I've got a question... What's this 'C2' thing?
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.
(Tying the Proverbial Knot)
Immediately upon arriving in Luca, Yuna, Rikku and Lulu separated themselves from the rest of the group and huddled some twenty feet away from the others, whispering amongst each other.
"Well, if that isn't suspicious…" Rayne muttered.
Wakka nodded in agreement, shuddering, "I'm scared already."
Suddenly, the three females separated and nodded to each other, walking back to the group where Lulu said in her most commanding tone, "Rayne, Auron, you two are to leave the group immediately and occupy yourselves elsewhere for the next five hours."
Rayne frowned, "Wha—"
"Hold." Lulu held up a hand, shaking her head, "I'm not finished. You two are also to go in separate directions and wander Luca on your own, not to seek the company of anyone else in the group for the next five hours."
"And why would we agree to do that?" Auron grumbled.
"Bee-caauuuse," Rikku sang, skipping up to him and tapping him on the nose, "If you don't, I'll tell the whole group what I caught you doing the other night."
Auron glared down at her suspiciously, "What are you—"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Aurie." Rikku said with a devilish smirk.
Auron deadpanned and fell silent.
Rayne quirked a brow, "Considering you only have usable blackmail against one of us and since I am quite curious as to find out what Auron is hiding, I'm afraid I'll have to pa—"
"Actually, I have something against you." Tidus said, walking forward and winking, "And you know exactly what it is."
Rayne stared at Tidus with wide, frightened eyes, "You backstabbing little prick."
Tidus smirked widely, "Ha ha."
Yuna walked up to him and gave him a hug, "Thank you, Tidus."
"Anytime."
Sighing, Rayne turned to Auron and shrugged, "Well, I'd say we're both pinned."
"I agree." Auron said shortly.
With that, the two elder guardians abruptly turned and walked off, going in separate directions at the end of the pier and not looking back.
"Meet us back here in five hours!" Rikku shouted.
When she was officially alone in the city, Rayne dropped her hands onto her hips in a huff, "Well, now what?"
Far off in the distance, there was a sudden clamor of organized noise that sounded faintly melodic.
Rayne, though, was too deep in thought to hear. "I suppose I could always go to a store and buy myself a nice shot glass… I like souvenir shot glasses."
The noise gradually drew closer, revealing that it was, indeed, melodic; it was music. But from where?
Still, Rayne wasn't paying attention. "Or maybe a nice plushy teddy bear. I like having fluffy company when I'm going to sleep. …That, and I could mock Lulu when she has her back turned."
The music drew ever closer and people began to gather along the sidewalks.
Rayne, though, contemplated in the middle of the street. "I wonder if they have a 'Build a Bear' equivalent here? It would be great to make a teddy bear and dress it up like Auron… I wonder how pissed he'd be if I took Teddy Auron and sewed it to the back of his precious red coat?"
The people on the sidewalks watch with mild interest as the source of the noise drew closer and closer to Rayne. Would she notice?
"Or maybe I could make a Teddy Tidus and…" Nope, not a chance.
Before she even knew what was going on, Rayne was swept into the tide of a passing marching band and carried off into the sunset, screaming all the way.
O, woe the fate of the poor fool caught up in the march of a traveling band.
Later, when a disheveled Rayne finally managed to disentangle from a tuba player, she pushed herself out of the crowd of uniformed performers and fell onto the road heavily, breathing in and out frantically.
A moment past before she jumped to her feet and ran into an alley, ducking behind a wall and curling up.
"Too… many… instruments!" She shivered, "Trills… mezzo forte… piccolo… acoustics!"
Rayne cursed the day that she had made any joke related to "This one time, at band camp…".
Once she was fully recovered, she walked out of the alley calmly and headed to a nearby café, desperately wanting a hot cup of tea. She froze at the door, though, upon seeing a familiar red coat inside.
"DAMN YOU, AURON!"
She moved on to the next café… and the next… and the next… and the next…
"WHAT THE HELL?! WHY THE FRICK IS AURON IN EVERY DAMNED CAFÉ?!"
Rikku resisted the urge to cover her mouth and snicker. It wouldn't be 'Auron-like' to do so, and there was no way she was screwing things up for the others when they had all gone through so much trouble to purchase five look-alikes of Auron's coat so they could drive Rayne crazy.
