Disclaimer: Nope, Final Fantasy X belongs to Squaresoft. *sobs* However,
original characters (my summoner and her party) belong to me.
This is my first FFX fanfic and reviews are greatly appreciated. I've always thought that Auron was a closet romantic (especially when he was younger), but to reveal it would take so much away from his bad ass demeanor.
Yay, the story is progressing! ^_^ I'm so happy, I could cry.
Also, this story will roughly follow the game up until Bevelle, but I won't be writing out each and every scene. The story will contain spoilers, so if you've beaten the game and/or don't care to be surprised, please read on.
Read and enjoy!
"Kiss From a Rose" Part Three
Copyright 2003 by Amie Martin
highlander_bellflower@hotmail.com
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~Lulu--Guadosalam~
There was something wrong with our current situation, only I couldn't put my finger on exactly what.
All six of Yuna's guardians waited outside of Maester Seymour's manor, restless, almost as if the fate of Spira was about to be decided. The silence was tense, everyone occupied by their unspoken opinions about the situation. Even Rikku, the outspoken Al Bhed girl, kept to herself. Only Tidus felt the need for conversation, roaming from guardian to guardian. I indulged him out of boredom, but at the same time his . . . diverse background gave him an entirely different outlook on the pilgrimage. Sometimes, Tidus' positive point of view was just what I need to put my thoughts in order.
Sometimes.
Mentally, I mulled over the changes in just the past day. First, there was Lord Jyscal's mysterious appearance as we left the Farplane. His sudden death had been the sole reason his son, Seymour, had become a Maester of Yevon in his place. What message, what reason could he have from beyond the grave? The dead did not wander Spira, much less without a purpose. A feeling in the pit of stomach said that Lord Jyscal's reason might unravel the entire situation.
Second, there was the matter of Maester Seymour. Being half human and half Guado, he was already in a unique position in Yevon's eyes. But now . . . every time our party encountered him, my feelings towards him grew more and more uneasy. Maester Seymour had granted us access to Mushroom Rock during Operation Mi'ihen, but he almost passively supported the use of machina-- forbidden by Yevon and unheard of for a Maester. Then his sudden marriage proposal to Yuna--I could longer comprehend what his motives might be. I could respect his position as a Maester of Yevon, but Seymour himself . . . I was starting to have my doubts.
And finally, there was one aspect of the pilgrimage I hadn't counted on at the beginning of the beginning of our journey.
Tidus.
He was in love in Yuna; it was written in his eyes every time he so much as glanced at her. And Yuna, it seemed, was beginning to reciprocate those feelings. Love was dangerous feeling to have on a pilgrimage, especially falling for the summoner. Tidus had no idea what would happen when Yuna called the Final Aeon, and none of us felt cruel enough to tell him.
I told him that I didn't care if Yuna married Seymour or not. "As long as the pilgrimage continues, either way's fine," I said. Tidus seemed to be hiding his concerns, his doubts. Maybe it was because he knew that, whatever happened, it would be Yuna's decision, and he, like the rest of us, would have to respect it. Or maybe it was because he knew I wouldn't be very sympathetic towards him.
What Tidus didn't understand was that my stoic nature was a defense mechanism, protecting my emotions from the outside world. I wanted Yuna to marry for love, not so that the rest of Spira could celebrate her wedding. But at the same time, I wanted Yuna, who was practically my little sister, to avoid the pain that love could bring. Her heart was too fragile; she was already falling head over heels and was completely oblivious to it all. Someone had to guard her heart, and I wasn't sure if I--if anyone--could do that.
So how could I explain to Tidus the damage he could inflict, when he too was blinded by love? How could I explain the feeling of having your heart torn from your chest by a single word? How could I show him how it felt to realize that your last words to your love were said in anger, how it felt to realize that there was no way to go back in time and fix your mistakes? I couldn't put my feelings into words, not even for myself, much less for him.
Of course, it didn't help that Tidus looked like Chappu. I managed to avoid comparing the two, but I couldn't help thinking of Chappu every once in a while.
Chappu was Wakka's younger brother, the first person to see through my cold exterior and into my soul. He always said that I looked grumpy, but he couldn't say it without smiling; he couldn't look at me without desire in his eyes. We were perfect together, proving that opposites did indeed attract.
When he told me that he had joined the Crusaders, I was livid, especially since his first mission would put him into direct contact with Sin. "If I fight Sin now," Chappu had said, brushing his fingertips across my cheek, "then you will never have to. I'm doing this for you, Lu, I'm doing this for *us*." Still, I refused to concede, not willing to let him go with a fight.
