Hey guys. Sorry it took me so long to get this out. Sometimes you get inspiration, and sometimes you don't! BTW, I could really care less about the reviews now. I write this for those I know want to read it. I LOVE YOU, KYM AND HANNAH! YOU ARE THE AWESOME! So, yeah...

In the Summoner's Shadow

Part II Chapter IX

I see you crying and it rains
Washing away the bad days
Washing away the pain loss brings
And then you smile though it aches
Because you don't believe in mistakes
Just that we made a mess of things

- Overboard, Poets of the Fall

"Hey, kid!"

"I think it's too late…"

Sonja twitched slightly. That voice… she knew it… it was familiar. Her brain was lacking oxygen. She wasn't thinking clear enough to picture who was talking.

"You people are really pessimistic, aren't you?" the gruff voice asked. Strong hands shook Sonja's shoulders.

"Jecht! Don't move her! She's in pretty bad condition, you could make it worse!"

Jecht… where did that name sound familiar? Oh… right… the guardian she kneed in the nuts… which guardian was he, again? Her fathers? No, Lord Braska's… but… Lord Braska was her father… oh, yeah…

"What's wrong with her? She's not breathing!"

"Her chest looks swollen a bit…"

Two hands pressed down on her chest and she opened her mouth to gasp, but her organs hurt too much to do so.

"Whatever attacked them broke her ribs, it feels like… might have punctured a lung, too…"

Sonja's head, still groggy, finally realized who was around her. She winced and tried to open her eyes. She looked strait up at the man she once changed the voice pitch of.

"Aha! Told you it wasn't too late!" Jecht smirked, rubbing Sonja's head. "You okay, kid?" he asked.

Sonja tried to speak, but she couldn't breathe, much less talk.

"Does she look okay?" Auron asked, walking over to her.

"Can you heal her?" Jecht looked at Braska as the oldest kneeled down. He looked at her, putting his hand on her head. She closed her eyes and winced as he pressed down gently on the sides of her chest.

"If she has a rib in a lung, then it might heal awkwardly and leave her injured. I'd rather try and reset the bones first… that would be a long painful process for her," Braska sighed, his kind eyes full of worry.

"This guy's long gone… maybe you should Send him," Auron suggested, lifting the arm of Lucientio.

"Later. I'll try and save Cricket first, then if I fail, I'll only have to perform once," the Summoner replied.

"Well, don't fail!" Jecht said, pulling Sonja's head into his cross-legged lap.

"I won't on purpose…" Braska said as he pulled a dagger out of his boot and carefully cut a slit in the side of Sonja's chest. She made a few choked sounds while her father pushed aside muscle to get to the broken ribs.

"That's disgusting!" Jecht put a hand over his mouth to keep from barfing. Auron kneeled down when he saw the pained look in Sonja's eyes and grasped her hand, squeezing gently. She squeezed back, then blinked at the tingling sensation his touch shot up her arm.

Braska pulled on the bone and moved it back into place, wincing when a sickening sound rang out when the rib slid from the tissue of the lung. He looked to her face when she screamed and started breathing.

"Sorry, Cricket… but that's good news…" he looked back to his work, his hand glowing as he tried to heal the bone.

"Wha? What's wrong!" Jecht asked when he noticed a strange look of disappointment on his friend's face.

"It's not healing…" Braska told him.

"What! Why not!"

"I don't know!"

"Are you not strong enough!"

"Jecht! Shut up!" Auron told him. Sonja grabbed the pendant at her neck and pulled on it, trying to remove it. Auron glanced down, then took it in his own hand and yanked the chain loose.

Braska's face creased and he seemed confused.

"That's odd…" he watched as the bone he just healed mended itself together. "Oh, well… maybe it just took her body a few moments to realize it was being healed. I'm working as fast as I can, Cricket…"

Another rib was yanked from her lung and she was able to breathe finally, although she was still in great pain. Braska pulled his hands out of her chest cavity and she coughed harshly.

"Poor kid…" Jecht winced and wiped crimson blood from Sonja's lip. Braska's soft hand laid itself on Sonja's cut chest. She felt the cool chill of the healing spell shooting through her skin and muscle.

"You okay now?" Auron asked, squeezing her hand. She nodded.

"Yeah…" she muttered, sitting up.

"Can you breathe properly?" Braska asked. "Are you hurting anywhere?"

