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In the Summoner's Shadow

Part II Chapter XIII

"Maybe… you should go looking for her…"

The voice belonged to the white Ronso- smooth, warm, and soft like the snowy fur covering his abnormal tiger-like self. The youngest assassin remained quiet.

"Please? I'll help if you want me to…"

Sonja merely wiped her nose on her furry arm-bracer and buried everything nose-down into the crook of her knee-topping elbow.

"Look, I've been with Rufio since the day we were born. I wouldn't want to lose him! I would hate it! I don't know what I would do if I lost my brother. If there's any chance that Yuna's still alive, I want you to find her and be with her during this time, at the least!" Ark's arms were held out to his sides.

"First off," her voice was softer than the air that blew in from the sea. She spoke so gently that Ark was sure the human at his side didn't even know she'd begun talking. Rufio and Rye, however, looked at her with interest. "…Father wouldn't have left on a suicidal journey unless he didn't have a little girl to take care of. Yuna's dead. Second off…" her voice became clearer and a bit louder, "…if you cared so much about my having a sibling, why did you wait until now!"

The sudden shout caused them all to blink and flinch.

Sonja continued to stare off into the sea, her hair soaked and blown by the misty ocean air. "Run free, dear tide, now that you no longer have Sin to keep you locked about him… run wild and get rid of its poison. You and I may be the only ones who truly understand the magnitude of Daddy's death…" she whispered, the salty wind kissing her cheeks harshly with its cold and speed.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I…I just…" Ark started, but didn't know how to finish. His twin picked up the thought track and kept the conversation going.

"We just didn't want to go against your wishes and find her without your permission is all. Look, you may say you think she's dead. We think our parents are dead, but in our hearts we know they're still out there somewhere, looking for their lost little boys. We keep our eyes peeled. We have no clue what they look like, but we know we'll know them when we see them," Rufio spoke.

"It wouldn't take any time at all to find her using my satellite, Lieutenant. The only thing I'd need is some DNA from you to match up with hers," Phen offered. Sonja found it odd that it was the two younger assassins comforting her rather than the two oldest ones, the absolute oldest of which just stood there patiently, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes closed and tail flicking back and forth.

"I know Lord Braska would want his daughters split up if they were both alive, but apparently, as one things, the other is not, so why bother? The High Summoner clearly didn't bother when the youngest went missing…"

The young girl sighed. Only one person among them could be that cold… that cruel, that hostile and plainly, that ancient when speaking to a heart-broken lass.

"Daddy didn't… he didn't leave me if that's what you're implying. He had reasons for not searching, and you know it, Rye," her voice seemed to growl, even though she knew it was coming from the silver wolf at her side.

Again, the possibly oldest thing in the world, old enough to make Sin look a toddler, spoke. "He has a title, you know. You should address your savoir by the hard earned, well deserved name. I'm amazed his own loving daughter would defile that crown the way she does."

The crude laugher was a chuckle of indifference towards her feelings.

"He was 'Daddy' long before he was ever even though to be 'Lord Braska'," her glare was matched with the ferocity of SkahZev's fanged snarling bark, "He was the center of my world previous to being the winner of time for yours…"

"Well, what ever you say, he's still the High Summoner. You should call him by what he's honored with!"

"The honor of 'Daddy' is greater than any degree of 'Summoner' or 'Maester' or anything like that!" SkahZev followed up his owner's yell with a bark of anger.

Rufio, Ark, and Phen stared forward at the sight of their Lieutenant back-talking her trainer, a big no-no in the Guild.

"Not in public, Nightwish," Rye merely stepped away from her as she stood up and faced him, her teeth bared and hands away from her sides, ready to produce her daggers at any given second. "Besides, you would lose."

Sonja's sheer emotion kept her teeth gritted together and her dagger suddenly at Rye's throat, his old age bending his spine perfectly to meet her tip-toed height.

There were tears in her eyes. One rolled down a long mark on her cheek bone by her ear.

"I can't believe you smashed Yuna's head into the wall!" Auron chided, mending to a deep cut on the edge of Sonja's young face. It was bleeding fiercely, threatening to penetrate the guaze pad Auron held to it.

"I didn't slam her head into a wall! I punched her in the gut and she fell back, tripped over her all precious blocks, and went tumbling backwards into the wall!" Sonja glared, jumping up and down in anger at having gotten in trouble for something so simple as that.

"Sonja! For Yevon's Sake, hold still!" Auron's thick fingers thumped harshly against the little girl's opposite eyebrow, causing her to yelp and hold it tightly in pain, though she did stop jumping around. "Well, whatever it was you did you Yuna, it wasn't nice!"

"Fair isn't always nice, Auwon!" She reached up and poked his nose. His hand strayed from her cut for a moment to bring her hand back down to her side.

"Don't use my own logic against me, kiddo. But what did she do to verify THAT as fair?" he asked.

"She called me bad stuff! Ow!" she yelped when Auron pressed a wet rag against her cheek. "How big is that thing, anyways!"

"Well, it's from here…" his middle finger touched at her eyebrow, "…to here…" his pointer touched just above her ear, "… and all the way down to here," his massive hand easily allowed his thumb to press against her collar bone.

"Wow! It don't hurt that much!" she blinked. That part hurt, though. However, she wouldn't tell that to Auron. She had to be strong around her mentor and best friend!