The last time I ever saw Chappu, he and Wakka were fighting just outside the village. Wakka wanted Chappu to carry the sword he bought him, to pray before he left, to uphold the traditions we had been raised with. Chappu adamantly refused. He could be stubborn at times, but I loved him for it, and through my anger and my silence I wished him well.
So I watched him go, knowing that we would be married when he returned.
Only Chappu never came back.
And so my love became just another casualty of Sin, alongside what remained of innocence.
I never fully recovered from the blow, but I did have people to support me. Wakka and Yuna had been like siblings to me; we all mourned the same loss. Then there was my family, the aunts and uncles who raised me when my parents died. Without them, there would have been no way I could have moved on.
If it was possible to say that I had moved on, because my feelings still hadn't changed. I loved Chappu, and I always would.
My thoughts wandered from Chappu back to Tidus and Yuna. Tidus was in the same position now that I was then, in love with someone who had chosen to die for a belief. That was Yuna's destiny, the path she had chosen, and she would follow to its end. As her guardian, I would remain by her side until the very last. What the two of them decided to do with the time given to them would be their decision, not mine.
So why did I try so hard to keep them apart? Didn't Tidus and Yuna deserve to be in love just like anyone else? I wanted to keep them from pain, but in doing so I also kept them from bliss. I was bitter and cynical about love, and it was carrying over into all aspects of my life.
Sighing, I brought one hand to my temple. As I did so, a warm hand fell on my bare shoulder and a heavily accented voice whispered in my ear, "Hey, Lu, you okay?"
"I'm fine, Wakka." I rested my hand atop his and gave it a small squeeze. "Really."
Wakka crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Don't lie to me, Lu. You got something on your mind." He tilted his head to the side, as if he was trying to get a better look at me. "Come on, let's talk somewhere quiet."
"Yuna will be joining us soon," I reminded him, "and we should wait for her."
"We'll see her when she comes out, ya?" Taking my hand, Wakka pulled me away from the group, albeit a bit roughly, and up to the bridge to the Farplane. From this vantage point, we could see the entire party as well as Seymour's manor. I felt removed from all the madness of the pilgrimage, but for once, I didn't feel alone.
Letting his fingers dangle over the railing, Wakka glanced over at me. "So, what's on your mind, Lu?"
I forced my arms straight, gripping the railing until my knuckles turned white. "Yuna is falling in love with Tidus," I said flatly. I had to make my point as blunt as possible.
"And Tidus is fallin' for her." Wakka slammed his fist on the cold metal. "I told him not to do this before we even left Besaid. I can't believe this is happening."
"Well, Yuna has never been one to listen to reason." In spite of myself, I smiled; Yuna was known for her kindness, but also for her unrelenting determination. "It's not like we could really stop them if we tried. But still . . . I can't see them do this. Especially when..."
His hand held mine, and I was amazed to note the calluses on his hands from the years of playing blitzball. Then, another realization hit me: Wakka had never held my hand for the sake of holding my hand before. "Maybe we shouldn't try," he said quietly. "You were in love once. You remember what it feels like."
My fingers were intertwined with his . . . I told Tidus that love needed more than just getting along to work, but I never thought . . . "Don't talk to me about love," I said, venom from my pain almost dripping from my voice. "You know better than anyone how I felt after Chappu . . ."
To be honest, I fully expected Wakka to let go of my hand from the violence in my voice. Instead he squeezed it tighter, whether in sympathy or something more I couldn't be certain. "I've been thinking about him lately, too," the blitzball player admitted. "But no more sad thoughts today, ya? Today should be a happy one."
"Ah, yes." I turned my attention back to Seymour's manor below us. "Yuna is in love with one of her guardians and yet has received a marriage proposal from a Maester of Yevon. I'm sure she's *very* happy right now, Wakka."
Wakka's eyes narrows, and his voice dropped to just above a whisper. "You . . . don't like Maester Seymour?" he asked, incredulous.
"And you do?" I fired back, and from the flicker of acknowledgement in his eyes I knew he agreed. "There's something going on here, but I'm not sure what. But I think it was something to do with Maester Seymour's proposal and Lord Jyscal's appearance on the Farplane."
"You don't want Yuna to marry him?"
"I want Yuna to marry when she's ready, not the first guy who proposes, Maester or not." Shaking my head, I gestured to our friends below us. "This is something that affects the entire party, I think."
Drumming the fingers of his free hand on the railing, Wakka mused, "Lulu, didn't your family come out to the dock before we boarded the S.S. Liki to say goodbye?"