Sonja waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" she sighed, then looked down at the amulet in Auron's hand. She took it from him, smiling her thanks, then putting it back on.

That amulet… it was the source of her access to Red Magic. Nice, but sort of a curse on her part. Every assassin that ever got an assignment was given one. It was a safety measure to keep the guild a secret, especially in the case that an assassin was captured. In this situation, the assassin was trained to commit suicide and take the secret of the guild to their death. Perhaps some one might try and heal the assassin to get information out of them. That's where the amulet would come in and nullify any healing spells, thus preventing the resurrection of the assassin.

"Cricket!" Jecht's voice shouted at her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Wha?" she blinked. The three men were staring at her.

"Are you awake?" he asked. She nodded.

"Sorry… was thinking of something…"

"Well, what happened here?" Braska asked, looking around.

"A fiend, probably…" Auron shrugged. Sonja shook her head.

"No… I don't know what happened…"

She did. She saw it, and even argued over it with the one she thought she could trust the most. It was her one chance at saving her father, and now it had gone. No, it hadn't gone. It was taken from her. Stolen, would be the most appropriate word for it.

Maybe there was another way of saving Braska, but she saw none. None that she could do. She could get to Sin before him, but she would have no way of defeating the monster. She'd need aeons. Guardians she wouldn't need. She can protect herself, and with her resources and speed, she could easily make it around the world and back before he got there, even with him being this close, but that would mean death for her, and that would contradict her hopes of living the life she dreamed of with her father and sister.

"Are you okay?" Braska asked. Yevon, how many times in the last five minutes had she heard something like that!

"Guys! Please, I'm fine!" she sighed, hugging her knees. Braska sat down beside her. Jecht and Auron suddenly got up and walked off a little bit away. She paid no attention to it.

"This must be very hard for you… losing your Summoner…" he lowered his gaze.

"Sure," she sighed and hugged her knees, staring into the distance.

"I bet you're feeling bad because you survived, right? Listen, I would have tried to save Lucientio, but he was long gone by the time we got here. It was by chance that we even found you! You'd be dead by now, had Jecht not needed to find a bush."

Sonja just kept staring forward. Braska let out another sigh and hugged her. Her heart skipped a beat. It wasn't a huge hug. Nothing like he used to do. Just a simple arm around the shoulders, but still…

"I know what it's like to lose. I lost someone very dear to my heart. The day they were lost, it felt like a part of my soul had been ripped away. I still bear that loss today."

Confessions of a professional had-it-taken-all-away. She might pay attention. She'd need this when Braska was done with his journey for death.

"How do you stand it?" she asked, looking at him.

"There's really no way to bear it… you just… cry for a few days, maybe a week, possibly even a month. Then, in a desperate attempt to regain them, you turn to fond memories, even horrible memories. Finally, after you waste away for a while, you realize that life is still going on, and it's not waiting for you. That's when you get up, hide your sorrow beneath a smile, and move on, never ever getting rid of that pressure of sadness in your heart. The more dear the one you lost, the heavier the load."

She leaned into his hug and put her head on his shoulder. More like his chest. He wasn't all that tall, but she was actually rather short for her age.

"I have a question… why are you a Summoner?" she asked. Braska blinked. He'd never actually thought he'd be asked that question.

"Well, for one, I want my daughter to grow up safe, where she doesn't have to worry about a world full of Sin."

"Is that all?" she asked after a short moment. He nodded.

"Yes, that's all."

"But… why not let someone else do it? You have a daughter to keep safe, I understand, but why kill yourself for it? Leave it up to someone who's got nothing to lose!"

Braska stopped and blinked, looking down at her.

"All Summoners have something to lose. That's why we're Summoners in the first place- to protect what we don't want to lose,"

"But, what you don't want to lose is losing you!" She glared up at him.

He smiled slightly and sighed, closing his eyes before looking at her, his voice and expression as calm and gentle as ever.

"You're very mature for someone your age, Cricket, but you just don't understand."

"You're right! I don't understand! I don't think I want to! I just want to know why Summoners do what they do! Maybe if we stopped fighting back, it would do what it was sent here to do, then leave us all alone!"

"What makes you say that?" he blinked at the sudden change in topic.

