DISCLAIMER PART 4: I don't own FFX or FFX-2. I'm not profiting from this story

and not looking to. I'm just having fun with square-enix's characters and world.

That night, I died.

I don't know if it was before or during the dream. But I know that I would have

missed most of its import if I hadn't been dead for most of it.


The wind blows my hair back from my face and into streamers behind me.

The land is bathed in the kind of dusky light between sunset and true dark that

makes the Calm Lands look like a grey washed painting. I survey my surroundings

and realize that I have the use of both eyes.

And I feel no pain. It is a glorious release.

Behind me, someone clears his throat. I turn to see Braska, pallid and drained

as he had been in his last moments. The sight is unnerving, but I do not

hesitate to hug him.

Despite the chill of death that infuses him, it is not an unpleasant experience,

and I would do nearly anything to hold onto it for as long as I can.

But Braska steps back and shakes his head. "Not yet, Auron. You still have more

to do here. Our true reunion time is a long time yet. His pale face turns up in

a smile then. "I loved you, you know. You were so much more than mere friend or

Guardian."

He looked up, his expression becoming troubled. "He comes. Have faith. It will

all end soon. Goodbye, my brother."

Darkness engulfed the plain at his words, and I reached a hand out to Braska,

trying even now to protect my Summoner--my brother--from this new threat.

My scream rose from the depths of my soul and exploded from me as he disappeared

in a cloud of pyreflies. And then I fell to my knees and wept.

How long I cried, I do not know. But I was completely drained when my episode

passed.

"Sir Auron." The voice was not one I recognized. I looked up to see a dark

skinned boy in a purple hood before me. "You don't have time for this. He's

waiting for you in Zanarkand. Hurry while there's still time."

I looked toward Zanarkand and saw the globe of "water" that Sin had become after

subsuming Jecht. And I knew that was my destination. I turned back to the boy.

"Sin is waiting for me?"

"Not Sin."

Not Sin? Then who…Jecht! Somehow he was still whole inside Sin and he was

waiting for me. I began to walk toward the ruined city.

"Run!" The boy encouraged me. And I did.

And in that strange way of dreams, I arrived in Zanarkand in mere seconds. Sin

loomed in front of me, larger than the blitzball stadium in Luca and much more

intimidating.

As I stood watching, a dark tentacle leapt from the fluid sphere and dragged me

into its quicksilver depths. I was deposited unceremoniously before a pair of

sandaled feet.

"Hiya, Auron." I looked up into Jecht's cocky grin. He extended a hand and

pulled me up from the ground. "I'm glad ya came."

"So am I." I don't think I'd ever wanted to hug the arrogant blitzball player

before, but I did now. He returned the embrace enthusiastically.

When we separated, he held me out at arms length. "I figured it out. How to get

you to my Zanarkand. And its so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it

sooner.

"But here's the real pisser. Ya gotta be dead--or less than alive--for it to

work. You game?"


When I woke, I knew that I'd lost the most important part of the dream to my

fallible memory. But I did remember Jecht's final words to me.

"Meet me in your Zanarkand in two weeks. We gotta get this show on the road."

Gingerly, I tested my wounded arm. I found the pain gone and the limb devoid of

any stiffness. My eye was still a ruined mass of tissues, but I would grow used

to that. I knew then that I had died, and overall I was well pleased with how

I'd converted from living to dead.

Silently, I slipped from the bed in the tent the Al-Bhed were using as my

sickroom. It was still fully dark, and the girl who was tending the shop was

asleep at her post. I slipped up to the counter and searched quietly until I

found a pen and paper.

For a moment, I searched my memory for the words Braska's wife had taught me,

then wrote dryhg oui--thank you--on the paper. I'd never learned much more than

that, but I'd always used it around her as a sign of respect. I signed my name

as well and then took out 1000 gil--all I still had--and folded it inside the

paper. It was the only way I really had to thank them, for I would be climbing

through Macelania Woods by morning.

I had only two weeks before I was due in Zanarkand, and I intended to put them

to good use.