Darker Secrets Have Been Kept
Baralai's Story
by Rikku-Hoshi
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I'm sorry to all who read the first chapter without the quotations and such. Being that I practically live in Japan without living there, I have my language options set on Japanese. In the Japanese language, there are no quotation marks, and because of that, when I upload my chapters, those such things disappear. It's quite annoying, but hopefully I've fixed the problem! Also, in a quick disclaimer, I don't own FFX(2). Just so you know! Okay, now this chapter, the inspiration was Gackt's 4th? PV, "SaikaiStory". If I start my site, I'll have a link to it. Anyway, enjoy!
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Chapter 2: Story
The scripture room was by far the darkest room in the Bevelle temple. It was without windows and was lit up with a single candle. I liked it that way–dark, that is. I wondered how the Lady Yuna could come in here by herself without any companions. She seemed the type that would be timid. If my head wasn't so into what I would discover in this room, I probably would have ducked out.
I saw the room that Yuna had described, the one that she had accidentally opened. I smiled again. "Oh no, Lady Yuna," I said to myself as I entered the room, "Your opening this room was no accident..."
There was a scripture I had discovered in the scripture room as a young teenager. I quickly looked away from the door to the newly opened room though, as my eyes became misty. What was I thinking? There was no way I could possibly go into that room. It held...Too many mysteries...and memories...The mist around my eyes suddenly felt heavy, and I felt my eyes begin to swell with tears. Far too many mysteries...Far too many stories...
"Baralai! Baralai!" she was bubbly, but she always was. She ran in, her blonde curls bobbing as she ran, "Guess what?"
"What?" I said, smiling upon seeing her.
"You have to guess!" she insisted, "That's the point of it!"
She was sixteen, and her the attitude of a youth that she had shown through, although most sixteen-year-olds were much more mature than she was. She smiled widely, and held out her hand for me to take.
"I haven't the slightest idea," I said. I myself was seventeen, and training to become a priest–something I'd grown up wanting.
She jumped up and down, obviously excited about something, before she said, "I'm going to become the youngest summoner!"
"What?" I said, "You're becoming a summoner?"
"That's right!" she said, "Can you believe it? Me, a summoner! I went through this ceremony thing with like billions of other girls, and they chose me! Me! The Fayth themselves! They said I was going to become the next summoner–making me the youngest ever! It's kind of odd for someone like me to just get chosen, but I did! There's apprentice summoners all over the world–like Lord Braska's daughter. She's only fifteen and an apprentice summoner, but I'm a real summoner! A real one! I could leave on a pilgrimage and everything!"
"Just for the excitement of it?" I asked, laughter showing in my eyes. She had the wildest imagination, and knew how to make everything seem ever so bright and happy. Perhaps that was why I loved her so...She was the direct opposite of me, and yet we had so much in common. It was the weirdest bond in the world. She had crazy short curly hair, but it fit her so nicely, and she had shiny blue eyes. Her lips were the perfect mixture of cream and red, and her skin was a white tone that shown beautifully in the sun. I was crazy about her...I really was.
She often wore pink, being that it was her absolute favorite color, and always had a corsage of flowers around her wrist. She always had a new corsage to show me. She picked the flowers herself in a field near her home.
She was orphaned, having her parents both killed by Sin. She had been very young then, however, so she knew nothing of her parents. That didn't seem to bother her though. Sometimes though, late at night, under the starry sky, she would often cry, and turn to me and say, "'Lai, I miss them so much."
"You didn't even know them," I would say, as soothingly as I could.
"–That's the worst part..." she would just say, and then look up at the stars, "'Lai, someday, you and I have to find a way to get rid of Sin...So that there aren't any other girls ever without parents."
"Right, of course," I would just say, and look away, cursing the fact that I knew so much.
I knew too much...
"'Lai!" she said, still bouncing up and down, her hand still enclosed tightly in mine, "A pilgrimage! Can you imagine!"
"No, I can't," I just said, "And who will be your guardians?"
"You of course, silly!" she said, smiling at me, "I know you can fight. I've seen you."
I just smiled at her.
"Oh, right," she said then, stopping her bouncing, "I forgot...You can't leave 'till you become a priest. When will that be?"
"Soon," I said, and smiled, "And I will be the youngest priest ever."
"I'm so proud," she said, smiling broadly, and twirling around my hand, "Aren't you excited?"
"Sure," I said, "My father's very proud of me."
"I'll bet!" she just said, "I would be too! Of course, I am proud of you! But I wish you could come on my pilgrimage with me..."
At the time I didn't notice it. I didn't even notice it until a few days when I looked back on the moment, but she had this weird, faraway look in her eyes, as if there was something she wasn't telling me. But at the time, I was too wrapped up in everything else to notice.