"Probably because the cut is deep enough to sever the nerve line to the pain central of your brain. Sorry, kiddo. So, what names did Yuna call you to make it a REQUIREMENT that your father come all the way across town to have me run over here and Dragon Fang the two of you apart!

"She called me dumb because I didn't put her blocks up right, then called me stupid for not being able to tell the red from the orange!"

Auron sighed. Sonja was temporarily colorblind, so the healers and random Al-Bhed optometrists said when Braska took her to them to see why she always colored the color-by-number sheets he made for the girls wrong. They said she'd grow out of it eventually, possibly by the time she was three… "A blessing of Yevon," as one of the Maesters already started using her to preach in the town, pulling her out of the congregation and shaking her above his head for the gathered worshipers to behold. Braska and Yuna felt it an honor to see her named a miracle, proclaimed before the faithful. Auron and Sonja herself found it an embarrassing display and exploitation.

"You know, 'stupid' and 'dumb' aren't really bad words," he blew on the cleaning solution dabbed onto the wound, trying to help ease the pain of the sting that would be coming soon.

"Daddy says they are… ow… ow owow!" She stared jumping slightly. Auron held her chin firmly in his fore finger and thumb. She remained still except for the stomping of her feet. He continued to blow on her half-missing cheek. A thought played on his mind while he tried to offer her comfort: "Braska, you old thing! If you consider meager kids' name calling offensive, foul language, how ever do you communicate more than two words with the girls' uncle?"

Auron sighed again, wishing he knew white magic. It would make this ordeal so much easier.

"Yuna's name calling made you mad enough to hit her? You let your emotions show through your visage? That's not very warrior like, is it?" Auron asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked, wincing as a tear rolled out of her eye onto the exposed hypodermis, the salt causing it to ache like crazy.

"You wanted me to start training you to be a Warrior Monk like me, right?" he smirked. She nodded as he rubbed a cooling white cream on her face from a small tube.

"Alright then," he picked her up under her arms and sat back on Braska's bed, his knees aching from holding the stance he had while tending to his little "ward." He rested her in the lap of his cross-legged position.

"Well, your first lesson is this: never let the opponent tell your emotions. The best way to intimidate them is to laugh when they try and make you mad, or even shout a come-back when they insult you. No matter what, though, do NOT let them be able to tell if you're getting angry. If you get angry, you stop thinking, and thinking is half the battle. Understand, kiddo?" he asked, watching her golden eyes sparkle with interest.

"Yes, sir!" she nodded vigorously, a bright smile on her face.

He laughed and rubbed her shoulder length black hair warmly. "You'll not only be the first female Warrior Monk, you'll be the best ever!"

This brought a bright glow to her mutilated face and she hugged him as tightly as her tiny arms could allow on his massive chest.

"Just don't tell your pops I'm giving you lessons. You remember how he reacted when you told him what you wanted to be when you grew up…"

Sonja was wrenched from her memories by a fossilized, yet immensely powerful Ronso arm that clenched the paw around her throat and lifted her clear off the ground and over head, a powerful slam enforcing her to the ground.

"Hm. Lieutenant's a bit off with her fighting skills, isn't she?" Rye smiled and stepped on her chest, holding her against the ground like he did so often when he tried to get a point across to her. "Lord Braska is High Summoner now. That means he's dead. By definition of the transitive property, your father, Lord Braska, the High Summoner, is dead. Get up. Move on. You have work to do."

A gasp was emitted from the twins and their technician as they watched the young girl slide across the slick grass towards the edge of the cliff she was sitting on before.

"Don't any body move," Rye roared, then smashed his foot against SkahZev's barking face, treating him to the same mode of transportation to the cliff as his "Sister."

Sonja yelped in shock and grabbed hold to the edge of the earth, just above a ten foot drop to a shallow pool filled with sharp, tiny rocks and possibly several hungry water fiends waiting for manna from the heavens.

SkahZev's relatively small claws dug into the ground of the cliff, one paw extended far into the soil of the grass while the other paw clung for dear life to the edge, right beside his muzzle-chin. Rye walked to the edge, one food on the young hand of Sonja, the other on the tiny paw of the wolf pup beside her.

"You've been dead to the man for years. Just think of the time now as pay back," Rye said, and with a heartless smile left her there, walking off back towards the entrance to the Guild.

When he was out of sight, Ark and Rufio leapt to immediately pulling Sonja up from her dangerous, deathly dangle above the gathering lizard-like fish below her, some jumping out of the water to try and bite at her feet. Phen, as weak as he was, struggled to pull the wolf pup on ground, yet he finally managed to do so.

"You okay, Lieutenant?" Rufio asked, patting her back gently.

"I'm fine!" she barked, thrusting their helping paws aside, out of her way and out of her face. "Give me my space," she demanded, panting.

SkahZev whined slightly and licked at his stepped on paw, then looked at Sonja, his gold eyes meeting hers for a few seconds. When she had received his notification of his being alright, she glared forward at the retreating silhouette of Rye.

"Pay back, eh? Yeah… you'll get your pay-back… you just wait, you damn dirty son of a…" she wiped her mouth in frustration, tasting the iron tinge of blood in her mouth. More than likely, it was forced up with the vehement kick to the stomach she received that sent her sliding to the fatal position she was in just a few moments ago.

"Come on, guys… we have work to do…" she muttered, rising from her kneeling stance and walking after Rye.

Well, last time I offered free rum, I got people to at least drop me a line... so...

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