(A/N: Hello again! Sorry, I've been busy with school and stuff. It's been really hectic over here for the past few months, but I'm getting used to it. Well, here you go! Please don't kill me! )

Chapter Six

It's Come to This

Auron barely had the time to slip the ring on his finger before he was caught in the stomach by a swing from the Ronso. The boy warrior crumpled over the arm of the blue creature and was flung backward into the rocky wall. He had barely gotten back on his feet when he was hit in the face and he flew back and hit the ground.

'He's going to kill me...' Auron thought. Even his thoughts were quiet, as if someone could hear him and was constantly listening to him. As he got kicked up from the ground and punched back down, he then knew why he was feeling as if someone else was in his mind.

His thoughts had been concentrated for so long on his summoner, and she had someway become a voice within him. 'Forget it,' he mentally said to himself, 'this is how it's going to be.' Slowly, he got to his feet, wavering slightly, but it wasn't enough to stay standing when the Ronso hit him in the back, making him collapse back to the snowy ground that had been beneath his feet.

The warrior's eyes closed for a second before they opened slowly and he seemed to reach out to the tent. It seemed so close in reach, but his summoner was so far away now. A blow to his ribs sent him spiraling on the ground toward the rocky wall. He coughed up mixed spit and blood as he slowly got to his knees. 'Atali...' His feelings were centered on her as he was quickly being beaten to death by a summoner-loving Ronso.

"Atali..." he muttered, watching the blue, feline-like creature heading in his direction to finish him off.

"Atali..." he said a bit louder, sitting on his legs now, just waiting for his inevitable end.

"Atali." The flap to the tent opened and Rina looked out, smiling the slightest bit from the strange sort of delight of seeing him suffer.

Auron watched as the tent flap began to go back down. It was almost closed when he felt a cold chill of weakness flowing over him. He watched out of the corner of his left eye as the final attack from the Ronso was barreling down upon him.

He shut his eyes, scared that this was the end, but just when the attack should have come, there was nothing but a cold wind and a slight scrape against his back. Slowly his left eye fluttered open, the right was swollen shut. He saw the mortified expression on Rina's face, and from the crook of his eye, he watched the Ronso fall backward onto the ground, seeming so terrified that he was shaking.

Turning his head, Auron saw what had scraped his back. Atali was leaned against the rocky wall, holding her stomach; her left leg was outstretched before her. It had been her foot that had grazed him as she had sailed over him from the blow. "I couldn't let you go..." she whispered, smiling weakly to him. "I couldn't let you die."

Crawling over to his summoner, his body shaking, Auron whispered hoarsely, "Atali, I have something to ask of you." He coughed once more, sputtering blood and saliva to the pure snow once again.

Atali looked to him a bit questioningly and she smiled. The teen warrior then continued with his words. "Lady Summoner Atali..." He trailed off as he pulled the silver ring off of his finger and held it out to her. "Will you marry me?"

There was a silence in the air for a long while. No one moved, no one spoke. Then, moving slowly, the summoner girl placed her hand upon Auron's left cheek and kissed his forehead. "I will," she replied and Auron slipped the ring onto her finger.

Rina practically had a heart attack, she fell backward in the opening of the tent and lay there unmoving. The Ronso, after apologizing repeatedly to Atali, congratulated her and Auron for their engagement.

"To Bevelle?" the Ronso asked, "Maesters marry summoner and warrior." Auron and Atali glanced to each other and smiled. They then looked to the Ronso and nodded. "Kiyagoh sorry for injuries to guardian," the Ronso said as he lifted Auron by the waist and once again carried him like a bale of hay under his arm.

The Ronso then looked to Atali's mother who was still collapsed in the tent. "Kiyagoh carry woman too?"

"If you could, please," Atali said to him.

"What about summoner?" asked the Ronso.

"I'll walk," the teen girl replied.

The Ronso walked to the tent and picked up the fainted woman. He then looked to Atali and said, "Summoner hold on to Ronso back?"

"If you wish it," Atali replied. She didn't want to insult him, and it was a pretty long walk after all.

Kiyagoh stooped down and Atali wrapped her arms around his neck from where she had moved behind him. The blue, feline-like creature then began on the trek down Mt. Gagazet. As they passed through a cave, a small panel glittered on the ground. The Ronso walked over to it and stepped on it.

Less than two seconds passed and they were back at the base of the mountain. "Hey!" said Auron, looking up into the Ronso's face. "Why didn't you do that on the way up?"

"Kiyagoh no get much exercise. Kiyagoh need to stretch. Decided longer walk for better health," said the Ronso, seeming as if he wanted to laugh, but held it back.

The Ronso continued carrying the three humans down towards Bevelle. And when they reached the temple, the maesters looked at them strangely as they entered. Atali, after dropping off of the Ronso's back, walked in front of the blue creature and bowed to the maesters. "Good evening," she said.

"Summoner Atali," said Maester Mika. "What is it you need?"

"Sir, I... I wish to be married," Atali said, her eyes on the ground before her.

"At such a young age?" questioned one of the other maesters.

"Yes," Atali replied softly.

Maester Mika, up on a platform ahead of them with the rest of the maesters, then said, "And your husband to be?"

"My guardian, Auron."

Once again there was a long moment of silence. Then quietly, Maester Mika said, "Very well then; tomorrow morning then, at the break of dawn."

Atali nodded and she and Kiyagoh were led to a room in the temple. There were two beds, so Kiyagoh set Rina on one, and the injured Auron on the other. Then the Ronso and the summoner went to the table in the corner of the room and sat down at the chairs. "Kiyagoh," the teenage female whispered, "Would you do me the honor of being one of my guardians?"

The Ronso appeared extremely shocked at the proposal. "Kiyagoh become guardian to Summoner Atali? Kiyagoh accept. Extremely thrilled." Atali smiled happily, she was glad that he would join them.

Auron, lying on the bed, had heard all of this. But his mind was not on having a new guardian in the group, it was about his wedding. His mind suddenly started to drift. Was this really what he wanted? Did he really want to marry his summoner? The answer he soon thought of was 'Absolutely, yes.'

Few seconds later, Atali arrived at his side to treat his wounds; she was talking with the Ronso as she did so. "Jeez, Kiyagoh," she said once, "you beat the chocobos out of him..."

With the maesters and plenty of other people helping, Auron's bruises were quickly going away. When the sun began to set outside, there was a knock on the door to the room. Dinner was served and afterwards, Atali was asked outside by Maester Mika and he presented her a wedding dress as a gift. Auron heard about the gift, but he didn't see it, his eyes were closed as he settled down to sleep after the meal.

Rina still hadn't awoken since her collapse in the tent, which they had left up on the mountain. But the tent didn't matter, and according to Auron's thoughts, Rina didn't matter either. Marrying Atali would be one of the happiest days he had ever come across; one of the happiest days since... he met old lady Liani.

(A/N: I've had this chapter written for a while, I just didn't want to post it until I had the next one written, so now that I do... chapter seven is coming immediately.)