rayne closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth. "How long will it take for us to cross, Lu?"
"Depends." It wasn't Lulu who answered; it was Auron.
Rayne opened her eyes and looked around, finding that she and Auron were the only ones there. "Where are the others? We didn't loose them already, did we?"
Auron chuckled and shook his head, pointing behind him. "They're back up there talking to a long-winded historian."
Rayne looked back up and saw the rest of the group practically being bored to death by the old scholar, Meachen. She laughed and crossed her arms, "Poor saps."
When the rest of the group managed to escape the scholar a… not-so-short time later, they walked over to Rayne and Auron, Tidus twitching. "I didn't even learn that much when I was in school…"
Rayne shook her head and laughed, "Come on, it couldn't have been that bad! Some of the best story tellers are old men."
Yuna shook her head, "What he tells aren't stories… but rather excerpts from the most droning history books of Spira that were ever written."
Chuckling, Auron shook his head and faced the Calm Lands, immediately sobering. "Well, let us begin."
The group walked… and walked… and walked… and walked… and, for a change of pace, they walked some more. The battles they encountered were few, but extremely difficult, and they left the group low on health and spirits. The sun shone on them, but it wasn't hot. The wind blew, but it wasn't cool. Bugs flew lazily around them, but they didn't annoy them. Things just… were.
"THIS IS THE MOST MONOTONOUS PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO!" Tidus screamed, unable to take the pressure.
"Yeah." Rayne sighed reminiscently, "Isn't it great?"
The group looked at her with varying stares of shock, awe, and irritation, Lulu asking, "How can you actually like this?"
Rayne rolled her eyes, "You gotta remember, Lu, I spent some of my life in lands like this. I've adapted and found the positive points, so it's hard for places like this to bore me."
"Well, they bore me!" Tidus huffed, "And probably the rest of us, too."
"Then how about duels?"
Tidus blinked, "Huh?"
Rayne looked at him and nodded, "Whenever you all get too bored, attack someone. Don't bother to warn them, treat them like they are the fiend… or vice versa, which ever works. It'll keep us on our toes and occupied, and the Calm Lands will pass even faster."
Yuna raised her hand to her chin and thought about it, "Duels…"
Wakka crossed his arms and frowned, "I dunno… sounds kinda dangerous."
Lulu shrugged, "Couldn't be any more dangerous than being attacked by fiends."
"Well, I like it!" Rikku exclaimed, jumping into the air and bouncing around.
Rayne looked over at the Ronso, "Kimahri?"
He nodded, "Kimahri agree."
Rayne looked at the red guardian. "Auron?"
He shrugged, "I see no problems with it."
Rayne looked at the two teens, "Tidus? Yuna?"
They both exchanged glances, then turned to Rayne and smiled, "Sure!"
Wakka sighed, "Well, I guess I'm in on it, too."
Rayne smiled and nodded, "So be it…" Then without any warning, Rayne whipped out her staff and lashed out at Tidus, who barely had time to raise his sword and block the blow with the hilt.
"Whoa!"
Rayne grinned, "Remember, no warning!"
The party watched the two fight for a moment, then looked at each other and joined in, each of them paring off. Rikku and Yuna, Lulu and Wakka, Auron and Kimahri, and Rayne and Tidus; each facing off against each other. If anyone would have walked by, they would have been thoroughly confused and concerned, unsure of how to act.
But, for the group, that was the beauty of fighting in the middle of the Calm Lands; nobody was around to see them.
Time flew quickly and soon the sun was setting. It wasn't until the stars were out that they finally stopped fighting and fell back onto the grass, thoroughly exhausted. Nobody bothered to start a camp fire or even assign watch duty; they all just immediately drifted off to sleep. Well, except Rayne.
When she was sure everyone was dead asleep, she sat up and looked at the sky, smiling at the sight. The expanse above her was anything but black; dots, speckles, and flecks of white were splattered across the sky, as if an angry painter had taken his brush and chucked it at his canvas, unable to do the black expanse justice otherwise. This was one of the many things Rayne loved about Spira; it was untouched by the hateful abuse of pollution. Here, even the smallest and most distant of stars were visible, mere shades darker than the rest, but no less brilliant. Even home hadn't been this bright.
On top of being clear, the sky was cloudless and the moon shone pure and white, like a plate of fresh snow underneath an untainted source of light. It gave the night a feeling of day, only softer and darker. Suddenly inspired, Rayne jumped to her feet and walked out of the camp ground, not bothering to be quiet. She knew her companions were too deep in their sleep to wake up.