"'Lai," she said after a little moment of silence, "Do you think we could go to the temple? I...I want to pray, before my pilgrimage..."
"Sure," I just said, shaking my head at the fact that she'd let her little 'summoner' game go on this long.
"Ooh, look at my new corsage!" she then said, flashing some purple flowers across my face, "Isn't it gorgeous?"
"It is," is said, staring at it with admiration.
"I could make you one," she said, and took my hand and began to walk with me toward the temple. I had been in the temple all day studying, and didn't really feel like going back there, but I supposed I didn't have much of a choice. I would do anything and go anywhere that she wanted me to do or go. I loved her.
"I don't think a corsage would look very pretty around my wrist," I just said, smiling.
"I do," she said, "I think white would look nice. There are some nice white flowers near my house..." she paused and said, "But wanna know where I wanna live someday?"
"Where?" I asked her.
"Here!" she said, dropping my hand and running in front of the temple. I'll never forget the sight of her, running to the temple with her white skirt flapping in the wind, and her corsage neatly wrapped around her wrist, smiling as she ran.
"Here? As in, the temple?" I said, catching up to her, looking up at it, "Become a priest and you can spend all your time here."
She giggled, "There are no female priests," she said, "Only helpers."
"Become a helper then," I said, still smiling that giddy smile that I always smiled around her.
"No! I'm a summ..." she trailed, and suddenly appeared sad.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Nothing," she said, although I could tell something was wrong. She smiled up at me after a while of silence, and said, "Come on, let's go!"
She grabbed my hand again, and led me into the temple. The halls that normally appeared so dark were suddenly lightened by her presence.
"Wait," she said then, and gave me this mischievous look. She was always getting into trouble, it seemed, and somehow, I was always getting dragged into trouble with her.
"What now?" I said, "And can we stay out of trouble for at least a day?"
"'Lai," she said, "What fun would that be?"
"A lot of fun," I insisted. I couldn't help it...I was a major ruiner of fun.
"No, no," she just said, "And besides, I don't want to get in trouble...I want to go in the scripture room!"
"The...Scripture room?" I just said. I didn't understand. She hated Yevon's history. It bored her to death. Why was she interested in scriptures.
"There's something I have to check out," she just said, giving me a little smile.
"What?" I said, "Besides, the public scripture room closed an hour ago..."
"Well, I know that," she said, "But I didn't want to go in that scripture room. I want to go in the secret one."
"How did you know about that one?" I said, shocked.
"I know things," she just said, smiling, "Please? I just want to see something! I swear we won't harm anything."
I couldn't turn her down. That was something I'd come to learn over the days I'd spent with her. Whenever I was around her, I actually typically grew quiet, yet affectionate, and kind of just went along with the flow–therefore doing what she wanted.
"Well...I don't think that is a good idea," I said, just the same.
"I know it's not," she said, which surprised me, "But it's something I have to do. Please 'Lai! I know you've been in there before!"
"Fine," I said, "But make it quick. If we get caught, I could say 'goodbye' to my priest hopes."
"We won't get caught," she said surely, "Come on, lead me there!"
"Alright," I said, although something in my gut told me it was a bad idea.
I led her by the hand up the many flights of stairs to the scripture room, the private one, and unlocked it. After all, I had the keys to every chamber of the temple.
"Make it really fast," I just said, going over to the candle and lighting it.
"Oh 'Lai," she just said, shaking her head, "You live here. Is it really that big of a deal?"
"If my father knew..."
"Relax," she just said, and picked up the candle that I had just lit, "It's here somewhere..."
"What's here?" I asked, following her like a puppy dog.
"Something," she just said, although her usually joking tone was gone, and there was this serious tone in her words that made me shudder.
"What's the 'something'?"
She sighed, and said, "Something that's on the wall."
"Hm...You mean this?" I asked, taking her arm and leading her through the very dark chamber. I led her to the very end wall, where most dust and spider webs had settled over the years and took her arm that held the candle and held it toward this very old scripture that hung on the wall. Most of it was torn, but it was still readable–that was, if you could read the language that it was written in.
Many Yevon priests and historians had done their best to read it and decipher it, but none had been successful.
"This..." she stopped, and bit her lip. Suddenly, her head fell back, and she looked at the scripture. Then, she stood up and turned to me with tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I said, and, being that I had only seen her cry when she was thinking of her parents, I said, "Are you thinking of your parents?"
"You have no idea!" she said, and hugged me. She pulled away from me after a while, her eyes having turned a crystal blue from crying, and said, "I have to go now. I'll–see you later."
"Wait," I said, still holding her in my arms, "Why did you need to see that strange scripture?"