"Yes, everyone came . . ." I was confused; what did my family have to do with the situation? All of my aunts and uncles had experience as guardians, granted, but nothing quite like this. "I don't see where this is leading."
"Didn't one of your aunts offer to be Yuna's guardian if she was needed?" Wakka looked hopeful, his expression open and his thoughts easily readable. "Maybe we should take her up on it, ya?"
It was a moment before it all came together in my mind. My aunt *had* made such an offer, directly to me instead of to Yuna herself. "Promise me, Lulu," she had said, staring into my eyes, "that if anything arises and you need help, you'll send for me." Her voice had been deadly serious; she never said anything similar when I left on my previous two pilgrimages.
She was the one who taught me everything I knew of black magic; some of my earliest memories were of her showing me how to light the kitchen stove without striking a match. Over the years she had become more like a sister than an aunt; we shared generally the same temperament and interests, and I told her almost everything. If there was anyone who could shed light on this situation, it would probably be her, and she was a good guardian to boot.
I turned to Wakka and opened my mouth as if to say something, but the words froze in my throat. For a brief, fleeting moment, I saw a little bit of Chappu in Wakka's eyes, something I hadn't seen since Chappu's death a year before. It made me think that the two brothers weren't as different as I had always believed, and that maybe Wakka . . . His hand tightened in mine, and he took a step closer . . . I couldn't breathe, my mind was racing . . . what exactly was going on here?
A door slammed below us, and faintly I heard Yuna's voice address the other guardians. The moment broken, Wakka stepped back from me, almost reluctantly letting go of my hand. Hesitantly, I released my grip, wishing vainly that I could understand what had transpired between us.
Nodding to the others, I managed to say, "Join them. I'll send the message."
Wakka grinned. "Be quick, ya?" he said, winking as he turned and walked back to the others.
"Where do you need the message sent, Lady Guardian?"
The voice came from behind me, and I whirled around to see a small Guado standing behind me. He was dressed in a blue uniform, and he held a stylus in one hand and a pad in the other, waiting to transcribe my words.
"To the isle of Besaid," I told him.
He made a note on his pad, then asked, "Who is the recipient and what do you want the message to say?"
"Send it to the former Lady Katralina, and tell her that her niece Lulu has sent for her. We'll meet in the city of Bevelle."
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A/N: See, I told you that the stories were going to intersect! Please read and review!
This is my first FFX fanfic and reviews are greatly appreciated. I've always thought that Auron was a closet romantic (especially when he was younger), but to reveal it would take so much away from his bad ass demeanor.
Yay, the story is progressing! ^_^ I'm so happy, I could cry.
Also, this story will roughly follow the game up until Bevelle, but I won't be writing out each and every scene. The story will contain spoilers, so if you've beaten the game and/or don't care to be surprised, please read on.
Read and enjoy!
"Kiss From a Rose" Part Three
Copyright 2003 by Amie Martin
highlander_bellflower@hotmail.com
*****************************
~Lulu--Guadosalam~
There was something wrong with our current situation, only I couldn't put my finger on exactly what.
All six of Yuna's guardians waited outside of Maester Seymour's manor, restless, almost as if the fate of Spira was about to be decided. The silence was tense, everyone occupied by their unspoken opinions about the situation. Even Rikku, the outspoken Al Bhed girl, kept to herself. Only Tidus felt the need for conversation, roaming from guardian to guardian. I indulged him out of boredom, but at the same time his . . . diverse background gave him an entirely different outlook on the pilgrimage. Sometimes, Tidus' positive point of view was just what I need to put my thoughts in order.
Sometimes.
Mentally, I mulled over the changes in just the past day. First, there was Lord Jyscal's mysterious appearance as we left the Farplane. His sudden death had been the sole reason his son, Seymour, had become a Maester of Yevon in his place. What message, what reason could he have from beyond the grave? The dead did not wander Spira, much less without a purpose. A feeling in the pit of stomach said that Lord Jyscal's reason might unravel the entire situation.
Second, there was the matter of Maester Seymour. Being half human and half Guado, he was already in a unique position in Yevon's eyes. But now . . . every time our party encountered him, my feelings towards him grew more and more uneasy. Maester Seymour had granted us access to Mushroom Rock during Operation Mi'ihen, but he almost passively supported the use of machina-- forbidden by Yevon and unheard of for a Maester. Then his sudden marriage proposal to Yuna--I could longer comprehend what his motives might be. I could respect his position as a Maester of Yevon, but Seymour himself . . . I was starting to have my doubts.