She walked a ways from the camp to a small patch of old machina/building outcroppings, perching on a short, flat one. She dug back into her memories, trying to remember the song. It hadn't been one that her brother had listened to, but one she had heard and actually liked, though she had never told anyone about it. She began humming before she realized she was doing it, the tune of the song slipping back into memory. Then, following the tune, there were the lyrics.
"I hear the wind call my name,
The sound that leads me home.
It sparks up the fire – a flame that still burns.
To you I will always return…
I know the road is long, but where you are is home.
Wherever you stay – I'll find a way,
I'll run like the river – I'll follow the sun,
I'll fly like an eagle – to where I belong.
I can't stand the distance – I can't dream alone.
I can't wait to see you – yes, I'm on my way home.
Now I know it's true,
My every road leads to you.
And in the hour of darkness, darlin',
Your light gets me through.
You run like the river – you shine like the sun,
You fly like an eagle-
You are the one… I've seen in every sunset,
And with all that I've learned;
Oh, it's to you – I will always… aalwaayys… return…"
"Rayne?"
She jumped to her feet and spun on the spot, her staff in her hands and ready. Rayne let out a deep sigh of relief, though, when she saw who it was. "Shouldn't you be sleeping, Yuna?"
Yuna stood silent as Rayne sat back down, then walked over to join her. "I couldn't." She looked at Rayne sheepishly, "I couldn't help but wonder… what happened to you… back in Bevelle."
Rayne glanced at Yuna, then shrugged, "I was taken to the Court of St. Helemine."
The girl let out a small gasp, then frowned, "St. Helemine… When I lived in Bevelle, I heard… stories about the Court… Is it really—"
"As dangerous as it was made out to be? Yes. No move you made in there was left un-judged, and if you took one to many wrong steps you… disappeared." She shrugged. "It happened to one of the woman I challenged and beat."
"I… can't believe it." Yuna mumbled, looking out across the plains. "And… and Yevon…"
"Oh, Yuna," Rayne sighed, putting her arm around Yuna's shoulders and pulling her close, "I'm so sorry. You put so much into Yevon, and then…" She shook her head. "But, you can't let that get you down. Auron's right; we don't need Yevons approval to continue the pilgrimage."
"You were right." Yuna shrugged when Rayne looked down at her. "About Seymour. He… he really was…"
"Evil." Rayne nodded. "But what I said hardly matters. Even before you went to him, you knew that something was wrong, but you went in hopes of bettering him, and in doing so bettering Spira. I hate to admit it, but…" Rayne groaned and frowned, "You had the right idea, and I was wrong to try to stop you."
Yuna gapped at Rayne, then sputtered, "But… but it was my fault that we ended up in Bevelle, and my fault that you were brainwashed! How… how could that have possibly been—"
Rayne waved her off. "Details, details. What really matters is the overall outcome." Rayne turned to face Yuna, pulling up her legs and folding them. She looked at her charge pointedly. "We learned the truth, of both Yevon and Sin. We have the chance to free Spira from thousands more years of torment. If we plan our moves carefully, we could end Sin permanently."
"End Sin forever…" Yuna sighed. "It's all so… overwhelming."
"But it may be possible, Yuna, and you are the only one who can do it."
Yuna sat in silence for a moment, then looked up at the sky. "That song you were singing… was very pretty."
Rayne nodded and looked up, as well, smiling. "It's the small things like them that remind me of home."
Yuna glanced at her mother-figure. "They are really all you have now, aren't they?"
Rayne laughed sadly. "Pretty much…"
"Will you… sing another?"
Rayne blinked, then closed her eyes, trying to remember another song. But nothing came to her. She sighed and stood. "Not tonight. Tomorrow. Ask me tomorrow. For now, let's go to bed."
Yuna nodded compliantly, standing and brushing off her skirt. She then followed Rayne back to the camp, where she returned to her place beside Tidus.
Rayne watched Yuna until the girl was asleep, then walked over to Auron, lying beside him. She stared at him for a moment, smiling faintly at his (for once) peaceful face. She then rolled over and closed her eyes. Just before she drifted off to sleep, she felt something warm and heavy drape across her waist. She grabbed Auron's arm and held it, using its weight and warmth to lull her to sleep.