Author Notes:: I have to give credit to Estel for this one... he's actually the creator of Aren. *hugs* Thanxz so much, Dagger.
Disclaimer:: FF10 is not mine... darn....
Prolouge:: Solitude
'You'd be surprised exactly how hard it can be to be the strong, silent one. You'd also be surprised how the best friends you've ever had can suddenly become like strangers to you when faced with a hard situation.
I should know, because it's all I can do right now not to rush into the tent next to mine and beat some sense into the young summoner there. I have to be strong, I keep telling myself. I have to take that next step and I have to show the others that what we're doing is right, no matter how much I might disagree with that.
I'm not the one who matters. Neither is Aren, as hard as that is to realize. Spira is what matters, and if we don't have Summoners to save it, then we'll all end up dead.
Even since we were little, Aren has always had a heart of gold. He loved Spira more than himself even then, even when our mother became High Summoner.
Even when I was cursing Yevon and vowing never to believe in the Pilgrimage.
I still don't, I guess. No, I don't. There is no guessing involved. I am a black mage, and no Yevonite. I hate the temples, and I dread going there.
But how could I let Aren face this alone, when he's asked me to be his Guardian? I can't, I finally decided. I would be his Guardian, no matter what was said about him because of his sacrilegious choice in companion.
So, here I am. I'm a Guardian of one of the most talented summoners that Spira has ever seen. I should be happy, but I'm face from it. I wish that those damned temple priests had never discovered that Aren had the talent.
If they hadn't, I wouldn't be leading my twin towards his death with every step.
Ever since our birth, he's been in touch with the aeons, and I with the elemental magics. I laugh at the story our mother used to tell of the first time my father held me. I'd wrapped my fist around his finger and coated it in red ice. He was a bit more than shocked, and proud, I'm sure.
He was always a great black mage, and my mother's most loyal guardian.
Both of them are dead now, killed by Sin in Zanarkand. I hate Sin, for all he's done to me. For all he's going to continue to do.
I find it hard to breath as I realize that now that Aren has achieved his first summon... that we'll be leaving here... forever.
I could never return here, without my twin to come with me.
If I even survive his death.
I have to push those thoughts away. There is no convincing Aren otherwise, and he'll go with or without me.
So, we will be leaving these shores tomorrow, just the two of us. I am the only Guardian he has, the only person who's ever cared enough about him to follow him to his death.
I can only hope that I have the strength to let him go.