*****Standard Disclaimer. I do not own FFX or the characters in it. They are owned by Square-Enix. I do own this story, and my original characters. The song "Fire Down Below" was written and performed at different times by Bob Seger and Bette Midler (and it does sound different each time), and "All I Want Is You" was written by Carly Simon, Jacob Brackman and Andy Goldmark, performed by Carly Simon, and I don't own them, either******
After the Via Purifico, Yuna said she wanted to be alone, so she went to the spring while the rest of the party made a camp. Kimahri followed her at a discreet distance, to give her the privacy she requested, while still keeping her safe. They had all suffered in some way from the ordeal at Bevelle. Wakka's faith in the temples had been shaken, and even Lulu's. But Yuna was the one who had been most betrayed by her faith, her belief in the temples, and the teachings. Auron was just, tired. But not a single one of them, not even Lulu with her need to keep up the proprieties, really believed that Yuna should be alone with her dark thoughts. Every member of the party suggested to Tidus that he should join Yuna at the spring. Except Kimahri. He was silent, but he left his watch over his Summoner when the young man joined her at the waterside. It was clear to everyone when they returned to the camp later, hand in hand, that their relationship had changed, but the only matter that was discussed was that they were continuing with the pilgrimage, and moving on in the morning.
After the disaster of Yuna's wedding, and the events that followed it, Auron spent too many hours that night remembering another wedding, in Zanarkand, three years before.
Zanarkand…three years ago
They had had an argument on the way home from the club where Mercy and Dafydd had performed that Saturday night. He had been defending the warrior-monks' position of refusing to admit women, and she had been arguing for the Crusaders' admission of women to their ranks, of course. It was one of their typical discussions about the way things were done on Spira, heated, and intense. They had started, as they often did, with Mercy asking for details about everyday life in Spira, but it had ended with Auron questioning his basic assumptions about the way things were. The more often she asked, "Why?" the more he found himself wondering about the answers. Mercy had told him more than once that the neighbors wondered why they stayed together; they often looked like they were arguing. This time, another couple had entered the lift as they were leaving it, while their discussion was at its most intense, and had clearly thought that they were both out of their minds. The other couple's expressions had been so comical that they had stopped talking and started laughing as soon as they were alone.
She had woken up Sunday morning with the beginnings of a song in her head, and had practically locked herself in the spare room with the keyboard and started plunking out music before her tea was done. He knew he wasn't going to get much of her attention until she was finished, whether he dragged her out of the apartment or not. The only problem was that Tidus was supposed to come over in the afternoon. He could always take the boy to a game, he thought, without much enthusiasm. At least the kid was practicing regularly now, and doing well at it, too.
By the time the boy arrived in mid-afternoon, Mercy had hit the "obsessed" stage, she wouldn't notice if the building fell on her, as long as she completed the song. Auron opened the door, told her they were going out, got one of those distracted mumbles that meant she might remember later, and might not, and left with Tidus. He was used to this now. The first few times this she had behaved this way, he had gone out of his mind. Now, he could sort of predict the cycle. In fact, based on the ratio of music to silence by the time he and Tidus left, he thought that she'd probably be ready to push back from the keyboard by the time they returned for dinner. The song wouldn't be done, but she would have enough committed to memory storage that she would return to real life. He wouldn't get to hear the song until it was truly finished, however long that might take.
On the way to the stadium, the boy spied a wedding taking place in the park and pointed it out to the older man. "Why haven't you asked Mercy to marry you?" he asked slyly. "Afraid she might turn you down?"
Auron replied in what he hoped was a quelling tone. "That's none of your business."
Tidus went on anyway. "You might as well be married. I mean, you live together and everything."
"I said, that's enough."
The boy couldn't resist one last sally, but it was under his breath. "You might as well get married. Neither of you will ever look for anyone else."
Auron chose to ignore both the words and the slightly acid tone of the boy's voice, but he could not forget what he had heard. The boy had certainly read him correctly. He had not been looking for Mercy, the fayths knew that all too well, but he would be an even greater fool if he were to throw away the gift they had given him in allowing that door to open two years ago. He would never look for another woman, whether or not Mercy reached the Farplane. But he still prayed with all his heart that she would.
