Winds of Change
Chapter 2: Life in Besaid
15 years ago, on the eve of my 20th birthday, I was preparing myself for a mission with the Crusaders. They found a group of Sin spawn gathering at the beach, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out of the island if they didn't know how to fight them off. I sighed as I tied my shoelaces and glanced to the group of people arguing to the left of me. Arguments in the Crusader hut weren't an unusual occurrence, but this one was different. There was a new face in the crowd, one I didn't recognize. He was dressed in unusual armor, expensive armor. He wasn't from Besaid that much was for sure. I picked up my chakram's from the table before me and turned to the crowd again only to see the man had disappeared. I sighed and fixed my long brown hair in the mirror. I looked like I just got out of bed, but it would have to do for now.
"Luzzu, what's going on?" I asked the red haired warrior at the counter. Luzzu was a new face within the ranks of the Crusaders, but he was smart and reliable.
"Ma'am!" He said, bowing deeply before me. I raised an eyebrow at him and poked his shoulder.
"You know, you're making me feel really old when you do that." I said jokingly.
"My apologies. I was taught to always show respect to my superiors." He picked up a bunch of papers from the desk, and sat down upon it. "Everyone is a little on edge today because of the warrior monk's arrival."
"Warrior monk? I thought they only served in Bevelle."
"While that has been the case for centuries, their new leader wishes for them to patrol the temples from now on. They have been losing a lot of summoners lately, and this is their way of solving that problem." I sighed at that. We were going to lose summoners regardless.
"I see. Thank you, Luzzu. Do you know where the monks are right now?"
"Monk."
"What? They've only send one?" It seems Yevon isn't as interested in protecting Besaid as we thought.
As I walked up to the temple I could hear the warrior monk argue with one of the priests inside. Apparently he didn't agree with the way they ran things in Besaid.
"Allowing the Crusaders to operate on the island is a mistake! They have been excommunicated for a reason!"
"You'd rather they let the people die?" I said angrily. This caused the warrior monk to turn around and face me. From the looks of him he was still pretty young, he had long black hair that he wore in a ponytail and his skin was sun tanned. It seems he had been on the road for a while. His expensive armor was covered up by a long red coat, and he wore a sheathed katana on his back. A sword so big I wondered how he was able to fight with it.
"Of course not. But allowing people such as you to fight for them is just as bad as not having any one at all." The man said angrily.
"Who said I was a crusader?" I crossed my arms and stared him in the eyes. He closed the distance between us and spoke.
"Your attitude tells me all I need to know."
"My attitude? I'm here to keep my home safe, and I have fought to do so for many years. What have you done but compla.." Before I could finish my sentence, Luzzu ran into the temple. With panic clear in his voice he interrupted us.
"My lady! The Sin spawn have reached the village!"
"What?!" The monk yelled out. "You've allowed them to come here?"
"The-There were too many of them!" Luzzu said nervously. I growled in anger and pushed the monk out of my way.
"We don't have time for this!" With that I ran out of the temple and made my way to the village square. There were three huge Sin spawn flying overhead and many tiny ones on the ground below. I threw my chakram's at one of them, but as soon as it died, two more took its place.
"Have you not done your research?" The warrior monk said from behind me. "The more you kill the more come came. You have to kill the big ones first." I turned around to face him, to tell him off, but before I could one of the flyers flew down towards us and picked me up with its claw.
"Let me down!" I yelled out, trying to wiggle myself free, but the way it held me made it impossible to move.
"Hold on!" I heard the warrior monk yell at me from below.
"As if I have a choice!" I said, looking down at the village. It took me a while to find him, but once I finally spotted his bright red coat, I saw he was near one of the ballistae on the temple's roof. Before I knew it, he shot one of the arrows straight at me. As soon as it hit the Sin spawn that held me, it dropped me out of the sky. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact, but before I hit the ground, the warrior monk jumped off of the roof towards me, catching me and breaking my fall. I opened my eyes and looked into the eyes of the man underneath me. I stared at him for a second before pushing myself off of him.
"Thank you… Ehm… You never told me your name."
"Auron."
I smiled at the memories playing in my head as I floated towards my final destination. And once I felt the warm water on my skin and smelled that familiar salty air, I knew I was home. The isle of Besaid was the place I grew up in, the place I spend most of my years. I left it abruptly a little over a year ago, not by choice unfortunately. Sin had attacked the island, and I was helping the Crusaders set up their machina. It didn't take long for us to be overpowered, and before I knew it I was swepped away with the tide. That's how I ended up in Zanarkand. I shook my head, pushing away my memories of the past and swam towards the shore. It was dark out, and the beach was still empty. Empty of all life, except for one lone Crusader staring at the fire in front of him. I smiled and swam towards the beach. As soon as I walked out of the water, the Crusader ran towards me. After all it's not every day you see someone appear out of nowhere.
"Wait, is that you Luzzu?" I asked, recognizing his bright red hair anywhere.
"Well, well, well. I guess I should've known you were still alive." Luzzu said, handing me a towel to dry myself with.
"You didn't think you'd be rid of me that easily?" I told him jokingly. Luzzu smiled at me and offered a place by the fire.
"When someone disappears after a great battle and isn't seen again for well over a year, people tend to think they are no longer alive."
"A year, huh? How have things been since I eh… disappeared?"
"There hasn't been much fiend activity since the last attack. We are very grateful for that. We had lost a lot of our troops that day including you and..."
"Me and..?" Luzzu's face fell at that point.
"Chappu died that day..."