As I said before I don't own Squaresoft (boo-hoo). As you may have already guessed, this is mainly an Auron story, but there will be a few other characters later. If it seems kind of slow, it's because I'm writing this straight out of my head. Warning: If you're under 13, then go ask your folks if you can read this, since its PG-13. All right, enjoy.

Chapter 2: Surprising Events

Auron stared bemusedly at the girl whose life he'd just saved. She was about the same height as himself, and a little on the heavy side. Her skin was moon-pale and her hair was dark red, short, and wavy. She had to be around 19 or 20 years old, if he was any judge. Suddenly, her voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Excuse me, sir…Auron, but you're hurt."

"What?" Auron looked at his left arm and noticed that there was deep gash on his forearm, just above the silver bracer he wore. "It must've nicked me during that first attack," he muttered to himself.

The girl took him by the wrist and started leading him toward her car, but he pulled away from her. "Keep your hands to yourself, girl!" Auron snarled at her.

She recoiled from him, just slightly, but her temper got the better of her. "Girl?" she flared. "My name is Ria, sir, and I'm trying to take you to the hospital to get that cut looked at! Look, it's already turning green!"

Ria pointed at the wound, and it had become a sickly yellow-green around the edges. "Poison," he said through gritted teeth as the first wave of fire lanced up his arm.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

When the pain subsided, Auron gave her a surprised stare. "Do you really want to help me?'

When she nodded, he continued, "Then go look over where the fiend was and see if you can find a small bottle lying around."

Ria began her search, and Auron flinched as he felt the poison leach some of his strength. "Is this it?" she asked him, holding up a bottle filled with a neon green liquid.

When he nodded, she handed it to him. The swordsman flipped off the top of the tiny vial and drank the contents as fast as he could. Almost immediately, the disgusting color surrounding the wound faded, and then vanished. "That's all well and good," Ria commented, "But you're still bleeding."

Auron didn't say anything, but reached inside his coat and pulled out another bottle filled with a faintly glowing sky-blue substance. Ria watched him drink it, and gasped as she watched the gash on his arm begin to close up. When the miraculous healing stopped, the bloody injury became an angry pink weal. "It will take a couple of days, but it will be completely healed," Auron told her.

"How can it be possible?" Ria said her voice an awestricken whisper.

"What? You've never seen a Potion work before?"

When she shook her head, he sighed, turned and began to walk away. The young woman gaped at him for a moment, and shouted, "Wait!"

The swordsman turned around, and Ria blurted, "You don't have anywhere to go, do you?"

He stared at her, his expression unreadable, but said nothing, so she continued to speak. "If you don't, then I suppose you can stay with me."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?"

"Why do you want me to stay with you?" His voice had a peculiar note to it.

Ria fidgeted, trying to put her thoughts into words. "Well, why not?" she finally said, "You obviously don't have any other place to go, and you're still hurt, and…"

He snorted, not with contempt, but amusement. "And you want me to stay and protect you?"

"Well, that IS part of it," she agreed, "But mostly it's because you saved me and have nowhere else to go."

"All right," he finally conceded. "I'll stay with you for a couple of days, and play 'bodyguard' for you in exchange. Do we have a deal?"

Ria grinned. "Deal."

A little while later, the pair arrived at Ria's house, where the young woman tossed her keys on the kitchen table and she sighed. "We're going to be the only ones here for about three more days."

"Oh? Does someone else live here, then?" Auron was mildly curious.

"Yeah, my mother, stepfather, brother, and sister."

"Where are they, now?"

"They're on vacation with my grandmother in Panama City. (Florida, not S. America) Hey, do you want something to eat?" Ria asked, changing the subject.

Auron shrugged and sat down at the table while she made a couple of sandwiches. The two of them ate in silence, and when they finished, went to the living room, where Ria turned on the television just in time to catch the evening news. The story of the night was of mysterious monster appearances all over the world.

"Thanks, Peter," the female helicopter reporter began, "I'm flying over Times Square in New York City, which is just one of the many places where a monster has appeared in the past few hours. I don't know if you can see it from the video feed, but something that looks like a large, purple Sasquatch has been assaulting police and civilians alike, and causing a general panic…"

Ria changed the channel, only to find another broadcast. "…a swarm of flying eyeballs has attacked a local high school football game and…"

She flipped through several more channels before giving it up as a lost cause and turned off the television. "I see that none of this is disturbing you," the girl said, shooting Auron a sidelong glance.

"We have a similar device where I'm from," he replied.

"That wasn't what I meant," she muttered under her breath. "Well, why don't you tell me where you're from, and about these 'fiends' you know so much about."

The swordsman gazed at her with utmost solemnity, and replied, "All right. I was born in a place called Spira, a place ravaged by a plague called Sin…"

Ria knew that staring at someone with your mouth hanging open made you look like an idiot, but she couldn't help it. His story was so wild, so insane, that it had to be true! She found herself shivering at the thought of battling such a terrible monster like that. The young woman shook her head once, twice, and finally spoke for the first time in the past couple of hours. "So all of these monsters are actually born of the spirits of the angry dead?"

"Not all of them are Unsent. A lot of them were actually born in the wild and cannot be Sent by a summoner."

"What about you, Auron? You said that you were an Unsent, but you didn't become a fiend."

"I remained myself because I knew the truth behind the Final Aeon, and I had to stop it, even after my own death."

"But you were Sent in the end, weren't you? Everyone here is alive, so are you still dead, or what?"

"I don't know."

There was more silence as her green eyes bored into his brown one. Finally, Ria got up and left the room. She returned a minute later, carrying a pillow and a quilted blanket. "Here," she said, holding the bedding out to him. "I'm afraid that we don't have a guest room, so you'll have to sleep on the couch."

"What? Are you going to bed?"

"Yeah, but first, I need a shower. Did you want to come?" Ria asked with one eyebrow cocked in a suggestive manner.

When he didn't answer, she said, "You know I was just kidding, right?"

"Yes." Auron wrapped himself in his blanket.

"Good. Oh, and Auron?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for saving my life tonight."

She didn't wait for a response, so the swordsman simply shrugged, closed his eye, and went to sleep. After a shower during which Ria had silently cried her out, she put on her pajamas, crawled into the bed, and pulled the blanket over her shoulders. Her last thought before she nodded off was, "It's strange, but he has the same smell as the monster, only…fainter…"

Wow! Chapter 2 has been finished, and I didn't lose my marbles! (Much applause) I know there wasn't much in the way of action in this one, but there will be in Chapter 3. As usual, I would appreciate some reviews (not too vulgar, please) and I thank you in advance. Ta Ta for now!