And finally, there was one aspect of the pilgrimage I hadn't counted on at the beginning of the beginning of our journey.
Tidus.
He was in love in Yuna; it was written in his eyes every time he so much as glanced at her. And Yuna, it seemed, was beginning to reciprocate those feelings. Love was dangerous feeling to have on a pilgrimage, especially falling for the summoner. Tidus had no idea what would happen when Yuna called the Final Aeon, and none of us felt cruel enough to tell him.
I told him that I didn't care if Yuna married Seymour or not. "As long as the pilgrimage continues, either way's fine," I said. Tidus seemed to be hiding his concerns, his doubts. Maybe it was because he knew that, whatever happened, it would be Yuna's decision, and he, like the rest of us, would have to respect it. Or maybe it was because he knew I wouldn't be very sympathetic towards him.
What Tidus didn't understand was that my stoic nature was a defense mechanism, protecting my emotions from the outside world. I wanted Yuna to marry for love, not so that the rest of Spira could celebrate her wedding. But at the same time, I wanted Yuna, who was practically my little sister, to avoid the pain that love could bring. Her heart was too fragile; she was already falling head over heels and was completely oblivious to it all. Someone had to guard her heart, and I wasn't sure if I--if anyone--could do that.
So how could I explain to Tidus the damage he could inflict, when he too was blinded by love? How could I explain the feeling of having your heart torn from your chest by a single word? How could I show him how it felt to realize that your last words to your love were said in anger, how it felt to realize that there was no way to go back in time and fix your mistakes? I couldn't put my feelings into words, not even for myself, much less for him.
Of course, it didn't help that Tidus looked like Chappu. I managed to avoid comparing the two, but I couldn't help thinking of Chappu every once in a while.
Chappu was Wakka's younger brother, the first person to see through my cold exterior and into my soul. He always said that I looked grumpy, but he couldn't say it without smiling; he couldn't look at me without desire in his eyes. We were perfect together, proving that opposites did indeed attract.
When he told me that he had joined the Crusaders, I was livid, especially since his first mission would put him into direct contact with Sin. "If I fight Sin now," Chappu had said, brushing his fingertips across my cheek, "then you will never have to. I'm doing this for you, Lu, I'm doing this for *us*." Still, I refused to concede, not willing to let him go with a fight.
The last time I ever saw Chappu, he and Wakka were fighting just outside the village. Wakka wanted Chappu to carry the sword he bought him, to pray before he left, to uphold the traditions we had been raised with. Chappu adamantly refused. He could be stubborn at times, but I loved him for it, and through my anger and my silence I wished him well.
So I watched him go, knowing that we would be married when he returned.
Only Chappu never came back.
And so my love became just another casualty of Sin, alongside what remained of innocence.
I never fully recovered from the blow, but I did have people to support me. Wakka and Yuna had been like siblings to me; we all mourned the same loss. Then there was my family, the aunts and uncles who raised me when my parents died. Without them, there would have been no way I could have moved on.
If it was possible to say that I had moved on, because my feelings still hadn't changed. I loved Chappu, and I always would.
My thoughts wandered from Chappu back to Tidus and Yuna. Tidus was in the same position now that I was then, in love with someone who had chosen to die for a belief. That was Yuna's destiny, the path she had chosen, and she would follow to its end. As her guardian, I would remain by her side until the very last. What the two of them decided to do with the time given to them would be their decision, not mine.
So why did I try so hard to keep them apart? Didn't Tidus and Yuna deserve to be in love just like anyone else? I wanted to keep them from pain, but in doing so I also kept them from bliss. I was bitter and cynical about love, and it was carrying over into all aspects of my life.
Sighing, I brought one hand to my temple. As I did so, a warm hand fell on my bare shoulder and a heavily accented voice whispered in my ear, "Hey, Lu, you okay?"
"I'm fine, Wakka." I rested my hand atop his and gave it a small squeeze. "Really."
Wakka crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Don't lie to me, Lu. You got something on your mind." He tilted his head to the side, as if he was trying to get a better look at me. "Come on, let's talk somewhere quiet."
"Yuna will be joining us soon," I reminded him, "and we should wait for her."
"We'll see her when she comes out, ya?" Taking my hand, Wakka pulled me away from the group, albeit a bit roughly, and up to the bridge to the Farplane. From this vantage point, we could see the entire party as well as Seymour's manor. I felt removed from all the madness of the pilgrimage, but for once, I didn't feel alone.
Letting his fingers dangle over the railing, Wakka glanced over at me. "So, what's on your mind, Lu?"