"According to the teachings of Yevon, Machina is what brought Sin almost a thousand years ago. Machina, therefore should never be used. Sin is the price we pay for using machina. If the people of Spira believe and follow Yevon's teachings, we then atone for the use of machina long ago and Spira will attain purity. It is then when Spira will live their lives without Sin!"

"I know what the teachings are, believe me!" he smiled slightly, amazed that one as young as herself knew this so well.

"If you know that, then you should also know that apparently Sin was sent here for a reason! That reason would be to teach us a lesson! Obviously we haven't learned that lesson yet, thus it keeps returning! If it were around long enough, we would find through trial and error what keeps pissing the beast off and stop it and thus stop Sin!" She was up on her feet, pacing, ranting, throwing her arms out, and panting with determination to get her point across.

Braska had a warm cheery grin on his face in amusement at her antics. A light chuckle tickled the back of his throat and he shook his head slightly.

"You know, that actually has logic in it," he told her, propping an elbow on his knee.

"That's just something I've always been considering…" she calmed down and sat across from him. He continued to smile at her.

"You're more grown up than you let on, you know? You have spirit, and lots of it, too! Kind of reminds me of someone else I used to know."

I am that one you used to know… she wanted to tell him, but she knew nothing good would come out of it. She was silent for a while, staring down at her feet.

"So, Summoners die for a few people, but end up saving the whole world…" she sighed. Braska nodded.

"Kind of a perk for everyone else," he chuckled slightly.

"You know, I'd always hear the stories about Summoners sacrificing themselves, but I never felt anything for them. I mean, I'd feel something to the affect of, 'Wow, that was sure nice of them,' or something, but nothing this hard core of a feeling. It's a completely different story and mind frame when the one sacrificing himself is someone so close to you…" She stared at him, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

"Heart breaking, isn't it?" he asked her. She nodded.

Sonja hugged her knees and buried her face in her arms. She wouldn't cry. She would NOT cry infront of him. Never. Even if she had to rip her eyes out, she would not do it… or at least that's what she told herself.

The promise became harder and harder to keep when Braska himself blinked and cleared his throat against tears. She looked up at him in awe. Never had she seen HIM cry.

"Sorry, Cricket. Listen…" he sighed. "I kind of know how you are feeling. If you like, my guardians and I can stick around with you for a little while… maybe take you home. Would you like that?"

She blinked and shrugged.

"I guess… you don't mind? What about your pilgrimage?" she asked.

"It can wait, and no, I don't mind," he smiled warmly and hugged her to his side. She blinked, then returned the hug.

"Auron! Jecht! Come on over!" He called after a few seconds. The two returned.

"So, uh…" Jecht rubbed the back of his head, "…it's sort of late, doncha think?"

Braska looked up at the sky, seeing it becoming darker by the minute. He nodded.

"Yes, I suppose so. We'll camp here, if that's okay with you Cricket," he turned to Sonja, who shrugged.

"It's fine…"

Braska smiled and nodded at her, then stood up and turned to his guardians.

"I fear leaving her by herself in her wounded condition, and if she should have any complications I would like to be able to help her. The pilgrimage is on hold for a few days."

"Huh. And we don't even have any recording spheres…" Jecht sighed.

"Why would we need them?" Auron asked, turning to him.

"Girl's tough," he nodded towards Sonja, "and I'd like to leave my boy something to compare himself to. Show him a real man!"

The other three just stared at him. After a few moments, he realized what he said.

"Gah! Woman! Woman! Sorry!"

"You want your son to grow up and be a real woman?" Auron raised an eyebrow. Jecht stared at him, his mouth open as if he were about to say something. After a while of saying nothing, he finally closed his mouth and grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and sitting down. Sonja smiled slightly in amusement, then sighed.

After helping gather wood, Sonja was instructed by her father to sit and rest.

"Sip on this," he told her, handing her a bottle of potion.

"Why?" she asked, looking at it.

"It will make you feel better. Believe me," he smiled. He started a fire, then sat beside her while Auron and Jecht sat across from them. Auron kept staring at Sonja, making her feel rather uncomfortable. After a short time, she glanced at him and sighed.

"Um… Sir Auron, is there something I can help you with?" she asked. He blinked, then shook his head.

"You just reminded me of someone… I don't know why… sorry, just suffering from a sudden painful memory," he shared looks with Braska, who sighed and lowered his head. Sonja tried to look confused at them, but failed. She just stared up at the sky.

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Jupp...