Otherworld Year Nine: Chapter 5




Auron opened his eye as he took in a long, shuddering breath and turned his head against the pillow to see Sahna quietly watching him from the chair beside the bed.

"Here we are again, it would seem. I, flat on my back and you watching over me... we really must stop meeting like this, Gabe will become suspicious." Auron said in a smirking hoarseness.

"Auron, don't you dare be glib about this. We've all been worried sick... the past week's been a nightmare."

"Week!" Auron responded in consternation, sitting up abruptly with a wince, his muscles and joints flaring in protest to the sudden movement. "It can't have been that long, it..." Then Auron trailed off, as he recalled the sudden blackness sweeping over him. "You sedated me... why." Auron said then, clearly angry.

Sahna swallowed. She didn't think Auron was going to be very happy about this. "It was my decision. If I hadn't, you would have bled to death. Then... I kept you under so you'd recuperate fully. I know you too well, Auron, you would have been up long before you were healed properly." She finished, nervously moving her hands in her lap.

Auron glowered at the older woman for what seemed like an eternity to her, then released an exasperated sigh. Her actions had cost him, how dearly remained to be seen... but she had done this out of concern for him and he couldn't bring himself to chastise her too harshly for it. "I am grateful for your care, Sahna, but you must never do anything like that again... understood?"

"Yes, I hear you... loud and clear." Sahna replied in a hurt voice, her chin quivering as she looked down at her hands.

Grunting in recognition of the verbal slap he had just delivered, Auron leaned toward Sahna and placed one hand over her two, stilling their agitated movement. "Tell me."

Sahna knew that was 'Auron speak' for explain everything, so she got control of herself and began to tell the tale of the past week, beginning with Remie's unusual method of dealing with an emergency.

"... he was fine after a few days, but I can't say the same for the shop. Among other things, the main entrance door had to be replaced and we lost nearly half the display weaponry, which is now nothing more than a series of very large paper-weights. We're lucky he didn't get near the ammo in the storage room, or I think we'd all be dead."

While these occurences were fantastical in nature to Sahna, they barely caused a ripple across Auron's thoughts... such things were commonplace in his understanding and experience, but he felt badly about the losses to the shop. "I hope this has not caused irreparable damage to your business."

"Oh no, don't worry about that... Gabe carries huge insurance policies on everything, so we're covered."

"Speaking of Gabe, how did he deal with all this." Auron asked.

Sahna sighed heavily. "Not too well, I'm afraid. He didn't give a rat's hiney about the damage to the shop, but he was angrier than I've ever seen him over the fact that Borda had been released without him being informed. I hear he caused quite a scene down at security headquarters... he nearly got himself arrested. If it weren't for his ties to the enforcers, he would be in jail right now."

Auron couldn't help but smile at the thought of Gabe ripping the authorities a new one, the idea holding a certain satisfying appeal. Gabe had always led with his heart rather than his head, the lucky son-of-a-bitch somehow managing to remain unscathed by his rash actions, and Auron envied him that.

Shifting his weight uncomfortably as he glanced down at the shroud of bandage encircling him, Auron's expression became more serious. "I regret being the reason these events occured, Sahna. I am sorry to have been the cause of such turmoil."

"Nonsense." Sahna replied sternly, then managed a smile. "Life would be unbearably dull without you around."

"Hmph." Came Auron's patent reply.

Sahna laughed as she rose stiffly from the chair, bringing a hand to the small of her back for a moment. "If you're up to it, I'd like to send Remie over... he's been extremely concerned about you."

"Of course. I wish to see him as well."

Nearly through the door, Sahna turned back when she heard Auron call her name.

"Are you okay?" Auron asked, the simple, heartfelt words an acknowledgement and apology for his earlier harshness.

Sahna gave him her best smile with a nod as she turned and left.

************

"I understand I owe you my continued presence here." Auron remarked, unsure whether he was grateful for that or not.

"It wasn't me really, it... it was Them, I think." Remie replied shyly, looking down at his shoes. Even after all these years, he still felt self-conscious when Auron turned that piercing eye on him.

"Them?" Auron asked, awaiting an explanation.

"Well, I don't remember much." Remie answered in embarrassment, his face reddening.

Finally looking up when he heard no reply, Remie knew by the expression on Auron's face that he was trying the man's patience, so he inhaled deeply and began to impart to Auron what he could remember, pausing several times to gather his thoughts, then continuing until he had given Auron all he knew.

Auron's look was thoughtful, as he brought a hand to his chin. "Intriguing. You apparently are a Summoner of sorts. I don't know why the possibility has not occured to me before."

"Summoner?"

"A person with the ability to call upon powerful beings to aid them in battle. But, I am at a loss to understand your particular way of doing this... it would seem that instead of summoning a single entity, you somehow managed to bring forth the entire motley crew at a single stroke... extraordinary." Auron explained, a look of wonder mixed with pride momentarily flashing across his eye as he regarded Remie in mild amusement.

Frowning, Remie scratched at his head. "So, what does all this mean?"