"It's nothing," she just said, "T-that wasn't the right thing..."
"Um...Oh..." I just said, "Well, goodbye..."
She threw her arms around my neck again, her tears falling onto my shoulder, and then she smiled.
"Goodbye," she said again, "I won't let you down."
At that, she left me to myself in the dark chamber. I turned back to the scripture on the wall, and studied it for a while, and then left, deciding I had studies to attend to, anyway.
I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. Four years ago–already? I had stood in this same spot, looking at that odd scripture on the wall. The last time I'd been with her...
It's impossible to explain my feelings when I was around her. I was happy, quiet, affectionate...Amazing. She carried the strangest air of mystery around her, and I didn't know why. She was bubbly, excited, and always youthful. We would lie under the stars late at night and I would tell her what was on my mind. Troubles I had with my father, my school, and my dreams of being a crusader. Everything. She would often lie there quietly and listen to me, not saying anything, just listening. Some nights she would tell me a story–often one that she made up as she went, and I would listen, smiling at the story. At the end of her story, she would often giggle, and say, "I swear, these corsages are what give me these crazy ideas."
Often, I would think, "Never rid yourself of those corsages...I love them as much as I love you..."
One night, I sat there and she came behind me and wrapped her arms around me, and said, "I love you 'Lai!"
I could only smile, although I could never exactly say, "I love you, too." Sure, love was what I felt toward her, but I could never say my feelings. They were always best expressed with a simple smile. She seemed to understand though. She never questioned me.
That scripture still hung on the wall, even today. Sure, the wall next to it was now opened, thanks to Yuna's assistance, but my thoughts of the past weren't over yet. There was still an entire story yet to tell. Actually, more like, there was still a story left to finish.
"The youngest summoner ever. Already killed."
Those words will forever, and always, haunt me.
"What's this about a summoner's death?" I said, walking down the stairs of the temple, carrying books upon books of Yevon's history and studies.
The priests below me were quiet, almost as if none of them had heard me.
"The youngest summoner...ME!"
Finally, an older priest looked at me, and said, "Come here, my boy."
"What is it?" I said, as he led me outside.
"A summoner's life was left, one day into her pilgrimage. I...don't think the Fayth chose correctly."
"Really? Who was this summoner? Was I acquainted with them?"
"I believe so," the priest just said, "Her name was Lilya?"
The world stopped right there. Everything. My heart did, time did...Everything just stopped. Lilya...
I couldn't think. The priest was still talking, but nothing was hitting me. Without thinking, I ran toward her little place running across fields and fields of flowers, the areas that we had lain under the stars...The places we had soaked in each other's presence, until I reached her little place.
I rushed in, without even knocking, yelling, "Lili! Lili!" only to receive of course, no answer.
"LILI! LILI!" I just kept crying, and suddenly fell. My legs just couldn't hold me up anymore. Honestly, I still to this day believe I died right then and there.
I managed to drag myself back up, and, on the table, was what would answer all of my questions.
On the table, neatly laid out, was a little sheet of paper...and a white corsage.
With trembling hands, I picked up the picture, and read:
"My dearest 'Lai, I hope that if you find this paper, you aren't worried about me. I have headed off to Gagazet to find a ronso to be my guardian. I've heard that they are mean, but I don't believe it. Anyway, I know you didn't take me seriously last night, but I wasn't kidding. The Fayth really did choose me. Me–can you believe it? I know you've said a summoner couldn't just beat Sin, but it's worth a try, right? I made you a corsage for you to remember me by. 'Cause...I mean...I will die in the ultimate end, right? Then again, there's always the chance that I won't...But don't cry! I mean, I've always wanted to beat Sin! Now's my chance! I'll miss you, and I wish you could have come with. It would have been fun.
Love,
Lili
P.S. The scripture in the scripture room...I can read it. I know you think that this is crazy, but it's the truth. I really can read it. I don't understand it myself, but when the Fayth chose me, it whispered, "The scripture..." I knew it was that one. The scripture–It said, "Summoner who defeats Sin and lives...Will open the door." I hope it will be me. I have to go now."
I couldn't believe it. The love of my life was crazy. And...dead... I tore up the letter, angrier at her than I'd ever been in my life. I grabbed the corsage and was about to rip it, but just couldn't bring myself to do so. Instead, I tucked it into my pocket...
With tears in my eyes, I quickly wiped my sleeve over them. Then, I reached my hand into my pocket, bringing out a dried up and brown corsage of flowers. Sighing, I placed them back in my pocket.
"Remember, 'Lai," I told myself, "That was years ago...But now, you'll finally find out exactly what's behind this door."
That strange, evil smile crept across my face. The story of Lili and I had ended four years ago. Or at least, so I had thought. Now, it would only continue.