Elsewhere…
Auron was seriously contemplating suicide.
After all, what else was he supposed to do when his only outlet for stress, a nice strong cup of tea, was barred because every café he went to was occupied by Rayne?
"Damn it, Rayne, how much tea can you drink in a five minute period?!" Seriously, that had to have been the twelfth café he had passed, and Rayne was always ahead of him. Eventually, her bladder was going to explode.
"Okay, so you'll get 300 gil if you put this on and sit down in that café." Tidus said to the sixteenth long-haired brunette he had run across that morning. "I don't care if you order anything, just sit there and stay there for the next few hours."
Nodding, the girl took the skirt and jacket and slipped them on right there, walking directly into the café and sitting down mere moments before Auron walked by and glanced into the window.
After a second, the Legendary Guardian walked away with a look in his eye that could match an 'Evil Stare'.
Tidus shuddered when Auron turned the corner. "Yuna, you'd better be working fast."
Frankly, both Rayne and Auron were a bit skeptical in the backs of their minds about whether their contemporaries were seriously in every café, but they had serious blackmail to keep at bay.
Besides, after the twentieth 'Auron'/'Rayne' they had seen, they forgot the impossibilities of the situation and let anger take over their minds.
Yuna nodded to the man in front of her.
"Expense isn't a worry, but we'd like to keep it simple and traditional. Oh, and can you have this ready in about three hours and thirty minutes? And would you happen to have handcuffs?"
Fearing she would kill the next 'Auron' she saw, Rayne angrily made her way to the base of the Mi'ihen and sat on a bench, staring at the sea. She hadn't been there four minutes when Auron joined her.
She glanced at him, "You know, if they see us we'll officially be breaking the rules."
"I don't give a damn anymore." Auron growled, "If I see you in one more damned café, I'll go on a rampage."
"It happened to you, too?!" Rayne exclaimed, looking at him.
Auron frowned, "What do you mean? …You can't—"
"I saw you in every damned café I went to!"
"You were everywhere I went."
They both blinked, staring at each other.
"Auron… I didn't go into a single café. I tried to, but I kept seeing you."
"I didn't go into any, either, because…"
"We've been haunted by visions of each other all day." Rayne finished weakly.
They stared at each other a bit longer, Rayne sighing and leaning against his arm, "Well, it's about time to head back, isn't it?"
Auron nodded, "It is."
For a moment, neither said a thing. Then, there was an odd click and both felt a strange soft sensation around their wrists. Auron lifted his right arm and Rayne her left and they stared at what was on their wrists.
"White furred…"
"…Fuzzy handcuffs?"
They exchanged glances "Wha?", then both turned around to see who had cuffed them together. Just as they were turning around, though, a shadow slipped down off of the railing and onto the ground below, disappearing from sight.
Auron and Rayne stared at the blank spot for a few moments.
"Hey! You got fuzzy handcuffs!"
Both guardians turned around and stared in shock at the gaggle of goggling children that had gathered around them.
One boy, a toothy grin on his face, pointed to the handcuffs, "My parents have some of those!"
Blanching, Rayne jumped to her feet and grabbed Auron's hand, dragging him out of the throng and back towards the city.
"Rayne, slow down!" Auron grunted.
"We can't let kids see us like this, Auron!" Rayne hissed, ducking into a clothes store and dragging him to the dressing room. "Who in the hell put these on us?!"
"I don't know." He grumbled, eyeing her wearily as she charged her fingers with lightning and began to poke at the lock, "But I don't think that's helping."
After several tiring moments, Rayne groaned and gave up, glaring at the offensive cuffs, "They're designed to absorb magic! I can't get them off!"
"Then why did you keep trying?!"
"Because I was hoping it was a crappy design, okay?!"
Auron growled, pulling out his sword and holding it high, "Move!"
"NO!" Rayne threw herself over their hands and glared up at Auron, "That's not your sword arm, idiot! If you miss, you could cut my hand off!"
"Then what do we do?" Auron asked, rolling his eyes.
She thought for a moment, then sighed and shook her head, "Should we look for the rest of the group?"
"And have a group of immature adolescents unleash their sadistic blackmail on us?" Auron growled, his eyes narrowing, "I think not."
"But you said a moment ago that you didn't care!"
"I changed my mind."