I forced my arms straight, gripping the railing until my knuckles turned white. "Yuna is falling in love with Tidus," I said flatly. I had to make my point as blunt as possible.
"And Tidus is fallin' for her." Wakka slammed his fist on the cold metal. "I told him not to do this before we even left Besaid. I can't believe this is happening."
"Well, Yuna has never been one to listen to reason." In spite of myself, I smiled; Yuna was known for her kindness, but also for her unrelenting determination. "It's not like we could really stop them if we tried. But still . . . I can't see them do this. Especially when..."
His hand held mine, and I was amazed to note the calluses on his hands from the years of playing blitzball. Then, another realization hit me: Wakka had never held my hand for the sake of holding my hand before. "Maybe we shouldn't try," he said quietly. "You were in love once. You remember what it feels like."
My fingers were intertwined with his . . . I told Tidus that love needed more than just getting along to work, but I never thought . . . "Don't talk to me about love," I said, venom from my pain almost dripping from my voice. "You know better than anyone how I felt after Chappu . . ."
To be honest, I fully expected Wakka to let go of my hand from the violence in my voice. Instead he squeezed it tighter, whether in sympathy or something more I couldn't be certain. "I've been thinking about him lately, too," the blitzball player admitted. "But no more sad thoughts today, ya? Today should be a happy one."
"Ah, yes." I turned my attention back to Seymour's manor below us. "Yuna is in love with one of her guardians and yet has received a marriage proposal from a Maester of Yevon. I'm sure she's *very* happy right now, Wakka."
Wakka's eyes narrows, and his voice dropped to just above a whisper. "You . . . don't like Maester Seymour?" he asked, incredulous.
"And you do?" I fired back, and from the flicker of acknowledgement in his eyes I knew he agreed. "There's something going on here, but I'm not sure what. But I think it was something to do with Maester Seymour's proposal and Lord Jyscal's appearance on the Farplane."
"You don't want Yuna to marry him?"
"I want Yuna to marry when she's ready, not the first guy who proposes, Maester or not." Shaking my head, I gestured to our friends below us. "This is something that affects the entire party, I think."
Drumming the fingers of his free hand on the railing, Wakka mused, "Lulu, didn't your family come out to the dock before we boarded the S.S. Liki to say goodbye?"
"Yes, everyone came . . ." I was confused; what did my family have to do with the situation? All of my aunts and uncles had experience as guardians, granted, but nothing quite like this. "I don't see where this is leading."
"Didn't one of your aunts offer to be Yuna's guardian if she was needed?" Wakka looked hopeful, his expression open and his thoughts easily readable. "Maybe we should take her up on it, ya?"
It was a moment before it all came together in my mind. My aunt *had* made such an offer, directly to me instead of to Yuna herself. "Promise me, Lulu," she had said, staring into my eyes, "that if anything arises and you need help, you'll send for me." Her voice had been deadly serious; she never said anything similar when I left on my previous two pilgrimages.
She was the one who taught me everything I knew of black magic; some of my earliest memories were of her showing me how to light the kitchen stove without striking a match. Over the years she had become more like a sister than an aunt; we shared generally the same temperament and interests, and I told her almost everything. If there was anyone who could shed light on this situation, it would probably be her, and she was a good guardian to boot.
I turned to Wakka and opened my mouth as if to say something, but the words froze in my throat. For a brief, fleeting moment, I saw a little bit of Chappu in Wakka's eyes, something I hadn't seen since Chappu's death a year before. It made me think that the two brothers weren't as different as I had always believed, and that maybe Wakka . . . His hand tightened in mine, and he took a step closer . . . I couldn't breathe, my mind was racing . . . what exactly was going on here?
A door slammed below us, and faintly I heard Yuna's voice address the other guardians. The moment broken, Wakka stepped back from me, almost reluctantly letting go of my hand. Hesitantly, I released my grip, wishing vainly that I could understand what had transpired between us.
Nodding to the others, I managed to say, "Join them. I'll send the message."
Wakka grinned. "Be quick, ya?" he said, winking as he turned and walked back to the others.
"Where do you need the message sent, Lady Guardian?"
The voice came from behind me, and I whirled around to see a small Guado standing behind me. He was dressed in a blue uniform, and he held a stylus in one hand and a pad in the other, waiting to transcribe my words.
"To the isle of Besaid," I told him.
He made a note on his pad, then asked, "Who is the recipient and what do you want the message to say?"
"Send it to the former Lady Katralina, and tell her that her niece Lulu has sent for her. We'll meet in the city of Bevelle."
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A/N: See, I told you that the stories were going to intersect! Please read and review!