In the days that followed, Auron couldn't stop thinking about what the boy had said. Maybe he should ask her…what would it mean, here, in Zanarkand? Ironically, he found himself in her "territory", doing research. It seemed that marriage ceremonies in Zanarkand, as in Spira, included the words "as long as we both shall live" or "until death do us part" or a variation thereof. The only difference was that in Zanarkand the words were always meant literally, where in Spira, it was known that marriages could sometimes transcend death. Auron knew that Braska's marriage had been one such, that his friend had become a Summoner in part to revenge himself for his wife's death, and to meet her in the Farplane that much sooner. His own commitment to Mercy began because he had continued beyond his own death. For his part, it would go with him to the Farplane, whether or not she was waiting for him there. "Neither of you will ever look for anyone else," the boy had said. And he was right, for once. It was even possible that, if they married, it might make it easier for her to reach the Farplane. Easier somehow for her to reach beyond her own doubt and disbelief.
But, like any man, he had his own, simpler doubts. What if he asked, and she turned him down? He continued his internal debate, while she polished the song. In the end, he found his answer when she sang it for him.
The night Mercy decided to sing the new song the first time, she'd worn a mischievous smile during the first set that made her look rather like a cat in cream, so he expected something was up.
She opened the second set with a song he had heard before, but the way she sang it made him wonder. She introduced the song as "Fire Down Below", and he'd heard her sing it any number of times. The hard, rock-and-roll beat pulsed in his blood, and when she strut across the stage, and then turned her back to the audience and looked over her shoulder and winked at him, he was aroused in an instant. After two years, she could tease him from across a room with a single glance. He thought she always would.
She had chosen this song to begin because she was building a theme. Teasing Auron was just an extra benefit. The lyrics of the song were the same, whether it was sung by a man or a woman, but when a man sang it, it was about prostitution. To her, when a woman sang it, as when she herself did, it was also about just plain sex. Raw sex, no commitment.
When the street light flicker bringing on the night
Well they'll be slipping into darkness slipping out of sight
All through the midnight
Watch 'em come and watch 'em go
With only one thing in common
They got the fire down below
As the applause faded for the first song, she began the second, "Slow Hand." She saw Auron flush under his tan as she began. Neither of them would ever forget those first performances of this number. But the steam doesn't come out of his ears any more, she thought with some disappointment. This song was the next step in the arc she was trying to build. Still sex, but the song was showing that it might be about something more.
At last, it was time for the new song:
What do the neighbors say
When they hear us scream at night
Do they talk about a love
All in tatters
What do the neighbors know
About the heart and soul
The fire down below
That really matters
They can never guess
In the silences
That all I want is you
And the sexy hurricane
We got here
All I want is you
I don't want a man
To say "good morning dear";
Let 'em listen at the door
Let 'em listen through the floor
Let 'em go ahead and draw the wrong conclusion
So chase me 'round the room
Make me crazy like the moon
They can never guess
In the silences
That all I want is you
And the sexy hurricane that we share
All I want is you…
At first, he was simply stunned. And embarrassed. The song captured too much of what their relationship was really like. Except that some of it was louder than the song suggested, it was only their building had excellent soundproofing, for which he was exceedingly grateful.
In the repeat at the end of the song, he finally heard the message he should have heard all along. "Neither of you will ever look for anyone else," the boy had said. "All I want is you," she sang to him. He didn't understand why, but he did believe.
On the way home, he stopped at the base of one of the towers. "Let's go up, I want to ask you something." He couldn't wait any longer. He thought he knew now what her answer would be, but he had to be sure. There would be no need to hop the security chain this time, he just wanted a little privacy, so they rode the lift to the first balcony and exited to stand by the rail. They faced each other, ignoring the view of the city. He looked very serious. "Mercy, will you marry me?"
She peered up into his face, trying to read his expression. She wasn't satisfied by what she found, so she placed her hands at his temples, tilted his dark glasses up to the top of his head, and asked, "Are you sure?"
He pulled her close, so that her hands settled on his shoulders, as his face lit in a gentle smile. "I am certain, my lady."
Her answering smile was brighter than the starlight. "Then yes, I will marry you." Their lips met in a mind-drugging kiss. "Let's go home, where we can celebrate," she breathed. By the time they were inside the apartment, their anticipation had become a raw, aching need. They left a trail of clothing from just inside the door to the living room couch, which was all the further they got for a while. Eventually, they made it to bed.
The next morning was Sunday, so they were expecting to see Tidus later. Meanwhile, they were discussing the mundane aspects of getting married, since Auron wasn't ever going to tell Mercy he'd done any research into the subject.
"There are no temples here at all, then, to perform marriages?"
"None. There is no organized religion of any kind. Some people believe in some kind of Supreme Being, or Beings, but there is no state-sanctioned religion, the way the Yevon temples are in Spira. All weddings in Zanarkand are civil ceremonies, performed by a judge. Will that seem well, valid, to you, Auron?"