Thus, the two guardians ended up walking down the street, glancing around frantically and looking for a locksmith. They kept their hands clasped and close to their sides so no one would see the handcuffs, but this meant they had to walk especially close to each other, which was rather difficult considering Auron's wide, bulking walk.
Then, the worst happened.
"Tidus!" Rayne gasped, ducking around a corner.
"Wakka!" Auron grunted, turning down another street.
"Lulu!"
"Rikku!"
They were cornered.
"Here!" Rayne hissed, pulling them both into a nearby building.
Once inside, they both froze as they realized where they were.
"Hi!" Yuna waved from beneath the alter, "Are you ready to begin?"
"Begin what?" Rayne hissed, crouching slightly as if to attack.
"Getting hitched, of course!" Wakka exclaimed, he and the others walking in with large smiles plastered on their faces. "As if you two would do it willingly on your own, ya?"
"Isn't it great, big sister?!" Rikku squealed, clinging to Rayne's free arm, "You and Auron are finally getting married!"
"In the most unorthodox, conniving, sneaky, malicious way possible!" Rayne snarled, yanking her arm out of the young girl's grip.
"Like Wakka said, as if you would have done it willingly." Lulu said with a smirk.
Tidus sighed, walking forward and flopping down onto a seat, holding up a key and swinging it lazily, "You can either get married and have the handcuffs removed, or you can walk out and be cuffed together for the rest of the pilgrimage."
"We'll take the latter." Rayne and Auron said at the same time, turning and walking to the door.
Kimahri, though, stepped between them and their exit and crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. "Alter. Now."
Auron wasn't affected in the least, but Rayne knew enough to be downright terrified of the angry Ronso.
"Shall we, then?"
Auron looked down at her and blinked, "Do you want to?"
She looked up at him, "Do you?"
When neither answered, Yuna coughed, "Well, if there are no objections, shall we begin?"
Slowly and still keeping eye contact with Rayne, Auron turned so that his body was facing down the isle. Her heart fluttering, Rayne did the same. Then, together, they walked.
As they faced each other at the alter, Rikku slipped up behind Rayne and threw a veil over her face, falling back silently.
Yuna read the rights, taking a length of thick, white ribbon and binding their hands together, unlocking the handcuffs as she did and letting them fall to the ground.
"You are now bound to each other physically." Yuna said, "All that is left to do is bind yourselves together spiritually. …Do you, Sir Auron, take the Lady Rayne to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold until Sending do you part?"
He opened his mouth to answer, then froze.
Seeing the turmoil in his eyes, Rayne whispered, "Auron… I know what waits for us when we reach the end of this journey, but… just pretend that, for this night alone, we are human."
He stared at her, then nodded, "I do."
"And do you, Lady Rayne, take Sir Auron to be your lawfully wedded husband, to badger and nag until your brothers and sisters on the Farplane call you back unto their arms?"
Unable to hold back a snort of laughter, Rayne lowered her head and nodded, "Yeah, Yuna, I do."
"Then, by the powers illegally bestowed to me by a Yevon priest threatened into cooperation against his will," Yuna began, making both Auron and Rayne laugh as he pulled back the veil, "I now pronounce you husband and wife… You may kiss the bride. May the fayth be kind and reunite you on the Farplane."
On that note, Auron pulled Rayne to him and kissed her. She returned, and they were wed.
"Have fun, you two!" Tidus shouted with a snicker, "We'll come get you tomorrow!"
Rayne stared at the door, locked from the outside, of the hotel suite the group had thrown she and Auron into, pursing her lips as their party ran off.
"You know," Auron said with a chuckle, "Glaring at that door won't make it open any faster."
"I know." She said with a sigh, turning around and crossing her arms, "But you can't blame me for trying."
As the room fell silent, Auron stared at the woman who had been his travel companion for two pilgrimages now, remembering how hard it had been to be separated from her for ten years. Now, after ten years of wait, she was his wife.
"Rayne."
Rayne blinked and turned to him, blinking again when she found him standing right in front of her. "Yeah?"
Auron stared down at her, his face blank, "Shall we… continue to be human?"
She stared at up him for a moment, her face going blank, as well. 'This is Auron… the man you've been waiting all this time for… He's here before you, not only as your companion but as your husband… Now what?'
A small smile twitched on her lips. 'What else?' "Yeah, Auron… We can."
Auron smiled back.
They embraced, and for one night and one alone, they were human.