"It means, that you are a force to be reckoned with." Auron replied with a small smile as he clapped a hand to Remie's shoulder, thinking that a person with Remie's talents could be of great use in Spira... pity the gameplan didn't allow for guests, otherwise he would seriously consider bringing him along for the ride when Tidus and he left Zanarkand.

Remie smiled and shrugged, appearing unimpressed by these revelations, as Auron playfully shoved him toward the door... "And now if you'll excuse me, wonder boy, I have some overdue business to attend to."

************

Everything was fine with Tidus and that was a relief. The young Blitzer's life having become focused on his training for the Pro League tryouts that would take place just after the new year holiday. Apparently, he had not even noticed his guardian's absence. But he didn't think the same was true for Isabo. He had received no replies from her to his messages. She was undoubtedly displeased with him, most likely thinking he had found excuses to avoid her. Best to just go over there and make amends as best he could. Perhaps a token of esteem would help... flowers, flowers always weakened a woman's resolve to be angry, that's what Jecht had told him once anyway.

************

Stepping into the vestibule, Auron looked toward the studio, frowning in concern and confusion. The room was in complete disarray, cardboard boxes clustered along the floor in front of the worktable, Isabo's canvases and supplies piled in uneven stacks along its surface.

"Isabo?" Auron called out, moving toward the door to the living quarters then stopping as he heard an unfamiliar voice answer from within...

"Hello?"

Moving quickly to the doorway, Auron paused again when he beheld the state of the room beyond, the surfaces of the walls and furniture stripped bare, more packing receptacles strewn in a haphazard path through the space. An elderly woman stood over one of the boxes, gazing intently at him for a few moments before speaking.

"You must be Auron." The woman said in a low voice, her face a wan mask of nervous recognition.

"Where is Isabo." Auron demanded, striding forward and turning to his left side, addressing the stranger in a way that said clearly, she had better answer.

"I'm Isabo's aunt, Stelle. Please, sit down."

"I do not wish to sit. I wish to have an explanation. Now." Auron replied roughly, his eye blazing.

Stelle sighed, dropping her head and bringing a hand to her face. "Isabo collapsed at a gallery function this past week and was admitted to the central healing center. She finally lost her battle three days ago. While long prepared for this eventuality, it is hard... very hard, I know."

Auron felt his entire body clench as the woman's words sank in, the sensation of his heart and lungs lurching to a stop in his chest like a physical blow. "Prepared? I don't understand... explain this."

"I'm so sorry, Auron. I assumed you knew... that she had told you." Stelle said, feeling horribly guilty at having delivered this sort of news to the man so abruptly.

"Continue." Auron instructed through clenched teeth, his breathing labored, as though all the oxygen had suddenly been sucked from the room.

"Isabo was diagnosed with a fatal medical condition some time ago. She had been living on borrowed time for years." Stelle explained in a quivering voice.

Auron took a step backwards, physically denying the woman's words. "But she did not appear to be ill... she was so vibrant, so alive... she was..."

laughing with him, touching him, laying beside him, her hair is blowing back against the dark sky, her eyes are shining, her face...

"...so beautiful." He whispered out loud, looking down at the flowers clutched to him in a protective embrace.

Stelle's face awash in tears she said... "I don't know why she chose to keep this from you. Perhaps it was her pride, or a need to protect herself emotionally... I guess we'll never know. She distanced herself from everyone after she found out. I think you were her only close relationship, the only one she would allow," pausing, Stelle reached behind her to the tabletop... "she asked me to give you this."

His arm falling to his side, the flowers slipped from Auron's hand... cascading in a tumble of hard stem and soft petal, then scattering in a spray across the empty floor at his feet.

************

Moving in a trance like state through the doorway and stopping when he reached the low wall separating the front walkway from the water, Auron turned and sat heavily atop its stone cap, staring numbly at the oblong box in his hand for a moment, then lifting the lid to gaze upon the chess pieces secured within, his eye catching a flash of white as he pulled a piece of paper from the box and held it up in front of him.



Auron,

So now you know my sorrow. Forgive me for not sharing it with you. Please know I never meant for you to find out this way. I should have told you long ago, but I was so afraid. Afraid you would treat me differently if you knew, afraid you might go away. It was a shameful and selfish thing to do, and I go from this life with deep regret for that.

I wish there was more time for me. For us. I wanted to know you, all of you, to understand your hidden sorrow... to someday wring it from you my sad, magnificent friend.

Please don't add to your pain over me. You have made my final time a joy and I can only hope I have brought some comfort to you. I think I have. Try to celebrate what we were together... a wholeness from two broken halves and go on with a gladder heart for it.

I'll see you on the other side, Auron. Look for me. I'll be waiting for another game. And maybe, just maybe... I'll let you win.

I love you my knight,
Isabo



Auron's hand reached out, his fingertips brushing against the last two lines of text... his face contorting in grief and longing for what was, for what could have been, for what there was never any hope for.

Holding his robe open, Auron slipped the chess box in one of its large inner-pockets then rose unsteadily and began to walk in long, purposeful strides toward the main road.

He intended to find a bar, then render himself most decidedly drunk... oh yes, very drunk indeed.