Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.

A/N: This is for the pairing game over at SF:TWR. The more I wrote it I realized that it tied in with my story Two Worlds Apart. I hope you like it.

Forgiveness: A Story of Father and Daughter

Two young women stood outside a small cottage at the edge of Killika village. One stood a head taller than the other. They seemed to be in a heated argument. The two young women bore no resemblance to each other yet they were sisters. The taller one had short chestnut brown hair and was dressed quite scantily. The shorter of the two had cropped silver hair and was clad in leather with a massive sword strapped across her back. The girl in leather was giving the other a menacing look. He could only guess that they were discussing him. They were his baby girls though they had blossomed into beautiful young women. Dona and Paine were no longer little girls and worse yet they hardly remembered him.

As he approached him their voices grew inaudible. He already knew what their positions were. Dona, who was more often than not viewed as a cold-hearted bitch, was willing to take a chance and get to know him better. Paine on the other hand was quite hostile. She resembled their late mother while Dona looked more like him. His wife, Asianna, died in childbirth while giving birth to Paine. Although Dona looked like him she had more of her mother's personality though she rarely showed it to anyone but Barthello. But Paine, she was like him. A warrior to the core while Dona had become a summoner pursuing a career in the Temple as her mother had been a High Priestess in Bevelle. He remembered that was how he had met his beloved, who he longed to see again.

From the information he had received, Dona and Paine grew up within the Killika Temple. Only during the summers Paine escaped to Bikanil where she stayed with an Al Bhed family that had saved her life when Sin ravaged Killika's harbor. He had always felt guilty for leaving them to accompany Lord Braska on his pilgrimage but he figured that being with your children was great but protecting them from Sin was even better.

Auron now stood a mere foot from his daughters. Looking up at him Paine scowled before stalking off. Resentment burning in her crimson eyes. But Dona weakly smiled at him. He couldn't believe Dana had turned out the way she did. As a child she was kind hearted and very modest like her mother. He just couldn't figure out where her clothes had gone and how her heart had turned to stone and frozen over with arctic ice.

"Father..."she whispered.

"My baby girl," he murmured softly as he moved to wrap her in a bear hug.

Pulling away she looked up at her father. "Daddy," she said clearing her throat. "I want you to walk me down the isle when Barthello and I get married this spring. Paine, she's stubborn right now. But she'll come around. Baralai said he'd talk to her. She normally listens to her husband. I wish there was something I could do but she won't even acknowledge that I'm here sister to anyone with the exception of Baralai. She was forced to tell him when they got their marriage license. But I want you to be there. I want you to walk me down the isle."

"I know and I will be there. As for your sister she is as stubborn as a constipated shoopuff. There isn't much you could possibly say to change that girl's mind. I should know; she got it from me."

"I'm so glad your back. Now you can stay and we can catch up. We have the rest of our lives to make up for what was lost."

"Dona," he said calmly. "I'm only here for a shot time. The keepers of the Farplane gave me time to right my wrongs and correct the mistakes I've made in exchange for helping bring the Eternal Calm. But after that I have to leave. I'll join your mother on the Farplane."

"Well, then we'll just have to make the best of what time we have."

With that the two entered the cottage. They didn't know what lay ahead of them but for the time being that would make memories that would last a lifetime. And that knowing that they had each other even for just a little while was enough for them.