"As valid, as you say, as a temple wedding, or maybe more so. I know what Yevon is. He is not…worthy of being worshipped. In any case, the commitment is in our hearts, the…ceremony is a mere…formality, a celebration of that binding.
"Auron, on Spira, is it traditional to exchange rings, or other marriage tokens?"
"Usually, but not always."
"Here, too. It is traditional, but the tradition is not followed 100% of the time. Also, sometimes the woman wears a ring but not the man." She stopped for a moment to consider, then went on. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll wear a ring if you will." A pause, then, "Deal?" She met his gaze steadily. He never wore jewelry of any kind, none. He probably wouldn't want to do this, either.
He looked back at her. This would be a symbol that he could carry with him. "Deal," he said simply. "I will wear it…always." He gave her his word.
Auron knew a weaponsmith who knew an expert jewelry-maker who agreed to see them about possibly making their rings. Galdan only worked by appointment, and might not have time to actually do the work, but the friend-of-a-friend network was in good enough working order to get them in to see the "great man". Something about the couple made Galdan decide to take the commission, or perhaps he was prompted by the young man almost visible in the shadowy corner of the room. Ifrit was pleased enough by this development to grant the craftsman a momentary vision of Auron and Mercy as the fayth saw them, so Galdan designed a pair of rings to fit these images. The rings complemented, rather than copied, each other. Mercy's ring was more delicate, primarily consisting of a silver band, but the top of the ring was shaped into a flat oval. Inside the oval a diamond shaped lozenge was outlined in black. The lozenge was filled in with gold, polished flat, but with the veins still showing in the metal. Auron's ring was heavier, of course, but was otherwise opposite, a heavy gold band, opening to a flat top like a signet ring, with the same diamond shaped lozenge outlined in black. On his ring, the lozenge was filled with silver veined ore. The symbology was elegant to the artisan's eye. The essence of each in the other. If they approved the designs, the rings could be completed in a month. They approved, indeed, and set the date for their wedding accordingly.
They were married six weeks later, in a private ceremony, with just a few friends in attendance, particularly, Dafydd, his partner Marko, and Tidus, who told everyone that he was responsible for the whole thing. When Mercy walked down the short aisle toward him, Auron again experienced the illusion that he often did as she walked towards him, that brief moment when he seemed to see her with both eyes, but he put it out of his mind when she came to take his hand. As Mercy repeated the words of her vows she was awed by the commitment they were making, and a little afraid. As she repeated, "Until death do us part," she was suddenly afraid how Auron might take it if she couldn't pull off the trick of reaching this Farplane of his. She loved him so much; she didn't want him to face eternity alone, if that was what it really meant. Maybe she should have said no. He watched the growing panic on her face, and guessed what she was thinking. He shook his head slightly. Didn't she know by now that it didn't matter? There would never be anyone else for him. He repeated his own vows in a steady voice. They exchanged rings, each placing a ring on the other's left hand. Then the judge intoned the final words of the ceremony, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." As he kissed his bride, he had the sudden thought that, on Spira, she would officially be "Lady Mercy" as of this moment. If there was only a way to get her to Spira…
…Spira…
Yuna woke in the middle of the night, and looked around the camp at her guardians, her friends. She couldn't go back to sleep, she was too worried about the trouble she had caused them, so she sat up to think, instead. Her gaze rested on each bedroll, as it represented one of her companions in this peril. Lulu and Rikku were sleeping closest to her, now that Lulu had returned to minding the proprieties. In a way, if Lulu was her big sister, Rikku was becoming her little sister. Wakka and Tidus were next. Wakka, her big brother, might be even more disturbed than she was at the knowledge they had gained about the true face of Yevon. Then Tidus, her love, and now, her lover. She hugged the flicker of happiness close to her in the dark. Last, guarding them all, Kimahri's empty bedroll, as he was on watch, and Sir Auron, who was apparently having a nightmare, or something close to it. Yuna could see that he was agitated, his head turning back and forth, and he was saying the same word, over and over, "Mercy, mercy, mercy." Then his right hand pawed the ground, like he was searching for something, or maybe someone? Yuna thought to herself, as he tried to pull whatever he was reaching for towards him, then, when his arm was against his side, he stilled.
Auron woke. After five years of sleeping with Mercy curled against his right side, he still looked for her in the night, like someone who has had an arm or leg amputated still felt pain in the lost limb. It seemed that nearly three months alone hadn't yet burned into his brain that she was gone.
End Chapter Ten